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Technology Stocks : Echostar Comm. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank Byers who wrote (438)	10/28/1997 4:43:00 PM
From: Dom Sartorio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1394

More news on the Copyright ruling: Lawmakers Mull Legislation In Wake Of Satellite Fee Hike By Scott Ritter WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Capitol Hill may come to the aid of the fledgling satellite broadcast industry after U.S. copyright officials agreed to boost fees the companies must pay to carry television programming. Lawmakers like Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., criticized the move, saying higher royalty fees threaten the industry's push to compete for cable-television viewers. Congress has been keeping a close eye on rising cable rates, and sees direct broadcast satellite services as a promising new rival to monopoly cable systems. 'This is a very troubling decision,' said Lousiana GOP Rep. Billy Tauzin, who chairs a House subcommittee on telecommunications. 'Clearly, Congress is trying to open the door to competition, only to have that door slammed in our faces.' The higher rates are good news for television networks, Hollywood movie studios, sports leagues and other owners of televison programming. But the rates will hurt DBS providers like EchoStar Communications Corp. (DISH) and Hughes Electronics Corp.'s (GMH) DirecTV, which must pay for rights to broadcast the fare. The DBS companies said they'll challenge the fee hike, while lawmakers vowed to explore legislative remedies. 'Simply put, we should not have unelected bureaucrats dictating the terms for an entire marketplace,' Tauzin said. The increase was recommended by an arbitration panel convened by the U.S. Copyright Office last year after negotiations between copyright owners and satellite carriers failed. Librarian of Congress James Billington approved the new royalty rates Monday, which will rise to 27 cents a month per subscriber for network and superstation signals. Currently, DBS operators pay a per-signal charge ranging from 6 cents a subscriber for distant network signals to 17.5 cents for satellite superstations like Tribune Co.'s (TRB) Chicago-based WGN. Cable companies, by comparison, pay about 9.7 cents per subscriber for superstations and 2.7 cents for network signals, according to the Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Association, an industry group. 'Raising satellite rates will not only affect millions of home dish owners, but it is grossly unfair to multichannel providers competing against cable,' said SBCA President Chuck Hewitt. The arbitration panel recommended that the rate increase be made retroactive to July 1, 1997. The Library of Congress rejected the decision, instead ruling that the new rates will go into effect Jan. 1, 1998. The initial rates were set by Congress in the 1988 Satellite Home Viewer Act, and raised in 1992 through a similar arbitration process. The law was revised in 1994, with Congress calling for fees to be set at fair market value. Sen. McCain said he would offer legislation next year prohibiting the Library of Congress from raising rates unless first consulting with the Federal Communications Commission and weighing the impact a fee hike would have on consumers and competition. -By Scott Ritter 202-862-6687

To: Frank Byers who wrote (438)	10/29/1997 2:10:00 AM
From: Jim P Mitchell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1394

Pulled my DISH 4000 (Echostar/DISH logo) out of the box tonight, had it playing in less than an hour (you can make the dish mounting task as simple or difficult as you wish it to be). I took an educated guess about where the satellite was from the elevation and azimuth data given to me from the receiver main menu, viewed my TV from the deck while slowly moving the dish around until I achieved "signal lock" and screwed everything in place. Called for programming authorization. The pictures are perfect. Channel changing is slower than my old cable remote, but the on-screen program guide more than makes up for this in my opinion. The high-speed data port looks like a circuit board "edge on" connector - internet data port? The user guide indicates this port intended for high-speed data services and future digital VCR devices. Apparently Charlie E. will be giving a speech on Nov. 10th on channel 100 @ 8pm eastern regarding new programming (EchoStar III ?) JP