Monster Media 1996 #15/Monster Media Number 15 (Monster Media)(July 1996).ISO/ham/scdx.zip/SCDX2247.TXT

Text File | 1996-05-15 | 20KB | 497 lines

  :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
  ::           MediaScan             ::
  ::      SWEDEN CALLING DXERS       ::
  ::       from Radio Sweden         ::
  ::    Number 2247--May 7, 1996     ::
  :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio
Sweden.

This week's bulletin was written by George Wood.

Packet Radio BID SCDX2247

All times UTC unless otherwise noted.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope you enjoyed the extra edition. The last program, covering the
Cable and Satellite Show, was recorded in London, and there was no
written version. An au-format sound file of the program will be
available our Web pages, along with the special Media spot in last
Tuesday's program, a continuation of the interview with Yves Feltes of
Astra at the London show.


NORDIC MEDIA NEWS:

RADIO SWEDEN/WRN--Thanks to the World Radio Network, Radio Sweden can
now be heard on satellite in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. The
African relays are on the new Intelsat 707 satellite at y 1 degree
West, on 3.915 GHz, in digital MPEG-2, on the audio 8 channel. Radio
Sweden can heard there among the other WRN broadcasters at 01:00 and
22:00 hrs Central African Time.

We're also now available through WRN to Asia and the Pacific as part
of a European radio package on Asiasat-2 at 100.5 degrees East,
transponder 10B at 4 GHz, also in MPEG-2 as part of the DVB audio
stream. You can hear us at 06:00 and 09:00 Australian Eastern Time.

(Note: As far as I can figure out 22:00 and 01:00 Central African Time
is the same as 06:00 and 09:00 Australian Eastern Time.)

KINNEVIK--In our special Media spot last week, the head of information
for the Astra satellites, Yves Feltes, told us that Sweden's Kinnevik
media group has a firm contract to continue to broadcast on Astra for
several more years (once again, the sound of this interview is
available on our Web pages). There's obviously a difference of opinion
here. At just about the same time, Kinnevik was issuing a press
release announcing that its TV3 Norway would be leaving Astra on June
1st, followed by TV3 Sweden, TV3 Denmark, and the TV1000 film channel
on the 1st of July.

Those channels have already begun relays from the two Nordic satellite
positions at 5 degrees East and 1 degree West. Most of those signals
have recently switched from uncoded PAL to coded D2-MAC, and the
Swedish Consumer Protection agency originally ruled that radio stores
were responsible for supplying purchasers of PAL-only reception
equipment with D2-MAC decoders. But now the agency has reversed
itself, so consumers will have to spend more money if they want to see
more than TV4 and Channel 5 on their satellite receivers. ("Dagens
Nyheter")

INTELSAT 707--As mentioned earlier, Intelsat 707 has now replaced
Intelsat 702 at 1 degree West, so we can expect to see new Nordic
channels at that position soon. Norway's Telenor is carrying test
patterns on 11.486, 11.543, and 11.667 GHz. ("Aftonbladet")

Kinnevik has been adding to its offerings. The Danish TV3 at 1 degree
West is now sharing its transponder at 11.977 GHz with a new
entertainment channel called 3 plus during the week, while Kinnevik's
Sports Channel takes over on weekends.

Kinnevik's shopping channel TV-G shares a transponder with TV6 at 5
degrees East, but TV-G has also gotten its own individual transponder
on that satellite as well, on 11.785 GHz, which it shares with
Kinnevik promotional videos in PAL.

TV1000 will be expanding to Finland on September 1st. Presumeably that
means there will Finnish subtitles available on the current two
channels from that date.

FILMNET--Meanwhile, Kinnevik's rival Nethold has announced its digital
package on Astra, scheduled to begin later this Spring, with
transponder 77 to Scandinavia, and 78 to the Benelux. The initial
Scandinavian package will include Filmnet 1 and 2, Supersport,
Hallmark, TV Norge, and Sweden's Channel 5. But Nethold has more
ambitious plans for 20 channels in the short term, and twice as many
within a year.

Among these new stations are BET on Jazz, the Travel and Weather
Channels, the Performance Arts Channel, Bloomberg Information, CNBC,
NBC Super Channel, the Microsoft-NBC computer channel MS-NBC,
Discovery, and the Children's Channel. (Frank Oestergren,
"Aftonbladet")

Others reported are: BBC World, CMT, a computer channel called Giga
TV, European Business News, Eurosport, and the Sci-Fi Channel. ("Cable
and Satellite Express")

There will also be around 20 digital music channels from DMX, which
we'll explore more in the next edition of the program.

