From: rdickel@cs.strath.ac.uk (Robert A Dickel IE2) Newsgroups: rec.video.satellite Subject: *** SATNEWS 062 *** Date: 23 Dec 91 12:56:52 GMT Organization: Comp. Sci. Dept., Strathclyde Univ., Glasgow, Scotland. Nntp-Posting-Host: fleming-03 Originator: rdickel@fleming-03 SSSSSSSS AAAAAAAA TTTTTTTT NNNNNNNNN EEEEEEEEE WWWWWWWWW SSSSSSSS SS SS AAA AAA T T N NNN N E E W WWW W SS SS S SS S AA AA TTT TTT N NN N E EEEEEEE W WWW W S SS S SS SSSS A AA A TTT TTT N N N E EEEEEEE W WWW W SS SSSS SSS SSS A AA A TTT TTT N N N E EEE W W W W SS SSSS SSSS S A A TTT TTT N NN N E EEEEEEE W W W SSSS SS S SS S A AA A TTT TTT N NNN N E EEEEEEE W W W S SS S SS SS A AA A TTT TTT N NNN N E E W WWW W SS SS SSSSSSSS AAAAAAAA TTTTTTTT NNNNNNNNN EEEEEEEEE WWWWWWWWW SSSSSSSS :----------------------Electronic Edition-----------------------: : : : Issue: 062 :--------:Published Weekly:-------: Date: 23/12/91 : : : :---------------(C) Copyright 1991 Darren Ingram----------------: : : :-------------------------------------------:-------------------: : SATNEWS ELECTRONIC EDITION is copyrighted : HOW TO CONTACT US : : Material, distributed under licence on : : : various computer mail networks including : Fidonet : : Compuserve, Fidonet and Compulink. 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Discussions of stories in : Internet: : : SATNEWS are encouraged in the UK satellite: Satnews@CIX. : : echomail conference area. : Compulink.CO.UK : :-------------------------------------------:-------------------: IN THIS WEEK'S EDITION: * EURO-LIBERAL HDTV POLICY * SATELLITE LAUNCHES * AMERICAN HDTV RECEIVERS * BUSH CRITICISES U.S. SEX TRIALS * PARAMOUNT IN CATV VENTURE * HELLO ETN, GOODBYE WHSTV * CABLE RANKINGS * ULTRAVIOLET SATELLITE * LA CINQ SINKS? * INMARSAT SEGMENT CHARGES * ALPHA LYRACOM RECEIVES FRENCH VSAT LICENCE * CABLE MERGER * 150 CHANNEL CABLE NETWORK * NEWS IN BRIEF * SATNEWS LETTERS * SATNEWS CORRECTIONS * SATNEWS DISTRIBUTION * SATNEWS CHRISTMAS EURO-LIBERAL HDTV POLICY After months of wrangling and fighting, the European Commission has agreed upon a liberal course towards HDTV transmissions in Europe, after it looked like France would be isolated with its arguments against the directive. After 15 hours of negotiations on Wednesday and Thursday night, European telecomms ministers agreed on the provisions for an agreement towards the unification of broadcasting standards in Europe. But until a legally-binding agreement is signed by EC members, the policy is technically not worth the paper it is written on. Part of the impetus towards the agreement was the threat of the Japanese and American electronics industries dominating the European audio-visual market. The new agreement will cover terrestrial and satellite television transmissions to EC countries from January 1, 1995. Previous draft agreements which said that a compulsory standards changeover would be implemented have been dropped. Ministers have agreed to remove direct references to compulsory transmissions in D2-MAC, a EC-approved interim format proposed as a forerunner to HD-MAC. A spokesman for British Sky Broadcasting told the Financial Times that the group may be tempted to broadcast in the new standards and added: "[the wide-screen format] is obviously a market opportunity for any broadcaster, but it depends on its commercial viability. Many continental channels such as Filmnet are in advanced stages of broadcasting in D2-MAC. SATELLITE LAUNCHES Arianespace's 48th launch has launched two telecommunications satellites into orbit from Kourou, French Guinana last Monday. Satellites for Inmarsat (Inmarsat II F3) and France Telecom (Telecom 2A) were deployed twenty minutes after the lift-off at 2319 UTC. The satellites, worth a total of US$ 300 million, are expected to be operational by the middle of January 1992. (See Satnews 061). AMERICAN HDTV RECEIVERS Wide-screen high-definition-television receivers (HDTV) are to be marketed in America during 1992, according to Thomson Consumer Electronics. New receivers are being developed at Thomson's Indianapolis facility, and are due to be released during 1992 said Joseph P Clayton, senior VP of Television-America at Thomson. The television sets, designed as HDTV-ready monitors, will deliver picture resolutions nearly as twice as high as the current NTSC standard. The 34 inch screen-units will operate in 16:9 and 4:3 picture frame modes, and are to be built at Thomson's Bloomington, Ind. location. No prices have been released for the products. BUSH CRITICISES U.S. SEX TRIALS President George Bush has criticised the American Court-TV network over the "filth and indecent material" that Americans are exposed to through televised court-room trials. Bush's outbursts were made in a series of interviews with ABC-television affiliates relayed by satellite across the United States. "I must tell you I'm worried about it [televised trials]," said Bush. "I'm worried about so much filth and indecent material coming in through the airwaves and through these trials into people's homes," he said in an interview to a San Francisco television channel. "I think the American people have a right to be protected against some of these excesses. While people have a right to a fair trial. I think the American people have an overriding