Apparently-to: scdx@get.pp.se
From: "George Wood" 
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  ::           MediaScan             
  ::      SWEDEN CALLING DXERS       
  ::       from Radio Sweden          
  ::    Number 2271--May 20, 1997    
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Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio
Sweden.
This week's bulletin was written by George Wood.
Packet Radio BID SCDX2271
Updated Web edition at: http://www.sr.se/rs/english/media/
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
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- WORLD TELECOMMUNICATIONS DAY
The International Telecommunications Union celebrated World
Telecommunications Day on May 17. This year's theme was
"Telecommunications and Humanitarian Assistance". There's been a week-
long celebration at ITU headquarters in Geneva, with demonstrations of
a wide range of communications equipment, including satellite
telephones and new emergency relief sites on the Internet. The ITU
press release notes that the Convention on the Provision of
Telecommunications Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Relief
Operations is proposed to be signed early next year. Details of World
Telecommunications Day are available at:
http://www.itu.int/wtd
NORDIC MEDIA NEWS
HAPPY BIRTHDAY--Radio Sweden's all digital production system RadioMan
went into service one year ago today. When it works, RadioMan is
cutting edge state-of-the-art, and we're the most digital station in
the world. Unfortunately cutting edge computer software doesn't always
work (especially when the operating system is Windows), as our
listeners and rebroadcasters have experienced and endured.
THOR--It was supposed to launch in February. It was supposed to launch
last week. It was supposed to launch on Sunday and then on Monday. But
the Delta rocket carrying Norway's new Thor 2A satellite is still on
the ground at Cape Canaveral, at least until its first new launch
window at 22:39-23:22 hrs UTC Tuesday. The second launch window is at
00:54-01:45 hrs Wednesday. (NRK Tekst-TV, CNN Text, Reuters)
Until this year, the Delta rocket had an almost flawless record, and
was the most reliable satellite launcher in the world. The current
problems began with a launch explosion in January, which halted
launches until May 5, when a Delta put 5 Iridium satellites into
orbit. The Thor 2A launch, moved from February to May 11, was moved
back again while engineers studied data from the Iridium launch.
("Tele-satellit News") The latest delays seem to be because of strong
winds at the launch site. (NRK Tekst-TV)
When and if it launches, and goes into operation a 1 degree West, the
satellite will join Thor 1, Intelsat 707, and the aging former German
TV-SAT, which is rapidly wearing out. The Sci-Fi Channel has actually
gone off the air there, because its TV-Sat transponder broke down.
The new satellite adds 75 digital and analog channels to the system
run by Norway's Telenor at 1 degree West. There are 15 transponders
between 11.200 and 11.450 GHz. Among the analog offerings will be two
channels from Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting, one called
Sky News and Documentaries, the other Sky Entertainment. Sky News and
Documentaries will carry material from Sky News and the Computer
Channel. Sky Entertainment is to relay programming from Granada Plus,
the Granada Good Life channels, and CMT. (Richard Karlsson,
"Aftonbladet")
Note that this does not include the entertainment channels Sky 1 and
Sky 2. Presumably this is because these carry almost exclusively
American programming (largely from Murdoch's own Fox Network), so
royalties might be hard to arrange. 
Sky Entertainment has been testing on Astra transponder 24, and Sky
News and Documentaries will be testing there on May 23rd and 24th.
(James Robinson) At the recent Cable and Satellite Show in London it
was also reported that Murdoch's Fox Kids Network would be coming to
Scandinavia. (Kent Andersson, "Elektronikvaerlden")
The main use for Thor 2 will be to relay the digital service from
Filmnet, which is now owned by France's Canal Plus. The Filmnet
service actually launched last November from the Astra satellites. But
when Canal Plus bought Filmnet, it made a deal with Telenor, and there
was virtually no marketing for the Astra package. 
The package, now called Canal Digital, will be changing MPEG-2
encoding systems when it switches from Astra to Thor. Filmnet's own
Irdeto is being replaced with the Conax system. (Kent Andersson,
"Elektronikvaerlden" and Richard Karlsson)
So the 1500 or so subscribers to the Astra package will not only have
to change satellites, they'll also have to get new encryption modules,
or possibly new receivers.
At the recent Cable and Satellite Show in London it emerged that
because of the slow start for satellite digital television in Europe,
service providers and equipment manufacturers are abandoning their
initial concentration on receivers with closed encryption systems. The
new generation of open MPEG-2 common interface receivers feature slots
for pushing in different decoder modules, which are on PCM-CIA cards.
