Eutelsat Communications announced May 4 that EADS Astrium will manufacture the Hot Bird 9 broadcast satellite, which is scheduled to be launched in 2008. The spacecraft will be based on Astrium’s Eurostar E3000 platform and will operate up to 64 Ku-band transponders.

Hot Bird 9 will be placed at Eutelsat’s video neighborhood at 13º East in order to provide backup capacity, as well as enable digital and new HDTV channels and interactive services that can be received by small direct-to-home antennas and cable and community networks throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.