WorldSpace Donates 1,000 Radios

WorldSpace Corp. donated 1,000 compact, portable satellite receivers to bring news and entertainment to the American men and women serving overseas with Operation Enduring Freedom. Sanyo Electric Co. manufactured the receivers.
Ltd.. They are now in Kuwait and will be gradually distributed to U.S. forces serving from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan.
Military personnel serving outside the United States typically have few choices
in radio, in many instances only one or two local stations broadcasting in languages other than English. For thousands of American troops beyond the reach of AM or FM transmitters, the only alternative, until now, has been shortwave, which often has poor sound quality.
WorldSpace offers several choices of information and entertainment, including
news broadcasts from CNN-International and the BBC, plus ten music channels. WorldSpace planned to carry the live broadcast of the Super Bowl using encryption capabilities making it possible to restrict the Super Bowl broadcast to
only those receivers operated by U.S. servicepersons.