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:: MediaScan ::
:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2185--August 10, 1993 ::
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Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden.
This week's bulletin was written by George Wood.
Packet Radio BID SCDX2185
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
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NORDIC MEDIA NEWS:
COMMERCIAL RADIO--Swedes are waiting for their first legal commercial radio
stations. When the deadline ran out on July 29th, at least 200 applications
had been filed for the 38 frequencies in 15 towns in northern and central
Sweden. There are 100 applications for the 10 channels allocated to Stockholm.
These include several Norwegian radio stations, a New York-based company
called RTT Media Incorporated, and France's NRJ. Among the Stockholm
applicants are Radio City (backed by the4 Swedish Employers' Federation),
Radio Z (from the Kinnevik media empire, owners of TV3, TV1000, and several
cable channels and magazines), and Radio Megapol (from the Bonniers
publishing empire).
Franchises are to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with no
consideration taken for format of whether the winners will be able to afford
their bids. The first licences are expected to be awarded at the end of
August or beginning of September.
Another 20 frequencies in southern and western Sweden are to awarded. The
application period for them was delayed because of negotiations with
neighboring countries on frequency allocations. (TT, "Dagens Nyheter",
"Music and Media")
EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS:
ASTRA--No sooner than we mentioned last Tuesday that the Family Channel would
be sharing the Children's Channel transponder on Astra 1C, then a Family
Channel promotional video began playing on that transponder, number 35,
during the period after the Children's Channel signs off every day. The
Family Channel launches officially on September 1st, with the broadcast day
beginning at 16:00 hrs UTC.
The Children's Channel's "TCC" programming for older children, which
currently broadcasts between 16:00 and 18:00 hrs, will be discontinued from
the end of August. (James Robinson)
British Sky Broadcasting's Multi-Channel package could be in serious trouble,
with the distinct possiblity that some channels will be unable to launch in
time, or at all. The primary problem seems to be the allocation of
transponders on Astra 1C.
Astra is reportedly concerned about concentrating such a large number of
transponders in the hands of a few heavyweight broadcasters like Sky. Other
rumors suggest that Astra may want to keep a number of 1C transponders
permanently vacant, to provide back-ups for transponder failures on the 1A
and 1B satellites. Astra will only comment that the 1C satellite is full.
The broadcasters affected are the shopping channel QVC, UK Living, MTV's VH-1
service, and the country music channel CMT Europe, who are currently unable
to confirm that they have formally leased transponders. UK Living and QVC
have been expected to use transponders 34 and 38. CMT Europe would use the
Discovery Channel's transponder 41 between midnight and 4:00 PM British time.
MTV is now understood to be planning to scramble as part of the package in or
around June, 1994. VH-1 still has no transponder to go to, and MTV seems to
have no plans to relinquish one of its two Astra transponders to make room
for VH-1.
In the event that one or several channels fails to launch, it would cause a
serious situation for Sky, possibly jeopardising the entire Multi-Channels
package.
On the other hand, Ted Turner's Cartoon Network and TNT are ready to launch
uncoded on transponder 37 on September 17th. Another channel rumored for 1C
is the French-German cultural channel Arte, currently on Kopernikus 3 and
Telecom 2B. ("Sky Guide")
FilmNet has added Russian teletext subtitles to its D2-MAC broadcast on
Astra. Background information is also available, However, this is not
receivable on standard teletext sets, as a different system is used.
Last week we speculated a little about TV Asia's plans, now that it is
temporarily broadcasting on the Nickeoloden transponder on Astra 1C, while
keeping its previous schedules on two other transponders. James Robinson says
TV Asia will cease broadcasting on the Sky One transponder at night,
beginning August 31st.
INTELSAT--Now that they've moved to Astra, Bravo is to cease broadcasting on
Intelsat 601 on August 31st, and Discovery is to end broadcasts from that
same satellite on September 30th. The Learning Channel, which shares
Discovery's transponder on Intelsat, is to move on September 1st. It will
share Wire-TV's transponder on Intelsat, at 11.502 GHz, with new hours
between 08:00 and 11:00 hrs daily. (James Robinson)
EUTELSAT--The American TV network NBC is negotiating to buy Super Channel,
which is on Eutelsat II-F1. ("The Daily Express", via Michael Murray) Super
Channel was originally launched as a "Best of British" channel, exactly what
UK Gold is now doing. But there were problems with the Actor's Union, and an
Italian music video broadacaster took control, creating a weird format
combination of old American programs and B movies, a handful of business and
news programs, with rock videos in between. Hopefully a take-over by NBC
would give Super Channel a little more focus in its format.
