U.S. District Judge Lenore Nesbit issued a permanent injunction against PrimeTime 24, a company that distributes network television service to home satellite viewers. This ruling will affect subscribers to the PrimeTime 24 service who signed up before March 11, 1997. These customers could lose service by April 30.

The temporary injunction issued last summer affected PrimeTime 24 subscribers who signed up between March 11, 1997, and July 10, 1998. They will lose their signals by February 28.

The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC), in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission on December 11, 1998, said determination of Grade B signal strength should be updated to reflect the needs of modern consumers. The original Grade B guidelines were made in 1952. "Viewers today have much more heighten expectations of picture quality than did viewers in the 1950s," said NRTC in its filing. "To ask these types of viewers to forsake their high quality distant network satellite service in return for analog, over-the-air local pictures is wholly inappropriate, as well as counterproductive to the development of a vibrant, competitive market."

Many of NRTC customers live outside urban areas, and could be unfairly harmed by the current Grade B guidelines. "NRTC believes the commission has unfairly prejudged certain critical issues in this proceeding, and has failed to protect adequately rural consumers who are currently unable to view acceptable pictures over-the-air but are prohibited from receiving distant network signals by satellite," NRTC said.

NRTC asked the FCC to use new standards that reflect "more accurately which households can actually receive an acceptable signal through a conventional roof top antenna." NRTC recommended use of a predictive method called Terrain-Integrated Rough Earth Model (TIREM). Unlike the Longley-Rice model that is currently used to determine Grade B signal strength, TIREM takes into account important factors that affect signal propagation, such as terrain, interference, vegetation and urban clutter.

For the complete text of NRTC's FCC filing: http://www.nrtc.org/legislative/121098.html

United Video's Prevue Networks division will soon become TV Guide Networks.

On Feb. 1, the company will launch a newly-branded portfolio of products. The effort will include TV Guide Magazine, TV Guide Channel, TV Guide Interactive, TV Guide Online and TV Guide Sneak Prevue, and will offer an array of new features and services.

UVSG signed an agreement to purchase TV Guide last June. Plans to re-brand products and services associated with Prevue Networks with the TV Guide brand followed the announcement.

The product launch date for TV Guide Channel and TV Guide Online is Feb. 1. TV Guide Interactive will be re-branded on that same day while enhancements and new features will be released in June. TV Guide Sneak Prevue will launch in late 1999.

Succeeding the Prevue Channel, now in more than 52 million U.S. households, the TV Guide Channel will continue to present comprehensive and system-specific program listings for basic, digital, premium and pay-per-view programming. In addition, the channel will feature video previews and consumer promotions.

TV Guide Interactive, currently Prevue Interactive, will have a new look and enhanced program guide. In addition, there will be interactive program advertisements which, when selected, will offer detailed program descriptions and video previews.

Globalstar delayed launch of additional satellites for its global communications system this week in response to reported diplomatic bickering between the United States and Russia.

The company, backed by Loral and Qualcomm, had planned to launch four satellites this week from Baikonur, in Kazakhstan. But a disagreement over the "Technical Safeguards Agreement," which protects U.S. technology inside Russia or Kazakhstan, has held up the launch.

The delay is the most recent challenge Globalstar has seen during the past two months. Twelve of the company's satellites were lost shortly after a failed launch in September.

Concern among the financial community is how the company will hold up through the set-backs. Industry sources estimate Globalstar is burning about $35 million a month, slowly eating away at the $150 million insurance settlement it received as a result of the September crash.

The cable industry kicked-off its Western Show by focusing on its Internet and interactivity future, bringing in some of Silicon Valley's most influential leaders to set the tone for the four-day convention.

As one executive pointed out, not only does Silicon Valley have an interest in working closer with the cable business, "Now they're investors."

The show's first session was dominated by talk over whether Internet providers will gain access to an "open" cable platform. Most agree it will become an open system as cable evolves into a big broadband provider. But most reiterated how "openness" is important in light of mega-deals such as AT&T and Tele-Communications Inc., a move some feel may shut out outsiders.

"As an Internet service provider, it's an issue of openness and a level playing field," said Mario Vecchi of America Online.

Others pointed out that interactivity via the tube won't replace conventional TV. Instead, it will enhance viewing, and the PC will remain the tool of choice for web surfing or data delivery. "The set-top box, it's basically there for television," another panelist said.

TCI President Leo Hindery, USA Networks Chairman Barry Diller, NBC President Robert Wright and Gordon Crawford, a media investor and vice president of Capital Research & Management, will headline Wednesday's general session.

