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TELE-satellit News - 7 April 1996
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From: Martyn Williams <74777.1301@compuserve.com>
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Date: 08 Apr 96 04:26:56 EDT
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From owner-ts-news@tele-satellit.com Mon Apr 8 05: 41:34 1996
This news is provided free of charge to on-line users by TELE-satellit
magazine and TS News Service GB. IT IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. It may
not be reproduced for commercial reasons by any means what so ever. If
you wish to reproduce this news or redistribute it for non commercial
use please contact the email address below.
Der TS Nachrichtendienst ist ein Service fuer die Freunde von
TELE-satellit und TS-TV und ist nur fuer persoenliche infromation
freigegeben.
______________________________________________________________________
If you are wondering what happened to TS-News last week, a stupid
error just before sending the file resulted in it being overwritten.
Apologies for the absence last week.
______________________________________________________________________
TELE-satellit
EUROPE'S SATELLITE MAGAZINE
International Satellite Broadcasting News
Number 95, Week ending 7 April 1996
By Martyn Williams
News Desk : Internet martyn@twics.com or CompuServe CIS:martynw
(c) TELE-satellit Magazine
RUSSIA, SES PREPARE FOR LAUNCH
BAKINOUR, Kazakhstan (TS) -- Russia will enter the commercial launch
business this week with the launch of the new Astra 1F satellite on
Monday evening. The launch window extends from 2309 to 2319 UTC on
Monday which is 1909 to 1919 EDT in the United States.
Astra 1F will join the current Astra satellites to become the sixth
craft stationed around 19.2 degrees East and provide a range of
digital television to audiences across Europe.
Launch coverage is planned from 2230 UTC, 1830 EDT, and current
satellite coordinates are :
- Intelsat K, 11.4985 GHz
- Galaxy 6, ch 2, 3.740 GHz
- Astra 1D, 10,862 GHz
ARIANE 5 LAUNCH DELAYED AGAIN
KOUROU, French Guiana (TS) -- The first launch of Europe's new
Ariane 5 rocket has been delayed again according to reports from
French Guiana. The new rocket is now not scheduled to take to the
skies before the end of May following a cancellation of its planned
May 15th launch date.
A statement from the European Space Agency reported "As predicted,
the fluid and electric connections and their tests have gone along
satisfactorily. However, the placement of protective hooding on the
launcher has taken longer than planned taking into account security
and quality control requirements for the launch campaign."
The Ariane 5 program has been beset with delays and problems, the
worse of which was an accident in testing of the central cryogenic
engine that killed two engineers.
JAPAN'S JCSAT-1 LEAKING
TOKYO, Japan (TS) -- Japan's JCSAT-1 satellite has a fuel leak said
operators Japan Satellite Systems (JSAT) last week. The leak will lead
to the satellite, at 150 degrees East, being retired two years earlier
than planned in August 1997.
Plans have already been drawn up to move the soon to be launched
JCSAT-4 satellite into position and replace the faulty craft. The new
satellite will offer the same services as JCSAT-1 plus add digital
television signals and coverage of other Asian countries.
NETHOLD BENELUX PACKAGE
BRUSSELS, Belgium (TS) -- Nethold's digital pay television package
for the Benelux countries of Netherlands and Belgium will be as
follows:
Packet One - Netherlands 1, Netherlands 2, Netherlands 3, SBS 6,
BRTN 1, RTBF, TELE 21, VTM, VT 4 and other private television
broadcasters.
Packet Two - MTV Europe, CMT Europe, Adult Channel, Discovery
Europe, NBC Super Channel, CNBC Europe, Giga TV, Eurosport, European
Business News, European Weatherchannel, Weerkanaal and a BBC program
(either BBC World or BBC Prime).
Packet Three - FilmNet 1, FilmNet 2, Supersport Nederland,
Supersport Belgie, Hallmark TV, K-TV Nederland, a dutch culture and
documentary channel and other programs.
Plans call for packet one to be free to subscribers of packets two
or three. What will viewers loose if they switch from cable to the
digital package? Some of the local VHF and UHF channels from
neighboring countries, such as those from the UK, France and Germany
will be lost although more local content will be provided. Local
broadcasting, such as news, will also be lost so some may prefer to
opt for a cable and satellite mix. (Jitse Groen via Sat-ND)
CANAL PLUS DEMONSTRATES DIGITAL
PARIS, France (TS) -- Canal Plus last week demonstrated its new
digital TV package that it plans to launch on April 27th. The new
service will be Europe's first digital pay television package.
Canalsatellite will offer ten channels to subscribers with more
planned for the future as it expands to fill the three transponders it
has on the Astra satellite, enough room for 24 channels.
Consumers currently have a choice of Philips or Thomson digital
satellite receivers to choose from with prices ranging from 4,000 to
4,500 French francs. Selected companies are being allowed to rent the
receivers for 50 francs a month to subscribers.
CCTV SIGNS GLOBAL DEAL WITH PANAMSAT
BEIJING, China (TS) -- Chinese Central Television (CCTV) will soon
be available in most regions of the world after a new deal was signed
by PanAmSat and the national broadcaster of China.
