The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, June 30, 1993, Page 2, Image 2
V I If | V I
New technology
By SHASHIDHAR RAMAKA
and ANN WINCHELL
Staff Writers
A New York Times/CBS News Poll
indicates most Americans are willing to
pay for the privilege of controlling what is
shown on their televisions, and recent technological
developments can make that, and
other things, possible.
Equipment in place now combines the
capabilities of television,
the telephone, and
the computer with satellite
uplinks to multiply
the flow of information,
said Ted Creech, a
Southern Bell
spokesman.
The reach of the businessman
has already H
been expanding over- I
seas, and eventually the
homeowner will have
the privilege of controlling the entertainment
coming into the living room, Creech
said.
With the development of satellite communication
and advances in telecommunications,
vast amounts of information can be
carried from one end of the world to the
other.
"With the use of fiber optics, a company
can carry as many video signals as you
want, and the quality is high. Also,
improved switching in phone companies
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will bring intern;
can squeeze a lot of information into coj
per cables and transmit it," Creech said.
The big phone companies bega
installing fiber-optic connections betwee
major cities in the 1980s, Creech said.
Southern Bell has begun laying down th
same lines in Columbia this year, he said.
Fiber-optic cable uses thin strands c
glass that can carry larger amounts of dat
in optical currents; but the connection
between phones an
phone companies, tele
visions and local cable
TV operators, are nc
A yyiJL fiber.
Homes won't need t
be re-wired before sei
Hvice can be complete
said Roger Dougal,
USC electrical an
computer engineerin
associate professor.
"There are littl
boxes that connect t
your TV or your computer that change th
optical signal to an electrical signal,
Dougal said.
Already major cable operators and tele
phone companies are scrambling to get
piece of that pie. Tele-Communication
Inc., the world's largest cable-TV operatoi
will market a new cable decoder early ne>
year that can deliver up to 540 channels
Hughes Communications will introduce
satellite system that can deliver up to 15*
channels, Creech said.
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OF 72
ational services in
)- Major companies are building their ow
interactive networks so anything the cu:
n tomer wants to see will be as close as
n phone call or the buttons on your TV set.
The role of existing broadcast networl
ie can be taken over by libraries of inform.
tion owned by businesses, which can rela
>f the data anywhere in the world by satellite
a Users can link up with communicatic
is lines and request anything, includin
d movies, the latest books
and business information
5- from any company. Users <
>t This will probably be a with CO
"pay-per-use kind of |infes a
o thing," Dougal said.
"And South Carolina any thin
5, banks already have the movies
a ability to link up with books i
d international business. If .
i i mi .. imorm
g you look, you 11 see the
satellite dishes on their any com
e roofs," Creech said.
o Commercial compae
nies put their own satellites into space
" IntelSat and ComSat are consortiums t
which businesses contribute to develo
space communication; also, the phon
a companies have them, Dougal said.
s "I regularly communicate with people i
r, foreign countries through InterNet,
:t Dougal said.
%D
-eS_lair_
i. m tne June issue ot America
a Journalism Review, John Morton, a news
0 paper analyst with Lynch, Jones & Ryai
hints at a time in the future when we ma
t0si do
rooi
ENTS Bryton I
apartme
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on
1 or^
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Distin
$16 QQ Full si;
use
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Stasia
M I Dunbar ^ i
Punaral Hama COIUf
wniiwinL
to consumers' homes
n carry around electronic newspapers in our ^
?- pockets for instant news, or stock quotes,
a or any of the information usually found in a JL
newspaper or with a phone.
ts He said America is now rearing a gener- N/ "*
ation educated in schools to use video dis- I0N
iy play terminals as primary sources of infor- X
mation. |f \
"T? Jo ?ovooJK1a ?k?l ?KJo I Y I
ii io puooiuig uiai wiu^ii una ggiiuauuu / \
comes of age in 10 or \)
20 years, using an /\
can link up electronic display S/
mmunication 131)161 or a home ter" w
md request nal will be second X
nature," Morton said. \y
ig. including havint the X
' latest capability available SF
ind business does not assure that a ry
ation from mass market will X
ipany. develop, because most \s
consumers don't have O
a pressing need for yC
i. instant information, Morton said. \y
o The biggest advantage to the consumer
P is they will no longer have to settle on \7
e whatever happens to be on TV for their Cj
relaxation and entertainment. They will |)C
" have a wide array of choices on programs, \~y
dial-a-movie, interactive video games, /\
video phone calls to friends, or books from V
electronic libraries. Communications will
no longer be a passive experience, but an X.
y active, two-way process. \/
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