right to let those matters be decided be behind closed doors." PARAMOUNT IN CATV VENTURE Paramount Communications and Capital Cities/ABC have announced a planned joint venture between the two companies to arrange and distribute music concerts over cable television networks. The venture, which is to be managed between Radio Vision International. will begin with a Rod Stewart concert in February 1992. The music concerts will be distributed through the Request TV and Viewer Choice American CATV networks. HELLO ETN, GOODBYE WHSTV WH Smith Television (WHSTV), broadcasters of Screensport, Lifestyle and Cable/Satellite Jukebox to European satellite dishes has changed its name to European Television Network (ETN). The move follows the buy-out of the company in September 1991. ETN is owned 50% by Capital Cities/ABC, 25% by Canal Plus and 25% by General d'Image. ETN Chief Executive Francis Baron says: "The last 12 months have been very exciting for our company and the announcement of the name is the final piece of the administrative jigsaw. We can now fully devote ourselves to the business of us continuing to push ahead as leaders in pan-European television and multi- lingual broadcasting." CABLE RANKINGS The American National Cable Television Association has ranked Cable News Network as the number 1 CATV network channel. CNN, with 58.9 million viewers, is pursued by ESPN with 58.8 million viewers, and Turner's TBS channel at 57.7 million viewers. Music Television (MTV) grossed 56.6 million viewers, and in a somewhat surprising move, the public-affairs network C-SPAN grossed 54 million viewers. ULTRAVIOLET SATELLITE The U.S. Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) satellite has been rescheduled to launch on May 28, 1992 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, USA. The satellite, due to be launched on January 16, has failed preliminary trials and problems with integral components on the satellite had ensured that the intended launch window could not be held. LA CINQ SINKS? French terrestrial and satellite broadcasters La Cinq are shedding just over half of its workforce in a last-ditch attempt to cut costs, but staff are not prepared to give in without a fight. Staff have threatened to strike over the planned redundancies, and the French minister of culture has said that the television system needed to be "reviewed and eventually transformed". The station recently announced that it expects to lose US$ 207 million this year. 85 out of 112 journalists are to be made redundant under the proposals, and they have held a series of protest sit-ins in the television newsroom to show their anger. A series of public protests are also planned. La Cinq is a popular channel well known for its late-night pornographic programming, but is has not been successful in its aims to establish itself as a mainstream competitor to TF1. Owners Hatchette, a French media group with spiralling debts, are urgently looking for new investors to provide capital for the channel. 292 people are affected by the staff cuts. INMARSAT SEGMENT CHARGES Inmarsat has set new charges for the space segment portion of its new Inmarsat M/B mobile satellite communications system being introduced next year. Inmarsat M/B's tariffs are being set "at well below space segment charges for services currently offered" says Inmarsat. The new service is designed to augment Inmarsat's current land mobile and maritime services with an all digital, low-cost global phone service. "The low level of the space segment charge is one of several components which make up the final charge to a user of the Inmarsat system," says Inmarsat director of finance Dr Ramin Khadem. ALPHA LYRACOM RECEIVES FRENCH VSAT LICENCE The French telecommunications regulatory body DRG has granted Alpha Lyracom Pan-American satellite a licence to operate a two- way VSAT network. The licence will allow Alpha Lyracom to offer data, voice and video communications service via its PAS-1 satellite for domestic networks within France, as well as two-way international services. Licences were also issued to France Telecom, British Telecom and British Aerospace Communications. CABLE MERGER US West Cable Communications and Tele-Communications Inc. have agreed to combine their UK cable TV and telephone operations into a company which will manage a franchise area of 2.9 million homes. The incorporation will take place after regulatory and third-party consent releases are completed. The company will control and operate the London, South (Croydon, Kingston, Richmond, Merton and Sutton), Edinburgh, Avon and Thames Esturary (north and south) cable TV and telephone franchises. It will also hold interests in the Camden, Islington, Hackney, Haringey, Enfield, Windsor, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Birmingham franchises. "Under the new venture we can more efficiently bring together U.K. cable TV and telephony into a single business strategy, investment plan and customer offering," said Dick McCormick, president and CEO of U.S. West. 150 CHANNEL CABLE NETWORK American Time Warner Inc. have launched the world's first 150- channel cable television system in Queens, New York, USA. Joseph Collins, chairman of Time Warner Cable said: "The capabilities of our new 150-channel systems have focused global attention on our abilities to meet the expanding needs of cable customers in technology, programme offerings, convenience and service." The new service called Quantum adds 75 channels to the existing cable system which services the Queens district. 