Apparently-to: scdx@get.pp.se
From: "George Wood" 
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  ::           MediaScan             
  ::      SWEDEN CALLING DXERS       
  ::       from Radio Sweden          
  ::    Number 2274/75--July 1/15, 1997    
  ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 
Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio
Sweden.
This week's bulletin was written by George Wood.
Packet Radio BID SCDX2274
Updated Web edition at: http://www.sr.se/rs/english/media/
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
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This is a bit unexpected. I had thought the radio programs that ran 
in July during my vacation would be long interviews. Because of 
various events, instead the same program will be run twice, and it is 
about half interview and half news. So there's some content for this 
very short edition. See you again in August.....
NORDIC MEDIA NEWS
THOR--Norway's new Thor 2 satellite has been testing at 1 degree West,
where's it's joined Thor 1, TV-Sat, and Intelsat 707. The first
station to broadcast from the new satellite was the Danish sports
channel TVS, which was uncoded for a few days on 11.389 GHz, before
switching to encrypted transmissions in D2-MAC, in parallel with TVS's
original transponder on Sweden's aging Tele-X satellite, at 5 degrees
East. ("SATCO DX Chart Update")
SIRIUS--There's a rivalry between the Swedes and the Norwegians, but
the new Swedish satellite at 5 degrees East, Sirius 2, has been
delayed. It's Ariane launch has been pushed back from sometime this
month until October at the earliest. ("SATCO DX Chart Update")
DIGITAL TV--Both satellites will be offering digital services, so the
Norwegians on Thor will have a monopoly on digital television to
Scandinavia for a few months. We reported last time that the launch of
terrestrial digital television here has been delayed, from an expected
start this Fall until early next year. But following parliament's
official approval in April of digital TV here, on July 19 the
government allocated 14 million dollars for public service
broadcasters to develop digital services. (TT, Ministry of Culture
press release)
The plans have led to protests from the cable companies, who have been
dragging their feet on adding digital networks. (If they did, of
course, they would certainly be able to offer a lot more than the 8
digital channels public television will be offering over the
airwaves.) A spokesman for the Conservative Party remarked that
non-commercial digital TV forces poorer technology on the cable
operators. (Which is silly since the cable companies can add digital
technology any time they like). ("Svenska Dagbladet")
GULDKANALEN--One of the upcoming digital TV channels has been delayed,
despite plans to carry it on cable. Guldkanalen, the Gold Channel, is
going to present classic programs from Swedish Television's archives.
It's the only planned pay-channel of the package, and is being
operated jointly by the non-commercial Swedish Television and the
country's largest cable operator, Telia. Guldkanalen was supposed to
start this Fall. But there won't be digital terrestrial television
then, and while Telia will be carrying it on its cable networks, the
company feels its 1.3 million households around the country won't be
enough. So they want to wait until there's a common digital decoder
standard so the channel can also attract satellite viewers. (TT)
DAB--Digital radio, or DAB, has been on the air here since for a
couple of years, but receivers aren't expected in the shops until this
September. On July 19 the government formally approved Swedish Radio's
plans for an all Finnish DAB channel, which will go on the air on
January 1st. The current FM broadcasts to the country's 430,000
Finnish-speaking minority will continue as well. The new channel will
be called P7. P1 through 3 are the regular national networks, P4 is
the network of local radio stations, P5 is Radio Stockholm's second
transmitter, and P6 is Radio Sweden's local Stockholm International
channel. (TT, "Dagens Nyheter", Ministry of Culture press release)
AMATEUR RADIO--Last time we reported on the reopening of the newly
enlarged Broadcast Museum in Motala, the site of Sweden's first
broadcast transmitter. Now Stockholm's Telecommunications Museum has
just opened a new exhibition about the history of amateur radio,
expanding on the ham radio shack that's already been on display. 
There are more than 11,000 hams, or radio amateurs, in this country.
