AMC-14 Satellite Slated for March 15 Launch

**levibluewa** · 02-22-2008 01:15 AM

is getting a new sat up next month. What I'm waiting to hear is when the hell they're going to replace that hunk of space junk, the 129. That will be a day to celebrate.

**tigerfan33** · 02-22-2008 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by levibluewa

is getting a new sat up next month. What I'm waiting to hear is when the hell they're going to replace that hunk of space junk, the 129. That will be a day to celebrate.

We may have to wait til the end of the year to celebrate.

**rocatman** · 02-22-2008 05:23 PM

There is the possibility that the E-5 satellite will either be replaced or supplemented after the E-11 satellite is launched to 110 W in the May/June timframe. The E-6 and/or the E-8 satellites maybe available for this.

**Raymie** · 02-23-2008 07:09 PM

E*5 is about to decommission itself. It's old, and there is another satellite, but half of it has to be used for Canadian services. That's 16 of 32 transponders.

**mike123abc** · 02-23-2008 07:51 PM

Originally Posted by Raymie

E*5 is about to decommission itself. It's old, and there is another satellite, but half of it has to be used for Canadian services. That's 16 of 32 transponders.

We do not know the amount that has to be used for Canada. All that has been announced is that Dish will have at least half the capacity. With spot beams it is quite possible to use more than half and have half still available for Canada. Dish could get 16 CONUS TPs plus the spot, the spots could be reused in Canada. Lets say there were 8 spot TPs, Dish could use the 8 TPs down in the US for LiL HD. The same TPs could be used for Canada spots (or even make a spot of the entire country if Dish's spots were not too close to the boarder). This would give Dish an effective 24 TPs.

**js6425** · 02-25-2008 09:10 AM

With the announcement of new HD locals being added, which satellite will they most likely go on?

**Voyager6** · 02-25-2008 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by jseidcheck

With the announcement of new HD locals being added, which satellite will they most likely go on?

The new HD locals announced by E* will most probably be located on 61.5. E* is in the process of firing up the spot beams on E12. Spots are usually used for HD locals and RSN's.

**tigerfan33** · 02-25-2008 11:23 AM

Sky Angel sat will be used also when it goes off March 31. Will be interesting on how Dish will use this sat.

**TheKrell** · 02-25-2008 11:32 AM

There is no Sky Angel satellite. They were using 2 transponders on Echo3 in exchange for 6 transponders (out of a total authority of 8) already given over to Dish use. So... Come April 1, Dish will gain a net 2 transponders.

**rocatman** · 02-25-2008 03:58 PM

Originally Posted by mike123abc

We do not know the amount that has to be used for Canada. All that has been announced is that Dish will have at least half the capacity. With spot beams it is quite possible to use more than half and have half still available for Canada. Dish could get 16 CONUS TPs plus the spot, the spots could be reused in Canada. Lets say there were 8 spot TPs, Dish could use the 8 TPs down in the US for LiL HD. The same TPs could be used for Canada spots (or even make a spot of the entire country if Dish's spots were not too close to the boarder). This would give Dish an effective 24 TPs.

I think I read this concept somewhere else, I wonder where?

It is the Ciel-2 satellite that is being built to be launched to the 129 W DBS slot and the announcement of contract award stated that it will have a great deal of spotbeam capacity. The big limitation on this satellite is going to be power but it does not preclude the possibility that it will have a great deal of flexibility when it comes to CONUS TPs and U.S. spotbeams because of the unknown Canadian demand that will affect how much capacity Dish will have use of. Dish has provided funding for the construction of this satellite, I believe at least $100 million perhaps more so one has to assume that any design flexibility will be so that Dish can maximize its useage in the U.S. The affect of power limitations on the Ciel-2 satellite related to maximizing Dish's use of the 129 W slot could be greatly diminshed if Dish would be allowed to move another satellite there such as the E-6 satellite to provide CONUS TPs in conjunction with the Ciel-2 satellite.

Remember also that just like in the U.S. the 129 W slot is really unuseable in the east because of the low look angle and the farther north one goes the worse it gets. So the 129 W slot is not very useful for where the majority of the Canadian population resides which should limit Canadian demand for this slot.