spacetoday.net: Bankruptcy court approves Loral satellite manufacturing contracts

Posted: Thu, Oct 23, 2003, 8:29 AM ET (1229 GMT)

A federal bankruptcy court judge has approved plans by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) to finish construction of one satellite and start work on three new satellites. The court ruled Wednesday that SS/L should go ahead with plans to complete assembly of the DirecTV 7S satellite, as well as start work on the DirecTV 8 and DirecTV 9S satellites for satellite television company DirecTV and the Galaxy 16 satellite for PanAmSat. SS/L signed contracts to build the three new satellites in the last several weeks, after its parent company Loral filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. DirecTV rival EchoStar had made a $200-million bid to buy the nearly-complete DirecTV 7S from SS/L, a maneuver opposed by Loral and which raised concerns among some regulators. However, DirecTV raised its offer for the satellite by $25 million, to $165 million, to ensure it would win the satellite. SkyREPORT.com reported Thursday that EchoStar has also withdrawn its $1.85-billion bid to purchase all of Loral's assets, a move that should clear the way for the court to approve Intelsat's bid to buy five Loral satellites.