This thesis focuses on the development of the Direct Broadcasting Satellite in Japan under its Kodo Johoka Shakai (Highly Advanced Information Society) policy. The field of new media policies is relatively new but very important in communications studies. The development of new media technologies changes into existing media systems, and profoundly influences economies which are increasingly dependent upon information services. / Japan's case is particularly interesting. Relatively little is known about its DBS policy compared to other industrialized countries, even though Japan has already begun to operate DBS under its own version of the "information society", the Kodo Johoka Shakai (Highly Advanced Information Society). The formulation of DBS policy is related to many factors, including space development, research and development, broadcasting, international telecommunications regulations and economic competition both in international and domestic markets. In order to take these factors into consideration, an historical approach and institutional analysis are used in this thesis.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 563-574). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-130). Also available via the Internet.

No description available.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1992. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 37-41).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (University of Texas Digital Repository, viewed on July 30, 2009). Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (PhD)-Open University. BLDSC no.DX190076.

A form of data transmission which is increasing in popularity is satellite communication. In order to insure that data is received correctly, certain error control strategies are employed. In packetized transmission, automatic-repeat-request (ARQ) schemes and error correcting codes have been employed. Currently a combination of both is not employed by the AX.25 protocol. The purpose of this project is to determine which error correcting code should be combined with ARQ to provide the optimum performance. This project investigates the performance of the (7,4) Hamming code, (23,12) Golay code, Reed-Solomon, RS , codes over the Galois fields of 16, GF(16), and 256, GF(256), elements, and common rate convolutional codes of various constraint lengths. The codes are evaluated on three primary criteria, which include: throughput vs. input bit error rate, coding complexity, and burst error performance. The class of Reed-Solomon codes over GF(256) was chosen to be superior due to the throughput and burst error performance. The encoding complexity is small, but the decoding is more complicated. The conclusion is that error correcting codes should be employed in ARQ satellite systems. However, the error correcting strength of the code must be determined by observing the channel characteristics. / Master of Science

The past two decades have witnessed a dramatic growth in Middle Eastern satellite television. The corresponding diversification of content and restructuring of media power in the region raise many important questions for research. This dissertation is a case study of Huda TV, an English-language Islamic satellite channel broadcasting from Cairo, Egypt. The author collected participant observation data as an employee of the channel in 2005-2006. The primary research question asks how Huda TV asserts an Islamic presence in the satellite television arena. Many areas of media research, including the broad historical debates on culture and power, contemporary conceptions of hybridity, and the analysis of media institutions in the Middle East, share an overarching secular bias. Consequently, this dissertation plots out relevant bodies of theoretical and empirical research that both inform and constrain the kind of questions that can be asked about Huda TV as a Muslim institution. With a conscious effort to overcome the reductionist secularism of media studies, this work offers empirical data on the manner in which orthodox Sunni Islam operates within the global mediascape--the increasingly integrated, geographically expansive, and globally accessible media environment of which satellite television is one important component. This dissertation first examines the concrete manner in which Huda TV attempts to define Islamic satellite television as a distinct set of content and practices. Next, it turns to the channel's engagement with dominant discourses and bodies of knowledge that may compete with Islam for ultimate authority. Finally, it examines the impact of cultural and political-economic factors on the channel's work. This dissertation offers original insights into the study of contemporary Islam and contributes to significant, enduring questions of media research. / text

Within the context of debates surrounding the consumption of global media by local audiences in Third World countries, this study explores the reasons behind satellite television subscription, and consumption of international news among a sample of young professional men and women in contemporary Zimbabwe. The study seeks to uncover how the research participants respond to news broadcast on SABC Africa's '60 minutes live in Africa', a programme which they can only access via satellite television in their country. Working within the frame of audience studies which insists on understanding media consumption and reception in context, this study examines how the respondents, situated within the specific Zimbabwe context, characterised as it is by serious social, economic and political challenges, respond to both regional news and news about their country on '60 minutes live in Africa'. Within the frame of qualitative research the study employs a two-stage sampling procedure and data collection strategy to uncover the factors that underpin international media consumption and reception by professional men and women situated in a country undergoing rapid change. The findings of the study point to the various social and individual factors that underlie media consumption choices as well as to the different socially patterned reasons why local audiences are either attracted to, or reject global media. The study found that SABC Africa's '60 minutes live in Africa' is more popular and better received than Western-broadcast programmes on channels such as BBC, CNN, and Sky News among Zimbabwean professionals. I also uncovered some evidence that cultural proximity and relevance are of supreme importance in determining which media audiences chose to consume and what level of engagement they bring to their reception of global media. These and other findings directly confront media models that privilege beliefs in cultural imperialism and the dominance of Western media and their effects on Third World audiences.