Another Hughes-built satellite, this one jointly owned by PT Satelindo and PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara of Indonesia, is running on backup power after an outage last Tuesday.

The satellite anomaly is the fourth of its kind. All affected birds are now relying on backup systems.

The Palapa-C satellite provides telecommunications and data services in Indonesia. PT Satelindo, partly owned by PT Indosat, is one of Indonesia's largest cellular providers.

Restoring service after the Nov. 24 outage took six to seven hours, the companies said. Though Palapa-C is designed to turn to backup power if the main system fails, the switch-over didn't work and the backup wasn't activated until about 7 a.m. local time.

The HS601 has experienced a handful of problems, most notably the failure of PanAmSat's Galaxy IV in May, which cut service to millions of U.S. paging customers. Two weeks ago, PanAmSat disclosed in a regulatory filing that another of its satellites was running on a backup system because of problems with its control processor.

Gemstar filed a patent-infringement suit against Pioneer Electronics over an interactive program guide, echoing a similar claim the company filed against United Video Satellite Group and its Prevue program guide unit.

The suit, filed in federal District Court in California, claims Pioneer willfully infringed on Gemstar intellectual property, specifically the sale of cable set-top boxes containing an unlicensed interactive program guide. The patents cover, among others, an interactive program guide using locally stored or cached data.

Gemstar is seeking an injunction and monetary damages.

Gemstar's technology and intellectual property are licensed to major companies in the consumer-electronics, satellite, cable and PC industries. They include Daewoo, GTE, Hughes Network Systems, JVC, Matsushita (Panasonic, Quasar), Microsoft, Philips, Samsung, Sanyo, Thomson Multimedia and others.

Channel Master announced it has been awarded Intelsat type approval for its 2.4m Ku-Band VSAT antenna system.

Intelsat approved the antenna system under its Standards G and K-3 for Ku-Band applications.

The antenna system consists of a two-piece precision offset reflector, heavy-duty galvanized AZ/EL mount, fine azimuth and elevation adjustments, galvanized support arm, hardware, and alignment struts, as well as a KU-Band linear cross-polarized receive/transmit feed assembly.

Retail Media Systems (RMS) announced it has signed an agreement with Hughes Network Systems (HNS) to create a marketing partnership providing retailers with RMS's point-of purchase video systems in conjunction with Hughes satellite-based wide area networking systems.

Specifically, the agreement will facilitate the deployment of the RMS network's digital video server into new and existing HNS Clients.

RMS's digital video server allows for live feed, multiple-hour storage, multichannel, interactivity and hands-free operation for point-of-purchase promotion and advertising displays.

Zenith Electronics will supply digital set-top boxes to News Corp.'s Star TV programming venture in Asia under a deal in which financial terms were not disclosed.

Zenith will ship "World Box" digital set-tops in the first quarter of 1999. "Our alliance with Zenith supports Star TV's vision of continuing to extend the distribution of our programming throughout the region," said David Haslingden, executive vice president, Star TV.

Zenith also builds boxes for the Sky Latin America satellite venture in Mexico and Brazil, and for Sky Network Television in New Zealand.

Star TV offers subscription and free-to-air television services, reaching more than 300 million people across Asia, India and the Middle East. The company uses AsiaSat 1, AsiaSat 2 and Palapa C2 as its satellite platforms. Star TV's services are available through DTH platforms and are redistributed by cable operators.

InterPacket Group became PanAmSat's first customer to use multiple satellites for the global delivery of Internet content, the companies announced Monday.

InterPacket, an international Internet backbone provider, is transmitting its traffic to more than 10 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East over PanAmSat's PAS-2, PAS-3 and PAS-4 satellites. The company operates circuits for ISPs in Greece, Lebanon, Portugal, Hong Kong and countries throughout Africa.

PanAmSat has offered international Internet services since the early 1990s and, enabling corporations, Internet service providers and backbone providers to access Internet data over its 18-satellite global network. As part of PanAmSat's SPOTbytes lines of Internet services, customers can also access the U.S. Internet backbone from one of PanAmSat's U.S. teleports.

PanAmSat said its PAS-8 Pacific Ocean Region satellite has arrived in Kazakhstan to begin preparations for an early November launch.

The company's ninth international satellite, the PAS-8 will provide video and telecommunications services throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The PAS-8 will be PanAmSat's fourth satellite to serve Asia.

