Page 28 - Communication Commerce and Power The Political Economy of America and the Direct Broadcast Satellite

Introduction 15

include the minimal ground-based infrastructure needed to receive and
send transmissions; the virtually unrestricted geographic mobility of
signal receivers and transmitters; and the economic efficiencies of tete-
satellites in relation to terrestrial systems (i.e., cable lines) as calculated
on a cost-per-user versus overhead and maintenance costs basis. See
William B. Scott, 'Satellites Key to "Infostructure",' Aviation Week &
Space Technology (14 March 1994) 57-8.
13 On this potential, see Henry Porter, 'Keeper of the Global Gate,'
Manchester Guardian Weekly, 155(26) (29 December 1996) 16-17.
14 Herbert I. Schiller, Mass Communications and American Empire
(Boulder, Col.: Westview Press, 1969).