The third Super Bowl spot for PrimeStar satellite TV in the late 90s (following "She Loves TV" in 1996 and "At Last" in 1995), this ad by ABP/Draft Worldwide (the former Adler Boschetto Peebles & Partners) was produced by George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic. The special effects are more grounded than, say, "Star Wars," depicting a PrimeStar subscriber's extreme effort to protect his dish from a runaway piece of giant piping. But the ad projects the fantasy well. That subscriber would soon find himself a DirecTV consumer, however: PrimeStar sold its assets to its larger rival in 1999.
Pay-TV services would take a break from the Super Bowl after 1998, but not for good: Over-the-top streaming service Hulu began taking to the big game in 2009 ("Alec in Huluwood") and returned in 2012 ("Huluboratory").
BRAND: PrimeStar
YEAR: 1998
AGENCY: ABP/Draft Worldwide
SUPERBOWL: XXXII
QUARTER AIRED: Q3