SATNEWS 53
Robert A Dickel IE2
on the Fidonet satellite conference to the UK and Germany. Since
this will be of interest to you, I have been given permission
from Darren Ingram to distribute SATNEWS on Usenet.
If you have any comments or news for Darren Ingram, I will be
happy to pass them on to him. Netmail me at the addresses at the
end of this message.
Message #6837 - Satellite
Date : 10-23-91 18:05
From : SATNews Distribution
To : All
Subject : Satellite News - Issue 53
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:----------------------Electronic Edition-----------------------:
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: Issue: 053 :--------:Published Weekly:-------: Date: 21/10/91 :
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:---------------(C) Copyright 1991 Darren Ingram----------------:
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IN THIS WEEK'S EDITION:
* BSKYB WORTH TWO BILLION POUNDS?
* UK DISH MARKET INCREASE
* SATELLITE HACKING
* BRITISH BROADCASTER TVAM SIGNS SNG CONTRACT
* INTRAX LAUNCHED
* TELECOM DENMARK LINKS INTO LITHUANIA
* CABLE AND SATELLITE RIGHTS
* EURO-HDTV SETBACK
* HUGHES REPLACEMENT
* INMARSAT LAUNCH BID
* COMSAT'S NEW INTELSAT-K CUSTOMERS
* MTV ANIMATION CONTEST
* TURNER SUES U.S. GOVERNMENT
* TURKISH TELEVISION SHUTDOWN
* AMERICAN SCRAMBLING FIGHT
* BBC ASIA
* RUSSIAN CABLE TELEVISION
* ASIAN SATELLITE FIGHT
* BSKYB FILM INCREASE
* LANDSCAPE ADDITIONS
* AUSTRALIAN PAY TV
* FCC REPORT ON SNG TERMINALS
* NEWS IN BRIEF
* EDITORIAL COMMENT
BSKYB WORTH TWO BILLION POUNDS?
British Sky Broadcasting could be worth two billion pounds,
despite nearly being bankrupt six months ago, according to a
report produced by S G Warburg.
The report, not yet distributed to financial fund managers
and interested parties, says that BSkyB is the "most capital
hungry project the country has seen outside the Channel Tunnel"
and that it is likely to break even and make a profit next year.
BSkyB chairman Frank Barlow says that he is not surprised at
the valuation, and that "If I were the sole owner today and I was
offered 2 billion I would turn it down."
A severe rationalisation programme has taken place at BSkyB
which has reduced weekly losses from over 10 million to 1.5
million. Further cuts and improved loss ratios are expected in
the coming months.
UK DISH MARKET INCREASE
Approximately 65,000 satellite dishes were installed in September
in the UK, according to figures released for the latest FT
Satellite Monitor.
Continental Research chairman John Clements says that whilst
September sales figures were lower than expected, two million
homes were expected to be able to receive satellite television by
the end of the year.
The survey shows that sales increased towards the end of the
month, and that there was an increase in the intention to equip
homes with satellite television. This could be attributed to the
launch of the Comedy Channel by BSkyB.
SATELLITE HACKING
A businessman has pleaded guilty to designing and building a
satellite system for Jordan which could be used to intercept
telephone traffic in the Middle East.
Roger Crummer, of Centreville, Virginia USA, filed a defence
to the US court and said that the Jordanian government paid him
US$1.47 million to develop the interception system called VIPER.
U.S. attorney Kenneth Nelson said that whilst VIPER could
have been used to intercept traffic, it could also be used for
defence applications.
VIPER was designed to monitor telephone traffic carried
through Arabsat, an Arab league telecommunications satellite.
Crummer has pleaded guilty to illegally exporting an
eavesdropping device and lying to official investigators. He
will be sentenced on December 13. Crummer could face a one-year
jail sentence and a large fine if convicted.
BRITISH BROADCASTER TVAM SIGNS SNG CONTRACT
TVam, the channel 3 terrestrial breakfast broadcasters in the UK
has signed a contract with SISLink to provide satellite news
gathering (SNG) capabilities for the network.
TVam, which learned this week that its franchise would not
be renewed after January 1 1993, has used SISLink services since
November 1989.
SISLink will guarantee nationwide SNG facilities and space
segment between 0600 and 0925 UK local time daily. SISLink can
be on route to a UK news story within 15 minutes from a
nationwide base of SNG vehicles.
Bill Ludford, director of programmes at TVam said: "The live
element is a vital ingredient of the success of TVam's programmes
and news gathering operation. SISLink do an excellent job for us
and they are always ready to act at short notice."
