Apparently-to: scdx@get.pp.se
From: "George Wood" 
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  ::           MediaScan             
  ::      SWEDEN CALLING DXERS       
  ::       from Radio Sweden          
  ::    Number 2284--December 2, 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 SCDX2284
Updated Web edition at: http://www.sr.se/rs/english/media/
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
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NORDIC
TRAIN TV--Airlines are slowly upgrading the quality of their movie and
video presentations, with the future promising screens on the back of
each seat offering a variety of programs and computer games (even in
Tourist Class). But now that trend is also coming to Swedish
railroads, specifically the fast inter-city commuter lines known as
X2000.
Swedish National Railways launched the pilot project of Train
Television in October, the first such digital broadcasts in the world
to mobile receivers. The video transmissions are carried over a
digital radio (yes) DAB channel, at 980 kbps. That provides good
enough quality for the 4 inch personal TV screens attached to seat
armrests that X2000 travellers on the Uppsala-Stockholm line will have
for the next year. The system is called DAB/DMB ("digital mobile
broadcast"), and besides the video channel includes the local radio
station, Radio Uppland.
Reporter Kara Killen took a ride with the railway's Production
Manager, Richard Wiking, to find out more about "Train TV", and you
can hear her report in today's edition of "MediaScan".
ESLOEV--A few days later I took an X2000 ride, unfortunately on one of
the lines not included in the TV pilot project, to the small southern
Swedish town of Esloev. For a month the Esloev City Library hosted an
exhibition put on by Swedish Radio, the country's public service radio
broadcaster. 
I was shown around by Christina Ruhnbro, who set up the exhibition,
and our conversation is also in today's program. Highpoints included a
control board used to record a then-unknown British pop band in 1963,
described in the paperwork as "The Beatless". (The Fab Four's
signatures also grace the same page.) Next to two crystal receivers
from the early 20's was one of the few DAB receivers in Sweden. Many
old receivers were loaned to the exhibition by local residents, and
there were also many microphones and recording instruments from across
the decades. There were a number of live broadcasts from the library
during the exhibition month. The exhibition will be visiting other
parts of Sweden in future months.
CANAL PLUS--Correcting the report last time, the 22 retailers reported
having stopped selling subscriptions and the packages listed as Canal
Digital, actually both concerned the analog Canal PLUS service.
("SatNytt")
SIRIUS--Because of a transponder failure Sweden's Kanal 5 was forced
to leave Tele-X 12.476 GHz and switch to 12.207 GHz. But when Sirius-2
began transmissions after only 8.5 days in space (possibly a world
record!) Kanal 5 resumed transmissions in clear PAL on 12.476 GHz on
the new satellite. But there may be interruptions for the next few
weeks. Signals from several other transponders on Sirius-2 have been
reported to "SATCO DX", but no other actual channels. ("SATCO")
Swedish Television's SVT Europe is to start transmissions on 12.380
GHz (in MPEG-2 -- SR 27500, FEC 3/4, encoded in Viacess) on December
10 (the day the Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm and Oslo).
Receivers and subscriptions are available from ConNova TVX AB:
http://www.tvextra.se
("SatNytt" and Richard Karlsson in "Aftonbladet")
NSAB chairman Klas Aenggaard told "Space News" right after the launch
that around 90 percent of Sirius-2 capacity was already booked. Tele-X
will be removed from service as soon as Sirius-2 is fully checked out
in orbit. Sirius-1 will remain in service until early 2000, but it
will have to be moved in August 1998 to make room for Sirius-3.
Sirius-1 will either be used by NSAB at another orbital slot or will
be leased to someone else. ("Space News")
TELE-X--The Danish sports channel TBS has left Tele-X 12.637 GHz. The
station continues on 11.389 GHz from 1 degree West. (Richard Karlsson
in "Aftonbladet")
INTELSAT--Estonia's TV1 has started on Intelsat 707 on 11.014 GHz, in
clear MPEG-2. ("SATCO")
TELIA--Telia's digital cable package (which we reported on last time)
includes the following new channels (for Telia): Animal Planet,
Knowledge TV, Muzzik, Nickelodeon, Sky Entertainment, Sky News and
National Geographic, Sky News, TV8, and VH-1. After January 1st, TRT
International, TV Polonia, and MBC will also be included. (Richard
Karlsson in "Aftonbladet")
Telia has chosen Open TV to provide its hardware and platform-
independent software to provide the new digital network with home
shopping, several PPV channels, six games, an electronic program
guide, and Web access. This marks the world's first WWW access via
television enabled digital set-top boxes. ("Business Wire")
SWEDEN--Leif Furuhammar, who has carried out a study for the Swedish
government, has proposed a new state-support of around 10 million
dollars for short films and documentaries for TV. The money is to come
from the licence fees paid by commercial broadcaster TV4. Furuhammar
suggests that a new state agency to award the grants be created, and
that free production companies can apply for the grants, provided they
can demonstrate that a terrestrial or satellite channel plans to carry
the programming. This follows the government's decision two weeks ago
to give extra funds to public broadcasting. TV4 would rather have its
licence fee reduced. (TT)
Meanwhile, another study is to be carried out by the chairman of the
Young Social Democrats, Niklas Nordstroem, into new rules for
commercial radio. The major guideline laid down by the government is
that there are to be no more auctions to the highest bidder for radio
licences (the system that has led to virtually every one of Sweden's
private radio stations playing either the latest pop or oldies round-
the-clock). The new rules will cover both FM and the coming new DAB
radio stations. Nordstroem has until December 1, 1998 to present his
report. (TT)
EUROPE
ASTRA--Germany's SWF 3 is to use two transponders, 57 and 61, and will
eventually split these into two regional services.
