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SBS was founded on December 15 , 1975 by the aforementioned companies with the goal of providing a digital satellite communications network for business and other professional clients. SBS' fleet of satellites were the first in orbit to offer transponders in the Ku Band , meaning that smaller, less expensive dishes and equipment could be used to receive and transmit to the satellites, making SBS' satellite system attractive for business customers. This was opposed to then-current satellites using the C Band of RF Spectrum , requiring a larger (and more costly) dish 8 feet (and up) in size. SBS SATELLITES IN ORBIT Through its existence as a company, SBS had six satellites in orbit:
All the above satellites were built by Hughes using the HS-376 platform of satellite, with the exception of SBS 6, which used the HS-393 platform. SBS 1-5 have since reached the end of their useful life and are no longer in service (having being placed in Graveyard Orbit s), but SBS 6 is still in full working operation at 74 degrees west Longitude as of this writing. SBS 6 is still used daily for satellite feeds, especially video feeds for Television News through SNG ( Satellite News Gathering ). SBS 6 is currently, as of July 2005, the oldest operating geosynchronous communications satellite for North America, with no inclination in its orbit and operating at full capacity. THE END OF SBS In July 1984, Comsat left SBS, and exactly a year later, Satellite Business Systems was sold to MCI . During the sale of SBS to MCI, four satellites (SBS 1-4) were then in orbit. In 1987, SBS' fleet was sold off. SBS 1 and 2 were sold to Comsat, SBS 3 remained with MCI, and SBS 4 was sold to IBM's Satellite Transponder Leasing Corporation (STLC) together with the SBS 5 and 6 satellites, which were then still on the ground. In April 1990, Hughes Communications Inc (HCI), a subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft (who built the satellites) bought STLC from IBM. Sometime later (possibly around 1992) SBS 3 was sold to Comsat. (Comsat was later bought by Lockheed Martin .) Due to the divestiture of its fleet (to MCI & HCI, and ironically to Comsat and IBM as well, the former founders of SBS), SBS no longer exists as an entity, with the only operating satellite left of its fleet, SBS 6, now being owned and operated by PanAmSat . EXTERNAL LINKS |
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