Eutelsat’s two high-power Hotbird 13F and Hotbird 13G satellites have entered into full commercial service.
Located at Eutelsat’s 13 degrees East flagship video neighbourhood, they are reinforcing and enhancing the broadcast quality of around 900 TV channels into more than 160 million homes across Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East. These new state-of-the-art satellites are also bringing advanced features to 13 degrees East, including in-orbit redundancy ability and uplink signal protection and resilience.
According to Eutelsat, the Hotbird video neighbourhood is host to seven premium TV platforms, over 600 pay-TV channels, 300 free-to-air channels, and 500 HDTV and UHD channels. In Europe alone, Hotbird reaches 130 million homes.
The satellites also distribute TV channels to 90% of cable and IPTV operators in the Europe and MENA region, making 13 degrees East the leading DTH, cable, IP, and DTT provider across the region. With their entry into service, the Hotbird 13F and Hotbird 13G satellites are releasing the three satellites previously located at 13 degrees East, to carry out new missions.
Commenting on the satellites, Laurence Delpy, general manager for the Video Business Unit, said: “With are delighted that Eutelsat Hotbird 13F and Hotbird 13G are now in service. 13 degrees East is one of Eutelsat’s long-standing, leading orbital locations and has been boosting audience growth for our broadcasters since 1983. Satellite maintains an integral role in the media supply chain, particularly to support the live transmission of major news and sporting events. Our clients across Europe and MENA can look forward to an ever-better service with this pair of powerful new satellites”.
Eva Berneke, Eutelsat CEO, added: ” Operating high-power orbital resources to bring video services to as many people as possible is one of the pillars of our business. With the entry into service of these two new satellites at a historic position for Eutelsat and a flagship position for Europe, North Africa and the MENA region, we are ensuring continued operational excellence for our clients. With two EGNOS payloads now hosted on our in-orbit resources, Eutelsat is also proud to complete the GNSS network for our European Union long-term customer and partner, the EUSPA, and to be part and parcel of the EU’s capacity to deliver reliable and secure space-based services”.