A method of flexibly allocating capacity in a satellite coverage area, comprising establishing a frequency reuse pattern of at least two interleaved sets of cells, assigning a polarization to each set of cells, such that adjacent sets of cells alternate in orthogonal polarization, flexibly assigning satellite transmit power to at least one cell, flexibly assigning frequency and bandwidth to at least one cell, and moving frequencies, bandwidths, and satellite transmit power among the cells within each set, independently of the other sets, ensuring that at all times no two adjacent cells within a given set share a common frequency.