Apparently the reason Nethold had to cancel its D2-MAC relay of
SuperSport on Astra prematurely was because Kirch suddenly demanded
the return of equipment that had been loaded to Nethold. (Frank
Oestergren, "Aftonbladet")

RADIO--Luxembourg's CLT has finally started doing something with its
Stockholm station on 104.7 MHz. Instead of endless music with jingles
IDing as 104-7, there are now live announcers, and the ID is now
sometimes 104-7 RTL, reflecting the new ownership.

Another Stockholm private station, Classic Hits, has also been sold
abroad, to Britain's Daily Mail Trust.

DIGITAL TELEVISION--On the digital TV front, Swedish Telecom is behind
a number of new apparently competing, projects. First of all, the
company is involved in the government's plans for terrestrial digital
broadcasts. There may be 8 digital channels over the airwaves here
within two years, 24 by the end of the decade, and perhaps 50 within
10 years.

But there's criticism from commercial interests who want to start
earning money now from new analog channels. There's also criticism
from Swedish Telecom, which owns this country's largest cable
operator. They're preparing to carry uo to 300 digital channels to
their subscribers by next year. One of those new stations is a project
with public broadcaster Swedish Television called Gold-TV, with
programs from their archives, a pay-channel due on cable this Fall,
and on satellite next year.

On the satellite front, Swedish Telecom is competing with its cable
network with plans to relay between 50 and 100 channels, also set for
this year or next.

And to top it off, there's another project to deliver all these
digital TV channels, as well as super fast access to the Internet, to
all of the country's telephone subscribers. The first offerings may be
available next year, but it could take up to 10 years to modernize the
entire country's telephone network. ("Svenska Dagbladet", "Dagens
Nyheter")

So there's a new digital future awaiting. Actually, today's MediaScan
was digitally mixed and edited. But Radio Sweden's brave new digital
future kicks off officially on May 20th, when we toss out all the tape
players and turn off the analog studios, and our entire broadcast
chain switches to digital operation, with everything done in
computers. More about that next time.


EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS:

SKY MOVIES GOLD--On June 1, Sky Movies Gold is expanding its schedule
on Astra transponder 60 to 11:00-03:00 hrs daily (instead of starting
at 15:00 hrs). (James Robinson)

WEATHER--Europe is getting not one, but two weather TV channels. The
Weather Network is starting on June 2, while the rival Weather Channel
begins operation on June 30. (James Robinson)

Wetterkanal has begun broadcasts on Kopernikus 1 at 23.5 degrees East,
on 11.675 GHz. ("Aftonbladet" and "What Satellite TV")

FLEXTECH--Flextech has gained control of the Family Channel. The
current channel is to close on August 31. Having taken control of the
Family Channel, Flextech (which is owned by the American cable giant
TCI) is now negotiating to acquire Cox Communications' stakes in both
UK Gold and UK Living, so it can develop them along with a reworked
Family Channel, as a complete package.

WARNER--Warner Brothers is launching a satellite TV channel in Britain
this Fall. The studio is currently negotiating with Sky to join its
Multi-Channels package, although it is unlikely to lease transponder
space from Sky as only Astra 1D capacity is available. A sublease of
Flextech's Family Channel is more likely. ("What Satellite TV" and
James Robinson)

SKY--Sky seems to have more part-time channels in the offing.
Connection TV is the product of a joint venture between News
International (owners of Sky) and Japanese media giant Softbank, and
will be a six hour a day service of software and hardware news and
features.

E! Entertainment (currently relayed via Sky and the Paramount Channel)
is also hoping for a Fall launch. It's joint venture channel, also
launched together with Sky, will occupy half a day on an Astra 1D
transponder, more than likely sharing with Connect TV. The intention
is to move to a 24 hour service when Sky's digital service launches
next Fall. ("What Satellite TV")

Connect TV will be taking on the coming NBC-Microsoft channel MS-NBC.
CNBC/NBC Super Channel current carry 2 hours of computer shows
Saturday mornings. CNBC is to add more computer interest programs in
the near future. (James Robinson)

SKY'S DIGITAL PLANS--British Sky Broadcasting is finally getting into
digital broadcasts, after letting other European operators pioneer the
new technology. Sky has announced that it has reached agreement with
Astra's owner SES  that will allow it to launch digital services to
Britain in the Fall of 1997. The agreement secures one half the
operational capacity of the Astra satellite due to launch then to a
second orbital position (rather than Astra's current 19 degrees East).
(Reuters)

SKY AND VIRGIN--According to the "Sunday Telegraph", BSkyB and the
Virgin Group are in talks about the possiblity of launching a joint
cable and satellite TV station. The article says the talks were
instigated by BSkyB after both companies failed, in separate bids, to
win a licence to operate Britain's 5th terrestrial TV network last
November.

