Apparently-to: scdx@get.pp.se
From: "George Wood" 
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  ::           MediaScan             
  ::      SWEDEN CALLING DXERS       
  ::       from Radio Sweden          
  ::    Number 2286--Jan. 20 1998    
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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 SCDX2286
Updated Web edition at: http://www.sr.se/rs/english/media/
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
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- Sorry this is a day late....as it's the first MediaScan in more than
a month, there's been a lot of news to go through. The Web page will
be up shortly.
NORDIC MEDIA NEWS
SIRIUS--Sweden's new Sirius 2 satellite has replaced Tele-X at 5
degrees East, after Tele-X was switched off on January 8. Among the
channels on the satellite are: 
Swedish Television's new digital SVT Europe service (12.380 GHz, SR
27500 FEC 3/4, encoded in Viaccess), including relays of Radio Sweden 
Digital transmissions from Denmark's new DK4 (in the SVT package)
Analog (12.207 GHz) and digital (12.245 GHz, SR 18750 FEC 1/2, also
reported SR 27500 FEC 7/8) relays of the new Swedish business and
documentary channel TV 8
Kanal 5 in uncoded PAL on 12.476 GHz
CNBC (originally EBN, see below) and Sci-Fi Channel are sharing 12.322
GHz in Eurocrypt M-encoded D2-MAC. 
("SATCO DX", "SatNytt", Richard Karlsson, and James Robinson)
RIK from Cyprus has also begun broadcasts from Sirius 2, in clear PAL
on 12.265 GHz. This is the first customer for the Sirius 2
transponders distributed by General Electric to Europe. (Richard
Karlsson)
THOR--The Scandinavian version of Nickelodeon is sharing a transponder
on Thor 2 with the Sci-Fi Channel, 11.309 GHz in MPEG-2, encoded in
Conax (SR 24500 FEC 7/8). (Richard Karlsson)
NRK's shopping channel Canal M is sharing the NRK transponder on
11.325 GHz in clear D2-MAC at 01:00-17:00 hrs CET. ("SATCO DX")
TVS--Denmark's satellite and cable sports channel TVS closed December
31 after 10 months on the air. Owned by the Danish Telecommunications
company Tele Danmark, the public broadcaster Danmark's Radio, and the
Danish soccer association, TVS was doing all right until it began
coding broadcasts four months ago. Only 11,000 subscribers were
willing to pay for what had been a free service. TVS transmit on
Intelsat 707 on 11.592 GHz and on Thor 2 on 11.389 GHz. (AP and
Richard Karlsson in "Aftonbladet")
TV6--Here in Sweden, the satellite entertainment channel TV6 is about
to follow that same TVS route, switching next month from free to
subscription-only. ("Dagens Nyheter") Not only has TV6 not been
earning enough money, it's also been cutting into the audience for
sister station TV3, also run by the Kinnevik media empire. 
TV--TV3, which was Sweden's first satellite TV station, just
celebrated its 10th birthday. But its position has been undermined by
rival satellite broadcaster Kanal Fem, Channel 5, and Sweden's private
terrestrial broadcaster TV4.
A new survey indicates that on an average day TV4 is Sweden's most
popular channel, with 27 percent of households tuning in. Public
broadcaster Swedish Television is close behind, with SVT2 at 26
percent, and SVT1 at 22 percent. Satellite and cable only TV3 attracts
10 percent, with Channel 5 rapidly closing, now up to 6 percent
viewership. (TT)
TV4--Kinnevik took a hit recently when it lost its representation on
the TV4 board. The company had been the largest single stockholder in
the private terrestrial broadcaster. But late last year the rival
Bonniers publishing concern and one of its Finnish partners bought
into TV4, and gained enough control to install its own people on the
board instead of Kinnevik's owner Jan Stenbeck and two of his
underlings. ("Dagens Nyheter", "Svenska Dagbladet")
So broadcast media concentration here has been broken up a bit, even
if Minister of Culture Marita Ulvskoog seems to be far more concerned
about old media power Bonniers (newspapers, magazine, and book
publishing) instead of new media conglomerate Kinnevik (satellite TV
channels and distribution, radio, cable networks, long distance and
local telephone company, GSM operator, Internet provider), and its
Rupert Murdoch wannabe, Jan Stenbeck.
