Malcolm Miller, CEO of innovative set-top box-maker Pace Micro Technology, speaking to a group of industry investors in June, summed up the problem facing his market sector, "There are people out there who are buying smart new silver [cellular] phones at "350 each with [little extra benefits] over a 10 …

  There's a new satellite beaming towards the Middle East: "NourSat" (meaning "Light" Sat) is part-owned (30 percent) by the giant Mawared Group, the same company that has financed Orbit this past 10 years. NourSat is the name given to a handful of beams on a new Intelsat satellite operating …

On May 26,2004, Viacom's Sumner Redstone and Faisal al-Ayyar of Kipco (Kuwait Investment Projects Co) will perform a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Showtime's brand-new broadcasting centre at Dubai Media City. The two major shareholders in Showtime have much to celebrate. Showtime is, without doubt, the Middle East's most successful Pay-TV platform. …

Discovery's has plans for a global high-definition TV channel. But there's much more to this multi-tiered company. Chris Forrester takes a detailed look at Discovery Communications. Discovery revenues 1997 $860m 1998 n/a 1999 $1.1bn 2000 $1.4bn 2001 $1.5bn 2002 $1.7bn 2003 $2.0bn Est Data: Discovery Communications Discovery's international distribution Discovery …

SES Global has plans afoot to dramatically improve how viewers talk back to broadcasters. They are working on 'SatMode', an 'always on' two-way return path that send messages directly from the set-top box up to the satellite, and onto the broadcaster. The intention is to develop an ultra-low cost two-way …

Middle East broadcasting has seen some major changes this past summer - and not all of them are good. First, John Tydeman, ADD (Arab Digital Distribution)'s president has departed the company. Tydeman is a well-known and highly-regarded figure in satellite pay-TV, having been one of Rupert Murdoch's key players in …

Chris Forrester reports on new technology developments from the Satellite 2002 conference in Washington. "Consolidation is Inevitable" Small, regional and national satellite operators have little or no future, according to one of the major satellite consolidators. Giuliano Berretta, CEO of Paris-based Eutelsat, says satellite consolidation is not just about merging …

Cairo's huge new studios aim to give a much-needed boost to local production Egypt is the Middle East's production powerhouse. With its huge new 3.5 million square meter Media Production City just outside Cairo at 6th October City, plus major investments in new studios in the city in the Giza …

Viacom is the junior partner in the Showtime Middle East joint venture with KIPCO (Kuwait Investment Projects Co.), an investment vehicle for certain members of the Kuwaiti royal family. Showtime carries a bouquet of some 16 Western channels, plus 10 audio services, and claims some 180,000 subscribers. Redstone spent some …

DUBAI: Investment bankers are generally a strange bunch. Take any leading stock and some will take a buoyant view while others are more or less pessimistic, even though they are all working from much the same set of data and company core information. But in regard to American media giant Viacom—which …