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More then 2, 100 LPTV stations are being recognized as a vehicle for Internet access and other high-speed,
two-way services.
11 of a sudden LPTV spectrum is attracting a lot of attention. The more than 2,100 stations (not to mention the 5,000-odd TV translators that can switch to LPTV status just by sending a letter to the FCC) are being recognized as a vehicle for Internet access and other highspeed, two-way services. The latest contender for the LPTV airwaves is Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN).
The company, which has offices in Washington, DC, and Saratoga, CA; got special temporary authority from the FCC in May to test a wireless system in Las Vegas using two stations owned by Entravision Holdings. Data is sent downstream over Channel 16the allotted but as-yet unused digital channel for Entravision's KINC (analog Channel 15) in that city. Channel 16 is being used temporarily as an LPTV channel. PC users send their data upstream over analog LPTV station K27AF, also in Las Vegas.
At the same time, K27AF is also providing regular programming sending KINC's signal to shielded areas east of the Black Mountain range but in KINC's market area. And one of the FCC's temporary authority conditions is that MAN test whether twoway, high-speed data transmissions can be combined with an analog signal, neither suf fering any degradation.
MAN's technology is apparently not new, vertical blanking interval aside. "Sneaking data under an analog picture is not a new idea," said National Translator Association President Byron St. Clair, who is also Entravision's consulting engineer.
But William J. Chastain, president and CEO of MAN, has invited several LPTV and TV translator stations across the country to participate in tests of the system which, he said in his letter to stations is "unique to the industry."
According to a proposal filed with the FCC and obtained by this writer, MAN is using the two channels to test two-way highspeed Internet access; MPEG streaming video and audio (that is, digital TV programming), LAN-LAN peering, video conferencing, and video telephony....