Abstract. The geostationary arc is an orbit in space in which a satellite, 22,300 miles up, moving at the speed at which the earth revolves, can continue to hover over a continent on earth, monitoring weather and military activities, rebroadcasting entertainment and information programs, newspaper and magazine printing plates and particularly communications. In the latter use it replaces surface microwave relay transmitters every 30 miles (which replaced the much more expensive long landlines), at an estimated savings of more than half a billion dollars annually for this use alone. Because the orbit cannot accommodate all the applicants for slots within it, the Federal Government should grant, for an adequate fee, three year licenses, raising the fee on renewal to absorb the annual economic rent.