Apparently-to: scdx@get.pp.se
From: "George Wood" 
European Commission. If given the go ahead, it nearly guarantees that
digital pay television will make a splashy debut in time for the
crucial year-end shopping season. 
The DF1 name will remain in the market for some time, officials said,
adding that combined programming would be brought to market in early
1998. Until then, Premiere would honor DF1 customer contracts. DSF
will continue as an advertising-based sports channel, but will also
provide Premiere with special events, such as sports programs for
which viewers must pay. (Reuters)
Premiere has joined DF1 as part of the digital package on Astra
transponder 67. Tranmissions continue in parallel on transponder 85
until the end of the year. The Kirch Group is testing on transponder
104. (James Robinson)
Also on August 28, German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF unveiled
their digital television plans. ARD will offer 30 free digital
channels over satellite, using digital technology to give viewers the
ability to decide when they want to watch a programme, whether it be
news, films, sports or sitcoms, independent of the channel's schedule.
ZDF, under the name "ZDF.Vision", offers a more modest package with
five digital TV channels, which it will launch in a pilot program in
December. 
Because they are not allowed to offer pay TV under German media law,
the public channels fear they will now fall further behind and lose
access to popular programming such as big ticket sports events. To
compete with commercial TV, public networks are offering digital
programming free of charge, hoping to tap their huge warehouses of
films, documentaries and popular children's programs to offset the
rival pay TV offering. 
But the public stations will not be able to reach the majority of
German TV viewers who have cable TV and not direct-to-home satellite
programming, because they cannot agree with cable TV operators about
technical issues. (Reuters)
IFA/GROUP OF SIX--One of the other big launches at the IFA show was
the unveiling of the first consumer-priced receivers for digital audio
broadcasting, the new digital radio system that is replacing FM in
Europe. DAB was also on the agenda last week at the annual meeting of
the Group of Six International Broadcasters here in Stockholm. Besides
Radio Sweden, the group includes Radio Netherlands, Swiss Radio
International, Radio Japan, Radio Canada International, and Radio
Australia. 
As the gathering wound up, I interviewed the Director General of Radio
Netherlands, Lodewijk Bowens, and you can hear that interview in
today's program. One of the most interesting topics he took up was
digital shortwave broadcasting, which, when it is perfected, will
combine the advantages of shortwave's global reach (outside the
control of gatekeepers), with the advantages of CD-quality digital
reception.
RADIO--Radio Netherlands will leave Astra transponder 58, 7.38 MHz, on
September 29. The service on 7.56 MHz is being revamped, with English
switching to twice a day, at 18:30-20:25 and 23:30-01:25 hrs UTC. This
should continue until the end of the year. The digital service on
transponder 102 remains unchanged. (James Robinson and Richard
Karlsson, "Aftonbladet")
Radio Asia Canada is broadcasting, in Tamil, on Astra tranponder 7
(Fox Kids/National Geographic), on 7.38 MHz. (James Robinson)
The Student Radio Network is back on Astra transponder 33 (ZDF), as
part of Astra Digital Radio on sound channel 7.38 B. (A is Granada
FM.) (James Robinson)
AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST
SOUTH AFRICA--Sweden's Kinnevik media empire is expanding outside its
base in Scandinavia (and the Baltic republics). Through its Norwegian
radio station P4 Hele Norge, Kinnevik has teamed up with a South
African partner called Makana Trust to start the first all jazz radio
station in Capetown. The trust is run by former prisoners at Robben
Island, where President Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. P4 Capetown
started on Monday, after four years of negotiations with the South
African authorities for a TV licence. While waiting for the TV
concession, Kinnevik had a chance to apply for radio licences in both
Capetown and Johannesburg. While failing to win a licence in
Johannesburg, Kinnevik was successful in Capetown, and is now seeking
a licence in Durban. ("Svenska Dagbladet")
ASIA/PACIFIC
PHILIPPINES--The Philippines' Agila 2 satellite was launched
successfully on a Chinese Long March on August 19 (August 20 local
time). It carries 30 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders and will be
located at 144 degrees East. ("SATCO" and "Tele-satellit News")
INTELSAT--Intelsat 801 has taken over from Intelsat 701 at 174 degrees
East. Intelsat 701 is currently moving towards 180 degrees. ("SATCO")
PAS--The following channels are included in the ABS-CBN package on
PAS- 2 on 4.086 GHz: Sky 1, Sky i, Knowledge TV, Sky News, and
Saramanko News Networks. ("SATCO")
JAPAN--According to the Japanese Posts and Telecommunications
Ministry, all three major digital satellite TV rivals in Japan have
agreed to share the same set-top receivers. PerfecTV, which began
operating last November, DirecTV, which starts this November, an Japan
Sky Broadcasting, which starts next April, will all use a new system
developed by the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses that
can receive date sent from any of the broadcasters and convert it into
suitable analog signals, providing viewers with up to 350 channels.
(Curt Swinehart)
This followed Japan's first digital satellite television broadcaster,
PerfecTV, announcing it would tie up with Murdoch's JSkyB in a move
which could possibly lead to their merger. The tie-up would have
allowed viewers to choose among 200 channels from both broadcasters.
