Sat-UK #74: DISASTER LOOMS

from: owner-sat-uk@tags1.dn.net
Date: Wed, 09 Jul 1997 19:32:51 +0100
Report from the Sat-UK mailing list:
Report #74
DMX TO DIE?
MED TV MESSED UP?
KANAL FEM FORGOTTEN?
RDV REDUCED?

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Email: dominic@bigrp.demon.co.uk . Homepage:
http://www.sat-net.com/sat-uk/
And now the news:


---------- UNLUCKY FOR SOME
(sourced from SATCODX, verified independently)
Things aren't going to well in the satellite media sector for some
companies at the moment. DMX, who recently announced their departure,
are now slated for a July 16th end for ALL of their channels - the
company has gone into liquidation due to a lack of interest and will not
be funded by DMX of North America.
Meanwhile, Med TV, the Kurdish television station which broadcasts from
Intelsat 705, has been trying to send its programmes in parallel from
Eutelsat II-F2, with no success. It would seem that the Turkish
government is blocking the signal - it is not clear why. The director of
Med TV can see this as the only reason, the government having the only
position, motive and financial backup.
Viewers of Kanal Fem, which broadcasts via Tele-X, may have been hoping
to find it on Thor II recently. Kanal Fem says no such luck. The channel
has no plans to start on Thor II in the near future, and still holds its
original statement, announced in a press release not long ago, that it
will continue on Tele-X now and start on Sirius 2 when available. Bad
news for small-dish users. Meanwhile, TV Danmark predicts a July 14th
launch date on Thor II.
And finally, RDV users will be a tad disappointed. The channel intends
to broadcast from its new position at 13 degrees east, but only for one
hour every night. It claims that the regular programming has been
brought down to a "softer status" to enable better encryption and
picture quality standards. It is not yet known whether RDV will use
D2MAC or PAL - current tests have been in PAL, which does seem quite
unusual. RDV used to broadcast from 00.00 to 04.00 UK time every night,
but from now on, a test card is visible instead from 01.00 to 04.00...
Well, amidst all of the bad news, let me just tell you all that the
chart for Astra 1E/1F has been converted into the text format - no more
long download times...


All contents (C) 1997 Dominic Sedghi. All rights reserved.
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