This past June, while at the CASBAA & CommunicAsia events, the new CEO of SES S.A. sat down with CNBC Asia for a little interview. At approximately the 1:05 mark, he’s asked about “social media” and its impact on satellite services. I don’t know who’s less prepared here — the interviewer or his guest — but taking 7 seconds to come up with an answer should give you a clue…
Meanwhile, Deepak Mathur nails it on Bloomberg…
What a gorgeous place to visit: the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. It’s not cheap to fly there and it’ll take more than a day from the Eastern U.S.
How’s the Internet connection out there? It’s getting better, thanks to Telecom Cook Islands and O3b Networks. They began installing and testing back in December and they should be up and running with more by now.
What do their customers think? They’re happy…
O3b Networks is well-funded, yet it may soon face competition from one of its backers, namely Google.
The trends are pointing in favor of the cord-cutters.
Even BSkyB, the pay-tv service that put Astra on the map, is itself moving away from using satellite technology.
The Telegraph published an excellent report, which could be the slow de-orbiting of the satellite business…
BSkyB is preparing a major overhaul of its set-top box technology to address the threat to its subscription business from internet-based television services from American giants such as Amazon, Apple and Google.
A special unit has been set up within the company under the name “Project Ethan” to develop an entirely new system that will aim to make it easier for customers to access programmes on any device, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
For instance, Project Ethan is understood to include plans for television recorded using the Sky+ service to be stored in a central data centre rather than on set-top box hard disks. The recordings in “the cloud” will be accessible via smartphones and tablets, or on internet-connected televisions outside the living room.
For both recorded and on-demand video, the new software will make it possible for viewers pause on their main television and then pick up where they left off on another device, and vice-versa. Sources said BSkyB, which formerly referred to the investment as “Project 2016,” could roll out the system to millions of customers as soon as two years from now.
The multi-screen technology would also allow BSkyB to extend the reach and sophistication of its recently-launched targeted advertising service. In one possible scenario, retailers could target viewers in a given postcode on their sofa then follow up with a special offer delivered to their smartphone via the Sky app.
Almost sounds like the IP-PRIME service that SES killed back in 2009.
Today’s launch of SES-8 into GTO made many rocket scientists very happy. Obviously, those who’ve worked at SpaceX for years are ecstatic. The entire launch vehicle community is happy for their success, as are those living on Florida’s Space Coast, who are expecting economic growth again.
The engineers who work on commercial satcom missions are happy to be back at the The Cape for launches. Let’s face it: compared to Kazakhstan or French Guiana, Florida is a better place for launches.
From a business perspective, satcom operators now have more options when it comes to launch vehicles. And with the SpaceX manifest of 50 launches, it seems this “crazy space business” is about to start making money.
We wish SpaceX and their commercial customers continuous success!
Here’s the full launch video…
The executive succession at SES S.A. has begun, with the anointment of Dr. Karim Sabbagh and CEO-designate, replacing Romain Bausch in April of 2014. Holding dual citizenship in Canada and Lebanon, he’s been in Dubai for years and apparently knows his Arabic Internet trends.
What I’m most excited about is his background with Leo Burnett MENA (lame Flash site), where he may have learned how important it is for a company to have a sense of personality. SES, which used to stand for Société Européenne des Satellites, clearly needs to find it’s global brand and tell people what it stands for besides being “your satellite company.”
Rocket scientists who care about marketing space-based businesses will be watching this closely.
Rob Bednarek passed into the next life over the weekend.
Mr. Bednarek had been an industry innovator and leader for over 30 years and held a bunch of U.S. patents related to Global Positioning System (GPS). Mr. Bednarek led entrepreneurial organizations, major public and private companies including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PanAmSat. As the engineering and technology leader for PanAmSat, he was instrumental in the success of the world’s first competitive international satellite operator before its acquisition by Intelsat.
He joined SES in 2002 to run corporate development, where his tit-for-tat emails with Dean O. became legendary. In 2006 he was rewarded with the title president and CEO of SES NewSkies (changed to WorldSkies in 2009). Under his management, NewSkies swallowed Americom to become SES WorldSkies. His leadership was recognized not only for his management and technology strengths, but also for the dignity and respect with which he treated his clients, peers, colleagues, and co-workers.
R.I.P.
Nice job, Arianespace!
The mission was carried out by an Ariane 5 ECA launcher from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Liftoff was on Friday, September 28, 2012 at 6:18 pm local time in Kourou (5:18 pm in Washington, D.C., 21:18 UT, 11:18 pm in Paris, and on Saturday, September 29 at 2:48 am in Bangalore).
ASTRA 2F. Built by Astrium using a Eurostar E3000 platform, ASTRA 2F weighed 6,000 kg at launch. Fitted with active Ku- and Ka-band transponders, ASTRA 2F will be positioned at 28.2 degrees East. It will deliver new-generation DTH TV broadcast services to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and offers a design life of about 15 years.
GSAT-10. Designed, assembled and integrated by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in Bangalore, southern India, GSAT-10 weighed about 3,400 kg at launch and offers a design life exceeding 15 years. The satellite is fitted with 18 C-band and 12 Ku-band transponders. Positioned at 83 degrees East, it will provide direct-to-home broadcasting, weather and radio-navigation services. Its coverage zone encompasses the entire Indian sub-continent.
SES and Astrium put together a video of how and why a spacecraft gets built, launched and operated.
Here’s the short version…
And here’s the long version…
Want to see the raw footage? Yeah, that’s here, too…
