News Analysis

by Peter Galace

Moscow, Russia, July 19, 2013--Russian officials have suspended all launches of Proton rockets following the July 2 launch failure of a Proton M rocket carrying three GLONASS navigational satellites into space.  The Russian Federal Space Agency, commonly called Roscosmos, announced last week that a Russian State Commission has been established and has started investigating the potential causes of the failure.

Dulles, Va., July 18, 2013--Orbital Sciences Corp. reported lower second quarter revenue by 10 percent, but better profit margins improved its bottom line. Second quarter revenue dropped to US$ 333.1 million, down 10 percent from the second quarter of 2012. Net income rose to US$16.3 million, or 27 cents per share, compared to US$ 14.6 million, or 25 cents per share, as the company benefited from lower interest expenses after refinancing debt last year.

Cambridge, UK, July 15, 2013--Amino Technologies reported on Monday flat revenue of GBP20.1 million pounds (US$30.36 million) for the half year that ended May 31, but said its pretax profit rose to GBP2.6 million (US$3.93 million) from £200,000 (US$302,140) as the company benefited from rebates totalling GBP1.7 million (US$2.57 million) on duties paid on international product sales.

New York, NY, July 12, 2013 — In a sudden twist of events, 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Co. stopped the bidding of Hulu and jointly announced that they will maintain their respective ownership positions in the video company. In a statement, the owners said they agreed to provide cash infusion of $750 million to propel future growth.

New York, NY, July 10, 2013--The increase in digital distribution and the continued shift to mobile devices for the delivery of all communications and content, is helping drive revenues for media and telecom companies, according to a recent poll of industry
executives by KPMG.

Ottawa, Canada, July 9, 2013--C-COM Satellite Systems Inc., a provider of mobile auto-deploying satellite antenna systems, today announced financial results for its second quarter ending May 31, 2013. The company is reporting a net profit of CDN $ 966,997 or 2.8 cents per share compared with results for the same period last year when there was a net profit of CDN $ 542,251, or 1.6 cent per share.

Redmond, Wash.,  July 9, 2013-- Start-up company Kymeta Corporation announced today that it has successfully closed a US$ 50 million Series C financing to accelerate the company’s growth plans. Kymeta, a privately held technology company, designs and manufactures satellite communication antennas and systems. Existing Kymeta investors including Bill Gates, Lux Capital and Liberty Global were joined in the financing by Osage University Partners and The Kresge Foundation.

New York, New York, July 9, 2013--Sirius XM Radio  today announced that it added 715,000 net new subscribers in the second quarter, bringing its total subscribers to more than 25 million.  Strong automotive sales helped drive 15% growth in net additions over the second quarter of 2012 and set a post-merger record for quarterly net subscriber additions. The company also announced that it was raising full-year guidance for total net subscriber additions to 1.5 million from its previous guidance of 1.4 million.

Hampshire, UK, July 8, 2013--A new study by Juniper Research investigating the Mobile TV & Video market has found that by 2017, revenues from streaming and download services on mobile and tablet devices will reach US$ 9.5 billion, up from US$ 4.5bn this year. This will be as a result of the maturation of the market for streaming subscription services and pay-per-title content, which will see new business models develop for smartphone and tablet users.

El Segundo, Calif., July 8, 2013 -- Three top pay-TV companies have emerged as the remaining serious contenders for online video service Hulu in a bidding completed on July 5 according to media reports.