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2000 Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association Show READ ALL ABOUT IT! Satellite TV Logs on to Internet/Interactive Future High-speed data and interactive services are going to make the satellite TV industry’s world go round in the next several years, numerous satellite TV executives said yesterday. EchoStar Communications Chairman Charlie Ergen predicted that in five years his company could be taking in more revenue from data-related applications than from multichannel video. Combination receivers that enable users to access watch DBS programming, surf the Internet, and digitally record video are revolutionizing satellite TV, Ergen and others said. Adding two-way satellite capability as many companies are doing over the next two years creates an even better opportunity for all sectors of the satellite industry, they said. As is the case with satellite TV, rural areas stand to benefit the most from satellite-delivered data, speakers said, because it is cost prohibitive for cable and telephone companies to extend their services to sparsely populated areas. “We’re going to suddenly see rural America not being in the digital divide, but being the ones who have greater access than many people in urban and suburban America,” Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association President Chuck Hewitt said. Satellite TV retailers are looking at a world of opportunity if they get behind satellite Internet services early, several executives from those types of companies said. With the increasing number of complicated products being introduced, a priority needs to be placed on educating retailers who then can educate consumers about how they work, several speakers said. Although talk about new satellite TV products dominated the talk yesterday, Hewitt also addressed some of the challenges the industry faces, such as Northpoint Technology’s controversial plan to provide a terrestrial multichannel video/data service using DBS spectrum. At the top of the challenge list are the DBS must-carry rules set to take effect in 2002. Must-carry is an “antiquated and wasteful regime,” Hewitt said. “We are going to go forward and battle this issue,” he said, "whether it takes legislation, regulatory [measures], or possibly even litigation.” Neither the SBCA nor DirecTv has decided whether it will challenge the must-carry rules in court. Ergen said in an interview yesterday EchoStar has no plans to pursue a challenge on its own. TURN THE PAGE OTHER ISSUES TO LOOK FOR: Monday, July 19, 2000 Wednesday, July 21, 2000   Please direct questions about this site to general.mail@satbiznews.com q 2000 Satellite Business News Inc. All rights reserved.