GE announced today the sale of its remaining 49% common equity interest in its joint venture with Comcast, which includes NBCUniversal (NBCU), as well as the NBCU floors in 30 Rockefeller Center, for $18.1 billion.

“By adding significant new capital to our balanced capital allocation plan, we can accelerate our share buyback plans while investing in growth in our core businesses.”

Western Europe leads adoption of new media technology as smartphone penetration rises 27% a year according to a new ZenithOptimedia study of 19 advanced markets. ZenithOptimedia tracked the adoption of three new media technologies – IPTV, smartphones and tablets – and forecast their penetration to 2015.

Among the findings of the study include:

- Smartphone penetration to double from 36% in 2012 to 72% in 2015

Ultra HD or what is also called 4KTV was the buzz at the CES show in Las Vegas this year.  With its high bandwidth requirements, Ultra HD has the potential to be the next big user of satellite services.   NSR's Jose del Rosario believes the market push for Ultra HD is expected to be led by three key regions of the globe, notably North America, Western Europe and East Asia, home to the wealthiest in terms of household disposable income levels and pay-TV households.

Globecomm Systems, Inc. reported a 3.2% decline in revenues to $160.9 million for fiscal 2013 six months ended December 31, 2012 compared to $166.2 million in the same period last year.

Globecomm said net income was $6.5 million or $0.28 of diluted net income per common share compared to net income of $18.6 million or $0.82 of diluted net income per common share in the same period last year.

Eutelsat Communications reported revenues of $848.71 (euro 633.6) million and net income of US$ 239.13 (euro 178.5) million for the first half of fiscal year 2012-2013 cementing its position as one of the world’s biggest satellite operators.

Michel de Rosen, CEO of Eutelsat Communications, said he is pleased with the company’s robust results with revenue growth of over 5% and an EBITDA margin exceeding 79%. He said the company’s record backlog of €5.4 billion underscores Eutelsat’s long term visibility on revenues and cash flows.

Arabsat has signed an agreement with the Hellenic Telecommunication Organization (OTE;), one of the largest telecom groups in South Eastern Europe, for the acquisition of its 99.05% equity participation in Hellas-Sat Consortium Ltd.The share purchase agreement was signed upon an aggregate consideration of €208 million  (US$ 280 mil).

The purchase price represents 99.05%, of:

• An enterprise value of Hellas-Sat, amounting to €157 million, which corresponds to 7 times the EBITDA of Hellas Sat for 2012, and

ViaSat Inc. announced financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2013. The fiscal third quarter results included new contract awards of US$ 265.7 million and another record revenues quarter of . Operating performance grew quarter over quarter reflecting Adjusted EBITDA of US $48.4 milllion and net income attributable to common stockholders of $0.04 per share on a non-GAAP diluted basis.

Liberty Global is set to acquire UK-based Virgin Media in a stock and cash merger valued at about US$ 23.3 billion creating one of the world’s leading broadband communications company covering 47 million homes and serving 25 million customers across 14 countries.

As part of a broader initiative to prevent signal interference, GVF today announced that it is working with the organizers of Cabsat in Dubai to highlight satellite communications equipment that has been tested and approved in co-ordination with a global product-certification initiative.

There are a total of 6 exhibitors with approved products at Cabsat. Those technologies will have demonstrated compliance with GVF-coordinated industry standards, which encourage integrity in equipment design, production, and performance.

SES announced today that its German HD platform HD+ now exceeds one million paying households. For the full year of 2012, HD+ more than doubled the number of paying customers, from 404,123 to 944,993. HD PLUS expects a growth rate of 25 percent for paying customers in 2013.