Satellite Television (DBS, DTH, DSat, DVB-S, DVB-S2) News

UEI providing voice-enabled remote for Astro's Ultra set-tops
Sep 22, 2021 – Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI) (NASDAQ: UEIC) has begun providing voice-enabled remote controls to Astro for its Ultra set-top box. The remote is powered by UEI chip technology with BLE and unfrared control capability.
News categories: Universal Electronics, Astro, Kuldip Singh Johal, Shahrul Sultan, Digital TV, Malaysia, Satellite, Set Top Box, UX

Sky Q and Sky Go in the UK get new features
Sep 9, 2021 – Sky Q has announced that new features have been added to its platform in the UK. On Sky Q, more control is available by using voice commands, and Sky Go now supports restart, ad-skipping and downloads for offline viewing.
News categories: Sky, Fraser Stirling, Apps, Digital TV, Satellite, Set Top Box, TV Everywhere, UK

DTH subscribers down 1.42 million in India in 1Q 2021
Aug 27, 2021 – According to TRAI, Pay DTH had an average active subscriber base of 69.57 million at 31st March 2021. At the same time there were 12 MSOs and 1 HITS operator with a subscriber base of more than one million.
News categories: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Cable TV, Digital TV, India, Satellite, Subscribers

Sky New Zealand reports results for 2021 financial year
Aug 25, 2021 – Sky NZ has reported results for its 2021 financial year. Sky Box customers were down 4% YoY at 561,989. Streaming customers (Neon, Lightbox, Sky Sport Now, RugbyPass and retransmission) were down 3% YoY to 393,179.
News categories: Sky New Zealand, Digital TV, New Zealand, Results, Satellite, Subscribers

U.S. video losses slow to 1.5 million in 2Q 2021
Aug 24, 2021 – According to Kagan, subscriber losses at U.S. cable, telco and satellite video service providers in the second quarter of 2021 slowed from the year-ago period to 1.5 million.
News categories: Cable TV, Digital TV, IPTV, Satellite, Streaming, Subscribers, USA

U.S. STB initiative saves consumers $2 billion in energy costs
Aug 23, 2021 – An agreement between the pay TV industry and energy efficiency advocates, led by the CTA, NCTA and CableLabs, has cut energy usage of STBs by more than half in the U.S., since it was established eight years ago.
News categories: NCTA, Consumer Technology Association, Neal Goldberg, Doug Johnson, Cable TV, Digital TV, IPTV, Satellite, Set Top Box, USA

Cyfrowy Polsat contract pay TV subscribers down 24,000 in 2Q 2021
Aug 18, 2021 – Cyfrowy Polsat S.A. has released results for the six months ended June 30, 2021. At the end of June the company had 4,961 thousand contract pay TV subscribers, down 40 thousand (-0.8%) year-on-year.
News categories: Cyfrowy Polsat, Digital TV, IPTV, Poland, Results, Satellite, Subscribers

Major U.S. pay TV providers lost ~1,230,000 subscribers in 2Q 2021
Aug 17, 2021 – Leichtman Research Group (LRG) has found that the largest pay-TV providers in the U.S. lost about 1,230,000 net video subscribers in 2Q 2021, compared to a pro forma net loss of about 1,505,000 in 2Q 2020.
News categories: Leichtman Research, Bruce Leichtman, Broadband, Cable TV, Digital TV, Satellite, Streaming, Subscribers, USA

TrueVisions subscribers down 300,000 versus 2Q 2020
Aug 16, 2021 – True Group has reported results for second quarter of 2021. TruVisions has been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. TrueID expanded its entertainment portfolio with the launch of TrueID+.
News categories: True Group, Cable TV, COVID-19, Digital TV, Results, Satellite, Set Top Box, Streaming, Subscribers, Thailand