U.S., Mexico Sign Satellite Agreement

The United States and Mexico signed an agreement to allow television satellite transmissions to be beamed into both countries from Mexican or U.S. satellites. The pact is designed to promote competition in the direct-broadcast satellite, or DBS, business. The agreement offers Mexican companies a way to provide DBS service in the U.S. without having to obtain a DBS license. In January, MCI Communications Inc. paid $682.5 million for the last remaining U.S. DBS license. MCI has teamed up with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. to provide service. Direct TV SA, a venture between Multivision of Mexico and Los Angeles-based Hughes Communications Corp., has a license application pending before the Federal Communications Commission. For U.S. satellite transmissions in Mexico, a company must be majority owned by Mexicans. For Mexican firms to sell transmissions in the U.S., they must have a license from the FCC.