INTERNET VIA SATELLITE--Kinnevik has yet to announce any plans for
digital broadcasting. But it's stolen a match on rival Canal Digital,
by offering digital satellite access to the Internet, without even
having to buy a digital receiver. The downlink is on Sirius 2, at 200
to 300 kbps, 10 times the speed of an ordinary modem, with the return
path by telephone. The system involves a complete satellite receiver
on a computer PCI card, so user's families can continue to watch
satellite TV. (NewsWire, Tele2, "SatNytt")
For more (in Swedish):
http://www.newswire.se/meldinger/melding.cgi?id=471
http://www.tele2.se/02/0210/971216.html
http://www.tele2.se/satellit/Satelbsk_html/
INTERNET VIA CABLE--Stockholm's largest cable network, Stjaern-TV, has
begun tests of Internet services to 300 selected households. The
system currently has the capacity to provide the Internet to 30,000 of
its 226,000 households. The service will probably be a closed version
of the Web, concentrating on sites with news, shopping, banking
services, and entertainment. ("Dagens Industri" via "SatNytt")
Telia is also offering Internet access via its new digital network.
This is supposed to access the entire Web, and not just selected
sites. Unfortunately the promised digital decoder boxes for Telia's
digital cable system have yet to be marketed. A Radio Sweden colleague
who called Telia was told to contact a particular TV rental company,
which in turn said they had received no information about digital
decoders from Telia. According to Telia, prospective Internet users
will have to have their landlords agree to (and pay for) new
additions, including new cable wall outlets. 
CABLE PACKAGES--The Swedish cartel authorities have ruled that it is
legal for cable operators to offer channels in packages, rather than a
la carte, since selling channels individually would increase the cost
to consumers. The Swedish Tenants Union had filed the complaint. Telia
Cable says it would gladly offer a la carte channels, but the stations
themselves block this by demanding too much compensation. Telia says
this possibility will be available to digital subscribers. ("Svenska
Dagbladet", Dagens Ekot, and "SatNytt")
DIGITAL SATELLITE BROADCASTING--Canal Digital has yet to start
marketing digital receivers for its new service. But "Aftonbladet's"
TV commentator Frank Oestergren has gotten his hands on a Nokia
Medimaster box. However, it seems there are some problems. Frank
writes in "Aftonbladet":
"Nokia and Canal Digital should think about user-friendliness. When
the Mediamaster was upgraded a short time ago, I swore a bit when the
new software was downloaded. Now you can't use the automatic channel
search to save channels from different satellites. If I've downloaded
everything from Thor and, for example, go over to Astra, then the Thor
channels are erased. I'm forced to individually save the approximately
250 Astra channels. It's not hard to work out that this has to do with
Canal Digital wanting us to limit outselves to its package. But Canal
Digital should have learned enough about the Nordic market by now to
know that you can't afford to make things even more difficult if you
want to succeed digitally."
EUROPE    
WRN--The World Radio Network, which relays Radio Sweden and many other
international broadcasters, on satellite, local rebroadcast, and the
Internet, has taken a big step into Eastern Europe. Since January
15th, WRN has been included in Digital Audio Broadcasting tests in
Warsaw, Poland, the first multi-lingual DAB broadcaster in Eastern
Europe. There are also plans to extend the WRN relays to southwestern
Poland. (WRN) Of course, we still  haven't seen any DAB receivers in
the stores yet.
Some weeks ago I visited the WRN offices in London, and in today's
program you can hear the network's Director of Corporate Affairs,
Simon Spanswick, describe their plans for DAB and other digital
services, including digital satellites and the Internet. We'll be
continuing our conversation about WRN's upcoming projects in the next
edition of MediaScan.
ESTONIA--Sweden's Telia has been blocked from investing in cable
networks in Estonia by a court in Tallinn. A rival, owned by the city
of Tallinn, accused the Swedish company of monopoly practices. Telia
is appealing the decision. Telia owns 60 percent of the cable operator
Starman, as well as 24.5 percent of both the Estonian Telephone
Company and the Estonian Mobile Telephone Company, both of which are
51 percent held by Estonian Telecom. ("Dagens Industri" via "SatNytt")
Kinnevik's MTV-clone ZTV began broadcasts in Estonia on January 12.
ZTV Eesti initially is broadcasting for one hour a day, in a window on
Kinnevik's Estonian version of TV3, which unlike the Scandinavian
versions of the channel is national and terrestrial in Estonia. There
are plans as well to expand ZTV to Lativa and Lithuania. ("Metro")
CNBC/EBN--Following an agreement between NBC and Dow Jones, European
Business News merged into CNBC Europe. Beginning January 12, the
transmissions on Astra transponder 42 (06:00-12:00 hrs UTC in
Videocrypt 1) and 50 (24 hours uncoded PAL), Hot Bird 1 (24 hours
uncoded PAL) on 11.262 GHz, and Sirius 2 on 12.322 GHz (Eurocrypt D2-
MAC)  are carrying the same CNBC programming. (James Robinson and
Richard Karlsson in "Aftonbladet")
If you surf to www.ebn.co.uk, you arrive at CNBC Europe instead.
Curiously, while the same merger should have been carried out in Asia
between CNBC and Asia Business News, there seems to be no indication
of this on the ABN Web pages. See below.
