Who loved Tele-X? Conflicts on Satellites in the Nordic Countries 1974-1989

Sammanfattning: This historical dissertation describes and analyses thesatellite projects Nordsat and Tele-X. A guiding question ishow a large public project on new technology, marred withconflicts, is carried out. the actor-network method (Callon,Latour&Law) is used because it takes complexity anduncertainty into consideration, because it avoids a prioridivisions and distinctions, and because it usefully stresseshow the relation between content and context is continuallyformed and changed.Nordsat began as a cultural project, aiming partly atstrengthening Nordic identity by means of direct broadcastingtelevision. However, it met severe criticism for facilitatingthe flow of cheap foreign (read American) programmes and forcosting too much. As the Nordsat project was delayed by anumber of commissions, issued by the Nordic Council, theSwedish Space Corporation managed to launch a Swedishtelecom-satellite project?Tele-X, using mainlyindustrial-policy arguments. During the 1980s these twoSwedish/Nordic projects evolved in parallel and in conflict. Bythe end of the decade Nordsat died and Tele-X was launched.The study points to a number of areas in which large publictechnological projects can meet challenges and cause conflicts.the strong interpretive flexibility was characteristic for theprojects and played out in differing views among users andproducers of the satellites, for example between the NordicTelecom Administrations and the Swedish Space Corporation. thesevere conflicts were of great importance for the outcome andpoints to the power of emotional engagement in technologicalprojects.Key words:History of technology, history of ideas,media studies, direct broadcasting satellite, DBS, Tele-X,Nordsat, Nordic cooperation, technology policy, industrialpolicy, cultural imperialism, media imperialism, SwedishTelecom Administration, Swedish Space Corporation, Televerket,Rymdbolaget, 20thcentury.