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Sat-ND, 28.8.97

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Sat-ND, 28.8.97
Sat-ND, 28.08.97 -- Helpless, clueless, pointless
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LAUNCHES
PAS-5 launched
SATELLITES
Will the sun save Lewis, or will it crash?
LAW & ORDER
New restrictions on French TV companies expected
SLIMEBALL SPECIAL
Kirch's DF1 finally gets what it deserves
DIGITAL
The Canadian Wall? East and West digital TV
MCI's telephone surprise
RUPERTWATCH
Australian pay-TV merger cleared?
FEEDBACK
Porn ferry Swedish? (20./28.8.97)

LAUNCHES

PAS-5 launched

A Russian Proton rocket blasted has successfully put PanAmSat Corporation's PAS-5 communications satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit.
Did I mention earlier that PAS-5 is the company's largest, most powerful communications satellite ever? Anyway, that was the last time I mentioned it. Other PAS-5 firsts include:
PAS-5, built upon Hughes' HS 601 HP (High Power) platform, carries 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders. It is PanAmSat's third satellite that offers Spanish-language television channels access to the Latin America cable market. PAS-5 also will serve as the DTH television platform in Mexico for Sky Latin America, the direct-to-home television partnership of News Corporation, Grupo Televisa, Organizaoes Globo and Tele-Communications International, Inc. PanAmSat will provide a total of 48 transponders to the partnership: twelve on PAS-5, and all 36 on the PAS-6 satellite, which was launched earlier this month.
The Proton launcher is built by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre at its factory near Moscow. The so-called fourth stage is built by RSC Energia also near Moscow. The launch was the third successful commercial mission of International Launch Services (ILS), a joint venture stock company owned by Lockheed Khrunichev Energia International (LKEI) and Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services. ILS plans four more launches this year.

SATELLITES

Will the sun save Lewis, or will it crash?

NASA ground controllers have so far failed to re-establish contact with the Earth-observation satellite Lewis that inexplicably started spinning some days ago, but officials said there's new hope for the spacecraft.
The reason for the new optimism is that over the next few days the sun angle on satellite's solar arrays will become more favourable. The improved level of sunlight could allow the batteries to slowly recharge. It is believed nothing has happened to the satellite's onboard systems as they were shut down in an orderly fashion. The Deep Space Network, a system of tracking stations around the world, will be activated in the hope that anyone of them might catch a signal from Lewis should the spacecraft recover.
However, there statements with a different tone. A NASA spokesman described the loss of contact with the spacecraft as "a serious crisis." There's even already some speculation that the satellite, currently at a height of 530 kilometres above Earth, will crash within the next three weeks unless it can be recovered. Whether at least parts of the satellite would survive the re-entry to the atmosphere and pose any danger to built-up areas is not yet clear.

LAW & ORDER

New restrictions on French TV companies expected

One of the specialities of he French media landscape is that many companies are owned by big public works companies. The new government is reportedly planning to curb their influence.
Daily newspaper Le Figaro reported that the Socialist-led government was planning to ask the big public works companies to cut their stakes in television firms to less than 10 percent should they want to qualify for bids on big public works contracts in future. While so far no decision had been taken on the matter, the draft for a new media law is expected to be presented to Parliament before the end of the year.
Strange as it may seem, French TV is dominated by companies such as building company Bouygues (39 percent stake in TF1;) water management and building firm Compagnie Générale des Eaux (30 percent stake in Havas, which has 37 percent of pay television group Canal+, and 10.2 percent in Canal+ directly;) and water management and urban waste [ha! 'urban waste' sounds like a good description of TV in general] group Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux (34 percent in M6.)
While a single company may hold up to 49 percent of any French broadcaster, there are plans to reduce the allowed stake to 25 percent and, in to 10 percent in case of companies that largely depend on public works contracts.
While the water companies could probably live with those new limitations, Bouygues would suffer rather hard as the company earns nearly half its net profits from TF1.

SLIMEBALL SPECIAL

Kirch's DF1 finally gets what it deserves

Okay, here's one more for all those slimeballs that kept cheating the public by saying it won't happen: It will happen. DF1, the first and only digital TV platform in Germany, will finally close down despite denying such 'rumours' in the past.
Frankly, DF1 did not deserve any other fate -- just for their incredibly arrogant behaviour towards independent journalists and enthusiasts [which hopefully was one of the reasons for the service's demise.] I'll spare you the details; let's get back to the facts: It seems even I was a bit too careful in yesterday's Sat-ND. DF1 will cease to exist as a company -- it will be as dead as a dodo by the end of this year. Customers will get "Premiere Digital" as a replacement next year. In other words [I just can't get enough of it:] Kirch's DF1 service, launched just over a year ago to compete against Premiere in the emerging digital pay TV market, will be dissolved as a company, and Premiere will take over its programming.
The move comes a s no real surprise as Kirch and its former rival CLT/Ufa a few weeks ago reached a co-operation agreement. Kirch will supply Premiere Digital with the technical platform, the so-called d-box, and what was described by officials as "high-class" movie rights -- even though nobody has ever been able to spot many high-class movies on DF1. [Subscribers may have thought their TV set was going out on them because all the movies were in black and white -- indigestible crap from centuries ago.] Ufa/CLT will in turn, as reported, take over stakes in Kirch's fledgling sports channel DSF and his Beta Research unit.
Both Kirch and Ufa/CLT, which will hold a 50-percent stake each in Premiere after the restructuring, will work together on establishing Premiere as the sole pay-TV provider in Germany. So far, Premiere offers an analogue pay-TV satellite and cable channel as well as a few digital experiments. However, the deal is subject to EU regulatory approval.
DF1 was launched just about a year ago. During that period, the digital service attracted no much more than 40,000 subscribers [that was at least the latest official figure;] generated losses of an estimated DM1 billion; and by the way created a unique public relations disaster. Just for instance: An Internet mailing list had been set up, but critics got kicked off repeatedly -- finally, the mailing list was scrapped some weeks ago because it contained almost nothing but complaints. It seems that officials has disregarded the basic rule of doing business: "Keep the customer satisfied."

