SAT-ITALY 05.09.1997

from: owner-sat-italy@tags1.dn.net
Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 23:10:47 +0200
SAT-ITALY - EDITION 32/97 - September 5th 1997 -
Italian Satellite and Media news edited by Branislav Pekic

RAI SAT
From September 29th, RAI's three new thematic channels are due to start
broadcasting. They will be transmitted via the EUTELSAT HOT BIRD 2
satellite (13 degrees East) on the frequency of 11.804 GHz/Ver. All three
channels will be transmitted in the clear, ie. will not be scrambled so
that viewers all over Europe with the necessary receiving equipment (a
satellite dish, universal LNB and digital receiver) will be able to tune
in. According to estimates, there are around 80,000 households in Italy who
will be able to receive the channels from day one. There is a huge
potential audience since there are more than one million households with an
analog reception system who could upgrade to digital.
The first three thematic channels are to be called RaiSat 1, RaiSat 2 and
RaiSat 3 and during 1998 three more channels will be launched: RaiSat 4
(news), RaiSat 5 (sports) and RaiSat 6 (multi-ethnic service). RAI plans to
invest around 100 billion lire (around 100 million DEM) to launch the new
services. The director of thematic channels, Carlo Sartori is optimistic
about the future of digital TV in Italy and thinks that RAI should be in
the forefront in this area. There will be no advertising on the channels
and since audience ratings will not matter, there will be a lot of space
for experimenting with programming
The electronics company Italtel will produce the digital satellite
receivers (with two card readers) needed to receive the RAISat channels.
They will be sold under the brand names Seleco Italtel Multimedia, Fracarro
and Echostar. 

RaiSat 1 - This will be a channel devoted to cultural and arts programming.
It will transmit 6 hours a day, but the programs will be repeated 4 times
daily. There will be no on-air presenters. Every day, an hour of
programming will be devoted to a cultural magazine, three nights a week
will be thematic nights devoted to one subject. Co-production agreements
have already been signed with Channel Four, Arte and The History Channel.
RaiSat 1 will air the 13-part NVC/Arts program about the world of music
"Rough Guide". According to Sartori, every year three major Italian events
will be realized with foreign partners and will be transmitted all over the
world.
There will also be movies, but they will be transmitted as part of a
retrospective devoted to a featured artist (for example Kurosawa's movies,
Rossellini's movies, etc.). At the end of each days broadcasting, a
documentary program called "Radici" will trace the 40-year history of
Italian television. Weekends will be special days, with Saturdays devoted
to arts programs, in conjunction with the Franco-German channel Arte and on
Sundays there will be history programs, in cooperation with The History
Channel.
The first major event to be transmitted in exclusive by RaiSat 1 will be
the opera "Carmina Burana" directed by Zubin Mehta on October 3rd.
RaiSat 2 -  It will be the first Italian channel devoted to children. In
the early morning it will transmit programs for the pre-school children,
afternoons and evenings for children aged 6-11 and at night for adolescents
aged between 11-14. RaiSat 2 is in fact a joint-venture between RAI and
U.S. based childrens network Nickelodeon.
Programs for the youngest viewers will last at the most two hours while the
afternoon and evening slot will be one hour longer. There will be a daily
computer magazine as well as several TV series. Among them are "Star Trek
Voyager", "Catwalk" and "The one" which will be aired exclusively. 
RaiSat 3 - This will be an educational channel primarily aimed at
schoolchildren. It will transmit daily two blocks of programs, the first
one from 14:00-19:00 h. will be aimed at schools. Part of the programming
will be on demand, ie. the schools connected will have at their disposition
a catalogue of programs from which students will be able to choose what to
watch.
- Dal 29 settembre cominciano le trasmissioni dei nuovi canali RAI via
satellite. I primi tre canali sono: RaiSat 1 (cultura), RaiSat 2 (per
bambini) e RaiSat 3 (per scuole). Altri tre sono annunciati per i primi
mesi del prossimo anno: RaiSat 4 (notizie), RaiSat 5 (sport) e RaiSat 6
(programmi multietnici). I nuovi canali RAI transmetterano in digitale (in
chiaro) e potranno essere visti da tutti che posseggono un antenna
parabolica e un ricevitore digitale. D'accordo con le previsioni, in Italia
esistono intorno 80,000 famiglie attrezate, mentre sono già più di un
milione le antenne paraboliche installate.
RaiSat 1 offrirà ogni giorno un palinsesto di 6 ore ripetuto quattro volte.
Sono gia siglati i accordi per coproduzioni con Channel Four, Arte e
History Channel. RaiSat 2 emmeterà programmi per bambini in età prescolare
(al mattino), per bambini nella fascia di 6-11 anni (pomeriggio e
preserale) e adolescenti (di sera). E gia stato siglato un accordo
esclusivo con il canale americano Nickelodeon che fornirà parte della
programmazione. RaiSat 3 trasmetterà ogni giorno, due blocchi di programmi
- il primo durerà cinque ore (dalle 14 alle 19) e l'altro sarà a richiesta
(gli studenti potranno chiedere cosa vedere).
Italtel produrra' i ricevitori digitali che saranno commercializzati con i
marchi Seleco Italtel Multimedia, Fracarro, Ecostar. Gli apparati saranno
dotati di due lettori di carte magnetiche. 


