WorldSpace Up and Running
by Grant Goddard
WorldSpace is marching steadily, introducing its
service to an audience of 4.6 billion listeners throughout the
Southern Hemisphere.
Currently, two geostationary satellites beam programming
to Africa, the Middle East and South Asia from orbital slots above
the equator.
Each satellite emits three beams, each of which
can deliver more than 40 channels of crystal-clear audio and multimedia
programming directly to portable receivers. Each beam covers roughly
5.5 million square miles.
In October 1999, the Washington, D.C.-based company
launched its first satellite, AfriStar, covering Africa, the Middle
East and the Mediterranean Basin, followed by AsiaStar in March
2000, which blankets nearly all of the Asian continent.
By year-end 2001, a third satellite, AmeriStar,
will provide service throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
Test market
In India, huge billboards announce the recent arrival
of WorldSpace satellite radio service in the south-central city
of Bangalore.
Bangalore, the technology capital of India, is
the first to test-market the WorldSpace Asia service, with the
countrywide rollout planned for other Indian cities in coming
months.
Electronics stores throughout the city sell the
WorldSpace receivers, manufactured by Hitachi, Sanyo, JVC and
Panasonic, equipped with AM, FM and shortwave bands, as well as
satellite reception capabilities.
To explore the possibilities of the WorldSpace
system, I acquired a Hitachi receiver.
The radio operates much the same way as a conventional
receiver, using an LCD for channel information and up/down buttons
for tuning. There is an additional beam-seek button for receiving
satellite radio.
The satellite dish, attached sturdily to the top
of the receiver via a customized clamp system, is a flat box rather
than a concave sphere, 1.3 inches deep and about the width and
height of a CD jewel box.
Setting up the equipment to receive satellite signals
is simple, compared to the complex steps needed to receive satellite
television signals.
The AsiaStar satellite is positioned above Singapore,
so the dish simply need be pointed to the sky in that direction
(southeast from India) and press the beam seek button.
As with all satellite technology, the dish must
have line-of-sight access to the satellite, making reception within
many buildings and built-up city areas impossible. An antenna
lead allows the dish to be placed on a windowsill for indoors
listening.
As the signal is digital, reception is either a
perfect-quality signal or nothing at all.
Tuning in
I experimented and found that I could use the receiver
inside a building, as long as it was within three feet or so of
a window with an unobstructed view in the necessary direction.
I was unlucky in Bombay, where the hotel gave me
a sixth-floor room facing due north, making satellite reception
impossible. Fortunately, the outdoor swimming pool proved to have
a perfectly clear view toward the southwest.
In my poolside tests, I found that individual palm
tree fronds proved no barrier to the signal, but more dense vegetation
or groups of palm trees did disrupt reception.
I was initially shocked when I heard the sheer
clarity of the digital sound – absolutely crystal clear with
no fading or interference.
However, if an object temporarily blocks the line
of sight, such as a pool attendant walking past, the signal does
disappear for a few seconds but it returns quickly without the
need for readjustment.
So what sort of programming does AsiaStar offer?
Weeks after the launch of the service, I could
choose among 23 stations by satellite. To those living in media-deprived
countries, the WorldSpace radio channels offer unprecedented choice.
AsiaStar offers programming from a dozen well-known
international broadcasters, including the BBC World Service, CNN
Radio International and eight 24-hour music channels in a variety
of niche formats.
Film scores
Some nine channels carry Indian-language programming,
including several that play 24-hour Hindi and Tamil film music.
There are Kannada- and Malayalam-language stations, in addition
to a live feed from Sunrise Radio, a South Asian-oriented station
in London.
Each WorldSpace satellite broadcasts three regional
beams to different geographic footprints. While I am listening
to programming delivered from the western beam of the AsiaStar
satellite, someone listening within the footprint of the eastern
beam from the same satellite would have a different menu of stations.
Each satellite beam has capacity for 400 stations,
so the choices will be extended dramatically over time.
The verdict?
I can understand why several hundred WorldSpace
receivers were sold in the Bangalore test market within weeks
of the launch.
The technology is easy to use, the quality of reception
is incredible and the signal is remarkably robust once the receiver
achieves contact with the satellite.
I could rotate the receiver 30 degrees in either
direction without losing the signal, and I could tilt the dish
up and down without effect. My wish is that the second generation
of receivers weigh less and use AA batteries.
The most remarkable feat is WorldSpace successful
implementation of this futuristic technology in the developing
world, where traditional media infrastructure is terribly sparse
– effectively leapfrogging a whole tier of technologies.
I have heard the future and the impression from
poolside in Bombay is that satellite radio proves more practical
and immediate than many of the "convergent" technologies
presently being touted as the next big thing.
Grant Goddard is a free-lance writer.