Transponder 48 will become Bildungskanal on January 1, with
transponder 32 for the moment remaining as Astra Video.
Germany's ORB (Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg) began full service
on transponder 30 in clear PAL on December 1. There are 5 ADR radio
channels on the subcarriers:
6.12 MHz: Antenna Brandenburg
6.30 MHz: ORB Radio 1
6.48 MHz: ORB Fritz
6.66 MHz: Radio Kultur
6.84 MHz: ORB Radio 3
(James Robinson and "SATCO")
Phoenix is expected to leave transponder 61 and continue on
transponder 36. (Richard Karlsson in "Aftonbladet")
EUTELSAT--Radio Netherlands Wereldomroep TV has left Astra (to make
room for Sky Box Office) and is now on Hot Bird 1, on 11.284 GHz, at
18:00-23:00 hrs every night in clear PAL. Radio Netherlands Europe is
on 7.38 and Radio Netherlands International is on 7.56 MHz. (James
Robinson and "SATCO")
Canal 24 Horas has now switched to Hot Bird 3 on 11.785 GHz. The radio
stations RNE Radio 1, RNE Radio 3, RNE Radio 5, Todo Noticias, and RNE
Radio Classica are also on this transponder. (Richard Karlsson in
"Aftonbladet")
TDF-2 is in operation at the Eutelsat position at 36 degrees East.
Russia's NTV and Detskij Mir (The Children's World) are testing on
11.881 GHz in Syster-encoded Secam, sound 6.80 MHz, at around 10:00-
15:00 hrs Moscow time. ("SATCO DX")
Eutelsat has successfully completed a series of tests using its
digital voice telephony and data network for links for digital
television programs and multimedia services. The new data network uses
TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) techniques, and connects 22
European countries via a network of 18 Earth stations. Television
broadcasters and multimedia service providers can use the network to
transport programs in MPEG-2 from any point in Europe to a DVB
platform. It can also be used for backhauling programs around Europe.
(Eutelsat)
INTELSAT--Russia's NTV and Detskij Mir (The Children's World) have
started on Intelsat 604 (60 degrees East) on 11.515 GHz, in clear
MPEG- 2. ("SATCO DX")
EURONEWS--Britain's Independent Television News says it is taking
control of Euronews, becoming the first British broadcaster to take
part in the European venture. ITN, the sole bidder in the deal, says
it has paid 8.5 million dollars to buy the 49 percent stake in
Euronews held by France's Alcatel. It marks the first time that ITN,
which supplies news shows to Britain's ITV commercial network, as well
as to Channel 4 and to Channel 5, will operate a TV news channel.
Euronews is a multilingual channel, with no onscreen announcers. It is
carried by cable and satellite to 90 million homes across Europe and
parts of the Middle East. (Reuters)
CANAL SATELLITE--Canal Plus says that Time Warner will buy a 10
percent stake in its DTH digital service CanalSatellite. (Bloomberg)
GERMANY--In its efforts to preserve competition, the European
Commission may be about to kill off digital television in Germany.
Kirch and Bertelsmann have confirmed that the Commission has
provisionally blocked their planned digital TV alliance. In
statements, both German media groups say the Commission has asked them
to cease the joint marketing of their D-Box decoder system. The deal
would have united Bertelsmann's Premiere and Kirch's DF-1. 
German public broadcaster ARD says it will carefully weigh the
fall-out from the Commission's decision. ARD agreed with Kirch and
Bertelsmann, along with cable operator Deutsche Telekom, at the
beginning of November to use the D-Box, putting aside months of
disagreement on the technical standard for the decoder. (Reuters)
MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA
QATAR--Al Jazeera Satellite Channel has started on Arabsat 2A on 4.120
GHz in PAL. ("SATCO")
ARABSAT--The Arabsat Consortium says it has sold its aging Arabsat 1C
satellite to India for 40 million dollars. Arabsat 1C, was launched in
early 1992, and has enough fuel left for 5 more years of operation.
