EchoStar Satellites and Orbital Slots

Echostar Knowledge Base
The Dish Network User's Resource


Dish Network owns or leases capacity on 14 satellites (12/08). Many of those satellites have provided service from more than one slot, as shown in the History of Dish satellites' positions graph.

Updates:

45°

On August 30, 2011, EchoStar was awarded a Brazilian satellite license, expected to be received in May 2012, to expand video and data capabilities in South America.

QuetzSat-1

61.5° (EA)

Carries international channels and HDTV. Requires separate dish or Eastern Arc dish, reception difficult or impossible in a few west coast spots.
What programming is at 61.5W?
Dish Channel Chart 61.5° subset
Dish Network Coverage from 61.5° (jameslong.name site)

EchoStar XII
EchoStar XV
EchoStar III

68.5°

On August 30, 2011, EchoStar was awarded a Brazilian satellite license to expand video and data capabilities in South America.

72.7°  (EA)

EchoStar has entered into an agreement to lease 16 transponders from Bell ExpressVu (source)
Dish Channel Chart 72.7° subset

Nimiq 5

77° (EA)

Use of the slot is divided, with 24 transponders for Dish and 8 for Dish Mexico.
Dish Channel Chart 77° subset

EchoStar I
EchoStar VI
EchoStar VIII

85°

Dish will lease capacity to Sprint Nextel for their Emergency Response Team (ERT) and Engineering Sales Support (ESS) programs (source).  Also used for the ViP-TV by EchoStar all-MPEG4 delivery to MDU systems, and by XStreamHD.  Other programming is yet to be announced.

SES AMERICOM AMC-16

105°

The last channels which were a test channel and the EPG were shut down 6/24/08. Was initially expected to carry HDTV channels but that plan was scrapped when it was discovered AMC-2 (in service 10/14/03 - 7/2/05) didn't quite have a full CONUS footprint.

Not receivable by the 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, JVC-IRR, DISHPlayer 7100/7200.
Dish Channel Chart 105° subset

AMC-15

110° (WA)

Carries the video channels of AT250, extra premium channels, locals, HDTV. Viewable with Dish500. EchoStar 8 and EchoStar 10 share the work load.
Dish Channel Chart 110° subset

EchoStar X
EchoStar XI
EchoStar XVIII

There are conflicting reports about the source of transponders 25 and 31.

Transponders 28, 30 and 32 belong to DirecTV and come from their satellite.

118.75° (119K)

FSS Ku-Band, circular polarization. Programming includes expanded HD local-into-local and international programming.  Reception requires a Plus dish, aka 500+ or 1000+, which has a dual-band LNB for 118.75° and 119°.

Not receivable by the 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, JVC-IRR, DISHPlayer 7100/7200.  The slot is identified as 119K by the 2800, 6000, and 721.
Dish Channel Chart 118.75° subset

SES AMERICOM AMC-16
temporarily handled the duties (on loan from 85°) until...
Telesat Anik F3

119° (WA)

Carries AT100, most of AT200, audio channels (mono and CD), locals, distant nets. Viewable with Dish500.  Actual placement is 118.9°.
Dish Channel Chart 119° subset

EchoStar VII
EchoStar XIV
Expected to be placed in service around the first of June 2010. This satellite has been designed with a combination of CONUS and spot beam capacity and could be used at multiple orbital locations.  The satellite is capable of operating all of its channels on a large “CONUS+” downlink beam that serves the United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and the Caribbean. Certain channels can use 114 transponders on 51 spot beams.

Transponders 22 - 32 belong to DirecTV and their satellites are taking care of those.

121°

FSS Ku-Band, linear polarization. Currently no subscriber channels, had carried local channels and mirrored nearly all the international channels at 61.5° and 148°, also used for testing of future broadband service. Placed into service 11/19/03.

Not receivable by the 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, JVC-IRR, DISHPlayer 7100/7200.
Dish Channel Chart 121° subset

EchoStar IX

129° (WA)

Carries must-carry locals and HDTV. Channel 9901, “Welcome, you have a Dish 1000” became active 9/1/05. Reception is from the Dish1000 or a separate dish.

Not receivable by the 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, JVC-IRR, DISHPlayer 7100/7200
Dish Channel Chart 129° subset

Ciel II

From 1/02(?) - 10/03 EchoStar transmitted the “minor” Philadelphia locals from leased transponder 17 on Telstar 7 (renamed Galaxy 27 on 2-1-07). These moved to 61.5° but are now on 110°.

157°

Slot has been vacated with the move of E-IV to 77°. Subscriber impact is nearly non-existent as the only channels that had been carried were mirrors of a few locals on 110° and 119° and were not promoted. EchoStar stands to lose the transponders it owns if it doesn't place a satellite back here to utilize them.
Dish Channel Chart 157° subset

E*17 (Hughes Jupiter)

Future

The FCC on 5/4/07 issued a Report and Order for BSS Band (17/24GHz).  EchoStar has 10 requests before the FCC: 119°, 114.5°, and 110°; and 61.9°, 67°, 77.2°, 86.3°, 124°, 128.6°, and 147.6°.  Dish has narrowed their requests to 5 per an FCC rule to 61.9, 77.2, 110, 114.5 and 119 W.

EchoStar XVI

On Dec 30, 2009, Space Systems/Loral announced it had been selected to provide EchoStar XVI, based on the space-proven SS/L 1300 satellite bus, for launch in Aug 2012 (was 4Q12). Will be a spot beam satellite going to 61.5° (after a stop for testing at 67.1°), with 16 of the 32 transponders able to be used across 71 spot beams including 5 for the Puerto Rico beam. A 60-day Special Temporary Authority has been requested to allow for launch, testing and location beginning July 20.

