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Local Satellite Radio and Popular Stories.





        Well I have been completely inundated with entries for people
wanting to win my old copy of Tele Satellite. If you send in your entry you
would only have a 1 in 4 chance of winning now. I have expanded the contest
now and you don't have to be interested to enter the competition. Even non
subscribers of the newsletter can enter. I have had feedback that some
readers have had trouble subscribibg to the newsletter and even others
saying that their windows programs tell them illegal subscriber or words to
that effect. If you have troubles either subscribing or gosh!! even
unsubscribing let me know and I will assist you.

        Things have been pretty quiet with Pas 2 showing a little activity
out of the norm in the last couple of weeks. Analogue feeds to be seen have
been.
Fox News.
Optus Sports.
Country Music Television.
These have all been tests or specific feeds that have lasted more than a
couple of hours.  Some viewers thought these were going to stay, but all
that has happened is that there are now colour bars on unused transponders
more regurlary than before.Did they have a power crisis with Pas 2 or was
that one of those plausible stories?

        As of the time of writing Chile TV is still available on the
Californian Bouquet and TV 5 and CFI have not merged as yet.  This means
that there are still 2 seperate French programs on Palapa C2. One analogue
and TV5 still digital and part of the European Bouquet.


The Quest for Digital TV on I 701.
I have heard rumours and the only confirmation is from Albury that signals
can be seen on occasions. Last newsletter I mentioned KLOS FM in Los
Angeles. Well it was very topical that night as the police had arrested
John Michael for doing something they did not like. He was breaking the law
or something similar so they said.  If you listened to the breakfast
programme on Thursday night here, 23.00 EST Australia or 0600 Los Angeles
time there you would have got the full story in all its' lurid detail. You
would have heard about the breakdown on the Santa Monica freeway and given
clues on how to win the 11 million dollar lottery that was drawn later in
the day.  All very useful if you live in Los Angeles but equally as
interesting to listen to a very different approach to local radio
presentation.
Of course a world apart and equally entertaining music wise are IUME FM and
NAU FM on EMTV Bouquet on Asiasat 2. Look at some of the Chinese stations
on the SCPCs on Asiasat 2 as well. There is english sometimes as well as
western style popular music. A Chinese disc jockey feigning an American
accent is also entertainment for a short time.
Tell me about your radio experiences.

Popular story again.
If you have been monitoring the Aurora tests on Optus B3 lately you will
have noticed there is no audio except on the shopping channel.  One rumour
I heard was in the form of a complaint. "If you can't have the sound in
synch with the picture it is probably better wothout sound anyway".(So they
did!)  Closer to the truth kill the sound to show that it is not permanent
and is only a test. Some viewers thought that this was a new service.
Remember, the excitement of satellite viewing is how long will it last?

From the list at...
http://www.satcodx.com

--- Thaicom 3:  http://www.satcodx.com/thai78.shtml
Thaicom/Shinawatra has started a promo on 3,495 V, PAL.

--- Apstar 2R at 76.5E:  http://www.satcodx.com/apstar2r.shtml
The TVB 8 promos on 3,680 H have ceased in PAL and are now on
3,689 H, MPEG-2/PowerVu, SR 13240, FEC 3/4.
Has anyone seen these signals?


We have heard this before dept.

Channel choice set to explode

New Zealanders will choose from more than 100 television channels and have
videos coming down the phone lines if broadcasters take up all the new
technology being offered.

Broadcast Communications Ltd (BCL), the transmission arm of Television New
Zealand, has new SHF frequencies and towers sufficient to
distribute 100 channels to reach 99 per cent of New Zealand homes.
Sky TV Network, the listed pay-TV operator, within two months will have
satellite transponder capacity to offer 20 channels (compared with the present
five). (I thought this was supposed to happen in March.)

Telecom New Zealand has begun trials in Wellington using ADSL to send
videos to homes down ordinary copper phone lines. (Or is it 100 Base-T? an
internet cable.)
Beyond this at least one New Zealand Internet service provider has been
transmitting full video on its satellite-based transmission. This gives
reasonable quality on a computer screen.

The limiting factor will be programme content. Those to benefit most could be
newspapers and magazines. Their advertising reach will become more attractive
as the TV audience fragments.
BCL is working with several potential users of its digital distribution
network, BCL's managing director, Geoff Lawson, said on Thursday.
BCL operates most of New Zealand's TV transmission towers and beams out the
major channels.
If it gets customers it can easily add transmitters to existing towers to
transmit the new DDN service. It has frequencies in a band used for satellite
traffic.  Is this MDS on 2 Ghz.? BCL has obtained sufficient frequencies to
carry 100 channels, but will run as few as 30.  It all depends on the level
of investment, and I assume subscribers.  Home owners will point a special
antenna at the nearest transmitter and would be quite small. It depends on
distance from the transmitter and terrain.
BCL's current network is analog. The DDN network is digital and could carry
Internet traffic. (Maybe it will be an MDS network?)

Sky TV Network is also analog and carried on the UHF band as a videocrypt
signal.  The link with News Corporation through its 41% owner, Independent
Newspapers, gives it added strength.  Sky floated a share deal in October
last year and was fully subscribed by viewers except for that 41% that went
overseas.
For the full 20 channels, the householder will pay about $40 a week, compared
with $12.50 for all present channels.
It is expected most subscribers will move from UHF (from transmission
towers) to satellite transmission over the next 10 years.
It is thought that Telecom's ADSL technology will suit data transmission
(such as the Internet) rather than TV, and Sky's direct TV transmission may have
an advantage over BCL, where satellites and landlinks will carry transmissions
to towers. Telecom's ADSL link is based on the discovery that the
copper-pair lines used for home-phone traffic can carry much higher
frequency signals than previously thought.
This means Telecom can send a requested video down a phone line. The signal
goes as compressed digital data rather than the analog waves broadcast TV
uses.

At the same time Telecom offers 640kb Internet access -- more than 10 times
the speed offered by commercial modems -- and an ordinary phone link?
For the Internet, the householder's computer uses an Ethernet card rather
than a modem. Still looks like an internet cabling exercise to me.
There has been a short trial in Wellington to test the theory.
I suppose we will find out what it is really like eventually. Does anybody know?

Oh! well cheers for now.
Bevin.

© copyright April 1998 by Bevin BODEN.




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