Eutelsat’s W3C enters service

Eutelsat’s W3C satellite has entered commercial operation at the 16° East orbital position.
The transfer of all traffic, including over 480 TV channels, onto W3C from the Eurobird 16, W2M and SESAT 1 satellites, was completed yesterday by Eutelsat’s control centre.

Eutelsat said over 11 million homes in central Europe and 500,000 in Indian Ocean islands are equipped to receive broadcast services from the 16° East neighbourhood. Pay TV platforms and public and private broadcasters using W3C include SBB, Digitalb, TV Max, Tring and TV Romania. SBB, operator of Total TV, the Serbian DTH platform, is adding two transponders to the six already leased at 16° East. Leased to 2020, the additional capacity will be used to support new channel launches.

Eutelsat’s Eurobird 16, SESAT 1 and W2M satellites remain in commercial service.