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FTP to ftp.funet.fi/pub/dx/text/satellite/telesatellit TELE Satellit European Satellite News - English Version Number 15, Week ending 4 September 1994 By Martyn Williams CompuServe 100025,1637 Internet martyn@euro.demon.co.uk (c) TELE Satellit Magazine An uneasy time in Luxembourg The beginning of the end for Astra ? Maybe not but viewers wishing to tune into RTL TV and the TV 3 bouquet for Scandinavia no longer have to point their dishes towards 19 degrees east. September 1st saw RTL Television from Germany has broadcasting on Eutelsat 2 F1. The channel is in addition to Astra and joins RTL 2 on the same satellite. Later this year the new RTL Super programme is expected to begin at 13E. The two remaining TV 3 services, Sweden and Denmark, will begin dual illumination via the new Intelsat 702 bird at one degree west in mid September. These services were not exclusively available via Astra before but Astra offered more choice alongside them so viewers naturally watched Astra is they had a fixed dish. Now Eutelsat 2 F1 and the new Hot Bird 1 are promising 40 channels mostly in the clear by the end of the year and the 1 degree West position offers a choice for Scandinavia that hasn't been seen up until now. SES haven't lost these channels, neither has announced a decision to leave Astra, but it does show that at least some of Europe's TV broadcasters are no longer sure that Astra will remain as the number one TV satellite for Northern Europe in the coming years. That subscription increase ... According to sources at the Livingstone subscriber management centre cancellations of Sky subscriptions after the price rises have been "surprisingly low". A three pound per month price rise will take effect at the end of the month increasing full subscriptions by around 15% and multi channel subscriptions by 43%. We called Sky's press office earlier this week and received unsatisfactory responses to all of our queries. Our first question, "What is the three pounds for ?" was met with astonishment. After explaining all of the new channels we pointed out that Movie subscribers get multichannels free and they have to pay it as do sports only subscribers. We were then told that it was for a general increase in standards and to allow increases in the future. The increases of choice given were the new sports contracts and better movies. Why do multi channel subscribers have to pay for better movies and sports that they can't see ? Sky aren't sure. The new Sky TV Guide boasts a £2.50 cover price but the press office confirmed that it was not available to buy and would only be sent out to Sky subscribers. "So what's the cover price for" we asked. After a lot of pausing, errs, ums and general confusion we were told it was to show subscribers that they were getting value for money which we take to mean it's meant to make you think you are getting £2.50 worth of magazine for free when you're really paying for it. Japan abandons test satellite Japan's space industry suffered a series of embarrassing set backs and failures this week after rocket thrusters on board a Japanese experimental satellite failed to put it into orbit. The satellite was launched last week aboard the new H2 rocket. The launch itself was delayed because of problems with the rocket and engineers soon found out that this was only the beginning of the troubles. The satellite, named Kiku, was due to carry out invaluable tests of communications links between satellites in space and moving vehicles on the ground. The embarrassment was clear when the Director of Japan's space agency, NASDA, said to journalists "I deeply apologize for the failure." Engineers cited a faulty fuel injection as the cause for the failure. Later in the week Makiko Tanaka, director-general of the Science and Technology Agency lashed out as NASDA accusing them of wasting tax payers money. He hinted that the NASDA budget may be cut in coming years. Polish pirate TV crackdown PAP reported on 29 August that representatives of the Prosecutor's Office, the police, and radio communications authorities raided six of the 12 local television stations belonging to Nicola Grauso's Polonia 1 network, which have been operating illegally for more than a year. The six stations have been using restricted military frequencies and broadcasting without a license. A Justice Ministry spokesman said action would be taken against the remaining "pirates" but refused to give details. Grauso, who flew immediately to Warsaw, accused former National Broadcasting Council Chairman Marek Markiewicz of having it in for him. Anna Sabbat-Swidlicka, RFE/RL, Inc. US networks for sale ? Unconfirmed reports regarding the fate of two major American television networks is causing much talk on Wall Street, VOA correspondent Breck Ardery writes from New York. According to newspaper reports, Time Warner, the large entertainment conglomerate is negotiating to buy the NBC television network for up to three billion dollars. NBC is now owned