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TELE-satellit News - 7 April 1996

This news is provided free of charge to on-line users by TELE-satellit 
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Der TS Nachrichtendienst ist ein Service fuer die Freunde von 
TELE-satellit und TS-TV und ist nur fuer persoenliche infromation 
freigegeben.

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If you are wondering what happened to TS-News last week, a stupid
error just before sending the file resulted in it being overwritten.
Apologies for the absence last week.
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TELE-satellit
EUROPE'S SATELLITE MAGAZINE
International Satellite Broadcasting News
Number 95, Week ending 7 April 1996
By Martyn Williams
News Desk : Internet martyn@twics.com  or CompuServe CIS:martynw
(c) TELE-satellit Magazine


RUSSIA, SES PREPARE FOR LAUNCH
  BAKINOUR, Kazakhstan (TS) -- Russia will enter the commercial launch 
business this week with the launch of the new Astra 1F satellite on 
Monday evening. The launch window extends from 2309 to 2319 UTC on 
Monday which is 1909 to 1919 EDT in the United States.
  Astra 1F will join the current Astra satellites to become the sixth 
craft stationed around 19.2 degrees East and provide a range of 
digital television to audiences across Europe.
  Launch coverage is planned from 2230 UTC, 1830 EDT, and current 
satellite coordinates are :
  - Intelsat K, 11.4985 GHz
  - Galaxy 6, ch 2, 3.740 GHz
  - Astra 1D, 10,862 GHz


ARIANE 5 LAUNCH DELAYED AGAIN
  KOUROU, French Guiana (TS) -- The first launch of Europe's new 
Ariane 5 rocket has been delayed again according to reports from 
French Guiana. The new rocket is now not scheduled to take to the 
skies before the end of May following a cancellation of its planned 
May 15th launch date.
  A statement from the European Space Agency reported "As predicted, 
the fluid and electric connections and their tests have gone along 
satisfactorily. However, the placement of protective hooding on the 
launcher has taken longer than planned taking into account security 
and quality control requirements for the launch campaign."
  The Ariane 5 program has been beset with delays and problems, the 
worse of which was an accident in testing of the central cryogenic 
engine that killed two engineers.


JAPAN'S JCSAT-1 LEAKING
  TOKYO, Japan (TS) -- Japan's JCSAT-1 satellite has a fuel leak said 
operators Japan Satellite Systems (JSAT) last week. The leak will lead 
to the satellite, at 150 degrees East, being retired two years earlier 
than planned in August 1997.
  Plans have already been drawn up to move the soon to be launched 
JCSAT-4 satellite into position and replace the faulty craft. The new 
satellite will offer the same services as JCSAT-1 plus add digital 
television signals and coverage of other Asian countries.


NETHOLD BENELUX PACKAGE
  BRUSSELS, Belgium (TS) -- Nethold's digital pay television package 
for the Benelux countries of Netherlands and Belgium will be as 
follows:
  Packet One - Netherlands 1, Netherlands 2, Netherlands 3, SBS 6, 
BRTN 1, RTBF, TELE 21, VTM, VT 4 and other private television 
broadcasters.
  Packet Two - MTV Europe, CMT Europe, Adult Channel, Discovery 
Europe, NBC Super Channel, CNBC Europe, Giga TV, Eurosport, European 
Business News, European Weatherchannel, Weerkanaal and a BBC program 
(either BBC World or BBC Prime).
  Packet Three - FilmNet 1, FilmNet 2, Supersport Nederland, 
Supersport Belgie, Hallmark TV, K-TV Nederland, a dutch culture and 
documentary channel and other programs.
  Plans call for packet one to be free to subscribers of packets two 
or three. What will viewers loose if they switch from cable to the 
digital package? Some of the local VHF and UHF channels from 
neighboring countries, such as those from the UK, France and Germany 
will be lost although more local content will be provided. Local 
broadcasting, such as news, will also be lost so some may prefer to 
opt for a cable and satellite mix. (Jitse Groen via Sat-ND)


CANAL PLUS DEMONSTRATES DIGITAL
  PARIS, France (TS) -- Canal Plus last week demonstrated its new 
digital TV package that it plans to launch on April 27th. The new 
service will be Europe's first digital pay television package.
  Canalsatellite will offer ten channels to subscribers with more 
planned for the future as it expands to fill the three transponders it 
has on the Astra satellite, enough room for 24 channels.
  Consumers currently have a choice of Philips or Thomson digital 
satellite receivers to choose from with prices ranging from 4,000 to 
4,500 French francs. Selected companies are being allowed to rent the 
receivers for 50 francs a month to subscribers.


CCTV SIGNS GLOBAL DEAL WITH PANAMSAT
  BEIJING, China (TS) -- Chinese Central Television (CCTV) will soon 
be available in most regions of the world after a new deal was signed 
by PanAmSat and the national broadcaster of China.
  Announcing the deal, CCTV president Yang Weiguang, said the company 
can now transmit up to six channels worldwide using digital methods 
and even begin broadcasting some English programming.
  CCTV is now available to Europe and Africa with the new service 
beginning on April 1st and new channels planned for later.
  A music channel will launch in July 1st and CCTV's new English 
language channel is planned to debut worldwide on October 1st. 
Advertising will support the services said the broadcaster.


