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TAKE A LOOK AT OTHER YEARS: 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 JANUARY THROUGH APRIL January: DSI/CSS Inc.’s National Programming Service (NPS) buys EchoStar Communications Corp.’s 20,000 Satellite Source C-band customers. NPS, the combined HBO Direct Inc. and Turner Home Satellite Inc. (THS) operations, and the Superstar Satellite Entertainment/Netlink/Turner Vision partnership are the industry’s three largest packagers (Satellite Business News, Jan. 14, 1998). Jan. 8: After months of planning, EchoStar’s DBS service begins transmitting feeds of the four major networks from Dallas, New York, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, and Washington. In response to the PrimeTime 24 injunction, EchoStar asks dealers to perform field tests of off-air network signal strength for customers who want to subscribe to network superstations. (Jan. 14 and Aug. 12). Jan. 21: DirecTv Inc. reaches an agreement with 31 states to repay as many as 500,000 subscribers for the loss of seven Encore movie channels from their annual packages. DirecTv pays approximately $12 million in cash and credit to customers (Jan. 28). February: House Intellectual Subcommittee Chairman Howard Coble (R-N.C.) introduces the Copyright Compulsory License Improvement Act.” The bill calls for allowing retransmission of local broadcast signals via satellite, extending satellite TV’s compulsory license, reforming the white area rules, and changing the way copyright fees are determined. Satellite TV hands roundly criticize the bill because it does not go far enough to make satellite TV a strong competitor to cable. A version of the Coble bill passes through the subcommittee on March 18, but sinks due to disputes over whether to roll-back the satellite TV copyright fee increase that took effect Jan. 1 (Feb. 25, March 25, and April 8). Feb. 14: Primestar part-owner TCI Satellite Entertainment Inc, (TSAT) files at the Security and Exchange Commission outlining its plan to launch a high-power service at 119 degrees and combining all of the partner’s assets into a subsidiary of TSAT. In April, Primestar decides to put off the high-power launch after the Federal Communications Commission expresses concern about Primestar launching the service while license transfer applications are still pending (Feb. 11 and April 22). March: DirecTv/USSB DBS systems and DISH Network DBS systems see record sales during the 1997 holiday selling season. Combined the two platforms sell 5 percent more systems in November and December 1997 than they did in 1996. However, system supplies are tight and retailers report they cannot get all the product they want (March 11). March: Citing the arrival of digital broadcast signals, DirecTv Inc. President Eddy Hartenstein begins recruiting local broadcast stations for a joint marketing project. DirecTv proposes working with local broadcasters to integrate their channel information into DirecTv/USSB systems’ on-screen program guide to allow owners to tune their local channels through the DBS affiliates (March 25). March 2: Bell Atlantic Corp. and Southwestern Bell Communications Inc. (SBC) each announce non-exclusive sales and marketing agreements with DirecTv. Both companies have rights to sell the service anywhere in the continental United States. The arrangement follows a similar deal with AT&T, that yielded disappointing sales. Bell Atlantic and SBC roll out their sales plans in September (March 11 and Sept. 23). March 10: U.S. Satellite Broadcasting Inc. (USSB) transfers the basic channels it distributes to DirecTv, giving DirecTv an additional eight channels to its Total Choice package, which sells or $29.99 per month. The channels include the MTV networks. A week later, EchoStar adds five channels to its America’s Top 50 package, renaming the package America’s Top 60, though it only has 55 channels. EchoStar sells America’s Top 60 for $1 less than DirecTv’s Total Choice (March 25). March 12: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) marks-up a bill to stay the implementation of the satellite TV copyright fee increase until the FCC can study how the increase will affect video competition (March 11). March 26: A U.S. District Court in Seattle issues judgements worth $2.27 million against two members of a group DirecTv claims formed a conspiracy to hack NDS Americas Inc. conditional access system and sell the hacking devices to enable DirecTv/USSB system owners to steal programming (April 8). April: The National Association of Broadcasters convention draws a record crowd from the satellite TV industry. Satellite TV hands attempt to rally broadcaster support for a war of wireless technologies versus cable TV. But the broadcaster are occupied with the pressing issue of how to begin transmitting digital and HDTV broadcast signals (April 22). April: Primestar and DirecTv gain control of Fox Sports Direct’s former subscriber base. Primestar owns the packager’s residential base through a deal with Superstar/Netlink just two days after Superstar bought the subscribers from Fox. DirecTv buys Fox’s commercial subscribers (May 20). MAY THROUGH AUGUST May: In a binding letter of intent, Primestar agrees to pay Superstar/Netlink Group parent United Video Satellite Group $480 