Monster Media 1994 #2/Monster Media No. 2 (Monster Media)(1994).ISO/ham/snews.zip/SNEWS126.TXT

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:---------------------Electronic Headlines----------------------:
:                                                               :
: Issue: 126 :-------:Published Biweekly:------: Date: 07/02/94 :
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:---------(C) Copyright 1991-94 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD ----------:
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NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO GOES DIGITAL SATELLITE
National Public Radio has undertaken a major refurbishment of
the Public Radio Satellite System and signed a contract to use
digital satellite audio equipment from Comstream Corp.

Comstream's digital equipment will replace the analogue
programme distribution network which has been installed since
1979 when NPR inaugurated the first US satellite delivery of a
radio programme.  Installation of the new customized digital
audio equipment is scheduled to begin in December 1994 with
completion expected by June 1995.

Nearly 3,000 of the receivers will be delivered under the
terms of the contract.  Service will be provided on two C-band
transponders aboard the Hughes Galaxy IV satellite.  The
number of channels for distributing scheduled public radio
programming will be double the previous capacity.

Comstream is to develop a new ABR700 audio broadcast receiver
specifically for NPR.  The ABR700 will be integrated with a
comprehensive computer-based network management and control
system called the Satellite Operating Support System (SOSS),
developed by IBM under contract to NPR.

"This contract is the culmination of extensive technical
fact-finding and testing," said NPR's Future Interconnection
System project director Burnham Morse.  "With Comstream's
customized digital radio gear we've found the best way to
upgrade audio quality and assure that the public radio system
has industry-standard technology for its next generation
satellite system."

The PRSS interconnects more than 350 non-commercial radio
stations in the United States and Puerto Rico, distributing
thousands of hours of programming from nearly 250 producers.
It is managed by the Distribution Division of National Public
Radio on behalf of participating interconnected stations which
pay annual fees to support the satellite system.

TELESAT CANADA'S SATELLITES CAN BE SAVED
Further to news in Satnews 125 that Telesat Canada had lost
two of its Anik satellites, the company has managed to regain
service in one and is attempting to rescue the second.

Telesat said that an unusual localised storm caused
short-circuits on its Anik E-1 and E-2 satellites on 20
January, disrupting telephone, television and data
transmission services across Canada. One of the Anik
satellites has been repositioned but the second craft is out
of control.

A Hughes Galaxy satellite has been hastily leased to route
cable television programming so that CTV services throughout
Canada can continue to operate. Alternative arrangements will
need to be made as the Hughes lease is only available until
mid-March.

Viewers watching the programmes aired by Anik-E2 said that you
could see it go out of control with five-minute rotations
before it was stabilised to four-minute rotations.

Telesat Canada is likely to make a loss for the third year
because of the failure and probably loss of Anik E-2.  Larry
Boisvert, president and CEO of Telesat says that the company
will attempt to rescue the satellite although things are
presently not looking too good.

SABOTEUR HITS UA'S SCOTTISH CABLE TV NETWORKS
A cable television saboteur has been using acquired technical
knowledge of United Artist's cable television networkS to
block out cable services in East Kilbride and Motherwell.

According to Stephen Ferguson, a UA spokesman, the culprit has
to have either expert knowledge of the local network or cable
television networks in general.

"It is obviously the work of someone with skilled specialist
knowledge. It must be someone with a grudge - possibly a
disgruntled technician laid off when we took over the cable
franchise last year," said Ferguson.

Access is being gained without causing damage to a locked
street junction box  before fiddling with the wires so that UA
technicians have to spend a great deal of time diagnosing the
problem. UA has around 500 street junction boxes which are
used to re-distribute signals to nearby homes.

At times the miscreant is switching systems off and on every
so often causing confusion to viewers and engineers alike.
Ferguson says that the network has been tampered with at all
times of the day or night, so inevitably somebody must have
seen him and assumed he was an authorised UA engineer
maintaining the system.

ARIANE LAUNCH LOSES TWO SATELLITES --MAJOR PROBLEMS CLAIMED
Over US$350 million of satellites were lost in the spate of
minutes after the third stage of Arianespace's Ariane 44LP
rocket abruptly shut down following the recent launch.
Arianespace says that the third stage worked well for at least
a minute before failing.

Third-stage failures had plagued early Ariane launches but
they have not been responsible for a failure since 1986.
Ariane's third-stage uses a mixture of liquid hydrogen and
liquid oxygen for propellant.

The launch was perfect at 2137GMT on 24 January and many TV
news stations carrying the launch had returned to their normal
programming after proclaiming Ariane flight 63 to be a
success.

