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TELE-satellit News - 21 January 1996




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Der TS Nachrichtendienst ist ein Service fuer die Freunde von 
TELE-satellit und TS-TV und ist nur fuer persoenliche infromation 
freigegeben.
______________________________________________________________________



TELE-satellit
EUROPE'S SATELLITE MAGAZINE
International Satellite Broadcasting News
Number 85, Week ending 21 January 1996
By Martyn Williams
News Desk : Internet martyn@twics.com  or CompuServe CIS:martynw
(c) TELE-satellit Magazine


SKY TO INTRO PPV ?
  LONDON, England (TS) -- The Guardian newspaper reported this week 
that BSkyB may broadcast the Frank Bruno / Mike Tyson fight on March 
16th as a Pay per View (PPV) event. If this happens it will mark the 
first PPV satellite broadcasts in Europe.
  The newspaper said the channel was considering PPV and charges up to 
twenty pounds ($30) for the broadcast.
  The move, if taken, would be very bad timing as it comes at a time 
when the issue of sports on subscription channels, let alone pay per 
view, is currently being debated and questioned by politicians.
  Some are unhappy that popular sports are moving onto Sky Sports and 
away from the BBC and ITV networks although supporters of satellite 
channels say Sky devotes more time to sports, and shows more sports, 
than the terrestrial channels ever did, or could.
  Sky counters that many important national events have remained on 
terrestrial television and not been poached by Sky. In fact, the 
channel says, only 1% of sports from terrestrial television has moved 
to Sky over the last five years. TELE-satellit notes that some events, 
such as the Premier League, didn't exist five years ago so in fact 
don't count in the one percent figure despite being replacements for 
older leagues and events.


NBC ASIA LAUNCHES
  CENTRAL, Hong Kong (TS) -- NBC has launched a second channel in Asia 
mirroring the companies plans in Europe. NBC In Asia is a similar 
channel to NBC Super Channel offering a non stop mix of NBC's US 
programming and locally made shows.
  American products will include Jay Leno's Tonight Show and NBC 
Nightly News with more joining the channel when it fully launches in 
April. Currently a limited schedule is running.
  The service is destined to be encypted, like much international 
broadcasting in Asia, although it is currently running unencrypted to 
give viewers a three month free trial of what is on offer.
  It will move to Asiasat-2, offering a much stronger signal across 
Asia, as soon as the satellite enters commercial operation.


CNBC EXEC QUITS
  NEW YORK, New York, USA (SHOPTALK) -- As was expected by many, Roger 
Ailes resigned as president and chief executive of CNBC last week, 
saying that it was "time to move on."
  Ailes said he had no immediate plans but would like to stay in 
television. NBC president Robert Wright named Bill Bolster, president 
and general manager of WNBC to succeed Ailes effective Feb. 2. In 
addition, Wright announced that NBC's West Coast president Don 
Ohlmeyer will take on prime-time programming responsibilities for CNBC 
which currently airs news during the day and talk shows at night.
  Ailes said that the dismantling of America's Talking (which he 
launched in 1994), "created a restructuring of the senior staff and 
the reporting relationships in such a way that it was uncomfortable 
for me as an entrepreneurial spirit."  His resignation came just one 
day after CNBC announced that he would replace Dick Cavett next month 
as the host of a weekend talk show. (LA Times via Shoptalk)


PANAMSAT ANNOUNCES PAS-7
  JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (TS) -- PanAmSat has announced more 
launch plans, this time covering PAS-7, an Indian Ocean Region 
satellite slated for launch in late 1997.
  The new satellite will improve PanAmSat's ability to provide 
satellite services for South Africa and the African continent said the 
company this week.
  In late 1997, PanAmSat expects to launch the PAS-7 satellite to 68.5 
degrees East Longitude, the same orbital location in which the current 
PAS-4 Indian Ocean Region satellite is located.
  The company has contracted with Arianespace for the launch which 
will be made on the new generation Ariane-5 rocket.
  "By locating PAS-7 with PAS-4, PanAmSat can offer its DTH 
programmers the prospect for vastly expanded channel capacity for 
South Africa's 5 million TV households," Frederick A. Landman, 
PanAmSat's president and chief executive officer said.
  PAS-7 will expand PanAmSat's southern Southern Africa satellite 
capacity and will extend its high-power Ku-band satellite coverage for 
DTH and other applications into Sub-Saharan Africa.  The PAS-4 
satellite has served South Africa and the African continent since 
September 1995, and the PAS-3 Atlantic Ocean Region satellite will
provide additional capacity for Africa in about one month.  


RUSSIAN SPY SATELLITE SYSTEM ON VERGE OF COLLAPSE
Penny Morvant, OMRI
  MOSCOW, Russia (OMRI) -- Russia's military satellites are wearing 
out and its early warning system could collapse by the end of the 
century, according to a report in the Defense Ministry newspaper 
Krasnaya zvezda on 17 January cited by Reuters.
  Under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, up to four spy satellites were 
launched each year to monitor U.S. nuclear missile silos and airbases. 
But following the break-up of the USSR, a lack of money and the loss 
of production facilities in Ukraine and Armenia meant that the launch 
program ground to a halt.
  The paper reported that some of the satellites have been in 
operation for three times as long as their design lifespan and warned 
that if new equipment is not forthcoming, Russia "will have to get 
used to the idea of losing strategic equality with the United States."