million for Superstar’s 1.2 million C-band subscribers (May 6). May 3: During the National Cable Television Association’s annual convention, back room conversation focuses on cable’s role in the broadcast industry’s transition to digital signals. The FCC says it plans to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking on digital must-carry in June (May 6). May 12: The U.S. Department of Justice files suit against Primestar, its owners, ad would-be partners News. Corp. and MCI Communications Corp. to stop the DBS company’s partnership with News Corp. Many expect the FCC to deny Primestar’s application to use the 110-degree and/or the 119-degree high power DBS orbital slots (May 20). May 13: U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida Lenore Nesbitt upholds the nationwide injunction preventing PrimeTime 24 from selling CBS Inc. and Fox Broadcasting Inc. signals until a lawsuit between the broadcasters and PrimeTime 24 is resolved. Two weeks later, the National Football League sues the uplinker alleging PrimeTime 24 is violating the NFL’s copyright by selling network subscriptions in Canada. In June, PrimeTime 24 and DirecTv ask Nesbitt to hold a hearing to clarify the terms of the injunction recommendation (June 3). May 15: Following the announcement of the Department of Justice lawsuit, Primestar withdraws a $400 million debt offering and United Video Satellite Group suspends closing its deal to sell Superstar/Netlink Group’s C-band business to Primestar for $480 million in stock. United Video halts the Superstar deal because shares in TCI Satellite Entertainment Inc. lose nearly a quarter of their value after the Justice announcement (June 3). May 19: PanAmSat Corp.’s Galaxy 4 satellite loses its alignment towards Earth silencing most U.S. paging services and leaving programmers scrambling to restore their signals elsewhere. A week and a half earlier, the EchoStar 4 satellite fails to fully deploy its solar panels (June 3). June: Rep. Billy Tauzin’s (R-La.) measure to stay the satellite TV copyright fee increase sails through the House Commerce Committee. The bill would direct the FCC to review the competitive impacts of higher satellite TV copyright fees before enacting those fee increases. The House Judiciary Committee passes a version of Tauzin’s bill on Aug. 4. The bill is encumbered by five amendments from Coble’s failed Satellite TV copyright bill (July 1). June 10: Primestar names Carl Vogel chairman and chief executive officer after a year long search for a successor to Jim Gray. Vogel takes over as Primestar’s DBS market position continues to slide amid questions about the company’s future from both a technological and financial standpoint (June 17). June 24: Tele-Communications Inc. and AT&T announce a mergerplan valued at $68 billion. Many in the satellite TV industry say the merger will have little impact on their business in the near term, but long term effects remain unclear (July 1). July: EchoStar 4 continues to have trouble, losing one primary and one back-up transponder. EchoStar moves the bird to a Western Orbital slot to deliver West Coast network stations and ethnic channels (July 29). July 8: The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative files an emergency petition for Rulemaking at the FCC asking the commission to rule on Grade B contours. EchoStar files a similar request at the FCC on August 18. The NRTC and EchoStar claim millions of rural consumers will lose access to satellite-delivered network superstations as a result of the PrimeTime 24 injunction in Miami (July 15 and August 26). July 8: Testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee, executives from the cable and broadcast industries say significant technical and business issues are still keeping the two industries from working together to bring high- definition TV to all consumers. Must-carry rules and set-top box compatibility with Digital TVs are the main sticking points (July 15). July 22: The Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA) convention begins in Nashville, Tenn., drawing 5,222 upbeat attendees encouraged by strong first half system sales. C-band programming packagers and DBS companies look to address the PrimeTime 24 issue face-to-face (July 29). August: GE Capital agrees to refund money to West Virginia customers whose loans defaulted under the failed DirecTv EZ Approval dish finance program. The firm is looking to recoup at least some of the money it lost in the EZ Approval program through a lawsuit filed against DirecTv. Aug. 2: EchoStar launches a new “DTH Bounty” program offering satellite dealers an additional $100 commission when they convert any satellite TV subscriber to DISH Network services. DirecTv fires back Aug. 7, launching the "EchoStar Switch Program" and offering dealers $200 to connect an EchoStar customer (Aug. 26). Aug. 7: Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and 22 other representatives send a letter to FCC Chairman William Kennard asking the commission to immediately address the Grade B issues raised by the PrimeTime 24 injunction, and emergency petitions from the NRTC and EchoStar. Similar letters follow from Rep. Tom Bliley (R-Va.) and Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.), chairmen of the House and Senate Commerce Committees. