FCC OKs DirecTV Satellite Move

[Steve Mehs]

The Federal Communications Commission granted DirecTV's request for satellite moves involving the DirecTV 1 and DirecTV 6 spacecraft.

The FCC's International Bureau issued an order allowing the satellite TV company to drift DirecTV 6 from the 119-degree orbital location to the 110-degree location, and drift DirecTV 1 from 110 degrees to its core DBS location at 101 degrees.

In its order, the bureau said the satellite moves could help DirecTV enhance its service to Hawaii and provide more HDTV programming.

The order issued Wednesday doesn't have any bearing on complaints before the FCC from officials and others in Hawaii and Alaska about DirecTV's service to the two states. The FCC is still looking at petitions concerning DirecTV service to the faraway states.

From SkyReport (http://www.skyreport.com) (Used with Permission)

[timf]

How does moving satellites farther east help Hawaii? It seems like Hawaii programming should come from 119 or 110, not 101. Also, the 110 location is limited more by the number of transponders available there rather than the capability of the satellite, so I don't see why DIRECTV 6 is better suited for 110 rather than DIRECTV 1.

[Greg Bimson]

How does moving satellites farther east help Hawaii? It seems like Hawaii programming should come from 119 or 110, not 101.Well, DirecTV's core programming is located at 101. Why would DirecTV want to duplicate programming on 119, simply for Hawaii? Therefore, trying to serve Hawaii from 101 would be the best plan, for DirecTV.

IIRC, DirecTV 1 provides a better footprint to Hawaii, and therefore, would be better suited for transmission of core programming. That is why it is being moved back to 101.

Since moving DirecTV 1 would leave the 110 slot vacant, something would need to fill 110 prior to moving DirecTV 1 to 101. That would either be DirecTV 6, which is a slightly hobbled backup to DirecTV 5 at 119, or DirecTV 3, which is a majorly hobbled backup at the 101 slot. At that point, it doesn't matter what satellite goes to 110, since all that is needed is a satellite that can transmit at full power for the three transponders DirecTV owns at that slot.

Of course, by the end of the year, DirecTV 7-S is to be operational at 119. There would once again be two satellites at 119.