DBS Expansion Band

EchoStar has applied for authority to operate a Direct Broadcast Satellite (“DBS”) system composed of a total of ten satellites using the 17/24GHz Broadcast-Satellite Service1 (“BSS”) frequency bands (“DBS Expansion Band”) into the orbital locations at 61.9°, 67°, 77.2°, 86.3°, 124°, 128.6°, and 147.6°, respectively, assuming a 4.5° spacing plus or minus a separation distance of up to 0.4 degrees between each satellite. EchoStar has also already filed applications to operate DBS Expansion Band satellites at 110° W.L., 114.5° W.L., and 119°.

All slots but 67° and 124° are close enough to existing slots to be picked up by a single antenna (that might mean a dual-band LNB similar in concept to the Plus dish). The slots will be used for HDTV, added niche and international services, and expanded coverage into Mexico.

EchoStar EX-3

EchoStar has been granted authority to launch a 17/24 GHz Broadcasting-Satellite Service (BSS) satellite at 79°. Construction is to start by 4/2012 with launch by 4/2014, with a 15-year license term once in service.

EchoStar EX-4

EchoStar has been granted authority to launch a 17/24 GHz Broadcasting-Satellite Service (BSS) satellite at 75°. Construction is to start by 3/2012 with launch by 3/2014, with a 15-year license term once in service.

105.5°

EchoStar has leased the full capacity of this DBS tweener slot from SES pending FCC approval. Unknown if this will be for residential or commercial use. No satellite has been named but was originally to have been AMC-14.

109°

Dish has an approved application to build an Extended Ku-Band satellite (12-12-05). See the application at http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/servlet/ib.page.FetchAttachment?attachment_key=473205 (requires Acrobat Reader).

125°

EchoStar filed an FCC application for authority to construct, launch and operate a satellite in the fixed-satellite service (FSS) using Ka-Band frequencies. The company proposed to offer DTH services, two-way broadband, interactive capabilities and HD content. (Quoted from SkyREPORT)

Past

AMC-14

EchoStar 2

EchoStar IV

EchoStar V

86.5°

The FCC has authorized Dish to build, but not yet launch, a new DBS satellite for this “tweener” slot.  May carry HDTV, international, and LIL. (source). Use of the slot has been revoked for failure to perform per the license (source).

“EchoStar-86.5W”

97°

EchoStar filed an amendment to an FCC application to construct, launch and operate a FSS/Ka-Band spot-beam satellite (Quoted from SkyREPORT) The application has lapsed and DirecTV has filed an application for its use.

113°

EchoStar obtained control of the Ka-Band slot from VisionStar in Oct 2001. The FCC put the frequencies up for reassignment after declaring VisionStar out of compliance with the licence's construction milestones. EchoStar has re-filed for access to the slot, wants to use it for delivery of video services, including more local TV and high-def channels, two-way broadband, transport of programming to uplink centers, and delivery of international satellite TV services. (SkyREPORT)

Construction of “EchoStar-113” has begun and launch is expected in the fall of 2009.

On Sept 2, 2009 EchoStar surrendered its Ka-band authorization to provide service from 113°.

148°

Carried international channels, minor locals for western markets, some entire local markets. Almost a mirror of 61.5°. Requires separate dish.
Dish Channel Chart 148° subset

There is no satellite at this slot as of 8/3/09. On 5/31/12, the International Bureau of the FCC announced the termination of Dish's license for use of the 148 degree orbital location.

Hughes Broadband Satellite

Spaceway 3

In Operation

Jupiter

In June 2009, Hughes Communications entered into an agreement with Space Systems/Loral, Inc. (“SS/L”) for the design and manufacture of a next-generation, high throughput geostationary satellite (“Jupiter”).  Jupiter will employ a multi-spot beam, bent pipe Ka-band architecture and will provide additional capacity for HughesNet service to the consumer market in North America.  Jupiter is expected to be launched during the first half of 2012.

Barrett Xplore Inc. has agreed to lease the user beams designed to operate in Canada, which represents a portion of the capacity available on the Jupiter satellite.

Jupiter 97W

Design/Construct/Launch FCC application filed August 2011. - 3-5 years to launch

Jupiter 91W

Design/Construct/Launch FCC application filed December 2011 - 3-5 years to launch

Jupiter 77W

Design/Construct/Launch FCC applicaiton filed December 2011 - 3-5 years to launch

S-band Satellites

EchoStar G1
Launched in April 2008 by DBSD North America and currently located at the 92.85° orbital location. EchoStar G1 was designed to meet a minimum 15-year useful life.
EchoStar T1
Launched in July 2009 by TerreStar and currently operates at the 111.1° orbital location. EchoStar T1 was designed to meet a minimum 15-year useful life. Prior to the TerreStar Transaction, this satellite experienced certain solar array anomalies. While these anomalies did not reduce the estimated useful life of the satellite to less than 15 years or impact commercial operation of the satellite, there can be no assurance that future anomalies will not reduce its useful life or impact its commercial operation.
EchoStar T2
In December 2007, TerreStar entered into an agreement with Space Systems/Loral, Inc. (“SS/L”) for the design and manufacture of EchoStar T2 which is expected to be completed during 2012.

More information


Thanks to TNGTony for compiling much of the information. Have a correction or addition? E-mail the Editor