AUSTRALIAN RUGBY ROW CONTINUES
  SYDNEY, Australia (TS) -- Australian pay television operator Optus 
Vision this week filed legal action against a group of companies 
including Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., Telstra Corp. and Foxtel, over 
the pay-TV rights to rugby union games.
  OptusVision was angered when the Australian Rugby Union granted News 
Corporation ten year rights to all games from last summer despite 
having a previous agreement with OptusVision, said the company.
  The Foxtel service competes with Optus in the pay television market. 
News Corp. was recently stopped in court when it attempted to create a 
new Super League in Rugby to out shadow Optus and its Rugby League 
coverage.


RAI TO SPAN THE WORLD
  ROME, Italy (TS) -- Italian state television, RAI, said it had 
contracted with Echostar to expand its RAI International channel 
available in North, Central and South America. The service will soon 
begin broadcasting 24 hours a day and coverage of other regions of the 
world is planned for this year.


NEW RUSSIAN LAUNCH PAD READIES
  MOSCOW, Russia (TS) -- Russia's official news agency, ITAR-TASS, 
says it has learnt a new Russian launch facility will begin operations 
later this year. In a dispatch from Moscow, the agency said "The new 
Russian cosmodrome Svobodny, Amur Region in the Russian Far East, will 
make its first launching next September, Itar-Tass learnt at the press 
centre of the Russian Space Forces. A more precise date has not been 
fixed yet."
  The report said a new Russian light rocket called START would be 
launched from the facility and it would place an American satellite in 
orbit.
  The Svobodny site is an old cruise missile launch facility.


BBC WORLD JOINS PAS-2
  GREENWICH, Connecticut, USA (TS) -- PanAmSat has announced that BBC 
World has joined the international programmer lineup on its PAS-2 
Pacific Ocean Region satellite.
  The new relay extends the network's reach throughout the 
Asia-Pacific and complements BBC World's existing service in South 
Asia over the PAS-4 Indian Ocean Region satellite.
  BBC World will be transmitted from PanAmSat's teleport in Sylmar, 
California, over the PAS-2 C-band Pacific Rim beam for reception 
throughout the Asia-Pacific.
  The Panamsat PAS-2 programming line up now includes ABS-CBN 
(Philippines), Asia Business News, Bloomberg Information Television, 
CBS, Channel KTV, China Central Television (CCTV), Country Music 
Television, Chinese Television Network, Disney, Discovery, ESPN, 
Liberty, NBC, NHK TV Japan, Television Broadcasting International 
(Hong Kong), Television Corporation of Singapore, Turner Broadcasting 
and Viacom International.


ABOUT THE INTERNET, ON THE INTERNET
  MUNICH, Germany (TS) -- "Life on the Internet" is a 13-part series 
about, guess what, life on the Internet. It will be broadcast by the 
US Public Broadcasting Service, but not only on TV. Each of the 
half-hour programs will be available on the Internet, ready to view 
with VDOnet's video player. In addition to that, transcripts will be 
available as well as collections of links mentioned in the programs. 
The series which explores "the phenomenon of the Internet and the 
millions of people who use it every day" starts on April 6. 
http://www.pbs.org/internet/ and http://www.vdolive.com/ . (Peter 
Klanowski)


IN BRIEF
- The cable and multichannel TV market is to experience large growth 
according to a report, Latin America Cable and Satellite Markets: 
1996. The study is quoted as saying "immense opportunities for cable 
and satellite industries in the coming decade." (Sky Report)
- The US military will stop broadcasting intentional offsets in global 
positioning system (GPS) signals over the next decade as commercial 
uses of the system now far outnumber the military applications. "The 
same technology that helped our troops succeed in Desert Storm will 
bring us safer air travel throughout the world, improved 
transportation on our roads and highways and faster response to 
emergencies by rescue vehicles. And, it will help America's industries 
lead the world," said President Clinton announcing the news. (AFNS)
-  Germany's private TV station Pro-7 is now on the Internet. You can 
find the station's new home page at http://www.pro-sieben.de/ . 
(Sat-ND)
- The planned Dutch sports channel has a new name: Sport 7. The 
channel is scheduled to begin broadcasting from 1600 on weekdays and 
1100 on weekends with close down scheduled for around 0130 each night. 
(Jitse Groen via Sat-ND)
- Libyan Television is running a trailer on Eutelsat II-F3. Soon 
satellite viewers across Europe and northern Africa will be able to 
enjoy the best Libya has to offer of 11.080 GHz H. The test broadcasts 
are in clear PAL. (Stefan Hagedorn via Sat-ND)
- Finland's PTV4 will begin broadcasting via satellite. From June 1st 
it will be part of the new Nethold digital TV package on Astra. Some 
readers may remember the channel broadcast tests on Intelsat at 1 
degree West in clear PAL last year. (Stefan Hagedorn via Sat-ND)

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CREDITS,

Reports in TELE-satellit news are from our worldwide network of 
reporters and sources. In particular we would like to thank :

Curt Swinehart for keeping us up to date with all parts of the 
satellite industry.

Don Fitzpatrick of DFA in San Francisco for providing permission to 
reproduce articles from Shoptalk, the TV news industry's daily news 
and information magazine.

OMRI material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research 
Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in Prague, 
Czech Republic. For more information on OMRI publications, please 
write to: info@omri.cz

Reproduction in part of Jonathan's Space Report was maded possible by 
kind permission of Jonathan McDowell. To read the full edition see 
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html or 
ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.*

News from Radio Sweden is made possible by Geroge Wood, presenter of 
Sweden Calling DXers/MediaScan,  the world's oldest radio program 
about international broadcasting. Radio Sweden has presented this 
round-up of radio news, features, and interviews on Tuesdays since 
1948. It's currently broadcast on the first and third Tuesdays of the 
month. http://www.sr.se/rs







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