TVam were one of the first UK terrestrial broadcasters to
install a SNG downlink. SISLink has provided TVam with hours of
historical-news coverage including scenes from the Berlin Wall,
RAF Lyneham, the Channel tunnel, release of the Birmingham Six
and countless interview with government ministers throughout the
U.K.
* TVam are now unlikely to join the Euronews European news
channel, due to be broadcast from the end of 1992, even as a
independent news provider for the U.K.
INTRAX LAUNCHED
PTT Telecom Netherlands and Netherlands Broadcasting Services
Corp. (NOB) have launched INTRAX, a joint subsidiary venture to
provide temporary audio and video satellite links and production
services at the Telecom '91 exhibition at Geneva.
Intrax will be able to transmit television sound and vision
signals from news hot-spots, outside broadcasts and corporate
venues for European and international broadcasting clients.
The new organisation, based in Hoofddorp, near Amsterdam's
Schipol Airport, has already carried out a number of assignments
including providing up to eight hours of daily coverage for the
European Broadcasting Union from Zagreb.
TELECOM DENMARK LINKS INTO LITHUANIA
Telecom Denmark has signed an agreement to provide international
satellite telecommunications with Lithuania's broadcasting
authorities.
The new telecommunications link will join western Europe
with the "liberalised" eastern Europe.
VSATS (very small aperture terminals) will be used to
provide point to point (and multipoint) communications between
the two regions.
CABLE AND SATELLITE RIGHTS
According to a report in Multichannel News, American House Energy
and Commerce Committee member Billy Tauzin (D-La) has introduced
legislation which he says will bring C-band satellite dish owners
onto "equal footing" with cable television viewers.
The bill, if passed, will require cable programmers to
establish non-discriminatory prices, terms and conditions, for
the distribution of their products through third-party packagers.
The National Cable Television Association (NCTA) spokesman,
Peggy Laramie, said: "NCTA does not oppose the bill, as long as
it doesn't get loaded up with other issues." The Satellite
Broadcasting and Communications Association and the National
Rural Telecommunications Cooperative are also supporting the
bill.
EURO-HDTV SETBACK
Plans by the European Commission to implement a high definition
television format and policy throughout Europe at the end of the
year look in doubt, after European ministers said that the
broadcasting directive may not be passed until next year.
The European parliament's current broadcasting directive
expires at the end of the year, and a revised draft of the
directive is unlikely to be discussed until a full meeting of
European members of parliament in November.
HDTV advocate Filippo Maria Pandolfi, telecommunications
minister of the European parliament, says that the new directive
should be implemented by the end of the year, and that
broadcasters should use D2-MAC transmissions as an interim format
to HDTV. His proposals are backed by Philips and Thomson, two
companies who have invested heavily in MAC and digital television
technology.
HUGHES REPLACEMENT
Hughes Communications is to retire its Westar IV satellite on
November 2, as part of its fleet replacement plan. A spare
satellite currently in orbit will replace the aging satellite.
A C-band Galaxy VI satellite, currently at 91 degrees west
longitude, will start moving to 99 degrees west longitude at 2100
EDT on Wednesday (October 23). Once the satellite is parked at
the new location, transponders will be transferred onto the new
craft.
Westar customers affected by the move include National
Public Radio, NHK, Boneville Corp. and the National Christian
Network.
INMARSAT LAUNCH BID
Five satellite contractors have submitted tenders to Inmarsat,
the global satellite co-operative, to launch its third generation
range of satellites.
Arianespace, China Great Wall Industry Corp., General
Dynamics Commercial Launch Services, Rocket Systems Corp. and VVO
Licensintorg submitted bids for the launch contract, expected to
be announced in April 1992.
Inmarsat has scheduled the launch of the Inmarsat-3
satellites in 1994-95, subject to launch availability. The
Inmarsat-3 satellites are being built by a consortium of GE Astro
and Matra Marconi Space. The third generation satellites will be
eight times as powerful as the Inmarsat-2 satellites launched
recently.
COMSAT'S NEW INTELSAT-K CUSTOMERS
Brightstar Ltd. and Radiotelevisione Italia (RAI) in partnership
with Geneva-based KayFourCast S.A. are to lease capacity on the
Intelsat-K satellite from Communications Satellite Corporation's
(COMSAT) World Systems business unit.
The announcement, made at the Telecom '91 exhibition in
Geneva, will provide additional satellite capacity to the
broadcasters in the future.
