  We consider realistic satellite communications systems for broadband and
broadcasting applications, based on frequency-division-multiplexed linear
modulations, where spectral efficiency is one of the main figures of merit. For
these systems, we investigate their ultimate performance limits by using a
framework to compute the spectral efficiency when suboptimal receivers are
adopted and evaluating the performance improvements that can be obtained
through the adoption of the time-frequency packing technique. Our analysis
reveals that introducing controlled interference can significantly increase the
efficiency of these systems. Moreover, if a receiver which is able to account
for the interference and the nonlinear impairments is adopted, rather than a
classical predistorter at the transmitter coupled with a simpler receiver, the
benefits in terms of spectral efficiency can be even larger. Finally, we
consider practical coded schemes and show the potential advantages of the
optimized signaling formats when combined with iterative detection/decoding.
