The former PanAmSat Corporation founded in 1984 by Reynold (Rene) Anselmo, was a satellite service provider headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. It operated a fleet of communications satellites used by the entertainment industry, news agencies, internet service providers, government agencies, and telecommunication companies.

The BS-3 or Yuri 3 satellites were a series of Japanese direct broadcasting satellites.

The BS-3 were launched to replace the broadcasting services of the BS-2, responding to growing broadcasting needs while developing technologies for more advanced broadcasting satellites. They were used for broadcasting and test broadcasting with high-definition television. In 1993, the program was spun off from NASDA to the Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation of Tokyo (B-SAT).

The satellites were based on GE Astro's AS-3000 bus and carried an NEC-built broadcasting payload consisting of three active high-power Ku-band transponders with three spares.