From: Satjournal@aol.com
1
Satellite Journal International
                                                 Volume Five
                                                     June, 9
                                                        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."
                              
  Arianespace Flight 97
  EchoStar signs agreement with Telefonica
        New RCA-brand Dish
  Lockheed Martin and Intersputnik Venture
  NDS wins $10 million contract
  NEW MEMBER TO INMARSAT GROUP
  Cancom Acquires Distribution Of WSBK
  Landscape announces "Internet Inside"
  Eutelsat and COM.NET
  Baikonur prepares for Iridium launch
  WB to provide loan guarantees for Sea Launch project.
  Digital Radio Broadcasts
  Skylight Satellite Network goes digital
  SPAR Wins $3.2 Million Contract
  Farrah Fawcett: All Of Me
  Upcoming Launches
  New files and documents at our WebStand
  In Brief
  NEW VERSION AVAILABLE
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                    Arianespace Flight 97
     Arianespace successfully launched the INMARSAT-3F4
satellite for the international organisation INMARSAT and
INSAT-2D for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Both of these operators have been Ariane customers for more
than 15 years.
     Flight 97 was carried out by an Ariane 44L, the most
powerful version of the European launcher with four liquid-
propellant strap-on boosters.  This was the 67th Ariane 4
launched of the total of 96 ordered from the European space
industry.
     Lift-off from the European Space Port in Kourou, French
Guiana, took place on Tuesday, June 3, at 8:20 PM local time
in Kourou
  Provisional parameters at third stage injection into
  geostationary transfer orbit were:
"    Perigee:      199.7 km for a target of 199.6 km (+ 3
km)
"    Apogee:       35,989 km for a target of 35,783 km (+
150 km)
"    Inclination:  7.00 degrees for a target of 6.99 degrees
(+ 0.06 degrees).
     INMARSAT-3F4 will provide mobile telecommunications
services in the Atlantic Ocean region.  It weighed 1,999 kg
(4,398 lb.) at launch and provides a capacity of 150 30-Ghz
channels.
     
     The InSat-2D has 23 high power transponders and two
exclusive facilities.  The Mobile Satellite Service (MSS)
transponder will enable the Department of Telecommunications
to offer the Mobile Telephone Service over the Indian
Subcontinent by the end of July this year.
     The MSS facility on-board InSat-2D, along with a
similar transponder on-board InSat-2C, will pick up radio
signals from the ground and transmit them back. This would
enable anybody with a portable briefcase-sized terminal to
make or receive voice calls and transmit fax and data from
anywhere in India.
     The Broadcast Satellite Service (BSS) transponder will
be useful for television agencies to transmit images and
sound to their production centres even from the remotest
corner of the country.  Located above the Maldives Islands,
it will serve the entire Indian subcontinent.
     The next launch, Flight 96, is scheduled for June 25.
An Ariane 44P launch vehicle will be used to place into
orbit the INTELSAT 802 satellite for the International
Telecommunications Satellite Organisation.  This will be the
15th INTELSAT satellite launched out of 18 launch contracts
awarded to the European launcher.
     For reasons related to the allocation of launcher
components, the upcoming launch has been designated V 96.
                              
          EchoStar signs agreement with Telefonica
      A subsidiary of Spain's Telefonica group of companies,
has selected EchoStar to supply digital set top boxes for
their upcoming satellite television service scheduled to
launch on HISPASAT this September throughout Spain.
     In addition, EchoStar will license its proprietary
electronic programming guide for use in connection with the
digital receivers for DTS.  With an initial order for 1997
of 100,000 digital set top boxes, the total value of the
transaction is over $40 million.
     DTS chose to implement the same Nagra-Kudelski /DiviCom
Inc.  combination used by EchoStar for the DTS conditional
access and compression systems.
                              
                          New RCA-brand Dish
                                    Small dish satellite
    courtesy Thomson Consumer receivers may now have the
                  Electronics ability to receive local
                              television programs following
                              the development of a new 18-
                              inch satellite dish that also
                              contains an imbedded TV
                              antenna for reception of
                              local programs.
                                   Following an 18-month
                              development program at
                              Thomson Consumer Electronics'
                              technology centre in
                              Indianapolis, a new advanced
                              RCA-brand Digital Satellite
                              System was developed for
                              introduction early next month
                              with the potential to expand
                              the versatility of the
                              Digital Satellite System.
                              
                                   The third generation of
                              RCA 18-inch satellite systems
                              includes three new models,
  beginning with a suggested retail price of $449. Each new
   system includes the multi-purpose antenna dish which is
designed to have the capability to receive one or more local
    station signals when properly installed and adjusted.
                              
