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TELE-SATELLIT EUROPE'S SATELLITE MAGAZINE International Satellite News Number 37, Week ending 5 February 1995 By Martyn Williams News Desk : Internet martyn@euro.demon.co.uk or CompuServe 100025,1637 (c) TELE-satellit Magazine VT4 launches via satellite ... and cable New Flemish TV sender VT4 began broadcasting earlier this week via satellite and cable. Last week we reported on the conflict between the owners and the Belgian authorities who were refusing access to the local cable nets. A press release from VT4 this week simply stated that "the satellite channel is made available to the Benelux region and is carried by cable systems reaching over 90 percent of the television households in Flanders." Flanders has a population of six million with 2.7 million television households. SBS is operating VT4 with the, support of VUM, the largest Flemish publishing company, which has an option to acquire, 30 percent of the station. In commenting on the new channel, Harry Evans Sloan, SBS's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "After two years of planning, we are very pleased to launch our first television station outside of Scandinavia. The response from advertisers, and cable television systems has been very supportive. With experienced management in place and a quality mix of programming, we plan to build VT4 into a premiere entertainment source in Benelux." Originating from the U.K., VT4 is a Dutch-speaking service offering a combination of commissioned productions and purchased international programs. The station is targeted at a young audience (16-40 years old) and currently provides eight hours of programming per day. VT4's first day of programming included a popular Belgian feature film, a 90-minute variety special promoting the station's launch and local news. Sky announce news deal with Reuters BSkyB announced Thursday that they had come to an agreement with Reuters that would mean the international news agency taking over the world wide news gathering operation that Sky currently runs. Sky would retain editorial control over the channel. BSkyB Director Sam Chisholm said the deal was a good platform to the global expansion of Sky News. New channel on Hot Bird NBC Super Channel has changed it's Hot Bird transponder for one on Hot Bird 2. The broadcaster will continue to use Astra for at least the next year and tells TS News that the Hot Bird 1 channel has been leased to African pay TV station Canal Horizons. QVC to soft-scramble on Astra London based shopping channel QVC has announced a new deal with BSkyB that not only reduces Sky's stake in the broadcaster from 50% to 20% but also gives the goahead for the beginning of soft scrambled broadcasting. "QVC-The Shopping Channel has experienced phenomenal growth within its current distribution in the United Kingdom. This success is an inspiration to go forward with a shareholding that reflects our financial commitment to the venture," states Bill Schereck, President, QVC International. "We expect the business to continue to flourish as we expand The Shopping Channel's availability to anyone in the United Kingdom who has a videocrypt receiver. That means at least 300,000 new homes for us in Britain alone." This may just be the first step towards totally clear broadcasting, a move which was forecast late last year, as Schereck continued "Viewers will be able to receive QVC, even if they do not subscribe to a SKY service, It's clearly sensible to have as many people watching as possible, and this is the first step in that direction." Malta joins Intelsat Malta has joined Intelsat and become the 135th member. Anthony De Bono, chief executive officer of Telemalta Corporation signed an agreement in Washington last week and became shareholders in the International satellite organisation with a stake on 0.05 %. GE Americom sign for Ekspress channels GE American Communications, Inc. this week announced the launch of an international video programming satellite service, which will be carried on the Intersputnik Express 6 hybrid satellite planned for launch in April 1995. The spacecraft will be located at 80 degrees East. Service is currently scheduled to begin July 1, 1995. Americom's long-term agreement with Intersputnik includes five C-band and two Ku-band transponders on the Russian-built spacecraft. "This firmly establishes GE Americom as an innovative international satellite service company," said John F. Connelly, chairman and chief executive officer of GE Americom. Among the TV services planned are English- and Hindi-language news and entertainment programming channels serving the Indian subcontinent. The Express satellite series design evolved from Russian military communications satellite applications. These spacecraft carry a total of 12 transponders, with a minimum spacecraft life of