A Cost Analysis of Minimum Distance TV Networking for Broadcasting Medical Information

Two specific applications for networks might be used to serve the biomedical community: (1) networking of the nation's educational television (ETV) stations for occasional or one-time broadcasting and (2) networking of the nation's medical schools for continuous broadcasting. These two applications are analyzed in detail. A second contribution of this analysis is the provision of data and methodology for examining costs and effectiveness (in terms of physicians and students within broadcasting range) of configurations of subsets of points in the full network. The data and methodology could also be used for determining the minimum cost for networks using media other than broadband television broadcasting, such as audio only broadcasting in conjunction with slides or still pictures. The cost attractiveness of networked, simultaneous broadcasting can also be compared with, for example, sequential broadcasting using mailed video tapes. (NH)