[philman_36]

...a fleet of communications satellites orbiting over North America.

To whom do these now belong?

[Maceman]

To whom do these now belong?

According to Wikipedia:

On July 15, 2003, Loral and certain subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. In conjunction with the filing, Loral announced the sale of its North American satellite fleet to Intelsat to help reduce its debt. Loral emerged from Chapter 11 on November 21, 2005.

[philman_36]

As Satellite Orders Slump, Chapter 11 Filing by Loral And a Charge for Boeing
Bernard L. Schwartz, Loral's chairman and chief executive, said talks with Intelsat began six months ago. The deal was concluded at 1 a.m. yesterday, Mr. Schwartz said, allowing Loral to avoid making a multimillion-dollar interest payment yesterday to bondholders. The price for the six communications satellites could drop to $1 billion, depending on market conditions when the deal closes.

A filing for bankruptcy protection was a condition of the deal with Intelsat, Mr. Schwartz said. Intelsat, formerly an international consortium of government satellite agencies, was privatized in 2001 and plans to sell stock in an initial public offering next year. Intelsat's lawyers had warned that if the company entered into a deal with Loral without protection from Loral's creditors, lawsuits could interfere with the public offering.

Intelsat may still face competition to buy the Loral satellites when they are auctioned off under the supervision of the bankruptcy court. ''Others will have the opportunity to outbid them,'' Mr. Schwartz said. But the two leaders in the domestic satellite market, PanAmSat and SES Americom, could face antitrust hurdles in purchasing the Loral satellites, and other potential buyers may be too small to be competitive in the bidding, according to analysts.

Just my curiosity.