Lockheed Martin Confirms Contract for Five A2100 Satellites from Cablevision

Lockheed Martin’s Solar Array Test Facility in East Windsor NJ. (Lockheed Martin photo)

NEWTOWN, Pa., Nov. 30/Satnews Daily/ ¾ Lockheed Martin confirmed Monday it (NYSE:LMT) had been awarded a contract by Rainbow DBS Company LLC, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE:CVC) , to build its next five geostationary telecommunications satellites.

Designated Rainbow Ka-1 through Rainbow Ka-5, and situated at their final orbital locations of 62W, 71W, 77W, 119W, and 129W degrees, the satellites will provide direct broadcast services across the continental United States (CONUS). In addition, the most western satellites at 119W and 129W degrees will provide service to Alaska and Hawaii.

Although the terms of the agreement were not disclosed, Cablevision revealed last week it was spending about $740 million for the deal saying it underscores Rainbow DBS’ determination to push ahead with the Voom service in spite of continuing doubts on its costs and future viability.

Rainbow said its year-old VOOM satellite service will dramatically expand in March next year from its current 39 to more than 70 high-definition channels covering the full continental U.S. Tom Dolan, CEO of Rainbow Media, said the plan is to simultaneously add nearly 200 standard definition channels.

Lockheed Martin said the flexible designs of the spacecraft payloads feature multiple Ka-band spot beams as well as half-CONUS beams. Rainbow Ka-1 through Rainbow Ka-5 are based on Lockheed Martin's A2100AX satellite, with a predicted service life of 15 years.

"Rainbow Ka-1 through Rainbow Ka-5 represent a continuation of our successful partnership with Rainbow DBS, for whom we built and launched Rainbow 1, one of the world's most powerful and technologically advanced spot beam satellites," said Ted Gavrilis, president of Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems.

Dolan said by utilizing the most sophisticated Ka-Band technology, VOOM will continue to increase channel capacity and further enhance delivery of both high-definition and standard-definition programming across the United States, in step with projected market demand.

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