The final handover of the satellite must be by January, 1998. India's
Insat 2D satellite, launched in July, failed on October 4. (Reuters
and Curt Swinehart)
ASIA/PACIFIC
INDIA--Gujarat TV has started on Palapa C2 in clear PAL on 3.800 GHz,
at 02:30-16:30 hrs. ("SATCO DX")
THAILAND--The TV5 Global Network has started on Thaicom 3 on 3.600 GHz
in NTSC. ("SATCO")
JAPAN--Hughes' DirecTV Japan launched on December 1. Initially it
carries 63 channels, which will expand to 90 in coming weeks. The
company plans to apply for permission from the Japanese government in
February or March 1998 to relay more channels. DirecTV will compete
with the 100 channel service from PerfecTV that began in October 1996,
and Rupert Murdoch's 100 channel Japan Sky Broadcasting, set to start
this Spring. PerfecTV and JSkyB recently announced an agreement to
share an antenna and decoder system, allowing viewers to subscribe to
either or both of their services with the same equipment. (Reuters)
NORTH AMERICA
USA--The Federal Communications Commission has approved non-U.S.
licensed satellites to provide services in the United States. The
decision will promote competition in the U.S. satellite services
market, which the FCC says will provide significant benefits for U.S.
consumers in the form of lower prices, improved service quality, and
innovative service options. The Commission expects that new satellite
service providers will begin to offer service in the United States
early in 1998.
The Commission's actions largely replace the existing procedures for
reviewing requests for market access from non-U.S. licensed satellite
service providers. In a press statement, the FCC says the steps taken
underscore the U.S. leadership role in the development and deployment
of satellite services. In early 1996 the Commission eliminated the
regulatory distinction between domestic and international satellite
services. The FCC says the impact of that decision was to allow U.S.
satellite systems to provide domestic or international service, or
both, subject to authorization from foreign administrators. (FCC)
CANADA--The Federal Court of Appeal, which ranks second only to the
Supreme Court of Canada, with cross-country jurisdiction, has upheld a
ruling that it is illegal to import and sell U.S. DTH satellite dishes
as well as the unauthorized U.S. programming received and decoded by
the dishes, anywhere in Canada.
The original ruling was issued in a landmark decision last June 27 in
the Federal Court of Canada, and was then appealed by Norsat, a
British Columbia-based company, one of the seven original defendants
in the case, all of which handled sales of the illegal pizza-sized
U.S. dishes to Canadian consumers. There were four plaintiffs in the
case -- Allarcom Pay Television Ltd., the Family Channel, TMN Networks
Inc., and ExpressVu, a major Canadian DTH company which launched a few
months ago. ("Canada Newswire")
LATIN AMERICA
GALAXY--Forty more channels have been added to the DirecTV Latin
America package for Brazil. For details see:
http://www.satcodx.com/dig/directvlatin.shtml
("SATCO")
LAUNCHES
ASTRA--There are two major launches TONIGHT. Astra 1G is being
launched on a Russian Proton rocket during a 10 minute launch window
starting at 23:10 hrs UTC. There will be coverage in North America on
Galaxy 3R on 4.120 GHz (transponder 21), and in Europe on Intelsat-K
and on Astra 1C on 11.068 GHz (transponder 40, presumably in PAL) and
Astra 15 on 12.168 GHz (transponder 88, presumably in MPEG-2). ("SATCO
DX" and Curt Swinehart)
The satellite is to be placed alongside the other Astra satellites at
19 degrees East. There are 16 transponders on 1G (all destined for
digital transmissions):
Tp 105: 12.51525 GHz H
Tp 106: 12.52200 GHz V
Tp 107: 12.54475 GHz H
Tp 108: 12.55150 GHz V
Tp 109: 12.57425 GHz H
Tp 110: 12.58100 GHz V
Tp 111: 12.60375 GHz H
Tp 112: 12.61050 GHz V
Tp 113: 12.63325 GHz H
Tp 114: 12.64000 GHz V
Tp 115: 12.66275 GHz H
Tp 116: 12.66950 GHz V
Tp 117: 12.69225 GHz H
Tp 118: 12.69900 GHz V
Tp 119: 12.72175 GHz H
Tp 120: 12.72850 GHz V
(James Robinson)
ARIANE--Minutes before the Proton launch (or just after) Ariane flight
103 is scheduled to carry the Japanese TV satellite JCSAT-4 and the
German scientific satellite Equator-S into orbit. The launch windows
are: 22:36-23:01 and 00:42-01:29 hrs. Coverage of flight 103 will be
to North America on Galaxy 6 on 4.180 GHz (transponder 24) and to
--- NetMgr 1.00.g4+
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