"PAS-8 will significantly increase the transmission capacity and power that PanAmSat will offer its customers throughout the Asia-Pacific region," said Robert Bednarek, PanAmSat's chief technology officer. "PAS-8 will offer the most powerful trans-Pacific C-band coverage available as well as high-power Ku-Band beams serving northeast Asia, southeast Asia and Australia, all with access to the United States."

The PAS-8 is a FS 1300 model satellite built by Space Systems/Loral, carrying 24 C-band and 24 Ku-Band transponders. It will be positioned at 166 degrees East Longitude, next to PanAmSat's PAS-2 Pacific Ocean Region satellite that sits at 169 degrees East Longitude.

The National Association of Broadcasters said that 41 stations will begin digital television broadcasts next month, significantly exceeding the 26 stations that committed to the Nov. 1, voluntary start-up date.

The NAB announcement got praise from Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard. "It shows that broadcasters in major markets are taking DTV seriously, and are lining up to start their competitive DTV engines," he said.

"The fact that stations outside of the top ten markets are starting DTV is particularly important because it means that more than one-third of the television households in the country will have access to at least one digital TV signal this year."

There will be many significant "firsts,""start-ups" and "launches" in the weeks and months ahead from networks, stations and video services. An example highlighted by Kennard was CBS airing the first NFL telecast in High Definition TV on Nov. 8.

The House passed a bill that for the first time would allow private companies to send reusable launch vehicles into space.

The bill, crafted with White House support, would authorize the Department of Transportation to license U.S. companies to launch vehicles similar to the space shuttle. It advanced by voice vote and was sent to the Senate. 

Today, companies can launch objects into space, such as satellites, but are prohibited from returning vehicles to Earth. Lawmakers said enactment of the bill would be a boon to the American space industry.

"This legislation will make it easier for everyone ... to better be able to do business in the 21st century," said Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla. "It will better enable American companies to compete in an increasingly competitive international marketplace."

Without it, the industry is "at risk of going overseas and no longer being in the United States," said Weldon. 

The bill also requires NASA to send Congress a report and independent market study that identifies commercial opportunities and evaluates the commercial interest in development of the international space station.

Broadcasters and the satellite industry reached an agreement on a set of provisions that aim to ensure that a preliminary injunction issued by a federal court judge in Miami will be implemented in a consumer-friendly manner.

The deal was scored late Friday by the National Association of Broadcasters and the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association. 

Under the agreement, the parties in the Miami litigation involving broadcasters, their local affiliates and DTH network provider PrimeTime 24 will ask the court to sign a stipulation that calls for several items: 

The final date for termination of existing ineligible subscribers will be postponed until Feb. 28, 1999;

In advance of the date on which their satellite network service will be terminated, the satellite companies will send subscribers a mutually agreed upon letter concerning their options for receiving local network service stations;

Satellite companies will give ample notice to subscribers that their satellite network service will be terminated, to give the subscriber time to take the necessary steps to continue to receive network programming;

No later than Nov. 15, and earlier if possible, PrimeTime 24 and/or its distributors will provide broadcasters with lists of the subscribers that the satellite companies plan to terminate pursuant to the Court Order. The broadcasters will use these lists only for purposes of deciding whether to advise the satellite distributor that the broadcaster has granted a waiver;

The parties will agree on a form of letter to be sent by the satellite companies to subscribers whose service will be continued pursuant to the waiver process.

Broadcasters and their affiliates are suing PrimeTime 24 over the alleged delivery of distant network signals to satellite subscribers deemed ineligible to received such transmissions.

An Arianespace Ariane rocket will carry the PanAmSat-7 satellite on Wednesday, with lift-off from the Kourou, French Guiana, launch site expected during a launch window of 2:31 to 3:31 a.m. Eastern Time. 

PAS-7 is an FS 1300 satellite built by Space Systems/Loral with 14 C-Band and 30 Ku-Band transponders. It will be located at 68.5 degrees and will provide video and telecommunications services to Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

A lot is riding on the Arianespace launch for PanAmSat. An explosion aboard a Boeing Delta III rocket destroyed the company's Galaxy X satellite last month. In a separate launch disaster on Aug. 12, a Titan 4 Air Force rocket manufactured by Lockheed Martin with a U.S. spy satellite on board exploded after a launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

The explosion of a Delta III rocket last week, which destroyed PanAmSat's Galaxy X satellite, was caused by a steering system failure, officials with the rocket manufacturer said Friday.

The inaugural flight of Boeing's new rocket ended 71 seconds after liftoff when the control system in three solid propellant boosters ran out of hydraulic fluid. The rocket then deviated from its flight path, broke up and finally exploded.

