PanAmSat

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PanAmSat Corporation
Company type Subsidiary [1]
Industry Telecommunications
Founded1984;40 years ago (1984)
Founder Rene Anselmo   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Headquarters Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
Owner Intelsat (2006–present)
Website https://www.intelsat.com/

PanAmSat Corporation was a satellite service provider headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1984 by Reynold "Rene" Anselmo, it operated a fleet of communications satellites used by the entertainment industry, news agencies, internet service providers, government agencies, and telecommunication companies. Anselmo got the idea for PanAmSat from Norm Leventhal, a communications lawyer in Washington, D.C., to whom he had turned to for advice regarding difficulties he was encountering in getting reasonably priced satellite transmission for his Spanish International Network (SIN), the current-day Univision. [2] Anselmo financed the entire project himself and Leventhal's law firm, hiring Martin Rothblatt for special satellite technical advice, filed for approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and lining up an initial satellite from RCA Astro-Electronics and a heavily discounted launch from Arianespace.

Contents

PanAmSat effectively broke the monopoly on international satellite communications which was held by INTELSAT, an international treaty-based organization founded and owned by several countries including the United States. PanAmSat, led by Anselmo, successfully lobbied the United States Congress to permit it to operate globally, competing against INTELSAT. Univision would also gain a nationwide cable audience through PanAmSat's efforts, gaining a head start in Spanish-language television in the United States and remaining the #1 Spanish network to this day.

Following the death of Rene Anselmo in 1995, [3] his widow Mary Anselmo controlled the company for a time. PanAmSat was sold to Hughes Electronics, a division of General Motors, in a US$3 billion cash and stock deal. The satellite operations continued to be under PanAmSat with Hughes being the majority shareholder. In May 1997, Hughes Communication Galaxy merged with PanAmSat, adding 9 more satellites to its fleet. In 2003, News Corporation purchased Hughes Electronic's PanAmSat division and on 24 April 2004 sold PanAmSat to a consortium of private equity firms in a leveraged buyout including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners for US$4.3 billion.

2004 leveraged buyout

KKR led the 2004 leveraged buyout by purchasing a 44% stake in the company. Carlyle and Providence each invested 27%, with management representing the remainder of the equity. The consortium invested only US$550 million in equity, financing the remainder through bank loans and bonds. The transaction closed in August 2004. One month after the buyout, the company issued an additional US$250 million in discount notes used to pay the consortium dividends. Three months later, PanAmSat filed an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In an ironic twist of fate, its private equity owners sold PanAmSat to its archrival INTELSAT in August 2005 for a total of US$4.3 billion in a deal finally consummated in July 2006. At the time of its sale, PanAmSat was the world's leading carrier of TV channels. In combination with INTELSAT (which had also gone private under private equity ownership in 2001), the new company — called Intelsat — is the world's largest commercial satellite company, with 53 spacecraft serving over 200 countries, with nearly 1400 employees.

In March 2007, Forbes magazine estimated the net worth of Rene Anselmo's widow, Mary Anselmo at US$1 billion. Anselmo, 78, lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. [3]

