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Sat-UK-News #225 01.04.98: CMT Europe, JSTV, Fashion TV...

Sat-UK-News Report #225:
- CMT Europe not saved in time
- Animal Planet also pulled from analogue
- Digital changes on HotBird 4 and Astra 1D
- Other analogue changes on various satellites
- Sat-UK-TV coming soon!
wednesday 1st april 1998
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Email: dsedghi@TELE-Satellite.com OR dominic@bigrp.demon.co.uk
Sat-UK-Web: http://www.sat-uk.com/
UK Satellite Control: http://www.sat-net.com/uk-satellite/
And now the news:


---------- CMT Europe not saved in time
 Several weeks ago, it was decided that the European music channel, CMT
Europe, would be pulled of air due to consistently low viewer ratings.
The decision was controversial, and a large support group for the
coninuation of CMT Europe was created, but it would appear to no avail.
Today, CMT Europe has been taken off Astra 1E; there is now a BETZDORF
UPLINK test card where it was. Similarly, the encrypted feed for CMT
Europe on Intelsat 605 at 27.5 degrees west has also ceased. Presumably,
the channel is also now absent from all previous digital packages.

---------- Animal Planet also pulled from analogue
 Strangely anough, Animal Planet has also disappeared in analogue
standard. The channel had previously been available on HotBird 1 on
11.304 H, but now seems to have been replaced by a digital transmission.
I can't get anything on by Nokia 9600S though. It is still available
digitally, however, in various packages, including Canal Digital at one
degree west, where it can frequently be found in the clear. It is also
supposed to begin transmissions in digital on Astra 1D at 28.2 degrees
east soon.

---------- Digital changes on HotBird 4 and Astra 1D
 As reported yesterday, TPS began a digital package on 10.757 V
consisting of the Multivision channels. This has now moved to 10.796 V
on the same satellites, and 10.757 V is now being used to host several
different channels: Cinéstar 1/2, Cinétoile, Télétoon, Fun TV, Odyssée,
Téva, Festival and Mezzo. On 10.719 V, you can find a test channel
entitled 'Fenêtre sur Parc' (=window over park), which when I checked
was showing simply a shot of the park from a window (surprisingly!). On
Astra 1D, the BBC Digital packages on 11.720 H and 11.798 H have ceased.

---------- Other analogue changes on various satellites
 Various other changes have also taken place on other satellites. On
Eutelsat II-F1, Fashion TV has been replaced by an USINGEN TVCSM test
card, and is now only available digitally via HotBird 3. On the same
satellite, on 11.658 V, the France Télécom Aubervilliers test card has
gone and a new channel, Entertainment TV Europe, is broadcasting in
D2-MAC, encrypted in eurocrypt m! It is probably a European version of
the American channel E! TV. And the surprise of the day, JSTV, which was
broadcasting on Astra 1E, has also been terminated and replaced by the
BETZDORF UPLINK test card. Voice of Hope (Radio) has started on Astra
1A, 11.303 H on 7.74 MHz, and Radio Nederland has left Astra 1E, 10.847
H. And finally, as expected, RIK - Cyprus Sat has left Eutelsat II-F4M
and is now only available on Sirius 2.

---------- Sat-UK-TV coming soon!
 That's right. Due to sudden collapses in one of Europe's major
satellite corporations, Sat-UK, along with other DX organizations in a
consortium, has managed to acquire a small satellite for television
transmissions. No names can be confirmed yet, due to legal reasons, but
hopefully we shall be able to move the bird to a suitable orbital
position soon. The process will be quite long, as the satellite has to
be reversed in a tricky manoeuvre known as a filar loop. It will then be
taken to start tests. Already certain channels have been planned,
including Sat-UK-TV! For more info, watch this space!


All contents (C) 1998 Dominic Sedghi, except where indicated. All
rights reserved. Contents may be reproduced providing the following
is included: "Provided by Sat-UK - www.sat-uk.com/".
Information is subject to change and/or may be incorrect.

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