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TAKE A LOOK AT OTHER YEARS: 1998 1997 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 JANUARY THROUGH APRIL Jan. 22: AT&T announces plans to buy 2.5 percent of DirecTv Inc. owner Hughes Electronics Corp. for $137.5 million. The agreement gives AT&T sales and marketing rights to DirecTv's programming packages. (Satellite Business News, Satellite Business News, Jan. 31, 1996, 1996) Jan. 23: Galaxy Services Group sells its subscriber base to Turner Vision Inc. after Galaxy experiences authorization and billing problems. Galaxy later shuts down. (Satellite Business News, Jan. 31, 1996) Jan. 24: MCI Telecommunications Corp. bids $682.5 million for 28 channels at the 110-degree orbital slot during the Federal Communications Commission's DBS auction. (Satellite Business News, Jan. 31, 1996) Jan. 25: EchoStar Communications Corp. bids $52.3 million for the 148- degree half-CONUS slot during the FCC's DBS auction. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 14, 1996) February: Power DirecTv Chairman Joel Bell pulls his company out of the Canadian DBS race. However, Power Direct later eyes the 91-degree orbital slot, a plan met with skepticism. Power Direct scuttles that plan in August but then applies for and receives a permit extension to Dec. 20, 1997. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 14, July 3, and Sept. 11, 1996) February: Tele-Communications Inc. begins discussions with Telesat Canada about possibly using a Canadian orbital slot for a U.S. DBS service. TCI completes its agreement with Telesat May 10. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 28 and May 22, 1996) Feb. 1: U.S. Satellite Broadcasting Inc.'s initial public stock offering of 8.3 million shares opens trading at $35 per share. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 14) Feb. 1: Congress passes the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which President Clinton signs into law a week later. The law exempts satellite TV programming from local taxation and grants the FCC authority to override local zoning ordinances. (Satellite Business News, Feb. 14, 1996) Feb. 14: China Great Wall Industry Corp.'s troubles continue with the third failure in seven launch attempts when a Long March rocket carrying an Intelsat satellite veers off course seconds after liftoff. (Satellite Business News, Feb.28, 1996) March: United Video Satellite Group Inc.'s Superstar Satellite Entertainment and Liberty Media Group Inc.'s Netlink officially announce their merger, creating the largest C-band distributor. (Satellite Business News, MarcH 13, 1996) March 4: EchoStar officially launches the DISH Network DBS service at the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association trade show in Las Vegas. EchoStar sells more than 2,000 reception systems to TVRO dealers at the show. (Satellite Business News, March 13, 1996) March 6: MCI lays out its plans for its satellite TV service in its application for a DBS construction permit flied with the FCC. MCI says it plans to launch the first of two Space Systems/Loral Corp. satellites into the 110-degree slot by fall 1997. (Satellite Business News, March 13, 1996) March 13: TelQuest Ventures L.L.C. applies for permission to uplink U.S. and Canadian DBS services via satellites that would be owned and operated by Telesat Canada Inc. TelQuest, owned by the same people who own multichannel multipoint distribution service equipment manufacturer CAI Wireless Systems Inc., plans to offer the satellite signals to MMDS operators using rectangular flat antennas. (Satellite Business News, March 27, 1996) March 26: ExpressVu's hopes to launch a Canadian DBS service are shattered when Anik El, the satellite it planned to use, loses two- thirds of its transponder capacity. (Satellite Business News, April 10, 1996) April: MCI and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. form American Sky Broadcasting to market their consumer DBS service and Sky MCI to market their business DBS service, both using the channels MCI bought from the FCC at 110 degrees. (Satellite Business News, May 8) April: Rep. Carlos Moorehead (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Intellectual Property Subcommittee, introduces a bill to settle disputes between the satellite TV industry and local network affiliates over "white area" rules that determine whether a satellite dish owner is allowed to buy satellite-delivered network superstations. The bill never makes it out of committee. Also in April, KAMR-Amarillo, an NBC affiliate, sues programming packager PrimeTime 24 for allegedly failing to adequately enforce