WASHINGTON DC, May 13 (Itar-Tass) —— Canadian broadcaster Telesat plans to launch its telecom satellite Nimiq 6 with a Russian Proton-M rocket, the International Launch Services (ILS) reported on Friday.

It said the launch was planned from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan at 1:12 a.m. local time on May 18 (11:12 p.m. Moscow time on May 17).

The 4.5-tonne satellite will have the service life of 15 years. It was built by Space Systems Loral to become a part of the Telesat cluster transmitting television programs in Canada.

ISL is based in Virginia, the U.S. It promotes Proton rockets with Briz-M boosters, products of Khrunichev, on the international market of space launches. The joint venture was set up in 1995 between Lockheed-Martin and the Energia Corporation. Lockheed-Martin seceded from the partnership in 2006 by selling its minority share to a German businessman. Khrunichev bought out the share in May 2008. ILS has done 71 Proton launches since 1996.