Beaming A Particular Movie Into Space...???

Now that I can sit for awhile at my computer, I am getting caught up on a bunch of what I like to call my fave 'anomaly sites'. While over at the Exopolitics Blog (www.exopolitics.com) today, I ran across the article I have posted below. (It was posted over at the Exopolitics Blog in December of last year.) While the tone of the original article is, to put it bluntly, 'basic spin-propaganda smart-ass', I am looking right past that to the main question the article begs--

Why would 20th Century Fox do something like this???

It's rather an expensive thing to do for a mere publicity stunt, and (if the smart-ass attitude of the article is taken at face value) a completely pointless thing to do, even as a publicity stunt.

So, again, I'd like to know--

1.) Why did they do this?

2.) Why did they pick this particular movie?

3.) Who actually paid for the space transmission of the movie?

4.) Who exactly is the 'Deep Space Communications Network' mentioned at the end of the article?

5.) What exactly do they do for a living? (I personally find it hard to believe they just sit around beaming selected TV programs, movies and music into space, as the article implies...)

6.) Why does the Space Center in Florida allow a private group to beam stuff like The Day The Earth Stood Still into deep space from the Space Center?

7.) Why does the article itself not answer any of the above questions?

Without further ado, here is the article--

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Fox To Beam Day The Earth
Stood Still Into Space
12-10-8


LOS ANGELES Business Wire -- Twentieth Century Fox makes history by transmitting the first motion picture in to deep space, making THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL the world's first galactic motion picture release. The first deliberate deep space transmission of this highly anticipated science fiction thriller will begin this Friday, December 12, 2008, to coincide with the film's opening day on Planet Earth. If any civilizations are currently orbiting Alpha Centauri, they will be able to receive and view the film approximately four years from now in the year 2012.

In a time when global movie launches are now commonplace, Fox is raising the bar by spearheading, with Deep Space Communications Network located at Cape Canaveral, the ultimate in "wide release" platforms. As millions of Earthbound movie fans get their first look at THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, starring Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly, the film will be zipping through space at 186,000 miles per second to a heretofore untapped possible consumer base orbiting the three star system, Alpha Centauri.

Industry watchers and film historians will note that due to the distance between our solar system and the Alpha Centauri system, it will take over eight years (accounting for a roundtrip communication) to receive any Alpha Centauri reviews. The transmission is not a single beam aimed at just the Alpha Centauri system, but can be received by any advanced technologically capable civilization along the way to Alpha Centauri, and beyond.

Prior to its arrival at Alpha Centauri, the transmission of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL can be intercepted and viewed at various points in our own solar system (Distance from Earth ­ at the speed of light ­ and transmission time, as follows):

Moon: 0.000000038, 1.1991888 seconds Sun: 0.000016, 8.41536 minutes Mercury: 0.0000095, 4.99662 minutes Venus: 0.00000476, 2.5035696 minutes Mars: 0.0000076, 3.997296 minutes Jupiter: 0.0000666, 35.028936 minutes Saturn: 0.000135, 1.18341 hours Uranus: 0.000285, 2.49831 hours Neptune: 0.00046, 4.03236 hours Pluto: 0.0006183, 5.4200178 hours

"We are thrilled about beaming this film into space. This will be our first full length movie transmission. And what could be more relevant to send into Deep Space than a movie about the Earth's acceptance of visitors from outer space," commented Jim Lewis, Managing Director, Deep Space Communications Network

About DEEP SPACE COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK:

Deep Space Communications Network is a private organization located east of Orlando. DSCN was formed specifically to communicate with outer space by a group of broadcast engineers and communications experts who regularly transmit from the space center.

The beam transmitting THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is by redundant high-powered klystron amplifiers connected by a traveling waveguide to a five meter parabolic dish antenna.
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For those folks who visit here who follow Richard Hoagland's work, I have to observe that his stance that certain folks in Hollywood know things that are central to the whole UFO/life on other planets question seems very pertinent here.

Also worth mentioning is that in this instance, the smart-ass tone of the article does not hide anything-- rather, it makes the decision of 20th Century Fox to beam this movie into deep space even more problematic. After all, why bother spending money on a 'publicity stunt' that everyone is just going to laugh at the way the article itself does?

Sharing the hot, buttered popcorn with the Skypeople in Peace,

T'Zairis