Appeals Court Upholds Rainbow DBS Verdict

Satellite builder Loral Space & Communications said Friday that a New York State appeals court has upheld a $52 million award to the company relating to an earlier lawsuit against Rainbow DBS Holdings.

Rainbow DBS was the satellite arm of Cablevision Systems and initially was created to launch its Voom HD Satellite Service.

Loral sued Rainbow in September 2005 over money owed when it agreed to sell back a stake in Rainbow DBS Holdings. Loral said its agreement, reached in March 2001, called for it to get $33 million plus interest for its stake in Rainbow DBS. Rainbow later sold its DBS assets -- including the satellite used to deliver its Voom HD Networks programming – for $200 million to EchoStar Communications (now Dish Network) in 2005.

Rainbow told Loral it didn’t believe it had to make an immediate payment, and Loral sued.

According to a filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Loral said that the New York State Court of Appeals denied Rainbow DBS’ motion for a leave to appeal the appellate division’s affirmation of the lower court decision and also denied Rainbow’s motion to set aside the verdict for a new trial.

In the filing, Loral said that it expected Rainbow Holdings to pay the judgment – now $58 million, reflecting post-judgment interest – in early July.