- - - Lockheed Scrubs EchoStar 5 Launch - - -

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Lockheed Martin and its International Launch Services unit scrubbed this morning's flight of EchoStar 5 due to equipment failure aboard the rocket that will carry the satellite into orbit.

No rescheduled date has been set for the flight due to Hurricane Floyd, which is advancing on the Florida coast.

It's expected that weather forecasters with the 45th Space Wing, in charge of range operations at Cape Canaveral, will put the complex under a HURCON 3 condition sometime today. That will prohibit any launches at the site, including the planned flight of the DBS bird aboard Lockheed's Atlas 2AS launch vehicle.

Companies involved with the launch wouldn't talk about a rescheduled date. However, because of the advancing storm and glitches with the satellite, some quietly expect the satellite would launch no sooner than Thursday or Friday.

According to Lockheed Martin, engineers want time to analyze an avionics unit aboard the satellite that failed factory testing over the weekend. The unit is part of the Atlas launch vehicle control system.

Officials with EchoStar were disappointed with the delay, but optimistic about a rescheduled launch. During a dinner Sunday night, Chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen thanked spectators "for taking time out of your busy schedule" to attend the launch.

- - - Launches Tough? Try Lobbying Congress - - -

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - According to EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen, launching a satellite "is complicated, but what's really complicated is what's going on with Congress" and its continuing work on DTH legislation.

Ergen made the observation Saturday, two days before the scheduled launch of his company's fifth satellite. Once in orbit, EchoStar 5 could become the centerpiece of the company's local-into-local efforts.

First, however, the company needs legislative relief.

"We are waiting for Congress to say 'we will let you compete effectively with cable,'" Ergen said during a briefing on the satellite launch. The routine conference was attended by officials from Cape Canaveral, International Launch Services and Space Systems Loral.

DTH legislation is now before a conference committee staffed with House and Senate leaders. "There are some good things in the bill right now. There are some bad things," Ergen said. "What's important is that Congress put consumers first with the legislation."

- - - C-Band Subs Lose West Coast Feeds - - -

Only weeks after suffering a court-ordered disconnection of their network signals, a large group of long-term satellite consumers have had yet another disruption of service.

According to the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, C-Band subscribers saw the termination of three popular West Coast network signals on Sept. 1.

"This consumer nightmare just will not end," said Bob Phillips, NRTC president and chief executive officer "The terminations of the three network affiliate signals from Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles are clearly related to the relentless legal attack on satellite dish owners by the National Association of Broadcasters and represent a bitter blow to consumers nationwide."

In addition to its DirecTV business, NRTC also sells C-Band services through its Rural TV unit.

- - - SkyBOX: Cable Hell & Satellite High - - -

It's Cable Hell Week in New York City...beginning Monday with NAMIC, CTHRAA, a Kagan seminar or two about cable, Cable Positive and other meetings highlighted by Wednesday evening's big deal Walter Kaitz Foundation Dinner (the event that started it all).

All those wireheads in one town at one time...complete with bankers, programmers, vendors and wannabes. That's why we placed the Fall SkyFORUM right in that semi-annual time frame. (Also to give us a good reason for avoiding that over-heated Kaitz dinner.) And it brings along the cream of the satellite crop.

Back when we started SkyFORUM, we couldn.t find a single DTH analyst. Oh, there were a few bankers, a few hopefuls and lots of cable followers. Now, as we discovered at the Spring SkyFORUM, ten on a panel is too many. So, we've got the half who asked first this Thursday at the Marriott Marquis; the rest will be on the Spring panel.

And, as usual, we'll have one-on-one interviews with the CEOs of the public companies who count in the consumer satellite services world: DirecTV, EchoStar, Golden Sky, NRTC, Pegasus and hot bet for the future, CD Radio. We.ll also have a panel taking a close look at the growing MDU marketplace.

This year, look for some news to percolate around the meetings...real VOD will be back on the agenda as DIVA takes some serious steps beyond its four "test" markets (where, by the way, the tests are going gangbusters delivering startling buy rates). The Federal Confusion Commission has, inadvertently, of course, stalled the cable world's galloping consolidation, temporarily, giving DTH another window of opportunity. Now, if someone in Washington would just step forward and make some rational decisions (about copyright, about local-into-local, about dozens of issues involving satellite), all would be well with the world.

In the meantime, DTH subs just keep growing.

Right in the middle of cable's "real Hell."

- - - PEOPLE: Klineberg Succeeds Berry at Loral - - -

Klineberg Named President of Space Systems/Loral - Dr. John Klineberg has been named president of SS/L and vice president of Loral Space & Communications. He succeeds Robert Berry, who has been appointed chairman of SS/L and who continues in his role as senior vice president of space technology.

SkyStream Announces Advisory Board - SkyStream has formed an advisory board to discuss key broadband issues and provide guidance on the company's future business. Board members include John Abel of Geocast Network Systems, Jim Butler of Intel, Martin Dunsmuir of RealNetworks, Thomas Jacobson of T.C. Jacobson & Associates, Dick Johnson of EchoStar and Roland Noll of R2 Technologies.

ESPN's Stewart To Oversee Asia Pacific - Bernard Stewart, vice president, programming and development for ESPN International, has been named vice president and general manager of ESPN Asia Pacific. Stewart will be ESPN International's senior-most executive for the Asia Pacific region and will oversee the company's joint venture with STAR TV in Asia called ESPN STAR Sports.

CableFAX Daily Selects New Columnist - CableFAX Daily announced this week that Stephen Effros is its newest columnist. Effros' column, called "Think About That for a Minute" will cover relevant regulatory and content issues related to the cable industry.