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(5.65/25-eef) id AA21794; Fri, 16 Jul 93 15:17:46 +0100 Date: Fri, 16 Jul 93 15:17 GMT0BST-1 From: Darren Ingram Subject: Satnews 111-2 To: satnews@orbital.demon.co.uk Cc: satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk Message-Id: Reply-To: satnews@orbital.demon.co.uk Sender: satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk X-Mailing-List: Satnews Status: OR EURO SATS TO HOOK ILLEGAL FISHERS The European Commission is to approve the use of spy satellites to curb illegal fishing in EC waters. Problems with illegal mass fishing have perturbed legitimate EC fishermen and politicians alike. Satellite surveillance is one of a series of measures planned by a revised common fisheries policy adopted by the EC. EC officials say that a satellite surveillance system would cost around US$20 million per year to operate, significantly cheaper than boat and plane patrols currently used. Selective conventional checks will be made. Technical details of the satellite surveillance system have yet to be sorted out, and there are outstanding problems of identification and prompt reaction to illegal fishing expeditions, CHINA TO ADOPT HDTV STANDARDS According to a report carried by the Hong Kong China News Agency China is to speed up the development of its high definition television manufacturing capacity with the investment of US$361 million into a company set to be created in August. China's HDTV activities would be reportedly concentrated through China Flying Rainbow Co. Ltd., a group of 12 companies organised by the China Electronics Industry Ministry. The HDTV project would be developed in three phases, with the first phase expiring in 1995. The most expensive phase will run from 1995- 1997 and will see around US$270 million in investment. Some experts are sceptical about the prudence of the investment, pointing out that comparable projects require US$1.75 billion to set up such an enterprise. SPECTRADYNE DROPS PATENT ACTION CLAIM Spectradyne Corp. has dropped its initial patent infringement claims against On Command Video Corp. and plans to abandon future claims on the patent, dedicating itself to the public domain. On Command Video welcomed the decision and said that it confirmed its original stance. On Command produces video-on-demand programming and equipment, and is the largest hotel video-on-demand system provider in the world. Comsat Video Enterprises, a subsidiary of Comsat Corp., is the key stock-holder in On Command Video. But Spectradyne has apparently continued to file modified claims against On Command Video. "This is a clear victory for us. On Command Video is continuing to win market share from Spectradyne because On Command is a superior product for both hotel operators and guests. It is obvious Spectradyne's original and continued legal actions have no merit. They are simply an attempt to scare the customers and slow us down," said Charlie Lyons, president of Comsat Video Enterprises. Lyons said that On Command was still pursuing patent infringement claims against Spectradyne, alleging that Spectradyne is using patented On Command technology in its "Guest Choice B" in-room video system, a technology patented in 1990. SUPERVISION SUES MAGAZINE FOR LIBEL Supervision Group, a UK distributor of satellite equipment, says that it has issued legal proceedings against the publishers of Independent Electrical Retailer magazine over an article that alleged Supervision was a poor payer to trade suppliers. In a front page article of its badly-designed newsletter, Supervision says that many of its suppliers including PACE and Northern Telecom have hit out at the article and rubbished the allegations. In a quaintly-worded article in the design and grammatically- challenged publication, Supervision says that it "..remains committed to maintaining and protecting it's (sic) reputation by issuing immediate legal proceedings against all who commit defamation whilst at the same time, continue to develop friendly and amicable relationships with their suppliers and customers." * Copies of this free 'newsletter' can be obtained by calling Supervision on +44 (0) 532 444195/fax +44 (0) 532 425777. NEWS IN BRIEF As a result of the 97th meeting of the Intelsat board of governors, a signatory of Intelsat may allow an authorised user of the Intelsat system to invest in Intelsat. The meeting also agreed to sign a launch contract with Arianespace for the Intelsat 709 satellite, destined for launch between August 1995 and January 1996. NASA says that thousands of items of space junk are still being tracked by US Space officials. The oldest piece of space junk is the Vanguard I satellite, launched in 1958. Its on-board radio transmitter went dead in 1964. Other items including frozen drops of urine and space gloves are also circling around in space. Stanford Telecommunications Inc. has entered into an agreement with Scientific Atlanta Inc. to develop and supply a specialised applications specific integrated chip (ASIC) device for use in delivering SA's MPEG-based digital video compression over satellite service for the cable TV and DTH markets. Discovery Channel Europe has joined forces with a team of researchers looking in Loch Ness in Scotland for the elusive Loch Newss monster. A series of broadcasts from the scene will be made during the month providing an update on the research works being conducted. Head of programming for Discovery, Nick Comer-Calder, said that the channel was proud to be hosting such a unique venture. Intelsat has appointed Enzo Vitali of