The new German rock video channel, apparently called Viva, may appear on
Eutelsat II-F1 on 11.006 GHz, perhaps beginning August 19th, but possibly not
until next year. Another new broadcaster on this satellite is Turkey's
InterStar, now using 11.596 GHz. James tells us this is a feed to the regular
outlet on Eutelsat II-F2.
Poland's Polsat is doing the same thing, using their outlet on Eutelsat II-F1
11.678 GHz as a feed for the regular channel on the same satellite on 11.638
GHz. (James Robinson) Why?
CABLE--Swedish Telecom's cable network refuses to relay Radio Sweden's local
FM transmitter, but Deutsche Welle has no such problem. The station will soon
use a channel on the Berlin cable network for broadcasting in 16 foreign
languages. Deutsche Welle is already on the cable in Bonn. The programs are
to be in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, Arabic,
Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Slovene, Romanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Brazilian
Portuguese, and Japanese. (ADN news agency via BBC Monitoring)
FM, MEDIUM, AND SHORTWAVE:
INTERNATIONAL WATERS--Radio Brod, the European Community financed radio ship
broadcasting to the former Yugoslavia, resumed transmission at 15:00 hrs on
July 29th, after the settling of some financial problems. The move follows
the reversal of the decision by the government of St. Vincent, under which
the radio ship is flagged, to close down operations (after a complaint from
the Yugoslavian government to the International Telecommunications Union).
Expressions of support for the station had come from several UN agencies and
the EC. Radio Brod is now broadcasting 24 hours a day on 720 kHz and 97.8 MHz.
(BBC Monitoring)
ESTONIA--The BNS news agency reports that Estonian Radio plans to make some
deep cuts in its broadcast schedule this month and next. General Director
Herkki Haldre blames the cuts on a nearly one million kroon shortfall in
government funds.
Estonian Radio's Russian-language programs and Radio 2 disappear from medium
wave in northern Estonian as of August 15th. ER-3 and the medium wave
transmissions of the commercial Radio 2 will be entirely eliminated as of
September 1st. The commercial program will then only be heard on VHF-FM.
Foreign language programming will be cut from 2.5 to 2 hours a day, and will
only be broadcast on shortwave. Radio Estonia says the 10 minute newscast in
English at 15:20 hrs will no longer be carried on shortwave from August 15th.
However, the twice weekly "Estonia Today" half hour in English at 20:30 hrs
on Mondays and Thursdays will not be affected.
Radio Estonia reports that a local Baptist church is launching Family Radio
(Pere Radio) in Tallinn on 89.6 MHz, starting in September. (BBC Monitoring)
LATVIA--Lativa's latest radio station, Radio Riga, goes on the air on October
15th. The station, a Latvian-Geman joint venture, will broadcast news in
Latvian, Russian, English, and German 24 hours a day. (BNS via BBC Monitoring)
USA--The Christian Science Church has announced it is cutting back on its
shortwave Christian Science Monitor World Service, and is selling one of its
three transmitter stations in an effort to save money. The station that's for
sale is WCSN in Scott's Corner, Maine. The Monitor World Service will retain
the transmitter stations in South Carolina (WSHB) and on Saipan (KHBI).
Beginning September 28th, broadcasts to Africa will be cut to 6 hours a day.
There will be 11 hours a day to Asia, and 18 hours to Europe. (AP)
Last Friday, the US Coast Guard closed down its morse code emergency distress
system. The Coast Guard had been monitoring the distress channel of 500 kHz
since before 1924. But the advent of satellite and digital technology,
including marine phones, ship-to-shore teleprinters, and electronic beacons
that can pinpoint a ship, means the morse code frequency has been made
obsolete. (AP)
So bye bye morse, hello to a universe of new technologies. We'll try to keep
you up-to-date here in the program.
LETTERS FROM LISTENERS: We've received a number of letters from listeners
about the program, and about Nordic media.
1) Stephan Schoen in Germany wonders if any Swedish TV stations, such as TV4
or TV5 Nordic, are planning to broadcast over Astra. The chance of that is
slight. Both use Sweden's Tele-X satellite, and Nordic moved there from
Eutelsat II-F1 to save money. TV4 is now a terrestrial channel in Sweden, and
when the terrestrial network is finished, there's a chance it will disappear
from satellite completely.
