Five years ago this week… Flaky rumors were in orbit that Eutelsat was tipped to be acquiring SES. The suggestion was not entirely ludicrous – as such a deal could have prospered the pair amid declining video revenues, with the combined entity carrying over 13,000 channels. However, the most glaring issue was that the market cap for Luxembourg’s SES was over double that of French-owned Eutelsat, at $9.6 billion and $4 billion, respectively. Eutelsat was also harboring considerably more debt, but the biggest red flag of all was that Luxembourg’s deputy PM had openly opposed the merger, with his government holding a 16% share in SES. Needless to say, Faultline was right to be skeptical. — IBC 2021 is…