Satellite fleet

SatelliteManufacturerTypeLaunch vehicleLaunch date (UTC)StatusNotes
SBS 1 Hughes HS-376 Delta 1 November 1980Retired January 1990
SBS 2 HughesHS-376Delta1 September 1981Retired September 1996
SBS 3 HughesHS-376 Space Shuttle Columbia STS-5 11 November 1982Retired June 1995
Galaxy 1 HughesHS-376Delta1 June 1983Retired 1 April 1994
Galaxy 2 HughesHS-376Delta1 September 1983Retired May 1994
SBS 4 HughesHS-376 Space Shuttle Discovery STS-41-D 30 August 1984Retired August 1999
Galaxy 3 HughesHS-376Delta1 September 1984Retired October 1995
PAS-1 General Electric GE-3000 Ariane 44LP (V22)15 June 1988Retired February 2001
SBS 5 HughesHS-376 Ariane 3 (V25)1 September 1988Retired March 2000
SBS 6 HughesHS-393Ariane 44L (V39)1 October 1990Retired April 2009
Galaxy 6 HughesHS-376Ariane 44L12 October 1990Retired February 2003
Galaxy 5 HughesHS-376 Atlas I 14 March 1992Retired January 2005
Galaxy 1R HughesHS-376 Atlas I 22 August 199222 August 1992Launch failure
Galaxy 7 Hughes HS-601 Ariane 42P+ (V54)28 October 1992Failure on orbit November 2000
Galaxy 4 HughesHS-601Ariane 42P+ (V57)1 June 1993Failure on orbit May 1998
Galaxy 1R HughesHS-376 Delta II (7925-8)19 February 1994Retired 7 March 2006
PAS 2 HughesHS-601Ariane 44L (V65)8 July 1994Retired December 2008Intelsat 2, (formerly PAS-2)
PAS 3HughesHS-601Ariane 42P (V70)1 December 19941 December 1994Launch failure
PAS 4HughesHS-601Ariane-42L H10-33 August 1995Retired
Galaxy 3RHughesHS-601 Atlas IIA 1 December 1995Failure on orbit March 2006
PAS 3R HughesHS-601Ariane 44L (V82)12 January 1996RetiredIntelsat 3R (formerly PAS-3R)
Galaxy 9HughesHS-376 Delta II (7925)12 June 1996Retired
PAS 6 Space Systems/Loral LS-1300Ariane 44P8 August 1997Failure on orbit April 2004
PAS 5Hughes HS-601HP Proton-K 27 August 1997Active
Galaxy 8iHughesHS-601HP Atlas IIAS 8 December 1997Retired October 2002
Galaxy 10HughesHS-601HP Delta III 26 August 1998Launch failure 26 August 1998Launch failure
PAS 7Space Systems/LoralLS-1300Ariane 44LP15 September 1998Retired
PAS 8Space Systems/LoralLS-1300 Proton-K 4 November 1998Retired December 2016
PAS 6BHughesHS-601HPAriane 42L21 December 1998Active
Galaxy 11 Hughes HS-702 Ariane 44L21 December 1999Active
Galaxy 10R HughesHS-6016PAriane 42L24 January 2000Retired May 2008
Galaxy 4R HughesHS-601HPAriane 42L18 April 2000Retired July 2006
PAS 9 HughesHS-601HP Sea Launch, Zenit-3SL 28 July 2000Active
PAS 12Space Systems/LoralLS-1300 Ariane 44LP 29 October 2000ActivePreviously Europe*Star 1 → PAS 12 → Intelsat 12
PAS 1R HughesHS-702 Ariane 5G 15 November 2000Retired 2016
PAS 10HughesHS-601HP Proton 15 May 2001Active
Galaxy 3C HughesHS-702 Sea Launch, Zenit-3SL 15 June 2002Active
Galaxy 12 Orbital Sciences Corporation GEOStar-2 Ariane 5G9 April 2003Active
Galaxy 13 HughesHS-601HP Sea Launch, Zenit-3SL 1 October 2003Active
Galaxy 14 Orbital Sciences CorporationGEOStar-2 Soyuz-FG / Fregat 14 August 2005Active
Galaxy 15 Orbital Sciences CorporationGEOStar-2Ariane 5GS14 October 2005Active - Failure on orbit of command system, April 2010. [4] Control re-established in December 2010. Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) payload

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References

  1. "SEC".
  2. Norm Leventhal (3 February 2021). Rene, El Tigre, & Me. Up Close & Personal - Spanish Television in America. Dorrance Publishing Company, Inc. p. 55. ISBN   978-1-4809-8068-6 . Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  3. 1 2 "The 400 Richest Americans: #374 Mary Anselmo". Forbes. 21 September 2006.
  4. "Attempt to Shut Down Zombie Satellite Galaxy 15 Fails". SpaceX. 5 May 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2010.