Announcing the deal, CCTV president Yang Weiguang, said the company
can now transmit up to six channels worldwide using digital methods
and even begin broadcasting some English programming.
CCTV is now available to Europe and Africa with the new service
beginning on April 1st and new channels planned for later.
A music channel will launch in July 1st and CCTV's new English
language channel is planned to debut worldwide on October 1st.
Advertising will support the services said the broadcaster.
AUSTRALIAN RUGBY ROW CONTINUES
SYDNEY, Australia (TS) -- Australian pay television operator Optus
Vision this week filed legal action against a group of companies
including Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., Telstra Corp. and Foxtel, over
the pay-TV rights to rugby union games.
OptusVision was angered when the Australian Rugby Union granted News
Corporation ten year rights to all games from last summer despite
having a previous agreement with OptusVision, said the company.
The Foxtel service competes with Optus in the pay television market.
News Corp. was recently stopped in court when it attempted to create a
new Super League in Rugby to out shadow Optus and its Rugby League
coverage.
RAI TO SPAN THE WORLD
ROME, Italy (TS) -- Italian state television, RAI, said it had
contracted with Echostar to expand its RAI International channel
available in North, Central and South America. The service will soon
begin broadcasting 24 hours a day and coverage of other regions of the
world is planned for this year.
NEW RUSSIAN LAUNCH PAD READIES
MOSCOW, Russia (TS) -- Russia's official news agency, ITAR-TASS,
says it has learnt a new Russian launch facility will begin operations
later this year. In a dispatch from Moscow, the agency said "The new
Russian cosmodrome Svobodny, Amur Region in the Russian Far East, will
make its first launching next September, Itar-Tass learnt at the press
centre of the Russian Space Forces. A more precise date has not been
fixed yet."
The report said a new Russian light rocket called START would be
launched from the facility and it would place an American satellite in
orbit.
The Svobodny site is an old cruise missile launch facility.
BBC WORLD JOINS PAS-2
GREENWICH, Connecticut, USA (TS) -- PanAmSat has announced that BBC
World has joined the international programmer lineup on its PAS-2
Pacific Ocean Region satellite.
The new relay extends the network's reach throughout the
Asia-Pacific and complements BBC World's existing service in South
Asia over the PAS-4 Indian Ocean Region satellite.
BBC World will be transmitted from PanAmSat's teleport in Sylmar,
California, over the PAS-2 C-band Pacific Rim beam for reception
throughout the Asia-Pacific.
The Panamsat PAS-2 programming line up now includes ABS-CBN
(Philippines), Asia Business News, Bloomberg Information Television,
CBS, Channel KTV, China Central Television (CCTV), Country Music
Television, Chinese Television Network, Disney, Discovery, ESPN,
Liberty, NBC, NHK TV Japan, Television Broadcasting International
(Hong Kong), Television Corporation of Singapore, Turner Broadcasting
and Viacom International.
ABOUT THE INTERNET, ON THE INTERNET
MUNICH, Germany (TS) -- "Life on the Internet" is a 13-part series
about, guess what, life on the Internet. It will be broadcast by the
US Public Broadcasting Service, but not only on TV. Each of the
half-hour programs will be available on the Internet, ready to view
with VDOnet's video player. In addition to that, transcripts will be
available as well as collections of links mentioned in the programs.
The series which explores "the phenomenon of the Internet and the
millions of people who use it every day" starts on April 6.
http://www.pbs.org/internet/ and http://www.vdolive.com/ . (Peter
Klanowski)
IN BRIEF
- The cable and multichannel TV market is to experience large growth
according to a report, Latin America Cable and Satellite Markets:
1996. The study is quoted as saying "immense opportunities for cable
and satellite industries in the coming decade." (Sky Report)
- The US military will stop broadcasting intentional offsets in global
positioning system (GPS) signals over the next decade as commercial
uses of the system now far outnumber the military applications. "The
same technology that helped our troops succeed in Desert Storm will
bring us safer air travel throughout the world, improved
transportation on our roads and highways and faster response to
emergencies by rescue vehicles. And, it will help America's industries
lead the world," said President Clinton announcing the news. (AFNS)
- Germany's private TV station Pro-7 is now on the Internet. You can
find the station's new home page at http://www.pro-sieben.de/ .
(Sat-ND)
- The planned Dutch sports channel has a new name: Sport 7. The
channel is scheduled to begin broadcasting from 1600 on weekdays and
1100 on weekends with close down scheduled for around 0130 each night.
(Jitse Groen via Sat-ND)
- Libyan Television is running a trailer on Eutelsat II-F3. Soon
satellite viewers across Europe and northern Africa will be able to
enjoy the best Libya has to offer of 11.080 GHz H. The test broadcasts
are in clear PAL. (Stefan Hagedorn via Sat-ND)
- Finland's PTV4 will begin broadcasting via satellite. From June 1st
it will be part of the new Nethold digital TV package on Astra. Some
readers may remember the channel broadcast tests on Intelsat at 1
degree West in clear PAL last year. (Stefan Hagedorn via Sat-ND)
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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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