white area rules with its Amarillo-area subscribers. (Satellite Business News, April 24, 1996) April 28: Led by the FCC International Bureau, the United States and Mexico sign a framework treaty to allow U.S. and Mexican satellite companies to service each other's countries. They sign the final treaty Nov. 13. (Satellite Business News, May 8 and Nov. 20, 1996) MAY THROUGH AUGUST May 6: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upholds the FCC's decision to revoke Advanced Communications Corp.'s construction permit for the 110-degree orbital slot (Satellite Business News, May 22, 1996). May 6: The FCC announces 11 new medium-power, fixed satellite service orbital slot assignments. AT&T, Hughes Communications, GE American Communications, Orion Atlantic, EchoStar, and Loral Corp. are recipients. (Satellite Business News, May 22) May 10: Don Gips becomes new FCC International Bureau Chief, replacing Scott Harris, who departs for Washington D.C. law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Gips had been deputy chief of the Office of Plans and Policy (Satellite Business News, May 22, 1996). June: EchoStar announces the satellite industry's lowest DBS hardware price: $199. It eventually pushes EchoStar's competitors into similar pricing plans. (Satellite Business News, June 19) June: General Instrument Corp. names Michael Bernique to head its San Diego operations. Bernique makes sweeping changes in the division, and several longtime GI executives abruptly resign. (Satellite Business News, June 19 and Sept. 11, 1996) June: All-Star Programming files for bankruptcy, blaming the drop in C- band sales. (Satellite Business News, June 19, 1996) June: Satellite TV industry and programming copyright holders begin negotiating copyright fees satellite services must pay to retransmit network and superstation signals. By the end of the year, with talks yielding little progress, both sides expect an arbitration panel to decide the new rates, which are scheduled to take effect July 1, 1997. (Satellite Business News, June 5, 1996) June 19: TCI announces plans to spin off its TCI Satellite division into a separate company controlling TCI's share of the Primestar Partners L.P. DBS service. (Satellite Business News, July 3, 1996) June 26: Tee-Comm Electronics Inc.'s AlphaStar Digital Television announces it has begun its consumer rollout, more than six months after its originally planned launch date of December 1995. (Satellite Business News, July 3, 1996) June 27: In its first public acknowledgement of the existence of DirecTv/USSB piracy, DirecTv sues 11 people in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean for allegedly developing and/or distributing pirated smart cards. (Satellite Business News, July 3) July: DirecTv, USSB, and their equipment manufacturers draft plans to introduce a $199 DBS hardware price. July 1: In a letter to FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, four federal agencies urge the FCC to defer action on TCI's and TelQuest's applications to use Canadian orbital slots for U.S. DBS service until other foreign trade issues are resolved with Canada. On July 15, the FCC dismisses cross-border uplink applications by TCI and TelQuest. (Satellite Business News, July 17 and July 31, 1996) July 10: A group of Canadian programmers file suit in Canadian Federal Court against nine distributors and retailers selling DirecTv/USSB systems in Canada, allegedly enabling them to break Canadian laws prohibiting the viewing of certain foreign channels. (Satellite Business News, July 17, 1996) August: GI reveals plans to introduce a digital/analog C-band receiver, dubbed 4D-TV. GI's suggested retail price for the unit, $1,000, meets with skepticism from programmers. (Satellite Business News, Aug.14, 1996) August: AlphaStar draws interest from long distance telephone reseller Excel Communications Inc. But talks fizzle when Excel questions AlphaStar's reliability. (Satellite Business News, Sept. 11 and Dec. 4, 1996) Aug. 6: The FCC finalizes rules that pre-empt zoning ordinances, private covenants, and homeowners association rules that restrict installation of DBS dishes one meter or less in diameter in residential areas. The rule does not address local restrictions on C- band dishes. (Satellite Business News, Aug. 14, 1996) Aug. 15: Amway Corp., citing rollout delays and initial technical problems, terminates its relationship with AlphaStar. Amway was the centerpiece of AlphaStar's distribution plan. Another AlphaStar multi- level marketer, AsOne Corp. of Las Vegas, drops AlphaStar in December (Satellite Business News, Aug. 28 and Dec. 18, 1996). SEPTEMBER THROUGH