It is still unclear why the boosters prematurely used up all the hydraulic fluid.

As a precaution, Boeing said it will delay this week's launch of a Delta II from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., by a few days. The rocket will carry five Iridium satellites into low-earth orbit.

PrimeTime 24 won a small reprieve from the National Association of Broadcasters, Fox Broadcasting, CBS Broadcasting and its affiliates after they announced plans to delay enforcement of a preliminary injunction forcing DBS providers to disconnect ineligible distant-network subscribers by Oct. 8.

Instead, broadcasters will give PrimeTime 24 until Jan. 1 to terminate service to subscribers deemed ineligible to receive those distant-network signals. Subscribers affected by the preliminary injunction, ordered by a U.S. District Court judge in June, must have signed up for service between March 11, 1997, and July 10 of this year.

Ben Ivan, NAB legal counsel, said that, "Given the great amount of misinformation" provided to affected subscribers from PrimeTime 24 and satellite providers, broadcasters thought that it was important to give consumers additional time to find other options for receiving local-network signals, such as an off-air antenna or lifeline cable subscriptions. 

Wednesday's explosion of the new Delta III rocket carrying PanAmSat's Galaxy X satellite was another blow for the Connecticut-based btelecommunications company, which has seen troubles both on the ground and in space.

The much-publicized Galaxy IV failure in May cut off pager traffic to a majority of users in the United States. Another PanAmSat satellite, Galaxy VII, experienced problems with its spacecraft control processor, or SCP, and is continuing operations on a back-up system. Engineers at Hughes Space and Communications, manufacturers of the two satellites, believe SCP problems aboard Galaxy VII are similar to problems aboard the doomed Galaxy IV spacecraft as well as the DBS-1 satellite still in operation for DirecTV. 

PanAmSat estimates the loss of the satellite will reduce revenue by about $200 million. The company said most of the lost revenue will be recouped once service is shifted to other satellites in orbit, and any revenue crunch will be limited to the fourth quarter.

Still, the satellite loss took its toll on PanAmSat. On Thursday, PanAmSat stock was down $7.313, or 15 percent, to $42.25. Its parent, Hughes Electronics, fell $2.813, or 6.7 percent, to $39.25. J.P. Morgan Securities trimmed its 1998 earnings estimate for PanAmSat to 70 cents a share from $1.25, and lowered its 1999 estimate to $1.45 a share from $1.60.

Boeing's newest rocket - the Delta III - exploded during its inaugural flight, destroying PanAmSat's Galaxy X satellite valued at $225 million.

The launch failure follows a similar explosion almost two weeks ago. On Aug. 12, a much bigger and more powerful Air Force Titan rocket exploded 40 seconds after lift-off, destroying a spy satellite on board. That explosion aftermath totaled more than $1 billion.

The new Delta III is the eighth model in the Delta rocket line, which began in 1960. It's powered by nine strap-on boosters, a core engine and an extra large upper-stage engine. The rocket is designed to lift more than 8,400 pounds of payload into orbit.

PanAmSat said it will implement a service plan that combines the use of in-orbit resources and the launch of additional spacecraft - as many as four new birds over the next 18 months - in response to the launch failure. New satellites will be placed into orbit beginning early next year. Construction of a Galaxy X replacement will begin immediately, allowing for launch in early 2000.

"PanAmSat is a resilient company with a proven track record for providing service to its customers in the United States and around the world," said Frederick A. Landman, PanAmSat's president and chief executive officer.

PanAmSat is set to launch its Galaxy X satellite during a 65-minute launch window that opens today at 8:47 p.m. Eastern Time. 

The Galaxy X is a Hughes-built HS 601HP spacecraft, carrying 24 C-Band transponders and 24 Ku-Band transponders. The satellite will launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida, to be placed at 123 degrees West longitude.

The satellite will provide broadcast and telecommunications service to all 50 states and the Caribbean, greatly increasing PanAmSat's service capabilities.

PanAmSat's Galaxy X is the first of nine new satellites that the company plans to launch in the next 18 months. Two of the new satellites will be deployed for service to Latin America, two for Asia, four for the United States, with the additional satellite designated for international service.

While testimony wrapped up in a Miami federal courtroom involving PrimeTime 24 and broadcasters, the provider of satellite-delivered network signals suffered another blow in a different legal setting - this time a permanent injunction forbidding the company from sending any ABC signal to DTH subscribers in the Raleigh area.