One manufacturer, Galaxis, actually offers a model with two slots,
which means you can easily subscribe to services from two
distributors. (Kent Andersson, "Elektronikvaerlden")
(In a desparate attempt to get subscribers, Germany's Kirch Group has
started giving away its d-box closed standard MPEG-2 decoders for the
DF-1 service for free.) ("What Satellite TV")
Meanwhile, rivalling Thor 2, the Swedish Sirius 2 satellite is
scheduled for launch this Summer, probably in late August, for
placement at 5 degrees East, where it will replace Tele-X, and
complement Sirius 1. Among the new channels planned there are a
Swedish business channel called TV8, which will reportedly start
analog and switch to digital, and Swedish Television's new digital
service to Swedes in Europe SVT 4. (Richard Karlsson, "Aftonbladet")
MORE THOR--On May 18 Telenor announced that it has ordered a follow-on
Thor 3 (what happened to Thor 2B?) from Hughes. It will be co-located
with the other Thor satellites at 1 degree West and will provide
direct-to-home television programming to the Nordic countries and
Central and Eastern Europe.
Hughes will deliver the satellite in orbit to Telenor by August 1998.
Thor 3 will initially have 14 active 47-watt transponders in the Ku-
band. Service life is a minimum of 11.5 years. The agreement contains
an option for an additional satellite. (Curt Swinehart)
SIRIUS--Nickelodeon is sending both English and Swedish/English
soundtracks in D2-MAC mono on Sirius 1 on 11.862 GHz. (Richard
Karlsson)
ASTRA--Hallmark Nordic was in clear MPEG-2 on Astra, but this has now
been coded and a Multichoice subscription is required (at least until
the Thor 2A version starts and Multichoice is replaced by Canal
Digital). (Richard Karlsson)
INTELSAT--The new TV Danmark has moved transponder on Intelsat 707 to
11.107 GHz, in MPEG-2. ("SATCO DX Chart Update")
SPORTS RIGHTS--Last Wednesday night Canada defeated Sweden to win the
Ice Hockey World Championships. The rights to the finals were bought
by the satellite and cable only TV3. The public service Swedish
Television did get to broadcast the final match, but only on a delayed
basis.
There have been widespread objections to important sporting events
ending up on channels that can only be watched by a small part of the
population. We've reported that the European Commission has approved
regulations guaranteeing that major events in each member country will
be on free over the air television. That will be ratified next month.
But a Stockholm newspaper reports that it's not at all certain the
Swedish government will take advantage of the opportunity. The
newspaper says there are no plans, or even discussions of the issue,
at the Home Ministry, which is responsible for sports, or the Ministry
of Culture, which is reposnsible for broadcasting. ("Svenska
Dagbladet")
LOCAL RADIO--The Swedish parliament has voted to extend a suspension
on licencing new private radio stations. The ruling Social Democrats
introduced the suspension while new rules are being drafted on how
licences are to be allocated.
The extension passed 203 to 107. The only parties voting againt were
the Conservatives and Liberals, who were responsible for the current
legislation, which granted frequencies to the highest bidders, with no
demands on programming content or economic checks to see if the
bidders could afford their bids.
Supporters of the current system claim it is a success, with 80
stations attracting two million listeners a day, and employing 2000
people. Critics point out that the only stations that haven't
programmed non-stop rock and pop music have gone out of business, and
despite a ban on networking, powerful media interests have exploited
loopholes to build national networks. Seventy-five percent of the
licences are connected to three owner groups. (TT)
Meanwhile, the media veteran behind the Stockholm suburban station
Golden Hits is reported to be interested in buying Stockholm's
bankrupt Classic FM. This station was started by the British company
of the same name, and unlike most Swedish private stations, played
classical music. It has had to compete with Kinnevik's Classic Radio,
which went bankrupt and switched to dance music, and the
non-commercial Swedish Radio's P2 channel. Classic FM is now owned by
Great Western Radio (which "Dagens Nyheter" claims is American...When
I wrote the same thing some weeks ago there was an immediate e-mail
from a listener who said Great Western Radio is British). Classic FM's
manager has been ordered to find a new buyer willing to pay around USD
6 million for the station.
