Digital, Interactive and Web TV

Satellite Data Links

Satellite Data Links offer very high speed data transmission. They are particularly useful with one to many transmission, for example between a head office and all its retail outlets. Links can be either one or two-way with the sender using a very small aperture terminal (VSAT). Speeds are up to 38 Mbs (almost 700 times the fastest modems).

Satellite Data Links have been available for a number of years from telecommunications and satellite companies and consortiums. Their high prices have restricted use to commercial companies. Now satellite TV companies are able to employ marginal costings and undercut the more traditional operators. In the near future new mobile telecommunications companies will also be entering the market. Some commentators believe that costs will fall to the level that would be attractive to consumers with high data requirements.

Commercial services include:
 

• Hughes Olivetti Telecom (HOT) provides a pan European service called DirectPC, designed to deliver data to branches and stores. DirectPC costs £590 for the PC card and small (60-80 cm) satellite dish with a monthly charge from £25 to £2,000 depending in data volumes. Speeds are up to 400 kbps (8 times the faster modem). A 400 page document can be sent in under a minute.
• European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (Eutelsat) is with BT and Easynet experimenting with a service to supply internet data and television pictures to PCs and Web-TVs.
• Astra-Net is a consortium of Société Européenne des Satellites, Intel, Deutsche Telekom and Hughes Network Systems offering similar services with a PC card selling for £150.
• Canal Plus, Cegetel, American Online and Bertelsmann plan to offer Internet services.

Advances in technology broadcasting equipment is allowing broadcasters to capture high quality live television from arround the world with cheap light-weight equipment that fits into a rucksack. As an example, in February 2000 the BBC conducted a live two-way interview with the Dalai Lama in remote Tibet using a 2 kg dvcam camera costing £2,200 and a satphone providing an ISDN link.

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External Resources
 

1. Cole, George, 1998, Battle for the skies hots up, Financial Times, 21 September 1998.
2. Robins, Jane, 2000, You can with a dvcam, The Independent, 11 April 2000.
3. Also see the full list of resources for this web site for other related resources.

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