ArrowStar

ArrowStar (formerly known as MCI ArrowStar from 2001-2005) is an American direct broadcast satellite broadcasting company formed in 1991 by a joint-venture of, , and , who were collectively referred to as ArrowStar Partners L.P. by the company. It broadcasts on the Ku band and Ka band from a fleet of communications satellites in geostationary orbit at positions ranging from 95°W to 119°W, ensuring strong coverage of the North American continent. The service also supplements its subscribers with home antennae to receive local broadcast television stations (e.g., ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox). ArrowStar is wholly owned by -based, which itself is owned by. It's primary competitors are and.

ArrowStar was founded in, but is now and based in the  of. It's broadcast centers are in Richardson and, and ArrowStar has call centers in , , , , , , and.

History
In 1991,, the , and announced a joint-venture, at first named SES/NTT/Bell Satellite Venture L.P., with intentions of launching a satellite-based pay television service. The venture spent 3 years raising $1.92 million to build and launch two satellites, SES Arrow 1 and SES Arrow 2, into orbit from the in. In 1995, the service's name was declared to be ArrowStar.

The initial test of ArrowStar's service was in, , , and , with the first ArrowStar Kit (consisting of a receiver, dish and over-the-air antenna) being sold at a  authorized dealer in  on June 12, 1995, expanding to the rest of the  on August 1, 1995.

The first confirmed transmission of signals from SES Arrow 1 and 2 to an ArrowStar receiver was on November 1, 1994 at Bell Atlantic's headquarters,, in.

In 1998, ArrowStar's headquarters were relocated from to the  inner suburb of. ArrowStar vacated it's old broadcast center in and relocated those operations into the ArrowStar Control Center (a converted former ) in the Dallas suburb of. ArrowStar's original broadcast center was razed shortly after the company moved out of the building (part of the industrial park currently occupies the site). ArrowStar kept it's New York City-area call centers in and.

In 2001, ArrowStar Partners L.P. was sold to for $5 million, and ArrowStar was renamed MCI ArrowStar. In 2005, MCI sold ArrowStar to for $10.2 million.