Sony Corp. will begin selling turkey tray-shaped satellite dishes next month, adding more fuel to a business that got a rocket-speed start last year and eventually could challenge cable as the way Americans watch TV.
The world's best-known maker of televisions, stereos and CD players joins Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc.'s RCA brand in the new market of broadcast entertainment delivery known as direct satellite TV. Sony will formally unveil three satellite receiver systems Tuesday, ranging in price from $750 to $950.Sony hopes to stand out from RCA by offering better on-screen guides and components that work more simply. Its dish is oval-shaped compared to RCA's circular one, which is often compared to a large pizza dish.
Under a deal with developer GM Hughes Electronics Corp., RCA was the only manufacturer for the first 1 million units or 18 months, whichever came first, of the direct satellite system.
The company began selling nationally last September. The system was a popular consumer electronics item during the holidays. Many dealers did not even advertise them because they had waiting lists.
Sony enters the market just as RCA has hit stride in production and dealers' inventories are building.
"Dealers in the first 10 to 11 months have been looking, but supply has caught up with demand," said Jim Palumbo, senior vice president of TV products in Sony's consumer products group.
"We have to be in a position to expand the market, to appeal not only to the consumers who have already purchased it, which are 60 percent in rural markets, but also the videophiles, people who are truly interested in video quality and CD sound."
The satellite systems are based on digital signals, the language of computers. They can be controlled and cleaned up by the receiver, resulting in a clearer picture and CD-quality sound.
While the 1 million subscriber base now is tiny compared to the more than 60 million households with cable TV, direct satellite systems may have the growth potential cable did two decades ago. That's partly because the receivers can join with other computing devices that are becoming standard fixtures in many homes.
Cable and previous satellite systems, such as the large dishes seen on many farmsteads and rural back yards, rely on old-fashioned analog signals, which yield a fuzzier picture on the TV set.
In most places, the big dish systems still sell well because they offer more channel options, have a greater base of companies providing program services and, thus, lower monthly fees.
Like RCA's system, Sony's will be programmed by DirectTV, a unit of GM Hughes, and USSB, a division of Hubbard Broadcasting Inc. Monthly programming fees start at $17. The system has up to 175 channels, including those for pay-per-view movies and 27 music-only channels.
"If you're just a conventional TV watcher, there's not as much incentive to get it but if you've got a home theater, the picture quality and sound quality system is so superior," said Doug Fearing, manager of the electronics division at BJ's TV and Appliance Center in Portage, Wis.
Sony will market digital satellite programs as the centerpiece of home theaters that tie TVs, VCRs and stereos. "We're trying to show this is a catalyst for the whole home entertainment center," Pal-um-bo said.
Since the system allows sports fans to get virtually every pro event, Sony will use its association with the NFL for a big advertising push in July and August.
The company has created a $250 accessory box that will allow the system to work on TVs in different rooms, a response to criticism of the first versions. It has put a multi-event programmable timer into the receiver to allow it to work with a VCR and a data output for future connection to a personal computer.
Sony's remote control has a thumb joystick that allows a person to quickly view on-screen program listings. Menus can be customized by topics, such as movies, and subtopics like action movies.
Frank McCann, a spokesman for Thomson Consumer Electronics, said RCA is ready for the competition and termed Sony's ideas "pretty cosmetic."
But he added, "This tells the consumer this is a product that's going to last. The consumer wants to be assured this is not an orphan product."