DIGITAL

The Canadian Wall? East and West digital TV

ExpressVu Inc. will introduce its direct-to-home (DTH) satellite service to Canadian television viewers on September 10th. Sounds like easy going, but it isn't.
The company will launch with 55 digital video channels in the east, 37 in the west, plus more than 30 music channels, and will offer six additional Canadian and U.S. speciality channels in each region when they are available in mid-October.
ExpressVu said it had the satellite capacity to offer additional channels and was currently reviewing programming options. The company expects to expand its program line-up to approximately 70 video channels in the east and 50 in the west by early 1998.
In the fourth quarter of 1998, following the move to its high powered DBS satellite, ExpressVu will offer more than 200 digital video, music and information channels. The move to DBS will make ExpressVu one of North America's largest multichannel television services, and larger than all other cable or DTH services in Canada.
Sounds really complicated, and maybe early subscribers may even have to have their dishes realigned later? Who knows, the company's statement did not elaborate on that...
ExpressVu said it will have 60,000 set-top boxes and dishes in retail distribution across Canada from launch through to December, and will introduce additional set-top models at the end of 1997. The brand name "Dish Network System" indicates where it all comes from: EchoStar of the U.S.

MCI's telephone surprise

MCI Communications Corp. has told the U.S: Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that it is considering bundling Primestar's satellite TV service with its telephone offerings.
Meanwhile, observers have managed to find a respective clause in MCI's filing with the FCC that gives MCI the non-exclusive right "to bundle the Primestar DBS service with MCI's telephony service offering, on mutually agreeable terms." A spokesman was quoted as saying "That was just put in there to keep our options open." Of course -- similar efforts by other companies haven't had much effect so far.

RUPERTWATCH

by Dr Sarmaz

Australian pay-TV merger cleared?

Pay television operator Australis Media Ltd said it saw no legal obstacle to its planned merger with rival pay-TV group Foxtel, controlled by Mr Murdoch's News Corp. and Telstra Corp.
"We have strong legal advise that there'll be no legal impediment on a regulatory front," Australis chief executive officer Sean O'Halloran was quoted as saying. Under the terms of the agreement, News Corp and Telstra would own up to 66.5 percent of Australis.
It is the second time Australis and Foxtel have attempted to merge. The first try was stopped by the anti-monopolies watchdog Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in January 1996 on anti-competitive grounds. O'Halloran noted that since then, industry conditions had changed: Optus Vision had broken into the local call market and built up a pay-TV customer base. He estimates that the Australian pay-TV industry had lost around A$2 billion in start up costs. Nonetheless, the industry had a strong penetration rate of about 13 percent of Australia's six million homes.
Telstra chief executive Frank Blount told reporters that "There is no doubt, ACCC concern aside, we have more rationalisation in the industry. We don't see it stopping here."
Foxtel, a joint venture between the Australian government-owned Telstra and News Corp Ltd said it lost A$212 million in the year to June 30, 1997. Telstra executives said the company had invested A$245 million into Foxtel while suffering losses of A$189 million from its 50 percent investment.
 
 

FEEDBACK

Porn ferry Swedish? (20./28.8.97)

Thanks to its readers, Sat-ND is able to shed some more light every day on the outrageous porn ferry scandal that objected innocent children on a ferry from England to France (not Belgium) to ten seconds of pure sex instead of Bugs Bunny.
First of all, Stena is not a Norwegian but a Swedish carrier, based in Göteborg (Gothenburg.) Regular readers know that my guesses are usually wrong, as far a geography is concerned. So I would ask Sweden, Norway and the rest of the world to accept my sincere apologies for being such a dumb ass. [I should have known better as Göteborg is much closer to my home town than, for instance, Munich.]
Anyway, as Karl Breitner from Sweden explains, legislation on a ferry depends on the country where he vessel is registered. "If it's registered in a British port, the ferry is considered British territory, and British law applies. If country of register is not British, it's the territory of that country and the laws of it applies.
"I wonder what the laws of Panama, or any other country offering [cheap] 'convenience' registry says about receiving BSkyB's satellite transmissions."
[Well I guess they just couldn't care less about what's going on on 'their' ships. Karl also has a drastic example that shows how complicated international seafaring may become:]
"I once refused British police coming aboard a Swedish ship in Immingham. It's up to the ship's captain to allow them aboard, and he said NO. A member of the crew was suspected to have started a fight in a pub. We had a policeman standing on the downside of the gangway checking IDs of everyone going ashore after that incident, refusing entry to Great Britain if you couldn't show an ID."
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Copyright 08/97 by Peter C. Klanowski, pck@LyNet.De. All rights reserved.
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