Terrestrial Digital Radio Bcstg. in Canada, and Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services in U.S - T-DRB - DARS

Television Digest with Consumer Electronics, Sept 7, 1998

After "several years" of negotiations, Canada and U.S. announced agreement on "technical conditions" for Terrestrial Digital Radio Bcstg. (T-DRB) in Canada, and Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services (DARS) in U.S. Under agreement, T-DRB can be implemented immediately, while launch of DARS must await transition period. Frequencies are 1452-1492 MHz in Canada, 2320- 2345 MHz in U.S. Bands are used by other services in both countries so "complex interservice frequency sharing considerations" were involved in negotiations, FCC said. U.S. Ambassador Vonya McCann and Canadian Asst. Deputy Minister Michael Binder exchanged letters of agreement, effective Sept. 1. Formal agreements still are to be finalized, FCC said, and countries "have pledged to work swiftly to convert these technical conditions into binding international agreements." Details: www.fcc.gov/ib.>