Italy and Betty C Alewine of the US as its new chairman and vice-chairman. Vitali is the current vice- chairman and manager for Intelsat and international satellite systems affairs at Telespazio, while Alewine is the president of Comsat World Systems division. Figures released by the UK Cable Television Association show that nearly 100,000 new homes had the potential to be connected to a cable TV network during May, and that 13,488 new cable telephony lines were connected at the same time. "The rise in the number of phone lines installed shows the attraction to consumers of an independent, competitive and cost-effective telecomms system," said CTA director- general Richard Woollam. The US-based Analog Devices company has introduced the first analogue RGB-to-NTSC/PAL encoder to provide video systems designers with a high performance conversion module. US Astronauts have landed the space shuttle Endeavour on earth after recovering the ESA Eureca satellite on a spacewalk. Antennas on Eureca failed to fold up when it was manoeuvred into the shuttle's space cargo bay for repair. Rupert Murdoch has withdrew an application for permission to buy into the Hong Kong television station TVB (Satnews 110) but local analysts say that Murdoch will probably buy into the local broadcasting scene through another route. Interdigital Telecom, a subsidiary of Interdigital Communications Corp., has received a contract from Inmarsat to study the feasibility of incorporating broadband Code Division Multiple Access (B-CDMA) technology into paging from satellite platforms. Inmarsat hopes to incorporate such technology into its planned Personal Communications Systems (PCS). The European Space Agency has decided to go ahead with the polar platform programme, Envisat mission, Metop preparatory programme and work on the DRS data relay satellite from 1993-1995. This decision follows the 109th meeting of the ESA Council in Paris on 23-24 June. A Delta 2 rocket carried a military navigation satellite into orbit for the US Air Force. The primary cargo was the 21st global positioning satellite launched for the USAF. A secondary payload was an experiment for NASA to test a new technique to dissipate electrical charges from sensitive spacecraft. A Russian-French crew took off from the former Soviet space cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a 21-day manned space flight. The Soyuz TM17 capsule has docked with the Mir space station to carry out a series of scientific tests 200 miles above the earth's surface. BT Visual and Broadcast Services are presently moving all of its BTV (business television traffic) from tp38 on Eutelsat II-F1 to tp22 on Eutelsat II-F3, allowing the II-F1 transponder to be used for DTH/cable rebroadcast programming. Romania's first private television station -- Channel 31 -- will commence broadcasting around the clock shortly says director Adrian Sirbu. Channel 31 will broadcast two hours of local news and four hours of sport, with the remainder being CNN programming dubbed into Romanian. A new television programme aimed at Arab and Muslim countries will feature a quiz show and board game based on the Koran, a holy book. Action Time, a UK independent company, will produce the show "Our Islam" with the backing of religious leaders. Middle Eastern Broadcasting Centre (MBC) says that 61,731 viewers entered its Ramadam festive cash prize contest. During the same time a telethon was held which has raised over US$17 million in the process. MTV Europe presenters will soon be using a relational database management system as a scripting tool aid. Sybase has signed a contract to provide a library and scripting management tool to the channel. PACE Micro Technology has opened a new sales office in Norway in a bid to meet the needs of the local expanding market. The office will be headed by Bjorn Haugan, formerly DTH manager for Filmnet. Business is also booming for PACE in the Middle East, following a GBP200,000 receiver order from one of its ME distributors. Barry Rubery, MD at PACE, is confident of more large orders in the future. Pieter Gaele Winters of the Netherlands has taken over as the new chairman of the European Space Agency, following from Professor Carassa, who retired at the end of June. Following on from the decision by UK Gold to show repeats from the BBC Top of The Pops music series in the 1970s, a new compact disk and tape with 20 number one hits from the 1970s is to be released by the Hit Label company on 17 July. The CD, distributed by PolyGram, is available through codes AHLCD12 or AHLMC12. James Mooney, the principal strategist for the US cable TV industry, has resigned as president of the National Cable Television Association to pursue other interests. The US CTV industry has taken a hammering in recent legislation changes, but executives from top US cable network operators say that Mooney was not at fault for the problems. Two NASA astronauts have been appointed to senior management positions in Washington DC, USA. William M Sheperd and James D Wetherbee have been appointed as assistant deputy administrators (technical) and will assist in the provision of technical assistance for NASA flights and activities in the future. The Supreme Court in the US has upheld a federal law that makes it illegal for radio or television stations in a state without a lottery to broadcast commercials for a lottery in another state. In the process the decision overturned a federal district court and circuit court ruling. The Italian parliament approved legislation to end the state-run monopoly held by RAI. Privatisation