A technical board of inquiry has been appointed by Arianespace
together with ESA and the French space agency CNES.  The board
is expected to present a report in the third week of February.

On 19 January Satnewswire, the daily news service from M2
Communications, reported that Arianespace had suspended flight
63 by several days because of problems with the third stage
launcher, noted on the previous flight.

"The results of the analysis of flight telemetry just
concluded on Flight 62 show that an anomaly on the readings of
the two sequential commands of the third stage have been
detected.  This anomaly has not had any consequences on Flight
62 because of existing system redundancies.  To allow
appropriate safety measures to be carried out in accordance
with our safety policy, Arianespace has decided to delay the
Flight 63 launch by several days," said a statement at the
time.

Sources close to Arianespace say that a problem was originally
noted during a pre-flight dress rehearsal and at first a 10-12
day delay to launch was being considered.   New parts were
said to be installed late on Friday and a period of testing
was held.

The source, who obviously declined to be identified, said that
they were surprised that the launch would have been allowed to
continue after the switch-out of a critical component instead
of an intense period of testing and component verification.

Eutelsat's Eutelsat II-F5 and the Turkish government's Turksat
1 satellites are now lost.

Mehmet Kostepen, Turkey's minister of Communication and
Transport  said the launching of two satellites and launches,
two ground stations and insurance for the entire Turksat
programme  was worth around U$315 million.  Ariane had also
been contracted to launch Turksat 2 later this year. Jean
Grenier, director-general of Eutelsat, said that the overall
mission cost for Eutelsat II-F5 was US$146 million.

According to a statement issued by Arianespace: "The failure
of flight 63 was due to a premature shutdown of  the third
stage engine. Eighty seconds after ignition the chamber
pressure, oxygen turbo pump outlet pressure and rotation
speed, which were nominal until then, dropped slightly for 0.5
seconds and then rose steeply."

"The parameters presently available show an abnormal heating
of the immersed liquid oxygen bearing, starting 60 seconds
after third stage ignition."

Until now Arianespace has been viewed as a safe launch option,
and the company was winning one out of every two satellite
launch contracts.  The last failure was in February 1990 when
two satellites for Japan were lost.  Since it started
launching in 1979 Arianespace has experienced six launch
failures.  Some 27 launches later this latest problem has came
at a bad time for Arianespace, who have a further 35 satellite
launch contracts to fulfill.  Industry observers at the launch
site said that the failure would not have a significant impact
on its business although things would become clearer once the
report had been released.

Many 'names' at insurers' Lloyds of London are understood to
be crestfallen by the news.  Satnewswire reported that one
Lloyds insurer decided to invest a considerable sum of funds
into the insurance syndicate at 2100GMT because it was viewed
as an easy and safe way to make money.  Once news of the loss
broke the same insurer was hurriedly trying to confirm the
actual time of loss in case the contract could be voided.
Satnewswire also learned that at least one marriage is now
suffering because of the loss as the insurer came home late in
a foul mood and subsequent actions tipped a shaky relationship
into an abyss.

DOW JONES TO INVEST IN US DBS COMPANY
Dow Jones & Company, Inc., has joined the United States
Satellite Broadcasting (USSB) team as an investor and
programming partner. USSB is set to become a major programme
provider for the April launch of DirecTV, a fully digital
Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) service operated by a Hughes'
subsidiary to provide television service to homes in North
America.

"As the world's leading provider of business news and
information, Dow Jones will offer program services that will
contribute to the wide variety of entertainment and
information programming on DSS," said Stanley E. Hubbard,
president and chief operating officer of USSB.

"Our new, strategic relationship lets us both move forward and
make the most of the digital information age opportunities
that DBS offers.  We're very pleased that Dow Jones chose to
join the USSB team, and we're excited about working together
with the excellent people there."

"Dow Jones is pleased to become part of USSB," said Peter
Skinner, senior vice president of Dow Jones.  "This
partnership will allow USSB to bring Dow Jones and Wall Street
Journal business and financial programming to USSB's
subscribers nationwide, much the way the Wall Street Journal
and other Dow Jones publications reach America's readers every
business day."

USSB is to provide a range of programming from established
broadcasters such as Home Box Office, Showtime and MTV. Dow
Jones' Wall Street Journal Television already provides
business and financial news to All News Channel, a USSB
service that is produced by a sister company, Conus
Communications, in partnership with Viacom International Inc.
USSB's programming will be available through the shared DSS
system along with complementary programming offered by
DirecTV, another DSS programming company owned by GM Hughes
Electronics.  Between DirecTV and USSB, more than 150 channels
of television service will be available to all DSS viewers.

