DIRECTV  

is the nation's #1 digital

satellite  

entertainment service provider. Using the most advanced

satellite  

technology,

DIRECTV  

delivers access to more than 250 channels of programming to homes and businesses that have

DIRECTV  

receiving equipment, which features a small

satellite  

dish, a digital set-top receiver and a remote control. The

DIRECTV  

service offers an incredible selection of entertainment for every member of the family — all in the digital-quality picture and sound that

DIRECTV  

is known for.

DIRECTV  

first launched its service in the summer of 1994. According to industry statistics, the

DIRECTV  

System became one of the fastest selling consumer electronics product ever to enter the market — faster than color

TV

s, CD players The

DIRECTV  

Systemincludes a small

satellite  

dish (which is an antenna for receiving a

satellite  

broadcast signal); a digital integrated receiver/decoder (IRD), which separates each channel, and decompresses and translates the digital signal so a television can show it; and a remote control.

DIRECTV  

programming is distributed by six high-power

satellite  s

: four built by Hughes Electronics Corp. (DBS-1, DBS-2,

DIRECTV  

1-R, and D4-S), and two built by LORAL (

DIRECTV  

5, 6). Each

satellite  

has multiple transponders that relay the

DIRECTV  

signal from the broadcast centers to home

satellite  

dishes. The D4-S

satellite  

is a "spot beam"

satellite  

which allows signals to target specific areas within the U.S., and is used by

DIRECTV  

to deliver local programming. The "spot beam"

satellite  

has five antennas and multiple feeds. Each feed projects its particular signal onto a special location on one of the antennas. The antenna is specifically shaped to bounce the signal to a specific location in the continental U.S.

All

DIRECTV  

satellite  s

are located in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the earth.

DIRECTV  

provides service from three orbital locations under authority granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). After the

DIRECTV  

Systemis installed — a process that includes aiming the dish at the

satellite  s

— no adjustment is necessary to change programming because the

satellite  s

remain in the same location in the sky. The dish never has to track the

satellite  s

, so there's no waiting for the picture to come in and little maintenance required.To gather programming content, ensure its digital quality, and transmit the signal up to the

satellite  s

,

DIRECTV  

created two of the most sophisticated digital broadcast centers in the world — in Castle Rock, Colorado, and Los Angeles, California. Programming comes to the broadcast center from our content providers (CNN, ESPN, etc.) via

satellite  

, fiber optic cable and/or special digital tape. Most

satellite  

-delivered programming is immediately digitized, encrypted and uplinked to the orbiting

satellite  s

. Some programs are copied to professional video servers by the broadcast centers' state-of-the-art automation equipment to be broadcast later.

The

satellite  s

retransmit the signal back down to each customer's

DIRECTV  

satellite  

dish. Before any recorded programs are viewed by customers, technicians use sophisticated post-production equipment to view and analyze each tape to ensure audio and video quality. Professional video layout servers have playback of a program triggered by a computerized signal sent from the broadcast automation system. Back-up video playout servers ensure uninterrupted transmission at all times. If you're familiar with multimedia computers, you may have heard of MPEG, which stands for Moving Pictures Experts Group. MPEG is a technology that can compress a moving image so it takes a tiny fraction of the space it normally would for transmission. Uncompressed digital images can be enormous; about ten or twenty seconds would fill up the hard drive on a home computer. Even compressed, digital moving images are very large. Consider this comparison: Your telephone modem can transmit information at up to 56 thousand bits per second. At

DIRECTV  

, each of the transponders on the

DIRECTV  

1-R and DBS-2

satellite  s

can send about 30 million bits of information per second to a

DIRECTV  

System, or more than 500 times what a normal PC modem can handle. This data transmission rate enables

DIRECTV  

to retransmit detailed moving digital video signals to subscribers.

DIRECTV  

programming and all

DIRECTV  

Receiversemploy MPEG-2 technology, the emerging world standard for digital broadcasts.