Reporter Nidia Hagstr”m went by the see the exhibit, and was shown
around by the amateur radio operator on duty, Carl Andersson. You can
hear her interview in the broadcast version of this program on July 1,
repeated on July 15. You can also listen to it in RealAudio at:
http://www.sr.se/rs/english/media/sounds/scdx2274.ram
EUROPE
ANOTHER SET-BACK FOR MURDOCH--Shares in BSkyB plunged nearly 8 percent
Wednesday (June 18) on a report that the satellite broadcaster would
have to pull out of a British group hoping to launch commercial
digital television. The "Financial Times" reported that Britain's
Independent Television Commission was worried that the consortium
called British Digital Broadcasting would hold too much power in the
U.K. television market if BSkyB did not get out. 
The report came out a day after BSkyB chief executive Sam Chisholm
said he would step down at the year, citing medical advice. (Reuters)
Britain's government on Tuesday (June 24) gave the go-ahead for 
multi-channel digital broadcasting to a consortium of broadcasters
after media mogul Rupert Murdoch agreed to bow out of the deal as a
condition of acceptance. British Digital Broadcasting, a consortium of
terrestrial broadcasters Granada Television and Carlton Television,
said it planned to launch the 30-channel service by next year. It beat
out DTN, a consortium dominated by cable companies. 
Britain's Independent Television Commission granted BDB the license on
the condition that the Murdoch-owned British Sky Broadcasting drop out
of the consortium. Commissioners felt that Murdoch's existing headlock
on British satellite broadcasting combined with a stake in digital
television would give him excessive media power. Carlton and Granada,
longstanding successes in commercial television, agreed to take up
BSkyB's shares. BSkyB channels will still be among the digital
options. 
The 30 channels would be divided into six five-channel clusters: three
would be allocated to existing providers, including the state-run
British Broadcasting Corp.; three others would be run by BDB. Twelve
of the channels would be available for a basic subscriber fee; the
others would incur additional fees. (AP)
BDB plans a 12-channel basic subscription package, including three new
channels from the BBC. It will also offer three premium channels
showing sports and movies. It is in talks with interactive services
provider British Interactive Broadcasting, in which BSkyB and BT are
leading shareholders, about online services. 
DTT is set for launched in mid-1998 and viewers will need a set-top
"decoder" box to receive the signals. The box is expected to retail at
around 300 pounds. 
BSkyB will launch a separate 200-channel digital satellite TV service
and more extensive range of online services early next year. Cable
companies such as Cable and Wireless Communications are planning their
own 200-channel digital service. 
However, DTT is expected to appeal to many of the 75 percent of
British households who have not signed up for cable or satellite
analogue services since they began in the late 1980s. 
There are a total of six DTT multiplexes or broadcast frequency
blocks. Britain's five terrestrial broadcasters have guaranteed places
on three of the multiplexes, each of which can carry several channels.
The BBC has been given its own multiplex and plans to use the
additional capacity to show a 24-hour news channel as well as
"simulcasting" its existing BBC1 and BBC2 output. Commercial networks
ITV and Channel 4 will share one while part of the third has been
assigned to S4C (Welsh Channel 4) and the new Channel 5. S4C is the
sole applicant for the licence to run the remaining part of this
licence. (Reuters)
ASIA/PACIFIC
AUSTRALIA--The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has signed a deal
with Optus to relay its television programming for remote regions on
Optus satellites. ABC will send ABC-TV, Radio National and ABC-FM on
the Aurora service for reception in remote areas by individuals with
their own dishes, or to retransmission centers in small towns. The
deal was said to be worth A$30-million. ("Tele-satellit News")
HONG KONG--PanAmSat says it expects to transmit nearly 2,000 hours of
full and part-time television coverage of Hong Kong's reunification
with China.  More than a dozen broadcasters, including CCTV, CNN, NBC
and NHK are using PanAmSat and its fleet of satellites for worldwide
distribution of live and taped news footage of the historical event.  
