Standards proposed by the EBU for satellite broadcasting and cable distribution

The EBU published in March 1985 the detailed technical specifications of a family of receiver-compatible systems which are recommended for direct satellite broadcasting at 12 GHz and for the distribution of broadcasts from these satellites on cable networks. The systems in this family, known as the `MAC/packet¿ family, are based on the time-multiplexing of analogue and digital elements, the coding of the television picture in MAC (time-multiplexed analogue components), the digital coding of sound signals and the packet multiplexing of sound and data services. The members of the family are the C-MAC/packet system intended for DBS, the D-MAC/packet system intended for wide-band cable distribution (at least 10-5 MHz) of all the information contained in the C system, and the D2-MAC/packet system intended both for DBS and for narrow-band cable distribution (at least 7 MHz) but with the loss of one-half of the digital services carried in the C and D systems.