(Rewrites, adds quotes, detail, share price)
By Gilles Castonguay
BRUSSELS, March 27 (Reuters) - SES Global has signed up EchoStar as a customer, in its biggest U.S. deal since its 2001 purchase of General Electric's satellite business made it the world's biggest satellite operator.
SES said it would lease a new satellite to EchoStar, the second-biggest U.S. satellite broadcaster, for sending scores of TV channels like HBO and Cinemax to its customers and offer high-speed Internet services.
SES declined to give the value of the deal, but an industry source estimated it at "several hundred millions of dollars".
It said the deal could last the length of the satellite's 15-year life span should EchoStar choose to accept the renewal options in the agreement.
SES shares, which have declined 70 percent in little more than a year, were down 0.46 percent at 4.33 euros in Luxembourg.
Petercam analyst Yigal Abend said the shares were not reacting to the deal because SES had a free float of less than 30 percent and investors were not keen on the sector.
The deal comes as SES and other satellite operators are struggling with a severe downturn in the media and telecommunications sectors where they make most of their money.
SES has forecast revenues declining as much as five percent this year when excluding currency fluctations.
SES hoped EchoStar, the first satellite operator to become a customer in the United States, would attract more business.
"We consider EchoStar as an anchor customer," SES spokesman Yves Feltes said.
SEWS would provide capacity to EchoStar on its existing satellite network ahead of the launch of AMC-15 in the third quarter of 2004. AMC-15 will be dedicated to EchoStar.
"It (the deal) will start generating revenues this year," he said. "We won't wait for the launch of AMC-15."
Based in Luxembourg, SES made a big push into the U.S. market in March 2001 when it bought GE's GE Americom unit.
It has customers like Viacom and the Discovery Channel.
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein analyst James Healey said it was better for SES to treat EchoStar and its peers as customers rather than competitors.
"It is a lot better than trying to draw television broadcasters to a platform that is starting from zero (with no customers)," he said.
Based in Littleton, Colorado, EchoStar owns the Dish Network, with more than eight million customers with small dishes outside their homes.
EchoStar competes against DirecTV of Hughes Electronics Corp , which it failed to buy from General Motors due to opposition from regulators last year.
(Additional reporting by Jennifer Laidlaw)