ITALIAN BISHOPS CHANNEL IN TELEPIU PACKAGE
The Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) is going ahead with it's plans to
launch a religious satellite channel. The new channel which has not yet got
a name is due to start regular broadcasts this Christmas. It will however
make it's debut in Bologna from September 20-28th when an important meeting
of Italian bishops will take place. The first important posts have already
been assigned: the famous director Pupi Avati will be the supervisor of the
new service while Emmanuele Milano, ex-RAI and TMC will also have an
important role yet to be definied.
The CEI has already formed a special organization (the Foundation for
communication and culture) in charge of supervising the television
activities of the Italian church. The foundation will have at it's disposal
a budget of more than 20 billion lire (around 20 million DEM). Initially,
the new channel will broadcast 3 hours a day, although it's unclear at this
moment if any publicity will be allowed on the channel. It will be
broadcast in digital mode and unscrambled as part of Telepiu's digital
platform. 
The programs of the CEI channel will also be carried by the Vatican-based
satellite TV channel Telepace and it is expected that the more than 100
religious TV stations throughout Italy will also rebroadcast the
programming.  The CEI channel will probably merge with the existing news
agency News Press which has, for the past few years, been providing a daily
satellite news feed called Ecclesia for 108 local TV stations and 180 radio
stations of Catholic inspiration. 
The Italian bishops decided to enter the television broadcasting field back
in November 1996 at their annual meeting in Collevalenza.
- La TV della CEI (Conferenza Episcopale Italiana) dovrebbe cominciare a
trasmettere questo Natale, però esordirà a Bologna, in occasione del
Convegno Eucaristico Nazionale in programma dal 20 al 28 settembre. La
Fondazione comunicazione e cultura avrà il compito di supervisionare le
attività televisive della CEI. Inizialmente, il nuovo canale CEI
trasmetterà una fascia di tre ore quotidiane tramite il bouquet digitale di
Telepiu. Saranno oltre 100 le TV locali di ispirazione cattolica che
riprenderanno la programmazione.


ALL NEW AT TELEPIU
As we announced last week, as of September 1st lots of changes have been
taking place at the Italian pay-TV network Telepiu. First of all the
channels have changed names - Telepiu 1 has become Telepiu Nero and Telepiu
2 has become Telepiu Bianco. The third channel, Telepiu 3 which is set to
close on December 31st has become a promo service for the two premium
channels as well as for Telepiu's digital package D+ (previously called
Telepiu Satellite).
Telepiu Nero now offers a mix of movies and sports (including live Serie A
football Sunday nights at 20:30h.), TV series, documentaries, magazines and
a bit of soft-core programming. Telepiu Bianco now shows movies and TV
series already broadcast on the first channel. Telepiu Nero will have a
daily block of unscrambled programs (ie. transmitted in the clear), from
Monday to Friday 19:00-21:00 h. 
Subscribers will be able to see during this month several movie premieres
including "Striptease" and "Apollo 13". Other highlights include new nature
documentaries from National Geographic TV and a movie magazine. The cost
for subscribing to Telepiu's premium channels is 53,000 lire a month
(around 53 DEM).
- Molti cambiamenti a Telepiù a partire di questo mese. Telepiù Nero che ha
sostituito Telepiù 1 ora trasmette il meglio dei film, dello sport
(compreso la partita di Serie A domenica sera), serie televisive e
magazines. Telepiù Bianco (ex- Telepiù 2) emmeterà dei film e serie TV che
già sono andati in onda sulla prima rete. Telepiù 3 allora proponne una
vetrina della offerta Telepiù fino al 31 dicembre prossimo quando sparirà
delle onde terrestri.
Telepiù Nero ha una fascia di programmazione in chiaro, visibile a tutti,
dal lunedi al venerdi, tra le 19:00 e le 21:00. L' abbonamento per le due
reti "premium" fa 53 mila lire al mese.

