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:: MediaScan ::
:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2207--Sept. 6, 1994 ::
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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 SCDX2207
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
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SWEDISH ELECTIONS:
NEW MEDIA AND THE ELECTIONS--The Swedish general elections are coming on
September 18th. But there's something very new this time around. Today Sweden
has a plethory of television and radio stations that either didn't exist, or
reached much less of the public, than when the last elections were held three
years ago. The campaign has seen political ads on radio and TV for virtually
the first time, and the politicians have been actively appearing on the new
outlets.
Today's edition of "MediaScan" has focused on the media and the elections. We
spoke with Conservative Prime Minister Carl Bildt, who has been one of the
most enthusiastic users of the new media opportunities.
We also looked at the ways different media have been covering the campaign.
TELEVISION--Sweden's public service non-commercial broadcasters, Swedish
Radio and Swedish Television, have covered the campaigns in their traditional
manner, with in-depth interviews and phone-ins with the leaders of all the
main parties.
But besides the non-commercial public service broadcasters there are now a
number of private radio and television channels here in Sweden. There's TV4,
which has joined the two Swedish Television channels on the national
airwaves. On satellite and cable there are the general entertainment channels
TV3 and TV5 Nordic, or Femman, as it's now known, plus some special interest
channels.
All this has presented new and varying problems for the advertising agencies
working for the parties. We interviewed Lars Noren, head of the E company, a
agency which has previously run campaigns for several trade unions. This time
around, however, they're working for the Liberals, who are part of the non-
Socialist government.
Among the commercial broadcasters, TV4 is covered by a Swedish law that
forbids any political advertising. TV3 is uplinked from Britain, so while
it's allowed to sell blocks of time for party political broadcasts, it isn't
allowed to run short political commercials. Both stations have been seeking
ways to get around the restrictions.
TV4 has given the parties time for their own broadcasts, and the station has
followed each of those with its own profile of the party in question.
None of the parties seems interested in TV3's offer to sell time for British-
style party-political broadcasts, so the station has found another way to
cover the campaign. The former leader of the far right New Democracy Party
and the former leader of the Left Party (which used to be the Communists),
have met in a Stockholm restaurant and interviewed a number of party leaders.
But the pundits have not been impressed. The TV critics at both of
Stockholm's major morning dailies, "Dagens Nyheter" and "Svenska Dagbladet"
have slammed TV3's programs.
RADIO--Then there's radio, Sweden has dozens of new private stations that
have started in the past year. Lars Noren tells us that since the stations
appeal to youth, radio ads have tried to be funny and unconventional.
Besides political ads, party representatives have been appearing on private
radio stations. We played a recording to Swedish Finance Minister Anne Wibble
while she played DJ and fielded phone-in questions from listeners on
Stockholm's Radio Rix. (She played a request for ABBA's song "Waterloo"...did
the listener have a secret message about Wibble's government's chances of re-
election?)
MEDIA ISSUES--Meanwhile, media itself has been an issue in the campaign --
questions of the future of the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, and the
possible introduction of more private stations.
Virtually all the parties want to keep Swedish Television as it is, and non-
commercial. The Conservatives would like to privatize one of the two
channels. None of the parties want to sell any of Swedish Radio's four
networks, except the Conservatives, who want to privatize the popular music
channel and the local radio stations. The Liberals want to start a private
national radio network.
There's broad agreement on starting a fourth national television channel. The
right wing parties want it to be private and commercial, and the
Conservatives want two channels.
The country's largest party, the Social Democrats, who seem likely to win the
election, are split on several of these questions. One party media spokesman
wants to discuss commercials on public television, while another is firmly
against. The first spokesman is open to a fourth TV channel, but not right
away, while the other spokesman is against the whole idea.
Sweden has no law controlling media ownership, and the country has two large
conglomerates, the Bonniers family in print media, and the Kinnevik company
in broadcast media. The Social Democrats want to introduce legislation to
prevent a few large interests from having too much control over Swedish
media.
ELECTION COVERAGE--We'll find out who wins election night. Swedish Radio will
be carrying national results on its P1 channel, and local results on P4,
which networks local stations around the country. But all the forecasts will
be coming from Swedish Television, which has built up an impressive election
headquarters using not less than 12 PC computers. We dropped by, and talked
to computer guru Jane Selva about how the system is set up.