The Intelsat-K satellite is a high-powered Ku-band craft,
offering sixteen 54 Mhz transponders, designed primarily for
trans-Atlantic transmissions. The satellite is expected to be
launched early in 1992, with commercial service operations
commencing by the second quarter of the year.
Brightstar plans to lease two transponders for ten years,
whilst RAI will have two transponders for five years. Brightstar
will use their transponders for television feeds distribution,
whilst RAI will broadcast its Italian programming to the U.S.
MTV ANIMATION CONTEST
MTV Europe's animation contest is attracting entries from
participants throughout Europe. Hundreds of storyboards have
been receiver from designers as far afield as Japan, the US and
Russia.
Ten winning entries are to be chosen at the Los Angeles
International Animation Celebration in November, where they can
win up to $10,000 to produce their skills. These entries can
then be entered into a $22,000 competition judged at the
International Animation Festival held at Cardiff, Wales in April
1992.
Entries have to focus on current environmental and social
issues, and asks animators to pose the question "What is wrong
with our planet, and how can we fix it?"
Peter Dougherty, creative director at MTV Europe says: "I am
thrilled with the quality of boards I have received to date."
TURNER SUES AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
Turner Broadcasting Systems Inc. have issued law suits against
U.S. treasury officials who have blocked plans to provide
television services to Cuba, under the pretext that it would
violate U.S. economic embargoes against the country.
The law suit is designed to force U.S. treasury officials to
approve the plans to broadcast services to one of the last
communist bastions of the Americas.
Bert Carp, Turner Broadcasting Systems vice president for
government affairs says that the U.S. government approved news
broadcasts bound for Cuba two years ago, and that Cubans can
already illegally receive TBS' satellite signals.
A U.S. treasury spokesman refused to comment on the legal
action.
TURKISH TELEVISION SHUTDOWN
The Turkish government has ordered the state telephone company to
close down Turkey's cable television networks which are showing
more party political broadcasts than allowed..
Twenty thousand homes will be deprived of a service, but
Turkish viewers armed with a satellite dish can receive STAR 1
and the new rival MEGA 10.
Under Turkish law, political campaigning over television is
severely rationed during an election period. Once the election
is over, cable television services should be restored. (At the
time of going to press SATNEWS could not establish whether this
had happened).
AMERICAN SCRAMBLING FIGHT
The National Association of Retail Dealers of America (NARDA)
says that it opposes the universal scrambling of American cable
television signals, according to a report in Radio Electronics
USA.
NARDA says that many local companies are scrambling all of
their signals, except for those which can be picked up on a
regular television aerial, and this is seriously limiting the
customer's choice of audio-visual equipment.
NARDA president Ed Knodle says that universal scrambling of
signals requires subscribers to use cable-supplied encryption
boxes for basic and premium channel reception. This move
"renders useless our (members) best products, such as cable-ready
TV's and VCR's, remote control, and the new technologies which
give consumers enhanced video, sound and convenience."
Knodle believes that this move would allow cable companies
to profit at subscriber's expense.
BBC ASIA
The British Broadcasting Corporation has commenced broadcasting a
24-hour news and information service to Asia, which is being
viewed as a serious competitor to Cable News Network.
Two hours of daily programming are currently being
broadcast, although this will be replaced by "round the clock
news, sports, weather and general information," according to a
BBC spokeswoman.
The service, relayed over the STAR satellite, will be
offered free to Asian viewers equipped with a suitable satellite
television receiver.
RUSSIAN CABLE TELEVISION
Test transmissions of COSMOS TV, the Russian wireless cable
television station in Moscow operated by the Moscow Tower &
Broadcast Co. and International Telcell Group began last week.
The service is expected to enter commercial operation next
year and offer a range of television and radio programmes to
Moscow citizens. A specialist radio decoder will be required in
order to receive the eight channel service.
Programming is being supplied by the American company Comsat
Video Enterprises. International Telcell also holds licences to
operate wireless cable television services in Prague, Riga
(Latvia) and Tbilisi (Soviet Georgia).
ASIAN CABLE FIGHT
Asian-Pacific broadcasters have acknowledged that they face an
increasing challenge from pan-continental broadcasters in their
own marketplaces.
Officials of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union remain
divided as to the exact threat of pan-continental broadcasters
such as the BBC and CNN, but many ABU members do not allow
reception of direct-to-home satellite signals.
ABU secretary-general Hugh Leonard said that whilst the ABU
advocated the principle of an information free-for-all, he said
that it was up to individual governments to decide whether to
allow this or not.
BSKYB FILM INCREASE
A recent rise in subscriptions for British Sky Broadcasting's
film channels should not see a decrease in viewers, according to
a survey published in Satellite TV Finance.
