Owen D. Kurtin

As the 112th U.S. Congress convenes this month, the shock wave created by the November mid-term elections, which produced the largest turnover of seats in the House of Representatives in […]

It was not so long ago that the mobile satellite service (MSS) sector looked dead in the water. With the exception of longest-standing incumbent Inmarsat, which boasted a successful IPO […]

Canada’s Parliament enacted legislation July 12 to remove restrictions on foreign ownership of Canadian-licensed satellite carriers. Prior to the legislation, Canada limited foreign ownership of telecommunications carriers, including satellite carriers, […]

For years now, legal, finance and government intelligentsia have propounded a purely competition-based theory of regulation, in which, as long as markets were competitive and transparent, industry-specific types of regulation […]

Eutelsat and ictQatar announced in May a strategic alliance for the joint procurement of a communications satellite to be positioned in Eutelsat’s 25.5 East orbital slot. ictQatar is the Qatari […]

President Obama was expected to sign into law in July the Dodd-Frank Act, the most extensive reform of financial services regulation since the Great Depression. The reforms look to be […]

In what has been described as an unprecedented event, the Orbital Sciences-built, Intelsat-owned-and-operated Galaxy 15 satellite stopped communicating with ground controllers April 5. But the satellite’s C-band payload remained operational […]

In February, we discussed satellite broadband and the pending release of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s National Broadband Plan . Released in March (available at www.broadband.gov), the plan was […]

At SATELLITE 2010, I was privileged to moderate the launch service providers’ panel, bringing together the chief executives of Arianespace, International Launch Services (ILS), Sea Launch and China Great Wall […]

In December, we discussed the final report of the White House Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee, otherwise known as the Augustine Committee. The report found NASA’s current human […]

The launch services marketplace always has been a tough place to earn a living. These days, there is a combination of strong demand and heavy backload, high barriers to entry, […]

The December closing of ViaSat’s $568 million cash and stock acquisition of Ka-band satellite broadband provider WildBlue, following November’s $75 million cash investment by SES into Google-backed startup O3b, which […]

Last April, we reported on the February 2009 loan commitments extended to satellite radio broadcaster Sirius XM Radio by Liberty Media, which controls satellite television broadcaster DirecTV. Liberty Media functioned […]

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued the final report of the Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee, otherwise known as the Augustine report, on Oct […]

This column has devoted substantial attention this year to the growth of U.S. government/Department of Defense procurement of commercial satellite capacity and network solutions, but mostly in the context of […]

In a few of the past columns , we discussed the expanding role of commercial satellite capacity and network services for military and other government use, the role of integrators or aggregators serving as

Innovative businesses offering new services to the public — and whose growth is measured in subscribers — are confronted with tricky math and public and investor relations tied to a […]

In June, we discussed the procurement of commercial satellite services by the U.S. government and particularly the Department of Defense under the Defense Information Systems Network Satellite Transmission Services-Global (DSTS-G) […]

U.S. government and Department of Defense procurement of commercial satellite services is handled by the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) under a regime called the Defense Information Systems Network […]

In March, we took a break from financial issues affecting the satellite sector specifically to discuss general economic conditions and the Obama Administration’s fiscal stimulus package. We also examined those […]

In February, two leading satellite operators struggling with their debt loads in an unforgiving market did very tough deals to put off maturity on their debt. Notwithstanding good brands, incumbent […]

We are departing briefly from issues affecting the satellite sector specifically to look at the general economic conditions affecting our sector and all others. The 2003-2004 rebound of the satellite […]

The New CFIUS Regime and Sovereign Wealth Funds This column previously has reported on the impact of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) on the satellite industry. In November, the

2008 closes with a potential bottom of the financial institutions/credit crisis that began in the summer of 2007 and spread from the subprime mortgage market to the entire financial services […]

As this column is going to press, events unprecedented since the Great Depression — and perhaps in history — have rocked Wall Street and financial markets worldwide. In a single […]

Last month, we reviewed the preliminary "Master Contribution and Support" agreement by hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, which has invested broadly in the mobile satellite service (MSS) sector to acquire […]

In 2003 and 2004, the satellite industry was abuzz with speculation about the entry of private equity firms into the fixed satellite service sector, and we analyzed many potential positive and negative impacts

The saga of the proposed merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio entered a new chapter in June when Kevin Martin, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission […]

A full year after initiating its review, the U.S. Department of Justice approved March 24 the proposed merger between satellite digital audio radio service providers XM Satellite Radio and Sirius […]

There has been plenty of gloom in the first months of 2008 stemming from the credit crisis born of the subprime mortgage meltdown and the end of easy and cheap […]