Rocket Carrying TCI-News Corp. Satellite Explodes During Launch

XICHANG, China —  A Chinese rocket carrying an Intelsat satellite exploded upon launch Wednesday, delivering a blow to a group including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and Tele-Communications Inc. that planned to use the spacecraft to beam TV signals to Latin America.

“We’re in a risky business. These things happen from time to time,” said Irving Goldstein, director general and chief executive of Intelsat. He made the remarks at the company’s Washington headquarters, where hundreds of reporters, diplomats and industry officials gathered to watch the launch from China on large video screens.

It was the first launch of an Intelsat satellite by China’s state-owned Great Wall Industry Corp., which has been aggressively positioning itself as a competitor in the lucrative global launching industry. The Long March 3B rocket carried 40 transponders and would have had a primary broadcast signal from Southern California through Central America, and from Colombia to northern Argentina.

The spacecraft, built by Loral Corp. of New York, was to be one of three satellites to be used for a new direct-to-home subscription-based TV service in Latin America scheduled to begin in May. PanAmSat Corp., a Greenwich, Conn., company, is also a satellite provider for the TV project.

“This failure will not affect News Corp.’s launch plans for the direct-to-home satellite service” in Latin America, company spokesman Howard J. Rubenstein said in a statement. “News Corp. has a number of other real options and will disclose them shortly.”

In addition to Sydney, Australia-based News Corp. and Englewood, Colo.-based TCI, the venture includes Grupo Televisa, Mexico’s biggest broadcaster, and Organizacoes Globo, Brazil’s largest media company.

“I think it’s pretty serious for Televisa,” said Shayne McGuire, an analyst at ING Barings in Mexico City. It may delay the timing of the direct-to-home project for about six months, he said, but “not the project itself.”

McGuire said Televisa expects a second Intelsat satellite to be launched by Arianespace from French Guyana later this month to fill part of the void.

Goldstein said that “there will be no disruption of service” for Intelsat’s existing customers, who were planning to use the satellite to replace current satellite capacity.

The accident marked the eighth time in 55 attempts that an Intelsat launch failed in the company’s 31-year history. Intelsat is a global supplier of international satellite communication services. The organization is owned and run by 125 member countries that use its services.

Goldstein said the launch was fully insured for $204.7 million by International Space Brokers Group.

A person who saw a live video feed of the rocket launch said it veered at a 45-degree angle about five seconds after blastoff.

About 15 seconds into the flight, the vehicle was already horizontal to the Earth before it hurtled downward. One of the booster rockets appeared to be engulfed in flames before the video feed was lost, the witness said.

China’s satellite launch service has run into problems before. In 1992, an Australian-owned satellite was lost in space after launch from China, and in January 1995, Hughes’ Apstar-2 exploded 50 seconds after launch on one of China’s Long March carrier rockets.