Apparently-to: scdx@get.pp.se
From: "George Wood" 
  :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
  ::           MediaScan             
  ::      SWEDEN CALLING DXERS       
  ::       from Radio Sweden          
  ::    Number 2288--February 17, 1998    
  ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 
Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio
Sweden.
This week's bulletin was written by George Wood.
Packet Radio BID SCDX2288
Updated Web edition at: http://www.sr.se/rs/english/media/
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
We're having a bit of a celebration here...the 50th birthday party for
Sweden Calling DXers, as this program was know until a few years ago.
The first broadcast was on February 28, 1948 (since we're now twice a
month only, today is the closest broadcast in February to the Big
Day).
The idea for the program came from an engineer here named Arne Skoog.
Radio Sweden was a shortwave radio station, but the hobby of shortwave
radio listening, or DXing, was new, and Arne saw there was a need to
help our listeners. 
In today's gala celebration program you can hear part of a
re-enactment of the very first edition of the program (Clue: the first
tip in the first program was about HCJB, probably the first
international station heard by North American DX novices....the last
tip in the that program was about the Voice of America).
Originally Arne Skoog gathered all the shortwave news himself, but we
encouraged listeners to write in, and they did. Soon we were printing
up the scripts of the programs, and anyone who wrote in with a
contribution went on the mailing list for one year. When Arne retired
and I took over the program twenty years ago, there were 1500 names on
that list.
After Arne retired, he returned to his home province of Jaemtland, up
in the north of Sweden. And that's where I tracked him down to ask how
it feels to see the 50th anniversary of the program. You can hear our
interview in today's program.
Arne also sends a greeting to all his old friends from the shortwave
listening fraternity.
In the interests of full disclosure, we have to admit that Radio
Australia started a similar program six months before us, but that
program has since gone on the air, so this is the oldest program on
its kind still in existence, and probably Swedish Radio's oldest
program.
When satellites came along a few years ago, the program changed. The
emphasis switched from shortwave, first to satellites, and more
recently also to broadcasting over the Internet. The title of the
program changed to MediaScan, and we went from a weekly to a twice-a-
month format. The old snail mail-based bulletins were phased out, and
replaced with an e-mail edition available free to anyone who
subscribed to the mailing list, and also available on the Worldwide
Web. (As all of you reading this know.) And of course the Sweden
Calling DXers name has been perpetuated in these bulletins, now up to
number 2288!
MediaScan was also the first radio program from Sweden, and the second
in Europe (the first in English), to be carried as a sound file on the
Internet, through the help of Internet Multicasting in the US, long
before the invention of RealAudio.
In today's special program, Radio Netherlands' Program Director
Jonathan Marks, who created Media Network, tells us about the
importance of Sweden Calling DXers to him personally as a young
shortwave listener.
WEB NEWS--But besides looking back 50 years today, we also want to
announce the latest news here at Radio Sweden. Our new World Wide Web
site, together with Swedish Radio, is launching today. There's a whole
new look to our Web pages. 
Something we aren't mentioning on the air yet....there's also a brand
new URL address to find us: radiosweden.com
We had hoped to go out with the new URL in today's program, but for
reasons beyond our control, the technical side isn't quite working yet
(does anything in the computer world ever work first time?) So, while
we aren't mentioning this on the air yet, since it doesn't actually
work, you can try checking out the new URL from time to time. 
And now on to this week's Media News:
NORDIC MEDIA NEWS
DIGITAL SATELLITE--Disney/ABC's Scandinavian Broadcasting System has
announced that it has reached an agrement with Canal Digital, a joint
venture between Canal Plus and Norway's Telenor, in which SBS's
Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish TV channels will be made available to
viewers as part of the Canal Digital platform through-out the Nordic
region. Under the agreement, Kanal 5, TV Norge, and TV Danmark will be
included in Canal Digital's basic tier och programming. (Martyn
Williams)
Kanal 5 left Kopernikus 2 (28.5 degrees East) 12.521 GHz on February
1. The Scandinavian Canal Plus package left Astra 11.954 GHz on
February 1. ("SATCO DX")
Swedish newspapers are speculating about a pending merger between
Telenor and Sweden's Telia (the national telephone company and the
country's largest cable operator). One aspect that has not been
commented on is how this might affect the current competition between
Telenor's digital satellite offerings at 1 degree West, and Telia's
new digital cable package, relayed by Sirius 2 from 5 degrees East. As
we heard from Telia's spokesman Hans G. Larsson last time, there is a
possibility the satellite channels may be made available for DTH
viewing in the the future.
