Paris, 17 February 2009
Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) announces the full entry into commercial service of its HOT BIRD 9 satellite at 13 degrees East. Built by EADS Astrium and launched on 20 December 2008 by Arianespace, Eutelsats new high-capacity broadcast satellite has a projected in-orbit life of more than 15 years.
The smooth transfer of television and radio channels onto HOT BIRD 9 was completed this morning at 4am GMT by Eutelsats control centre, working in close collaboration with broadcast clients and providers of uplink services.
With the entry into service of HOT BIRD 9, copositioned with Eutelsats HOT BIRD 6 and HOT BIRD 8 satellites, HOT BIRD 7A can now be redeployed to 9 degrees East. Rebranded EUROBIRD 9A, the satellite will assume all broadcasts currently carried by the 20 transponders on EUROBIRD 9 and introduce 18 additional transponders at the 9 degrees East neighbourhood, which has seen the number of channels more than double in one year to almost 150. Released from this position, EUROBIRD 9 will continue its useful life in orbit at another location.
HOT BIRD 9 has a payload of up to 64 Ku-band transponders and is the second in Eutelsats new generation of HOT BIRD broadcast satellites, following HOT BIRD 8 which was launched in 2006. These high-capacity spacecraft have the dual mission of renewing Eutelsats resource at its premium video neighbourhood at 13 degrees East and elevating in-orbit security to industry-leading levels. The HOT BIRD neighbourhood today broadcasts almost 1 100 television channels and 600 radio stations to an audience of more than 120 million homes in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