If you want to follow the results of the Swedish elections on Sunday
September 18th, the place is right here at Radio Sweden, of course.
We hope to have the first tendencies in our broadcast to Europe, Africa, and
the Middle East at 17:30 hrs UTC. From 18:00 hrs, our primary European
frequency of 6065 kHz, as well as Radio Sweden's satellite channels on the
Astra and Tele-X satellites, will be largely pre-empted by our Swedish
service. So, for the broadcasts at 20:30 and 21:30 hrs UTC, 6065 kHz and
satellite will carry only 5 minutes in English before switching back to
Swedish.
However, we will carry the regular full half hour in English on the other
frequencies at those times, that is, on 1179 kHz medium wave and shortwave
9655 kHz.
Our schedule on the World Radio Network to Europe will also be different.
Instead of the usual half hour at 20:00 hrs UTC, WRN will be relaying us live
at 20:30 hrs, replacing the BBC's "Europe Today", which is shifting half an
hour earlier to fill our regular time.
All of our other broadcasts to other parts of the world, and via WRN to North
America, will remain according to schedule.
As reported in our program "Horizon" earlier this month, the private Swedish
telecommunications company Tele2 will be presenting election results (not
forecasts) on Internet's World Wide Web. The URL is:
http://www.swip.net
NORDIC MEDIA NEWS:
TV3--Kinnevik's TV3 channel is planning to move its news department from
London to Stockholm. TV3 originally set up from London because Swedish law at
the time forbid any satellite broadcasting uplinked from this country. The
only programs uplinked from Sweden today are the pornographic movies three
times a week, which would be banned under British law. Talk shows from
Stockholm are relayed by satellite to London, and uplinked to viewers on
Astra and Sirius from there.
The News Department will be moving to Stockholm at the beginning of next
year. This follows the move by TV3 Denmark's news department to Copenhagen
last Spring. TV3 Norway is expected to follow suit as well.
The change means faster access to local news, and the ability to have guests
in the studio.
But TV3 will continue to uplink to Astra and Sirius from London, allowing the
station to avoid tighter Swedish laws, such as the ban on advertising
directed at children, and the requirement that commercials be kept between
programs. (TT)
INTELSAT 702--The current Intelsat 702 transponder plan looks like this:
11.016 GHz H TV Norge PAL Clear
11.055 GHz V TV 1000 D2 MAC Eurocrypt
11.096 GHz H TV 3 Norway D2 MAC Eurocrypt
11.177 GHz H NRK D MAC Clear
11.468 GHz V SVT 2 D MAC Eurocrypt
11.555 GHz H TV 2 Norge D2 MAC Eurocrypt
11.679 GHz H SVT 1 D MAC Eurocrypt
Other uses for the satellite include a new data network from Reuters,
Egyptian global TV distribution network, domestic broadcasting for Namibia,
expanded domestic services for Norway and expanded service in Eastern Europe
and the CIS. ("Tele-Satellit" via Martyn Williams) Israeli TV should also be
there as well.
EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS:
ASTRA--VH-1, MTV's sister channel with music for a slightly older audience,
begins September 30 on Astra transponder 22, replacing MTV, which continues
on transponder 15. VH-1 will be encoded as part of the Sky Multi-Channels
package. It's unclear if MTV will encode on Astra, but it will definately
stay in the clear on Eutelsat II-F1. (James Robinson)
At the end of October, Country Music Television is moving to transponder 24
during the day, sharing it with JSTV. The Learning Channel replaces CMT on
transponder 41. (James Robinson)
During the week, Monday to Thursday, transponder 47, the new home of Sky
Sports 2, will carry two new channels from Sky. During the day, Romance,
which ought to be called Sky Soaps, since it will consist of American soap
operas.
The daily schedule will be as follows: 8am Loving, 8:30 Peyton Place, 9am As
The World Turns, 10am Guiding Light, 11am Another World.
During the evening Sky Travel, which will operate in connection with Sky's
own new travel agency. (James Robinson and "Skyguide")
German travel channel Reise TV now seems unlikely to launch in the small
hours on UK Gold's transponder following their inability to reach an
agreement on rental costs. ("Skyguide")
SCI-FI--Rumours are circulating that the launch of The Sci-Fi Channel in
Europe is back on. A nighttime service is currently planned in the 7pm-7am
(British time) downtime on Nickelodeon's transponder [currently occupied by
TV Asia], with a full 24 hour service for cable operators on Eutelsat II-F1,
specifically at 11.678 GHz.