In the next edition we'll be reviewing Telia's digital cable service,
as well as the Macab DCB-101 Digital-TV-Box that is being marketed for
it.
SIRIUS 2--DK4 has moved from 12.380 to 12.635 GHz in clear MPEG-2 (SR
14994, FEC 7/8). BET on Jazz has started on 12.380 GHz in clear
MPEG-2. (SATCO DX" and Richard Karlsson)
The Telia transponders have changed a bit, and 25 MCE audio channels
are on 11.747 and 12.130 GHz. The other Telia transponders are 12.169,
12.360, and 12.399 GHz. For the latest, check out:
http://www.satcodx.com/sirius.shtml  and
http://www.satcodx.com/dig/telia.shtml
("SATCO DX")
THOR--Fox Kids Norway has started on Thor 2 on 11.229 Ghz in clear
MPEG-2 at 06:00-18:00 hrs CET. ("SATCO DX")
DIGITAL TERRESTRIAL TV--Last time we reported on the applications for
terrestrial digital TV broadcast licences here. The deadline date was
well before our last deadline, but since the Swedish news agency TT is
not known for its swiftness, the final list of applicants was not
available until several hours later. Here is an updated version (which
has also been in the Web verision of edition 2287):
Monday (February 2) was the last day to apply for digital channels,
and there were 56 applicants. The existing terrestrial broadcasters,
public service Swedish Television and private channel TV4, are assured
of spots.  
Swedish Television's two existing SVT1 and SVT2 channels should be
available digitally by this Fall. The company also wants two channels
in each area for its regional transmissions and a national slot for
its new round the clock news channel, which should be on the air by
the end of the year. 
TV4 wants to start a national channel called TV4 Digital, which would
offer extra programming and interactive services over its current
analog channel. In addition 4 of the local TV stations that broadcast
via TV4 have also applied for regional licences.
Among the other applicants are the new business and documentary
channel TV8, entertainment channel Kanal 5 (owned by ABC/Disney), MTV,
Canal Plus, several universities and newspapers, a small
fundamentalist Christian sect, and the Internet provider Cell, which
wants to offer interactive services. Kinnevik has applied on behalf of
its TV3 and TV6 entertainment channels, the film channel TV1000,
shopping outlet TV-Shop, and its MTV clone ZTV. Swedish Teracom, the
public company reponsible for transmitting radio and television in
Sweden, has also applied for its own channel. It's been pointed out
that the government might want to licence Kanal 5 and TV3, both of
which broadcast by satellite via London, in order to bring them under
Sweden's stricter broadcast laws.
The broadcast licensing authority will release a list of approved
applicants in June, and the government will make the final decision in
the Fall. (TT, "Elektronikvaerlden", and  "Dagens Nyheter") (Since
there's an election here in September, it may be important if the
final decision is made before or after that date.) (TT)
Also among those applying for a local digital licence is the Open
Channel station in Gothenburg. (Open Channel Newsletter)
NOKIA--Nokia has signed a licencing agreement with Spyglass for
technology for digital set-top boxes. The Spyglass technology will be
used for Nokia's next generation of set-top boxes for digital cable,
satellite and terrestrial TV. (Direkt)
TELE DANMARK--Tele Danmark Kable has chosen OpenTV to provide its
hardware and platform-independent software for seven interactive
television applications for subscribers. The 7 services are:
A weather service with national, regional, and local forecasts
Electronic Program Guide
TV Plus, with daily program highlights, complete with pictures and
descriptions
12 channels from Music Choice Europe
Home Shopping
Six interactive games
"Now & Next"--information about the start and end times for current
and coming programs
These and more functions will be made available to Tele Danmark's
780,000 cable subscribers during 1998. (Curt Swinehart)
FINLAND--YLE Radio Finland's plans to introduce extensive continuous
services in Swedish on shortwave for Europe seem to be suffering from
frequency congestion. We appear to have to keep changing frequency
several times during the day, but will be able to remain on the 9 MHz
band as planned. Hopefully at least the evening, from 13:00 to 21:00
hrs UTC, would be on a continuous freuqnecy. 
