[3] This satellite is similar to T10 and T11, but features a 17/24 GHz BSS payload carrying the moniker RB-2A.

[5] On November 27, the satellite was shipped to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakhstan desert from the Boeing facility in El Segundo, California.

The launch was televised publicly live on DirecTV channel 577, on C-Band satellite, and online at ILS's website.

On March 31, 2010 DirecTV filed a Special Temporary Authority for permission to drift to its final position at 103° W.[11] It was granted on April 23.

DirecTV began adding new HD channels on May 19 and continued June 23 and later in the summer.