According to reports, there are two serious offers, one from Golden
Hits' Jan Friedman. Golden Hits is essentially a CD-machine in the
Stockholm suburb of Soedertaelje, which plays non-stop music from the
50's and 60's. The other offer is said to come from the French network
NRJ, which operates Stockholm's most popular private radio station. At
the moment, NRJ is the only major Stockholm station not to own two
separate stations in the capital. ("Dagens Nyheter")
SATELLITE RADIO--The Norwegian Christian radio station Kristen
Riksradion is broadcasting mornings and afternoons on Intelsat 707,
11.016 GHz (TV Norge) sound channel 7.56 MHz. A new Norwegian
all-music station called P5 is on in stereo on the D2-MAC transponder
11.001 GHz (Cartoon Network/TNT). (Richard Karlsson)
Updating the report last time about the Norwegian radio station Alltid
Nyheter, Bernt Erfjord tells us that besides being carried in Oslo on
93 MHz FM, it is also on in Kristiansand on 94 MHz. Along with
satellite and Internet relays (not working last time we checked) there
is also a phone service that starts next week. The number is:
+47-915-00024
CABLE TV--Sweden's largest cable operator, Telia Kabel-TV, is
beginning regular digital operation on its networks starting this
Fall. The company hopes to include 1 million of its 1.3 million
households from the beginning. Besides extending the number of
channels, Telia intends to expand its current pay-per-view offerings,
as well as allow access to video games and the Internet. (Richard
Karlsson)
EUROPE
EUTELSAT--Eutelsat has taken advantage of the Cannes Film Festival to
launch a couple of new initiatives. The Paris-based satellite operator
demonstrated Internet access over its system in connection with a Web-
based database of French (and European?) actors at:
http://www.wstory.com
On May 14 a French-language channel devoted to fashion and haute
couture, called Fashion TV, launched on Hit Bird 1 (it had been
testing since May 1) 11.308 GHz in clear MPEG-2. On May 14 and 15 the
channel was also available in clear PAL, on Hot Bird 2 11.765 GHz.
(Eutelsat and "SATCO DX Chart Update")
Discovery's Animal Planet channel will launch July 1 from Hot Bird
(which one?) using digital encryption. Reception is intended first for
UK and Scandinavian cable distribution, later as part of the Sky
digital package. ("What Satellite TV")
Libya's Jamahirya Satellite Channel has started on Eutelsat II-F3 on
11.617 GHz in clear PAL. ("SATCO DX Chart Update")
ASTRA--The Chinese Channel will cease analog transmissions from Astra
transponder 54 on May 25,when it becomes available exclusively on a
digital transponder. ("What Satellite TV")
SKY--British Armed Forces personnel have won a battle to watch British
Sky Broadcasting channels while posted overseas. After years of
campaigning by forces staff, Sky has given them some 630 decoder
cards, for viewing by army units in Germany, Italy and Cyrpus, and on
Royal Navy ships. It marks a change of policy for Sky, which has
always insisted its programs should only be available in the UK and
Ireland. Sky has insisted it does not intend to start selling
subscriptions on the Continent. ("What Satellite TV") We've long
argued that Sky's refusal to sell subscriptions outside of the British
Isles violates the spirit (if not the letter) of the Maastrict
Agreement guaranteeing free access to services anywhere within the EU.
Sky will be launching National Geographic television in August,
initially for six hours a day (19:00-01:00 British time), probably on
Astra transponder 24 or 11. The channel will go to 12 hours service in
Sky's digital package in the Fall. ("What Satellite TV")
Sky has also been holding talks with rival Cable and Wireless
Communications about co-ordinating their planned pay-per-view
operations. According to the "Sunday Telegraph", if the talks are
successful, this could mean that CWC would use BSkyB programming and
administration to run its PPV business. (Reuters)
As reported was imminent last time, on May 7 BSkyB joined with British
Telecom, Matsushita, and Midland Bank to launch British Interactive
Broadcasting Ltd. The partners are to leverage set-top boxes to
deliver a variety of satellite and terrestrial-based services. The
boxes, which will come from Matsushita's Panasonic, will be subsidized
for GBP 200 (around USD 340) each. BT and BSkyB willprovide the
telephone and satellite links respectively. Among the interactive
services planned are home shopping, banking, travel, and community and
educational progrmaming. Subscribers will be also be able to access
e-mail via their TVs. (ZDNet News via Pointcast) (No Web-surfing?)
SPAIN--Making Spain's pay-TV war official, a government-backed
consortium unveiled its satellite network on May 13 making it the
second group to vie for the country's largely untapped digital-TV
market. Via Digital is the product of an alliance between the
government's Radio Television Espanola network, the state-controlled
telecommunications giant Telefonica and the Mexican media conglomerate
--- NetMgr 1.00.g4+
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