From: Satjournal@aol.com
9
Satellite Journal International
                                                 Volume Five
                                                     May, 26
                                                        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."
                              
  Telstar 5 successfully  launched
  Arianespace Board of Directors meet
  Tee-Comm
  Thor II successfully launched
  TCM to launch weekly documentary series
  APTV
  Loral receives FCC authorisation
  Fashion TV officially launches on EUTELSAT
  TV/COM signs agreement with Telepiu to market
  Russians to Gain Access to Globalstar
  Advent Communications
  Murdoch Still Seeks Partner
  Judge Dismisses Part Of Suit
  DTH providers seek changes
  INTELSAT demonstrates video over TDMA
  Upcoming Launches
  New files and documents at our WebStand
  In Brief
  NEW VERSION AVAILABLE
Satellite Journal is pleased to announce the HTML version is
now offered "pushed". If you have web access, a POP3 mail
account and use either the Netscape 3-4 mail client or
Outlook Express you will be able to read each weekly issue
with full graphics. Note: you must stay connected to the web
to allow  the graphics to load, then you can sign off. If
you are familiar with the Inbox Direct service from
Netscape, the set-up is similar.
Follow these directions exactly (it's automated)
"    send Email to satellite_journal@csi.com
"    On the subject line put the following:  Subscribe HTML
PUSH
"    In the body put : your Email address
NEW WEB SITE
Satellite Journal Itl. is pleased to announce a new
affiliated web site at  http://satellite.miningco.com This
site also offers the latest in news and information and will
in the future have chat and message board areas.
This site is advertiser supported so please visit it often
and leave feedback.
     
FROM THE EDITOR
Since we have added over 200 new subscribers this month and
a quiet news week, I thought I would answer a number of
questions recently sent to me at
satellite_journal@compuserve.com.
Q. How do you get your news?
A. Over time we have depended less on regional contributors
in favour of news direct from the source. Currently, most
news comes directly from the newsmaker.
Q. How can you do this for free?
A. The cost is underwritten by advertising and sponsorship.
Q. Who reads SJI?
A. Readers cover a wide spectrum; CEO's, investment
analysts, educators, satellite professionals, hobbyists,
journalists and many others. At the present subscription
rate we should reach 3,000 subscribers this fall.
Q. Do you plan to offer a daily service?
A. A daily service is under serious consideration. More on
this in a later issue.
Q. I've noticed more news about LEOs Thanks!
A. Your welcome, since the  LEO launch a few weeks ago SJI
has added news about them to each issue. In the future, look
for more news including launch information etc.
Q. What happened to DVBNI?
A. DVBNI is still around. Sorry, the April issue was
delayed. The next issue will be out before the end of May.
FYI. It is published once a month and covers Digital Video
Broadcasting.
Q. Why can I not find back issues at the SJI web site.
A. When SJI started, the Web was not widely available,
however, ASCII issues were located at Jay Novello's web
site, the first site related to satellite issues. Thanks go
to Jay for his help over the years. You can go to his site
for Vol1 through Vol. 4 issues. Click on "Archives" from the
SJI home page. We are also updating our copies and posting
HTML versions to our web site. This project should be
finished this summer.
     
                              
              Telstar 5 successfully  launched
     Telstar 5 (97W) was successfully launched to a
geosynchronous transfer orbit at 11:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m. U.S.
Eastern Time) Saturday from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the
Republic of Kazakhstan.
     Telstar 5 has a total of 52 transponders -- 24 C-band
and 28 Ku-band -- is based on SS/L's three-axis, body-
stabilised FS-1300 bus.
     On July 1, Telstar 5 will officially be turned over to
Loral Skynet. The programmers on T5 will include:
ABC and the Fox networks
AlphaStar and TelQuest, digital services
The SPACECONNECTION
GlobeCast (formerly Keystone Communications)
Broadcast Satellite International
Fifth  Dimension Television
     Telstar 6 and Telstar 7, two high-powered satellites
being built by Space Systems/Loral, are expected to be in
service in 1998 and 1999, respectively.
                              
             Arianespace Board of Directors meet
     The Board of Directors of Arianespace has decided to
propose the nomination of Jean-Marie Luton as Chairman of
Arianespace S.A. to the annual Meeting of Shareholders on
June 16, after having already proposed Mr. Luton as Chairman
of Arianespace Participation on April 17, succeeding Charles
Bigot, whose term expires on July 1, 1997.
                              
                          Tee-Comm
     Tee-Comm Electronics Inc.reports that the Bank of
Montreal (Canada) has demanded immediate repayment of its
existing credit extended to Tee-Comm. The bank has appointed
an interim receiver In addition, the board of directors
resigned effective May 21, 1997.
                              
                Thor II successfully launched
        Thor II, a communications satellite for Telenor of
Oslo, Norway, was successfully launched Tuesday.
     Lift-off was at 6:39 p.m. EDT at Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station aboard a McDonnell Douglas Delta II rocket.
The spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle about 75
minutes later. About 8:09 p.m. EDT, the Castle Rock tracking
station in Colorado received Thor II's first signals,
confirming that it is operating normally.
     Thor II is an HS 376 spin-stabilised satellite. Hughes
also built 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 40-watt travelling-wave tube
amplifiers (TWTAs).
     The satellite uses 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 more than
11 years and will be located at 0.8 degrees West longitude.
     Telenor also has ordered Thor III. It will be
collocated with the other Thor satellites and will add more
direct-to-home television programming to the Nordic
countries and Central and Eastern Europe.
     The satellite will be delivered on orbit to Telenor by
August 1998. Hughes will provide a high-power HS 376 model
satellite, as well as arrange launch services and insurance,
upgrade the satellite control centre and train Telenor's
controllers.
     Thor III will have 14 active 47-watt Ku-band
transponders. Service life is a minimum of 11.5 years. The
agreement contains an option for an additional satellite.
                              
