[Ccarc] Direct TV and BPL

[Tom Murray]

Saw this story on-line.....   Tom  KB9WSL

August 15, 2007
DirecTV Powers Up With BPL
By Roy Mark

DirecTV (Quote) put a charge in its broadband services Wednesday, announcing 
a wholesale distribution deal with broadband over powerline (BPL) provider 
Current Group. The deal includes both high-speed Internet and VoIP services.

DirecTV customers will have access to Current's BPL network, which allows 
consumers to access the Internet by plugging a modem into an electrical 
outlet. Current's electrical grid overlay also improves energy efficiency 
and reliability.

The initial phase of the deal covers the Dallas-Fort Worth area of 
approximately 1.8 million homes and allows DirecTV to offer bundled services 
of television, voice and Internet to compete with telephone and cable 
company packages. DirecTV hopes to offer the service by late this year or 
early in 2008.

"Our agreement with Current gives our customers another high-quality, 
easy-to-use option to pair broadband services with DirecTV's video 
offerings," Evan Grayer, vice president of Broadband for DirecTV. "By 
choosing this bundled option, DirecTV customers will now be able to enjoy 
fast, reliable and secure high-speed Internet service anywhere they have a 
power outlet in their homes."

Two years ago, Google (Quote), Goldman Sachs and the Hearst Corp. invested a 
combined $100 million in the Germantown, Md.-based Current Group.

"Consumers in Dallas will have a compelling new choice for their broadband 
service and, at the same time, feel good about the fact that the same 
Internet network is helping to improve the efficiency and reliability of the 
electric grid while reducing its environmental impact," Current CEO Tom 
Casey said in a statement.

BPL holds tantalizing prospects for spreading broadband since the wires that 
carry electricity also possess the capacity to serve as a conduit for data 
signals. By bundling radio-frequency energy on the same line with the 
electric current, data can be transmitted without the need for a separate 
line.

Some technologists and industry analysts, however, remain concerned with the 
potential interference to radio transmissions from BPL systems. BPL 
transmissions are not shielded to prevent radio interference in the same 
manner as telephone and cable lines. Amateur radio operators, in particular, 
have opposed BPL.

However, in 2004, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved rules 
clearing the way for commercial deployment of BPL. The decision classified 
BPL as an unlicensed service, with the rules primarily aimed at limiting 
interference with licensed radio services.

The FCC established "exclusion zones" in areas near sensitive operations, 
such as Coast Guard stations, where BPL must avoid operating on some 
frequencies. Amateur radio operators received no exclusions, but the rules 
require the establishment of a publicly available BPL notification database 
to help identify and resolve harmful interference claims.

The technology is already being used in Manassas, Va., and Cincinnati, Ohio, 
and more than 40 trials are under way throughout the country.

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