The first provider out of the gate, iBlast, began field trials in January in Los Angeles, Orlando, Phoenix, San Diego, and San Jose. Geocast also has a number of terrestrial TV station partners, but its service will first be available via EchoStar satellites in the third quarter of 2001. The companies differ in the makeup of their chosen receivers and in their content focus.
Terrestrial broadcasters have high hopes for datacasting services.
Datacasting will increase the number of DTV receivers in U.S. homes, which will encourage content providers to develop more differentiated digital TV content.