Date: Fri, 09 Oct 1992  21:39:01 EDT
From: FZC@CU.NIH.GOV
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: FCC Acts on Satelite Radio Plan
Reply-To: TDARCOS@MCIMAIL.COM
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 770, Message 1 of 11

{Washington Post}, October 9,1992, Page F8)

{Agency Urges Setting aside of Frequencies}

By John Burgess, Washington Post Staff Writer

   Federal regulators yesterday moved to clear the way for a new
generation of radio entertainment services in which satelites would
beam compact-disc quality directly to cars and homes.

   The five member Federal Communications Commission proposed setting
aside enough radio frequency to allow several services to go into
operation.

   At present, there is only one applicant, the tiny District company
Satelite CD Radio Inc.  It hopes to launch satelites and begin service
in 1996 but it must first raise nearly $200 million and get final FCC
approval.

   Another obstacle is that today's radios can't receive the signals.
Listeners would have to buy special equipment to receive the service.

   Satelite CD Radio would offer 30 channels of music and
entertainment, without commercials, for a subscription rate of $5 to
$10 a month, said Robert D. Briskman, its president.

   The entertainment industry has experimented for years with
delivering services to homes directly from space, but so far has had
little success.  The FCC approved television broadcasting from
satelites more than a decade ago but, because of heavy costs and
competition from cable and video rentals, no industry has grown up.

   Satelite radio's promoters contend that a major new market will
emerge from the technology, especially among motorists, who could tune
to a single station while driving coast to coast.

   Sound would be superior to FM or AM radio, and static-free, because
it would be transmitted using the digital technology of computers,
which converts sound into streams of electronic ones and zeroes.

   Skeptics say the radio business is firmly grounded in local
information such as traffic reports, news and advertising.  Moreover,
the huge costs of launching satellites and creating a national
marketing organization might make the ventures collapse under their
own weight.

   Meanwhile, another small Washington company, AfriSpace, is working
to launch a satelite that would beam radio broadcasts to listeners in
Africa and the Middle East.

   The FCC's action marks a new milestone in the world's gradual
transition to digital technology in all types of communication and
information services.  Fiber-optic telephone lines, compact discs and
personal computers already employ this basic approach.

   In general, it offers higher quality, greater capacity and lower
costs than "analog" systems such as FM radio, records and television.

   Owners of conventional radio stations are experimenting with ways
to turn their broadcasts digital, once thought to be a technically
hopeless task.  In the meantime, they have opposed granting frequency
for satelite broadcasts, on the grounds that national services would
undermine the U.S. tradition of local broadcasters serving local
communities.

   The broadcasters' critics, however, contend that they are simply
trying to keep out legitimate competition.