DirecTV

Hughes Electronics

In 1953, Howard Hughes created the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), to which he transferred full ownership of Hughes Aircraft. Following Hughes' death in 1976, HHMI was incorporated in 1977, and litigation ensued to determine whether it would be allowed to maintain its interest in Hughes Aircraft. In 1984, the court appointed a new board for HHMI, which proceeded to sell off Hughes Aircraft to General Motors on December 20, 1985, for an estimated $5.1 billion. General Motors then merged Hughes Aircraft with its subsidiary Delco Electronics to create Hughes Electronics Corporation.

USSB

Stanley E. Hubbard founded United States Satellite Broadcasting (USSB) and was a leading proponent for the development of direct-broadcast satellite service in the United States. HHMI and other companies believed in the early 1990s that technology would soon make digital satellite television affordable.

In the 1990s, Hubbard teamed up with Thomson Consumer Electronics and Hughes Electronics to come up with a practical digital satellite service capable of 175 channels; Hughes Electronics created DirecTV as a separate division and secured an agreement with USSB to build and launch the first high-power direct-broadcast satellite system.

Direct satellite broadcasters were mandated in 1992 to set aside 4% of its channel space for noncommercial educational and informational programming. DirecTV selected C-SPAN, EWTN and the Trinity Broadcasting Network from its current channel lineup, plus additional proposals from other programmers. DirecTV selected an additional six channels for the mandate: Clara+Vision, Inspirational Life, NASA TV, PBS YOU, StarNet and WorldLink TV.