Drifting satellite threatens cable programming (Cinemax, Encore, ESPN, Fox News, HBO, Starz & SyFy)

Source: MSNBC

Drifting satellite threatens cable programming
Intelsat says it lost ability to control Galaxy 15 satellite last month


LONDON - Two of the world's largest satellite companies say they're scrambling to keep an out-of-control communications satellite from drifting into another's orbit and interfering with cable programming across the United States.

Intelsat said it lost control of the Galaxy 15 satellite on April 8, possibly because the satellite's systems were knocked out by a solar storm. Intelsat cannot remotely steer the satellite to remain in its orbit, so Galaxy 15 is creeping toward the adjacent path of another TV communications satellite that serves U.S. cable companies.

Galaxy 15 continues to receive and transmit satellite signals, and they will probably interfere with the second satellite, known as AMC 11, if Galaxy 15 drifts into its orbit as expected around May 23, according to AMC 11's owner, SES World Skies.

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Among the channels carried by Galaxy 15 and its sibling satellites are Cinemax, Encore, ESPN, Fox News Channel, HBO, Starz and SyFy.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37086846/ns/technology_and_science-space/

"The Satellite That Ate Cable!" :rofl:

then it's worth the sacrifice :rofl:

Maybe it will be a blessing and maybe someone could figure out a way to keep the noise away while recovering the other channels. And one more thing, I suppose that if this wayward satellite does take out Fox, it will be Obama'as fault. Darn him, why couldn't he control the runaway satellite?

to take out the one source of "fair and balanced" news, and turn the USA into a nazi-fascist-communist state!

What WILL we do....hehehehe.

More sunspot activity on the way.

to shutdown faux news.

If the ability to keep station is damaged. According to a book I read recently (How Spacecraft Fly), the gravitational anomalies of the earth can cause a "stationary" satellite to wander thousands of kilometers over a span of months.

It's a nice book, for anyone interested in such things (a non-mathematical treatment, but still quite sophisticated).

It's God's way. We can't argue with destiny.

Please let it be that we no longer must suffer Fox News and their hate machine.

I say we give it a medal!! :applause:

Hell, if the only possible loss were Fox "News", I'd be beggning for the space gods to send those two satellites on a direct course :bounce:

That channel has been getting away with too much stupidity and ethics breaches. Sean Hannity can't even get his facts straight. If we have to sacrifice our sports, movies, and Battlestar Galactica to curtail the bad influence of that Republican propaganda network, so be it. Read a book, chat on DU, or sleep early tonight.

for that matter, i'm all in favor of sending BP execs to the bottom of the gulf to fix their own disaster

and awesome.

Does the satellite do anything important, or is it just cable tv? Can I freely wish them crashing destruction with a clear conscience?