and the introduction of extra channels is expected. Disney Channel in the US will screen a four-hour mini-series of Heidi, filmed entirely on location in Salzburg, Austria with an internationally-acclaimed cast on 18/19 July. Gary Howard, vice-president of corporate development at Telecommunications Inc. has been elected to the board of directors of Interactive Network. TCI are investors in IN, an interactive national game company. The Danish government says that it will take part in a scientific satellite project in conjunction with NASA in 1995. A small Danish- built 50kg satellite known as Oersted will be launched into orbit at an altitude of 800km to study the Earth's magnetic field. A report in Satellite Journal International says that Aerospatiale has signed a FFr630 million contract with the European Space Agency to build a seventh transition Meteosat satellite, set to be introduced in 2000. An American television journalist and a five-member British news team have been expelled from Iraq after they filed reports which claimed that president Saddam Hussein was funding resources to the military. CNN and BBC staff were affected by the expulsion. Marketing magazine says that UK Gold has confirmed that talks are taking place with Thames Television about the possibility of launching a satellite TV channel for women. Remember the name UK Living..... Peter J Allen has been appointed managing director of Cambridge Cable Limited, the cable television franchise operator for Cambridge, UK and the surrounding areas. James F McDonald has been appointed president and CEO of Scientific Atlanta, replacing James Napier who remains as company chairman. The FCC has ruled in the US that cable TV operators must carry local home shopping stations if the channel requests it do so free of charge. NORTH AMERICAN SIGHTINGS By Robert Smathers The CBS Television Network affiliate feeds have made a major move. The original plan was to wait until Galaxy 4 was launched and operational before moving the CBS feeds to G4 from Telstar 302. Those plans changed when the G4 launch was delayed by months. CBS moved their feeds to Galaxy 6. They are using transponders 16,17,18,19, and 20. They occasionally use transponders 21 and 24 for affiliate and news feeds. Now that CBS is on Galaxy 6, all they would have to do is hot-switch onto Galaxy 4 when G4 becomes operational. Newsradio 88 WCBS-AM has shown up on Galaxy 6/20 at 7.38 MHz wideband audio. WCBS-AM had been heard on Telstar 302/20 at 7.38MHz but was lost in the CBS shuffle. WCBS-AM is on satellite because Walt Disney World in Florida uses that station in hotel rooms. CTVN apparently has purchased transponder 13 on Hughes Communications' Galaxy 3. They have been running a slate saying something to the effect of "Satellite time is available on this transponder. Call to inquire about purchasing time." The "BEST OF NASA SELECT" feed destined for Alaska and Hawaii has moved. The feed was located on Galaxy 6/19, but had to move because of the CBS movement to Galaxy 6. The feed is now seen on Telstar 301/18 during shuttle missions. Primestar DBS, the "DBS" service that uses a Ku-band satellite with 45 watt transponders and a 3 foot dish, has done some changes lately. Effective 1 June WWOR, KTLA, and WSBK were removed from the service and replaced with CNN, The Nashville Network, and the Family Channel. The Outdoor Channel has launched on Satcom F2R/3. Reports on Usenet indicate the Outdoor Channel is basically a program called the "Gold Prospectors Show" run the majority of the day with a few movies and other outdoors programming thrown in. CNN International, located on Spacenet 3R/16, has been in the clear for the past week or so. I expect that feed will go back to LEITCH encryption soon. CNN International has recently started up another feed on the North American domestics. This feed, located on GSTAR-2/6 (KU-band) began around 27 June. The feed is LEITCH encrypted and the only audio subcarrier is the CNN Radio Network feed on the 6.30MHz audio channel. ESPN has started using Galaxy 3 for sports backhauls. G3/1 is the spot ESPN has been using. Observed on that transponder has been several baseball games and ESPN's coverage of the U.S. Open golf tournament. KBL, a regional sports network located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has moved transponders on Spacenet 2. They have moved from S2/13 to S2/9. KJAZ-FM, a jazz station located in Alameda, California, has appeared on satellite radio recently. They are on the WGN transponder (Galaxy 5/7) at 5.58 and 6.12MHz discrete, narrowband stereo. SATELLITE TV EVENT OF THE WEEK: The United States military action in Iraq headlines the big satellite TV event of the week. The United States military bombed some strategic Iraqi buildings in an action to retaliate for Iraq's alleged participation in a plot to assassinate former President George Bush when he visited Kuwait. Feeds from Baghdad appeared mainly on the Atlantic satellites, but there were some feeds on Telstar 301, Galaxy 6, SBS2, SBS6 and all of the news feeds services. ---------------------------------------------------------------- SATNEWS is published biweekly by M2 Communications Limited and is (C) copyright with all rights reserved. This electronic version is a based on the printed subscription version. To subscribe to the printed version, please contact M2 Communications Limited at 184 Brookside Avenue, Coventry CV5 8AD, UK. Subscription rates are 200 (UK/EUR), 250 (North America) and 300 (rest of the world). 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