December 12, 2008

SES and EchoStar Reach Agreement to Co-Finance New Satellite in Mexican Orbital Slot

As recently reported in Space News, on November 26, Paul, Weiss client SES Americom Inc., a large satellite operator headquartered in Luxembourg, and EchoStar Corp. of the United States, announced that they reached an agreement on co-financing a large direct-broadcast television satellite to be placed in a Mexican orbital slot that both companies have been cultivating for more than three years. This follows the creation of a satellite-television joint venture between EchoStar and MVS Comunicaciones, a Mexican telecommunications company, to launch the Dish Mexico satellite-television service. In its FCC filing, EchoStar said the QuetzSat-1 satellite will be launched in 2011. The Paul, Weiss team representing SES included corporate partners Patrick Campbell, Doug Davis, Terry Schimek and Jordan Yarett, and associates Rachel Rivkind and Joel Tesoro.