Network services price competition is proving to be a major hurdle for Intelsat, though the satellite company hopes its Epic high-throughput satellite constellation starts offsetting those declines, company officials said Monday as they announced Q4 results. The company said preliminary revenue for 2015 was $2.35 billion, while 2016 is expected to bring revenue of $2.14 billion-$2.2 billion, with the declines coming from a number of network services contract renewals, CEO Stephen Spengler said on a conference call. The company's first high-throughput Epic satellite -- Intelsat 29e -- launched in January, with three more set to launch later this year, he said. The company signed nine Epic agreements in Q4, most of them with current customers transitioning from current satellites to the Epic constellation, Spengler said. But, he said that "we do see Epic as not just a transitionary platform but a growth platform." Spengler said the company is developing new platforms to take advantage of the high-throughput capabilities, pointing to Intelsat's sponsorship of a cross-country drive of a Kymeta-connected car (see 1512160011) that will be on display at Satellite 2016 in March at the Gaylord National Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Applications like automotive connectivity and IoT are "where we can create value for our customers," Spengler said. Intelsat stock closed Monday at $2.72, down 9.6 percent.
Network services price competition is proving to be a major hurdle for Intelsat, though the satellite company hopes its Epic high-throughput satellite constellation starts offsetting those declines, company officials said Monday as they announced Q4 results. The company said preliminary revenue for 2015 was $2.35 billion, while 2016 is expected to bring revenue of $2.14 billion-$2.2 billion, with the declines coming from a number of network services contract renewals, CEO Stephen Spengler said on a conference call. The company's first high-throughput Epic satellite -- Intelsat 29e -- launched in January, with three more set to launch later this year, he said. The company signed nine Epic agreements in Q4, most of them with current customers transitioning from current satellites to the Epic constellation, Spengler said. But, he said that "we do see Epic as not just a transitionary platform but a growth platform." Spengler said the company is developing new platforms to take advantage of the high-throughput capabilities, pointing to Intelsat's sponsorship of a cross-country drive of a Kymeta-connected car (see 1512160011) that will be on display at Satellite 2016 in March at the Gaylord National Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Applications like automotive connectivity and IoT are "where we can create value for our customers," Spengler said. Intelsat stock closed Monday at $2.72, down 9.6 percent.
A year after launching its Sling TV over-the-top service, Dish Network continues to look for additional channels, and plans a user interface upgrade. "Twenty channels was pretty easy," CEO Charlie Ergen said in a conference call on Q4 results replayed Thursday. "When you're looking through 80 or 90, you need something better." Ergen said Dish "would still like to have two to three other content providers participating" on Sling and is "working closely" to find them -- the pitch being incremental customer and advertising growth.
Charter Communications is talking buildout plans with the FCC, apparently as part of discussions about conditions on its plans to buy Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. Meanwhile, an FCC decision on the deals seems close, experts said in interviews last week. Opponents are redoubling lobbying efforts against the deal. The FCC and Charter didn't comment.
A year after launching its Sling TV over-the-top service, Dish Network continues to look for additional channels, and plans a user interface upgrade. "Twenty channels was pretty easy," CEO Charlie Ergen said in a conference call on Q4 results replayed Thursday. "When you're looking through 80 or 90, you need something better." Ergen said Dish "would still like to have two to three other content providers participating" on Sling and is "working closely" to find them -- the pitch being incremental customer and advertising growth.
Charter Communications is talking buildout plans with the FCC, apparently as part of discussions about conditions on its plans to buy Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. Meanwhile, an FCC decision on the deals seems close, experts said in interviews last week. Opponents are redoubling lobbying efforts against the deal. The FCC and Charter didn't comment.
Along with documenting carriage hurdles facing independent and diverse programmers, the FCC in a notice of inquiry approved Thursday is looking for input on possible actions it might take to boost independent programming sources, Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake said. The commissioners approved the NOI, which was mostly as expected (see 1601290047) and seeks comments in docket 16-41 after it's published in the Federal Register. Chairman Tom Wheeler didn't comment about actions the FCC could consider after the NOI, which Commissioner Mignon Clyburn sought as part of last year's OK of AT&T buying DirecTV.
Along with documenting carriage hurdles facing independent and diverse programmers, the FCC in a notice of inquiry approved Thursday is looking for input on possible actions it might take to boost independent programming sources, Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake said. The commissioners approved the NOI, which was mostly as expected (see 1601290047) and seeks comments in docket 16-41 after it's published in the Federal Register. Chairman Tom Wheeler didn't comment about actions the FCC could consider after the NOI, which Commissioner Mignon Clyburn sought as part of last year's OK of AT&T buying DirecTV.
The FCC effective competition presumption doesn't mean the agency abandoned its duty to make findings in individual franchise areas, and the changing video market indicates "it likely would have been arbitrary and capricious not to change the presumption," the American Cable Association and NCTA said in a joint intervenor brief filed Tuesday in U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. NAB, NATOA and Northern Dakota County Cable Communications Commission in Minnesota, which are asking the D.C. Circuit to reject the agency's June effective competition order (see 1506020060), are due to submit reply briefs to the FCC (see 1602020038) and intervenor arguments by March 8. No oral argument is scheduled.
Though private-sector demand for federally used spectrum is growing, federal agency need for spectrum is also on the rise, and NTIA is increasingly looking at bidirectional sharing -- in which the federal government also gets access to nonfederal spectrum -- Paige Atkins, associate administrator, NTIA Office of Spectrum Management, said at an FCBA Wireless Telecommunications Committee brown bag lunch Wednesday. The agency no longer views private/public sector spectrum matters as a zero-sum game in which spectrum gained by one party means a loss for the other, she said: "We're trying not to think that way anymore.”