New Zealand pay-television operator Sky Network Television Ltd. said June 3 it has developed a plan to secure access to a back-up satellite in the event that its current satellite, B1, fails. Sky said it would have access to backup capacity within 10 weeks to maintain operations of its core direct-to-home satellite television service. It did not name any specific operators targeted to provide the back-up capacity.

Sky experienced an interruption of service in late May. B1 operator Optus Networks Pty Ltd. informed Sky May 27 that the satellite’s primary satellite control processor had failed and the spacecraft was operating on its back-up processor.