Hot Bird (also styled HOTBIRD) is a group of satellites operated by

Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Eutelsat's satellit ...

, located at 13 °E over the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...

( orbital position) and with a transmitting footprint over Asia, Europe, North Africa,

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

and the Middle East. Only

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

radio and television channels are transmitted by the Hot Bird

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

, both free-to-air and encrypted. In addition there are a few

interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

and IP services. The satellites currently operate at 13° East and are numbered 13B, 13C and 13E. The satellites have been broadcasting digital-only since TV5Monde switched off its analogue signal in 2010.

List of satellites

Satellite details

Hot Bird 1

Hot Bird 1 was launched by

Ariane 44LP The Ariane 4 was a European expendable rocket, expendable space launch system, developed by the ''CNES, Centre national d'études spatiales'' (CNES), the Government of France, French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was man ...

on 28 March 1995. The 13° east slot predates the launch, with

Eutelsat I F-1 Eutelsat I F-1, also known as European Communications Satellite 1 (ECS-1) is a decommissioned communications satellite operated by the European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (Eutelsat). Launched in 1983, it was operated in geostati ...

having been located there as early as 1983, and

EUTELSAT II F-1 EUTELSAT II F-1, is a decommissioned communications satellite operated by the Eutelsat, European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (EUTELSAT). Launched in 1990, it was operated in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 13° East, before m ...

having also served time at the location. It has reached end-of-life.

Hot Bird 3

Hot Bird 3 was launched by

on 2 September 1997 and intended to be moved to 10°E to become Eurobird 10. During the drift from 13°E to 10°E, the satellite suffered loss of power from one solar array. It was nevertheless successfully moved to 10°E, but could only operate at a reduced capacity. Since then, it is operating at 4°E under the name Eurobird 4. At last it was moved to 75°E and renamed to ABS_1B. It has reached end-of-life.

Hot Bird 4

Hot Bird 4 was launched by Ariane 42P on 27 February 1998 and redeployed to 7°W in July 2006, becoming

Atlantic Bird Atlantic Bird was a series of satellites operated by Eutelsat over the Atlantic Ocean. In 2012 the series was merged into Eutelsat's main fleet as part of the company's rebranding. Two of the original three satellites replaced the France Telecom ...

4 / Nilesat 103.

Hot Bird 5

Hot Bird 5 was launched by Atlas-2A on 9 October 1998 and re-located to 25.5°E and renamed Eurobird 2. Six transponders are leased to Arabsat under the name

Badr 2 Badr (Arabic: بدر) as a given name below is an Arabic masculine and feminine name given to the "full moon on its fourteenth night" or the ecclesiastical full moon. Badr may refer to: .and it is also one of the oldest and rarest names in the Arabi ...

, after having been called Arabsat 2D.

Hot Bird 6 (Hot Bird 13D)

Hot Bird 6 was launched by Atlas V 401 on 21 August 2002. Starting on 12 June 2009, the day of Iranian elections, deliberate interference affecting this satellite was traced to Iran. Hot Bird 6 is the primary carrier for BBC Persian Television. As of 2013, it was replaced by Hot Bird 10 (Hot Bird 13D).

Hot Bird 7/7A (Hot Bird 13E)

Hot Bird 7 was lost in December 2002 during the

Ariane 5 ECA Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It is launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It has been used to deliver payloads into ...

launch. Its replacement,

Hot Bird 7A Hot Bird (also styled HOTBIRD) is a group of satellites operated by Eutelsat, located at 13 °E over the equator ( orbital position) and with a transmitting footprint over Asia, Europe, North Africa, Americas and the Middle East. Only digital ...

(a Spacebus 3000B3) was successfully launched on 11 March 2006. Hotbird 7A was renamed Eurobird 9A in February 2009. In December 2011 Eutelsat announced, that their satellite assets will be renamed under a unified brand name effective from March 2012. This satellite became Eutelsat 9A. In 2016 it was renamed Hotbird 13E.

Hot Bird 8 (Hot Bird 13B)

Hot Bird 8 was launched by

Proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mass ...

on 5 August 2006. With a launch mass of 4.9 tonnes, Hot Bird 8 is the largest and the most powerful broadcast satellite serving Europe.

Hot Bird 9 (Hot Bird 13C)

Hot Bird 9 was launched by

in December 2008. Its entry into service enabled the Hot Bird 7A satellite to be redeployed to 9° East and rebranded Eurobird 9A, increasing capacity to 38 transponders at this orbital position.

Hot Bird 10 (Eutelsat 33E)

Hot Bird 10 was launched by

in February 2009 with NSS-9, Spirale A and Spirale B. It was initially commissioned as Atlantic Bird 4A at 7°W. When Atlantic Bird 7 became operational, it was renamed Eutelsat 3C and was colocated with Eutelsat 3A at 3° East. Later it became Hotbird 13D and in 2016 Eutelsat 33E. This satellite is located at 33° East.

Hotbird 13F

Hotbird 13F was launched by Falcon 9 Block 5 in October 2022. The launch mass of the satellite is 4,476 kg (9,868 lb). The satellite has been produced by

Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space is the division of Airbus SE responsible for the development and manufacturing of the corporation's defence and space products, while also providing related services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the ...

and it's based on Eurostar Neo bus. The satellite is designed to use PPS5000 plasma propulsion engine (developed by

Safran Safran S.A. is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures aircraft engines, rocket engines as well as various aerospace and defense-related equipment or their components. It was formed by a merger between SNECMA and ...

and using xenon) to get to geostationary orbit.

Hotbird 13G

Hotbird 13G was launched by Falcon 9 Block 5 in November 2022. The satellite is very similar to Hotbird 13F. Hotbird 13F and 13G are expected to replace three satellites (13B, 13C, and 13E) at orbital position 13°E, which are near end-of-life in 2022.

Packages broadcast on Hot Bird

* *

Cyfrowy Polsat Cyfrowy Polsat S.A. (; English: ''Digital Polsat''), trading as Polsat Box is a Polish DTH satellite TV platform. It is the fifth-largest digital platform in Europe and the largest in Central and Eastern Europe. Polsat Box has 3.47 million subscr ...

* Eurosport * Globecast * Kabelio * Platforma Canal+ *

NOVA Cyprus Nova Telecommunications S.M.S.A. is a telecommunications company in Greece which provides broadband, television and fixed telephony. It also offers satellite services in Cyprus. It is traded on the Athens Exchange until its delisting in 2021. In ...

NOVA Greece Nova Telecommunications S.M.S.A. is a telecommunications company in Greece which provides broadband, television and fixed telephony. It also offers satellite services in Cyprus. It is traded on the Athens Exchange until its delisting in 2021. In ...

* Orange Polska * Sky Italia * TéléSAT *

Tivùsat tivùsat is a free-to-air/free-to-view digital satellite television platform, launched by the joint venture between RAI, Mediaset and Telecom Italia Media, and serving Italy, Vatican City and San Marino. With the exception of international news ...

* Viasat Ukraine

Free-to-air channels

Up to 1000 television and radio channels are available free-to-air.

References

External links

Eutelsat Satellites
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