the 124°East slot, which would replace JCSAT-4A. The next day, April 17, Arianespace announced they had secured the contract to launch JCSAT-13 on an Ariane 5 ECA.

On March 23, 2012, JSAT announced that the expected launch date for JCSAT-13 was May 15, and it would replace JCSAT-4A at the 124° East slot to offer the SKY PerfecTV! digital broadcasting service. As scheduled, on May 15 at 22:13 UTC,