TS News - Mediasat To End Analog Broadcasts

• from: owner-ts-news@tele-satellit.com
• Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 22:28:18 +0900
• From owner-ts-news@tele-satellit.com Thu Jan 16 08: 46:32 1997

TELE-satellit News, 16 January 1997

Mediasat To End Analog Broadcasts
  MILAN, Italy, 97/01/16 (TS) -- From February, the very popular Italian
private TV channels Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete 4 are to end analogue
broadcasting via the Intelsat 602 satellite located at 63 degrees East. The
rumor that the three Mediaset channels were to start digital broadcasts
were finally confirmed in an interview with engineer Corrado Riccio
published in the Italian monthly satellite magazine Eurosat.

  Riccio who is in charge of business development at Mediaset said that his
company has already started transmitting its three channels in the European
digital standard DVB via the recently launched Eutelsat Hot Bird 2
satellite. Parallel analogue transmissions on Intelsat 602 will continue
until February 19th, after which reception of Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete 4
will only be possible with a digital receiver/decoder.

  The digital service on Hot Bird 2 is aimed primarily as a feed for
terrestrial transmitters and regional TV centers and is not intended as
such for direct reception. Nevertheless, it is estimated that around 50,000
Italians bought satellite dishes in order to receive the three channels via
the Intelsat 602 satellite. Now they will have to invest a large sum of
money into new digital reception equipment.

  However, Riccio has confirmed that Canale 5, Italia 1 and Rete 4 will not
be scrambled and will not form part of any digital package. All three
Mediaset channels can already be found on the Eutelsat Hot Bird 2
satellite, frequency 11.919 GHz/Ver.

  By: Branislav Pekic

(c)TELE-satellit 1996. All rights reserved.

• Prev: TS News - SCT To Join Telepiu Package
• Next: TS News - Playboy TV To Launch In Spain, Portugal
• Index: TS-news mailing list