In the event of the launch, the channel is almost certain to be part of Sky
Multichannels.
News also suggests that Sky is planning on launching its own SciFi channel.
Sky already has a good supply of US Science Fiction material (including the
flagship Star Trek shows), and recent acquisitions suggest that it intends on
buying more. In what may be an unconnected move, Sky has purchased the rights
to "Quantum Leap", which it intends to begin screening in January next year,
probably in the 10pm slot on Sky One once the current run of "Star Trek: The
Next Generation" has finished. Alternatively, Sky may be planning to launch a
second general entertainment channel, to be called "Sky Two". ("Skyguide")
NICK AT NITE--Further information from Sky indicates that the 'Nick At Nite'
channel is now going ahead and will launch in the autumn, possibly in
October. ("Skyguide") We'll believe it when we see it.
SKY RATE INCREASE--British Sky Broadcasting has raised the cost of its
subscription packages by GBP 3 a month. "Tele Satellit" reports:
"We called Sky's press office earlier this week and received unsatisfactory
responses to all of our queries. Our first question, "What is the three
pounds for?" was met with astonishment. After explaining all of the new
channels we pointed out that Movie subscribers get Multichannels free and
they have to pay it as do Sports only subscribers. We were then told that it
was for a general increase in standards and to allow increases in the future.
The increases of choice given were the new sports contracts and better
movies. Why do Multichannel subscribers have to pay for better movies and
sports that they can't see? Sky aren't sure.
"The new Sky TV Guide boasts a GBP 2.50 cover price but the press office
confirmed that it was not available to buy and would only be sent out to Sky
subscribers. "So what's the cover price for?" we asked. After a lot of
pausing, errs, ums and general confusion we were told it was to show
subscribers that they were getting value for money which we take to mean it's
meant to make you think you are getting GBP2.50 worth of magazine for free
when you're really paying for it." ("Tele-Satellit")
VOX--The European Commission has announced that it is investigating the
proposed stake in the VOX TV channel by Murdoch's News International. The
deal apparently falls under the EU rules prohibiting concentrations which
harm competition. The Commission has a month to clear the operation or order
a full inquiry. ("Tele Satellit")
BSKYB CABLE MONOPOLY CHARGES--British Sky Broadcasting is being investigated
by the UK Office of Fair Trading over allegations that it is holding a
dominant position in the supply of programming to cable television channels.
The OFT's inquiry is presently a preliminary one, instigated after it wrote
to cable firms seeking whether they had any problems in obtaining programs
from BSkyB or other suppliers. The OFT has a specific interest in the way
BSkyB charges cable network operators for program carriage. Officials for
the OFT are presently declining to comment on the contents of responses
received to date. Many industry commentators note that as demand for
satellite receiving equipment is slowing down in the UK, more and more people
are reverting back to cable. "Satnews")
TCI/BSKYB--American cable giant Tele-Communications Inc is holding talks to
take a stake in British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB). The move would call one of
the partners to either sell a share or a new share issue programme reducing
overall holdings for each partner. BSkyB is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News
Corp (50%), Pearson Plc (17.5%) and Granada Group (12%) and Chargeurs.
Analysts say that no party is likely to sell shares. and Pearson has
previously let it be known that it is interested in taking a further stake in
the venture if possible. ("Satnews")
RADIO--Two more religious stations are also set to appear on Astra, in the
form of Evangelic Radio and Trans World Radio. The stations will broadcast
from the 7.38 and 7.56 Mhz subcarriers on Astra transponder 38 (QVC).
Apparently the stations had hoped for the 7.74 and 7.92 carriers on Sky
Sports, which would have placed them alongside United Christian Broadcasting,
but these subcarriers were also reserved for Digital Music Express.
("Skyguide")
EUTELSAT--TV13 IS Eutelsat's new promotional channel on the Eutelsat II-F1
satellite, on 11.617 GHz, which has otherwise been used by British Telecom
for newsfeeds. At somewhat irregular times, the new channel carries a program
in English about the various stations on the satellite, as well as about the
coming Hot Bird-1 and Hot Bird-2 satellites.
