The 6th Annual Oil & Gas Communications South East Asia: Evolving the ‘Big Data’ Digital Oilfield for Offshore & Deep Water conference, the 19th event in GVF-EMP’s overall global series, will take place on 19th & 20th November 2013 at the InterContinental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

RRsat Global Communications Network Ltd. has acquired JCA, a London-based provider of content management services, which has an impressive track record of growth and revenues of almost US$ 10 million last year. RRsat, which provides global, end-to-end, content management and distribution services to the rapidly expanding television and radio broadcasting industries, said the acquisition is fully aligned with the company’s growth strategy of becoming a global company with local presence in key locations.

AMOS-4, built by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for Spacecom, was successfully launched August 31, 2013 from Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a ZENIT - 3SLB launcher. During the coming three weeks, AMOS-4 will continue its transfer orbit until arriving at 67.250 East, where In Orbit Test will be conducted before continuing to its designated permanent service location at 650 East.

Eutelsat Communications  and Es'hailSat announce that their jointly owned EUTELSAT 25B/Es'hail 1 satellite was successfully launched tonight by an Ariane 5 rocket and is on course for geostationary orbit. Lift-off of the Ariane rocket carrying the 6.3 tonne satellite took place at 20.30 UTC. EUTELSAT 25B/Es'hail 1's solar panels were deployed within four hours of separation from the launch vehicle and preparations are underway for the first of four firings of its apogee motor to complete its journey into orbit.

An affiliate of private equity and investment firm Wasserstein & Co. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Globecomm Systems for US$ 14.15 per share or about US$340 million in cash.

C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. announced today that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Vislink, a United Kingdom based secure communication technology provider.

Vislink will promote, market, sell and support the C-COM manufactured range of iNetVu® products, which would complement Vislink's existing product range and allow it to expand into new vertical markets including oil & gas; mining; police, fire, emergency and disaster management.

Global TV advertising expenditure will reach US$ 219 billion in 2018 for the 55 countries  covered in the TV Advertising Forecasts report from Digital TV Research, up by 32%  - or US$ 53 billion - from 2012.  TV advertising spend grew by 4.4% in 2012 to US$ 167 billion, but only 2.8% growth is  forecast for 2013 as the recession bites again in several European territories.

The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of Turkey (TMSF) is considering the initiation of a tender for the sale of pay-television platform Digitürk although the process has not been finalized.

Reuters and other local media reports have reported that TMSF and Çukurova’s are coordinating the plan for Digitürk and that they are looking at several alternatives, including the direct sale of the broadcaster or sale with a tender.

Asian satellite operator Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings (AsiaSat) reported a first half 2013 profit of HK$401 million (US$51.71 million), up 1.4 percent from HK$395 million (US$50.4 million) during the same period last year. The rise in profit despite a fall in revenues is mainly a result of the reduction in certain professional fees, coupled with careful management of expenditure.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P., a global investment firm, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which funds advised or controlled by KKR are acquiring a significant minority stake in RigNet from Cubera, an investment firm specializing in the Nordic private equity market.

Upon closing of the acquisition of 4.75 million shares, which is subject to customary approvals, KKR will become RigNet’s largest shareholder, holding a 27% stake in the company.