| Type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Defunct | 2011 |
| Headquarters | Netherlands / United States |
| Products | Satellite Services |
Number of employees | 169 (2007) |
| Parent | SES S.A. |
| Website | http://www.ses-worldskies.com/worldskies/ |
SES World Skies was a short lived company formed as a result of the merger between the two SES subsidiaries, SES Americom and SES New Skies. The company was merged into its parent company, SES S.A. in 2011.
SES Americom traces its roots back to RCA Americom, formed in 1975. RCA Americom was notable for launching the Satcom series of satellites which were instrumental in helping early American cable TV channels gain traction. In 1986, General Electric acquired RCA and renamed the Americom unit to GE Americom. Fifteen years later, in 2001, GE sold its GE Americom unit to SES (Société Européenne des Satellites) for US$5 billion in cash and stock.
In 1998, Intelsat transferred 5 of its 24 satellites to New Skies Satellites N.V., a Dutch start up company formed by Intelsat to help move Intelsat towards privatisation. [1] [2]
In June 2004, New Skies Satellites was sold to The Blackstone Group for US$956 million. [3] Eighteen months later, SES Global (formerly Société Européenne des Satellites, now SES S.A., the operators of Astra) agreed to purchase New Skies from Blackstone for US$1.16 billion. [4]
In September 2006, the company name was changed from New Skies Satellites to SES New Skies.
In September 2009, SES New Skies and SES Americom were merged to form SES World Skies. [5]
In September 2011, SES World Skies and SES Astra were merged into SES S.A. to streamline operations under a single management system. [6]
Intelsat S.A. is a multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States. Originally formed as International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, from 1964 to 2001, it was an intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of communications satellites providing international telecommunications and broadcast services.
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. 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.
SES S.A. is a Luxembourgish satellite telecommunications network provider supplying video and data connectivity worldwide to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and institutions.
Satcom, a portmanteau of satellite communications, was a brand of artificial geo-stationary communications satellites originally developed and operated by RCA American Communications that facilitated wide-area telecommunications by receiving radio signals from Earth, amplifying them, and relaying them back down to terrestrial receivers.
SES Americom was a major commercial satellite operator of North American geosynchronous satellites based in the United States. The company started as RCA Americom in 1975 before being bought by General Electric in 1986 and then later acquired by SES S.A. in 2001. In September 2009, SES Americom and SES New Skies merged into SES World Skies.
Astra 1A was the first satellite launched and operated by SES, launched in December 1988. During its early days, it was often referred to as the Astra Satellite, as SES only operated one satellite originally. The satellite provided 16 transponders(+6 as rescue) and television coverage to Western Europe from 1989 to 2004. Astra 1A was retired and became derelict in December 2004.
Astra 1B was the second of the Astra communications satellites launched and operated by SES to add extra capacity to the satellite television services from 19.2° East, serving Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
AMC-3 is a commercial broadcast communications satellite owned by SES World Skies, part of SES S.A.. Launched on 4 September 1997, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, AMC-3 is a hybrid C-band / Ku-band satellite. It provides coverage to Canada, United States, Mexico, Caribbean. Located in a geostationary orbit parallel to the Yucatán Peninsula and Great Lakes, AMC-3 provides service to commercial and government customers, with programming distribution, satellite news gathering and broadcast internet capabilities.
Sky Television plc was a public limited company which operated a nine-channel satellite television service, launched by Rupert Murdoch's News International on 5 February 1989. Sky Television and its rival British Satellite Broadcasting suffered large financial losses, and merged on 2 November 1990 to form British Sky Broadcasting. A programming merger took effect on 1 December 1990.
The following lists events that happened during 2001 in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
AMC-11 , previously GE-11, is an American geostationary communications satellite which is operated by SES S.A. It is currently positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 131° West, from where it is used to relay cable television across North America for onward distribution. It broadcasts to Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico and the United States.
AMC-6, formerly GE-6, is a commercial broadcast communications satellite owned by SES S.A. Launched on 21 October 2000, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, AMC-6 became the fifth hybrid C-band / Ku-band satellite in the GE Americom fleet. The satellite provides coverage to the continental United States, Canada, the Caribbean islands, southern Greenland, and Latin America. Located in a geostationary orbit parallel to the eastern United States coastline, AMC-6 provides service to commercial and government customers, and is used as an Internet platform due to its wide coverage, scale and redundancy. Some of its capabilities include Very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) networking, satellite news gathering and Ku-band transceiver service. Launched as GE-6, it was renamed AMC-6 when SES took over GE Americom in 2001, forming SES Americom. This merged with SES New Skies in 2009 to form SES World Skies.
AMC-4 is a commercial broadcast communications satellite owned by SES World Skies, part of SES S.A.. Launched in 1999, from Centre Spatial Guyanais, ELA-2 by Ariane 44LP H10-3. It provides coverage to North America, Latin America, Caribbean. Located in a geostationary orbit, AMC-4 provides service to commercial and government customers, with programming distribution, satellite news gathering and broadcast internet capabilities.
AMC-21, or GE-21, is an American communications satellite operated by SES S.A., formerly SES World Skies and SES Americom. It was launched in August 2008 and is expected to remain in service for approximately 15 years. It is currently located at 125° West longitude.
Astra 5A was one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES at the Astra 31.5°E. Launched in 1997 to the 5° East position by NSAB as Sirius 2, operation of the satellite was transferred to SES in April 2008 and the craft renamed and moved to 31.5° East to open up a new orbital position for the company for the development of markets in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
SES-1 is a geostationary communications satellite which is operated by SES World Skies, then by SES S.A.
SES Astra SA was a corporate subsidiary of SES, based in Betzdorf, in eastern Luxembourg, that maintained and operated the Astra series of geostationary communication satellites between 2001 and 2011.
GE-2, called AMC-2 after 2001, is a privately owned American communications satellite launched in 1997. It was the first of the GE series to be launched outside the United States. It was launched by an Ariane 44L on 30 January 1997 at 22:04:00 UTC, flying from ELA-2, Centre Spatial Guyanais alongside another satellite, Nahuel 1A. It was owned by GE Americom until 2001 when the company was sold to SES. The name of the spacecraft was then changed by SES Americom to AMC-2 in 2001.
Intelsat K was a geostationary communication satellite built by Lockheed Martin. It was located at orbital position of 21.5 degrees west longitude and was owned by SES World Skies. The satellite was based on the AS-5000 platform and its life expectancy was 10 years. It was retired from service in August 2002 and transferred to a graveyard orbit.
