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Geocast Network Systems Inc. will offer what it calls personalized interactive broadband services to PC users starting in the third quarter of next year using a Ku-Band feed from satellite TV provider EchoStar Communications Corp.
Geocast's service will flow at speeds as high as 12 megabits per second to a "GeoBox" personal server which is equipped with a 40 GB hard drive and uses a return path provided via the subscriber's dial-up or broadband ISP.
Geocast not only will be able to reach subscribers of EchoStar's DISH Network TV service, but also corporate users of EchoStar's DISHLink satellite data broadcast service.
And exactly what sort of reception is Geocast getting from its broad base of terrestrial digital TV partners-the list includes Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc., Belo Corp. and, Allbritton Communications-who also are preparing to launch the Geocast service at the same time?
According to Joe Horowitz, chairman and CEO of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Geocast, the feedback so far has been positive from Geocast's broadcasters. "Everyone understood our strategy from the beginning" Horowitz says. "We have been pursuing multiple chains of distribution involving TV broadcasters, satellite and cable companies."
"Our partners want us to reach critical mass as quickly as possible, because several of them see themselves playing a major role with Geocast as content providers."
Doug McGary, EchoStar's director of interactive services, says that beaming this 12 Mbps feed to the PC will involve little more than simply putting an MPEG header on a Geocast data feed as it arrives at Echostar's uplink facility in Cheyenne, Wyo. He describes the agreement as fitting neatly together with Echostar's DBS service which reaches over 4.3 million households nationwide.
"We want happy households, not just happy living rooms," said McGary, emphasizing that Geocast's PC-oriented service is a logical extension of EchoStar's other PC-related products. Those include the hard drive-equipped DISHPlayer receiver that includes the WebTV platform and is still the frontrunner in the PVR sector with well over 100,000 units sold. EchoStar also has stakes in a pair of two-way satellite-based Internet access ventures: StarBand Communications-formerly Gilat-To-Home-and Wild Blue Communications, a Denver-based start-up planning a Ka-Band service.
"We learned a lot with WebTV and DISHPlayer, and now we are moving forward with broadband which is what everyone wants," says McGary who declines to comment on whether EchoStar also might offer a DBS satellite-based version of Microsoft's Ultimate TV interactive platform. El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV Inc. already has announced it will introduce its version of the Ultimate TV service during the upcoming holiday season.
"I think EchoStar is just being open-minded. While the Geocast service is quite unique, EchoStar is hedging its bets by making deals with Microsoft and Open TV as well," says Sean Badding, vice president of business development at The Carmel Group. "Among other things, Geocast might allow EchoStar to capture some of the SOHO and small business market, but the outcome is dependent upon the pricing. The GeoBox has to be under $300 to hit the sweet spot in the small business market."
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