ABSTRACT
The last decade has seen an enormous change in the television broadcasting scene across the world. Cable systems and satellite broadcasting — and particularly the marriage of these two technologies — have brought about a phenomenal increase in the available channels of television entertainment and video communication. Broadcasting by satellite has enabled the subscriber to a cable system, whether in the USA or Britain or Sweden, to gain access to a wide range of material previously undreamt of. But these two technologies have other implications which are usually less visible: both technologies are important culturally and industrially. For these reasons, it is necessary to consider them not only within the context of more broadcasting entertainment but also within the context of national states planning for their future industrial needs and cultural desires. And, because the various forms of broadcasting by satellite straddle national frontiers, there are implications for those nations which desire to retain and encourage their own cultures in the face of foreign broadcasting.
