LORAL WILL BUY SKYNET SATELLITE SERVICES.Byline: Farrell Kramer Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. In the second big satellite system acquisition in less than a week, Loral Space & Communications on Wednesday announced a deal to buy AT&T's Skynet Satellite Services for $712.5 million. Loral, recently formed as an offshoot of Lockheed Martin's $9.1 billion purchase of Loral Corp.'s defense businesses, touted the acquisition as the first purchase by the new Loral Space & Communications Ltd., suggesting there are more to come. Skynet provides Loral with a strong entry into the lucrative satellite service business, bringing it four orbiting satellites that beam TV programs, phone calls and computer data around the country. ``The demand for satellite services is huge and growing,'' Bernard Schwartz, Loral's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. ``It is the most cost-effective method of extending high quality broadcast and broadband broadband Term describing the radiation from a source that produces a broad, continuous spectrum of frequencies (contrasted with a laser, which produces a single frequency or very narrow range of frequencies). interactive multimedia services worldwide.'' Loral's purchase follows Hughes Electronics' disclosure Friday that it had agreed to buy satellite operator PanAmSat for $3 billion. Both acquisitions aim to build on the growing demand for satellite transmission, particularly with the increasing popularity of direct-to-home satellite TV services. Purchasing Skynet, which will be renamed Loral Skynet Loral Skynet is a full-service global satellite operator headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey. The company provides a wide range of video and data transmission services. It became a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications when Loral acquired it in 1997 from AT&T. , comes along with two other initiatives at Loral to build its satellite business. Loral will start launching 48 low-earth-orbiting satellites for its Globalstar worldwide telephone system in the second half of 1997. It also plans geostationary Aligned with the earth. Refers to satellites (GEOs) that travel at the same rotational speed as the earth (they are geosynchronous) and are always the same distance from the earth. See GEO. satellites for its CyberStar two-way digital data transmission system, to be rolled out beginning in late 1997. A geostationary satellite's orbit keeps it above a single spot on the Earth. Loral, one of the world's largest manufacturers of satellites, with Skynet gets a satellite service company operating primarily within the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Its customers include ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. , Fox, PBS PBS in full Public Broadcasting Service Private, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, and Viacom. Skynet also leases satellite capacity to direct-to-home TV provider AlphaStar. The development of cheaper and smaller dishes is bringing U.S. programming to areas outside the United States where cable is not a force, and to rural areas in the United States unable to attract cable. |
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