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Date: Sun, 17 Oct 1993 01:54:51 GMT
From: p00489@psilink.com (Terry Stader - KA8SCP)
Subject: SCDX 2189
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:: MediaScan ::
:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2189--Oct. 19, 1993 ::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden.
This week's bulletin was written by George Wood.
Packet Radio BID SCDX2189
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
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NORDIC MEDIA NEWS:
NORTH STAR--We've reported before on a proposal before the Nordic Council for
a joint Nordic television channel. Those plans took a concrete form Friday
(October 15), when the public service broadcasters of Sweden, Norway,
Finland, and Iceland presented a formal proposal. Should the prime ministers
of the four countries approve the project at a meeting next month, the
broadcasters say the Nordic satellite channel "Nordstjarnan", or "North
Star", could be on the air by the end of 1994 or early 1995.
As a satellite channel, it would only be available to cable subscribers or
home dish owners, at a cost of around 7 dollars a month. Some films and other
more attractive programming would be offered for an additional charge.
The fifth Nordic country, Denmark, is not participating in the project
because the channel would not be available to all viewers. The Danes would
prefer to strengthen the current Nordvision co-operation. (TT and "Pressens
Tidning")
SWEDISH COMMERCIAL RADIO--We reported last time on the allocation of the
first commercial radio frequencies in Sweden, which were awarded in an
auction solely on the basis of the highest bids.
Now the Local Radio Licencing Board has asked that more frequencies be
allocated northern and central Sweden, especially in Norrkoping, to the
southwest of Stockholm, Uppsala, just north of the capital, and Umea in the
far north. All three cities received frequencies for two stations, so that
there would be some competition, or at least alternatives for potential
advertisers. But the highest bidder auction system worked against that
ambition.
In Norrkoping the same group won bids for both channels, while a local
newspaper bought both licences in Umea. A Christian fundamentalist group won
one frequency in Uppsala, and since they don't plan to carry ordinary
advertising, the Licencing Board is afraid the remaining broadcaster will
have a monopoly on advertising rates.
The auction for licences in southern and western Sweden will be held in early
December. Five channels will be allocated in Gothenburg, and two each in 9
other cities. (TT, "Pressens Tidning", and "Journalisten")
SWEDISH COMMUNITY RADIO--Sweden's Community Radio Board has threaten to fine
three community radio stations for illegally carrying networked news from the
Swedish news agency TT. The community radio law says centrally produced
programming can only be used "to a limited extent", which the board has
interpreted to mean that carrying a short bulletin of networked news once an
hour is forbidden.
The stations have objected to this interpretation. Altogether 20 Swedish
community radio stations are relaying news from TT. (TT)
SWEDISH RADIO--Sweden's public service radio broadcaster, Swedish Radio, is
investigating introducing a national program in the Finnish language after
digital radio is introduced here in 1995. The largest immigrant group in
Sweden comes from Finland, and Finnish programming currently accounts for
around 2 and a half hours a day on Swedish Radio's Program 2. That channel
primarily offers classical music, but also carries minority language and
educational programming. In Stockholm these have been shifted onto other
transmitters, and Program 2 in the capital is a 24 hour classical channel.
Swedish Radio hopes to extend this service nationally when digital radio is
introduced. (TT)
THOR--We've often mentioned Norway's Thor satellite, which offers a
Scandinavian package of CNN, Eurosport, the Children's Channel, Discovery,
MTV, and Filmnet Movies, however using obscure encoding systems generally
found only in Norway. Now Filmnet has begun distributing Thor subscriptions
in Sweden, for around 8 dollars a month. However, Filmnet may also be
involved in a European version of Sky's Multi-Channel package, called "Multi-
Choice Kaleidoscope". (Bertil Sundberg in "Elektronikvaerlden")
EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS:
ASTRA--The Adult Channel has left transponder 26, home of Sky Movies Gold and
Radio Sweden. TV Asia now occupies this transponder continuously between
23:00 and 17:00 hrs UTC. TV Asia has stopped broadcasts from transponder 8,
and Sky One now continues there until 01:00 hrs UTC daily.
Some British local ILR stations are to appear on the Discovery and Bravo
transponders in the near future. (James Robinson)
QVC began its broadcasts on Astra transponder 38 as scheduled on October 1st.
The transmissions are encoded in Videocrypt. (James Robinson)
British Sky Broadcasting has been publicly rapped by the Independent
Television Commission's Television Advertising Complaints report for August
1993 over TV adverts for its multichannel offering.