The original idea of 18-20 hours a day was discarded for financial
reasons. We now plan in terms of 12-15 hours a day on one 500 kW
transmitter, beamed for Western Europe or Southeastern Europe
alterantively. As we gave up 9555 kHz as a continuous service long
ago, we do not have a "home base" on 9 MHz, but hope to develop one
now. (Juhani Niinistoe, head of YLE Radio Finland)
NORWAY--From January 1998 the national P2 radio network is national,
also during the Sami Radio slots. The northern part of Norway has been
cut off from parts of the daily broadcasts of the cultural channel P2,
in favor of programming from Sami Radio (intended for the indigenous
Sami or Lapp community). Now additional transmitters have been
provided in Narvik, Harstad, Alta, Hammerfest, Vadsoe, and Kirkenes
which will carry P2 all the time, while the old network of P2/Sami
remains. (Bernt Erfjord, "DX-News")
The rolling news service, NRK Alltid Nyheter has extended its FM
coverage further with transmitters in Oslo, Stavanger, Kristiansand,
Bergen, Trondheim, Tromsoe, and Bodoe. The service is also available
24 hours a day via DAB in the Oslo-fjord area, via the Internet, on an
audio subcarrier on CNN at 1 degree West (11.485 GHz in D2-MAC), as
sound to the NRK-1 domestic and satellite test pattern, and over the
telephone (+47 915-0024). Between 21:00 and 06:00 hrs (local time) a
mixture of the BBC World Service and the World Radio Network
(including Radio Sweden in English) is relayed. (Bernt Erfjord,
"DX-News")
Beginning February 16, NRK has a new TV channel for Norwegians abroad.
The digital pay channel NRK International is provided through Telenor
and Nordic Satellite Broadcasting. Programming consists of NRK
productions simulcast or previously broadcast by NRK-1 and NRK-2. The
NRK-2 teletext is included. A radio channel called NRK Europakanalen
is included on an uncoded audio subcarrier. This is the mixture of P1,
P2, P3, and Radio Norway International heard Europe-wide through NRK's
medium wave transmitters (of which Kvitsoy 1314 kHz is the main
outlet). The channel is being carried on Intelsat 707 at 1 degree West
on 11.174 GHz, in Conax-encoded MPEG-2. 
Both NRK-1 and NRK-2 were already available on satellite in encryoted
MAC, but the subscription cards are only sold in Norway. Also, the
footprint changed when NRK 1 and 2 moved to the Thor satellite last
year, making reception almost impossible in southern Europe. NRK
International's footprint probably covers the whole of Europe. (Bernt
Erfjord, "DX-News" and Richard Karlsson, "Aftonbladet")
EUROPE
ASTRA--It's finally been confirmed that Astra 1D will move from 19
degrees East to 28 degrees East. The move will take about 3 weeks and
is scheduled to start around February 18. Tests at the new location
will begin in mid-March. Astra 1D will carry the British digital
packages from 28 degrees East until the delayed Astra 2A is in
position. All the services on the vertical transponders on Astra 1E
were transferred to the new Astra 1G early in the morning on February
12. The horizontal transponder services moved the following day. On
February 12 all services on Astra 1D were transferred to Astra 1E.
("SATCO DX" and Richard Karlsson)
At 28 degrees East Astra 1D will provide 18 transponders for digital
transmissions in the 11.70-12.10 GHz range, with transmission
characteristics identical to those on the upcoming Astra 2A. 
SES confirms the following digital transponder allocations on Astra
2A:
BSkyB--14 transponders
BBC--2
Flextech--2
Discovery--1
UKTV--1
Viacom-1
Turner Broadcasting--0.5 transponder
In addition at least 2.5 transponders will be used for multiplexing of
TV, radio, and multimedia services from several other UK-targeted
broadcasters. SES will permanently operate two Astra satellites at 28
degrees East. Astra 2A is currently scheduled to launch onboard a
Russian Proton rocket in May, 1998. Astra 2B will launch with Ariane
towards the end of the year. Together they will provide 56 active
transponders. (Martyn Williams)
SES announced on February 11 that it has selected France's
Aerospatiale to supply the spacecraft for the Astra 1K satellite,
which will be deployed by the end of the year 2000. It will provide
back-up capacity for the other Astra satellites at 19 degrees East,
and will expand geographical coverage to include Central and Eastern
Europe. The satellite will carry 52 higher-powered Ku-band
transponders. Astra 1K will also carry additional Ka-band capacity (2
transponders), backing up and enhacing the coverage of the coming
Astra 1H satellite. (Reuters and Martyn Williams)
BSKYB--British Sky Broadcasting's digital service at 28 degrees East
begins on June 1. The full 200 channel service will start in October.
(James Robinson)
BSkyBsays its initial digital satellite launch in June wil be
"modest", with the "meaningful" launch of the service in the fourth
quarter of the year. This is reportedly because only "initial
quantities" of the required digital decoders will be available in
--- NetMgr 1.00.g4+
---------------