The Satellite 2009 conference and exhibition held annually in Washington D.C. is always a good bellwether of how the industry is doing. More so today, when the global economies are reeling from the worse downturn in decades. Unlike in other conferences in recent months, when the severity and seriousness of this downturn was not yet fully evident, the timing of the Satellite show presents a unique opportunity to provide a fuller perspective of the state of the industry. With over 9,000 satellite executives including many of the CEOs of leading companies descending on Washington, D.C.

The Satellite 2009 conference and exhibition held annually in Washington D.C. is always a good bellwether of how the industry is doing. More so today, when the global economies are reeling from the worse downturn in decades. Unlike in other conferences in recent months, when the severity and seriousness of this downturn was not yet fully evident, the timing of the Satellite show presents a unique opportunity to provide a fuller perspective of the state of the industry. With over 9,000 satellite executives including many of the CEOs of leading companies descending on Washington, D.C.

Not too long ago when someone got on the internet the chances were it was to do email or to search for information. In other words communication was mainly one to one and users were primarily consumers of information. With a few exceptions these were not time sensitive pursuits and were heavily biased towards downstream communications. Not any more. Many users have become participants creating, sharing and commenting on content. This will come as no surprise to anyone with children in their teens or twenties, as this change in usage is being driven by them – the Millennial Generation.

The current credit crisis and global recession has pressured satellite industry balance sheets around the world. The question, "Will they run out of cash?" has been asked with increasing frequency about many satellite companies that just months earlier looked forward to seemingly bright futures. While the public equity markets and many sources of debt financing have closed to satellite companies, the market for PIPEs, or Private Investments in Public Equity, offers a potential solution.

On February 17, 2009, US President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law which provides for a US$ 787 Billion economic stimulus package. Some of that money may filter to the satellite industry. Specifically, two items may be of interest to satellite companies-the US$ 7.2 Billion in grants to bring broadband internet service to rural areas and the US$ 1 Billion for NASA, which includes $400 million for space exploration.

Facing a US$ 175 million debt payment  Feb. 17, embattled US satellite radio operator, Sirius Satellite was bailed out by mogul John Malone of Liberty Media Corp. which has substantial interests in the leading satellite DT provider in the US, DirecTV and in the satellite broadband service, WildBlue. Sirius earlier announced that if it was unable to restructure its debt or come to an arrangement with a third party, it may have to declare bankruptcy.

The satellite broadband sector has gained a lot of ground as there are now approximately over one million individual users worldwide. These are families and small businesses who subscribe to service providers that address the individual consumer by providing a dish, modem and access to the Internet. With the familiar asymmetrical arrangement, these services deliver download speeds between 200 kbps and perhaps 1 Mbps; and upload speeds that hover at 100 kbps as a peak rate.

Many industry observers are quick to note that the teleport business which has been undergoing considerable consolidation in the last few years is not as viable a business as it used to be. One relatively new entrant to the teleport business is trying to disprove the doubters.

Over 1,000 attendees officially registered for the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) conference held in Hawaii from January 17-21, 2009 with 4,000 more participating in the event as "networkers." This number was lower than in previous years, but the quality of the attendees in terms of having top executives of leading companies more than made up for the quantity of delegates. Besides, the PTC is slightly different from other shows in that it has five times as many other participants who can register as a "networker" and still participate in the many activities surruonding the event.

Application Technology Strategy LLC is the satellite consulting firm founded by Bruce Elbert, leading satellite expert and consultant, technologist, educator and author of standard industry books.