This story was updated at 9:04 a.m. EST (1404 GMT).

A Lockheed Martin-built Atlas 5 rocket roared into space today, launching a new American satellite that will provide satellite broadcast services for television connoisseurs across the United States.

Sitting atop its 196-foot booster, the commercial satellite AMC-16 left Earth at 7:07 a.m. EST (1207 GMT) in a flight staged from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

About 4.5 minutes after liftoff, the Atlas 5 booster engine cut off and its Centaur upper stage ignited for an 11-minute burn, the first of two maneuvers to propel AMC-16 into its geosynchronous orbit. Spacecraft separation occured smoothly about 8:55 a.m. EST (1355 GMT).

"Looks like we shot a bullseye," a launch commentator said.

Built by Lockheed Martin for Princeton, New Jersey-based satellite provider SES AMERICOM, the AMC-16 spacecraft is designed to provide direct-to-home entertainment and broadband services across the United States for satellite television customers under EchoStar's DISH Network.

Today's flight was marketed by McLean, Virgina's International Launch Services, which also marketed the launch of AMC-16's sister satellite AMC-15. That spacecraft launched atop a Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome on Oct. 14.

Before liftoff, ILS president Mark Albrecht said AMC-16, and its fellow satellite AMC-15, will provide a tremendous enhancement of the direct broadcasting services offered by SES AMERICOM.

Launch officials worked a few issues building up to launch, including a battery glitch and threatening weather that delayed the flight from its planned 4:41 a.m. (0941 GMT) launch time.

Two minutes before liftoff, the launch went into an unplanned hold when its computers controlling the countdown detected problems associated with a booster valve. No sooner had engineers determined the valve was functioning properly when high winds again prompted a countdown hold.

Mission controllers had a two-hour and 48-minute launch window to fly the Atlas 5 rocket and satellite. The Atlas 5 launch caps a string of successful flights with Atlas family launch vehicles.

The AMC-16 satellite is a veritable twin of its AMC-15 predecessor, both of which are part of SES AMERICOM's AMERICA2Home program. The 8,962-pound (4,065-kilogram) satellite features 24 active Ku-band transponders and 12 programmable Ka-band spot beams, with a design lifetime of about 15 years.

"In terms of Ka-band, this flight shows it's really coming of age and being used in a substantial way," said Andreas Georghio, senior vice president of business development for SES AMERICOM, in a Dec. 16 interview.  "We have a major player in the industry, EchoStar, making the Ka-band a significant part of their capacity to reach consumer homes."

Today's flight marked the fourth launch of an Atlas 5 rocket by  as well as the fourth mission lofted by ILS for SES AMERICOM this year. It was the tenth ILS mission this year.