DIRECTV Enterprises was granted authority to operate its DIRECTV 5 satellite at 109.8 degrees West Longitude (WL) and provide DBS service from that location. DIRECTV was also granted special temporary authority (STA) for 180 days (effective Oct. 4) to relocate its DIRECTV 6 satellite to the 109.7 degree WL orbital location to hand off customer traffic to DIRECTV 5 and then move it to the 109.5 degree WL location for the remainder of the 180 days. For details see the Order and Authorization (DA 05-2654).
The FCC also granted DIRECTV Enterprises permission to relocate its DIRECTV 8 satellite from 100.85 degrees WL to 100.75 degrees WL. DIRECTV 8 has two authorizations; one for a Ku-band DBS space station and the other for a Ka-band fixed satellite service (FSS) space station. The FCC declined to impose the conditions requested by Mobile Satellite Ventures Subsidiary LLC (MSV), which was concerned about its AMSC-1 satellite at 100.95 degrees, but noted that "parties licensed at a particular orbital location are expected to coordinate with other parties licensed at the same location to avoid in-orbit collisions." Six in-orbit satellites share the space around the 101-degree WL location. In addition to DIRECTV 8 at 100.75 degrees WL and AMSC-1 at 100.95 degrees, DIRECTV 1R is authorized at a center location of 100.85 degrees, DIRECTV 4S is at 101.20 degrees, AMC-4 is at 101.0 degrees, DIRECTV 2 is at 100.8 degrees but recently received STA to move to 100.6 degrees. Another satellite is authorized to operate within 0.25 degrees of 101.0 degrees WL but has yet to be launched. The FCC said other applications to launch and operate satellites within 0.25 degrees of 101.0 degrees WL remain pending. For more information this grant, see the FCC Order and Authorization DA-05-2671.
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