Satellite TV to hit the Road

Satellite TV has arrived in America's minivans and SUVs, furthering the family vehicle's evolution into a living room on wheels and suddenly making those TV screens in the back seat good for much more than watching Disney movies and 10-year-old episodes of "The Simpsons" on DVD.

"It makes the drive more exciting — you can have something besides the radio," says Leon Bostick in Detroit, who has satellite TV in his 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan. Bostick uses a wheelchair and usually has caregivers and relatives riding with him; often he'll sit in back to watch TV while someone else drives.

"It makes time go a lot faster," he says, "because you can watch CNN and ESPN."

Several manufacturers are racing to build smaller, flatter and cheaper rooftop antennas capable of capturing a digital TV signal from just about anywhere a vehicle can go.

One satellite TV offering scheduled to arrive at electronics retailers by year's end can also create a rolling wireless Internet hot spot, allowing passengers to scour the Web on a laptop or handheld computer.

Such mobile luxury doesn't come cheap, though. The most basic models run more than $2,000, and the Internet-ready version, being developed by Virginia-based RaySat Inc., will cost about $3,500.

On the positive side, monthly service fees can be as low as $5 for anyone who already has DirecTV or other satellite service at home.

The upfront cost has kept satellite from spreading as quickly as rear-seat DVD players, which are installed in about a third of new minivans and sport utility vehicles sold today.

But as prices come down and people become aware that it even exists, demand has increased. Before satellite, a pair of rabbit ears was virtually the only option for watching TV in a vehicle.

The mobile antennas are less affected by rain and other bad weather than regular satellite dishes, and because the signal is digital, there's no static. However, reception can cut out when tall buildings, bridges or other obstacles block a view of the southern sky.

Impressive technology aside, however, safety advocates worry that satellite TV only adds to the number of driver distractions in vehicles today, along with cell phones, navigation systems and other increasingly popular gadgets.

It's illegal in most places for drivers to watch TV, although there's nothing stopping a driver from turning on the TV in the back seat to listen without watching.

The real beneficiaries of satellite TV are passengers.

Satellite TV is one of the most popular features among customers of Illustrious Limousines in Oak Park, Mich., which has a stretch Hummer, Range Rover and Mercedes equipped with hundreds of channels.

Manager Dee Dyer said the plasma screens are good for watching some sports on the way to the prom or music videos during a night of club-hopping.

Pulling in a TV signal requires a much larger and more complex device than the tiny satellite radio receivers that mount on a dashboard.

RaySat's SpeedRay is an oval-shaped unit that's 45 inches long and weighs 57 pounds, but it's less than 6 inches high. Inside, four panels rotate and pivot to stay locked onto the satellite even as the vehicle it's attached to barrels down a highway at 70 mph.

"No matter how fast you drive or how fast you take turns," said RaySat President and CEO Samer Salameh, "this thing will turn faster than you can."

RaySat is a newcomer to the consumer side of the industry, having developed satellite antennas for high-speed European trains.

SpeedRay goes on sale in a few weeks under the Audiovox brand name, and the company is working on a 2-inch-high version for next year.

Within a few years, Salameh hopes his products will be slim enough that automakers can actually build them into vehicles' roofs.

Meanwhile, the first company to introduce mobile satellite TV, KVH Industries Inc. in Rhode Island, recently announced that its TracVision A5 system will be available as a dealer-installed accessory on the Cadillac Escalade.

KVH should also have competition soon from Iowa-based antenna maker Winegard Co., which is rolling out a system called RoadTrip, and auto supplier Delphi Corp. in Michigan.

Delphi is working with cable provider Comcast Corp. on a platform that would let drivers download video to their vehicles and with the nation's two satellite radio carriers to deliver several channels of TV.

Phil Magney, president of the Telematics Research Group in Minnesota, said demand for satellite TV will be limited until it becomes more affordable. But there is definitely a market for the service among the millions of people who own vehicles that already have video screens.

"We're just at the very early stages when it comes to video distribution," Magney said.

Satellite TV is only the latest mobile toy for Bostick, a recent law school graduate. His butane blue Grand Caravan also has a Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation 2 and XM Satellite Radio.

He bought the antenna while living in Los Angeles, where he would spend hours sitting in traffic.

"You're not a slave where you're sitting around waiting to go somewhere so you can finish watching the game," Bostick said. "It's not as exciting to listen on the radio."

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