Posted Mon Dec 7, 2009 at 12:00 PM PST by Mike Attebery
The 11th satellite created by Boeing for the popular television provider, the DIRECTV 12 will expand HD offerings and US coverage.
Satellite television has become a household term, and it's incredibly easy to forget exactly what it means. Most people think quickly of the dish that rests on top of their houses, but not of those floating miles above. The announcement from Boeing today regarding the impending launch of the DIRECTV 12 satellite has a bit of a Carl Sagan effect in that it brings home the fact that we're using giant metal devices floating in space to watch television.
The satellite made its way from the Boeing facility in El Segundo to the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch facility in Kazakhstan. There, it will undergo its final programming and be launched aboard an International Launch Services Proton/Breeze M Rocket.
DIRECTV's HD lineup will be bolstered by fifty percent, bringing their national HD channel count up to 200, and their local HD count up to 1,500. The new satellite will also boost signals in Alaska , Hawaii, and the rest of the continental US.
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