The newspaper says the new channel is designed to appeal to a young,
upmarket adult audience, with an emphasis on enterainment, travel, and
humor. (Reuters)

DUTCH CHANNELS GO DIGITAL--Starting September 1 Veronica, RTL 4 and
RTL 5 will be all MPEG-2 only. Veronica is moving to transponder 102
on Astra 1F (12.441 GHz), while RTL 4 and 5 are starting on 1E
transponder 80 (12.013 GHz--Nethold's Benelux transponder) on July 1.
Another Dutch channel, SBS 6, will also be part of transponder 80, but
continues analog on transponder 57 until August 31.

FRENCH DIGITAL--Luxembourg's CLT says it has taken a 20 percent
interest in the French digital satellite broadcastinc consortium TVS,
together with TF1, France Television, M6, and Lyonnaise des Eaux. The
new service will compete against the Canal Satellite package launched
by France's Canal Plus last month. (Reuters and "Tele-satellit")

EUROSPORT--Italy's public broadcaster RAI and Eurosport have agreed to
launch an Italiah version of the European satellite sports channel.
Six hour a day broadcasts will start on May 27, to the co-incide with
the Paris Open tennis tournament. This brings the number of languages
on Eurosport to 12. The channel is a owned by the French channels TF1
and Canal Plus. (Reuters)

EUTELSAT--Eutelsat has ordered Hot Bird 5 from Matra Marconi Space.
With 22 transponders, the satellite will be launched during the Spring
of 1998, and will be co-located with the other Hot Birds at 13 degrees
East. Hot Birds 2, 3, and 4 are all under construction, and will be
launched in August, 1996, the first quarter of 1997, and Autumn 1997
respectively. (Eutelsat)

GIGATEL--A company called Gigatel is using the last available
transponder on Hot Bird 1 at 13 degrees East, 11.283 GHz, for tests in
MPEG-2. ("Aftonbladet") (Is this the "Giga-TV" mentioned above?)

ASTRA--Arianespace has announced that it has signed a long-term
contract with Astra's owner SES to put six Astra satellites in orbit
with Ariane 4 and 5 rockets between 1997 and 2000. (Reuters)

DISCOVERY--The Discovery Channel is working with Kirch for a joint
German documentary channel. It will be broadcast on Kirch's digital
transponder on Astra 1E, beginning some time after July 1. Kirch uses
its own D-box decoder, which is being delivered to the German market
by Nokia. ("Aftonbladet")

Note that Nethold is also using the D-box standard, and has ordered
decoders from Echostar.


MIDDLE EASTERN MEDIA NEWS:

ISRAEL--Israel is to launch its first commercial satellite with an
Ariane rocket on May 15. Unusually for the Middle East, the Amos-1
satellite will operate in the Ku-band, between 10.95 and 14.5 GHz.
(Reuters)


ASIAN MEDIA NEWS:

CHINA--China will launch Hong Kong's Apstar 1A satellite in June,
three months later than originally planned. The launch was delayed
after one of its Long March rockets exploded seconds after lift-off in
February carrying the Intelsat 708 satellite. At least 6 people were
killed in the blast.

Apstar 1A is needed to complement Apstar 1, launched by China in July,
1994, and to make up for the January 1995 loss of Apstar 2, which blew
up after lift off on a Long March rocket. (Reuters)


NORTH AMERICAN MEDIA NEWS:

CANADA--On April 18, an Ariane rocket carried into orbit Canada's
MSAT- 1 satellite. MSAT is to provide mobile satellite communications
in Canada, including the Yukon and Northwest Territories. (Reuters)

GALAXY--The already delayed launch of the Galaxy IX satellite has been
pushed back again. A Delta rocket was supposed to carry the satellite
into orbit from Cape Canaveral on May 8, but last week engineers
discovered a leak in the rocket's first-stage fuel. The new launch
might have to take a back-seat to the planned May 16 lift-off of the
shuttle Endeavour. (Curt Swinehart)

ARIANE--Arianespace says it has signed an agreement to launch 5
satellites for the American satellite manufacturer Space
Systems/Loral. However, the agreement itself is apparently for one
first launch and four options. The launches are to be before the year
2000. (Reuters)


CYBERSPACE--

EUTELSAT--Eutelsat finally has a Web site at:

http://www.eutelsat.org

ASTRA--Rival Astra has finally followed suit at:

http://www.astra.lu

OLYMPICS--NBC has set up what is describes as the most comprehensive
WWW site ever for the Summer Olympics:

http://www.olympic.nbc.com

SCANDINAVIAN SATELLITE NEWS--A weekly e-mail news service has been
established reporting on Scandinavia's satellite scene. It's available
for free, and can be ordered by sending a message to:

[e-mail]

Leave the subject line blank, and in the body text write:

subscribe sat-nordic

The service, from "Tele-satellit" is written in English, Swedish, and
German. More details about other services can be found at:

http://www.tele-satellit.com

SATCO--The SATCO DX Satellite Chart covers all TV channels and almost
all radio channels from 53 degrees West to 180 degrees East, plus many
channels on American satellites. The next step to to add the North and
South American channels for worldwide coverage. See:

http://www.satcodx.com

HOBBY NEWS:

EDXC--We want to mark the end of an era in the shortwave world. The
European DX Council, which brings together the clubs for shortwave
listeners in Europe, recently held its annual conference in Florence,
Italy. It was an unusual gathering, because the EDXC's secretary for
the past 16 years, Michael Murray, took the occasion to official
retire from the job.