        Thomson's basic approach to the new reception
  capabilities will be one of helping the dealer determine
local TV feasibility of the new system based on such factors
as the strength of the local broadcast signal, the distance
   and direction of the local station's transmitter from a
  consumer's home, and the location of the antenna dish. As
with any antenna the quality of the off-air signal delivered
   by the new antenna dish is influenced by many factors.
   Though some geographically dispersed tests of local TV
  reception has indicated that homes located in urban areas
  could receive some local television stations, the company
plans to take a conservative marketing approach with the new
  antenna dish that essentially says, "This could work for
                            you."
                              
          Lockheed Martin and Intersputnik Venture
     As expected and reported last week, Lockheed Martin's
Space & Strategic Missiles Sector and the Intersputnik
International Organisation of Space Communications have
formed a joint venture company to provide world-wide
communications services.  The new company, Lockheed Martin
Intersputnik, Ltd., or LMI, will be headquartered in London
with a marketing office in Moscow.
     LMI will provide a full range of satellite products and
services. The first satellite deployed will be Lockheed
Martin's A2100 on a Proton launch vehicle in late 1998.
        Initially, LMI will provide broadcast, fixed
telecommunications and VSAT services to customers in Eastern
Europe, South Asia, Africa and the Commonwealth of
Independent States.  These services will expand to include
direct-to-home video and audio, and mobile services to
customers world-wide.
                              
                NDS wins $10 million contract
     NDS has received a $10 million order from the European
Broadcasting Union to supply MPEG-2 4:2:2 equipment which
will be implemented for digitisation of the EBU's internal
Eurovision transmission network. The digitisation will
increase the EBU's network capacity from seven TV channels
to over 20 and will incorporate 55 transmit and receive
earth stations.
     Used for distributing and exchanging programmes among
the EBU's broadcaster members, the network covers the whole
of Europe from west to east and north to south and also
includes northern Africa and the Middle East. It uses
transponders on the Eutelsat II-F4 satellite.
                              
                  NEW MEMBER TO INMARSAT GROUP
     INMARSAT reports that the Marshall Islands has joined
the Inmarsat global mobile satellite organisation as its
80th member and will use Inmarsat satellite communications
to develop a stronger communications infrastructure
including enhancing the island's current telephone system
and HF radio inter-island communications.
                              
              Cancom Acquires Distribution Of WSBK
     Cancom has acquired  the satellite distribution rights
of the American superstation WSBK located  in Boston. The
new satellite distribution company will be called BOSCOM.
Presently redistributed on G.E. Spacenet 3, BOSCOM will also
make WSBK available on Anik E2. WSBK, the third most watched
superstation in Canada, is an authorised superstation by the
CRTC.
                              
      Landscape announces  a move and "Internet Inside"
     The Landscape Channel is moving to a pan-European
satellite feed on the Orion 1 cable exclusive digital
satellite. Landscape is currently connected to 1.2 million
cable homes in the UK. Operating a languageless and
advertising free music television format. Landscape plans
distribution in all 31 European territories in the
satellite's footprint within twelve months.
     Called  the "Internet Inside" project Landscape and
Internet Service Providers will be supplying a free Usenet
news feed to any Landscape customer anywhere in Europe able
to receive the digital service.
     Reception can be obtained using a number of different
products including a plug-in PC card. A number of major
manufacturers including Pace and Phillips will provide these
and it is anticipated that cards from at least twelve
different manufacturers will be in major stores like Dixons
and Curry's soon.
                              
                      Eutelsat and COM.NET
     EUTELSAT and COM.NET will provide access to the
Internet. It will be operational from summer 1997 and will
be commercialised by Telecom Italia. The equipment required
to receive the service consists of a DVB-MPEG2 card for your
PC and a 60 cm antenna which can be the same as the one
already used to receive television services. On the
transmission side a normal modem and telephone line are all
that are required.
                              
              Baikonur prepares for Iridium launch
     The Baikonur cosmodrome is undergoing preparation for
the launch of seven Iridium satellites aboard a Proton
rocket on June 18. The launch is the second of eight
commercial launches of Proton rockets planned for this year.
                              
                  Digital Radio Broadcasts
         A group of chip vendors and consumer-electronics
companies met this week in Germany to hammer out a scheme
for what they hope will be the first successful deployments
of satellite-based digital-audio-broadcast (DAB) services,
according to a report published in CMP Media's EE Times
(http://www.eet.com).
     The result could be that digital-radio transmissions to
Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Latin America and
Asia could begin as early as year-end 1998.
     DAB is a scheme intended to do for radio what such
services as DSS, PrimeStar and Rupert Murdoch's Sky
operations have done for television: blanket large areas
with distinct broadcasts of multiple channels.  Like with
these video services, DAB systems have the potential to be
used for ancillary data transmissions, such as paging or
information-subscription services.
                              
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