(23 July 2008 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Boeing has announced that US pay TV platform DirecTV has taken on-orbit delivery of the DirecTV 11 satellite, which will continue to expand DirecTV’s lineup of high-definition television channels and services to millions of households in the US.

Sea Launch launched DirecTV on a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket from the launch services company’s equatorial launch site in the Pacific Ocean. Boeing is a 40 percent partner in Sea Launch.

The newest spacecraft in DirecTV’s fleet will begin transmitting additional national high-definition signals for the nation’s leading satellite TV provider, and expand DirecTV’s HD platform to up to 150 national channels and local HD channels in well over 100 markets later this year.

Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems VP, GM Craig Cooning says, "The Boeing and DIRECTV teams worked together to ensure that this satellite and its systems are ready to begin broadcasting television programs in high definition into homes throughout the United States.

"The spacecraft was handed over eight days ahead of schedule, and we are pleased to have a role in assisting DIRECTV with the expansion of their service to customers"

DirecTV 11 is the fourth Ka-band Boeing 702 satellite built for DIRECTV at Boeing’s satellite manufacturing facility in El Segundo, Calif. The facility encompasses approximately one million square feet and claims to be the largest state-of-the-art dedicated satellite factory in the world