Before the conference, I sat down with Michael for a look-back on his
many year's with the council. That interview is in today's progra. If
you missed it, you can listen to the entire program in au-format on
our Web pages, or in RealAudio via the World Radio Network's Sound
Store (see http://www.wrn.org).


And the best of luck to Michael's successor, Risto Vahakainu of
Finland. The official council address is now changing to:

EDXC
Box 214
FIN-00101 Helsinki
Finland

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Sweden Calling DXers/MediaScan is 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.

Radio Sweden broadcasts in English:

To Europe:

18:30 hrs    1179, 6065, 9655, and 11615 kHz (also Africa/Middle East)
19:30        1179 and 6065 kHz  (also Africa/Middle East) 20:30
1179, 6065, 9430, and 9655 kHz (weekends only) 21:30        1179,
6065, 9430, and 9655 kHz (also Africa/Middle East)

Asia/Pacific:

12:30 hrs    13740, and 15240 kHz
13:30 hrs    9835 kHz
01:00 hrs    7120 and 9435 kHz

North America:

11:30 hrs on 11650 and 15240 kHz
13:30 hrs on 11650 and 15245 kHz
02:30 hrs on 7290 kHz
03:30 hrs on 7115 kHz

Latin America:

00:30 hrs on 6065 kHz
01:30 hrs on 7290 kHz

The broadcasts at 12:30 and 18:30 hrs are also relayed to Europe by
satellite:

   Astra 1C (19.2 degrees East) transponder 33 (ZDF) at
   10.964 GHz, audio subcarrier at 7.38 MHz

   Tele-X (5 degrees East) via TV5 Nordic at 12.475 GHz, audio
   subcarrier 7.38 MHz.

Radio Sweden is also relayed to Europe via the World Radio Network on
VH-1's transponder 22 on Astra, audio 7.38 MHz, daily at 22:00 hrs
CET.

Radio Sweden can also be heard on WRN's North American service on
Galaxy-5, on WTBS's transponder 6, audio 6.8 MHz, daily at 20:30 hrs
Eastern time (from April 7 at 21:30 hrs Eastern Daylight Time).

Radio Sweden can now be heard via WRN in Africa on Intelsat 707 at 1
degree West, on 3.915 GHz, in digital MPEG-2, on the audio 8 channel,
at 01:00 and 22:00 hrs Central African Time.

We're also now available through WRN to Asia and the Pacific as part
of a European radio package on Asiasat-2 at 100.5 degrees East,
transponder 10B at 4 GHz, also in MPEG-2 as part of the DVB audio
stream. You can hear us at 06:00 and 09:00 Australian Eastern Time.

And the World Radio Network is also carried live via Internet
Multicasting using the Streamworks system.

Each day's program, recorded at 01:30 hrs UTC daily) is also available
from WRN in the RealAudio format. See:

http://www.wrn.org

Our World Wide Web page is at:

     http://www.sr.se/rs

A multimedia version of this bulletin can be found at:

     http://www.sr.se/rs/english/media/scdx.htm

Sound recordings of interviews from previous programs can be found at:

     http://www.sr.se/rs/english/media/media2.htm

Sound files of Mediascan are archived at:

     ftp.funet.fi:pub/sounds/RadioSweden/Mediascan.

You can also find the programs among the offerings of Internet Talk
Radio at various sites, including:

     ftp://town.hall.org/radio/Mirrors/RadioSweden/MediaScan

Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to
[phone] or by e-mail to: [e-mail]

Reports can also be sent to:

      Radio Sweden
      S-105 10 Stockholm
      Sweden

Contributions should be NEWS about electronic media--from shortwave to

 satellites--and not loggings of information already available from
sources  such as the "World Radio TV Handbook". Clubs and DX
publications may reprint material as long as MediaScan/Sweden Calling
DXers and the original contributor are acknowledged.

We welcome comments and suggestions about the electronic edition,
Sweden   Calling DXers, and our programs in general.

The mailing list for the Electronic Edition is now open to general
subscription. If you can send e-mail over the Internet, send a message
to:

[e-mail]

You ought to get a confirmation message in reply. To unsubscribe from
the list, send a message to

[e-mail]

To get a copy of Radio Sweden's English program schedule, write to:

[e-mail]

And for general questions, comments, and reception reports, our e-mail
address is:

[e-mail]

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Thanks to this week's contributors                      Good Listening!