Intelsat 36
Enters Service: Delivering High
Definition Entertainment in Sub-Saharan
Africa
Intelsat
S.A. announced that the Intelsat 36
satellite has entered service, providing
broadcasting and direct-to-home (DTH)
services for Africa’s MultiChoice, the
leading DTH platform in South Africa.
Built for Intelsat by Space Systems/Loral
(SSL), Intelsat 36 was launched aboard an Ariane
5 launch vehicle in August. The satellite,
co-located with Intelsat 20 at 68.5° East,
includes a Ku-band payload used by MultiChoice
and a C-band payload that provides in-orbit
resilience for Intelsat’s media neighborhoods
serving Africa and the Indian Ocean regions.
“There are dynamic changes taking place
across the global media landscape, and Intelsat
36 supports our customers as they address the
growing demand for content throughout the
African continent,” said Brian Jakins, Regional
Vice President, Africa Sales, Intelsat. “This
satellite will enable our customer, MultiChoice,
to extend high definition channels throughout
the region. The C-band payload will provide
additional redundancy for media customers to
ensure that all viewers have access to reliable,
high quality content.”