ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the work of the National Data Broadcasting Committee (NDBC) in this area, saw that the FCC recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the subject, and examined one of the the two systems currently under NDBC evaluation – the WavePhore system. It looks at the details of the other system being considered by the NDBC – the Digideck system – and it also looks at a modem application for data broadcasting that is starting out using more conventional data transmission techniques. While the new techniques for data transmission are being developed, much can be done with more conventional methods when some of the newer supporting technologies are applied to them. In particular, new programming possibilities can be brought to the public that build on such recently popular applications as the Internet's World Wide Web. This situation is exemplified by the OnTV system that is about to launch in the Pittsburgh marketplace.
