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TAKE A LOOK AT OTHER YEARS: 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1991 1990 1989 JANUARY THROUGH APRIL January: A federal grand jury in New York City investigates the business affairs and financial practices of A. Frederick Greenberg and Richard Greenberg, partners in Northwest StarScan L.P and SkyPix Corp. who plan to launch a video compression-based DBS service. (Satellite Business News, Jan. 15, 1992) January: GI signs agreements with HBO Satellite Services Inc., Showtime Satellite Networks Inc., and Tele-Communications Inc.'s Netlink to upgrade legitimate VC II decoders to the VideoCipher II Plus Renewable Security system. (Satellite Business News, Jan. 29, 1992) Jan. 1: Thousands of modified VideoCipher II decoders lose service after a holiday electronic countermeasure by the VideoCipher Division of Forstmann Little & Co.'s General Instrument Corp. (Satellite Business News, Jan. 15, 1992) Jan. 11: The Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association's Retail Council criticizes GI's proposed $32 reimbursement for dealers to replace VC II modules with VC RS modules. (Satellite Business News, Jan. 29, 1992) Jan. 31: The Senate passes S.12, the cable re-regulation bill, by a 73- 18 vote. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 12, 1992) February: A group led by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft Corp. and owner of the NBA's Portland Trailblazers, makes an unsuccessful attempt to buy SkyPix. The Greenbergs consider the move tantamount to a hostile takeover. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 12, 1992) February: Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc. becomes the lead hardware vendor and compression supplier to DirecTv, Hughes Communications Inc.'s planned DBS service. Thomson's contract includes an exclusive deal to manufacture the first one million DirecTv receivers. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 12, 1992) Feb. 12: The SBCA Reno Show opens to smaller crowds than attended the previous year's Las Vegas show. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 26, 1992) Feb. 12: The VC RS upgrade begins. The first batch of legitimate VC II module owners receives notice of the plan by mail. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 26, 1992) Feb. 12: DX Communications Inc. announces its return to the integrated receiver/decoder market. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 26, 1992) March: GI begins open VC RS module distribution. Some hardware companies fear programmers will package modules and programming to sell directly to consumers. Others believe manufacturers and distributors with large stockpiles will sell them at reduced prices. (Satellite Business News, March 25 and April 8, 1992) March 2: Arbitrators find that the monthly copyright royalty fees independent superstation carriers pay for their TVRO subscribers should be increased to 17.5 cents per subscriber and network and public broadcasting station payments increased to 6 cents. (Satellite Business News, March 11, 1992) March 13: Hughes launches Galaxy 5, the first of a new C-band satellite generation. Manufacturers and distributors see the new bird as a gateway to marketing a low-cost satellite system anchored by a 4- to 6-foot fixed antenna. (Satellite Business News, March 25 and June 3, 1992) March 19: The FCC strikes down a Deerfield, N.Y. zoning ordinance that discriminates against satellite dishes. (Satellite Business News, April 8, 1992) March 31: All major satellite TV programmers stop authorizing new VC II decoders. (Satellite Business News, April 8, 1992) April: Showtime announces it will launch FLIX, a channel featuring movies from the past three decades. (Satellite Business News, April 22, 1992) April 6: GI files a stock offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission--a request to sell more than 25.3 million shares at an opening price of $19 per share. It is the first public offering since Forstmann Little bought GI in 1990. (Satellite Business News, April 22, 1992) April 22: A deal with Hughes gives the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative the exclusive distribution rights to 20 channels of DirecTv to rural America. Satellite dealers express concern the agreement would cut their chances of selling DirecTv. (Satellite Business News, May 6, 1992) MAY THROUGH AUGUST May: SkyPix Joint Venture L.P. loses its option for 10 transponders on Hughes' SBS-6 Ku-band satellite. (Satellite Business News, May 20, 1992) May 1: Circuit City, one of the U.S.'s top electronics chains, unveils plans to sell C-band systems. (Satellite Business News, May 6, 1992) May 6: The SBCA executive committee grants Dectec International Inc. permission to join the association despite the ethics committee's finding that Dectec violated the SBCA's Code of Ethics. (Satellite Business News, May 20, 1992) May 22: Dectec owner John Grayson tells the SBCA he is no longer interested in joining. (Satellite Business News, June 3, 1992) June: Titan Corp. announces plans for a new subsidiary, Titan Satellite Systems Corp., to produce