A burst assignment problem for satellite-switched time-division multiple access networks is generalized to distinguish traffic requirements of earth stations in a network. This distinction leads to shorter transmission time in general. The satellite provides coverage for u uplink spotbeams and v downlink spotbeams with prescribed limits on the maximum number of available carriers in each spotbeam, subject to a total of K carriers in use at any one time. Earth stations are equipped for simultaneous transmission on and reception of multiple carriers. If u + v is O(K), the number of switching modes required is O(K-2) and a transmission-time optimal schedule can be found in O(K-4) time. Technology considerations are discussed.