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Sen. Earnest Hollings (D-S.C.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, send letters to the NAB and SBCA telling them to begin cooperating to prevent thelooming shutoff of network superstations (August 26 and Sept. 23). Aug. 26: PanAmSat’s Galaxy 10 satellite goes up in smoke after Boeing Corp.’s first Delta III rocket, carrying the satellite, explodes about a minute after liftoff (Sept. 9). SEPTEMBER THROUGH DECEMBER September: In a political move lawyers from CBS and Fox file a motion to delay the PrimeTime 24 shutoff until Jan. 1. The plaintiffs also request PrimeTime 24 give adequate notice and explanations to their customers for the switch off. Staffers on Capitol Hill predict the motion will delay action on white area legislation. Network superstation distributors are split on how to react to the additional time (Sept. 9). Sept. 22: PrimeTime 24 sues EchoStar for breach of contract after EchoStar dropped PrimeTime 24’s signals and began uplinking its own network station signals from New York and Los Angeles (Oct. 7). Sept. 29: Broadcasters and Satellite TV hands ink a temporary deal averting the court-ordered shutoff of network signals until Feb. 28. Pressure shifts to Congress to enact legislation solving the Grade B issue permanently (Oct. 7). October: Despite a final push for satellite legislation by influential lawmakers, including McCain and Tauzin, in the closing days of Congress, bad timing and opposition from several quarters stop new laws aimed at knocking out competitive barriers for the satellite TV industry. Local-into-local and copyright roll back bills stall in the House and Senate (Oct. 21). Oct. 14: Primestar and News Corp. inform federal officials that efforts to structure a buyout of Primestar’s cable owners collapsed, virtually ending the DBS providers’ chance of gaining access to the 110-degree DBS orbital slot (Oct. 21). Oct. 28: Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc., USSB, and DirecTv officially unveil new RCA and Proscan high-definition televisions equipped with built in DirecTv/USSB receivers. Oct. 29: Sen. John Glenn’s (D-Ohio) return to space becomes the first high-definition broadcast when several affiliates from all the major networks and PBS carry a Harris Group 1080i broadcast of the launch (Nov. 4). November: DirecTv announces it will offer out-of-market games from the first three rounds of the NCAA’s annual “March Madness” men’s college basketball tournament. The deal will require CBS to scramble C-band backhauls of the games for the first time (Nov. 4). Nov. 6: Broadcasters launch a new legal attack against EchoStar over network superstation distribution, confirming suspicions aired in a preemptive class action lawsuit EchoStar leveled at the four major networks and their affiliates threeweeks before. The networks charge EchoStar with illegally re-transmitting distant network signals to DISH Network subscribers in disputed Grade B areas. Nov. 17: The FCC issues a notice of proposed rulemaking clarifying rules regarding Grade B contours under the Satellite Home Viewer Act. However, the commission claims it cannot help most consumers affected by the PrimeTime 24 shut off, and calls for Congress to act on local-into-local legislation. The FCC says it can change the definition of Grade B signals, change models that predict Grade B contours, and change the way Grade B intensity is measured from the home (Nov. 18). December: DirecTv considers dropping NDS Americas Inc. and begins looking for a new conditional access system. Among the potential candidates to replace NDS is General Instrument Corp. which makes the VideoCipher RS conditional access system, which has never been hacked (Dec. 2). Dec. 1: EchoStar and News Corp. strike a deal giving EchoStar full control of the 110-degree orbital slot. The deal allows EchoStar access to two full-CONUS DBS orbital slots. In exchange News Corp. receives 30 percent ownership of EchoStar, but only 7 percent of the voting power (Dec. 16). Dec. 14: DirecTv and USSB announce plans to merge. Under the terms of the deal DirecTv acquires USSB’s assets and merges them into DirecTv parent, Hughes Electronics. The merger also signals the disappearance if the USSB brand (Dec. 30). Dec. 21: The FCC Cable Bureau receives a flood of comments and replies on its notice of proposed rulemaking concerning Grade B contours. Broadcasting interests reiterate claims that the FCC does not have the authority to rule on Grade B under the Satellite Home Viewer Act, while satellite interests ask the FCC to change the definition of a Grade B signal, and offer several suggestions concerning predictive models and signal measurement standards. The commission reiterates its commitment to rule on the issue by Feb. 1 (Dec. 30). Dec. 24: The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida rules against PrimeTime 24 in its dispute with broadcasters over distribution of network superstations to dish owners within local broadcast stations’ reach. Judge Lenore Nesbitt orders PrimeTime 24 to shut off by April 30 CBS and Fox service to ineligible dish owners signed up before March 11, 1997. Please direct questions about this site to general.mail@satbiznews.com q 2000 Satellite Business News Inc. All rights reserved.