Germany's RTL TV is now on Eutelsat II-F1 on 11.596 GHz. ("Tele Satellit" via
Martyn Williams)
Algerian Television has begun broadcasts on Eutelsat II-F3 on 11.678 GHz.
Radio in Arabic is on 7.02 MHz, the Kabyle language is on 7.20 MHz, and
French is on 7.38. Permanent service begins on October 1.
Here is the new bandplan on Eutelsat I-F5:
Tr Freq Pol Beam Use
1 10.991 H Euro TDMA Telephone
2 11.075 H East sporadic use
8 11.075 V East TDMA Telephone
3 11.156 H Euro sporadic use
9 11.158 V Euro TDMA Telephone
4 11.480 H West sporadic use
10 11.498 V West RTS Sat Belgrade TV
11 11.575 V Atlantic TDMA Telephone
6 11.658 H West TDMA Telephone
("Tele-Satellit" via Martyn Williams)
EURATEL--Eutelsat II-1 is currently carrying a test program for Brussels-
based TV sender Euratel. The transmissions on transponder 38 will be replaced
by the new BBC News Channel when it launched later this year. Euratel is
expected to move to Eutelsat II-F3 in two months. ("Tele-Satellit" via Martyn
Williams)
SARA--The SaRa digital satellite radio on Eutelsat has been abandoned at
present after tests were carried out earlier in the year. Eutelsat found that
a high proportion of the current LNB's around were unsuitable for the
service. The units are too noisy to allow a clean SaRa signal through so the
satellite operator has decide to stick with either analogue radio or the
emerging SCPC system, used mainly for distribution to headends. ("Tele
Satellit")
DMX--The DMX digital audio package of 30 music channels has launched on
Finnish cable followed by a cable launch in Norway on September 1. The
service, becoming available to UK, German, Austrian and Swiss satellite users
early next year is also planning trials in France and Belgium during
September. The new satellite service will use Astra for around 90
subscription radio channels early next year. ("Tele Satellit")
DISNEY--The Walt Disney Company and CLT have signed an agreement to develop a
new European alliance and TV program. Disney programming will now form the
backbone of the new Super RTL service set to launch in January.
Super RTL will be comprised of animated series, live-action series, a wide
variety of feature films and entertainment specials geared toward the entire
family. Weekdays will include Disney's top animated series, along with
theatrical features and series from other German and international producers.
Broadcast by satellite and cable, Super RTL is expected to reach between 30
percent and 35 percent of all German TV households when it launches in 1995.
Details concerning program offerings and schedules will be announced shortly.
(AFP and "Tele Satellit" via Martyn Williams)
Why not in English?????
INTELSAT--The Box, and interactive music video channel (something like the
Satellite Jukebox on the old Lifestyle Channel) is coming to Intelsat 601 on
November 1, using digital compression. (James Robinson)
TV3 Denmark is due to start broadcasts on Intelsat 702 on September 11.
(James Robinson)
KOPERNIKUS--TS-TV, produced by the German satellite magazine "Tele-SAT", was
to have switched Eutelsats. But apparently, their new home is instead
Kopernikus DFS-2 at 28.5 degrees East, on 11.625 GHz. They have a two hour
program, on the last Friday of each month, repeated the following Sunday, at
20:00 hrs UK, 21:00 hrs CET. ("Tele-Satellit" and James Robinson)
Recent reports in the German press say that DFS-1 Kopernikus at 23.5 degrees
East will cease carrying TV channels in 1995, and will switch to a pure
Telecoms role. Following n-tv's departure in July, there are currently only
10 TV channels on Kopernikus, and all but the cultural channel Arte can
currently be found on Astra. ("What Satellite TV")
FEEDS--Here is a list of some feeds from North America to Europe:
01:30 02:00 T-S Intelsat K 11.558 V 6.60 PAL Vis Latin
02:30 02:50 T-S Intelsat K 11.532 V 6.60 PAL Vis Washington Report
