The following interview was conducted with Dick Ross; Vice President of network operations for the SCI-FI Channel. This interview was conducted on 8/5/92 from USA Network Operations. Question: Why did the USA Network choose Galaxy 5, Transponder 4 for the home of the SCI-FI Network? Dick: We had choice of a couple of different transponders on the satellite. Transponder 4 was based upon it's protection on the satellite itself. You have to really sit down and go over all the schematics and drawings with Hughes Communications, but there is a scheme of access to protection amplifiers on the satellite. That is the reason you may choose one transponder over another. Question: Where will SCI-FI Network be up-linked from? Dick: It will be up-linked from Smithtown, Long Island, off of 11 meter transmitting antennas. Question: Will Galaxy 5, Transponder 4 be a permanent home for SCI-FI? Dick: That's correct. Question: Will you be up-linking from the same facility as the USA Network? Dick: That's correct. Question: Is that facility owned by USA Network operations? Dick: No, we're leasing the up-link facility from HBO Communication Center. Question: Do you intend on having a West feed as with the USA Network? Dick: We have not made a decision what will happen with that at this point. At launch SCI-FI will only have a single Eastern feed. Question: Will SCI-FI ever consider adding multiplex transponders for a SCI-FI 2 following the lead of HBO and Showtime? Dick: Well the only thing I'm considering right now is we probably will not scramble or encrypt the network until about a year out after we launch. In considering that, one of the things I'm thinking about may make a lot of sense. If we're going to need to buy a scrambling system for SCI-FI and our affiliates are going to have to buy decoders for the new network when scrambling, it may make sense certainly to consider a compression system which will be out at that point. They're in the labs now being evaluated and hopefully within the next year there'll be a system that will be accepted by the industry that will be used. It would make sense to use that compression system as our encryption system as well, so there for we have ability to get multiple channels on one transponder. Question: On September 24 at 8:00 P.M. ET over 10 million cable and satellite viewers will experience your launch after over a year wait with an unedited airing of "Star Wars", followed by a SCI-FI Channel preview show highlighting the programming that will be featured on the new 24 hour channel. Will dish owners get glimpses of video before your launch that cable subscribers will not be able to receive? Dick: Yes, we are starting a pre-launch August 10th and over those days until official launch date we're starting to transmit promotional material about SCI-FI on Transponder 4, Galaxy 5. Prior to that we transmitted color bars and conducted various testing from Smithtown, Long Island. Question: During your unscrambled first year, what satellite subcarrier audio positions will you be using for SCI-FI? Dick: O.K. the 6.8 will be a mono mix. 6.2 will be as we do now our tone cues and the stereo will be our left channel on 5.58 megahertz and the right will be 5.76 megahertz and that's it. Question: Is the USA Network and SCI-FI your first position in the satellite network industry? Dick: I worked at CBS for 6 years. The CBS television network. That goes back a long time ago. I was manager of operations there. What I did was primarily involved with communications for them, Hughes Communications. My primary responsibilities was at that time special events. Primaries, elections, world economic conferences, the Pope's death, you know, special events of that type. I was responsible for putting together communications world wide for those type of things. Question: Coming from a technical satellite oriented back ground, do you think SCI-FI will have a greater appeal to a technical person like a dish owner? Dick: You're asking me? That's a pretty tough question to ask of me. That's probably a question you should be asking marketing. I'd rather not respond to that because I'd be, you know, guessing and I don't want to guess. Question: Well let me ask you an easier question than. Are you a satellite dish owner? Dick: No I am not. I am a cable subscriber. (Laughs loudly.) -END-