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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 1963)
Satellite Firm Has Knotty Problems Of Organization WASHINGTON -CQ)-In a very few years, it will be possi ble to relay telephone calls to nearly any point in the world through satellites thousands of miles above the earth. Other traditional means of communication television, tele type, telegram will also be re layed by satellites on a regular basis. In early 1964 individuals in the United States will be given a chance to own stock in the Communications Satellite Corp., popularly known as Comsat, which will establish this com munications satellite system. Comsat, a private corporation, was authorized last year by Congress after a lengthy filibus ter on the merits of government ownership of the system. It will be owned by communications carriers, individual citizens, and when a basis for ownership is worked out by foreign en tities. The problems of establishing the corporation and the system are knotty. One of the Comsat incorporators told Congress early this year that Comsat s task was like "being required to put in operation a worldwide airline the day that the Wright brothers invented their air plane." FCC-Comsat Dispute Several of Comsat's problems were brought to light in a recent exchange of letters between the Federal Communications Com mission, which is charged with regulation of the communica tions satellite system, and Com sat board chairman Leo D. Welch. The problems included an interim plan for financing Comsat until it has stockholders, the type of satellite system to be established, the date of the first stock issue, a plan for foreign participation, and regulations for ground station ownership. The FCC contended that the current board of directors was making many of the decisions that should be made by the per manent directors. The perma nent directors will be elected by the stockholders, after stock has been issued. Comsat contended that until the present directors had solved a number of technical and eco nomic problems, a stock issue was impractical and would be highly speculative. For ex ample, Welch said, until the ap proximate cost of establishing a system was determined, it would be impossible to decide how much stock it would be nec essary to issue. The date of the initial slock issue has been tentatively set the next spring. By that time, Comsat hopes to have settled enough of the questions now pending to provide the potential stockowners with a clear picture of the operation they will be helping to finance. Half of the stock will be sold to the general public, at not more than $100 per share. The public will be allowed to elect six of the 12 elected directors. Foreign entities will be able to buy up to 20 per cent of the stock set aside for the public. Officials hope that foreign coun tries will participate in the U. S. System instead of trying to es tablish their own systems. The other half of the stock is set aside for carriers, who also will be permitted to elect six di rectors. It has been suggested that the carriers should be re quired to buy half of the stock since it is guaranteed that they can elect half the directors. But Comsat says that because the 1962 law permitted the car riers to own half the stock, they cannot be required to buy it. The implication was that the carriers could buy only token shares in the corporation until it becomes profitable probab ly not for several years but meanwhile they would be eligi ble to elect directors. Type of System Before deciding what kind of satellite system to establish, the corporation is currently study ing two basic types the medium-altitude, random orbit sys tem, using satellites like Re lay and Telstar, and the high altitude, synchronous system, using satellites like Syncom, which apear to remain station ary over a fixed point on earth. There is also the possibility of combining the two systems. Many of the technological problems that effect this deci sion also must be considered in light of their effects on the ec onomics of the corporation and on the attractiveness of its stock. In the random-orbit system more vehicles would be used. The ground stations, which send and receive signals, would be expensive and must be complex because of the difficulty of tracking a series of moving satellites. However, the cost of the fail ure of a satellite during or alt er the launch would be lower in the random orbit system be cause it is believed that five or six of these satellites could be launched on the same rocket. For this reason, and because the intermediate altitude, random-orbit satellite has fewer parts, replacement would be easier and cheaper. Because the smaller numbar f pari weans , SECTION F PAGES 1 to S MedfordJTribune MEDFORD, OREGON, THURSDAYOCTOBER 24, 1963 less can go wrong, these satel lites are believed to be more re liable. A synchronous system, on the other hand, would operate with ground stations that would be simpler and therefore cheaper because they would not need to move to track the "stationary" satellites. But the cost of a failure could be as high as $12 million per satellite, largely because only one can be launched on a rock et and extremely precise guid ance is needed to place the sat ellite in position. Because of the synchronous satellite's great distance from the earth 22.300 miles there would be a time lag in voice communications of six-tenths of a second. Whether or not this would deter potential users of the system has not been deter mined, but several of the major carriers that might participate in the corporation are dubious enough to force Comsat to con sider this time lag as a factor possibly affecting the attractive ness of stock to the carriers. Other Problems There are complicated prob lems in determining a role for the Federal Government which will be acceptable both to the government and to Comsat. Of particular importance is the role the State Department will play in foreign negotiations. The 1962 law requires the corpo ration to notify the Department of international negotiations and directs the Department to ad vise Comsat of foreign policy considerations. Comsat thus far has conducted several prelim inary foreign negotiations, par ticularly in relation to foreign participation in the system. Another area in which the Government must work includes research on advanced satellites. