America鈥檚 largest cable television company, Tele-Communications, is
spending $1.9 billion to transform its cable television system into an advanced
information network that will provide services such as interactive learning
and shopping at home. In the process, TCI has given a shot in the arm
to President Clinton鈥檚 ambitious plans to create 鈥榠nformation superhighways鈥�
spanning the nation.
TCI will replace the coaxial cables that now carry television signals
with 11 000 kilometres of optical fibre to serve as trunk lines. The optical
fibres will carry cable signals to central switching stations. From there,
existing coaxial cables will feed the signals to homes and businesses.
The vast capacity of the fibre-optic trunk lines will allow the system
to deliver as many as 500 channels. TCI aims to connect more than 250 towns,
cities and countries to the network by 1996. With so many channels available,
broadcasters will be able to provide programmes aimed at much smaller audiences,
and expand the choice of films and sporting events, says the company. There
will also be room for applications such as educational programmes in which
the viewer can participate, channels that deliver computer software, and
home-shopping systems.
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Innovations like TCI鈥檚 are at the heart of the Clinton administration鈥檚
$17 billion plan for improving the nation鈥檚 鈥榠nformation infrastructure鈥�.
The administration wants to see a variety of networks that will bolster
the competitiveness of American industry and improve education.
鈥極ur information flow needs to be more up-to-date and to take fuller
advantage of the extraordinary progress being made in information technology,鈥�
says John Gibbons, Clinton鈥檚 science adviser. The government鈥檚 role is
鈥榯o provide the seed money and to begin to develop the demand鈥�, he says.
Other American companies also see openings in the new emphasis on communications
technology. Three days after TCI鈥檚 announcement, seven local telephone companies
offered to construct a $125 billion web of information networks across
the country 鈥� on condition that they are no longer banned from operating
cable TV.
Others warn that high-technology communications networks will be no
panacea for social ills. 鈥業nvention often seems to be the mother of necessity,
and not vice versa,鈥� says George Brown, chairman of the science committee
of the House of Representatives. 鈥楾he government plans to link the nation鈥檚
schools to the computer network in the next few years. Meanwhile, urban
libraries around the country can鈥檛 afford to stay open or buy new books,鈥�
Brown says. 鈥楢nd if you can鈥檛 read, it won鈥檛 do you much good to log on.