by the General Electric company. The reports say Time Warner, which is a major cable television firm, would buy only the broadcast and cable network operations of NBC because federal regulations prohibit a cable company from owning local broadcast stations. NBC owns seven local television stations, mostly in large American cities. Time Warner has no official comment on the reports but NBC President Robert Wright dismissed them as "grandiose." The New York Times is also reporting that the Walt Disney company is negotiating to buy CBS. CBS chairman Lawrence Tisch denies there are any talks. Disney officials have no comment. Alvin Mirman, who follows the entertainment industry for the commonwealth investment firm, says the reports regarding Disney and CBS make sense to him because Disney chairman Michael Eisner is known to be interested in acquiring a television network, "Disney needs an outlet for its programing given the new rules going into effect next year. So I think Mike Eisener would very much like to acquire CBS and I think CBS could be for sale." New federal regulations next year will allow American television networks to sell programing to other broadcasters and analysts say both Walt Disney and Time Warner may want to take advantage of the change. MTV back in India A couple of months after being dropped from Rupert Murdoch's Star TV package in Asia the Indian stream of MTV Asia is back on air courtesy of the state broadcaster Doordarshan. The terrestrial signal reaches most homes in India's major cities and is ahead of MTV's Asian relaunch in December. In brief ... - Disney is interested in setting up a pay-per-view service with RTL. The service, if it begins, may be based on the upcoming RTL Super channel set to launch later this year or a new channel. - Indian channel GSTV are now transmitting from a new Dublin based uplink. On the belt ... - New on Eutelsat 2 F1, RTL TV from Germany on 11.596 GHz. Also "TV 13 news from Eutelsat" has been broadcasting on the BT feed, 11.617 GHz Vertical. - The current transmissions from the MIR space station can be seen on SDRN at 16 degrees west on out-of-band 10.832 GHz. - Pay per view tests on Telecom at 5 degrees west are talking place daily between 1000 and 2000 on 12.539 GHz according to German monitors. - BBC World Service News for the ORBIT TV packet, in Arabic, is seen every evening from 2000 to 2200 CET via Eutelsat 1 F4 at 25.5 east on 11.664 GHz H. - On Hispasat you can now seen Spanish domestic TV. TVE 1 is on 11.657 GHz, left hand polarised and La 2 is on 11.651 GHz also left hand polarised. - Turksat on test - monitors have reported Turksat testing at 42 degrees east with a strong carrier on 11.002. - French International TV, RFO is on Telecom at 5 degrees West. The frequency is 3.780 GHz for RFO outside broadcasts and feeds and 3.710 GHz for regular programmes. The frequencies are in parallel to a satellite at 89 degrees east. - Your reports and sighting welcome ! email to address at the top of the news ! 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 164 pages, full colour with tables, charts and news with many off-screen photos of the satellite channels plus an informative technical section. Part of the magazine is written in English. 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 +49-7308-5296 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 Fax polling Netherlands +31-45-273615 *2*9 Fax polling Germany +49-89-496287 *9 ISDN Mailbox IDTRANS (128 kBps), User Gast, Password SAT, +49-89-45001424 alt.satellite.tv.europe newsgroup on Usenet World Wide Web : http://xan.esrin.esa.it:2602/satellite.html Fidonet SAT.028 newsgroup Anonymous FTP to : ftp.funet.fi /pub/dx/text/satellite/telesatellit SAT NET BBS network in München, Landsberg, Balingen and Bad Wörishofen TELE Satellit News, German : CompuServe Deutschland on line (GERLINE) - ASCII version, library 15 Fax polling Germany +49-89-496287 *8 Fax polling Netherlands +31-45-273615 *2*8 SAT NET BBS network in München, Landsberg, Balingen and Bad Wörishofen ISDN Mailbox IDTRANS (128 kBps), User Gast, Password SAT, +49-89-45001424 TELE Satellit Hotline +49-90-6350613 Zeiten: Do 15-20 Uhr, Sa 14-20 Uhr TELE Satellit TV ! 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Audio 6.60 MHz. 20:00 UK, 21:00 CET Other reliable sources of satellite news : - Satellite Journal International provides worldwide satellite news and can be found in UKFORUM, EURFORUM, TELECOM, BPFORUM and CEFORUM on CompuServe plus other networks worldwide including Internet, Nifty Serve Japan and Fidonet. - *44022999# ,menu option 30 on BTX / Datex J - 3615 SATPHONE on Minitel - Phone 3670-8192 in France - SAT 1 Text, page 550 with fresh news every 3-4 days plus frequency charts. - BAYERNTEXT page 575 / 576 - Radio Sweden Mediascan. 1st and 3rd Tuesday, 20 minutes into the English programme via Astra, Shortwave, Mediumwave 1197 kHz and the World Radio Network. - Sat News on the Internet - Skyguide on the Internet - 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