           TCM to launch weekly documentary series
     FILMS ON FILM will be seen Saturday nights at 8 p.m.
(ET), beginning May 31 and will debut with a special
presentation of MGM: When The Lion Roars, the Emmy Award-
winning, six-hour documentary chronicling the history of the
legendary Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio.
     Following MGM: When The Lion Roars, the 13-hour
documentary series Hollywood: A Celebration of the American
Silent Film will run through September 6.  Future FILMS ON
FILM will include: the acclaimed George Stevens: A
Filmmaker's Journey (1984); the award-winning documentary on
blacklisting in the industry, Hollywood on Trial (1976);
TCM's 1993 CableACE winner for Best Cultural Documentary,
Inside The Dream Factory; and documentaries from the
retrospective collection of TCM's sister service, Turner
Network Television (TNT), including Katharine Hepburn: All
About Me (1994); Jane Fonda's loving 1992 look at her father
Henry's career, Fonda on Fonda; Gary Cooper: American Life,
American Legend (1989); and more.
                              
                              APTV
     Associated Press Television (APTV), a world-wide news
co-operative, will tap into PanAmSat's upcoming PAS-5
Atlantic Ocean Region satellite to expand its news gathering
and news distribution operations within and between the
Americas and Europe.  PAS-5's Pan-American coverage will
enable APTV to link together its bureau's throughout the
Americas and in London using just the one satellite.
APTV will use a total of 18 Megahertz on PAS-5's C-band
Americas beam. The capacity will be split to create an 8
Megabits per second (Mbps) digital video channel from APTV's
London headquarters to client broadcasters throughout the
Americas, and another 8 Mbps digital video channel for
contribution of material back to London.
                              
                     Loral receives FCC authorisation
     The FCC has granted Loral a license to build, launch
and operate CyberStar, a world-wide broadband satellite-
based digital communications system being designed and
developed by Space Systems/Loral.
     The $1.6 billion CyberStar system is a geostationary
satellite-based digital telecommunications system that will
offer a variety of low-cost, high-speed, data and
telecommunications services world-wide from leased Ku-band
transponders satellites beginning in late 1997, and through
a dedicated constellation of geosynchronous Ka-band
satellites beginning in 1999.
     CyberStar services will include high-speed Internet
access, broadband interconnection, real-time streaming,
video-on-demand, and other data services that will be
delivered to consumers, businesses and private networks
around the world through a network of local and regional
service providers.
                              
         Fashion TV officially launches on EUTELSAT
     Fashion TV, the first theme channel in French dedicated
exclusively to fashion and haute couture, will officially
launch tomorrow, Wednesday 14 May, in Cannes. The channel
has been transmitting in the clear from the EUTELSAT
satellite Hot Bird 1 since 1 May. Fashion TV is broadcast as
part of the digital multiplex carried on transponder 5 of
that satellite.
          Technical details are as follows:
"    Satellite               Hot Bird 1 at 13 deg E
"    Frequency               11.304.75 GHz
"    Polarisation            horizontal
"    Symbol rate             27.5 Msymbol/s
"    FEC                     3/4
"    Transport Stream ID     500
"    Service ID              103
"    PID Video               123
"    PID Audio               133
     The channel can be seen by anyone with a digital
decoder connected to an antenna pointing towards EUTELSAT's
13 degrees East orbital position.
                              
        TV/COM signs agreement with Telepiu to market
     TV/COM International Inc. has signed an agreement with
Telepiu, the Italian pay-TV company. Under the terms of the
agreement, TV/COM will supply DVB MPEG-2 digital satellite
receivers under the Hyundai brand.
     The digital satellite receiver was developed  for the
requirements of Telepiu. It will also store up to six
alternative networks, including MEDIASET and RAI.
                              
             Russians to Gain Access to Globalstar
      GlobalTel (Globalstar Space Telecommunications), a
joint stock company founded by Rostelecom JSC, the largest
Russian telecommunications operator, and Globalstar LP, will
act as the exclusive provider of Globalstar services in
Russia.  GlobalTel is the owner and operator of the
Globalstar ground segment, and will be responsible for
interconnecting the Globalstar system with Russia's existing
wireline and wireless infrastructure.  GlobalTel will be
majority owned by Rostelecom.
     GlobalTel expects to serve more than 150,000
subscribers in Russia by the year 2002.  Russia's telephony
penetration rate is currently less than 20 percent.  Some
40,000 rural Russian communities are in need of improved
telecommunications services.
     Subscribers in Russia will use mobile terminals,
similar to today's cellular phones, with dual-mode
capability so users can switch from satellite telephony to
conventional cellular telephony as required.  As well as
using mobile terminals, users in Russia's rural and remote
areas may make or receive calls through fixed-site
telephones, similar either to phone booths or ordinary
wireline telephones.  Subscriber terminals will communicate
through a Globalstar satellite to one of Russia's gateways
(ground stations), which in turn will connect calls into
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