Sony Expands Satellite TV Business
Sony Corp. will begin selling turkey tray-shaped satellite dishes next month, adding more fuel to a business that got a rocketspeed start last year and eventually could challenge cable as the way Americans watch TV.
The world’s best-known maker of televisions, stereos and CD players joins Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc.’s RCA brand in the new market of broadcast entertainment delivery known as direct satellite TV. Sony will formally unveil three satellite receiver systems today, ranging in price from $750 to $950.
Sony hopes to stand out from RCA by offering better on-screen guides and components that work more simply. Its dish is oval-shaped compared to RCA’s circular one, which is often compared to a large pizza dish.
Under a deal with developer GM Hughes Electronics Corp., RCA was the only manufacturer for the first 1 million units or 18 months, whichever came first, of the direct satellite system.
The company began selling nationally last September. The system was a popular consumer electronics item during the holidays. Many dealers did not even advertise them because they had waiting lists.
Sony enters the market just as RCA has hit stride in production and dealers’ inventories are building.
“Dealers in the first 10 to 11 months have been looking, but supply has caught up with demand,” said Jim Palumbo, senior vice president of TV roducts in Sony’s consumer products group.
“We have to be in a position to expand the market, to appeal not only to the consumers who have already purchased it, which are 60 percent in rural markets, but also the videophiles, people who are truly interested in video quality and CD sound.”
The satellite systems are based on digital signals, the language of computers. They can be controlled and cleaned up by the receiver, resulting in a clearer picture and CD-quality sound.
While the 1 million subscriber base now is tiny compared to the more than 60 million households with cable TV, direct satellite systems may have the growth potential cable did two decades ago. That’s partly because the receivers can join with other computing devices that are becoming standard fixtures in many homes.
Cable and previous satellite systems, such as the large dishes seen on many farmsteads and rural backyards, rely on old-fashioned analog signals, which yield a fuzzier picture on the TV set.