FOR SATELLITE SYSTEM'S MARKETERS, THE SKY'S THE LIMIT.

Byline: Jonathan Takiff Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

Haven't figured out yet what a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) system is - how you can receive hundreds of high-quality TV channels (and soon, computer data services, too) directly from space on your own small backyard or rooftop dish?

Trust us, you will soon.

Come summer, media giant AT&T will start hawking the 200-channel DirecTV Digital Satellite System (DSS) to the 90 million telephone customers in its data base - unleashing that same army of tenacious phone pitchmen who push AT&T's long-distance and cellular services down our throats.

If convinced, you'll be able to charge a ($500 and up) DSS hardware investment on your AT&T Universal card, and pay for monthly programming on your phone bill.

Better news: The cost of subscribing to such high-quality satellite feeds of movies, sports and cable-style channels - now about 20 percent higher than from the cable company - is likely to shrink to parity as more and better DBS competitors come into the picture.

Primestar - second biggest DBS provider in the nation - announced plans last week to upgrade service to its million-plus customers with new GE satellites launched at year's end, almost doubling its channel capacity to 140. Primestar is owned by GE and the nation's five leading cable companies, who now would rather switch delivery technology than lose their customers to the DBS competition.

In the last 18 months, DirecTV and its DSS program partner USSB (United States Satellite Broadcasting) have lured in more than 1.25 million customers - better than 60 percent subscribers with cable options. The suppliers expect to sign up another 2 million homes this year for their customized channel packages and better reception.

Three new DBS signal providers are looming on the horizon. Also this past week, MCI successfully bid $682.5 million in a Federal Communications Commission-run auction for the last direct broadcast satellite location in space that can blanket the entire country with a single "bird." The company plans to spend at least another $1 billion launching its 200-channel TV and data service. While that sounds steep, such a satellite investment is a drop in the bucket next to the cost of hard-wiring the country with high-capacity coaxial or fiber-optic cable, and the ultimate reason why this new alternative delivery technology is now looking so attractive to big communications players.

MCI's programming partner will be News Corporation, the Rupert Murdoch-led media conglomerate which already rules the DBS skies in Europe and the Far East.

In the next couple of months, two other new DBS providers - Echostar and Alphastar - will start hawking their own, incompatible receiver/dish packages and 80- to 100-channel program services in your face. Echostar will be pushing "better value" in its channel offerings. Alpha literally will pursue you door-to-door via a tie-in with Amway.Also this year, stores will be flooded with multiple new brands of satellite receivers - from the likes of Japanese giant Panasonic to the Korean econo-brands Samsung and Goldstar - adding to the marketing hue and cry.

Industry analysts expect the price for a basic DBS receiver eventually to drop to $300.