[net.columbia] Live TV from the Shuttle

guy@anasazi.UUCP (Guy Finney) (11/15/84)

I recently became an owner of a nifty Satellite TV system, and what
to my wondering eyes did appear, but live Shuttle TV on Satcom I, xpdr 9!
Well, almost live.  I presume it's downlinked on their Ku-band antenna,
then rebroadcast by NASA on C-band.  It's tremendous fun watching
the astronauts cavort in space without annoying commentary by
"science correspondents".  51-A is especially fun because of the
dual satellite rescue.  It's got me wondering, though.  Why is the
C-band signal there at all?  Just so the networks can tape it and use
30 seconds of it in the nightly news?  Who pays for the transponder
time and why?