4 Media Firms to Begin HDTV Satellite Service

Four media companies today announced they are banding together to launch the first direct-to-home TV satellite service that will beam High Definition Television and digital sound on low-cost “napkin-sized” dishes.

Cablevision Systems Corp., NBC, News Corp. Ltd. and Hughes Communications Inc. signed a memorandum of understanding to create the first high-power Direct Broadcast Satellite service in 1993.

The companies plan to invest about $1 billion in the joint venture, including up to one-third in equity and $325 million in non-recourse debt.

The service, called “Sky Cable,” will use the most powerful space transmitter ever launched for commercial communications, the companies said in a written statement.

The high-power satellite system will make as many as 108 new channels available through the use of digital video delivery, beam High Definition Television and standard video signals and deliver digital quality audio.

Reception will be made by a flat, napkin-sized dish that can be mounted on a windowsill or rooftop and purchased for about $300 at consumer electronics stores, the companies said.

A conventional 10-foot back yard satellite dish costs about $2,000 to $3,000.

“The new service will give Americans a taste of the next century’s boundless range of video choices, sharply enhanced picture reception and more realistic sound,” said Stephen J. Petrucci, president and chief operating officer of General Motors Corp.’s Hughes Communications unit, which will provide the satellite system.

The companies said the new satellite venture probably will be the first to introduce HDTV to the United States on a broad consumer scale.