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On Wed, 20 May 1998, Jeff wrote:
>Apparently he heard that the "Galaxy 4" satellite that carries BMI is
>"spinning out of orbit"!!
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A communications satellite spun out of
control Tuesday afternoon, interrupting service to millions
of pager users and disrupting behind-the-scenes television
transmissions across the country.
Galaxy 4, which is operated by PanAmSat, started having
problems about 6:30 p.m. EDT, said a company technician who
asked not to be named. The company was still able to
communicate with the satellite, and technicians hoped to
restore its correct orbit.
Scott Baradell, a spokesman for PageNet, one of several
paging companies whose services were interrupted, estimated
that 80 to 90 percent of the 40 million to 45 million U.S.
pager users lost service.
The only customers not affected were those whose connections
are through ground-based radio transmitters, he said.
Baradell said it would take about a day for his company to
switch service to another satellite. ``You have to make
adjustments to your system,'' he said. ``If it's at all
possible to get Galaxy 4 back in service, that's much
preferred.''
A woman who answered the phone at Greenwich, Conn.-based
PanAmSat refused to comment.
If Galaxy 4 can't be fixed, traffic would have to be
redirected to other satellites, said Russ Colby, a vice
president at Digicom Services, a Los Angeles-based pager
company that has 40,000 subscribers. He estimated up to
20,000 of its customers were out of service.
Television stations use Galaxy 4 to transmit feeds of
advance shows, said Marguerite Sullivan, satellite
coordinator for KCAL-TV in Los Angeles.
It was not clear what television programming might be
affected.
``Hopefully, TV stations will be able to work around it,''
she said. ``It's just satellite space is going to be very
tight. It's going to be a problem for syndication. ... Thank
God most stuff is done two days in advance. We're not too
bad off.''
In addition to the syndicated programs, CBS radio and
television, the Chinese Television Network and the CNN
Airport Network send feeds through Galaxy 4.
CBS relied most heavily on Galaxy 4 but had a backup plan
and has not been affected by the outage, said spokeswoman
Amy Malone. ABC and NBC also said their operations have not
been affected.
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