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1
Satellite Journal International
Volume Five
August, 11
1997
"Anyone who enjoys the privilege of publishing and
broadcasting in open societies should demonstrate their
unshakeable belief in the universality of free speech should
they ever seek to broadcast in societies that are closed."
Alphastar Off The Air
TV/COM Announces Alliance
Loral to Build Third Satellite for CD Radio
NDS and Associated Press
Agila II
Japan to delay launch
PnaAmSat Launches PAS-6
Upcoming Launches
New files and documents at our WebStand
In Brief
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Editor
Alphastar Off The Air
Ernst & Young Inc., the court-appointed receiver and
manager of Tee-Comm Electronics Inc. and AlphaStar Canada
Inc did not receive any acceptable bids to acquire the
business as a going concern. As a result, the previously
announced backstop deal with Loral SpaceCom Corporation will
be completed and both services stopped broadcasting on
Thursday.
Tee-Comm Electronics Inc. and its Canadian direct-to-
home broadcasting subsidiary, AlphaStar Canada Inc., had
been operating under Ontario Court supervision since May 21,
1997. AlphaStar Television Network Inc., a U.S. subsidiary
of Tee-Comm, had been operating under the protection
afforded by Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code since May
27, 1997..
Since AlphaStar sought court protection, the receiver
and AlphaStar U.S. worked together to market the businesses
of both AlphaStar Canada and AlphaStar U.S. in an effort to
find a going concern buyer or buyers. The receiver and
AlphaStar U.S. set a deadline for bids to be received by
Monday, August 4, 1997.
This exhaustive marketing process did not find an
acceptable buyer for either AlphaStar Canada or AlphaStar
U.S. Accordingly, the Loral deal, which provides for the
immediate return to Loral of the transponders on satellites
Telstar 402R and Telstar 5, has been approved by the Ontario
Court and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court..
The remaining assets of AlphaStar Canada and AlphaStar
U.S., including the Milton, Ontario and Oxford, Connecticut
uplink stations and real estate, manufacturing facilities
and the inventory of set-top decoders and antennas, will
continue to be offered for sale by the receiver and
AlphaStar U.S. over the next several weeks.
TV/COM Announces Alliance
TV/COM International Inc has formed an alliance with
Digital Access Network Inc. (DANI).
Under the terms of the alliance, TV/COM will supply its
MPEG-2/DVB-compliant digital compression and conditional
access equipment for DANI's new satellite distribution
service.
A newly announced company, DANI founders include former
TV/COM executive Jim Shelton, former Showtime Satellite
Networks Senior Vice President Larry Rebich and former
AlphaStar Director Brian Haan.
DANI services the needs of educational, ethnic and
private business networks, providing programmers with
satellite uplink and transponder capacity, conditional
access control, call centre services. The company will use
TV/COM's digital compression and conditional access
equipment, and receivers from Hyundai and other sources.
Loral to Build Third Satellite for CD Radio
Space Systems/Loral has received an order from CD Radio
Inc. to build a third digital audio radio service (DARS)
satellite for CD Radio's satellite-to-car radio broadcast
system. Loral is currently building two DARS satellites for
CD Radio, and has an option for a fourth satellite, bringing
the total value of the program to more than $350 million.
The satellites will provide high-quality digital radio
broadcasts to automobiles in the continental United States.
Separately, Loral announced that it is purchasing
1,905,488 shares of CD Radio common stock at $13.12 per
share. The $25 million investment represents approximately
15 percent of the company's outstanding common stock.
The satellite will serve as a ground spare to CD
Radio's two-satellite constellation, scheduled for launch in
1999. The award brings the total number of satellites based
on SS/L's FS-1300, three-axis stabilised spacecraft that
have been built or ordered to 62, including 24 currently in
production.
NDS and Associated Press
NDS Limited has successfully completed a major trial of
its Data Broadcasting Network (DBN).
Carried out in conjunction with Associated Press
Television (APTV), the trial broadcast a data carousel of
multimedia content simultaneously with APTV's international
news video feed. The signal was uplinked from Teleport
London International throughout North America, Europe and
the Pacific Rim using the TDRSS 4, Spacenet 3 and AsiaSat 2
satellites. The main content of the data carousel was an
electronic copy of The Sunday Times including an MPEG video
clip.
The trial exceeded expectations, with the data
transmitted at 6 Mbit/sec in addition to a sample 2 Mbit/sec
video signal from APTV. The test was conducted using only a
quarter of a single satellite transponder's bandwidth. Much
higher bit rates (30 Mbit/sec + per transponder) will be
tested in future trials, which translates to the capability
of transmitting an entire CD-ROM to a PC in under three
minutes.
At these bit rates a software package, such as
Microsoft Office, could be simultaneously distributed to a
whole continent within minutes. Future delivery mechanisms
for cable and digital terrestrial television will also be
able to use DBN in parallel with television programming at
similar data rates.
Agila II
Agila II, will be launched on August 10 and will be
used for telecommunications, data transmission and
broadcasting.
Agila II, also known as Mabuhay, will cover the Asia-
Pacific rim including the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Japan, India, Bangladesh and Hawaii.
Japan to delay launch
Japan will postpone the scheduled launch this summer of
Kakehashi until next February due to a prolonged probe into
trouble with a currently orbiting satellite. The
communications satellite has the same type of battery panel
as the troubled geological observation satellite Midori,
whose expanding solar battery panel stopped functioning at
the end of June.
PnaAmSat Launches PAS-6
PanAmSat Corporation successfully launched its PAS-6
Atlantic Ocean Region satellite, the first communications
satellite ever dedicated for direct-to-home (DTH) television
services in Latin America. The entire PAS-6 payload, 36 Ku-
band transponders, is fully sold to Sky Latin America,
which will use the satellite to beam hundreds of television
channels to its DTH service subscribers in Latin America.
PAS-6, a 3,420-kilogram satellite, was launched on an
Ariane 4 rocket from the Arianespace launch site in South
America. The satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral, is
expected to reach its final orbital location at 43 degrees
West Longitude and commence service in October 1997.
PanAmSat has designed PAS-6 with three Ku-band spot
beams customised for the delivery of TV programming for the
varied cultures and languages in specific television markets
in Latin America.
Upcoming Launches
" Check our web site for current listings of 1997
launches.
" Click on "Launch Info".
Next Ariane Launch Next Atlas/Delta Launch
Hotbird 3 -September 2, 1997 Iridium-- August 14, 1997
New files and documents at our WebStand
1 PBS Monthly Programming Schedule
1 PBS Weekly Previews
1 A&E Prime Time Schedule
In Brief
" TBS Superstation will convert to a free market
(copyright-paid) superstation with a dual revenue stream on
Dec. 31, 1997.
" Canal Plus is in talks with a French press group about
setting up a TV news channel, according to a French
newspaper report.
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