Decades-old shortwave radio is giving way to satellite technology when it comes to the distribution of the U.S. government’s Voice of America (VOA) service, officials of the federal agency said last week.

Speaking at a meeting of the Mid-Atlantic chapter of the Society of Satellite Professionals International, VOA Senior Development Officer Margaret Kennedy said shortwave is declining and one day likely will be replaced by direct-to-home satellite services, which offer vastly superior audio and video quality and are not dependent on darkness.

VOA has for more than 50 years brought news and entertainment via shortwave radio to people living in totalitarian regimes or who are otherwise deprived of a ready supply of programming in their language. VOA broadcasts in some 52 languages. "Shortwave is cheap and low-tech, and it’s built into these societies," said Kennedy. VOA believes shortwave’s days are numbered, although no one knows how long it will last, she said.

For 15 years, VOA has used satellites to transmit programming from its Washington studios to transmitters located around the globe. While audio-only transmissions–the mainstay of VOA’s service–remain shortwave-based, VOA has begun experimenting with low-budget television programming, too.

Kenneth Donow, a media analyst in VOA’s office of affiliate relations and audience analysis, said television is broadcast using several regional satellite companies’ facilities, including Hong Kong-based Asiasat, which serves the People’s Republic of China.

VOA TV transmissions also are beamed into Iran, where at least 250,000 satellite dishes are thought to exist. In Europe, Eutelsat provides VOA with transponder capacity. The agency also uses Intelsat birds.

As a rule, VOA transmissions are unencrypted and analog, to ensure access by anybody with a satellite dish. VOA also depends on satellites to reach U.S. Information Agency posts, Donow said. Those transmissions use compressed digital video and include video, audio and text.