They were also considering unifying their systems and jointly
collecting subscription fees. (AFP)
Japan's Fuji Television Network says its stake in Japan Sky
Broadcasting will be an equal 25 percent share. In May Fuji Television
and Sony Corp announced they would join JSkyB founders Softbank Corp
of Japan and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp as equal partners in the 150
channel venture. At that time the exact percentages were not
disclosed. (AP)
Top US trade officials have asked  Tokyo to give speedy approval for
DirecTV, a satellite broadcast venture partly controlled by Hughes
Electronics Corp, a Japanese official said August 27. He said a letter
from US Secretary of Commerce Willam Daley and US Trade Representative
Charlene Barshefsky to Japanese Post and Telecommunications Minister
Hisao Horinouchi stressed the importance of timely approval to access
to all 80 channels the venture is applying for one the Superbird C
communications satellites. 
The ministry set September 1 as the closing date for applications for
channel allocations on the satellite. Besides DirecTV, the seven
applicants include a Japanese rental video chain operator and the
Matsushita Electric and Misubishi companies. Japanese law limits each
program supplier to 12 channels. DirecTV will need the ministry's
appproval of all 7 program suppliers to carry out its plan to have 100
digital satellite channels up and running this Fall. (AP)
Toshiba Corp and 12 other Japanese companies will launch a digital
satellite broadcasting service, possibly in the year 2000, to provide
radio and television programs via mobile receivers. According to the
leading business newspaper "Nihon Keizi Shimbun", the service,
tentatively named Radvision, will offer programs on 30-40 channels.
Toshiba plans to set up a joint venture with communications satellite
firm Japan Satellite Systems, four trading houses, four radio
stations, and three other partners, the newspaper reports. They plan
to sell the receivers for less than USD 430 each, with the aim of
having then installed in about 15 percent of all motor vehicles in
Japan within the first few years of sales. The receivers will be
equipped with pencil- shaped antennas about 10 to 15 centimeters long.
(AFP)
SONY--Sony Pictures Entertainment will launch a new Pan-Asian
satellite TV service in the Fall. According to Jon Feltheimer,
president of the Columbia Tristar Television Group and executive vice
president of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the AXN channel will launch
on September 21st across Asia. By early next year, AXN will broadcast
four customized feeds covering Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Hong
Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Japan. The only Pan-Asian
channel dedicated to to action/adventure programming, AXN will offer a
wide variety of feature films, series, and extreme sports. It will
launch on the Apstar 1A satellite using Scientific Atlanta's digital
compression system. ("Tele-satellit News")
NORTH AMERICA
CANADA--A package consisting of CTV, CBC Newsworld, Tele Latino, and
The Weather Network is now on Anik E2 on 4.180 GHz (transponder 24) in
MPEG-2/PowerVu. ("SATCO")
ExpressVu Inc. will introduce its direct-to-home satellite service to
Canadian TV viewers on September 10th. The company will launch with 55
digital video channels in the East, 37 in the West, plus more than 30
music channels, and will offer six additional Canadian and US
specialty channels in each region when they are available in
mid-October.
The company expects to expand its programming line-up to approximately
70 channels in the East and 50 in the West by early 1998. In the
fourth quarter of 1998, following the move to its own high-powered DBS
satellite, ExpressVu will offer more than 200 digital video, music,
and information channels. ExpressVu says it will have 60,000 set-top
boxes and dishes in retail stores across Canada from launch through to
December, and will introduce additional set-top models at the end of
1997. The brandname "Dish Network System" indicates where it all comes
from, EchoStar of the US. ("Tele-satellit News")
MONITORING--Representative W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-LA), chairman of the
House Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications, has introduced a
bill to outlaw listening to a variety of non-broadcast radio
tranmissions. Dubbed the Wireless Privacy Enhancement Act of 1997
(H.R. 2369 I.H.), the bill could prevent the manufacture of
non-broadcast band, general coverage radios. If enacted, US
restrictions on radio reception would become some of the most
repressive in the world.
The bill makes the mere act of intercepting a radio communications
illegal. Unlike present regulations, no attempt to divulge or publish
the content of the communication is necessary. 
Critics charge that the Committee has been unduly influenced by
contributions from the telecommunications industry, citing Federal
Election Commission reports for 1995-1996, which show that Tauzin and
other committee members accepted a total of USD 447,000 from
individuals and organizations who stand to benefit from this
legislation. The law has also sparked civil liberty concerns. In other
countries, similar laws have set precedents that eventually led to
bands or restrictions of broadcast receivers. Already, this bill would
violate congressional assurances made in the precident-setting
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, that reception of
public safety and private land mobile frequencies would never be
prohibited. ("Monitoring Times")
It's always been an American principle that citizens could listen to
any part of the radio spectrum, which was regarded as a public
resource, provided they did not divulge what they heard from non-
broadcast sources. This legislation would wipe out an entire hobby,
and seems unnecessary with easily encrypted digital technology
available. If the police or some other service doesn't want
journalists, colleagues at the fire department, ordinary citizens, or
criminals to monitor their communications, all they have to do is
switch to a digital technology.
LATIN AMERICA
PAS--PAS-5 was successfully launched with a Russian Proton rocket from
the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan on August 28. It will be located
at 58 degrees West, and will serve Latin America, the Caribbean, and
southern parts of the United States. The satellite, which carries 24
C- band and 24 Ku-band transponders, was built by Hughes
Communications, and Sweden's Saab-Ericsson was also involved in the
project. ("SATCO", Reuters, AP, and Curt Swinehart)
ECUADOR--The English language service at HCJB is asking listeners to
monitor the frequency of 9365 in the 31 meter band from 07:00-09:30
hrs UTC over a 2 to 3 day period, to see if it is a clear frequency in
their areas. HCJB is hoping the channel will provide clear reception
in Europe. Send reports to:
english@hcjb.org.ec
(HCJB)
Continued in Part 2......
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