The Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) announced the five people that will be inducted into the Satellite Hall Of Fame at an invitational ceremony on March 23:
- Steven Dorfman, as an innovator in a series of positions with Hughes Electronics that helped pioneer the cable neighborhood concept and catalyze the growth of the cable and direct-to-home (DTH) industries;
- Eddy Hartenstein, for co-founding and providing the business leadership that built DirecTV into the dominant DTH service in the United States;
- Polly Rash Hollis, for her leadership in the public, educational and health applications of satellites, championing of the ACTS experimental satellite and her service to SSPI;
- Clay Whitehead, for contributions as a policy maker who fostered the creation of the U.S. Open Skies policy and as a business executive who was instrumental in founding Hughes Communications in the United States and Astra in Europe; and
- Takuya Yoshida, as the former chairman of JSAT and innovator in the development of digital satellite broadcasting satellite services in Japan.
