Space for more

摘要

The satellite industry has so far proved immune from the economic downturn, with a boom in demand for capacity for permanent services. Other lines of business including occasional use and broadband access are also seeing growth. Stuart Thomson reports. The fortunes of media industry players in the current economic crisis vary hugely. While advertising-based commercial broadcasters continue to suffer from the downturn, pay-TV remains relatively prosperous. And the main infrastructure providers for European pay-TV - the satellite operators - are prospering as never before. Satellite operators are in a fortunate position. Compared with the glut in capacity in the skies over Europe a few years ago, transponder space is now in short supply, and operators are rushing to build new satellites to launch into space to meet the demand. To some extent this has meant that operators can now rely to a greater extent on their core infrastructure business of doing long-term space segment deals with broadcasters. There may therefore be less need to tap into the occasional use market or to invest in 'value added services' such as corporate data and residential broadband access.