This news is provided free of charge to on-line users by TELE-satellit magazine and TS News Service GB. IT IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. It may not be reproduced for commercial reasons by any means what so ever. If you wish to reproduce this news or redistribute it for non commercial use please contact the email address below. Der TS Nachrichtendienst ist ein Service fuer die Freunde von TELE-satellit und TS-TV und ist nur fuer persoenliche infromation freigegeben. Software problems has meant a delayed and shortened TELE-satellit News this week for which we apologise. We will be back to regular length next week ! TELE-satellit EUROPE'S SATELLITE MAGAZINE International Satellite News Number 38, Week ending 12 February 1995 By Martyn Williams News Desk : Internet martyn@euro.demon.co.uk or CompuServe 100025,1637 (c) TELE-satellit Magazine Major private Lithuanian TV station closes Saulius Girnius, OMRI,Inc. The Lithuanian Radio and TV Committee on 8 February discussed use of the TV channel on which the bankrupt private company LitPoliinter TV had broadcast until the previous day, RFE/RL's Lithuanian Service reports. LitPoliinter TV owes 800,000 litai ($200,000) to the state and would need another 1 million litai as security to regain the right to broadcast. The committee decided to accept until 8 March offers from companies to use the channel. The applicants have to present programming schedules and a statement from a commercial bank guaranteeing their ability to pay necessary expenses. The committee also decided that the successful applicant will have to reach an agreement to continue rebroadcasting programs from Russia's Ostankino Television. Long March debris wiped out entire family A Chinese newspaper revealed that the burning debris of a failed Long March rocket wiped out an entire family living near the launch site when it fell to ground just over two weeks ago. The rocket remains and fuel killed the farmer, his wife and his four children who burned to death immediately according to the newspaper report. Reuters quoted a local newspaper reporter who said he found a "horrific scene of devastation" when he arrived in the village in China's Shanghai district. Other residents in the village were quoted as saying that they heard a deafening explosion and a sheet of fire. The investigation into the cause of the failure took a bizarre turn this week as Chinese officials blamed competing satellite operators for possible sabotage of the Apstar satellite. CCTV signs with PanAmSat Chinese Central Television, CCTV, has announced a contract just signed with PanAmSat for use of their PAS-2 and new PAS-3 satellites to provide coverage of the entire Asian region. PanAmSat estimates the potential number of users at around 40 million. CCTV has been broadcasting via PAS-2 since late December and the contract with PAS-3 will extend coverage of the Indian subcontinent, Middle east and the western part of Asia. News Corporation announces profits Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation Limited reported after tax profits before abnormal items for the six months ended December 31, 1994 of US$500 million, an increase of 21% compared to the same period a year ago. News Corp owns many prominent satellite broadcasters around the world. The following are statements on the status of these businesses taken from the company report : United States In the U.S. Television segment, operating results were up 58% year on year due to substantial gains in the TV Station Group and at Fox Broadcasting (FBC). Each of the company's eight owned and operated stations showed dramatic improvements over last year with revenues up over 25% and operating profits up by over 50%. The stations benefited from the healthy advertising market. But even more important was the addition of "The NFL on FOX." "The NFL on FOX" concluded its first season with the January 15, 1995 broadcast of the NFC Championship game between the San Francisco 49'ers and the Dallas Cowboys. The game generated a spectacular 34.2/57 share, making it the highest rated non-Super Bowl NFL telecast since January 1982 and the highest rated program in the history of FOX. For the regular season, "The NFL on FOX" finished with a 12.1 rating, well ahead of industry expectations. In primetime ratings FOX was the only network to report gains in all key demographics during the November '94 Sweeps period. FOX continued to show strength in its traditional demographic Adults 18-34 ranking ahead of both NBC and CBS. And FBC has made further inroads into the important Adults 18-49 demographic. For the season to date, FBC is up 12%, the only network to show growth in this category. Australia and Pacific Basin STAR TV, the Company's 63.6% owned, pan-Asian satellite broadcaster, continues to perform in line with expectations. STAR TV now reaches an estimated 53.7 million homes across Asia, India and the Middle East, an increase of almost 30% since January 1994. In October, STAR TV launched a second pay movie channel, STAR Movies, serving the Gulf States, Pakistan and India. Broadcasting in English, this channel joins a Chinese-language version which was launched in Taiwan and the Philippines last April. STAR TV continued to focus on locally oriented programming with the December launch of a new Hindi-language entertainment channel, EL-TV. In addition, STAR TV announced plans for two new local language movie channels to be launched in the coming year: Viva Cinema, a Filipino movie channel; and a yet unnamed Hindi-language movie service. In sport, STAR TV's Prime Sports channel delivered more cricket to its Indian viewers and, for the first time, Chinese league football to its Chinese viewers. Also during the quarter, STAR TV announced that BMG, EMI Music, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Music Group would join STAR TV as equity partners in Channel 1/8V3/8, Asia's leading music television service. Equity Investments BSkyB announced operating profit for the six months of 110.6 million pounds, a 63% increase over the same period last year. Revenues were up almost 50% due to higher subscriber levels. Almost four million British households now subscribe to BSkyB with over 70% receiving their signal via direct-to-home satellite. On December 8th, BSkyB successfully completed its initial public offering, selling 20% of its equity at 256p per share. The resulting market value of 4.39 billion pounds immediately made BSkyB one of Britain's top 50 companies. Sky continue to show a profit A day after the News Corp figures BSkyB announced profits for the last six months of 1994 showing the broadcaster is now making £5 million a week. Pretax profits were up 46% on greater sales and subscriptions which now top the 4 million mark. Neue Product Petra Huether, TELE-satellit Muenchen Satellites On The Highway German car manufacturer BMW introduces a GPS-based navigation system for their new "7" model series of cars. This system is capable of calculating a vehicle`s location in any instant and everywhere on the planet by making use of the established net of GPS navigation satellites. A synthesized voice indicates any change of direction, while a display shows the destination of your journey and the road you are just using, with the direction of movement indicated by an arrow. The system even informs you about parking lots, petrol stations and other useful bits. Info Fax: +49-89-415566 Frequencies Converted For ASTRA 1D German manufacturer S&G Kommunikation now offers a full range of ASTRA 1D converters to dealers and wholesale outlets. These are are conveniently installed directly at the satellite receiver as a neat and tidy method of bringing older ASTRA systems up to date. Their FUSU range of converters can be controlled either via manual switching, use of the magnetic polariser connector of the receiver, or by relais switching. FUSU 1 is intended for satellite systems with a 10 GHz LNB and a receiver input range of 950...1750 MHz, while FUSU 2 works with the same receiver, but a 9.75 GHz LNB. They also offer the FUSU Duo, which allows the reception of all ASTRA satellites (1....1D) witzh any combination of reveiver and LNB. Info Fax: +49-6473-3377 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 132 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