1.   Satellite and cable companies, and some FCC officials, say that because Northpoint is a terrestrial service, the satellite law prohibiting spectrum auctions does not apply.

2.   That followed its forced withdrawal from British Digital Broadcasting, the company which won the right to start broadcasting a digital terrestrial TV service in Britain next year.

3.   To start with, rapidly evolving and expanding terrestrial services have been chipping away at the parts of the world for which satellites had been the only option.

4.   You pay more for terrestrial banking services because of the cost of operating a branch network.