The complaints centered around BSkyB's claims that 14 channels were being
added into the Multichannels package, and that nine of them had never
previously been carried on satellite. Complainants pointed out
that some channels would not be encrypted on the launch date and would remain
available without payment of a subscription fee, others would not be on the
air at the time of launch, and that some of the
channels claimed to be available for the first time on satellite had been, in
fact, carried on Intelsat and Eutelsat satellites for some time. ("Satnews")
EUTELSAT--Egyptian Television's long-awaited international channel seems to
be about to start. James Robinson reports low-powered test signals from Nile
TV International on Eutelsat 2-F3, on 11.146 GHz. This same satellite also
carries the Egyptian Space Channel, and other Middle Eastern broadcasters
from Turkey, Morocco and Tunisia. Telepace has also moved to this satellite,
replacing RTP. An Algerian network was to transmit on the Telepace
transponder. (James Robinson) But BBC Monitoring recently reported that those
plans have been postponed.
Portugal's RTP has joined Italian, Spanish, and Turkish channels on Eutelsat
2-F2. (James Robinson)
RTL--Luxembourg's RTL Television is to begin relays of its French service by
satellite soon. The choice is between Astra, Eutelsat, and France's Telecom
satellite. RTL currently broadcasts to eastern France from Luxembourg and is
also carried on some French cable networks. (AFP via BBC Monitoring)
MCM--MCM Euromusique is determined to introduce encryption for its 24-hour
music service from October 15th. After being forced off the air for some time
because of financial problems, the station is determined to remain "on air"
in the future. It will be encrypting its signal in D2-MAC/Eurocrypt-M, and
annual Europe-wide subscriptions will be a FFr150 one-off payment for the
smart card, followed by FFr200 per year. ("Satnews") This apparently refers
to the on-again, off-again D2-MAC signals on TDF1 on 11.727 GHz, which have
been in the clear. MCM is also part of the Canal Satellit Nagravision package
on Telecom 2A.
HISPASAT--Two new television channels, one with cultural programs, the other
with exclusively sports programs, are to begin broadcasts on Spain's Hispasat
satellites in December. They will be operated by the public RTVE and are to
be in the clear. (RNE via BBC Monitoring)
HDTV--Broadcasters and regulatory authorities in Europe are working together
to find a common standard for digital high definition (HDTV) services. A
memorandum of understanding has been signed by a group of satellite
operators, broadcasters, manufacturers and regulators, with the signing
ceremony in Bonn, Germany.
The group, known as the European Launching Group for Digital Video
Broadcasting (DVB) project, comprises of 85 members including one Japanese
electronics firm. ("Satnews")
MIDDLE EASTERN MEDIA NEWS:
ARABSAT--Arabsat, the Arab Satellite Communications Organisation, has signed
a USD 104 million loan with eight banks to part-finance the building and
launch of two new satellites. Aerospatiale, the French aerospace company, is
building the satellites at a total cost of USD 258 million. The first
satellite is set to be launched in 1996, with the other to be mothballed for
an unspecified period.
The loan has been syndicated primarily through Middle Eastern banks. Arabsat
is paying cash for around 60 percent of the total satellite's cost from
existing cash reserves. "(Satnews")
AFRICAN MEDIA NEWS:
SOUTH AFRICA--Sky News was due to start 12 hours a day of broadcasts to South
Africa, beginning October 3rd. Using a relay from Intelsat, the broadcasts
are on the SABC's CCV channel. CNN is also carried on CCV. Sky plans to
increase its African coverage beyond South Africa. ("Business Day" via BBC
Monitoring)
ASIAN MEDIA NEWS:
STAR-TV--At the annual meeting of News Corporation, media tycoon Rupert
Murdoch announced the splitting of his new Asian aquisition, Star-TV, into
four divisions, one each for China, India, Indonesia and the Middle East.
Murdoch also reported his Fox cable channel in the United States plans to
begin service on March 1st to between 20 million and 30 million homes. Fox
has also launched a small cable channel to South America, while Europe's Sky
News has just started a service to South Africa (see above).
The Hong Kong-based Star-TV faces problems following China's recent
announcement of new rules limiting access to satellite dishes, including a
virtual ban on purchases or installations by individuals who had been
snapping up dishes to pull down foreign television broadcasts.
The past two years have seen an explosion of foreign satellite television in
China, posing a serious threat to the Communist government's information
monopoly. Department stores and other shops took advantage of a dearth of
explicit regulations and sold tens of thousands of low-cost satellite dishes.
(Reuters)
ASIASAT--Star-TV plans to expand when the Asiasat-2 satellite is launched in
early 1995. Australia's most profitable commercial TV network, the Nine
Network, has taken options on 10 transponders on the new satellite, half the
high-powered transponder capacity. The satellite's footprint is planned to
extend from Japan to the Middle East and south to Australia. ("World
Broadcast News")
PALAPA--Asia's first business television channel will begin broadcasting next
month. Among the owners of Asia Business News are Dow Jones, the American
cable giant TCI, Television New Zealand, and the Singapore Broadcasting
Corpation. The channel will transmit on Indonesia's Palapa B2P satellite.
