DirecTV hires ILS for next satellite launch

By Kevin C. Tofel

International Launch Services (ILS) has won a contract for another DirecTV satellite launch in early 2007. Hey, the more satellites, the more television channels, right? This is one of two planned satellite launches for DirecTV.

I'm assuming that this will help DirecTV deliver high-definition local channels to their subscribers. Both DirecTV and Dish Network are required by the FCC to broadcast local channels in high-definition by 2007. There are two ways to achieve that goal: fit more channels in the same amount of bandwidth (hence the push to MPEG-4 compression) and\or launch more satellites. In the meantime, I'm sticking with free local HD channels over-the-air (OTA).

By the way: DirecTV has already announced the first cities to receive locals in high-def: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco,
Dallas, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, and Tampa.

 

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