SATELLITE TV FIRMS HAVE LICENCES BUT NO SERVICE
By Adnews Staff
Direct-to-home satellite TV company ExpressVu Inc. may not have any competition for a while but neither does it have a service. ExpressVu, of Mississauga, Ont., and Montreal-based Power DirecTV were both granted licences this week by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Power DirecTV doesn't know if it will launch the service because it could be a money-losing venture as things stand. DTH handles satellite signals differently than cable companies, and wants the CRTC to require cable firms to share the cost of conversion. The CRTC agrees it's more costly for DirecTV to deliver the same stations that cable does to viewers, but the broadcast regulator isn't addressing the matter right now. So DirecTV is not saying when it plans to go into business; it is only saying the venture may not even be worth while. However, ExpressVu can't take advantage of the situation right now due to technical delays with set top boxes needed to bring its service into homes. It hopes to be in business in the first quarter of 1996. ExpressVu has hired The Communiqué Group of Toronto this fall as its ad agency.