  Geosynchronous satellite (GEO) networks are a crucial option for users beyond
terrestrial connectivity. However, unlike terrestrial networks, GEO networks
exhibit high latency and deploy TCP proxies and traffic shapers. The deployment
of proxies effectively mitigates the impact of high network latency in GEO
networks, while traffic shapers help realize customer-controlled data-saver
options that optimize data usage. It is unclear how the interplay between GEO
networks' high latency, TCP proxies, and traffic-shaping policies affects the
quality of experience (QoE) for commonly used video applications. To fill this
gap, we analyze the quality of over $2$k YouTube video sessions streamed across
a production GEO network with a $900$Kbps shaping rate. Given the average bit
rates for the selected videos, we expected seamless streaming at $360$p or
lower resolutions. However, our analysis reveals that this is not the case:
$28\%$ of TCP sessions and $18\%$ of gQUIC sessions experience rebuffering
events, while the median average resolution is only $380$p for TCP and $299$p
for gQUIC. Our analysis identifies two key factors contributing to sub-optimal
performance: (i)unlike TCP, gQUIC only utilizes $63\%$ of network capacity; and
(ii)YouTube's imperfect chunk request pipelining. As a result of our study, the
partner GEO ISP discontinued support for the low-bandwidth data-saving option
in U.S. business and residential markets to avoid potential degradation of
video quality -- highlighting the practical significance of our findings.
