Apparently-to: scdx@get.pp.se
From: "George Wood" 
1998. (Eutelsat)
Tests apparently from Hot Bird 2 have been reported at 27 degrees
East. ("SATCO DX Chart Update")
(The new digital offerings from Swedish Television and Finland's YLE
are expected to be on Hot Bird 2.)
Shopping channel QTTV, which specializes in offering bankrupt stock
and end-of-line products at heavily discounted prices, has begun a
weekly one hour service on Thursdays at 10:30 hrs UTC on Eutelsat
II-F3, 11.554 GHz. ("What Satellite TV")
RTL 7 (presumeably the new Polish service) promos have started on Hot
Bird 1 on 11.487 GHz. Bloomberg TV (otherwise available only in
digital MPEG) has started, in French, on Eutelsat II-F2 on 11.575 GHz.
("SATCO DX Chart Update") Bloomberg also hopes to launch its 24 hour
business news service to the UK early in the Spring. ("What Satellite
TV") That rules out digital, as BSkyB's system won't be available yet.
Part of Sky Multichannels, or in clear PAL?
WARNER BROTHERS--The European launch of Warner Brothers TV on November
1 on Astra transponder 57, as part of the Sky Multichannels package,
was stopped by Rupert Murdoch, because of Time Warner's refusal to
carry Murdoch's Fox News on Time-Warner's cable network in Manhattan.
After the merger with Turner Broadcasting, Time Warner now owns CNN.
Ted Turner has once again compared Murdoch to Adolf Hitler: "Talking
to Murdoch is like confronting the fuehrer," Turner told reporters
following the news.
Astra transponder 57 will remain unused (carrying Astra promos) until
a new launch date is set. But that could be a long way off:
"We have no immediate details of what it will now launch", a Sky
spokesman says. "It could even be shelved completely."
Warner may even cut its involvement with the Sky Multichannels package
to bring forward the launch. ("What Satellite TV") CNN, TNT, and
Cartoon Network are already carried in the clear on Astra, outside the
Murdoch fold. There shouldn't be anything to stop WBTV from doing the
same, and if Cartoon Network is anything to judge by, putting a
channel in the clear can greatly increase ratings.
AUCTION CHANNELS--The Auction Channel, with live broadcasts of at
least two auctions a day, hopes to start next March, as part of Sky's
Multichannels package. ("What Satellite TV")
NICKELODEON--Nickelodeon Germany has started on Astra transponder 27
in PAL. ("SATCO DX Chart Update) Nickelodeon Sweden, which had a 4
hour a day schedule here in D2-MAC, is still on Sirius on 11.862 GHz.
SAT1/2--The German channel Sat1 will introduce a second channel,
called Sat2, next year. ("What Satellite TV")
EUROSPORT--Eurosport will add Portuguese, Romanian, and Hebrew
language soundtracks to the channel in 1997. ("What Satellite TV")
CHANNEL 5--Britain's 5th terrestrial network, Channel 5, looks certain
to be available when it launches next year. Due to start in March,
1997, C5 will not be available in many rural areas. The channel may be
sited on Filmnet's Astra transponder 11. ("What Satellite TV")
According to Magnus Simons, head of Multichoice Sweden, they have no
immediate plans to leave that transponder. But since Filmnet is also
carried in D2-MAC on Thor (as well as digital on Astra), they will
leave the Astra analog transponder eventually.
AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST:
INTELSAT--Ethiopia's ETV has started on Intelsat 703, 11.168 GHz.
("SATCO DX Chart Update")
IRAN--Iranian police have launched another crackdown against banned
satellite dishes, weeks after the Voice of America (VOA) started a
television program with popular U.S.-based Iranian artists, residents
said on November 25. Residents said many had taken down their dishes
after police with search warrants entered neighbors' homes and seized
satellite dishes in some Tehran districts. In other areas agents went
door to door asking people if they had such equipment. 
The recently-launched program has drawn many viewers with its fare of
Los Angeles-produced Iranian pop banned in the country as "decadent"
and legal advice on how to emigrate to the United States. Some
residents said they had taped the shows and made copies for friends. 
In April 1995, Iran ordered all satellite TV equipment in the country
to be dismantled after banning them earlier in the year to fight a
Western "cultural invasion". 
Residents said some of the estimated 250,000 dish owners had put them
back up on their roofs shortly after the 1995 ban, often camouflaged
as air-conditioners or other equipment. Under the ban, dish owners
face fines of three million rials (USD 1,000) and the confiscation of
their equipment if caught. 
Residents said Iran apparently was also blocking a VOA Farsi radio
program broadcast since May on a powerful medium-wave transmitter in
Kuwait. Iranian media and officials have criticised Kuwait for
allowing the VOA to transmit from the nearby Gulf Arab state. Iran has
in recent years jammed only radios of opposition groups which
broadcast mostly from neighbouring Iraq. (Reuters)
ORBIT--The Orbit Satellite Television and Radio Network and Walt
Disney Television International have announced that the Disney Channel
will be launching on the Orbit service on April 2, 1997. The channel
created exclusively for Orbit by Disney, will provide family
programming to viewers in 23 countries across the Middle East and
North Africa. The Disney Channel will be specifically tailored to the
region's tastes and interests. ("Tele-satellit News" and Reuters)
Presumeably this means that "Aladdin" and the (oh too bare) "Little
Mermaid" will not be included. 
The Disney Channel will be offered on an a-la-carte basis to Orbit's
subscribers, either in Arabic or with subtitles. (Reuters)
The Disney Channel is available in Europe only to those in Britain and
Ireland who subscribe to the entire British Sky Broadcasting movie
package. There's no question of a-la-carte here, and when will Disney
open its programming to the rest of Europe?
