Page 193 - Communication Commerce and Power The Political Economy of America and the Direct Broadcast Satellite

Capital, Technology and the US in an 'Open Market' 183

As with other technological applications, some DBS developments
are being directly influenced by the labor-intensive character of some
information-based activities. This, according to international media
consultant and former BBC executive David Webster, involves
'squeezing more out of existing product.' In the broadcasting industry,
for example, because labor costs tend to increase and equipment and
per-viewer transmission costs, over time, tend to go down, 'what ever
you're doing you've got to take down [or minimize] employing
people.' For example, in order to produce an international around-
the-clock television news service most efficiently, Webster explains
that a corporation should not

employ journalists to regurgitate the news - they cost a lot of
money. Instead, the ideal method involves the real-time
transmission of news programming from various sources over a
satellite system and their retransmission to various regional DBS
operators. These regional operators would then replace the
commercials that come with the signal with advertising targeted at
their particular markets. The real-time signal is then transmitted
to homes and hotels through DBS. And while this would mean
that the MacNeil-Lehrer Report [for example] would be broadcast
in Paris at midnight instead of seven o'clock in the United States,
the dedicated English-speaking viewer of MacNeil-Lehrer would
have the option of videotaping the programming while he or she
sleeps. 72

Also, because of the multi-language track capability of digital DBS
systems, French, German, Spanish and other sub-titles or voice-
dubbing can be provided. Studio and equipment costs can be mini-
mized through this method, and labor costs, for the most part, can be
limited to translators (if necessary) and 'guys sitting in a control room
snapping their fingers.' 73
Initial DBS developments have promoted and will continue to
promote the redistribution of established broadcasting services.
Music Television (MTV) in North America, for instance, is now
transmitted by satellite to Hong Kong where modifications are made
involving little more than .the replacement of US with Asian-based
advertising. On the impact of DBS on the international production
sector, joint production arrangements between US and European-
based companies appears to be more a reflection of attempts to
minimize risk than of the need to redress the prospective unused