DTS Setup

Based upon a desire to better serve and improve the quality of life of sailors and Marines serving the United States on board U.S. Navy ships, AFRTS initiated studies in 1995 to determine the feasibility of providing full-time, worldwide satellite delivered television services directly to Navy ships. This effort led to the finding that "living room quality" television services could be delivered via satellite to about 225 of the 300 plus U.S. Navy surface vessels. Supported by engineers and management from COMSAT Corporation and the Navy, AFRTS proved the concept with laboratory and then a shipboard operational test during 1996. As a result of these efforts, the Secretary of Defense directed in September 1996 that the Television-Direct To Sailor (TV-DTS) program be fully implemented.

Full operational capability for TV-DTS was reached on 23 December 1997 with the activation of the third and last transponder on an Atlantic Ocean Region International Telecommunications Satellite (INTELSAT) platform. This was preceded on 1 October 1997 and 3 December 1997 with the activation of transponders on INTELSAT satellites over the Pacific and Indian Ocean Regions, respectively. Using global, premium (29 dbW EIRP at beam edge) transponders these three satellites provide TV-DTS with almost complete coverage of all oceans and seas where U.S. Navy ships are deployed.

The initial TV-DTS service can be received by twenty large platform (aircraft carriers, amphibious, and command ships) already equipped with three meter television receive-only (TVRO) satellite antennas. A standard TV-DTS TVRO terminal system is being procured by the Navy Space and Warfare Systems (SPAWARS) command.  Initial installation on 225 U.S. Navy ships began during 4th Quarter FY 98 and completed in 2000.

The TV-DTS services consist of three channels of television (AFN, News and Sports), three radio services, and a data channel.  

AFN News offers continuous and comprehensive stateside news coverage and analysis.  It not only offers news from the major networks and military news sources but viewers also see a variety of new information and analysis programs not currently aired by AFN. 

Sports enthusiasts get a wall-to-wall service with the most up-to-the-minute scores, highlights, and late breaking sports news. AFN Sports also features expanded sports analysis programs and more service academy events as they become available.  Encore presentations of big events will also be rebroadcast to time shift for fans unable to catch the live airings.   

The AFN television channel is basically designed to look like a major network affiliate station in the U.S.

The TV-DTS radio service consists of two CD-quality music channels with rotating blocks of U.S.-produced satellite programming in the Rock, Top-40, Oldies, Country, and Urban musical formats along with hourly news and sports information. The third radio service is a full-time news, information and sports service consisting of a representative mix of the most popular radio services from all of the major U.S. radio networks.

The TV-DTS data channel provides sailors and Marines with U.S., DoD and Navy print products. These include: a daily New York Times Fax; a daily Stripes (eight page version of daily Stars and Stripes newspaper); the DoD "Early Bird"; the Navy News Service; and, Navy internal information periodicals.

The TV-DTS service uses a MPEG 1 digital compression and Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) compliant system. The MPEG 1/DVB equipment is manufactured by the Scientific-Atlanta (S-A) Corporation under the S-A trademark name of PowerVu. S-A PowerVu receiver/decoders for the TV-DTS service are provided by AFRTS and the U.S. Navy to U.S. Navy ships and some remote land-based sites where U.S. military members are stationed.

Worldwide the TV-DTS service can be received with a TVRO antenna as small as 1.2 meters but the AFRTS-recommended TVRO antenna size is 1.5 to 1.8 meters, if the larger size antenna can be accommodated at the site. Ships should refer all questions concerning their existing TV-DTS equipment to SPAWARS’ Ship Emergency Repair Team (SERT), and concerning future installation of TV-DTS equipment to SPAWARS (ATTN: PMW-176-4). Sites other than U.S. Navy ships should refer all TV-DTS issues and questions to AFRTS (POC phone is: (703) 428-0289 (voice); X-0624 (fax), and e-mail address is: afrteng@hq.afis.osd.mil.

A lot has changed in the months the Direct To Sailors channel has been operational. Since December 1998, AFRTS engineers and the DTS crew have done numerous tests at the Broadcast Center and aboard a few Navy vessels to improve the quality of the service. Now that several ships are receiving the DTS signal with no problem, the effort to broadcast programs catered to sailors becomes job one.