From: Satjournal@aol.com
10
Satellite Journal International
                                                 Volume Five
                                                     May, 19
                                                        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."
                              
  Thor II
  PanAmSat Completes Merger with Hughes
  EchoStar Communications Corp.
  Loral Names Ronald Maehl President Of Cyberstar
  EWTN announces new European feed
  First Sea-born Satellite Launch Platform Completed
  China Launches A New Telecom Satellite
  Home Box Office
  Fuji Tv To Join JSkyB
  Intelsat News
  EchoStar files against The News Corp. Ltd
  Seagram And Viacom Make Statements
  Globalstar Partners Commit To $275 Million Purchase
  CCI selects Matra Marconi Space
  E'Prime Aerospace
  PT Bakrie Communications
  Philips Signs Digital Microwave Contract in Guizhou
  Sony Server-Based Editing System
  The Titan Corporation Announces a Profitable First
  Quarter
  Upcoming Launches
  New files and documents at our WebStand
  In Brief
  NEW VERSION AVAILABLE
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This site is advertiser supported so please visit it often
and leave feedback.
                              
                           Thor II
     Thor II, the first dedicated television and
communications spacecraft ordered by Telenor of Oslo,
Norway, is scheduled for launch Sunday night.
     Built by Hughes Space and Communications Company in El
Segundo, Calif., the first of two launch windows for Thor II
is 6:39 to 7:23 p.m. EDT (3:39 p.m. PDT and 10:39 p.m. GMT)
Saturday.  A second launch window of 8:54 to 9:45 p.m. EDT
(5:54 p.m. PDT and 12:54 a.m. GMT) Sunday has also been
established.  Thor II will be launched onboard a McDonnell
Douglas Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station on
the central Florida coast.
     Telenor is the owner and operator of Thor II, the first
satellite to be designed specifically for Norway.  It is a
high-power version of Hughes' popular HS 376 spin-stabilised
spacecraft model.  Hughes also built Telenor's first
satellite, Thor I, which was purchased in orbit in 1992 from
British Sky Broadcasting.  The two-satellite fleet will
deliver television and telephony/data services to five zones
stretching from Scandinavia across the north Atlantic to
Greenland, with the primary zone comprising Norway, Denmark,
Sweden, Finland and the Baltic states.
     Thor II will deliver direct-to-home television by means
of 15 active Ku-band transponders, powered by 18 40-watt
travelling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs).  The spacecraft
will use gallium arsenide solar cells to generate more than
1400 watts of spacecraft power at end of life and will rely
on nickel-hydrogen batteries for power through eclipses.
Thor II is designed to operate for more than 11 years and
will be located at 0.8 degrees West longitude.
     Both satellites in Telenor's fleet are versions of the
Hughes spin-stabilised 376 model.  Thor II will be the 48th
HS 376 model to be launched.
                              
            PanAmSat Completes Merger with Hughes
     The merger between PanAmSat and the Galaxy Satellite
Services business of HCI has been completed. The newly
created company is called PanAmSat Corporation.
     Grupo Televisa SA, got about $650 million in cash and
an equity interest of about 7.5% in the new PanAmSat Corp.
Grupo Televisa also has reacquired PanAmSat's interests in
Grupo Televisa's direct-to-home Spanish language
broadcasting ventures in the Americas and Spain.
     Grupo Televisa originally had a 40.5% in PanAmSat prior
to the merger.
                              
                EchoStar Communications Corp.
        EchoStar Communications reported first quarter 1997
total revenues of $72.0 million, an increase of 74% as
compared to $41.5 million during the first quarter of 1996.
     This increase was the direct result of the company's
increasing DISH Network subscriber base.  The DISH Network
began providing commercial service in March 1996.  During
the three months ended March 31, 1997, the DISH Network
added approximately 130,000 subscribers.
EchoStar had approximately 480,000 DISH Network subscribers
as of March 31, 1997.
                              
       Loral Names Ronald Maehl President Of Cyberstar
     Loral Space & Communications Ltd. announced  the
appointment of Dr. Ronald C. Maehl as president of
CyberStar, Loral's next-generation global, broadband,
multimedia communications and information distribution
system.  Dr. Maehl reports to Michael B. Targoff, president
of Loral Space & Communications.
     Dr. Maehl will lead CyberStar, a new Loral business
venture that will provide capacity for the deluge of data
that is now beginning to flow over the global information
infrastructure.
     CyberStar, beginning in late 1997 with broadband data
delivery services from leased Ku-band transponders
satellites, will reach full stride in 2000 using three
geosynchronous Ka-band satellites, built by SS/L, in its own
constellation.
                              
              EWTN announces new European feed
     Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) has launched a
new service customised for Europe. The European feed
consists of 24-hours of Catholic programming. EWTN's new
European satellite network is on PanAmSat 1 Ku-Band,
Transponder 21, Channel 3 with a downlink centre frequency
of 11642.0MHz, audio channels 1 and 2.
                              
      First Sea-born Satellite Launch Platform Completed
     The world's first commercial sea-borne space satellite
launch platform has completed the successful trials in
Stavanger, Norway.
     The platform, made from a former North Sea oil rig,
will send its first satellite into space next year. It will
compete in the satellite market along with its sister ship
as part of a 350 million pounds (about 560 U.S. dollars)
project.
     The sister vessel is being fitted out at Govan,
Glasgow, Britain, as a floating rocket assembly factory,
providing crew, accommodation and a mission control.
                              
