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Satellite services restored
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May 22, 1998: 11:26 a.m. ET
PanAmSat using other craft in its fleet to revive video and telecom services
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - PanAmSat Corp., whose Galaxy IV communications satellite spun out of control Tuesday night, severing service to millions of paging customers across the country, said Friday it had restored video and telecommunications services via other satellites in its fleet.
PanAmSat doesn't expect to be able to use Galaxy IV for communications services ever again, and it has removed the geostationary spacecraft to a "safe, higher orbit."
The blackout knocked out service to about 90 percent of North America's estimated 40 million to 45 million pager customers, according to PageNet, the nation's largest service provider.
The satellite was launched in 1993 and was expected to last 15 years.
However, PanAmSat revealed in a regulatory filing last week that the Galaxy IV satellite was having fuel problems that probably would shorten its life.
PanAmSat Corp. was formed in May 1997 by the merger of the previous PanAmSat Corp. and the Galaxy Satellite Services division of Hughes Communications Inc.
Shares of PanAmSat (SPOT) were trading early Friday down 1/8 at 56-1/16 on Nasdaq.
-- from staff and wire reports
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