OTTAWA, CANADA, December 30, 2009 – Telesat, the world’s fourth largest fixed satellite services operator, announced today its decision to procure a new direct broadcast satellite called Nimiq 6 from Space Systems/Loral (SS/L). As announced by Telesat September 17, 2009, Bell TV has agreed to fully lease this new satellite for its lifetime to serve the fast-growing number of Bell TV subscribers across Canada.

“I’m very pleased that Telesat has ordered a new, state-of-the-art satellite for our largest customer, Bell TV, enhancing Bell’s ability to deliver advanced High Definition TV and other video services for their subscribers throughout Canada,” said Dan Goldberg, Telesat’s President and CEO. “SS/L was selected to build Nimiq 6 following a competitive procurement process as they offered the best combination of technology, cost and schedule. Nimiq 6 will result in meaningful incremental revenue and EBITDA for Telesat and, given that Bell TV has leased all of the satellite’s capacity for its expected lifetime, it significantly increases Telesat’s already industry leading contractual backlog to revenue ratio.”

SS/L is the leading provider of commercial satellites and will be the prime contractor for Nimiq 6, designing and building the satellite and supplying its payload of 32 high powered Ku-band transponders. Nimiq 6 will utilize the proven SS/L1300 platform and has a planned 15 year mission life.


-Mike

I take it this would just be a replacement for Nimiq 1/2 at 91 degrees, not the rumored BSS satellite which would actually add more transponder capacity?

-Mike

I hope they don't give this one to Dish too!

I guess, once the paperwork is completed, we'll have more details on the following page:

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf05343.html

Thanks, that's an interesting chart. I was thinking of one of those proposed 17 Ghz satellites, but it looks like Ciel 3 may be going to the 91 slot. This must just be a replacement then. I suppose it will be needed by 2012.

-Mike

I wonder why they wrote "where it will provide HDTV and advanced video services". As far as I know there is no more capacity on the satellites at 91 W to provide HD channels? Unless they take advantage on the Nimiq 6 power to switch SD transponders to 8PSK, which would free some space?

HD channels at 91?

That's gonna get confusing.

Not really, it should not matter where the HD channels are coming from, 99.99% of Bell Customers get signals from 91 anyway.

really hd from 91! are sd channels supposed to be there at 91? that is something i don't get it. i am new with those things. sometime it is a bit confusing but i am learning.

At the moment 91 carries SD Channels only while 82 carries all Bells HD and some SD.

When you have a Dish with 2 x LNBF's and the correct Switch installed, it does not matter where the signal comes from, 91 or 82, you will still see it and the receiver will deal with it accordingly.

I was hoping to see Nimiq 6 go into a different orbital slot and then hopefully we can start using SW64's and/or Dish 1000's.

I guess that when Nimiq 6 goes to 91, the birds that were there, might move somewhere else.

With the DPP44 you could just get 18 inch dish and single dp lnb point it at 72 and run the line to the third port on the switch. Run check switch and done.

won't all programing eventually be HD anyway,and SD phased out at some point?

With the DPP44 you could just get 18 inch dish and single dp lnb point it at 72 and run the line to the third port on the switch. Run check switch and done.
Firstly you would have to change thousands of Legacy LNBF's on the 20" (51cm) Dish's to DPP ones, then get a DP Dual for the 18" Dsih, which you would still have to get, oh and don't forget, Bell TV do NOT officially support DP or DPP, at this time.

Cost wise, it would be way cheaper to continue to use Legacy equipment, from Bell's point of view, for all existing Customers who have HD now, and just replace the SW44 with an SW64, and add another Dish with a Legacy LNBF.

I don't see a two dish solution in Bell's future. It's just too cumbersome and most people would pick digital cable if that was the only option for satellite. I also think Bell needs to simplify the current cabling infrastructure needed for satellite, for the same reason (even if it's just DPP).

That SWM technology that DirectTV has developed is pretty cool. One line from the dish, and one line to each receiver. Can't get much simpler than that! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkpahQBYFYc&feature=related

-Mike

I think of it as being complicated in terms of troubleshooting technical issues.
Right now, if you're missing all of your HD channels, then you know you've got trouble with 82.

Mike, nice link. It is a good idea but really the cabling is not much different than DPP. Both make so much more sense then the legacy setup Bell TV is using. I agree there is no way they will go to a two dish setup and the use of a SW64. What a mess that would be. I'm sure they will use the 17 GHz frequency and utilize the two 82W & 91W locations they alreay have. It would be crazy not to IMO.

RC, really it is no big deal, once you know the channel number you can look up which satellite (there is only two) and then which transponder which you would have to do anyway. If the CSR/tech support will have a problem with that it would be best to let them go.

Could the existing satellite run with 4PSK and the new one with 8PSK? This could allow for 64 transponders at the 91 slot? Is this possible?

nope, xPSK is just a compression on how many bits and bytes you can cram up in one space,, in this case a transponder,, problem is,, correct me if i'm wrong,, all receivers except; 3100, 4100, 5x00, and HD receivers can't decode 8psk. Having multiple transponders in one orbital location would be with the use of different frequencies,, hence 17 Ghz,, which i do belive works with all reveivers that are in comission.

Only the current HD receivers can decode 8PSK. The 6000 sold by bell could not which is why they swaped them out with subscribers for 6131`s.

Firstly you would have to change thousands of Legacy LNBF's on the 20" (51cm) Dish's to DPP ones, then get a DP Dual for the 18" Dsih, which you would still have to get, oh and don't forget, Bell TV do NOT officially support DP or DPP, at this time.

If Bell were to use the 72 orbital for its customers they would have to change the equipment out regardless, so dp plus would be the way to go, they can do it on a as needed basis, I still see lots of homes with only a 18 on them, if they only need 91 that`s fine. The dish 1000 would work with both setups (dp plus and legacy), but it would still be better to go with dp plus for the easier installation, which will reduce costs in materials and installation time.

*YAWN* Bell replaces ku bird with new ku bird in same old slot. No more bandwidth than before. Whoopteedoo. The only way there will a major increase in bandwidth is if the new birds in the same old slots add Ka band and subs get replacement LNBs like DTV. Until Bell adds new frequencies or new orbital slots all we will ever get is more compression.

MPEG4 will effectively provide more bandwidth, once the older HD receivers are swapped out. They still have to maintain their fleet of satellites. Nimiq 1 was launched in 1999 and Nimiq 2 in 2002 (which is only capable of powering 26 transponders). So by 2012, Nimiq 6 will be needed as a replacement regardless of what else happens.

-Mike