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Owned by DirecTV Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group, DirecTV was launched in 1994 and was the first high-powered DBS service in the world. DirecTV typically uses smaller 18-inch satellite dishes to receive its signals. Slightly larger, 18 x 24-inch oval antennas to access multi-satellites are becoming more common as DirecTV (as well as other DBS services) are attempting to squeeze more programming onto their growing systems, particularly local television network affiliates stations as well as hybrid systems that also receive broadband satellite Internet service.

DirecTV has long been a victim of an active piracy underground but has recently begun to crack down on illegal reception of its signals. On its anti-piracy website, DirecTV claims to have sued over 24,000 end users as of March 17, 2004, including celebrity O.J. Simpson. DirecTV bases their suits on purchase records of ISO-7816 Smart CardA smartcard or smart card is a tiny secure cryptoprocessor embedded within a credit card-sized or smaller (like the GSM SIM) card. History Smart cards were invented and patented in France by Roland Moreno in the 1970s. Their first mass usage was payment i devices, which have the potential to rewrite DirecTV access cards. The Electronic Frontier FoundationThe Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF is a non-profit advocacy and legal organization with the stated purpose of being dedicated to preserving first amendment rights in the context of today's digital age. Its stated main goal is to ". educate the press, has created a website to help those defendants who have been wrongfully sued by DirecTV.

In 1998 DirecTV acquired its partner, USSB for $1.3 billion. In 1999 DirecTV acquired PrimeStar for $1.83 billion. In 2003, a merger with EchoStar, owner of DISH NetworkThe DISH Network is a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service that broadcasts digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States. Owned by Echostar, DISH Network was launched in March, 1996 and is DirecTV's primary competitor in th, fell through. On December 22December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 9 days remaining. Events 1775 The United States Navy is formed 1807 The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the United S, 2003, controlling interest in Hughes Electronics was sold by General MotorsGM redirects here. This article is about General Motors . For other uses, see GM (disambiguation). General Motors Corporation also known as GM is a United States-based automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevro to News Corporation.

DirecTV is often abbreviated as "DTV". However, DTV has recently been used to refer to digital televisionDigital television DTV uses digital modulation and compression to broadcast video, audio and data signals to television sets. Introduction A major use of DTV can be to carry more channels on the same amount of bandwidth. Another can be high-definition pro, giving rise to the unofficial acronym "D*".

DirecTV receivers (television set-top boxes) were originally referred to as "Digital Satellite Service", or DSS, so that services being broadcast by both DirecTV and USSB would appear to be received by generic equipment. In 1998, after the acquisition of USSB, an American court ruled that the term "DSS" was an already trademarkSee also: brand Bass Red Triangle, was the first trademark registered in Britain in 1876. A trademark ( Commonwealth English: trade mark is a distinctive name, phrase, symbol, design, picture, or style used by a business to identify itself and its producted term that could not be used by DirecTV.

DirecTV offers standard television including local channels in most markets. Local channels are transmitted over terrestrial optical fiber networks to the Castle Rock Broadcast Center, in Castle Rock, Colorado, where they are uplinked.

DirecTV also offers high definition ( HDTV); and a digital video recorder ( DVR) service in partnership with TiVo. As of 2004 it has now more than 12.5 million customers in the US and 1.5 million in Latin America. 2003 revenues were USD 10.1 billion.

The Economist has suggested that News Corp would eventually like to merge DirecTV with its UK satellite operation, BSkyB and possibly its Star network to form a global satellite TV company.