DBS and the Public Interest Opportunity in Satellite Television

In his 1961 statement on communication satellite policy, a few years after the first successful U.S. rocket launch, President John F. Kennedy announced that the primary guideline for his recommendations “was that public interest objectives be given the highest priority” (U.S. Senate 1973, 293). The tension between satellite technology’s potential in this regard, and the reality of its implementation underlies my study.