five years. They also carry an advanced Xenon ion engine that reduces the amount of propellant needed to fine-tune the initial orbit and perform station-keeping maneuvers. Duma endorses media bill Robert Orttung, OMRI, Inc. The Duma passed a bill "On TV and Radio Broadcasting" in its second reading, Interfax reported 26 January. The bill will be returned to the legislature for final debate and possible passage by 10 February. In its present form, the bill bars federal, regional, and other local authorities, as well as individuals and public associations, from controlling the programming policy of a TV or radio company. There are exceptions, however, for broadcasts of elections, advertisements, erotic programs, and broadcasts from zones where a state of emergency is in force. Ostankino turns "public" on 1 April Julia Wishnevsky, OMRI, Inc. Vladislav Listev, the new general director of Russian Public TV, formerly known as Ostankino, announced that he begins his tenure on 1 February and repeated that Ostankino will become the most widely watched, most powerful, and most competitive Russian TV channel. Listev reminded viewers of "Vremya" on 31 January that the formerly state-owned broadcasting company was made "public" by a presidential decree in 1994. In fact, this means it became a joint-stock company with the state retaining a 51% stake. Listev said Ostankino starts functioning as a public TV station on 1 April. Listev founded and hosted some of Russia's most popular political and entertainment shows. A few of them, however, have become considerably less popular under Listev's hand-picked successors. CNN Airport Network is latest MPEG customer CNN Airport Network has become the latest North American TV channel to decide on MPEG video compression for the delivery of it's news service specifically designed for airport lounges. Migration to the Scientific-Atlanta digital video compression system is scheduled for early 1995. CNN Airport Network, started in 1991, is a news information service operated by Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. programmed to meet the information needs of airline travelers. CNN Airport Network is seen in waiting areas in 21 airports throughout the United States and carries 60-minute segments of news and features. It draws from the vast newsgathering resources of CNN and has the capability to carry live coverage of sports and breaking news. Neue Product Petra Hόther, TS Mόnich All In One While the hunt for remote controls develops into one of mankind`s most charished leisure activities, it is certainly ridiculous that you need at least six of the control devices to operate the home theatre: one for the set plus a bunch of additional ones for the sat-receiver, the video, CD player, cassette recorder - making it nigh impossible to remember what device controls what! Accordingly, a growing number of manufacturers comes up with system remotes that control all appliances. Which doesn`t help much if you own components from different makes, so you might be interested in VISA Electronics` range of universal remotes. They unite all functions on one single keyboard and VISA has come up with a tricky solution here: a display indicates functions that can be accessed by the keys below. It is quite easy for the user to operate the unit: you`ll just have to look into their helpful booklet for the remote code needed to control a specific device. Once you have entered the code into VISA`s remote, up to six appliances can be controlled. Info Fax: +49-8106-34691 European DX report Norbert Schlammer • DFS 1 Kopernikus, 32,5 Grad Ost 30 Jan : 11,625 GHz, h - Tests from German Telekom. • DFS 2 Kopernikus, 28,5 Grad Ost 30 Jan : News feeds from the Dutch floods : 11,525 GHz, h; 11,602 GHz, v; 12,655 GHz, v; Feeds for WDR and Swiss TV. 31 Jan : Outside Broadcasts from the Dutch floods : 11,602 GHz, v for RTL 4, 11,551 GHz, v for Belgian TV 1 Feb : 11,625 GHz, h - Sports for DSF. Handball championship with commentary on 6,65 and clean sound on 7,20. 1 Feb : Outside Broadcasts from the floods in the Netherlands : 11,551 GHz, v, and 11,525 GHz, h for Dutch TV and 12,725 GHz, v for Portugese TV. 2 Feb : Outside Broadcasts from the floods in the Netherlands : 11,675 GHz, h, for France 2, 11,525 GHz, h for SAT.1 and 11,475 GHz, h, for Dutch TV. • DFS 3 Kopernikus 23,5 Grad Ost 30 Jan : 11,675 GHz, h - Shortwave via satellite ! On the ex RTL transponder on audio 7,74 there was a shortwave broadcast complete with fading. The broadcast was in German. • ASTRA 19,2 Grad Ost 2 Feb : TV Asia has left it's channels shared with Nickelodeon and Sky Movies Gold and now broadcasts just on Astra 1D, Transponder 54, 10,788 GHz. • EUTELSAT II-F3, 16 Grad Ost 1 Feb : 12,539 GHz, v - Football feed for VTM Belgium. 1 Feb : 11,617 GHz, v - Canal Plus Poland has begun broadcasting some movies scrambled on their transponder. The system in use is Syster / Nagravision. 