NEW YORK-Hughes Network Systems and America Online have begun marketing AOL PLUS Powered by DirecPC, the satellite delivery of AOL’s content, the companies announced last week at Internet World Fall 2000 here.
Circuit City stores have begun selling the service, and Office Depot stores will begin to do so before Thanksgiving, said Sam Baumel, senior director of marketing, consumer division, for Hughes, Germantown, Md.
DirecPC will deliver AOL PLUS through a compact satellite dish antenna and an external modem connected to a Universal Serial Bus that offers maximum data speeds of 400 kilobits per second. The combination will be sold for about $150, and installation will be free until mid-January.
By year-end, Hughes expects to improve the service by replacing dial-up modem return, or uplink, communications with satellite return, Baumel said.
AOL subscribers opting for the new service will pay a monthly fee of $20 in addition to their basic service charge of $30 per month. They also must download the newly available AOL 6.0 software into their personal computers.
AOL said Version 6.0 “offers full support for all broadband connections, along with a built-in multimedia player allowing … seamless, integrated access to music and video at the click of a button, without having to download additional software.”
AOL PLUS Powered by DirecPC is a significant early commercial development resulting from America Online’s $1.5 billion investment in Hughes Electronics Corp., a General Motors Corp. subsidiary that is the parent company of Hughes Networks Systems. Representing the single largest cash investment AOL has made in another company, the alliance is designed to develop and market “uniquely integrated digital entertainment and Internet services nationwide,” America Online said.
Hughes has allocated about $500 million to promote AOL PLUS Powered by DirectPC.
AOL, headquartered in Dulles, Va., also will market the service directly to its 25 million members.
The companies are targeting consumers in areas where cable television or digital subscriber line services are unavailable.
Although many believe these potential buyers live exclusively in rural areas, significant numbers of urban and suburban residents also are unable to gain access to cable TV or DSL, Baumel said.
