Eutelsat Communications has announced the entry into commercial service of its EUROBIRD 9A satellite at 9 degrees East.

Redeployment of the satellite was made possible with last week's entry into service at 13 degrees East of HOT BIRD 9, which released EUROBIRD 9A (formerly HOT BIRD 7A) for its new commercial mission to support the rapid pace of growth at Eutelsat's 9 degrees East broadcast neighbourhood.

It will replace EUROBIRD 9 at this position, doubling operational resources from 20 to 38 transponders.

The smooth transfer of 175 television channels and 25 radio stations onto EUROBIRD 9A was completed at 01.00 GMT this morning by Eutelsat's control centre, working closely with broadcast clients and providers of uplink services.

Opened in May 2007, Eutelsat's 9 degrees East neighbourhood has, over a period of one year, seen a two-fold increase in the number of programmes it broadcasts with the launch of new TV-programme bouquets such as Hello HD from Hungary, Platforma DV from Russia, and Roots Global, which is aimed at Indian communities across Europe.

With its close proximity to Eutelsat's premium HOT BIRD neighbourhood, it is possible to watch channels from both neighbourhoods with a single DTH dish equipped for dual-feed reception.

The 9 degrees East neighbourhood is also developing into a key location for delivering channels to cable operators via the KabelKiosk service operated by Eutelsat's German subsidiary.