57 of the new channels are dedicated towards pay-per-view distribution and promotions, including the on-screen ordering of movies and special events. Customers pay US$ 23.95 per month for the service. NEWS IN BRIEF Alpha Lyracom distributed Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas message to the Commenwealth over its PAS-1 satellite on December 20. The signal was uplinked from 1500 UTC via an 11 meter uplink dish at BT's Docklands teleport in London. The signal was subsequently downlinked by American broadcasters for re-distribution on Christmas Day. Eurosport, the European satellite sports television network, says that it will be broadcasting the winter and summer Olympics 24-hours a day. Eurosport says that it has "unrestricted rights" to the footage, because of its links with the European Broadcasting Union. Alpha Lyracom had signed a video requirements service agreement with Jamintel, the Jamacian telecommunications provider, to relay live coverage of the Johnny Walker World Championship of Golf Tournament over the PAS-1 satellite from December 17-22. The American Court TV Network has asked a judge permission to broadcast the trial of alleged porn-king Jim Mitchell. Defence and Prosecution attorneys have argued against televising on the grounds that it would sensationalise a trial. A decision will be made by Tuesday. American corporate buy-out specialists Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and its joint venture partner Cablevision Industries Corp. are in the process of buying out the Long Beach, Calif.-CATV company Simsons Communications. The deal is expected to be closed by early 1992. India has decided to invite participants in its programme to develop digital television systems for the country. According to a report in the Indian Business and Political Observer US$ 1.57 million dollars has been pledged to the project to date, with the promise of further resources later. Rohde & Schwarz has announced the introduction of the TV Digital Oscilloscope (ODFA). This a 10-bit signal analyser for high precision signal processing and high speed analysis. ODFA can be used for analysing video signals in TV studios, transmission sites and receiver equipment. Visnews, the international news agency, has reached an agreement with the British terrestrial broadcaster TV-am to provide news footage until the station's franchise expires at the end of 1992. TV-am will utilise the Visnews footage through its agreement with Sky News, an existing subscriber to the service. Singapore's state television and radio monopoly is to be broken, according to information and arts minister George Yeo. According to reports CNN will begin operating the island's first pay-TV station in April 1992. Yeo expects the privatisation campaign to take about two years. Paramax Systems Corp. (formerly Unisys Defense Systems Inc.) and five other companies led by IBM have been awarded systems and software responsibilities for the satellite network that directs the American military spacecraft by the US Department of Defense. Satellite Information Systems Co. has announced two contracts to provide the Travel Channel of Mount Kisco, NY and New England Cable News of Newton, Mass. with a NewsPro newsroom automation system. The United States government has formerly requested an international frequency reservation for Motorola's Iridium low earth orbiting satellite communications system. Orion Pictures has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the American courts, after trading with nearly US$ 700 million of debts outstanding. The Italian Space Agency (ASI) and NASA have signed a memorandum of understanding to design and develop two Mini Pressurised Logistics Modules for the Space Station Freedom. French broadcasters Canal Plus says that its net profit is likely to rise by 10 percent in 1992, according to its chairman Andre Rousselet. The Finish Broadcasting Company (YLE) has bought three DAR DASS 100 units for their TV1 and TV2 post-production facilities houses. The Soviet Union has launched a Cosmos-2174 satellite aboard a Soyuz booster rocket on December 17, reports the Soviet news agency TASS. Unconfirmed reports say that the American supermarket chain Safeway is considering installing a two-way satellite datacomms link between branches. Cable News Network (CNN) has ordered a NED Postpro SD system as the central-controller for their new video post-production facility in Atlanta. In a separate move Havas, a French media group, has abandoned plans to merge with the Canal Plus pay-TV station. TVE, the Spanish national broadcasters, has ordered eight television OB vans plus three stationary new studios. Construction work on the European Broadcasting Union's new Geneva offices began in earnest on December 6. TCA Cable TV Inc. announced a 21 percent rise in its regular quarterly dividend to shareholders to 8.5 cents/share. SATNEWS LETTERS From John Rushton, Fidonet 2:253/166 "I received today the After-12 preview