Transmission system for multimedia services in satellite broadcasting channels

In Japan, a new digital satellite broadcasting service is scheduled to start in the year 2000. The technical standard for the transmission system was established in 1998. The system provides an information bit rate of 52 Mbps, which is sufficient for broadcasting true HDTV programs. It can handle multiple MPEG2 transport streams. The system supports multiple modulation schemes such as trellis coded 8PSK(TC8PSK), QPSK and BPSK. These modulation schemes can be selected and/or used simultaneously. Accordingly, broadcasters sharing one satellite channel can select modulation schemes suitable for their own services independently from each other. The configuration and characteristics of the system are described.