2 Feb : 12,539 GHz, v - Newsfeeds for Sky TV from Jerusalem JCS and in Flemish for VTM. • EUTELSAT II-F1, 13 Grad Ost 30 Jan : 11,146 GHz, h - Many feeds from Intrax about the Dutch floods. Also carried is a promo for VT4 which starts on 1 Feb. 1 Feb : 11,080 GHz, v - Kiss FM from California live on TV 5's audio 7,92 from 1500 to 1900. The programme is also on Telecom 5 in stereo. 1 Feb : 11,145 GHz, h - VT 4 has begun broadcasting. Transmissions began at 1700. The channel is using PAL with audio on 6,60 MHz. 2 Feb : 12,561 GHz, h - Newsfeeds from the floods in the Netherlands. • EUTELSAT II-F2, 10 Grad Ost 1 Feb : 11,596 GHz, h - Pau Ortez/Ulker Istanbul Basketball feed for Turkish TV with audio on 6,60 and 7,20. 2 Feb : 11,142 GHz, v - Sports feed for TF 1 live from Dortmund with french audio at 7.20. • TELECOM 1C, 3 Grad Ost 30 Jan : 12,602 GHz, v - A seminar from a Data communication forum live from San Francisco in english with audio at 6,60 / 7,20. The broadcast was in PAL. 1 Feb : 12,648 GHz, v - Feed from BBC World Service TV in Arabic to the Orbit pay TV package. The broadcast is in PAL with audio on 6,60. 1 Feb : 12,692 GHz, v - Feed from the French floods for RTL French TV with audio on 5,80. • INTELSAT 702, 1 Grad West 1 Feb : 11,595 GHz, v - The new film channel TV 1000 Cinema has begun broadcasting in D2-MAC with Eurocrypt. 1 Feb : 11,475 GHz, v - TV Denmark is currently broadcasting on SVT 2's channel in D2-MAC with Eurocrypt. • TELECOM 2B, 5 Grad West 30 Jan : 12,648 GHz, v - Audio today included RTL Berlin, live from Cannes from 0600. 31 Jan : 12,648 GHz, v - A variety of radio stations are being heard, relayed for a trade audio show in Cannes. 1200 - 1400 40 Principales; 1500 - 2000 Kiss FM, Los Angeles 1 Feb : 12,648 GHz, v - Kiss-FM was heard from 15.00 to 19.00 via TMC on 7,25 / 8,20 audio. • TDF, 18,8 Grad West 1 Feb : 11,881 GHz, rz - Arte has stopped broadcasting on TDF now in favour of Astra. There is now a blank test signal. • INTELSAT 601, 27,5 Grad West 30 Jan : 11,017 GHz, h - The Superbowl live, with audio on 7,02 / 7,20. TELE-satellit Magazine This news is from the English language news service of TELE-satellit, a monthly satellite magazine edited in Munich, Germany. It consists of 164 pages, full colour with tables, charts and news with many off-screen photos of the satellite channels plus an informative technical section. Subscriptions are available for DM 120, Europe surface mail; DM 144, Europe airmail and DM 192, ROW airmail. Orders for subscriptions and more information should be sent to : TELE-satellit Customer Service, Silheimer Str. 6a, D-89278 Nersingen, Germany, Fax +49-7308-919001 Where to find satellite news : TELE-satellit News, English : CompuServe UK Forum (UKFORUM) - Windows Write / ASCII version, library 19 CompuServe European Forum (EURFORUM) - Windows Write version, library 5 CompuServe Deutschland on line (GERLINE) - Windows Write version, library 15 CompuServe Telecommunications Forum (TELECOM) - Windows Write version fax on demand +49-8282-81003 fax on demand +49-2163-81744 fax on demand +49-7308-919009 NBC Super Channel - NBC Text page 171 alt.satellite.tv.europe newsgroup on Usenet World Wide Web : http://xan.esrin.esa.it:2602/satellite.html Fidonet SAT.028 Fidonet SATELLITE.FR Fidonet RU.SAT Fidonet SATELLIT_R23.PUB Maus Net : tv.grp America On Line - from the "ham radio" area in the General file library. Anonymous FTP to : ftp.funet.fi /pub/dx/text/satellite/telesatellit CIX Skyguide/telesat conference SAT NET BBS network SweDX BBS, Swedish DX Association. +46-8-53034727 / Fidonet 2:201/339 Short Wave Paradise BBS, online 24 hours a day ! USA 616-383-4979 TELE-satellit News, German : CompuServe Deutschland on line (GERLINE) - ASCII version, library 15 CompuServe Der Spiegel Forum (SPIEGEL) - ASCII version, library 11 fax on demand +49-8282-81003 fax on demand +49-2163-81744 fax on demand +49-7308-919009 SAT 1 Text - page 513 SAT NET BBS network Other reliable sources of satellite news : • Radio Sweden Mediascan. 1st and 3rd Tuesday, 20 minutes into the English programme via Astra, Shortwave, Mediumwave 1197 kHz and the World Radio Network. Text and audio files of Mediascan can be found in the SCDX directory on ftp.funet.fi • Radio Netherlands Media Network, Thursday, 23 minutes into the English programme via shorwave and The World Radio Network • World Wide Web users can access TS News and the electronic journals above and more information via the European satellite home page, URL http://xan.esrin.esa.it:2602/satellite.html • The ProShow. Every Sunday night starting at 9:00 pm EST on the Omega Radio Network - Galaxy 3, Transponder 17, 5.80 MHz. -- Martyn Williams | Internet : martyn@euro.demon.co.uk | CI$ : 100025,1637 | Nifty : PXQ00623 | The views above are, of course, my own