Directv 10. (Boeing photo)
MOSCOW, May 29, 2007 - Satnews Daily - DirecTV-10, a satellite of leading US pay TV provider DirecTV Group, Inc., will be orbited in June by a Proton-M launch vehicle.
Russia’s Khrunichev State Space Scientific Production Center said a Briz-M booster on a Proton-M carrier rocket will put DirecTV-10 into orbit. The booster is now at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
Launch services will be provided by International Launch Services (ILS), a U.S.-Russian joint venture with exclusive rights for worldwide commercial sales and mission management of satellite launches on Russia's Proton carrier rockets. The joint venture partners are Space Transport, Inc., Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia of Moscow. ILS has conducted a total of 46 commercial Proton launches since 1996, and has 15 scheduled launches through 2010.
DirecTV-10 and its sister satellite, DirecTV-11, are both dedicated HDTV (high definition television) satellites. They will be launched this year to provide DirecTV with national and local broadcast coverage in HDTV. They will be among the largest and most powerful Ka-band satellites ever launched.
DirecTV in 2004 entered into a contract with Boeing to build three Boeing 702 model satellites: DirecTV-10, DirecTV-11 and a ground spare. These birds will enable DirecTV to significantly expand broadcasting to their customers across the continental United States, Hawaii, and Alaska. In addition to expanded national HDTV broadcasting, standard definition TV broadcasting and interactive TV, DirecTV-10 and DirecTV-11 will provide the capability for DirecTV to broadcast local HDTV to 90 percent of its customers.
DirecTV expects to offer 100 HDTV channels by yearend and will launch the two HDTV satellites within the year to support this programming surge. DirecTV said profits rose 43 percent to $336 million this first quarter from $235 million a year earlier. Revenue increased 15 percent to $3.91 billion. It added 235,000 U.S. customers, including twice as many HDTV subscribers in the first quarter of 2006.
