By Steve Ragan May 15, 2007, 15:55 GMT
Speaking at a technology summit hosted by Reuters in New York, DirecTV Chief Executive Chase Carey said that DirecTV was talking to companies who specialize in broadband over power lines (BPL) in order to test the service and if testing goes well offer it.
“We're not the only ones talking to them,” Carey said. “I think you'll see some meaningful tests in this arena.” Carey told Reuters during the summit, that DirecTV would like to test the service in a “Top fifty city where you are covering at least half the city.” The testing of the new service on several hundred thousand people would create some interesting challenges and some positives Carey said. The challenges are various, and some say BPL is never going to live up to its hype. According to an FCC report, there are fewer than six thousand BPL subscribers in the US.
“Radio engineers pointed out that power lines really weren't suitable for bandwidth transmission. Interference issues were documented, trials in a number of foreign countries were shut down, and even the NTIA began to worry that the technology was not fully cooked,” said an article by Broadband Reports. The broadband news site says that BPL is a niche technology and will never get off the ground.
DirecTV has tried the broadband game in the past, the lat attempt failed. In 2002, DirecTV closed down its DSL service leaving close to two hundred thousand customers on their own, to find new service. The subscriber vacuum that followed gave way to the rise of Verizon DSL and SBC DSL, both clamoring to signup the orphaned users. The issue at the time was @Home, Rhythms, Northpoint and a whole host of other companies had folded too. Many subscribers were left to seek out new businesses without a clue as to what to look for in a provider.
Larger companies took advantage of this, sometimes offering lower introductory rates that were equal or better than what the orphaned consumers paid. The catch was that often ninety days later, the prices jumped, and people were locked into contracts. Consumers attacked DirecTV over its abrupt shutdown, and blamed them for the hassle that came from it.
Another rumor and technology test from DirecTV is they might offer WiMax, which is able to provide wireless access over long distances. That idea is quickly loosing steam as “Rupert Murdoch found out, spectrum is hard to come by. Plus, investors won't like the network construction costs,” said Broadband Reports in an article on the subject. Will DirecTV pull off broadband this time? Likely not judging by its past record, but there is a slight chance they will. If the issues concerning BPL are addressed, the largest being interference with consumer electronics, then it should make for an interesting choice.
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