CBS SALE?
According to a top broadcast industry executive, CBS is likely
to be the target of a takeover bid this year. John Malone, CEO
of cable giant Tele-Communications Inc. is himself
spearheading a US$33 billion merger with Bell Atlantic.

Quoted in an article in the New Yorker magazine, Malone said
that CBS is likely to be sold within twelve months and that he
is counselling his
friend Ted Turner, who would like to buy ABC or NBC.  Malone
said that if Ted Turner acquired a nationwide terrestrial
networked and combined his cable and satellite CNN station he
could probably save US$200 million a year.

Malone speculates that the company will probably merge with
Disney.  Shares in CBS Inc. have doubled in value in less than
four years because of constant market rumours.

BT/FT AERO-CELLULAR SERVICE LAUNCHED
PARIS, FRANCE- Jetphone -- the BT/France Telecom joint venture
company -- yesterday unveiled its global aero-cellular
telephone service of the same name, reports TELECOMWORLDWIRE,
a sister title to Satnews.

BT's Aeronautical Services division and FT's France Cable et
Radio subsidiary formed Jetphone in 1988 to provide the
'office in the sky' to airline passengers

Installation of Jetphone compatible equipment is set to be
made on 11 domestic British Airways and 25 Air France planes
in the near future.  There will be a minimum of one handset
per two or three seats. British Midland is also close to
signing an agreement with Jetphone for the service to be used
on its domestic routes.

The company says that the service is the first of its type to
be operational in accordance to ETSI standards.  The service
is already live across the UK and France with Sweden and Italy
to go on line imminently. The remainder of Europe, including
Scandinavia and Germany, will go live during the course of
1994.

Jetphone users can directly-dial into more than 200 countries
worldwide just as they would while sitting in their offices or
cars. Calls are routed through the PSTN in the country over
which the airliner is flying so localised numbering schemes
cannot be dialled. Multilingual operator support will be
available, provided by the customer services centre in France.

Calls made over Jetphone are billed to a major credit card at
a rate equivalent to ECU4.3/GBP3.3 per minute. It is up to the
individual airline to set its own tariff.

Initially air-to-ground voice services are to be provided
although data and fax will be operational by 1995. A paging
service is also to be offered enabling travellers to be
contacted in the air. Because of security reasons Jetphone
will not allow calls be made from the ground to the plane.

David Stone, managing director of Jetphone, said that the
agreements were not trials and services should be rolled out
in the next few months.

"Research has shown a clear demand for airborne communications
services from business travellers flying in Europe. In fact,
we anticipate that by 1997, over 600 aircraft on European
routes will be offering Jetphone capabilities," said Stone.

Andre Polti, a Jetphone board director, said: "The network
represents a double first for Jetphone; not only is it a
European first, but it is also the first European
communications network to offer a worldwide service at a
single tariff rate - regardless of your location or the
national telecom operator handling your call."

The Jetphone network is a TDM/TDMA UHF-radio based digital
network. The system aboard the airliner is split into three
main sections; the TFTS-compliant system (made up of external
fuselage antenna, diplexer, transmitter/receiver unit and
modem/processor unit; the cabin telecommunications unit which
processes information for transmission by the radio sub-system
to the TFTS ground network; and the cabin distribution system
which includes each passenger handset.  Each radio cell has an
approximately 250km minimum radius at a 3km altitude.

Jetphone handsets are supplied by GTE Airfone and Claircom
Communications Inc., the airborne radio equipment mounted
aboard the airliner  is from GEC Marconi Avionics and
Mors-Rohde & Schwarz. Jetphone supplies the network interface
and the associated service functionality.

In Italy SIP holds a monopoly right to provide
telecommunications services.  Because of this SIP is working
directly with Alitalia to operate a Jetphone-compatible
system.

>From March passengers flying on specially-equipped MD 80s on
the Rome Paris or Rome-London routes will have two SIP
payphones at their disposal.  A base radio station was
installed at Monte Beigua (Savona) for the experimental stage
of the project; together with French and British stations.

Stone said that Jetphone is holding talks with Singapore,
Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong based airlines with a view to
extend TFTS networks.  Although any formal understanding has
yet to be formed a 'strong level of commitment' has been shown

SOUTH AFRICAN BID FOR ITALIAN ADULT CHANNEL
According to an article in Handesblatt, the South African
financier Johann Rupert is negotiating the acquisition of a 25
percent stake in Italy's first pay-TV company  Telepiu, which
is shortly to go into operation with a diet of overnight
adult-orientated programming.