a decoder module called the Linkabit Smart Card System to compete with GI's VideoCipher. (Satellite Business News, July 1, 1992) July: HBO Satellite says it will offer programming distributors a major discount on the wholesale price of HBO and Cinemax until fall 1983. (Satellite Business News, July 29, 1992) July 16: The FCC adopts rules that pave the way for regional telephone companies to transmit television programming to the home via existing phone lines. The SBCA calls the decision a step toward eliminating program diversity. (Satellite Business News, July 29, 1992) July 23: The House of Representatives votes by a wide margin to tack Rep. Billy Tauzin's program access provision onto the cable bill before passing it. (Satellite Business News, Aug. 12, 1992) July 31: FCC Chairman Al Sikes directs commission staffers to conduct an inquiry into competition in the C-band decoder market and into Titan's bid to market a new decoder module. (Satellite Business News, Aug. 12, 1992) August: The SkyPix bankruptcy case begins. Ex-employees, investors, partners, and others try to wrest control of the company from the Greenbergs. (Satellite Business News, Aug. 26, 1992) Aug. 6: The SBCA Baltimore Show brings in new dealers. Of more than 2,000 satellite dealers attending the show, 1,404 had not attended an SBCA show in two years. (Satellite Business News, Aug. 26, 1992) Aug. 22: A General Dynamics Corp. rocket carrying Hughes's Galaxy IR satellite is destroyed five minutes after launch when a second-stage engine fails. (Satellite Business News, Sept. 9, 1992) Aug. 26: Six superstation carriers meet with the SBCA in Chicago to discuss a strategy to take advantage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which could open markets in Mexico and the Caribbean. (Satellite Business News, Sept. 9, 1992) SEPTEMBER THROUGH DECEMBER Sept. 1: HBO, Showtime, and Netlink slash prices on module/programming packages and begin selling them to consumers. Satellite dealers and distributors complain the move leaves them little room to make money on the conversion of illegal VC II owners. (Satellite Business News, Sept. 9, 1992) Sept. 14: HBO leads the VC II data stream shut-off by cutting it from transmissions to all Dash 4 modules receiving western feeds. Showtime follows suit the next day. (Satellite Business News, Sept. 23, 1992) Sept. 16: A federal bankruptcy judge declares SkyPix and SkyPix Joint Venture L.P. bankrupt and takes operational control from the Greenbergs. (Satellite Business News, Sept. 23, 1992) October: Some programmers and program packagers rejoice over chart- busting summer sales trends. October sets a record at GI's DBS Authorization Center for number of services per dish owner. (Satellite Business News, Nov. 4, 1992) October: The U.S. General Accounting Office investigates the satellite-related activities of rural electric and telephone cooperatives, focusing on whether the cooperatives are using government financing to develop their satellite TV business. (Satellite Business News, Oct. 21, 1992) October: The multi-system cable operators that own Primestar Partners L.P. discuss a strategy to make their DBS service more competitive with Hughes's DirecTv. (Satellite Business News, Nov. 18, 1992) Oct. 5: Congress overrides President Bush's veto of the cable re- regulation bill, handing the cable industry its first legislative setback in eight years. (Satellite Business News, Oct. 21, 1992) November: HBO says module/programming package prices will increase in January, which also will increase dealers' and distributors' commission margins to profits instead of losses on package sales to consumers. (Satellite Business News, Nov. 18, 1992) November: The federal government grants Titan permission to export its decoder module to Latin America. GI still awaits permission from the U.S. Commerce Department to export VC II modules. (Satellite Business News, Nov. 18, 1992) November: The FCC begins translating Congress's will into detailed rules for the cable re-regulation act. The commission is flooded with lawsuits from the cable industry. (Satellite Business News, Nov. 18, 1992) Nov. 9: Paul Allen files his SkyPix reorganization plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The document signals Allen's plans to commit as much as $150 million to launch SkyPix. In contrast, the Greenbergs' plan suggests they could raise about $20 million. (Satellite Business News, Nov. 18, 1992) Nov. 19: Hughes and Thomson conduct the first test of DirecTv's digital video compression system. (Satellite Business News, Dec. 2, 1992) Nov. 23: General Electric Co. sells most of GE Aerospace to Martin Marietta, but the deal does not include GE Americom. (Satellite Business News, Dec. 2, 1992) Dec. 2: TeleCommunications Inc. and HBO announce a tentative agreement to begin using the AT&T-GI compression system in 1993. The move is considered TCI's most significant action thus far to combat the introduction of high-power, Ku-band DBS. (Satellite Business News, Dec. 2 and Dec. 16, 1992)     Please direct questions about this site to general.mail@satbiznews.com q 2000 Satellite Business News Inc. All rights reserved.