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TAKE A LOOK AT OTHER YEARS: 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1990 1989 JANUARY THROUGH APRIL Jan. 9: SkyPix stages the long-awaited public premier of its digital video compression system at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. SkyPix signs a contract with Echosphere Corp. to be its exclusive distributor to the TVRO industry. (Satellite Business News, Jan. 23, 1991). Jan. 14: Cable re-regulation bill, S.12, is introduced in the U.S. Senate. The measure calls for regulation in areas where cable operators are not subject to "effective competition" from other media. (Satellite Business News, Jan. 23, 1991) Jan. 11: The VideoCipher Division of Forstmann Little & Co.'s General Instrument Corp. files suit against John Grayson, Dectec International Inc., and others. GI alleges Grayson's new scrambling technology is being sold primarily for piracy purposes. Grayson claims his system is a legal and improved alternative to the VideoCipher II. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 6, 1991) Jan. 29: GI and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology join forces to push for an all-digital U.S. standard for high-definition TV. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 6, 1991) Jan. 14: Stamping out piracy is the theme of the SBCA trade show in Las Vegas. At the show, TVN announces it will use the VC II Plus system instead of the scrambling system it had originally planned to use. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 6, 1991) Feb. 8: The FCC releases a ruling against imposing syndicated exclusivity on the TVRO market. The commission rules that use of satellite dishes is not widespread enough and technology not advanced enough to warrant action. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 6, 1991) Feb. 22: Larry Dunham resigns as president of GI's VideoCipher Division. VideoCipher Executive Vice President Jerry Heller is named acting general manager of the San Diego-based division. (Satellite Business News, March 6, 1991) March 14: MCA's Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures announce equity investments in TVN Entertainment. Sources say Paramount and MCA bought a controlling interest in TVN. (Satellite Business News, April 3, 1991) March 20: Home Shopping Network announces its intention to invest $30 million in SkyPix's planned DBS service. Under the terms of the deal, HSN would provide more than $1.5 million cash and all back-office telephone and related functions worth slightly less than $15 million. (Satellite Business News, March 20, 1991) April: GI halves its contribution to the SBCA Anti-Piracy Task Force. GI executives say they will provide about $750,000 to fund the task force through June. GI later agrees to provide SBCA with $1.1 million total, $400,000 short of its original pledge. (Satellite Business News, April 17, 1991) April 15: The U.S. Customs Service announces a subsidiary of Echosphere Corp. pleaded guilty as a result of charges of exporting VC II decoders. The plea bargain allows Echosphere International to admit lesser crimes, but the company is fined $800,000. (Satellite Business News, April 3, 1991) MAY THROUGH AUGUST May 1: GI disputes evidence that Dectec International's so-called BlackCipher can be used to decode VC II Plus channels. Hackers say they have broken into the VC II commercial data stream but have not compromised VC II Plus. (Satellite Business News, May 1, 1991) May 9: The FCC reports some superstation carriers are discriminating against TVRO distributors by charging them higher rates than those charged to cable operators. (Satellite Business News, May 29, 1991) May 14: The Senate Commerce Committee votes 16 to 3 to approve S.12, the cable re-regulation bill. (Satellite Business News, May 29, 1991) June 3: Hubbard Broadcasting Inc. agrees to buy five transponders on the first DBS satellite to be launched by Hughes Communications Inc. Hughes and Hubbard will share a video compression/authorization system to broadcast competing services. (Satellite Business News, June 12, 1991) June 14: The Satellite Dealers Coalition show draws modest crowd of about 300 in St. Louis. (Satellite Business News, June 26, 1991) June 17: Consumer Satellite's National Programming Service becomes the first independent member of the TVRO industry to begin VC II conversions (Satellite Business News, June 26, 1991). The company drops the program in September for lack of demand. (Satellite Business News, Oct. 2, 1991) July 11: The future of the satellite TV industry is the main topic at the upbeat SBCA show in Nashville. Exhibitors report strong attendance, and executives discuss new technology to eliminate piracy. (Satellite Business News, July 24, 1991) July 16: GTE Spacenet and SkyPix sign an agreement under which GTE will provide uplink and playback services for the proposed Ku-band DBS service in exchange for use of SkyPix's compression technology. SkyPix also signs a deal with Mitsubishi under which Mitsubishi will finance the production of SkyPix's receivers. (Satellite Business News, July 24, 1991) SEPTEMBER THROUGH DECEMBER September: Echosphere owner Charlie Ergen launches a takeover bid for California Amplifier. Cal Amp quickly rejects Ergen's bid and adopts a "poison pill" plan to thwart any future hostile takeover attempts; Echosphere's bid eventually fails. (Satellite Business News, Sept. 4, Sept. 18, and Oct. 30, 1991) Sept. 3: Home Shopping Network pulls out of the joint venture with SkyPix Corp., saying SkyPix failed to meet certain specific goals. (Satellite Business News, Sept. 18, 1991) Sept. 4: A federal court rules PrimeTime 24 has the right to uplink three superstations for sale to dish owners. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says PrimeTime may continue business as long as it pays royalties to the producers of network programs. The ruling reverses a lower court order. NBC, CBS, ABC, and Gannett had sued PrimeTime over the use of their signals but dropped the case when the Satellite Home Viewer Act was passed. (Satellite Business News, Sept. 18, 1991) Sept. l0: The SBCA places Dectec International's membership application before the association's ethics committee. The move is sparked by objections by several SBCA members regarding allegations about past activities of Dectec's John Grayson (Satellite Business News, Sept. 18, 1991) October: Several VC II hackers claim the VC II Plus system has been broken, but they say they will not demonstrate the break until GI and programmers announce plans to upgrade VC II owners to VC II Plus. Despite continuing talk about the VC II Plus break, no public demonstration of a compromise had been made at year's end. (Satellite Business News, Oct. 2, 1991) Oct. 7: James Bunker succeeds Larry Dunham as president of GI's VideoCipher Division. Bunker had been with M/A-Com Inc. for 30 years, where he presided over the development and production of the first VideoCipher I and II systems. (Satellite Business News, Oct. 16, 1991) Oct. 22: SkyPix announces four new investors for its DBS service. The new capital gives the company enough money to launch its service. (Satellite Business News, Oct. 30, 1991) Nov. 10: The Satellite Dealers Coalition folds for lack of funding. At the same time, SDC leadership agrees to launch the Satellite Dealers Association as a replacement. (Satellite Business News, Nov. 27, 1991) Nov. 15: Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Maine) announces floor debate on S.12 will be delayed until January 1992. (Satellite Business News, Nov. 27, 1991) Nov. 20: Titan Corp. launches an aggressive search for allies as it plans to market a descrambler module to compete with GI's VC II. The San Diego-based company began developing its Titan-Cipher III US after a no-compete agreement with GI expired in October. (Satellite Business News, Nov. 13, Nov. 27, and Dec. 11, 1991) Nov. 21: Legislation is introduced in Congress to prohibit price discrimination by superstation carriers against TVRO programming distributors. The move sets off debate between the SBCA and the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative. Lobbyists predict little chance of the bill's passage. (Satellite Business News, Dec. 11, 1991)     Please direct questions about this site to general.mail@satbiznews.com q 2000 Satellite Business News Inc. All rights reserved.