[Satellite TODAY 05-19-10] SES World Skies has commissioned Astrium to build the SES-6 satellite, which will be launched and deployed at the 319.5 degrees East orbital position in early 2013, SES announced May 18.
    SES-6 will be equipped with 43 C-Band and 48 Ku-Band 36 MHz equivalent transponders to help boost SES World Skies video services in Latin America. The 319.5 degrees East slot is home to one of the largest cable communities in Latin America, supporting video distribution including HD content to more than 5,000 cable head-ends serving some 18 million homes for key broadcasters such as Fox, Disney, ESPN, and MGM.
    “Latin America and the Caribbean have demonstrated significant growth over the past few years and we expect this to continue. Our customers have told us that more capacity is needed, and we are delighted to be able to provide not only an early replacement, but also a meaningful upgrade to our Americas coverage,” SES World Skies CEO Robert Bednarek said in a statement.
    The deal follows a 500 million euro ($634.95 million) multi-satellite order SES placed with Astrium in November. The satellites will provide replacement as well as incremental capacity for its SES Astra and SES World Skies divisions. The new satellites, which are to be designated Astra 2E, Astra 2F, Astra 2G and Astra 5B, will allow the release of the existing satellites at two orbital positions (28.2 and 31.5 degrees East) and add new capacity as well as fleet deployment flexibility for the SES group. The satellites are scheduled for launch in several steps between 2012 and 2014. The design life of each satellite is 15 years.

Related Stories-

SES Makes Plans to Mitigate Potential Interference from Intelsat s Galaxy 15   Satellite Today   May 18, 2010
[Satellite TODAY 05-18-10] SES World Skies will perform orbital maneuvers and shift from signals to keep cable programming broadcast by the AMC-11 satellite from being interrupted by Intelsat s Galaxy 15 satellite, SES announced May 17.

Investors: Finding Safety in Satellite Again   Via Satellite   May 1, 2010
After helping to reshape the FSS landscape, investors took a step back from satellite during the economic downturn. Now old and new investors are being lured back by promising opportunities. An influx of private equity into the satellite…

SES Closes ProtoStar 2 Deal   Satellite Today   May 7, 2010
[Satellite TODAY 05-07-10] SES World Skies closed the acquisition of the ProtoStar 2 satelite, which the company won in a December public option, SES announced May 5. The satellite, launched in May 2009, has been renamed SES-7 and will be…