ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on certain contractual elements or characteristics specific to a communication satellite operator's business when contracting satellite capacity to its customers. A categorisation in types of services can be made as follows: Satellite capacity provision for broadcasting: the satellite operator provides satellite transmission services via specified transponder capacity to TV and radio broadcasters for Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV or for radio transmissions, respectively. These services are used for what is often referred to as Satellite News Gathering (SNG). The licensing of the uplink and downlink stations is only one regulatory aspect to be considered by the contracting parties. The office of the United States (US) Trade Representative (USTR) has recently criticised certain countries for not meeting international commitments to open their domestic satellite services markets by putting up regulatory barriers. For the provision of broadcasting services, satellite operators and their customers execute 'transponder agreements'. A transponder agreement usually will provide for termination rights for both sides.
