Comsat

Comsat Corp., that button-down bastion of satellite engineers, has slipped on its shades and gone Hollywood.The Bethesda-based telecommunications company, whose recent successes in video distribution and professional basketball have stimulated its appetite for entertainment dollars, announced yesterday that it would acquire independent filmmaker Beacon Communications.The agreement to buy the Los Angeles-based producer of "The Commitments" involves a promise by Comsat to pay $10 million in cash, $19 million to cover Beacon's liabilities, and unspecified future cash payments, said Bruce L. Crockett, president and chief executive of the Maryland company.

Defense giant Lockheed Martin Corp. formally completed its long-awaited purchase of the 51 percent of Comsat Corp. it did not already own yesterday, and company executives said Comsat's satellite communications networks are expected to provide significant growth opportunities. Lockheed projected yesterday that the new business will generate $1 billion in revenue this year. Last year, Comsat generated $618 million in revenue. Comsat's 2,200 employees and its assets have been merged with Lockheed's existing telecommunications services division.

Comsat Entertainment Group, the nation's largest provider of movies to luxury hotel rooms, has decided to check in to a less pricey market as well.The subsidiary of Bethesda-based Comsat Corp. announced yesterday at a hotel industry convention in New Orleans that its On Command Video unit will introduce a new service called Video On Call to serve mid-priced hotel chains.Like On Command, the Video On Call service to in-room televisions will be provided from a bank of videocassette recorders on the hotel premises, Comsat Entertainment spokesman Paul E. Jacobson said.

Lockheed Martin Corp. is expected to close tomorrow on its purchase of the part of Comsat Corp. it does not already own now that a final regulatory hurdle has been cleared. The Federal Communications Commission cleared the way for Bethesda-based satellite communications provider Comsat to transfer its satellite and earth station licenses to defense contractor Lockheed, also based in Bethesda. Now, Lockheed has until the close of business tomorrow to finish paperwork completing the merger, the companies said.

Comsat Corp., the Bethesda-based communications satellite and entertainment company, reported the type of quarter that tests investors' patience yesterday, reporting a 28 percent earnings decline while insisting the company's long term plans are on course.First-quarter earnings came to $22.9 million, or 31 cents a share, down from $32 million in the same quarter a year ago, or 43 cents a share. Revenues rose 4 percent to $207.9 million, compared with $200.5 million in the first quarter last year.

BETHESDA -- Comsat Corp. has acquired the Mexican satellite communications unit of ICG Communications Inc. for undisclosed terms.The unit, IntelCom Red SA de CV, permits corporations to send voice and data internally via satellite. Comsat said it renamed the unit Comsat Mexico SA de CV and made it a part of Comsat International."The Mexican telecommunications market is expected to become the largest in Latin America by the year 2000," said Betty Alewine, Comsat's president and chief executive.

Comsat Entertainment Group and one of its competitors in the business of providing video entertainment in hotel rooms said yesterday that they have settled a 3-year-old intellectual property lawsuit.The settlement brings to a close a dispute that began in 1992 when SpectraVision Inc. of Richardson, Texas, sued Bethesda-based Comsat's On Command Video subsidiary, charging that Comsat violated some of its patents.In 1993, SpectraVision added copyright infringement allegations to the suit, while Comsat sued with its own charges of patent violations.

Comsat Corp. said yesterday that it has sold its RSI telecommunications equipment company to TBG Industries Inc. for about $116.5 million.Bethesda-based Comsat announced last March that it would sell RSI to focus on its satellite communications service and digital networking businesses.Comsat provides voice, video and data services through its satellites.Comsat said it will use proceeds from the sale to repay debt. The final price may be adjusted to take into account loans and advances from Comsat to RSI.Comsat has carried RSI on its books as discontinued operations since June.

Comsat Corp., a Bethesda-based satellite communications company, said yesterday that it has agreed to acquire a Northern Virginia-based manufacturer of satellite equipment in a $150 million deal that is expected to open new opportunities for Comsat in wireless telephone technologies.The merger would join Comsat with Radiation Systems Inc., a publicly held company based in Sterling, Va. It had sales of $121.8 million during its last fiscal year, compared with $563.6 million for Comsat.Comsat said that after the merger, its systems integration business, Comsat Technology Services, would merge with Radiation Systems to form Comsat RSI. Radiation Systems Chief Executive Richard E. Thomas would become head of the new division.

