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TELE SATELLIT
EUROPE'S SATELLITE MAGAZINE
International Satellite News
Number 36, Week ending 29 January 1995
By Martyn Williams
News Desk : Internet martyn@euro.demon.co.uk  or CompuServe 100025,1637
(c) TELE-satellit Magazine


Chinese Fireworks at deadly Apstar 2 launch
A spectacular explosion shortly after launch of a Chinese Long March 2E rocket 
on Thursday caused major embarrassment for the Chinese space industry in front 
of international eyes and sent the satellite crashing into the side of a 
nearby mountain killing 6 people.
The launch was being broadcast live on national TV and the launch site 
audience included several powerful members of the regions satellite and cable 
industry from Turner Broadcasting System, ESPN, Home Box Office, Discovery 
Channel and Hong Kong's Television Broadcasts Ltd.
On board was Apstar 2, a high capacity HS601 satellite manufactured by Hughes 
and owned by Hong Kong based APT. According to prelaunch reports the satellite 
had been insured for $160 million.
The immediate reason for the loss is unknown but it means broadcasters are now 
scrambling for precious transponders on the satellites above Asia's skies. An 
ESPN spokeswoman was quoted as saying the sports broadcaster was "shocked" at 
the failure and was reasessing their broadcasting plans for the area, but the 
channel would be launched. Turner Broadcasting was also reported to e looking 
for space on other birds.
In the wake of the failure, shares in Thai based Shinawatra Satellite rose in 
heavy trading. Just before the launch Shinawatra was complaining to the 
Chinese government about possible interference that the new Apstar 2 satellite 
would cause to its ThaiCom bird. Shinawatra was the third most traded stock on 
the Bangkok market on Friday.
Reports from the Chinese wire service late Saturday revealed that six people 
had been killed by falling debris from the explosion which also injured 27. 
According to the report, the announcement of the deaths had been delayed 
purposely and was first broadcast on Saturday evening's state TV news.


Wildfire to launch Usenet satellite feed via Astra
UK based Wildfire are to announce a new satellite feed across the Astra 
satellite. The company plans to broadcast a daily feed of the Usenet feed. 
Usenet, also known as network news, is the Internet newsgroups system. 
Speaking to TS News, Stephen Howard said that they planned to take the day's 
news, compress it and broadcast it across Astra in the early hours of the 
morning.
Exact details of which channel is to be used have yet to be decided but the 
data would be sent in spare lines within the vertical blanking interval which 
is already used for teletext and scrambling information.
A cheap adaptor costing around GBP 50 would convert the compressed feed into 
standard format suitable for use with most newsreaders. Users would gain the 
ability to download as many newsgroups as they wished without paying telephone 
charges. They would still need a conventional dial up account to collect and 
send email and send messages to the Usenet system.
For more information email wildfire@tecc.co.uk


BBC launch new euro channels
BBC Worldwide Television launched two new channels on Thursday evening 
bringing Europe the first unscrambled satellite channel from the BBC since 
they scrambled the then BBC 1/2 Mix service several years ago. BBC World, the 
news and information service, is broadcast in the clear on Eutelsat 2F1 whilst 
BBC Prime replaces BBC WSTV on Intelsat 601.
The launch of BBC World in Europe also saw the start of the re-branding of the 
World Service TV channel as BBC World around the globe.


CNNI to scramble ?
Reports in a Kuwaiti newspaper this week said that a host of foreign TV 
channels would scramble in the near future. CNN International was mentioned 
specifically in the article which quoted CNN execs as saying that they needed 
a source of revenue.
The newspaper article also reminded viewers that their satellite dishes would 
become almost useless after the foreign services became pay TV.
The report however may be not what it seems, the Kuwaiti government has just 
completed a massive national cable TV network and the newspaper did explain 
how easy it would be to watch foreign TV through the cable.


NBC expands coverage of Asia
Hot on the heels of the new European programming on NBC Super Channel, NBC 
announced an expansion of the Asian News and Business Channel, ANBC, service 
that was running as an 8 hour a day channel on Palapa B2P. The channel has 
recently begun 24 hour operations on PanAmSat2.
The new ANBC service also launched nationwide in Australia on 26 January on 
the Australis pay TV network.


Sky says QVC stays in multi channels
BSkyB this week denied a report in Broadcast that said the QVC channel was set 
to leave Sky multichannels, a rumour that has been around since well before 
Christmas. Sky did confirm that they were reducing their holding in QVC to 
around 20%. At launch BSkyB held 50% of the ailing broadcaster.
Last year QVC chief Barry Diller said at a press conference that the European 
QVC was "loosing money like a sieve".


In brief ...
� Cable TV system operators in Bangalore said they would shut down their 
operations on January 29th in protest of  new 40 channel cable TV network 
called City Cable and owned by broadcaster Zee TV.
� MCM is introducing English subtitling via the D2 Mac teletext. The channel 
will begin offering MCM News in English and selected other programmes. The 
French music channel is pay TV although viewers across Europe can subscribe. 
They will launch on the upcoming Eutelsat Hot Bird in April or May this year.
� After being made homeless by the move of HBB from Eutelsat 2F3 to Turksat, 
Catholic radio station Radio Maria is back. The station is now on the 7.74 MHz 
subcarrier of interStar.
� The BBC Arabic News service that was using Eutelsat 2F1 until the launch of 
BBC World is now back on Telecom 1C at 3 degrees East, 12.648 GHz.
� Munich regional station Antenne Bayern should soon be broadcasting across 
satellite. The station, Germany's number one commercial service according to 
the station, will broadcast via RTL 2 on Astra.


