EchoStar launches ninth satellite

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EchoStar IX satellite successfully launched from a floating platform at the equator aboard a Sea Launch rocket at 3:31 GMT. A "combo" satellite built to provide direct-to-home entertainment programming across the U.S. for EchoStar and other telecommunications services for Loral Skynet.

EchoStar Communications Corporation announced that its EchoStar IX satellite successfully launched from a floating platform at the equator aboard a Sea Launch rocket at 3:31 GMT.

The EchoStar IX satellite is equipped with the first commercial Ka-band spot-beam payload for use over the United States and will be used to deliver future broadband initiatives for the company. The satellite also carries a Ku-band payload to provide video delivery and will operate at the 121 degree West Longitude orbital location.

A "combo" satellite built to provide direct-to-home entertainment programming across the U.S. for EchoStar and other telecommunications services for Loral Skynet been released from the Block DM-SL upper stage to complete this tenth flight for Sea Launch.

Loral Skynet will use the spacecraft's 24 C-band transponders under the name Telstar 13. Cable programming will be beamed to users in the United States, Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean islands.

Loral Skynet just last month reached an agreement to sell its share of the satellite to Intelsat, along with four others already in orbit and another to be launched early next year. The deal could be closed within several months.

EchoStar IX will join EchoStar's current fleet of eight satellites that provide DISH Network customers with hundreds of all-digital television channels, including interactive TV services, sports programming, high definition television and international programming.