Ascent Entertainment Group Inc., a spinoff of Bethesda-based Comsat Corp., made its stock market debut yesterday, but its shares didn't quite live up to the name.The former Comsat Entertainment Group's stock went public at $15 and closed at $15.375, a respectable showing but hardly a match for such skyrocketing initial public offerings as Netscape Corp.John S. Reidy, an analyst for Smith Barney, said the trading showed that the offering was neither under-priced nor overpriced. Smith Barney was co-manager of the offering, along with Allen & Co.Mr.

Comsat Corp., the Bethesda-based satellite and networking company that hopes to complete its merger with Lockheed Martin Corp. before the year is out, yesterday announced second-quarter earnings that were 45 percent lower than last year's numbers. Comsat reported net income of $6.6 million, or 12 cents per diluted share, for the quarter that ended June 30. For the second quarter of 1999, Comsat posted net income of $12 million, or 22 cents per diluted share. Revenue increased 8 percent to $168.

Lockheed Martin Corp.'s $2.5 billion purchase of Comsat Corp. won final congressional approval Thursday night as the House of Representatives approved by voice vote a bill that would bring important changes to the satellite-communications industry. The legislation passed in the Senate on March 2 and now goes before President Clinton, who has until March 22 to sign it. The Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice also must review the proposed union of the two Bethesda companies.

Lockheed Martin Corp's proposed $2.5 billion purchase of Comsat Corp. took a step closer to fruition when the U.S. Senate approved legislation that would allow the joining of the two Bethesda companies. The bill, which would also remove some of Comsats privileges as a provider of communications-satellite access, was approved by the Senate late Thursday by unanimous consent. The House of Representatives is expected to approve the measure Wednesday. Senate and House leaders produced a compromise bill Feb. 17 that ironed out differences between the two chambers versions of satellite legislation.

Officials at Lockheed Martin Corp. and Comsat Corp. declared their satisfaction yesterday with a congressional compromise that could allow the two Bethesda companies to join forces. Analysts, however, said the future of the proposed Lockheed-Comsat merger is far from clear. The compromise, hammered out late Thursday by members of the House and Senate Commerce committees, would allow Lockheed to complete its proposed $2.5 billion purchase of Comsat. Lockheed bought 49 percent of Comsat on Sept.

Trade flowing from the opening of China could take a while to reach Maryland, but state business leaders yesterday expressed optimism about the new agreement."

Bad news seems to come with the good these days at Lockheed Martin Corp., where reaction was grim yesterday to new congressional legislation that both advances and threatens the company's goal of buying telecommunications stalwart Comsat Corp.The House passed a long-awaited bill Wednesday night that clears the way for Lockheed Martin to complete its $2.5 billion purchase of Comsat. But the bill also contains provisions that company officials say make the deal less attractive."It could clearly and adversely affect the economic rationale for the entire transaction," said Charles Manor, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications.

Comsat Corp. said yesterday that it has begun service on a satellite link that will connect South America to the main Internet lines in the United States.Bethesda-based Comsat is providing the satellite link through a contract with Telefonica Larga Distancia, a Puerto Rican telecommunications firm. The link will carry Internet traffic between Puerto Rico and South America.The financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.The Comsat link will employ asynchronous transfer mode technology, also known as ATM, to transmit signals.

Comsat Corp. said yesterday that the first of five Inmarsat-3 satellites has been successfully launched as part of a program that will enhance coverage for Comsat's maritime, aeronautical and land mobile customers.The Bethesda-based communications company said the satellite was launched Thursday from Cape Canaveral by a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIA launch vehicle. The planned ring of five satellites will be the third generation of mobile communications technology for Inmarsat, an international organization that is represented by Comsat in the United States.

Comsat Corp., the satellite communications company that plans to be taken over by Bethesda neighbor Lockheed Martin Corp., said yesterday that its third-quarter earnings and revenue were down from last year.Comsat posted a net loss of $18.4 million, or 35 cents per diluted share, compared with net income of $6.6 million -- 12 cents per share -- in the comparable quarter of 1998. The earnings figures for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 were dragged down by one-time factors, including a $36 million write-off of its direct investment in ICO Global Communications Ltd. and $5.3 million in costs related to the pending acquisition by Lockheed.

DID Republican insistence in 1962 on a place for the private sector in space communications help set the stage for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? This novel insight into the most significant social legislation of this half-century is put forward in a new book, "Mike Mansfield: Majority Leader," by Francis R. "Frank" Valeo, a Senate insider during the turbulent '60s and '70s.Although Mr. Mansfield, at 96, is the deserving hero of the Valeo study, he does not subscribe to the author's linkage of the creation of the Comsat Corp.