From: Satjournal@aol.com
Volume Five
September, 21
1997
"Anyone who enjoys the privilege of publishing and broadcasting in open
societies should demonstrate their unshakeable belief in the universality of
free speech should they ever seek to broadcast in societies that are closed."
Iridium Successfully Launches Seven More Satellites
WSEE-ERIE Available October 1st
Annenberg/CPB Educational Channel
BSkyB Licenses Macrovision
Hughes in $1 Billion Satellite Phone Deal
PanAmSat's PAS-5 Satellite
Cancom Proposes Competitive Policy Framework
EchoStar III Shipped to Cape Canaveral
HDTV Update
E! To Use Scientific-Atlanta's PowerVu
TLI wins TVNZ contract
Intelsat Reports Problems On Atlantic Satellite
Tektronix To Be Installed At CNN
CHINASAT
BRAVO Networks Announce World Cinema
Sport Italia Selects Scientific-Atlanta PowerVu
Deutsche Welle Selects GE-1 Satellite Distribution
AB Sat Broadens Audience Access
Nokia Expands Mediamaster Production
Playboy and TPS
In Brief
Classified
Upcoming Launches
Iridium Successfully Launches Seven More Satellites 
A Proton rocket successfully carried seven IRIDIUM satellites into orbit this
week from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, marking Iridium LLC's fifth
successful launch in five months.
The seven satellites are part of Iridium LLC's 66-satellite wireless personal
telecommunications network designed to offer full global coverage through a
variety of communications services, including voice, data, fax and paging.
 These seven satellites join the 22 that are now in orbit.
The Proton rocket lifted off the launch pad at 9:36:54 p.m. Eastern Daylight
Time.  Satellite separation occurred approximately 88 minutes after lift-off.
 The seven satellites will be manoeuvred into their respective positions
within the fifth orbital plane of satellites, enabling significant testing of
various aspects of the space system ranging from intersatellite links to
communications with subscriber equipment.
WSEE-ERIE Available October 1st
The Erie, Pennsylvannia CBS station made a successful bid last month to
get more national exposure via satellite. The station WSEE-Erie has
been tapped to replace WRAL-Raleigh North Carolina as Prime Time 24 East
Coast feed.
Prime Time 24 decided to make the switch because WSEE carries the full
CBS line-up at standard times and has a strong syndicated line-up.
WSEE also has provided a fibre optic line for Prime Time 24 to uplink.
Available October 1st.
Galaxy 1 transponder 24
Scrambled via Videocipher II Module.
Annenberg/CPB Educational Channel
The Annenberg/CPB Projects said they will launch a new, free 10-hour-per-day
channel of exclusively educational programming.  To be called the
"Annenberg/CPB Channel," it will be distributed digitally beginning in
January 1998 from the new GE-3 satellite, launched Sept. 4, 1997.  The
channel will be available free of charge to public and private schools,
colleges, public television stations, and local public access cable stations,
and will have no commercial advertising.
The Annenberg/CPB Channel will feature solely the Annenberg/CPB Projects'
award-winning educational series and programming for math and science
education reform, and will be co-ordinated with the Projects' relaunched
Learner Online Web site at www.learner.org.
BSkyB Licenses Macrovision
BSkyB has licensed Macrovision's pay-per-view copy protection technology for
inclusion in its digital video network.
Under the agreement, BSkyB will implement Macrovision copy protection in its
satellite uplink centres and in the digital set-top decoders it will deploy
throughout its network.  In addition, BSkyB will include copy protection
control capability in its system software, and will require copy protection
capability for its digital set-top decoders.
Hughes in $1 Billion Satellite Phone Deal
Hughes Space and Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Co. of United Arab
Emirates signed a contract for a satellite-based regional mobile-phone
system.  
This will be the largest satellite-communications project in the region, with
an estimated total cost of $1 billion and a coverage area encompassing nearly
1.8 billion people in the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe including
Turkey, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.  
The project cost includes manufacture of two high-power satellites, launch
services for the first satellite, insurance, ground facilities and a quarter
of a million handheld telephones.  
Hughes, of Los Angeles, will provide a turnkey system with two ``geo-mobile''
body-stabilised satellites, ground facilities and mobile telephones.  Thuraya
will select the launch vehicle later.  
Hughes will deliver the first satellite in 31 months, enabling Thuraya to
begin operations in the year 2000.  The second spacecraft will be a ground
spare.  The contract also has a provision for a third satellite to be ordered
when needed.  