CNN, the sports channel ESPN, Home Box Office, and Australia Television
International already use Palapa. ("Satnews")
BBC--The BBC has formed a joint venture with a Japanese trading company to
launch a Japanese version of World Service Television (WSTV)
early in 1994. Signing the agreement with Nissho Iwai, Japan's
seventh-largest trading company, is a break with tradition for the British
state-owned broadcaster which is usually reticent about forming alliances
with profit-making organisations.
A new company has been formed for the joint venture. Nissho will be the
majority partner in Satellite News Corporation, and it will act as the
advertising agent for BBC WSTV. The BBC will retain the final control
on editorial matters. WSTV will initially be available to cable and
satellite viewers in the region, although a deal is understood to being made
with one of Japan's six terrestrial broadcasters for retransmission rights.
("Satnews")
NORTH AMERICAN MEDIA NEWS:
MEDIA MERGERS--In the United States, the competition between Viacom and QVC
to buy Paramount Communications has been eclipsed by one of the biggest
corporate mergers in history, between the country's largest cable operator,
TCI, and Bell Atlanta, which operates the telephone networks in the Middle
Atlantic states. Together, the two companies serve 42 percent of the American
population.
While Bell Atlantic has expertise in two-way audio technology, TCI's strength
is in sending multiple video signals, with a wide variety of programming.
Together, as they install high-capacity fiber optic networks across the
country, they will eventually be able to offer users a vast array of new
entertainment and information technologies, including hundreds of cable TV
channels, pay-per-view movies on demand, video games with competitors
thousands of miles away, armchair shopping, two-way educational programs, and
research access to vast databases.
Media analysts say the merger is likely to speed access to a national
"information superhighway", but consumer advocates warn that it could also
create less competition, driving up users' rates. The deal also includes
TCI's programming company Liberty Media, which partly owns the shopping
network QVC. Experts say the merger may strengthen QVC's bid to buy
Paramount.
Recently the telephone company serving New York and New England, Nynex,
bought into QVC's Paramount rival Viacom, which besides being a major cable
operator, also owns MTV, VH-1, and Nickelodeon. In a similar move, the US
West telephone company is investing in America's second largest cable
operator, entertainment giant Time-Warner. ("San Francisco Chronicle", "New
York Times", and "San Jose Mercury News")
REGIONAL NEWS CHANNELS--King Broadcasting, which owns four television
stations in the Pacific Northwest, says that it is to launch a 24-hour cable
news channel specialising in regional coverage. Around 1.5 million viewers
will be able to tune into the service, known as Northwest Cable News, from
Spring 1994. Once operational, it will be the largest regional news service
in the US, and it will hire 100 additional staff to provide regional news
coverage. ("Satnews")
KRON TV in San Francisco is also creating a cable-only regional news channel.
When the new Cable Consumer Protection Act forced cable operators to
negotiate for the rebroadcast of over-the-air channels, KRON demanded that
cable operators carry the new news channel as a condition.
Other cable operators have been compelled to carry NBC's new cable channel
America's Talkiing, a spinoff off CNBC, which will offer talk shows and
informational programming. ("San Francisco Chronicle")
KGAY--KGAY, the audio service for gay and lesbian listeners, has left
satellitetelevision. They were behind in paying their uplink bill and the
uplinker pulled them on September 14th. It is not know if they will try
another attempt at launching again to continue their service. ("Satnews")
KGAY broadcast from Denver on Galaxy 3, transponder 22, 7.46 MHz. ("Satellite
TV Week")
DMX--International Cablecasting Technologies Inc. has signed a USD 20 million
contract with Spar Communications Group for the supply of digital audio
receivers that will receive ICT's 120 channel Digital Music Express (DMX)
service by DBS satellite.
DMX initially started with a 30 channel offering, but the company is in the
middle of an aggressive service and geographical expansion programme. With
the new receivers, customers can tune into 120 20Khz CD-quality music
channels at the touch of a button.
The new offering will be initially restricted to the North American
marketplace, and it will enable the company to expand its business music
offering, DMX for Business, which provides commercial-free, DJ-free music to
stores, offices and factories.
A 75cm antenna will be used to receive broadcasts throughout the USA and
North America from the SBS-5 satellite. Each receiver is fully addressable,
enabling special broadcasts to be sent to subscribers. There is also the
capability to offer generic corporate programming broadcasts on
under-utilised channels, switching in receivers as required. ("Satnews")
MBC--When the London-based Middle East Broadcasting Centre bought the UPI
news agency there were reports the Arabic language channel would expand its
broadcasts from the Middle East and Europe into North America. Instead, MBC
is buying into an existing channel.