The Comedy Channel, says the report, acted as a saviour for
the channel's finances, with its introduction bringing in an
influx of new subscribers, compensating for subscribers who have
expressed their intention to cease subscribing to the service.
LANDSCAPE ADDITIONS
Several UK cable operators have signed an agreement with The
Landscape Channel to relay its services.
The channel will now be carried on cable systems in
Nottingham, Mansfield, Grantham, Melton Mowbray and Newark.
AUSTRALIAN PAY TV
The Australian government has agreed to allow the introduction of
pay television in the country, after discussing it for over ten
years.
From October 1 1992, pay-TV companies will be able to charge
for services, although advertising on pay-TV channels will be
banned for the first five years. Safeguards have also been
introduced to prevent pay-TV channel gaining exclusive rights to
national events, to ensure majority Australian ownership and to
stop terrestrial networks owning more than 25 percent of a pay-TV
company.
Government watchers in Australia are saying that this
"sudden move" could be a sweetener for potential buyers of
Aussat, the Australian satellite communications carrier which is
being privatised with a AU$600 million debt burden.
FCC REPORT ON SNG TERMINALS
The American Federal Communications Commission recently inspected
sixty-four American transportable SNG earth stations in a bid to
ensure technical compliance is being met.
The inspection found that Ku-band technical compliance was
good, although half of the C-band stations radiated more power
than authorised.
Two percent of SNG units did not broadcast an automatic
transmitter identification signal (ATIS), and no was given to
operators over exposure to high levels of radio frequency fields.
The FCC said that licensees must pay more attention to
licence operating conditions, and warned that it may tighten up
its procedures in the coming months.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Following the Independent Television Commission's (ITC)
franchise auction, which saw the weekday ITV contractor for the
London area Thames Television lose its franchise, rumours are
emanating from Thames' Euston Road and BSkyB's Osterley
headquarters that a possible "financial and programmes"
arrangement may be made in the future. Spokesmen for both
organisations refused to speculate on "unsubstantiated rumours
about possible business arrangements". Industry analysts say
that such an arrangement would be highly beneficial and would
"see a high take-up for satellite television."
RAI are to extend their test transmissions of digital
television and MAC in 4:3 and 16:9 on Olympus from the end of
October. Monday mornings will be dedicated to engineering
tests, and a two-hour D2-MAC transmission of RAI-SAT is planned.
CERN, in Geneva, is preparing to trial a high bit rate data
transfer on the specialised services payload. Because of energy
losses on Olympus, payload airtime is being severely regulated by
ESA bossess.
Toshiba has announced the availability of the world's first
single chip NICAM 728 system. The TB1204N/F is a BiCMOS device
that integrates Toshiba's previous NICAM chipsets. The chip
demodulates a QPSK signal into a 728 kbit/second data stream
which is then subjected to pulse code modulation. Stereo audio
is then expanded from the compressed 10 bit state to a 14 bit
state for amplification at the receiver.
IBM has signed an agreement with Rogers Cable TV from Canada
to transmit text, images, video and sound as an experiment of
interactive multimedia technologies. IBM and other computer
manufacturers are actively promoting multimedia technologies as
the way forward for computer systems. Technologies to be tested
will be the ability to transmit text at 1 gigabit/second over
satellite and terrestrial cable links.
The Football Association is seeking to cancel a 30 million
between British Sky Broadcasting and the British Broadcasting
Corporation to transmit live coverage of the English FA Cup,
Charity Shield and international games, according to an article
in Cable and Satellite Express. A Football Association
spokesman confirmed the moves, and said a decision has not yet
been made.
Bull CPH, a subsidiary of Groupe Bull, has signed a licence
agreement with Japanese company OKI for a Self Programmable One
Chip Microcomputer (SPOM) patent, which will authorise OKI to
produce integrated circuits based on unique microprocessor
architectures of the smart card. Smart cards can be used in a
number of applications including pay television and encryption.
Super Gold, the AM radio service of Chiltern Radio in
England has taken an additional audio subcarrier to transmit its
"Golden Oldies" music service throughout Europe. The station has
leased the 7.92 MHz audio subcarrier on the Sky News transponder
on Astra.
Hughes Aircraft Co. has been awarded a US$100 million
contract to build Thailand's first communications satellite
system. The agreement, signed at the Telecom '91 exhibition in
Geneva, will provide two lightweight versions of the HS376
satellite, delivered in 24 months and 28 months time. Hughes has
now received 39 orders for this satellite type.