The permanent injunction was handed down Wednesday by a U.S. District Court judge in North Carolina, and forbids PrimeTime 24 from selling any distant ABC signal to customers in the Raleigh market. In its order, the court said, "PrimeTime 24 has engaged and continues to engage in a willful or repeated pattern or practice, within the local market of ABC's local affiliate WTVD, of delivering primary transmissions made by a network station to subscribers that are not eligible to receive such service under
the Satellite Home Viewer Act."

The National Association of Broadcasters praised the ruling. "We are gratified by the court's decision that further vindicates broadcasters' long-held contention that PrimeTime 24 has willfully and repeatedly violated federal copyright law," NAB President Eddy Fritts said in a statement.

It marks the first permanent injunction against PrimeTime 24. In June, the U.S. District Court in Miami handed down a preliminary injunction that temporarily stopped the company from delivering network signals. 

In that Miami court, testimony in a separate case came to an end. Broadcasters are betting they will prevail against PrimeTime 24. "We are pretty confident the ruling will be in our favor," NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said.

The case, in which broadcasters and local affiliates are suing PrimeTime 24 over the alleged delivery of broadcast network signals to customers deemed ineligible to receive the feeds, began Aug. 10. CBS, Fox Broadcasting and several of their Florida affiliate stations filed against PrimeTime 24, accusing the company of violating provisions of the Satellite Home Viewer Act.

On Wednesday, Rep. Thomas Bliley and Sen. John McCain wrote Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard, urging him to find a solution to the white area issue impacting home satellite subscribers who can or can't receive broadcast network signals.

The letter from the two powerful lawmakers specifically addressed the ongoing trail in Miami involving local stations, broadcasters and PrimeTime 24, which provides broadcast network signals to DBS and C-Band customers.

The biggest concern from the trial, according to their letter, was the preliminary injunction issued by the Miami U.S. District Court judge forcing PrimeTime 24 to shut off service to customers deemed ineligible to receive distant network signals.

"Putting aside the question of whether the satellite television distributor in this case has actually violated SHVA (Satellite Home Viewer Act) - for that is a question the court should address - we are nonetheless concerned about the impact the court's preliminary injunction will have on consumers as well as competition in the market for multichannel video programming distribution," the letter states.

The injunction, according to the letter, "threatens to undermine the progress we have made in promoting competition. Network programming - be it local or otherwise - is widely viewed as critical to the competitive viability of any distributor of multichannel video programming.

"Our fear is that, once deprived of their network programming, consumers will abandon satellite television service in favor of other providers, namely incumbent cable service providers."

Both lawmakers asked Kennard to respond by Sept. 4 to several inquiries, including how many DTH subscribers the agency suggests will lose their network signals as a result of the injunction. The two also asked what impact termination of network signals would have on the multichannel marketplace, and what action the FCC could take "to protect consumers from having their network programming services terminated."

Bliley is chairman of the House Commerce Committee. McCain, an Arizona Republican, is chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and
Transportation.

The Copyright Office is telling satellite TV subsribers who face cancellation of their broadcast network TV signals that it isn't the one to blame for the loss.

In a fax offered to satellite TV customers, the agency states, "The Library of Congress, the Copyright Office and the Federal Communications Commission played absolutely no role in terminating your network service, or in the lawsuits that require service to be terminated to many subscribers. 

"The decision to terminate your service was solely that of your satellite carrier, not a federal agency." 

In the fax, the Copyright Office also said that the federal government is powerless in restoring network broadcast signals. Any loss in service, according to the agency, "could be that one or more of your local network affiliate stations have contacted your satellite carrier and alleged that you do not reside in an 'unserved household.' Your satellite carrier may be terminating your service in response to these challenges.

"Your satellite carrier has made a business decision that you are not, or may not, be eligible for network service under the copyright license granted satellite carriers by the Satellite Home Viewer Act." 

The Copyright Office effort follows the start of a Miami trial involving broadcasters, local affiliates and PrimeTime 24. Broadcasters are suing the company over the alleged delivery of satellite-delivered broadcast network signals to customers deemed ineligible to receive the feeds.

GE American Communications and Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications have formed a 50-50 joint venture to develop a new satellite system - the GE-1A - for the Asia Pacific region. 

The GE-1A satellite will provide television distribution, as well as other services such as wideband Internet applications, with its 28 Ku-Band transponders.

The launch is scheduled for July of next year and will cover India, Northeast Asia, China and the Philippines.

According to John Connelly, chairman and chief executive officer of GE Americom, the joint venture will include regional offices in Asia. 