The satellite will operate in geostationary orbit, transmitting and receiving
calls through a single 12.25-meter-aperture reflector. On-board digital
signal processing will route the calls directly from one handheld unit to
another, or to a terrestrial network.  
 PanAmSat's PAS-5 Satellite 
 PanAmSat Corporation reports that Eurochampions, the sports television
production company geared toward Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking audiences,
will use the PAS-5 Atlantic Ocean Region satellite for the full-time
distribution of its programming to cable and broadcast television networks
throughout the Americas.  
Eurochampions will utilise 9 Megahertz (MHz) of capacity on the PAS-5 C-band
Americas beam to broadcast original and post-produced sports and news
programming to television markets in Latin America and Spanish-language
television markets in the United States and Canada.  Eurochampions currently
broadcasts its regular daily programming on PanAmSat's PAS-3 Atlantic Ocean
Region satellite.  
Cancom Proposes Competitive Policy Framework
         
Cancom has proposed a competitive policy framework in which Satellite Relay
Distribution Undertakings (SRDU) will be used to further promote the
distribution of Canadian programming services.  This policy framework is
included as part of Cancom's own SRDU license renewal application, which was
filed this week with the CRTC.  This application builds on the CRTC's policy
objectives to serve remote and underserved areas of the country with Canadian
content.  
EchoStar III Shipped to Cape Canaveral
EchoStar has arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida for launch.
Pending satellite final test and check-out, fuelling and final mating and
check-out activities with the launch vehicle, EchoStar III will be launched
on a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS rocket.  EchoStar has requested a launch date
of October 6, 1997 and is awaiting range approval from Cape Canaveral Air
Station. 
EchoStar III, to be located at 61.5 degrees West Longitude, will include
programming complementary to that offered by the DISH Network on EchoStar I
and EchoStar II, including expanded educational and business television.  The
programming line-up has the potential to include international and niche
channels, data delivery applications and retransmission of local channels to
select large markets.  
HDTV Update
The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association  this week called on
broadcasters to ensure that HDTV programming is available to all American
consumers. 
In reaction to comments made by some in the TV broadcasting industry and a
hearing by the Senate Commerce Committee, Gary Shapiro, president of CEMA
stated, "Consumers want HDTV.  Our surveys of consumers who have seen HDTV
indicate an overwhelming interest in the technology and a willingness to pay
a premium over current TV prices to get HDTV.  The entire history of our
industry demonstrates that consumers want the biggest, best video and audio
performance they can get." 
E! To Use Scientific-Atlanta's PowerVu
E! Entertainment Television will use the side-carrier feature of
Scientific-Atlanta's PowerVu MPEG-2/DVB digital video compression system to
deliver a time-shifted feed to all of its West Coast U.S. network affiliates.
 By using this technology, E! will enable operators in the Pacific time zone
to air E!'s programs at the same hour as they air in the Eastern time zone,
allowing West Coast viewers to enjoy the network's primetime programming
during primetime.  E!'s affiliates in the Mountain and Hawaiian time zones
will also switch to the West Coast feed.
The main E! programming signal will continue to be delivered by analogue.  At
the same time, E! will use a PowerVu compressed digital signal on a small
portion of satellite transponder bandwidth alongside its analogue feed to
transmit signals containing the time-shifted programming feed.  
TLI wins TVNZ contract
TV New Zealand has signed a five-year uplinking contract with TLI. The
long-haul contribution service between the UK and New Zealand is carrying the
new MTV UK service. 
MTV, which is transmitted in the UK via Astra, is received by TLI, digitally
encoded and re-transmitted across the Indian Ocean Region for reception in
Perth. The Intelsat 703 satellite at 57 deg E reaches Western Australia in a
single hop from London. TVNZ manages the final hop into New Zealand, using
their own distribution network. 
 Intelsat Reports Problems On Atlantic Satellite
Intelsat reported an "anomaly" on one of it's fleet. The Intelsat 605 craft,
a major carrier of trans-Atlantic communications and broadcasting traffic,
developed a problem late last week and will be replaced by another craft to
ensure continuation of service. 
Intelsat described the problem as a "deficiency of telemetry" and said that
this will affect the organisation's ability to monitor the satellite.
Telemetry refers to the control data sent between the satellite and ground
stations, used to monitor and manoeuvre the craft, and is separate from the
traffic the satellite carries. 
