The Changing Modes Of Delivering Images Through Television

The factors impinging on television's future include direct satellite transmission

to homes without the use of cable, the costs of laying cable, the carrying capacity of fiber-optics cable, the potential for using existing telephone lines, and the sophistication of interactive systems for purchasing programs and products. Low-power (low-band, very-high-frequency) television offers such opportunities.

Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) transmits television programming via satellite directly to antennas at subscribers' homes rather than through cable. Three companies currently are spearheading efforts to develop DBS MBT Shoes On Sale systems: Hughes's DIRECTV, Hubbard Broadcasting USSB, and Prime star, a joint venture project of Time Warner Cable, TCI, and Cox Communications. Even though customers must purchase an 18-inch satellite dish and receiver, ranging from $150 to $500, nearly 10 million U.S. homes had purchased the DBS service as of April 1999.

In the past, low-power television stations functioned almost exclusively as boosters or translators, making signals available to communities that could not receive regular transmissions. Low-power stations that originate programming are experimental. In Washington, D.C., a low-power station beams Spanish-language programs to one particular area; this is an example of low-power television aiming a weak signal at a specific audience. In spring 1995, the FCC listed 1,591 licensed low-power television (LPTV) stations. In the mid-1990s, LPTV stations could broadcast on more than one channel at a time. Although the new technology limited LP TVs to only 10 to 20 channels, in comparison with up to 180 on a DBS system, many communications companies continued to purchase LPTV licenses so they could offer affordable broadcasting services to rural customers who could not readily receive cable TV.

Over-the-air pay television systems are also beginning to compete with cable systems in urban areas. In 1982, the Microband Corporation of America urged the FCC to allow three such "wireless cable" systems in each of the nation's fifty largest television markets. (In fall 1989, Microband filed for bankruptcy.) Wireless cable, also known as "multichannel, multipoint distribution service" (MMDS), sends multiple channels of video programming by microwave transmission rather than by cable. In its compressed, digital form, MMDS provides more than 100 channels within a radius of approximately 40 miles from the transmitter tower that receives the programs via satellite. The MMDS transmitter delivers video to homes that are in its "line of sight." The microwave signal is received by an antenna on the subscriber's home; then a Cheap MBT Shoes box, usually set on top of the television, decodes and decompresses the digital signal. In 1999, approximately 250 systems serviced more than 1 million MMDS subscribers. In its early years, wireless cable suffered from poor signal reception and limited offerings, often of only one channel. Today's MMDS digital technology delivers a clearer picture and CD-quality sound. The costs of MMDS and the time required to build the transmitters and antennas are far less than for laying cable. Because of its potential, large corporations are moving into this area.

by: Kevin Garnnet

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