NAB Show, in partnership with BPL Broadcast Ltd, will debut Connected Media World, an exhibit area set to launch at the 2013 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 6-11, 2013.The new exhibit area will showcase technologies and services that are advancing how consumers connect with media and entertainment.

The maritime market for satellite services is one of the fastest growing segments of the industry.  Euroconsult has forecasted that the number of satellite communications terminals in the global maritime market will nearly double over the next de-cade, with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of seven percent over the 10-year period.

Euroconsult announced the findings of its most recent study of fixed satellite services. The report entitled "Company Profiles, Analysis of FSS Operators," now in its 5th edition, indicates that regional operators in particular continued to see strong business growth from various applications including DTH TV broadcasting, cellular backhaul and enterprise networks. Many of these regional operators are continuing their ambitious expansion plans with growing satellite fleets and a number of satellite launches still ahead in the coming years.

CASBAA’s annual flagship event will take place from October 29 to November 1, 2012 at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong.  This year’s theme, “18 Reasons Why,”illustrates how the CASBAA Convention is consistently the industry’s must attend event in the region.With 18 markets, 18 conference sessions, 18 data snapshots and 18 holes of golf, the CASBAA Convention 2012 will feature a powerful line-up including Opening Keynote Ben Silverman (Electus), among others.

The TV middleware market, long led by Nagra (25% worldwide 2011 market share) and NDS (24%) worldwide and Motorola (19%) and Cisco (11%) in North America, is in a massive state of upheaval as Cisco’s bid for NDS waits to close, (it is expected in early August 2012) while Google has yet to give a clear direction for its recently acquired Motorola Home business unit.

Satellite capacity is a uniquely valuable asset.  It can do some things, like broadcasting one signal to millions of destinations, better and cheaper than any other technology.  But it is also a scarce asset, thanks to the laws of physics and the skilled yield management of the operators that fly spacecraft in Earth orbit. 

In my contribution to the previous edition of Satellite Executive Briefing I wrote of the maritime communications environment being fairly characterized as “highly dynamic”.  Indeed, this very dynamism was well demonstrated at the “Maritime Insights Europe 2012: Expanding Communications with Fixed & MobileNetworking Solutions to Further Horizons” conference, which took place in London on 27th and 28th June, and about which I also wrote in that earlier column.

Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission, is set to deliver a keynote speech on the opening day of the world’s largest broadband conference and exhibition, the Broadband World Forum. Kroes will kick-start the three-day event, which focuses on service transformation and the connected consumer, by addressing the future of broadband connectivity and network speeds.

New consumer research from Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) finds that 87% of households nationwide subscribe to some form of multi-channel video service. The percentage of households that subscribe to a multi-channel video service is similar to the past two years, and up from 80% in 2004.

Freeview today published research undertaken by Futuresource Consulting that shows that almost every home in the UK will be able to access Connect TV powered services by the end of 2014. Connect TV brings internet delivered content to the Freeview Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). The service works on all compliant Freeview HD devices and offers live streaming and on demand services.