It’s easy to forget that the four largest satellite commercial operators all started out with government support. Intelsat, Inmarsat and Eutelsat were inter-governmental organisations for the first 25 years of their existence and SES started out with backing from Luxemburg’s government and government-owned banks. Governments continue to play an important role in getting new commercial satellite operators off the ground in emerging markets.

The enterprise customer is the most attractive yet elusive for the satellite service provider 

Signaling the drawing to a close of the northern hemisphere summer, two major events on the satellite industry calendar, which regularly bring together significant numbers of industry representatives to Europe in early September, will additionally feature gatherings that will focus on initiatives in which GVF, together with key industry, and other, partners, is taking the lead.

With its theme "TV365: Watch Closely!" the CASBAA flagship annual meeting, the CASBAA Convention 2011, will be staged at the Grand Hyatt hotel, Hong Kong Oct 31-Nov 3, 2011.

Since the past two decades, the telecom sector is the fastest growing industry in China, accounting for 750 million subscribers in 2010. The burgeoning Chinese telecom sector is poised to become one of the world's largest telecommunication markets, generating tremendous employment opportunities. The industry experienced a metamorphosis with the introduction of 3G services coupled with the rising trend of MVAS platform introduced by the players, according to a new report by Research and Markets.

Government demand continues to drive the market, but remains concentrated in a handful of countries

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), working with Futuresource Consulting, today announced the launch of new research into the key business challenges and future opportunities for European broadcasters in an evolving market. This is the first study of its kind within the broadcast industry and will shed light on the shifting broadcast marketplace, consolidation, cost pressures and potential new revenue streams for the industry, as well as how buying behaviours may be changing on account of financial pressures.

UK pay TV revenues are fast reaching maturity, so operators must find other revenue streams to ensure growth, according to a new report from Digital TV Research. UK pay TV revenues are forecast to reach US$9.3 billion in 2011, up by US$3.3 billion on 2006. However, revenues are only expected to climb by another US$250 million to reach US$9.6 billion in 2016. The UK Digital TV Forecasts report states that TV ARPU will fall as operators convert subs to bundles and as competition from free multichannel services intensifies.

According to a new report from Digital TV Research, rapid expansion meant that Brazilian DTH subscriptions overhauled cable as the most popular platform with considerable panache during the first six months of 2011. Further change is ahead as the government will soon amend legislation to allow telco to offer full IPTV services.

Among Chinese respondents, HDTVs were the second most cited device when considering CE purchase intentions in the next six months, according to a recent trio of surveys conducted by ABI Research on the Asia Pacific consumer electronics markets. Smartphones were number one, with nearly 60% of respondents; only 43% of respondents were interested in HDTVs. Purchase intent was similar in South Korea, with smartphones and HDTVs representing the top two device categories at 47% and 22% of respondents, respectively.