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is now concentrating on studying syn-1 ' muiiuus biueiiue capauuuiea, presumbaly with an eye toward future satellite communications. While Comsat is studying many aspects of satellite communica tions, its chief goal is an oper ational system, using the most reliable and available satellites. Even the desirability of es tablishing a communications satellite system is questioned. Radio Corporation of America board chairman David Sarnoff has suggested that the present development of AT&T of trans istorized cables could postpone indefinitely the need (or a sat ellite system. This, of course, could great ly affect Comsat's plans. Com sat, however, is continuing its present operations, at least un til there is more concrete evi dence that AT&T acutally plans to establish such a cable system. (Copyright 1963, Congressional Quarterly Inc.) BURNED IN EFFIGY Fidel Castro is burned in effigy as more than 2.000 persons staged a demonstration in Hollywood. Calif., to urge presidential action to free Cuba. Marchers car ried chains representing Cuban cnslavment and signs desig nating their protest as "a day of mourning for Cuba." (UP1) Measure Would Head Off Wheat Support Drop WASHINGTON (UPI) - A bill designed to head off a scheduled drop in the support price of wheat was introduced today by Sen. Robert H. Hum phrey, D-Minn. Under existing law wheat price supports are scheduled to drop from the 1963 average of $1.82 per bushel to $1.25 per bushel for the 1964 crop. This drop was required when wheat farmers rejected manda-i lory production controls for the ' 1964 crop. Even the reduced supports next year will ' be available only to growers who 1 voluntarily comply with allot ments. At World Price Level I Humphrey's bill would set 1964 and 1963 wheat support prices at the world price level ! currently about $1.35 per! bushel. But, in addition to the ' support price, eligible farmers cents a bushel on the rest. Thus farmers would gross up1 would get tederal domestic consumption" payments of up to 65 cents a bushel on half their production, plus "export production" payments of 25 cents a bushel on the rest. Thus farmers would gross up to $2 a bushel for half their wheat and about $1.60 for the rest, an average of about $1.80 per bushel. Other congressional news: Civil Rights: President Ken nedy has thrown the weight of his personal and political pres tige into the battle for his civil rights program. The House Ju diciary Committee was still locked in combat today over whether to approve a stronger version of the President's bill. Administration leaders believe such a version could not get through Congress, however, and oppose the broader measure. Kefauver: Senate leaders set Subscribers To report improper or won delivery of the Mail Tribune In MecUord, phone 772-61-11; Ash land call at 416 Bridge St., or phone 482-3002; Yreka, phone Victory 2-2898 before 6:45 p.m. daily and 1030 a.m. Sunday. If regular delivery arrivea shortly after you call please notify office, thus eliminating special messenger service. today aside for eulogies to th late Sen. Estes Kefauver, D Tenn. Kefauver, a crusader against crime and monopolies who was the Democrats vica presidential candidate in 1956, died Aug. 10 after a heart attack. Village Variety and Garden Shop Next to Piggly Wiggly.,.771 STEWART AVENUE CACTUS Reg. 39c Each NOW 5 99 FALL Plastic Flowers Beautiful Colon Good Selection MOSTLY 10' LP's & STEREO RECORDS sVk A Good Selection QAa 1 HALLOWEEN! Masks i Costumes 39c - $1.98 K Party Supplies & Candy V Plastic Jack-O-Lanterns A Complaceny in i Reclamation Noted ; SUN VALLEY, Idaho (UPI)-; A Republican senator from Ida ho t o d a y questioned the Ken nedy Administration's sincerity toward reclamation, contending that it was based on expediency. Sen. Len B. Jordan told the 32nd annual meeting of the Na- j tional Reclamation Association j that when the administration1 likes the proposals "we have no trouble getting reports. "But when a bill is inconsist ent with a philosophy of para mount federal authority or is otherwise repugnant to the ad ministration, they are dilatory about reporting, or even fail to report," he said. Jordan accused the Demo cratic administration in partic ular of a "general attitude ot complacency ... and perhaps really one of smug lnamerence toward the majority of water people over water rights and development of tne west. Two Arrested for Obscene Movies PORTLAND (UPI) - Police said today two men had been arrested and another was being sought in connection with what an officer termed "highly ob scene" motion pictures. Samuel I. Thompson, 28, and Michael Patrick Dillon, 25, Port land, were arrested on grand jury indictments charging con tributing to the delinquency of a minor. A "John Doe" indict ment was issued for a man who has not been identified. Detective Larry Brown said several juveniles were reported involved. 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