SES Americom filed an application to modify its authorization for AMC-16. Initially it requested a temporary move of AMC-16 to 118.75 degrees west longitude (WL) from its authorized 85 degree WL location. At this temporary location, it will operate in the 11.7-12.2 GHz and 14.0-14.5 GHz bands under a Canadian authorization, pending the launch of Anik F3 now scheduled for the third quarter of 2006. SES Americom will not activate AMC-16's Ka-band payload at the 118.75 degree location. In addition, SES Americom has requested authority to return AMC-16 to the 85-degree WL location and resume Ku- and Ka-band services under SES Americom's original FCC license, dependent upon Anik F3 becoming operational at 118.75 degrees WL. Finally, SES Americom seeks authority to perform telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) using AMC-16's Ku-band TT&C frequencies. As part of this plan, SES Americom would cease Ka-band operations at the 85 degree WL location for a period some 90 days or longer, but would provide Ku-band services at that location using its AMC-2 satellite while AMC-16 is at 118.75 degrees WL.
PanAmSat Licensee Corp. requested modification of its authority to operate Galaxy 14 at 125.05 degrees WL rather than its authorized 125.15 degree WL location. In the application PanAmSat corrected the command frequency to 6420.5 MHz from the specified 6424.5 MHz frequency. PanAmSat also requested modification of its authorization for Galaxy 12 to operate from 125.15 degrees WL on an interim basis and afterwards 125.25 degrees WL as a back-up for the western edge of the U.S. arc. Galaxy 12 is a C-band satellite originally authorized to operate at 74 degrees WL. It is currently operating under STA at 125.05 degrees WL, serving as an interim replacement for Galaxy 5. Intelsat LLC requested modification of its INTELSAT 604 authorization to move the satellite from 157.0 degrees East Longitude (EL) to 178.0 degrees EL, effective Sept. 16, 2005.
For more information on the PanAmSat and SES Americom applications, see FCC Report SAT-00316.
The FCC granted DirecTV Enterprises’ request for STA to drift DIRECTV 8 from 100.65 degrees WL to 138.0 degrees WL to conduct in-orbit testing of the satellite's DBS payload in the 17.3-17.9 GHz (Earth-to-space) and 12.2-12.7 GHz (space-to-Earth) bands. After testing is complete, the satellite would be returned to its assigned location at 100.65 degrees WL. The FCC noted DirecTV has an application on file to modify DIRECTV 8's location to 100.75 degrees and stated that the grant is without prejudice to its review of this application. See FCC Report SAT-00317.