US PROGRAMMERS TAKE APSTAR SPACE
  CENTRAL, Hong Kong (TS) -- APT Satellite, operators of the yet-to-be 
launched Apstar-2R satellite, announced this week they have leased six 
transponders to four US programmers. 
  Under the deals Home Box Office (HBO), Sony Pictures Entertainment, 
Turner Broadcasting and ESPN have taken the space. The satellite is 
scheduled for launch in early 1997 and will replace the craft 
destroyed by a Long March rocket explosion a year ago. 
  In late February the Apstar 1A satellite will be launched to add to 
the Apstar 1 satellite already in orbit.


MORE SPORTS ON DIREC TV
  NEW YORK, New York, USA (TS) -- Classic Sports, Outdoor Life and 
Speedvision have all joined the DirecTV digital satellite service in 
the USA. A fourth sports network, the Golf Channel, will join the 
other three on March 1st. It is currently a separate pay channel on 
DirecTV. 
  Twelve dollars buys the Sports Choice package which includes 
eighteen regional sports networks and the new four. Subscribers to the 
$29.95 Total Choice package can get the sports package added for $10.


TV ON THE WEB
Peter Klanowski, TS Lubeck
  WASHINGTON, DC, USA (TS) -- Good News, finally, MacNeil/Lehrer 
Productions are on the Internet after an initial delay of more than 
two months. Their service is called "Online NewsHour" and features 
material from the well-known "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" that can be 
seen on the US Public Broadcasting system (in Europe: via WorldNet.)
  However, there will also be some original content. Visitors have the 
opportunity to contribute questions to guests on PBS programmes.
  The site looks quite promising. Online Newshour "hopes to inspire 
questions and commentary, and provide news and information, on 
contemporary issues from around the world." Transcripts from the tv 
programme are enriched with screen shots and RealAudio clips, and 
besides they provide links to other sites of interest. Visitors will 
also be able to retrieve selected transcripts on topics of interest, 
so-called Background briefings, over a longer period of time.
  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/


BBC ON THE MOVE AGAIN
Ray Robinson
LOS ANGELES, California, USA (TS) -- Both BBC TV news feeds currently 
available on C-band satellite in North America have moved their 
locations once again.
  The BBC World News and World Business Report at 5:00 - 5:30 A.M. 
Pacific (1300-1330 GMT) are now carried on Galaxy 6 Channel 02, and 
the BBC Breakfast News from the domestic BBC1 channel at 11:54 P.M. - 
12:25 A.M. Pacific (0754-0830 GMT) is now carried on Telstar 402R 
Channel 13.  Both feeds are available Mon.-Fri. (GMT) only.


IN BRIEF
- MTV has announced it is to begin a 24 hour channel for India. The 
service is to launch from January 25th and feature Indian music and 
presenters.
- Canal Plus are launching in Switzerland. Viewers in the country can 
now subscribe to the satellite service or, if they are in range of 
French transmitters, the terrestrial service. German language Teleclub 
has long been available in Switzerland, Austria and Germany but the 
French speaking viewers have not had access to Canal Plus until now.
- Australia's International Media Management has contracted with 
PanAmSat to carry its home shopping channel Asia wide. The Value 
Channel will be available across the continent from June, twenty four 
hours a day.


LETTERS

In response to Massimo Macucci's query about Italian broadcasters 
Telenuovo, Synthesia and Videolina :

****

First, Videolina is a sardinian broadcaster covering only Sardinia.
Second, Videolina is part of the Grauso Group that is owner of : 

1) Video on line ("www.vol.it"), an italian Internet provider.
2) L'Unione Sarda, a sardinian newspaper.
3) Polonia 1, a polish broadcaster

Any other information in the site "http://www.vol.it/" 

Sergio Corda

****

And I know of a synthesia whose business was also studio equipment ... 
Telenuovo could be a misspell for Telenova , but having seen the other 
two names can I suppose they are all correct, that they signed
"on behalf of" ... and this is obvious , since the will sell the
equipement and production facilities ... It would be interesting 
knowing where these companies have their offices ...

Leonardo Boselli
Universita` di firenze

****

Ray Robinson in Los Angeles asks, 

Do you have any further news on when the BBC will be available in 
North America on a round-the-clock basis?  Why are they dragging their 
feet?  I thought BBC World was supposed to be extending coverage to 
the Americas last year.
 Ray Robinson
 ustlcrcr@ibmmail.com

Ray,
  As last we heard the BBC had suspended its plans to launch BBC World 
in the US. They originally announced plans to launch in association 
with an east coast cable operator that no one had heard of and the 
announcement was followed by months of silence.
  When they do decide to launch it is likely that it will be the news 
and current affairs service with little entertainment. The BBC can 
probably make more money re-selling its programming to other 
broadcasters and through video than by subscription TV, especially 
given the channel crunch on US cable now.

Martyn

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CREDITS,

Reports in TELE-satellit news are from our worldwide network of 
reporters and sources. In particular we would like to thank :

Curt Swinehart for keeping us up to date with all parts of the 
satellite industry.

Don Fitzpatrick of DFA in San Francisco for providing permission to 
reproduce articles from Shoptalk, the TV news industry's daily news 
and information magazine.

OMRI material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research 
Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in Prague, 
Czech Republic. For more information on OMRI publications, please 
write to: info@omri.cz

Reproduction in part of Jonathan's Space Report was maded possible by 
kind permission of Jonathan McDowell. To read the full edition see 
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html or 
ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.*

News from Radio Sweden is made possible by Geroge Wood, presenter of 
Sweden Calling DXers/MediaScan,  the world's oldest radio program 
about international broadcasting. Radio Sweden has presented this 
round-up of radio news, features, and interviews on Tuesdays since 
1948. It's currently broadcast on the first and third Tuesdays of the 
month. http://www.sr.se/rs

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