American Satellite, LLC history

Following an October 1954 meeting of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) in Rome, the US National Committee for the IGY, working under NAS sponsorship, recommended that the US institute a scientific satellite program as part of its overall IGY program.

Following an October 1954 meeting of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) in Rome, the US National Committee for the IGY, working under NAS sponsorship, recommended that the US institute a scientific satellite program as part of its overall IGY program. It was approved, and on 29 July 1955 the Eisenhower Administration announced the US goal of orbiting an artificial earth satellite during the IGY.

31, 1958, the United States orbited its first satellite — Explorer 1.

With the 13 October 1959 launch of Explorer VII, that program came to an end—but the Space Age had only begun.

In 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space lifting off only a few hundred yards from where the nation’s first satellite began its mission.

20, 1962, John Glenn’s historic flight made him the first American to orbit Earth.

In 1981, when the Federal Communications Commission announced its intention to offer licenses for the newly developed DBS spectrum of satellite transmission, Hubbard formed United States Satellite Broadcasting Company, Inc. and became one of the first, and the few, to apply for the new licenses.

USSB was granted its DBS license in 1982.

In 1984, however, USSB appeared to be underway.

Launch of the USSB satellites was projected for 1988.

Raising investment capital proved difficult, with investors becoming wary after the failure of the Comsat and other satellite ventures, and it was not until 1990, with an investment by Chicago-based Pittway Corp., that USSB had procured the funding necessary to move forward.

But in June 1991, USSB and Hughes Communications agreed to join together to build and launch a 16-transponder DBS satellite.

While Hughes began work on manufacturing the satellite itself, in 1992 USSB and Hughes reached an agreement with RCA/Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. to design the DBS satellite dish and receiver distribution system to be used by the Hughes-USSB satellite.

DBS-1, the first high-power DBS satellite in the United States, was launched in November 1993.

By May 1994, the company was at last ready to begin transmitting.

That number has climbed to one million by mid-1995.

The company has yet to show a profit, with losses mounting to $95 million for the 1996 fiscal year.

Yet, these losses were expected to fade, as forecasts called for USSB to reach its break-even point of 1.6 million subscribers, an event expected to occur in 1997.