DECEMBER September: AlphaStar drops its wholesale hardware prices to $269 and $299 in response to its competitors' $199 retail hardware prices. September: GI pushes back the introduction of 4D-TV until the end of the first quarter 1997. (Satellite Business News, Sept. 25, 1996) September: PrimeTime 24 urges viewers in a grass roots campaign to contact members of Congress to change the 1994 Satellite Home Viewer Act. PrimeTime 24 wants picture quality, not signal strength, to determine whether consumers are allowed to subscribe to networks. (Satellite Business News, Oct. 9, 1996) Sept. 21: Former Showtime Networks Inc. Chairman Winston "Tony" Cox dies suddenly of a heart attack at 55. (Satellite Business News, Oct. 9, 1996) Sept. 30: Tee-Comm's rocky marriage with ExpressVu ends when Tee- Comm agrees to sell its 21.2 percent stake in the DBS hopeful. (Satellite Business News, Oct. 9, 1996) October: GI fires approximately 100 employees as part of a general restructuring by new West Coast chief Michael Bernique. (Satellite Business News, Oct. 23, 1996) October: France announces plans to sell defense and electronics manufacturer Thomson S.A. to France's Lagardere Groupe for one franc. As part of the deal, South Korea's Daewoo Electronics plans to buy Thomson Multimedia, which incenses French citizens. (Satellite Business News, Oct. 23, 1996) Oct. 4: Primestar by TCI announces plans to join the escalating DBS price wars by offering its medium-power DBS reception systems for $199 retail and second-set receivers for $325. (Satellite Business News, Oct. 9, 1996) Oct 10: Time Warner Inc. and Turner Broadcasting System Inc. shareholders approve the companies' $7.5 billion merger. (Satellite Business News, Oct. 23, 1996) Oct. 29: in a move that dashes TCI's and TelQuest's plans to use a Canadian DBS slot for a U.S. service, the FCC again rejects the companies' permit applications. (Satellite Business News, Nov. 6, 1996) Nov. 3: MCI announces a planned merger with British Telecommunications, setting off a flurry of letters to the FCC urging the commission to examine MCI's DBS application with the same scrutiny as TCI's and TelQuest's applicationS to use Canadian orbital slots. As a result of the merger plans, MCI Chairman Bert Roberts expresses the desire to reduce the company's stake in AskyB. ASkyB courts the nation's regional Bell operating companies to become distributors of the DBS service. (Satellite Business News, Dec. 4 and Nov. 20, 1996) Nov. 5: Sen. Larry Presser (R-S.D.) loses his bid for reelection, leaving vacant the Commerce Committee chairmanship. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is awarded that seat. (Satellite Business News, Nov. 20, 1996) Nov. 22: Thomson Consumer Electronics chief Joe Clayton resigns unexpectedly amid turmoil in France over the sale of Thomson Multimedia to Daewoo Electronics. (Satellite Business News, Dec. 4, 1996) December: EchoStar increases its spending to lure new subscribers to its DISH Network. The company mails $100 coupons to current subscribers to give to friends who want to buy DISH systems. Each referring subscriber will earn $100 for making the referral. The program runs through February 1997. (Satellite Business News, Dec. 18, 1996) Dec. 6: The FCC approves MCI's and EchoStar's applications for DBS licenses, nearly one year after they bought orbital slots from the FCC to launch DBS services. The two companies make their final payments on the bids Dec. 13. (Satellite Business News, Dec.18, 1996) Dec.11: At its annual Western Cable Show, the cable industry meets to discuss how to serve their customers better. TCI Chairman John Malone challenges cable operators to not only improve their channel selection by changing to digital delivery, but also to stand up to programmers and defend decisions to drop programming that brings in the least revenue. (Satellite Business News, Dec. 18, 1996) Dec.12: Dominion Video Satellite Inc. launches Sky Angel, its eight- channel religious DBS service, at the 119-degree orbital slot using one transponder on EchoStar-2. (Satellite Business News, Dec. 18, 1996) Dec. 19: TCI announces plans to sell Telesat Canada a 32- transponder, high-power DBS satellite for about $300 million. Telesat plans to use the bird to provide capacity for Canadian DBS services. However, TCI retains the right to use some capacity if the United States and Canada agree to allow companies in each country to use the other country's orbital slots to deliver DBS services (Satellite Business News, Jan. 1, 1997)     Please direct questions about this site to general.mail@satbiznews.com q 2000 Satellite Business News Inc. All rights reserved.