A radio programme for satellite television enthusiasts is to
be broadcast on Quality Europe FM (QEFM) every Sunday afternoon.
The broadcast, at 1630 GMT, will cover all aspects of satellite
television and is produced in association with The European
Satellite User Group (TESUG). TESUG already has some information
text pages on Supertext, the teletext service for Super Channel.
Orbital Science Corp. of the U.S. will launch the first
Brazilian-made commercial satellite, after beating off a Soviet-
backed consortium. The US$11.6 million contract will be signed
on November 15, said a statement issued by the Brazilian
government. Although no launch date has been set, the satellite
will be launched off a B-52 jet.
GTE Government Systems has been awarded a multi-million
dollar contract to provide satellite mission support to the U.S.
Navy. The contract will offer in-orbit support and assistance
for the Fleet Satellite Communications System (FLTSATCOM), which
consists of eight geosynchronous operational satellites.
Home Shopping Network and GE American Communications Inc.
has signed an agreement to transmit Home Shopping Network's
programming on the Satcom I-R satellite. Satcom I-R will carry
a new Home Shopping Network service dedicated to infomercials (or
long commercials).
The European Space Agency will be showing the latest in
high-technology communications at SITEF '91 in Toulouse, France.
SITREF '91 is a forum and international marketplace for advanced
technologies.
The English Parliament channel, dubbed MPTV, to be
distributed by United Artists Programming, is unlikely to
commence broadcasting before January 1992, says a company
spokesman.
Comsat Video Enterprises (CVE) and Turner Cable Network
Sales has extended their agreement to provide CNN Headline news
services to CVE affiliate stations until 1994. Cable network
stations will distribute the CNN Headline service with this deal.
GTE Spacenet is to supply telecommunications transmission
capabilities to the US Defence Information Systems Agency under a
US$ 9 million contract, spread over ten years. GTE Spacenet will
supply satellite transponder capacity as part of the deal.
Lithuania has made a formal application to join the Eutelsat
European satellite organisation. The country will be the 29th
country to join the organisation, and is the first Baltic state
to make an application.
According to figures issued by MTV Europe, the station had
30.617 million homes connected to its service at the end of
September, an increase of 1.021 million over the previous month.
27 million homes receive MTV direct from the Astra satellite.
The European parliament is to decide how much money to
plough into the Euronews project this week, according to a
statement issued from Brussels.
A Soviet KOSMOS 2164 artificial satellite has been launched
by a Kosmos rocket launcher. Soviet news agency TASS says that
the satellite will be used for scientific experiments.
GTE Spacenet has signed an agreement with NBC News in
American to provide satellite news gathering (SNG) capabilities
aboard its GSTAR III and GSTAR IV satellites.
Arianespace is to launch India's Insat-IIA satellite in
February next year, according to a company spokesman. The
satellite will be launched on Ariane flight 50.
Scientific Atlanta has delivered 20,000 of its model 8600
addressable cable set-top terminals with on-screen graphics to
Cablevision S.A. de C.V. in Mexico City.
VisEurope has added a financial report news feed onto its
Eutelsat II F1 satellite transponder. It broadcasts on Saturday
mornings at 0930 GMT.
A buyer has been found for decoder and signal encryption
manufacturer Sat-Tel, although no cash will be available to pay
off its 1.5 million debts.
British Telecom has signed an agreement with HH Saudi
Research to provide a VSAT satellite printing service, says Data
Broadcasting Report.
At Telecom '91, Telespazio demonstrated business satellite
services for disaster recovery and ultra small antenna terminal
(USAT) devices. Interest in the devices were high
Eutelsat II F3 is expected to be launched on October 24 from
Cape Canaveral, USA.
United Television has announced a third-quarter loss of US$
96,000 compared to last year's third quarter income of U$3.3m.
EDITORIAL COMMENT
It is hoped that you have enjoyed the new format of Satnews,
which was debuted with a super bumper issue of satellite and
cable television news and information. Contributions from other
sources are welcomed, as well as contributors from different
countries.
Reception reports, sightings, news, gossip and general queries,
should be directed to Darren Ingram at one of the addresses
listed in the mast head.
Feedback about Satnews is always welcomed.
Darren Ingram
* Origin: From the REC's EchoManager (2:25/10.0@Fidonet)
/ / Robert Dickel, 2nd Year Information Engineer,
/ / University Of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
/----- ----- /----
/ / / / / / Internet: rdickel%cs.strath.ac.uk
/_____/ /____/ /____/ Janet: rdi...@uk.ac.strath.cs