PBS To Sell 'Significant' Satellite Space to Educators

By Peter West

WASHINGTON--The Public Broadcasting Service plans to sell educators "significant capacity" on a communications satellite scheduled to be launched in 1993, an initiative that could severely undercut a rival proposal to dedicate a satellite to educational use.

For some time, PBS has planned to make space available on transponders it has purchased on Telstar 401--which is being built by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company to replace an existing satellite.

But a spokesman said late last month that the rapid refinement of a technology known as digital compression will allow PBS to at least quadruple the signal...