The report says that Leo Kirch, the media magnate who recently
increased his stake in Telepiu to 34 percent, is believed to
be partnering Rupert.  Rupert is apparently paying around
DM130 million for the stake, valuing the company at over half
a billion Marks.

RUSSIANS LAUNCH FIRST GALS TV SATELLITE
It has emerged that the Russian Military Space Forces have
launched the first GALS television satellite with a Proton
three stage rocket booster from the Balikonour cosmodrome.

The launch was made at 1249 local time on 20 January and first
reports suggest that the satellite has been successfully
deployed. The launch had been delayed for 24-hours due to
unspecified technical reasons.

Once fully deployed the satellite, developed by Krasnoyarsk-26
-- the applied mechanics scientific and production
amalgamation --  will be used for direct television
broadcasting by satellite (DBS) with 90cm receiver antennas.

The satellite is to be located at 44 degrees east longitude in
a geostationary orbit.

SURGE IN LAUNCH OF SPANISH LANGUAGE TV CHANNELS
In recent weeks the market for Spanish-language television
channels seems to have been growing with a number of new
services set to launch.

Reuters Television Ltd and Telemundo Group are to create a
US$100 million Spanish-language news channel and other media
networks.  Satnews first broke news of this alliance in June
1993.

The 24-hour service named TeleNoticias will be transmitted by
satellite to cable and broadcast viewers in Latin America,
Spain and the US. Service is expected to commence in April.
Reuters and Telemundo will hold the majority shareholding,
with the remainder split between   Artear of Argentina, Antena
3-Internacional of Spain, and Productora y Comercializadora de
Television of Mexico.

A planned involvement by the BBC in the UK was, according to
Reuters, dropped for unspecified reasons. Reuters Television
and the BBC were to have utilised their massive worldwide
newsgathering resources to provide programming for the
network. A spokesman for BBC World Service Television denied
that the plans have been dropped and said that discussions
were ongoing.  The BBC is looking at supplying material under
contract  rather than taking an equity investment, said the
spokesman.

USA Networks International says that it is to launch a 24-hour
Spanish language general entertainment network in Latin
America in April.

Rafael Pastor, executive vice president and managing director
of USA Networks International says that the network  -- USA's
first international channel launch -- will be subscription and
advertiser supported. Programming will be tailor-made to the
growing Latin American cable and DTH markets. All programming
will be dubbed or subtitled into Spanish.

Contracts have already been signed for films with Paramount
and Universal and much programming will be dubbed from USA's
US networks including USA Network and the Sci-Fi Channel.

The channel will be uplinked by Telerey in Mexico City and
transmitted, on an encrypted and digitally compressed basis,
through the Solidaridad and PanAmSat satellites.

The channels will face stiff competition from several other
companies operating in the growing Spanish-language field.
GE's Canal de Noticias NBC is attempting a similar
Spanish-language news service, competing with the Mexican
network Eco, and Turner Broadcasting's Cable News Network also
broadcasts about two hours of Spanish-language news daily.

TURNER PLANS TO EXPAND, STAND DOWN
Turner Broadcasting System Inc. is planning to launch its TNT
movie channel and the Cartoon Network throughout Asia by
satellite later this year.  Much of the English-language
programming will be dubbed into Mandarin and Thai, and
eventually other regional languages.

TBS says that the broadcasts will be carried on the Apstar-1
satellite, operated by APT Satellite Co. in Hong Kong.  In May
1992 APT signed a contract for APSTAR 1, set to be launched in
May 1994 aboard a Chinese Long March rocket.  APSTAR 1 will
cover mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore
and Vietnam.

EXXXTASY PORN BROADCASTS SHOCK AMERICAN FAMILY
Hard core pornographic television programmes are being
broadcast by satellite into the US by a small Canadian company
called Exxxtasy TV. The company is cashing on the demise of a
US venture of the same name which was broadcasting porn until
it fell foul of obscenity laws in 1990.

The Ottawa-based Exxxtasy TV has already signed up 18,000
subscribers in the US in just over two months. Exxxtasy
broadcasts daily between 2000-0400 and subscriptions are sold
for US$220 per year.

An American satellite is used to relay the channel because
Telesat Canada refused to carry the service. Ironically the
service cannot be offered to homes in Canada because the
Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission
denied it a licence last year.

The pro-family American Family Association is up in arms about
the channel and is lobbying every federal body it knows to get
it banned. A complaint has already been filed with the Justice
Department who are now investigating the claims made by the
AFA.

*The Federal Communications Commission said it proposed fines
totalling US$400,000 against Infinity Broadcasting Corp. for
broadcasting what it termed "apparently indecent material"
during the Howard Stern Show on four separate days in August,
September and October 1993.