DirecTV may try broadband over power lines (BPL) in top 50 cities !!!!!

DirecTV ponders broadband over power lines
By Reuters
Published: May 14, 2007, 5:00 PM PDT

Satellite television provider DirecTV may test delivering high-speed Internet service through power lines in a major U.S. city in the next year, its chief executive said Monday.

DirecTV and others are talking to companies that specialize in providing broadband through the electrical grid, Chief Executive Chase Carey said at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in New York.

"We're not the only ones talking to them," Carey said, in response to a question on whether DirecTV would consider a test in a major city. "I think you'll see some meaningful tests in this arena."

DirecTV would like to test delivering Internet access on power lines in a "top 50 city where you're covering at least half the city."

Testing the service on several hundred thousand people would provide the company with "challenges and positives," he said.

Delivering broadband access through power lines is something that companies have been testing for some years. Most U.S. residents get broadband service through their cable television or telephone companies.