DIGITAL RECEIVERS ON LEASE TO SUBSCRIBERS
Together with the start of the new Italian football season on August 31st,
Telepiu has finally started it's long awaited project of leasing the costly
digital receivers for new subscribers. One year ago, viewers who wanted to
subscribe to the whole Telepiucalcio package (all games of their favourite
football team in Serie A) had to pay around 2,500,000 lire (around 2,500
DEM), while this year the cost has fallen below one million lire (around
1,000 DEM). This has been made possible thanks to the offer of leasing the
digital receivers which currently cost on average 1,700,000 lire (around
1,700 DEM) at the price of 15,000 lire a month (around 15 DEM).
Another important change is that bars and restaurants will not be able any
more to take out a subscription to the Telepiucalcio service. Those already
subscribed will be offered one more year but at a double cost. In the past
year, it has emerged that several bars have sold hundreds of viewing seats
to customers. According to Mario Rasini, CEO of Telepiu in one case live
games were showed in a cinema were more than 800 people paid the
proprietors to watch them.
And now a bit more details about the subscription costs. Viewers who want
to subscribe to watch all games of their favourite team will have to pay
786,000 lire (786 DEM) for the subscription and one years lease of the
receiver, 99,000 lire (99 DEM) deposit and this sum will be returned at the
end of the contract period and 51,000 lire for activating the service (51
DEM). The cost of the satellite dish and the installation are not included
but the minimum price is around 400,000 lire (400 DEM). For viewers who
chose only to watch the away games of their favourite team, the
subscription will cost 528,000 lire (528 DEM).
- Grazie al noleggio del ricevitore digitale, il prezzo per abonnarsi alle
partite della squadra preferita è sceso da due milioni e mezzo di lire
(l'anno scorso) a un milione di lire. Nuovi abbonati potranno noleggiare il
ricevitore al costo di 15,000 lire al mese - il costo per acquistarlo è
piutosto alto, 1,700,000 lire. Gli abbonamenti per i bar spariscono, solo
ai gestori che erano già abbonati viene concesso un altro anno.
La spesa per abbonarsi a tutte le partite della squadra favorita: 786,000
lire (abbonamento, noleggio del decoder per un anno), 99,000 lire
(cauzione) e 51,000 lire (avviamento del servizio). A questa somma si deve
aggiungere il costo della parabola e dell'instalazione (300-400,000 lire).



* PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS FOR RAI CHANNELS FROM  AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 6 *

PRIME-TIME MOVIES
07.IX
RAI TRE, 20:50h - Poldark (U.K.-1996), starring: Sarah Carpenter, Mel Martin
08.IX
RAI UNO, 20:50h - Io e il Re (Italy-1995), starring: Franco Nero, Carlo
delle Plane
RAI UNO, 22:50h - Le quattro giornate di Napoli (Italy-1962), starring:
Regina Bianchi, Lea Massari
09.IX
RAI UNO, 20:50h - Paradise (USA-1991), starring: Melanie Griffith, Don Johnson
RAI TRE, 20:50h - The case of the lethal lifestyle (USA-1993), starring:
Hal Holbrook, Barbara Hale
10.IX
RAI UNO, 20:50h - Why my daughter (USA-1993), starring: Linda Gray, Jamie
Luner
RAI DUE, 20:50h - Primo cittadino - Part I (Italy), starring: Tullio Solenghi
11.IX
RAI TRE, 20:40h - Woman undone (USA-1995), starring: Mary McDonnnell, Sam
Eliott
RAI DUE, 20:50h - Senza pelle (Italy-1994), starring: Anna Galiena, Massimo
Ghini
12.IX
RAI TRE, 20:25h - Never say never again (U.K-1983), starring: Sean Connery,
Kim Basinger
RAI UNO, 22:50h - Beverly Hills stories (USA-1991), starring: Bette Midler,
Woody Allen
13.IX
RAI DUE, 20:50h - Turner and Hooch (USA-1989), starring: Tom Hanks, Mare
Winningham
RAI DUE, 20:50h - Best revenge (USA-1996), starring: Christine Riccelli,
Robert Pine 
RAI TRE, 20:40h - Jaws 2 (USA-1978), starring: Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary
RAI UNO, 00:20h - The last wave (Australia-1977), starring: Richard
Chamberlain, Vivian Gray 

Note: all movies transmitted in the prime-time slot on RAI UNO are
subtitled in English on RAI Teletext page 778

SPORT 
08.IX
RAI TRE, 16:20h - Umetni~ka gimnastika: World championships
RAI TRE, 16:55h - Volleyball: European Championships, Slovakia-Italy
RAI DUE, 18:20h - Volleyball: European Championships, Slovakia-Italy
10.IX
RAI TRE, 14:55h - Football: EC qualifiers (under 21s), Georgia-Italy
RAI TRE, 16:50h - Volleyball: European Championships, Italy-Germany
RAI UNO, 17:55h - Football: WC qualifiers, Georgia-Italy
11.IX
RAI TRE, 15:35h - Volleyball: European Championships, Russia-Italy
13.IX
RAI TRE, 16:55h - Volleyball: European Championships, semifinals
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