This has just occurred to me, and I can't see anywhere it's been
discussed before. Presumably all of Sky's service is delivered from
one satellite (otherwise we'd have movable dishes)? If that satellite
failed, how long would it take Sky to build and launch a replacement?
In the mean time, would consumers who have recently paid for
installation (or Plus or HD upgrades) be eligible for compensation?
And presumably Sky carries sufficient insurance to keep its business
afloat while no subscriptions are coming in.

Indeed, is it public knowledge how long the satellite has been in
service and what its design life might be?

Steve Adams

"Steve"  wrote in message 
news:0c6cc50a-4dd8-4b29-b54e-83dc5f40e8ce@x35g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
> This has just occurred to me, and I can't see anywhere it's been
> discussed before. Presumably all of Sky's service is delivered from
> one satellite (otherwise we'd have movable dishes)? If that satellite
> failed, how long would it take Sky to build and launch a replacement?
> In the mean time, would consumers who have recently paid for
> installation (or Plus or HD upgrades) be eligible for compensation?
> And presumably Sky carries sufficient insurance to keep its business
> afloat while no subscriptions are coming in.
>
> Indeed, is it public knowledge how long the satellite has been in
> service and what its design life might be?
>
> Steve Adams



Not so difficult. Astra 28.2E - from where Sky is broadcast - is 
actually a cluster of satelites, currently four (I think) that fall 
within the beamwidth of a domestic dish.. If one failed then they would 
simply move to spare transponders on other units.


-- 
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com

Steve wrote:
> This has just occurred to me, and I can't see anywhere it's been
> discussed before. Presumably all of Sky's service is delivered from
> one satellite (otherwise we'd have movable dishes)? If that satellite
> failed, how long would it take Sky to build and launch a replacement?
> In the mean time, would consumers who have recently paid for
> installation (or Plus or HD upgrades) be eligible for compensation?
> And presumably Sky carries sufficient insurance to keep its business
> afloat while no subscriptions are coming in.
>
> Indeed, is it public knowledge how long the satellite has been in
> service and what its design life might be?
>
> Steve Adams

Sky broadcast from a constelation of satellites which are owned by SES Astra 
and Eutelsat. Sky don't own or launch any satellites, they sold the two 
Marco Polo satellites they inherited when they bought out BSB.

Steve wrote:
> This has just occurred to me, and I can't see anywhere it's been
> discussed before. Presumably all of Sky's service is delivered from
> one satellite (otherwise we'd have movable dishes)? 

Nope, it's actually a cluster of satellites positioned relatively far 
apart (indeed, one of the satellites used - Eurobird - is 0.3 degrees 
further round the orbit at 28.5E rather than 28.2E). However, because 
the satellites are so far away (22,000 miles) it's essentially a point 
source as far as dish positioning goes.

Sky don't own the satellites, they rent transponder space and presumably 
they have some kind of service level agreement with SES Astra to cover 
what happens if a transponder (or worse still an entire satellite) 
fails. If one transponder fails there's spare transponder capacity on 
the other members of the cluster, and probably enough spare capacity to 
  cover an entire satellite going down (at least with a cover service). 
The satellites can also be moved around - Astra 2C was originally at 
19.2E and was moved round to 28.2E, for example - so in a worse case 
scenario a satellite could be moved in from the 19.2E or 23.5E clusters 
if there is spare capacity there. It's not a quick process though. It's 
probably not something that Sky worry about too much though - it will be 
SES Astra's job to meet the service agreement that they have with Sky.

-- 
Angus G Rae                        Science & Engineering Support Team
                                                    Computing Services
                                               University of Edinburgh
The above opinions are mine, and Edinburgh University can't have them

Steve wrote:
> Presumably all of Sky's service is delivered from
> one satellite

The Sky services are delivered using some of the SES Astra satellites, of 
which there are many -- you can read all about them here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SES_Astra

This page also has some interesting information about when they were 
launched and problems some have experienced.

-- 

(O)enone