ASIA:
INSAT--The use of channels in the S-band on the Insat satellites has
apparently ceased. ("SATCO DX Chart Update")
RADIO--The World Radio Network is now being carried on the Usen 440
cable network in Japan. The programming is the same as the WRN 1 Asia-
Pacific Service, on Asiasat-2, 4.000 GHz, MPEG-2 DVB. Radio Sweden can
be heard at 00:30 hrs UTC Saturdays (with our review of the week gone
by). Among international broadcasters, the Usen system already carried
BBC, VOA, and RFI. Joining along with WRN are NPR and PRI. The system
also carries a number of foreign commercial radio stations, such as:
Virgin (London), NRJ (Paris), Z100 (New York), and Power 106 (Los
Angeles), and more stations from LA, San Francisco, Hawaii, and
London's Classic FM are coming. (Martyn Williams, Japan)
JAPAN--A third group has announced a planned start date for digital
satellite broadcasting in Japan. The SkyPort group, which currently
sends a seven channel package of channels using analog transmission,
says they will begin a multi-channel digital package in October, 1997.
Tetsuo Karasawa, the chairman of the Sky-D planning committee,  
announced plans at a conference in Tokyo on Friday. The details 
revealed now place four digital programmers into two competing camps. 
Sky-D will launch on the Superbird-C satellite, which DirecTV Japan 
plans to use, and also use a common transmission and encryption system
as DirecTV, so viewers to the satellite can choose to receive one or
both of the packages with no extra equipment. 
Competing against the alliance is PerfecTV and Japan Sky Broadcasting 
(JSkyB) on JCSat-3. PerfecTV began broadcasting in October, and JSkyB
has announced plans for an initial launch in spring next year. Both
systems will use the same system, so equipment for the satellite is
further simplified. 
Sky-D had planned to use both satellites to maximize its
subscriptions, but now plans to use just one. The company said
competition for space on JCSat-3 was the reason for the change. 
The Sky-D package will consist of around 20 to 25 digital channels, 
including many of the company's current channels. These include CNN
International, the Golf Channel, and MTV Japan. (Newsbytes News
Network , via "Tele-satellit News") 
Japan's Direct Internet Corp. will use the PAS-2 satellite to provide
its subscribers with Hughes' DirecPC Internet service, offering
Internet access at speeds more than 20 times faster than conventional
telephone lines. The DirecPC service will deliver Internet data
directly to subscribers with small rooftop dishes.
Direct Internet will use one-half of a transponder on the PAS-2
Ku-band Northeast Asia beam, which provides coverage of Japan and
neighboring countries. (Curt Swinehart)
Satellite maker Hughes Electronics Corp. has agreed to hire a Tokyo
company to launch 10 satellites with rockets developed in Japan, the
company said November 26. Rocket Systems Corp. will send up the 10
satellites between 2000 and 2005, and give the U.S. company options to
buy 5 to 10 more launches after that, said spokesman Satoshi Sato. 
He said all 10 launches are expected to take place from Japanese
facilities at Tanegashima Island, 984 kilometers (615 miles) southwest
of Tokyo. 
Sato said the launches will be made with the H-IIA, a planned improved
version of the H-II, Japan's first commercial space rocket. Some
satellite industry estimates suggest as many as 350 satellites of
various sizes could be launched in the next decade for television,
voice and data services. 
The H-IIA is expected to be able to carry two of Hughes' biggest
communications satellites, the HS-601 or the new-generation HS-702, to
orbits as high as 22,000 miles (35,200 kilometers) above Earth. (AP)
VIETNAM--Only high-ranking Communist Party members and senior 
government officials will be permitted to own satellite television
dishes, Premier Vo Van Kiet has announced in a sweeping decree on
access to foreign TV. The decree published November 26 in the
Communist Party newspaper, The People, said private individuals would
not be permitted to install home satellite dishes to receive foreign
television signals. 
Access to information and the media in Vietnam is tightly controlled
by the central government, with the Communist Party defining what is
acceptable and what should be censored from public consumption. Since
laws often take years to be passed through the country's heavily
bureaucratic National Assembly, Vietnam is often ruled by decrees
handed down from the premier. 
Kiet's latest decree outlines several categories of people who can
receive satellite television:
 * Senior Communist Party members and high-ranking government
officials. 
 * Local and provincial People's Committees. 
 * Specially designated units linked with the Interior Ministry,
Defense Ministry and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
 * State-run media and foreign news bureaus operating in the capital,
Hanoi. 
Tourist and business-class hotels designated for foreigners will also
have permission to receive foreign television broadcasts via
satellite, the decree said. The latest decree will go into effect Jan.
1.  (AP)
NORTH AMERICA:
PBS--PBS began the first regular HDTV feed in North America on
November 22. The feed over Telstar 401 is free to broadcasters, cable
operators, and equipment manufacturers. (Curt Swinehart)
PRIMESTAR--Digital multichannel TV package Primestar has announced it
will shortly add new channels to its line-up. Showtime, Showtime 2,
the Sundance Channel, Outdoor Life and Speedvision will be added to
the list of over 50 channels available as part of the system. The
switch to the new GE-2 satellite is allowing the service more space
and the possibility to expand its output to better compete with
companies offering over 100 channels.
In recent weeks, Primestar announced it will also add VH1, The History
Channel, BET, The TV Food Network, CNN/SI, Court TV as well as expand
its selection of Digital Music Express audio channels. ("Tele-satellit
News")
(Continued in Part II)
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George Wood            wood@rs.sr.se
Radio Sweden           http://www.sr.se/rs
S-105 10 Stockholm   tel: +468-784-7239
Sweden		        fax: +468-667-6283	
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