Eutelsat Communications has blamed worsening trends in Data & Professional Video and the unplanned return of a couple of transponders in Russia for a disappointing first quarter.
The Paris-based satellite operator reported revenues of €316.5 million, a fall of 6.2%.
CEO Rodolphe Belmer said the company stood by the €1,280 million and €1,320 million range for full-year revenues, though admitted the final amount was likely to be in the “lower half of this range”.
In Broadcast, which represents 62% of revenues, Eutelsat said the trends in professional video and the Russian loss didn’t alter its view of Broadcast as a “fundamentally resilient business”.
At 30 September 2019, the total number of channels broadcast by Eutelsat satellites stood at 6,976, down 0.3% year-on-year. The number of HD channels stood at 1,582 versus 1,419 a year earlier, up by 11.5% and represented 22.7% of channels compared to 20.3% a year earlier.
