Hotbird 2 redeployed & renamed Eurobird 9

Eutelsat Communications has announced that its Hot Bird™ 2 satellite has been redeployed to 9 degrees East. Rebranded Eurobird™ 9, the satellite’s entry into service marks the opening of a new video neighbourhood, which is adjacent to Eutelsat’s premium Hot Bird™ position. Reception of channels from both locations is possible with off-the-shelf dual-feed domestic dishes.

The repositioning of Eurobird™ 9 follows the successful launches in 2006 of Eutelsat’s Hot Bird™ 7A and 8 satellites. Together with Hot Bird™ 6, these large satellites today broadcast more than 1,000 channels, of which over 50 per cent are free-to-air from the Group’s 13 degrees East position. Their entry into service has enabled Eutelsat to pursue the development of its in-orbit resources by redeploying high-performance Hot Bird™ satellites to other locations with strong growth potential: 7 degrees West for Atlantic Bird™ 4 (formerly Hot Bird ™ 4); 4 degrees East for Eurobird™ 4 (formerly Hot Bird™ 3).

Optimised for DTH (Direct-to-Home) broadcasting, Eurobird™ 9 delivers 20 fully operational Ku-band transponders supplying coverage across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. In order to support the market for multi-satellite reception, which is afforded by the proximity of its orbital positions, Eutelsat is developing new low-cost consumer solutions to enable existing Hot Bird™ installations to be easily upgraded to receive channels from 9 degrees East via a second LNB fitted beside the LNB directed to the Hot Bird™ neighbourhood.

Eutelsat has already concluded a first contract for capacity on Eurobird™ 9 with the Portuguese cable operator TVTEL, which has announced it will shortly launch a new pay-TV platform for the Portuguese market. Using two transponders on the satellite to address principally almost two million television homes in Portugal only receiving analogue terrestrial channels, TVTEL’s platform will begin with 20 digital channels. Encrypted with Conax, they will include Portugal’s four national channels and a package of 16 thematic channels broadcasting content ranging from movies, documentaries, music, serials, news and sports. TVTEL will also market dual-feed antennas in Portugal so that homes can have access to the broad range of international channels available free-to-air from the Hot Bird™ neighbourhood.

Commenting on the entry into service of Eurobird™ 9, Giuliano Berretta, CEO of Eutelsat Communications said: “The deployment of Eurobird™ 9 at 9 degrees East, underpins our objective to optimise our video neighbourhoods in order to meet continued demand for capacity for Standard Digital and HDTV channels. It is our conviction that with the availability of low-cost dual-feed antennas for enriching channel reception from more than one orbital location, Europe is poised to move into an era of multi-satellite reception which is already commonplace in strong satellite markets around the world, notably North America.”

Eutelsat press release