One reason none of these stations will be going to Astra is because they
carry so much American programming, and broadcast in the clear, and in the
original language, with subtitles. So anybody in Europe would be able to
enjoy the programs. Since both channels pay only for the Swedish rights, they
stay on Tele-X, which theoretically has only a Nordic audience, although
anyone in northern Europe with a motorized dish ought to be able to tune in.
Ironically, you can see one program from TV4, the evening news, in North
America, via Scola, which broadcasts news programs from around the world.
Stephan points out that there are three Swedish broadcasters on Astra, TV3
(in separate versions for Sweden, Norway, and Denmark), TV1000, and FilmNet.
But all three are scrambled using D2-MAC. Stephan wonders if it would be
possible to subscribe from Germany.
The simple answer is "no", all three channels pay royalties for just
Scandinavia, or in FilmNet's case, also the Benelux. So they won't sell you
subscription cards. But a lot of people find ways around these restrictions.
FilmNet and TV1000 have been popular in Britain because they show
pornographic films late at night a couple of days a week. Some companies
there deal in imported cards, and some people exchange cards, sending cards
for Sky Movies and the Movie Channel to people in Sweden in return for TV1000
or FilmNet cards. Or they just have friends in Scandinavia send them cards.
The whole thing is a gray zone because the royalties contracts come into
direct conflict with EC regulations permitting free goods and services
anywhere across the Community and the coming European Economic Area. If TV3
or TV1000 sells cards in EC member Denmark, then people in the rest of the EC
ought to be able to subscribe as well. This is an issue just waiting to be
taken to court.
Stephan asks as well about other Scandinavian plans to use Astra. As far as I
know, there aren't any, except that "P TV" magazine has reported that the
Danish pop station "The Voice" is planning to switch from Tele-X to the TV3
Denmark transponder on Astra. There's also a suggestion that Swedish Radio
book another channel on Astra, so we can run programs in Swedish on one
channel, and Radio Sweden programming in other languages on the other. And
possibly upgrade both to stereo eventually. But so far it's just a proposal.
2) Turning now to a letter from Joel Rubin in San Francisco, who heard the
recent report that "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" from
National Public Radio are now available on satellite in Europe.
Joel is confused because we reported that 2 hours a day of "All Things
Considered" is being broadcast, and one hour a day of "Morning Edition",
since both programs are of different duration on his local NPR stations KQED-
FM and KALW, and the times don't match.
The reason is that the World Radio Network, which is relaying NPR here, has
to do so during holes in its schedule on Eutelsat II-F1, which means starting
"All Things Considered" late, and broadcasting "Morning Edition" on a delayed
basis. When the NPR relayed is switched to one of the Astra satellites,
hopefully next month, the programs will be able to run unhindered and live.
Joel also has a computer question that WE can't answer, but perhaps someone
in the audience can. He asks if there is a way of setting back the date on an
MS-DOS computer without setting back the date in CMOS memory? The idea would
be to set things up as with UNIX, so you can have a UTC time and date, and
then you tell the system about the time zone.
3) Finally a comment that's circulated through the Shortwave Echo on FidoNet
computer bulletin boards. Fred Newlin wonders how many shortwave listeners
have satellite receiving equipment? He wonders why Radio Sweden, specifically
this program, spends so much time talking about satellites, and devotes so
little time to shortwave, since nearly everyone who listens to MediaScan has
a shortwave receiver.
That's a valid point, and a very good question. The easy answer is that Radio
Sweden's management is reponsible for the decision to change the format. The
reasoning is that new technology has made shortwave much less important,
especially in the industrialized countries, and we are an international
broadcaster, not a shortwave station. Thus the audience of shortwave
hobbyists is regarded as less important.
In addition, with the end of the Cold War, and Sweden's application to join
the European Community, the political winds in this country are towards a
concentration on Europe, away from the interest on the Third World under
previous Social Democratic governments.
That said, there are some reasons to justify a program concentrating more on
satellites than shortwave. For one thing, a package to receive the Astra
satellites here in Europe now costs less than a high quality shortwave
receiver. And tuning into satellites certainly is DXing in many ways. There's
always changes, and here in Europe many countries are now available with
radio and television programming.
In the past, there was a great overlap between this program and others, like
Radio Netherlands "Media Network". Now that we're doing something different,
there's less overlap, and more for listeners.
So that's the reasoning. It certainly won't please everyone, and comments are
always encouraged.
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Thanks to this week's contributors Good Listening!