video, and from it are a few details. After 12 will commence broadcasting on the Eutelsat satellite at 13 degrees east, on transponder 33 previously used by Galavision. After 12 has requested the following broadcasting technical parameters. Bandwidth-27 Mhz, Transmission Standard, PAL/Videocrypt, Subcarriers 7.02Mhz and 7.20Mhz, Superbeam footprint, Downlink frequency 11.596 GHz. After 12 will commence broadcasting test transmissions on Dec. 20th. Times 12 Midnight til 3am Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Astra viewers can obtain this channel using what After 12 calls 'Little Extra' which (according to their leaflets) means you can also receive other channels found on Eutelsat II F1 such as TV5 and Super Channel. With the addition of an extra LNB mounted to the left or right of the Astra LNB, and a matchbox- sized switching box, the extra channels can be reached. * Subscription charges for After 12 are: 35.99 for a six month viewing card. The Little Extra device costs 90 for a DIY kit." Thank you for your input on this service John - I hope as a charter member you will not be disappointed. From Paul Ansell (mercury@CIX.Compulink.CO.UK) "Have you any idea what the Marcopolo satellites will be used for after Sky move off? I've seen a few ads for 50 BSB systems in the past few weeks and wonder if its worth getting one." Whilst British Sky Broadcasting are to cease Marcopolo transmissions sometime during 1992, other transmission companies are expected to take over transponder space. Green/eco/minority broadcasters are favoured for this United Kingdom only service. 50 is an average price to pay for these units - even if it is only for keeping as an historical memento for the whole debacle. Make sure you get a system with a Squarial though! SATNEWS CORRECTIONS Frode Weierud (frode@cernvax.cern.ch) has highlighted an error with a report carried in Satnews 061, concerning the launch of a Telecom 2A and Inmarsat II F3 satellite. Unfortunately due to a production error, two paragraphs were switched around. The Telecom 2A satellite contains 10 C-band, 11 Ku-nband and 5 X-band transponders, whilst the Inmarsat II F3 satellite contains a C to L and a L to C transponder, and not the other way around as stated. Sorry for any confusion caused -editor. It also appears that the free-view period for Filmnet did not take place as expected in Satnews 061. SATNEWS DISTRIBUTION Satnews will, in the near future, be distributed on the internal computer network at CERN, the particle accelerator in Switzerland. Frode@cernvax.cern.ch is the distributor. Raymond Okonski will be the new distributor for the GT echomail area in the U.K. SATNEWS CHRISTMAS Satnews will not appear on Monday December 30. The next issue will be dated Monday January 6 1992. Satnews would like to take this opportunity to thank its readers, contributors and supporters a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUPPORT-SATNEWS: SATNEWS is released into the public domain for use in a non-commercial environment. If you have enjoyed this copy of Satnews, and/or other copies, please consider making a donation towards the large costs of production and news acquisition. SATNEWS Electronic Edition is not commercially sold nor is a profit-making venture. Please mail cheques/cash in convertible currency (English Sterling preferred) to Darren Ingram, Satnews, Darren Ingram Media Services, 24 Yelverton Road, Coventry, CV6 4AH United Kingdom. ----------------------------------------------------------------- SATNEWS-AVAILABILITY: SATNEWS is available for Fidonet file request from the SATNEWS SUPPORT HUB 2:252/21 under the name SNEWSxxx.ZIP, where xxx is the current issue number. SATNEWS is also distributed in the UK SATELLITE echo and the U.S. TVRO echo. It can additionally be found in the IBMEUROPE and HAMNET forums on Compuserve; SATEL_TV conference on Compulink, UK GT-Satellite conference, Radio & Electronics forum on GEnie, Usenet newsgroup rec.video.satellite and other online conferences. Satnews may also be acquired by Internet anonymous file transfer (FTP) from power.eee.ndsu.nodak.edu. Further details will be posted at a later date. (New network distributors welcomed). ----------------------------------------------------------------- SATNEWS-DISTRIBUTION: Darren Ingram (Fidonet: 2:252/333 ZMH); Keith Bulmer (Compuserve: 100012,1451); Paul Ansell (CIX: mercury); Raymond Okonski (GT: Raymond Okonski); Robert Dickel (Internet/Usenet/Internet FTP:RDickel@CS.STRATH.AC.UK / Internet FTP Dickel@power.eee.ndsu.nodak.edu); Hiroyuki Nagase (Niftyserve); Mike Shirley (GEnie: SLIC) ----------------------------------------------------------------- SATNEWS-LETTERS: Letters for possible publication within Satnews should be sent to the editor Darren Ingram, by one of the methods listed at the start of the edition. Letters may be edited for clarity or brevity. Please mark letters FOR PUBLICATION. If you cannot contact Satnews, please route your message through your network distributor. ----------------------------------------------------------------- >>>MATRIX version 1.16b -- / / Robert Dickel, University of Strathclyde. /__ ___ /__ Internet: rdickel%cs.strath.ac.uk@sun2.nsfnet-relay.ac.uk /__/ /__/ /__/ Janet: rdickel@uk.ac.strath.cs