Intelsat 36 satellite enters service to improve broadcasting, DTH for MultiChoice

Intelsat South Africa announced that the Intelsat 36 satellite has entered service, providing broadcasting and direct-to-home (DTH) services for Africa’s MultiChoice, the leading DTH platform in South Africa.

Built for Intelsat by Space Systems/Loral (SSL), Intelsat 36 was launched aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle in August. The satellite, co-located with Intelsat 20 at 68.5° East, includes a Ku-band payload used by MultiChoice and a C-band payload that provides in-orbit resilience for Intelsat’s media neighborhoods serving Africa and the Indian Ocean regions.

“There are dynamic changes taking place across the global media landscape, and Intelsat 36 supports our customers as they address the growing demand for content throughout the African continent,” said Brian Jakins, Regional Vice President, Africa Sales, Intelsat. “This satellite will enable our customer, MultiChoice, to extend high definition channels throughout the region. The C-band payload will provide additional redundancy for media customers to ensure that all viewers have access to reliable, high quality content.”

The satellites are expected to provide better telecommunications performance for service providers. Africa and the Indian Ocean will see the introduction of Intelsat 36. In fact among customers using the satellite, MultiChoice will leverage 36 to deliver premier video in Africa.