MBC has signed an agreement with the Arab Network of America, the dominant
Arabic language network of the US, to exchange news and programming. ANA
broadcasts its programming by satellite from
studios in Washington, and broadcasts are relayed on many cable television
systems throughout North America. A nationwide Arabic radio service is also
provided by ANA, and distributed over satellite for local terrestrial
redistribution. ("Satnews") ANA broadcasts on the Satcom 2R satellite,
transponder 1.
SHORTWAVE AND LOCAL MEDIA NEWS:
AFGHANISTAN--The Radio Afghanistan external service has been heard on 4775
kHz with the following schedule: 14:00 Urdu, 14:30 English, 15:00 Russian,
15:30 hrs Arabic. (BBC Monitoring)
AZERBAIJAN--The external service of Radio Dada Gorgud broadcasts in Arabic at
15:00-17:00 hrs on 6175 kHz, in Persian and Turkish at 13:00-14:00 hrs on
medium wave (1476 kHz?), and in English at 17:00-18:00 hrs on 15240 kHz. New
services were added in January in Talysh (spoken in southern Azerbaijan),
Kurdish, and Armenian on 1476. 4957, and 15240 kHz.
French and German broadcasts are due to begin in mid-October, each 15 minutes
long. (Radio Dada Gorgud via BBC Monitoring)
CAMBODIA--Radio UNTAC, the Cambodian voice of the United Nations, ended its
broadcasts on September 23rd, after 13 months on the air. (BBC Monitoring)
RUSSIA--During the recent siege of the Russian parliament, a very low-
powered radio station calling itself Radio Parliament was heard on around 580
kHz.
A group of Russian television journalists say that they are planning to
launch their own independent channel. Evegenii Kisselev said on the Ostankio
TV weekly political programme Itogi that the channel called Segondnya (Today)
would begin in October, using journalists from the Ostankio and Russia-state
television broadcasting companies. Many journalists are leaving the
state-owned company because of alleged interference by political paymasters.
("Satnews")
The independent TV station NTV ("Nezavisimoye Televideniye" - "Independent
Television") was scheduled to go into operation on channel 5 in St.
Petersburg on October 10th. It apparently will be owned by the "Most" group.
(BBC Monitoring)
Russian president Boris Yeltsin has been set a letter by the directors of the
transfer of the fourth state-run channel to the "Most commercial company".
Ostankino is concerned that the creation of
independent superstations will actually restrict viewer choice instead of
expanding it. ("Satnews")
SOMALIA--The pro-Aydid Radio Mogadishu, the Voice of the Great Somali People,
reappeared on September 22nd on 6870 kHz. It suffered from continuous
interference on the channel, which took the form of a pulsating white-noise
signal apparently transmitted without carrier but centered on 6870 kHz. On
September 27th the pro-Aydid station moved to 6877 kHz, where it was free of
interference. (BBC Monitoring)
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Sweden Calling DXers is the world's oldest radio program for shortwave
listeners. Radio Sweden has presented this round-up of radio news, features,
and interviews on Tuesdays since 1948.
Radio Sweden broadcasts in English:
To Europe:
17:15 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz
18:30 hrs and 21:30 hrs on 1179, 6065, and 9655 kHz
22:30 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz
23:30 hrs on 1179 kHz
To East Africa and the Middle East:
18:30 hrs on 15145 kHz
To Asia and the Pacific:
12:30 hrs on 15240, 17740, and 17865 kHz
23:30 hrs on 11910 kHz
01:30 hrs on 9695 and 11695 kHz
To North America:
13:30 and 14:30 hrs on 15240 and 17870 kHz
02:30 and 03:30 hrs on 9695 and 11650 kHz
To Latin America:
00:30 hrs on 9695 and 11650 kHz
The broadcasts at 17:15, 18:30, 21:30 (weekends only), and 22:30 hrs are
relayed on satellite on Astra transponder 26 (Sky Movies Gold) audio 7.74 MHz
and Tele-X on 12.207 GHz (TV4) audio 7.38 MHz.
Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to +468-667-6283,
from Internet, MCI Mail or CompuServe (to the CompuServe mailbox 70247,3516),
through the FidoNet system to 2:201/697 or to SM0IIN at the packet radio BBS
SM0ETV.
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, with the exception of items from BBC
Monitoring, which are copyright.
We welcome comments and suggestions about the electronic edition, Sweden
Calling DXers, and our programs in general.
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Thanks to this week's contributors Good Listening!