Ciel
The Ciel Satellite Group, located in Ottawa Canada, is a privately-held satellite operator and owns and operates the Ciel-2 DBS-band satellite. The Ciel-2 satellite provides Direct-To-Home (DTH) broadcasting services to television and radio networks throughout North America, using the BSS 12 GHz Ku-band frequencies at the 129° West Longitude orbital location.
Ciel provides leading edge communications platforms enabling a full range of affordable satellite services. The company combines the substantial satellite industry experience of its shareholder and satellite operator SES and the infrastructure expertise of its Canadian shareholder, Borealis Infrastructure. Ciel satellite operations are coordinated with the SES global fleet. SES operates 53 satellites (directly or via affiliates) in 30 orbital positions around the globe.
Company History
Ciel Satellite Holding, Inc. was established in 2004, providing services throughout the Americas as a result of Borealis Infrastructure, a financial institution, partnered with satellite operator SES.
Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, the Ciel Satellite Group was founded to develop Canadian spectrum opportunities and meet the demand for domestic competitive satellite services.
In 2005 Ciel Satellite Group leased capacity on EchoStar-5 satellite from satellite operator Echostar and moved to 129° W branding as Ciel-1. EchoStar-5 was originally ordered by MCI as MCI-1 / Sky-1A. The satellite reached End-of-Life (EOL) in 2009 and was moved to a junk orbit.
In 2006, Ciel requested Alcatel Alenia Space (Thales Alenia Space) to manufacture the Ciel-2 satellite. Ciel-2 was based on Alenia’s’ Spacebus-4000C4 bus and is the largest Spacebus class satellite built to date (5,561kgs). The satellite operates from 129° West geostationary orbit position, and its 32 Ku-band transponders will deliver high-definition and other tv-services throughout North America. The satellite delivers also multiple independent spot beams in Ku-band.
Ciel-2 under test 
Ciel-2 launched by ILS 
Ciel-2 satellite in orbit
Ciel-2 was launched on a Proton Breeze M rocket, operated by launch operator ILS, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazachstan on December 10th, 2008.
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Resources
www.cielsatellite.ca
www.spacebizguide.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.bloomberg.com
www.businesswire.com edition December 9th, 2008
www.space.skyrocket.de
www.satbeams.com