Hot Bird 4 was a geostationary communications spacecraft of the European Eutelsat consortium.

With a constellation of 5 satellites, the Hot Bird family at 13° East formed one of the largest broadcasting systems in the world.

By fourth-quarter 1998, the system was delivering over 320 analogue and digital television channels, as well as radio and multimedia services, to more than 70 million homes connected to a cable network or equipped for satellite (direct-to-home) reception.

The Hot Bird satellites provided full coverage of Europe and also took in parts of Africa and Asia, including the entire Middle East.

[3] The satellite was positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 13° East, co-located with the rest of the Hot Bird constellation.