The House Judiciary Committee is set to vote today on Rep. Billy Tauzin's H.R. 2921, a bill which would put a hold on the Library of Congress' DTH copyright fee jump.

Rep. Howard Coble, chairman of the House Intellectual Property Sub-commitee, is expected to propose amendments to the bill requiring DTH must-carry.

The National Association of Broadcasters has shown its support of Coble's amendments to the bill in a letter to the committee from President Eddie Fritts. According to the NAB, the amendments will be a positive in that they will "allow DBS companies to begin providing local service to as many or as few local communities as they choose."

Most people in the satellite industry are opposed to must-carry mandates for local stations. EchoStar has been one of the most vocal opponents of the measure, saying "current capacity couldn't deliver every station in the country".

The Senate approved a roll-back of the controversial 27-cent copyright fee increase for satellite-delivered network signals and superstations imposed by the U.S. Copyright Office late last year.

The measure sponsored by Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican and chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, was added by voice vote to an appropriations bill for the Commerce, Justice and State departments. The Senate continued debating the bill after approving the amendment.

The amendment would freeze rates, at the previous level, for one year and direct the Federal Communications Commission to evaluate the situation. The House is considering a similar measure sponsored by Rep. Billy Tauzin, a Louisiana Republican and chair of the House Telecommunications Committee.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has won RSA Laboratory's "DES Challenge II" contest with its EFF DES Cracker, which defeated the Data Encryption Standard algorithym.

The VideoCipher II+ system used by C-Band programmers and the DigiCipher system used by PrimeStar both use the DES code for encryption. 

"To prove the insecurity of DES, EFF built the first unclassified hardware for cracking messages encoded with it." EFF said in a press release. "It took the machine less than three days to complete the challenge, shattering the previous record of 39 days set by a massive network of tens of thousands of computers."

The DES Cracker is a machine that can read information encrypted with DES by finding the key that was used to encrypt that data. The design of the EFF DES Cracker consists of an ordinary personal computer connected to a large array of custom chips.

As a U.S. District Court judge in Miami formally issued a preliminary injunction against PrimeTime24 last week, another U.S. District Court judge in Raleigh, N.C., granted an ABC affiliate's motion for summary judgment in a similar suit.

The North Carolina court found that PrimeTime 24 "engaged in a willfully or repeated pattern or practice of transmitting ABC programming to households ineligible for such service under the Satellite Home Viewer Act (SHVA), and thus ABC is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on its claim of copyright infringement".

The court scheduled a hearing to determine the scope of equitable relief. 

The Miami injunction imposes severe restrictions on the eligibility of households to receive CBS and Fox Network service by satellite. The injunction is retroactive to March 1997, when the request was first filed by the broadcasters.

Because of the order, as many as 1.2 million households could lose CBS and Fox Network service in the next 90 days.

PrimeTime 24 was given a preliminary injunction on Tuesday by a U.S. District Court judge in Miami, and was ordered to cancel the subscriptions of, as many as, one million dish owners in the next 90 days.

The injunction mandates that PrimeTime 24 cut off any households illegally receiving CBS and Fox signals since March 11, 1997. In any area where a quality broadcast signal can be received at least 50 percent of the time, PrimeTime 24 must stop selling CBS and Fox Network signals.

PrimeTime 24's distributors were not ordered to change their method of determining whether prospective subscribers have subscribed to cable service within 90 days of signing up for network superstations.

The satellite TV distributor has an upcoming trial on August 10 in which it faces a permanent injunction from the Miami court. A similar trial against PrimeTime 24 begins next Monday in Raleigh, N.C.

PanAmSat is holding a two-day live demonstration of multiple HDTV systems that began yesterday from its Napa teleport over the PAS-2 Pacific Ocean Region satellite.

The HDTV test demonstration is being conducted by Mitsubishi-Tektronix, NDS, NEC, Sony, Tiernan and Thompson to an audience of broadcasters and programmers from such companies as Disney, HBO, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Viacom.

"PanAmSat is creating an important forum for broadcasters to see HDTV in action, scrutinize system options and implement their HDTV plans under the U.S. deadlines set by the Federal Communications Commission," said David P. Berman, PanAmSat's senior vice president of program distribution.

"Satellites are uniquely capable of supporting any configuration of HDTV transmissions, and PanAmSat has unparalleled satellite resources to make the delivery of HDTV a reality for broadcasters and programmers in the United States and around the world."

The PAS-2 satellite transmissions that are being used in this demonstration comply with MPEG-2/DVB, the latest international video standard for compressed digital video services.

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