ASTRA--Travel Industry Channel is now sharing transponder 35 (with TCC
and Challenge TV) in uncoded PAL, at 05:00-07:00 hrs CET. (Richard
Karlsson in "Aftonbladet")
Sky Box Office now carries a 24 hour promo channel on transponder 57,
in soft Videocrypt 1. This has enabled Sky Box Office 1-4, which use
four separate transponders, to expand their film programming. (James
Robinson)
The German educational channel BR Alpha has started broadcasts on
Astra transponder 32, in clear PAL. (Richard Karlsson in
"Aftonbladet")
Hessen Fernsehen has begun test transmissions in uncoded PAL on
transponder 40. A number of HR radio channels are included, using the
ADR system. (Richard Karlsson in "Aftonbladet")
Some of the (digital) services on the new Astra 1G satellite are
Germany's ARD (transponders 111 and 120), ZDF Vision (transponder
115), Pro Sieben Digital Media (transponder 120) and Austria's ORF and
Switzerland's SRG (transponder 117). Beta Teknik is replacing ARD on
transponder 101. There are digital test carriers on tranponders 113
and 115 on 1G and on transponders 73, 79, and 101, on 1E and 1F, the
former home of these German stations. (Richard Karlsson in
"Aftonbladet" and James Robinson)
Vivir and Taquilla 9 and 10 have joined the Spanish Canal Satelite
Digital package on transponder 110. (James Robinson)
Swiss Radio International is broadcasting a test music program on
Teleclub's transponder 55, on 8.46 GHz. (James Robinson)
KOPERNIKUS--The ARD and ZDF packages have started on Kopernikus 3 on
11.498, 11.616, and 12.692 GHz in clear MPEG-2, almost the same
frequencies as on Astra 1G. ("SATCO DX")
SKY--British Sky Broadcasting says the launch of its 200 channel
digital system has been moved back from Spring until early Summer.
Industry sources say this is because manufacturers have yet to start
producing the set-top decoders needed. While Sky says it is still on
target, Pace has told Reuters that it will not begin producing the
decoders during its current fiscal year, which ends in May. A separate
source says the manufacturing of the boxes has been put on hold
pending European regulatory approval of BSkyB's partly owned
interactive joint venture called British Interactive Broadcasting.
BSkyB also says SES has confirmed it will use a spare satellite to
ensure that digital transponder capacity will be available for BSkyB
by this Spring. (Reuters)
Astra 2A, which is to be placed at 28.2 degrees West and will carry
digital services from BSkyB and the BBC, is scheduled to launch with a
Proton rocket on March 30. We've reported before that now that the 1G
satellite is in orbit, SES may move one of the older Astra satellites
to 28 degrees East for digital relays before 2A is in orbit.
European Union sources say the European Commission has expressed
concerns that BIB may prevent fair competition in the new digital TV
market. They say the Commission has informed the companies involved
that it is particularly worried BIB could use its control of set-top
decoders to keep competitors at bay. The Commission has also raised
objections about the fact that BSkyB would benefit from subsidizing
decoders to launch its digital TV service. (Reuters)
Meanwhile, BSkyB is reported to be waging a vendetta against a small
cable company in West London, which dropped Sky News from its service.
The row broke out last November when General Cable dropped Sky News in
protest at a 10 percent rise in Sky's charge for the channel, making
it twice as expensive as any rival channel. In its place General Cable
started to carry the BBC's new 24 hours news channel.
In response, BSkyB has taken out full-page ads in local newspapers
denouncing the move by General Cable, and urging readers to telephone
the company complaints hotline. The move is particularly infuriating
to Sky, since its studios in Isleworth are within the General Cable
franchise area. ("Sunday Telegraph")
PORNOGRAPHY--The British government has moved to ban a French hardcore
poronography channel from broadcasting to Britain. Culture Secretary
Chris Smith wrote on January 9 to Eurotica Rendezvous warning it that
under EU rules, it had 15 days to make its services comply with rules
set by Britain's Independent Television Commission (which outlaw
hardcore, and place severe restrictions on the kind of softcore that
is broadcast in the clear, for example, in Germany). If the ban goes
ahead, the channel would be the 5th to be barred in Britain, joinning
Red Hot Television, TV Erotica, Rendez Vois, and Satisfaction Club TV.
(AP)
EUTELSAT--The Italian adult channel Satisfaction Club TV has moved to
Hot Bird 2 on 11.977 GHz. It is in PAL and is still coded in Ping Pong
(which used to be called Nokia Line Shuffling. (Richard Karlsson in
"Aftonbladet") SCT is also reported back on 11.163 GHz. ("SATCO DX")
Wereldomroep TV on Hot Bird 1 on 11.283 GHz has changed its name to
BVN, Beste van Nederland. (Richard Karlsson in "Aftonbladet")
--- NetMgr 1.00.g4+
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