Orion accepts satellite
Orion Atlantic this week officially accepted ownership of the Orion 1 
satellite from Matra Space Systems.  In-orbit delivery of the satellite 
occurred Friday, January 20, following payload and commissioning testing.
Orion was successfully launched, November 29, 1994 from Cape Canaveral, 
Florida by a Martin Marietta Atlas IIA rocket, and arrived on station at 37.5 
degrees West Longitude on December 24.
Constructed by Marta Space Systems, the Orion 1 satellite caries 34 Ku-band 
transponders which provide multiple spot beam and broad-beam transatlantic and 
regional coverage in North America and across Eastern and Western Europe.  
With a full performance design lifetime of 12 years, the Orion 1 spacecraft is 
based on the highly successful EUROSTAR platform.
Orion Atlantic will provide digital voice, data and video communications to 
multinational companies via the Orion 1 platform. Specifically, the satellite 
will support advanced networking services marketed by Orion Atlantic Network 
Services.  In addition, a full range of satellite services -- featuring 
compressed digital video services for satellite news gathering and 
broadcasting -- will be offered through Orion Atlantic Satellite Services.


A new service to online readers !
TELE-satellit's very own Dr. Dish is now taking calls from readers of the 
online version of TELE-satellite News. If you have any questions or problems 
just call him. This is a free service !
Thursday, 1800 - 2000 CET
Saturday, 1400 - 1600 CET
+31-45-640002 .... normal rates apply. Please don't call at other times !


New products
Petra H�ther, TS Buro M�nich

Switching Multifeeds
This item is interesting if you happen to own one aerial with a multitude of 
LNBs or even a whole array of them: German manufacturer Sound Check now offers 
a switching box which uses the receiver`s signals (0 volts, 3 volts and so on) 
to give instant and convenient access to every channel from any orbital 
position. The basic model switches up to five satellites, while two of them 
can handle ten and additional 22 kHz switching makes room for up to 20 LNBs.
Sound Check, fax +49-4322-6244

ITS Duo
A pair of new receivers has now been launched from Germany's ITS GmbH 
Wachtberg. 
The its-767 is the attractive entry level model with 120 channels, 22 kHz 
switching, two Scarts and an additional phono output. 
Its big sibling its-952 S offers luxery at a fair expense, too: 240 channels, 
three Scarts, two IF inputs with 22 kHz switching as well as pulse width 
control, genuine PANDA 1 and a threshold of less than 6 dB. Both receivers are 
also suited for C-band reception and incorporate an IF-range from 920...2050 
MHz.
ITS GmbH, fax +49-228-326570

Upgrade
Germany`s satellite specialist firm Kucharek introduces a range of upgrading 
kits for quick and easy conversion of a single satellite reception system into 
a multi viewer system. The AH-30 kit allows the mounting of LNBs made by 
Philips to aerials manufactured by Kathrein. Kucharek also offers other 
adapters and holders for upgrading other satellite systems from Kathrein`s 
range. 
Kucharek, fax +49-8257-8910



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 132 
pages, full colour with tables, charts and news with many off-screen photos of 
the satellite channels plus an informative technical section. 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 +49-7308-919001

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
CompuServe Telecommunications Forum (TELECOM) - Windows Write version
fax on demand +49-8282-81003
fax on demand +49-2163-81744
fax on demand +49-7308-919009
NBC Super Channel - NBC Text page 171
alt.satellite.tv.europe newsgroup on Usenet
World Wide Web : http://xan.esrin.esa.it:2602/satellite.html
Fidonet SAT.028
Fidonet SATELLITE.FR
Fidonet RU.SAT
Fidonet SATELLIT_R23.PUB
Maus Net : tv.grp
America On Line - from the "ham radio" area in the General file library.
Anonymous FTP to : ftp.funet.fi /pub/dx/text/satellite/telesatellit
CIX Skyguide/telesat conference
SAT NET BBS network
SweDX BBS, Swedish DX Association. +46-8-53034727 / Fidonet 2:201/339
Short Wave Paradise BBS, online 24 hours a day ! USA 616-383-4979

TELE-satellit News, German :
CompuServe Deutschland on line (GERLINE) - ASCII version, library 15
CompuServe Der Spiegel Forum (SPIEGEL) - ASCII version, library 11
fax on demand +49-8282-81003
fax on demand +49-2163-81744
fax on demand +49-7308-919009
SAT 1 Text - page 513
SAT NET BBS network

Other reliable sources of satellite news :
� Radio Sweden Mediascan. 1st and 3rd Tuesday, 20 minutes into the English 
programme via Astra, Shortwave, Mediumwave 1197 kHz and the World Radio 
Network.
Text and audio files of Mediascan can be found in the SCDX directory on 
ftp.funet.fi
� 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
� The ProShow. Every Sunday night starting at 9:00 pm EST on the Omega Radio 
Network - Galaxy 3, Transponder 17, 5.80 MHz.