Its operational position was in geosynchronous orbit 35,800 kilometres (22,200 mi) above the equator at 102.8° West longitude.

It provided high-definition television to DirecTV customers with its Ka-band communications payload.

DirecTV did not make use of the broadband capabilities on Spaceway-1 even though it was originally built by Boeing for this purpose.

T10 was co-located with Spaceway-1 in order to use the 500 MHz of unused spectrum for HDTV broadcasting.

In December 2019, the satellite suffered significant and irreversible thermal damage to its battery, forcing it to rely only on power generated from its solar arrays and prompting AT&T to request the spacecraft be decommissioned before February 25, 2020, to prevent the risk of the spacecraft exploding.