Hotbird 6 → Hotbird 13A → Eutelsat 8 West C → Eutelsat 33D → Eutelsat 70D

Hotbird 6 [Alcatel]

The Hotbird 6 satellite will provide a total of 32 active transponders. 28 of these will operate in the Ku-band. The remaining 4 transponders will operate in the Ka-band. The 28 Ku-band transponders are connected to a high-power Super-Widebeam coverage to facilitate the provision of television broadcast and multimedia services over the entire European continent, North Africa and the Middle East. The in-orbit redundancy of the Hot Bird satellite system will be enhanced through the provision of back-up capacity on Hot Bird 6 for all of the Hotbird 5 channels and for a set of Hotbird 4 channels. The satellite will also provide additional Ku-band capacity to be leased at 13 degrees East. Additionally, services that are currently broadcast by Hotbird 5 can be upgraded to take advantage of the Hotbird 6 satellite's very wide coverage area. The satellite's advanced Ka-band payload design will enable the organization to address several additional markets from high-end Internet users, small- and medium-sized businesses, and SOHOs (Small Office Home Office workers) within a Western European coverage area. The unique combination of the Ka-band and SKYPLEX will provide further opportunities for new multimedia service development, where access via very small transmit/receive user terminals (for example, micro-TV, IP-Broadcasting and interactive network applications).

Hotbird 6 was launched for a reduced fee on the first Atlas-5(401) rocket.

In December 2011 Eutelsat announced, that their satellite assets will be renamed under a unified brand name effective from March 2012. This satellite becqme Hotbird 13A. In 2013, it was renamed Eutelsat 8 West C and moved to the 8° West position. It was then moved in 2015 to 33° East and renamed Eutelsat 33D. Later it was renamed Eutelsat 70D when it moved to 70° East.

The satellite was retired in 2016 and was moved into a graveyard orbit above the geostationary belt.