 As part of its service for the July 1 turnover, PanAmSat's PAS-2 and
PAS-4 satellites will transmit both C-band and Ku-band signals
received from fixed and transportable earth stations in Hong Kong to
sites around the world.  Customers, including Fuji TV, Hong Kong
Telecom, Australia's Seven Network, Tokyo Broadcast System and TVBI
will utilize PanAmSat capacity for full-time coverage of the event. 
In addition, Beijing Wireless Communications, British
Telecommunications, Cosatech, TVBS, Wold International and Worldwide
Television News will use PanAmSat satellites for part-time
transmissions from both Hong Kong and related events in Beijing.
("Tele-satellit News")
SPACE
MIR--With the Mir space station experiencing difficulties after a
collision during a manual docking, it might be interesting to monitor
communications:
For those that are interested the primary downlink is 143.625, easily
audible on a conventional scanner. I have a report from ST columnist
Phil Chien that he is hearing a 145.950 possible ham downlink from
MIR. ST's John Magliacane has reported in the latest issue of
SpaceNews a new Mir downlink on 145.985 MHz. Folks should watch both
145.950 and 145.985 for Mir packet activity. (Larry Van Horn,
"Satellite Times" magazine)
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Sweden Calling DXers/MediaScan is 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.
Radio Sweden broadcasts in English:
Europe and Africa/Middle East: 
Satellite:
12:30 and 17:30 hrs on Eutelsat II-F1 (NBC Europe -- 10.987 GHz, audio
7.56 MHz)
19:30 hrs (21:30 CET) via the World Radio Network on Astra transponder
22 (VH-1) audio 7.38 MHz
Via WRN to Africa and the Middle East on Intelsat 707 3.9115 GHz
Right-hand circular polarization, Symbol Rate 8.022 Mbaud, FEC 3/4, in
MPEG-2, Audio Stream "WRN1", Saturdays only also at 00:30 UTC (02:30
CAT). This can also be heard in South Africa on SAfm 104-107.
The WRN relays can also be heard in South Africa on the MultiChoice
digital direct-to-home service on PanAmSat 4, 68.5 degrees West, Audio
Channel 51.
Shortwave:
17:30 hrs    1179, 6065, and 13800 kHz (Sundays 9590 and 13800)  19:30
       1179 and 6065 kHz  20:30        1179, 6065, and 13625 kHz
(weekends only) 21:30        1179, 6065, and 9430 kHz 
Asia/Pacific:
Satellite:
Via WRN on AsiaSat-2 on 4.000 GHz, Vertical polarization, MPEG-2 DVB,
Symbol Rate 28.125 Mbaud, FEC 3/4 (Select WRN1 from audio menu),
Saturdays only at 00:30 UTC (10:30 AET).
Shortwave:
12:30 hrs    13740 and 15240 kHz
13:30 hrs    13740 kHz
01:30 hrs    9435 kHz
North America:
Satellite:
Via WRN on Galaxy 5 transponder 6 (WTBS), audio 6.8 MHz at 9:30 PM
EST, 6:30 PM PST
Across Canada on CBC Overnight Monday to Friday at 2:05 AM local time,
weekends at 3:05
Shortwave:
11:30 hrs on 11650 and 15240 kHz
13:30 hrs on 11650 and 15240 kHz
02:30 hrs on 7135 kHz
03:30 hrs on 9430 kHz
Latin America:
01:30 hrs on 7290 kHz
Each program Monday to Friday, recorded at 13:30 hrs UTC, is available
in the RealAudio format at:
http://www.sr.se/rs/english/sounds/english.ram
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An html and a RealAudio version of this bulletin can be found at:
     http://www.sr.se/rs/english/media/scdx.htm
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Reports can also be sent to: 
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      S-105 10 Stockholm 
      Sweden 
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Thanks to this week's contributors            Good Listening!
--- NetMgr 1.00.g4+
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