While the fault does not affect the customers, the satellite will be
replaced. In a detailed plan, Intelsat said the 605 craft, at 24.5 degrees
West, will be replaced by Intelsat 603. This craft will move from 34.5
degrees West, and in turn be replaced by Intelsat 601. That satellite moves
from 27.5 degrees West, where a Intelsat 7 craft will be moved to take over
the traffic. 
Until the satellite shuffles are complete, the defective satellite will
remain in service, said Intelsat. After it is replaced, the Intelsat 605
spacecraft will be relocated to perform a new operational role, said the
operator. 
Tektronix To Be Installed At CNN
CNN International is to install a Tektronix Inc multi-channel Profile system
at its Atlanta, USA operations centre. In a deal worth over US$1m, the new
installation will incorporate multiple Profile PDR200 video file servers,
Profile PRS200A RAID 3 Arrays and Profile PLS200 data tape library systems to
facilitate full utilisation of MPEG2 4:2:2 Profile Main Level compression. 
 CHINASAT
CHINASAT has begun construction of the first commercial Globalstar gateway in
China. CHINASAT has also taken a major step in initiating Globalstar services
across China with the dedication of a new company, the China Telecoms Mobile
Satellite Telecommunications company, that will manage all Globalstar
operations in China. The gateway is located at CHINASAT's satellite control
and telecommunications facility on the outskirts of Beijing, and is the first
of three gateways to be built in China.  Subsequent gateways will be built
shortly thereafter in Guangzhou and Lanzhou, where siting and survey work is
underway. 
When fully operational the gateway will have four C-band antennas, providing
uplinks between frequencies 5090-5250 Mhz, and downlinks between frequencies
6875-7075 Mhz to interconnect the Globalstar satellites with China's PSTN and
PLMN networks.  CHINASAT will own and operate the Globalstar gateways that
provide services to China. 
BRAVO Networks Announce World Cinema
 The BRAVO Networks will launch WORLD CINEMA, a new network completely
dedicated to international films. World Cinema will launch when channel
capacity is dramatically increased via digital set top boxes, which is
projected to be in 12-24 months. 
The network will feature approximately 50 films per month from the masters
such as:  Ingmar Bergman, Bernardo Bertollucci, Luis Bunuel, Claude Chabrol,
Frederico Fellini, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Akira Kurosowa, Werner Herzog,
Fritz Lang, Satyajit Ray, Eric Rohmer, Francois Truffaut, Paul Verhoeven, and
Wim Wenders as well as the new masters such as: Pedro Almodovar, Billie
August, Mathieu Kassovitz, Guiseppe Tornatore, and Zhang Yimou. 
Until World Cinema's launch, the network will be previewed on BRAVO each week
in the "World Cinema Mondays" showcase, a regular weekly slot on the network.
 BRAVO incubated The Independent Film Channel in a similar way prior to its
launch in 1994, and continues to preview IFC every Friday night under the
"IFC Fridays" banner. 
Sport Italia Selects Scientific-Atlanta PowerVu
The rollout of SISAL Sport Italia's new video horse racing network is
underway across Italy using Scientific-Atlanta's PowerVu MPEG-2/DVB digital
video compression system .
The network, with over 1000 sites already installed, is expected to grow to
3500 sites by October 1997.  SISAL Sport Italia anticipates expanding the
PowerVu system to include a network of 5000 betting parlour, lounge, and
other leisure establishments when it is fully implemented. 
Telecom Italia/Nuova Telespazio will provide uplink, downlink, and earth
station services for the network which will be based in Lucca, Italy. 
Deutsche Welle Selects GE-1 Satellite Distribution
Deutsche Welle and GE Americom have signed an agreement to provide Deutsche
Welle with satellite distribution services using GE Americom's GE-1.. 
Expanding its programming coverage in North America, Deutsche Welle will move
its programming from GE's Satcom C4 satellite to GE-1.  The Deutsche Welle
service will be dual illuminated on both Satcom C4 and GE-1 from now until
October 31, 1997. 
AB Sat Broadens Audience Access
Groupe AB  reports that AB Sat which operates a digital DTH service of 20
channels, has decided to broadcast its "AB Decouverte" channel package via
the Astra satellite.  The package comprises seven theme channels: La Chaine
Histoire (history), AB Animaux (wildlife), Encyclopedia (documentaries),
Automobile (cars), AB 1 (series and fictions), Escales (travel), and XXL
(adult). 
The move, which is part of the Simulcrypt agreement signed with
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