GeorgeLV said:
Um, no. DirecTV 10 and 11 are Ka sats. DirecTV 12S will be going to 101.
From here: although I think no onw will know 100% until an announced launch plan.
DirecTV Trumpets HDTV Ambitions Via Satellite Order With Boeing
DirecTV Group’s announcement of a billion-dollar, multi-satellite contract with Boeing Satellite Systems for large satellites to be launched for high-definition television (HDTV).
The agreement, announced by El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV, also removes months-long doubt about the future of the company’s $1.5 billion Spaceway broadband satellite project. News Corp. of Sydney, Australia, obtained Spaceway when it purchased DirecTV parent company Hughes Electronics Corp. earlier this year.
SNIP for size.... talked about News Corp stuff.....
Spaceway-3, part of the original Spaceway system, has not been modified for HDTV, Boeing spokeswoman Marta E. Newhart said Sept. 10. DirecTV spokesman Bob Marsocci said that the satellite will remain a ground spare.
Beyond Spaceway, DirecTV ordered three large 702-model Ka-band satellites from Boeing, all with a dual HDTV/broadband capacity; DirecTV 10 and DirecTV 11; the third will be a ground spare. Newhart said the contract for these spacecraft includes an option for a fourth satellite.
“For less than $1 billion we are going to create a national infrastructure that enables us to bring next-generation television into every American household,” DirecTV Chief Executive Officer Chase Carey told a Morgan Stanley investors.
Marsocci said Carey’s billion-dollar reference was based on an estimated price tag of $300 million each for the construction, launch and insurance of the DirecTV 10 and DirecTV 11 satellites, plus construction of the ground spare.
DirecTV’s announcement helps confirm the arrival of Ka-band as a commercial option for satellites. Up to now, the band has been little-used, making it ideal for high-bandwidth applications that would be more difficult to manage in the crowded Ku-band frequencies.
CEO Chase Carey said the decision to use Ka-band should quiet industry concern that DirecTV did not have enough satellite spectrum to offer local HDTV channels. DirecTV 10 and 11 each will be able to beam HDTV programming to 500 local markets from the company’s primary orbital slot at 101 degrees west longitude.
“The question of [orbital] capacity should be answered by what we announced with these satellites,” Carey said. “As opposed to others who compete with us, who have spectrum strewn across the sky, we’ve focused on accumulating a tremendous amount of Ka- and Ku-band spectrum at a point that enables us to bring all of this down to a single dish in the home.”
