SES AMERICOM's AMC-18 satellite was successfully launched from Kourou, French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle provided by Arianespace. Signal acquisition was confirmed from Lockheed Martin's satellite tracking station in Uralla, Australia.
AMC-18, which was built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems (LMCSS), is an advanced C-band satellite that carries twenty-four 36 MHz C-band transponders for providing cable programming and broadcast services to the 50 United States and the Caribbean. It will become the third satellite in SES Americom's HD-PRIME neighborhood, joining AMC-10 and AMC-11, which are near capacity.
Lockheed Martin is currently building AMC-14, which is scheduled to be launched in 2007. http://www.ses-americom.comhttp://www.lockheedmartin.com
- In November, SES AMERICOM announced that its IP-PRIME service is now carrying 290 TV channels. The latest programmers to join IP-PRIME represent 80 television channels and more than 90 music audio channels, with the complete MTV Networks lineup. The service originates from the IP-PRIME IPTV Broadcast Center based in Vernon Valley, New Jersey, where video and audio programming is received, processed, and then securely transported nationwide over the AMC-9 satellite to authorized video hubs and consumer set top boxes.
