I guess it is that time of the year where Bell tries to screw us all again... Nimiq 5 seems ready to launch and I was wondering if anyone knew what this meant to us southern signal receivers. I am guessing it will have a razor sharp cutoff even more so than Nimiq 4. Does anyone have any details, or at least what channels Bell plans to use on it? Or if they will shutoff their existing birds and use this only, or use it as a supplement?
Nimiq 5
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Ok, that's good news. I thought it was fully owned by Bell so they would naturally have some active transponders on there. But this works better 
Echostar has leased "up to 16" transponders from Bell at 72W on long term lease and are using the full 16 at this time. Echostar has licenses to receive service from Nimiq 5 when it is placed in service. Directv has leased the other 16 transponders . The Directv lease was extended to mid 2011 within the past year. There have been no public statements regarding Bell's future intended use for the 16 (directv) transponders when that lease expires.
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It is very unlikely that Bell will ever use the 72 slot since the look angle is not suitable for national beams.
Why would Bell lease out 16 transponders from their HD Bird at 82 degree's.?
Please tell me it is a typo and you mean 72.7.
It is 72, not 82, and DirectTV is using that orbital slot with their own satellite, not Nimiq 5. Since the frequencies can't be shared, that doesn't leave the other half of Nimiq 5 available for use until the Direct TV contract is up in December, 2010.
Bell must have had plans to use Nimiq 5 when it was ordered (why else would they have done so?). I think the complete lack of HD channels in Canada has made them realize they don't need it yet. Good old CRTC, always looking out for us Canadians:rant:
-Mike
Bell must have had plans to use Nimiq 5 when it was ordered (why else would they have done so?). I think the complete lack of HD channels in Canada has made them realize they don't need it yet. Good old CRTC, always looking out for us Canadians:rant:
-Mike
Sure they had plans. Lease it to Dish in order to make money, same as Ceil did at 129.
At the time of Nimiq 5 planning, BCE owned Telesat. Canada was under "use it or lose it' pressure at the ITC at the time for this slot.
Now Bell is standing on the sidelines watching the Shaw vs Rogers shootout at Industry Canada.
Will reverse Ku band be used for DTH in Canada (Shaw/Telesat) or mobile phone/data (Rogers, Telus and friends)?
I think you mean ITU.
Shaw has already given Telesat a conditional order for XKu-1 - an extended Ku band satellite for 111.1 - on condition that Industry Canada approves this spectrum use for DTH. The engineering is already done. It will have a Canada only footprint and be used to deliver approximately 100 OTA HD channels. This was chosen because the hardware is already used in other parts of the world for DTH. It will require only an LNBF swap on existing dishes.
Bell can join Shaw with an identical satellite at 82 - code named Xku-2. From an operational standpoint, the use of 91 would be better but that slot was awarded to Ciel (Ciel 3). Bell would have to pay Ciel for all new engineering. So it's cheaper (+ shorter timeline) to share development costs with Shaw. It will cost them about $300m each. Like Shaw only a LNBF swapout is required for existing customers.
Longer term, both companies need 1 more satellite for full cable channel HD service. Both Telesat and Ciel are pushing BSS, but a lot of hardware development is required and rainfade becomes a bigger issue at these frequencies.
FYI: launching today from Kazakhstan (high five!)
Digital Home - Nimiq 5 satellite launches today
per article, completely leased to echostar and Telesat building a new sat for Bell
Digital Home - Nimiq 5 satellite launches today
per article, completely leased to echostar and Telesat building a new sat for Bell
Typical 24 to 30 months from ordering to launch so, for an order placed in early 2010, one might expect it to be in service by mid 2012.
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