           China Launches A New Telecom Satellite
     China successfully launched the Dongfanghong III
communications satellite from the Xichang Satellite
Launching Centre in Southwest China's Sichuan Province. The
satellite was placed into orbit with a perigee of 209 km and
an apogee of 30671 km.
     Dongfanghong (the East is Red) III, a newly developed
communications satellite, has 24 C-band transponders. Its
life span is about eight years. The launching used a China-
made Long March III-A rocket. The satellite will be located
at 125 degrees east
                              
                       Home Box Office
     Home Box Office, will add a new family-oriented service
on USSB starting on June 1st.
     HBO Family, will be a 24-hour commercial-free channel
with Hollywood movies, original programming, documentaries,
animated features, and HBO specials.
     Programming will be in three blocks:
"    a "Kid's Block," from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.
"    a repeat from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.
"    Feature films will run from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., rated G
or PG. and from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., the network will air some
PG-13 films.
                              
                        Fuji Tv To Join JSkyB
     
     Fuji Television Network Inc. has decided to take a
capital stake in Japan Sky Broadcasting Co., a joint venture
set up by Softbank Corp. and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. to
run the JSkyB operation. JSkyB, which is slated to go into
operation next spring, will be Japan's third digital
satellite broadcaster, following PerfecTV's debut last
autumn and DirecTV, which comes on air this fall.
                              
                        Intelsat News
     INTELSAT announced @intelsat, its suite of Internet
products, at the International Internet Summit it hosted in
Washington, DC. The @intelsat suite, targeted to serve
customer requirements in the Internet marketplace, consists
of four products which are immediately available:
"    @intelsat.backbone.  High-capacity service for backbone
connectivity between Network Access Points.  Allows backbone
providers to extend the reach, capacity and reliability of
their terrestrial networks.
"    @intelsat.access.  For Internet Service Providers
establishing access to a backbone network point of presence.
Allows ISPs to introduce service rapidly to regions of the
world that are unserved (primarily in developing areas of
the world) or underserved (where demand exceeds current
capacity).
"    @intelsat.enterprise.  To fulfil connectivity
requirements of corporations to ISPs as well as to support
Intranet and Extranet applications.  Allows easy connections
to corporate networks for geographically distant locations.
"    @intelsat.multicast.  For Intranet/Extranet point-to-
multipoint applications (e.g., Web caching, UseNet
newsgroups, digital audio/video multicasting, real time
database updates).  Reduces network congestion through the
use of a single transmission to multiple registered users.
     The Internet Summit showcased four demonstrations
including:  a side-by-side comparison of satellite vs.
terrestrial Internet (TCP/IP) connections, showing the
relative network response times of the different media; VSAT
Internet access, demonstrating that satellites can be used
easily to extend Internet/Intranet access to any part of the
world; INTELSAT's Intranet, the world's largest satellite-
based Intranet, utilising voice and TCP/IP via frame relay
over satellite; and international date multicasting.
     
"    INTELSAT's annual Global Traffic Meeting, held at
INTELSAT headquarters 5 - 9 May 1997, was attended by
approximately 1,700 delegates representing more than 410
companies from 163 countries. During the meeting,
international communications users discussed their satellite
traffic plans for 1998 and beyond.
"    The Republic of Uzbekistan has joined INTELSAT as its
141st member-nation.
     
                              
          EchoStar files against The News Corp. Ltd
           EchoStar has amended and significantly expanded
the scope of the suit initially filed against News Corp. on
May 8, 1997 in the United States District Court for the
District of Colorado.
     Among other things, EchoStar seeks to require News
Corp. to honour its obligations under the Agreement.  In
addition EchoStar seeks damages resulting from breach of the
Agreement by News Corp., including lost profits which could
exceed $5 billion.
     As a result of the failure by News Corp. to honour its
obligations under the Agreement, EchoStar does not currently
have adequate capital to fulfil its contemplated business
plan without material changes.  EchoStar has had preliminary
discussions with a number of investment banking firms to
investigate alternatives to meet its short and medium term
needs.  EchoStar also intends to speak with major vendors
and other potential strategic partners.  While there can be
no assurances, EchoStar believes that it can arrange
transactions to meet its short and medium term obligations.
EchoStar intends to seek recovery from News Corp. for any
costs of financing in excess of the costs of the financing
committed to by News Corp. under the Agreement.
                              
               Seagram And Viacom Make Statements
     Seagram
     We are very pleased  with the decision by Judge Myron
Steele in Delaware Chancery Court in Wilmington that
Viacom's ownership of the MTV Networks was a breach both of
the USA contract and of Viacom's responsibility as a partner
not to compete with the partnership.  Specifically, the
Court held that the agreement "flatly prohibits" Viacom's
conduct and that "the evidence is overwhelming that
(Viacom's) current holdings consist of national, video,
advertiser-supported basic cable networks - a direct
conflict with the non-compete provisions of the USA
agreements." The Court rejected all of Viacom's defences and
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