John Dvorak over at MarketWatch, suspects that something is fishy about Comcast’s push for 50 Mbps Internet service, echoing a hunch of mine that the cable internet service has already stretched its infrastructure and bandwidth to the max.

“A few months back, Comcast announced that it would impose a monthly 250 GB usage limit on its users. I personally think this is a lot of usage, but I don’t know for a fact since Comcast doesn’t actually tell its users how many bits they use a month. This in itself makes the whole usage cap seem fishy to me. Something is up.” – John C. Dvorak, MarketWatch

This brings up an interesting question – Do you think dissatisfaction over Comcast’s Internet service, especially if there are limits to its bandwidth, will open the door to satellite Internet providers or fiber networks in the more populated markets? Let’s take into consideration the growing demand for Internet movie downloads and other bandwidth-devouring media. How much longer can Comcast and DSL services dominate this market?

With Wall Street just blocks away, it is only appropriate that the current economic crisis would be a dominating subject at the ISIS Satellite Investment Symposium and the Satcon 2008 Convention, both in the heart of the financial world, New York City.

In my first Satellite Today Blog review of these events, I’m going to run down the list of questions and issues that were raised and determined whether these were addressed, answered or ignored. Feel free to comment on whether you agree or disagree and pitch your own questions as well.

Issue 1 – How will our economic climate affect the satellite industry?

Verdict: Addressed and answered. This should have been the title of every forum and panel that was held at this event (with the exception of military and satellite partnerships). You couldn’t escape the issue. Thank you to Sanford Bernstein Analyst Craig Moffett for getting the ball rolling on the issue by interrupting an MSS panel of executives talking about the positive future of their services by saying – “Any business plan you had four weeks ago, throw it out the window.”

Despite the grim situation, the good news, from what I can tell, is that satellite executives have acknowledged the situation and are making adjustments. What those adjustments are will depend on the figures and statistics they see down the road. For more details, read and subscribe to Satellite News.

Issue 2 – Are commercial satellite companies making adjustments to their expectations of consumers who are experiencing financial difficulties?

Verdict: Ignored (by subscriber-based services). This issue drove me crazy. Whenever I heard an executive from a subscriber-based service say “based on our customer projections, we see an increase…” I wondered just how old these projections were. If they were measured in, say, April, wouldn’t these be invalid in today’s market? I’ve written a lot of articles about satellite, terrestrial hybrid cellular services and I have heard a lot of talk about the potential to download video to handsets and increasing bandwidth. In the back of my mind, I’m asking myself ‘Will people go out and spend the money on these new handsets, or will people save money to pay their mortgages?’

Take it from a journalist who think a cup of noodles is a luxury meal – this issue that needs to be considered when making ‘future projections.’ Typically, the first thing to be nixed from a tight household budget is typically consumer electronics that aren’t needed.

Issue 3 – Is there investment capital out there?

Verdict: Addressed and answered. No. The financial analyst panels at ISIS made this clear. Again, for more details, subscribe to Satellite News.

Issue 4 – Who will survive and who will fail?

Verdict: Addressed but not answered. Certain names were dropped, more specifically, companies that have not secured their funding. However, there are several factors out there that could save these companies and good management is one of them. Luckily, most of these companies have good management.

The bottom line is: cash is king, and luckily, there are a lot of companies out there with cash on hand. We will not know who will sink or swim. Some think ground segment will be the first hit, some don’t. Some think that the ATC sector is alive and well, some say ‘not so fast.’ Only time will tell.

Issue 5 – Will there still be a high demand for bandwidth?

Verdict: Addressed, promoted, praised and answered. For the satellite industry, demand for bandwidth and broadband data and video services is the driving force of the industry. The military is now a big customer. Consumers who cannot afford to go out to the movies are downloading movies on their computer… The need is out there and satellite companies have done extremely well in using these convention forums to push satellite services as a utility – like electric, heat and hot water. As I said before, whether or not customers will buy new hardware is another story.

Overall, I’m optimistic about the satellite industry’s position in the economic crisis. It certainly did not contribute to the problem and in some cases, it may even be a solution to the problem.

DigitalGlobe, a satellite imaging company, filed paperwork in April to sell stock on the New York Stock Exchange. At the time of the filing, the company claimed that it would use the proceeds from the public offering to build a satellite for launch in fall 2009, the WorldView-2 orbiter, estimated to cost $283 million. Unfortunately, it turned to Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers to handle the offering.
With Morgan Stanley in Chapter 11 and confidence in investment banks at an all-time low, it is uncertain whether DigitalGlobe will go through with its public offering. Combine that with the fact that investment banks own $20 million of DigitalGlobe’s debt and you have a very uncertain future for DigitalGlobe on the stock exchange.

Will DigitalGlobe go public, or wait it out? What does this new economic climate mean for emerging companies?

It has become abundantly clear that something needs to be done to boost Sirius XM Radio’s stock value. Confidence in its ability to boost subscribers is quickly draining, according to several media and economic analysts.

While writing up a summary of the company’s stock woes in a Satellite News feature, I thought of turning to our readers for a remedy. How would you turn things around for Sirius XM? Is it too late? Has the merger sealed its demise? Is there a strategy that you feel hasn’t been explored? These question are asked quite often by executives I meet who are outside of the satellite radio industry.

What if Sirius XM decided to turn its service into an application that could be downloaded to an iPhone or a Google cell phone? You would have to be a subscriber to use the service, of course, and it would give the company a right to challenge companies already providing this service on the iPhone (uXM and uSirius) Wouldn’t these applications give Sirius XM even more mobility than the current portable units? Or am I completely off the mark?

As I interview executives and analysts in the satellite industry, one issue keeps popping up in tangent conversations — the age issue. But there is little agreement on the exact nature of the problem.

The range of issues includes:

1. More than a few executives have noted that they are worried about “carrying over the excitement and enthusiasm” of the satellite industry because a large portion of consultants and executives are either nearing retirement or being pulled out of it.

2. Boeing released a study this year stating that the average age of an aerospace engineer is 54. Even more surprising is that 80 percent of engineers and industry personnel said they would not recommend the industry to their children.

3. Recruiting companies have confirmed in interviews that retired engineers and executives continue to be in demand and that 30-plus years of experience is becoming a prerequisite for a majority of senior positions.

4. I have heard the phrase “the space industry isn’t sexy anymore,” at least a dozen times by more than a handful of people.

Is there a lack of youth in the satellite industry? If so, how will the age gap affect the industry and what can it do to fix this problem?