02:50 03:00 T-S Intelsat K 11.532 V 6.60 PAL EBU / RFTV feeds
04:00 04:30 T-S Intelsat K 11.474 H 6.60 PAL CNN Int. Newsource
04:30 05:00 T-S Intelsat K 11.558 V 6.60 PAL ABC News Nightline
05:30 06:00 ? Intelsat K 11.532 V 6.60 PAL ABC News Nightline
06:30 07:30 Tu Intelsat K 11.558 V 6.60 NTSC WWF Wrestling
09:00 10:00 Sa Intelsat K 11.558 V 6.60 NTSC WWF Wrestling
10:00 10:20 M-F Gorizont 11.525 R 6.60 PAL Reuters
12:00 12:30 M-F Intelsat K 11.532 V 6.60 PAL Fuji TV Supertime News
M-F ? ? ? ? NTSC CBS This Morning
13:20 13:40 M-F Intelsat K 11.558 V 6.60 PAL Reuters Financial feeds
14:30 M-F Gorizont 11.525 R 6.60 PAL Reuters Sports Daily
14:30 15:00 M-F Gorizont 11.525 R 6.60 PAL Reuters World News
15:00 Tu 6.60 PAL Reuters Sports Weekly
16:20 16:45 M-F Intelsat K 11.474 H 6.60 PAL CNN Int. Newsource
16:30 17:00 M-S Eutelsat 2 F1 11.617 V 6.60 PAL SAT 1 Regional Feed
17:00 17:20 M-F Gorizont 11.525 R 6.60 PAL Reuters World News Extra
17:10 18:00 M-F Intelsat K 11.474 H 6.60 PAL HBB Evening News
17:15 17:30 M-F Intelsat 601 11.018 H 6.60 NTSC ITN Washington sat feed
21:15 21:30 M-F Intelsat K 11.532 V 6.60 PAL ITN Washington sat feed
21:30 21:45 M-F Intelsat K 11.532 V 6.60 NTSC Vis Latin
22:30 M-F Intelsat K 11.558 V 6.60 PAL Vis Washington Report
23:00 23:30 M-F Intelsat K 11.558 V 6.60 PAL ABC News One
23:30 00:00 M-F Intelsat K 11.558 V 6.60 PAL ABC World News Tonight
23:30 00:00 S-F ? ? ? ? ? CBS Evening News
(Martyn Williams, "Tele Satellit ")
ARIANE--The next Ariane launch, V67, is due in a few days, and will carry the
American Telstar 402 satellite into orbit. The following V68 launch at the
end of September is supposed to carry Mexico's Solidaridad 2 and Thailand's
Thaicom 2. But there's a possibility that Eutelsat II-F6 (alias Hot Bird-1)
may get a birth on that flight, or may be on V70. Astra 1D is scheduled for
V69. (Bertil Sundberg in "Paa TV") But there's always the possibility that
the two arch-rivals, Astra 1D and Hot Bird-1, may end up on the same launch,
and share the same fate.
Last year, before the launch of Astra 1C, there was lots of speculation about
what channels would be appearing on the new satellite. This year, there's no
virtually no speculation about Hot Bird, and little about Astra 1D. "What
Satellite TV" magazine has commented on what may emerge on Astra:
"Our money's on Sky launching an eight-channel analog video-nearly-on-demand
(VNOD) service, but even if this does happen, there are still at least four
channels (other than VH-1) that are likely to join the Astra club.
"The hot favorites of the moment are...The Sci-Fi Channel (already slated for
24 hour broadcasting via Eutelsat II-F1 - it would also end up part-time on
Nickelodeon's transponder), the Travel Channel, and NBC Super Channel."
("What Satellite TV")
Here's what "Sky Guide" thinks:
"Astra 1D now seems unlikely to launch before the middle of November.
Broadcasters currently interested in space on the satellite include TV Asia,
Arte, RTL 4 and RTL Club, music channels Viva, COM-TV and CMT Europe, German
cable channel Kabelkanal, the Spanish Canal Plus, NBC Super Channel and The
Sega Channel." ("Skyguide")
RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY--Following Congressional approval on August
25th, RFE/RL will be moving to Prague by next June. (CTK news agency via BBC
Monitoring)
ASIAN/PACIFIC MEDIA NEWS:
TURKSAT--The new Turksat satellite is reported to be testing at 42 degrees
East with a strong carrier on 11.002 GHz. The satellite carries 16 Ku-band
transponders. There are negotiations to swap transponders with the Orion
satellite due to be launched above the Atlantic in December, so some Turksat
channels could reach North America. ("Tele Satellit" via Martyn Williams, and
"Turkish Daily News" via BBC Monitoring)
INDIA--A couple of months after being dropped from Rupert Murdoch's Star-TV
on Asiasat, MTV Asia is broadcasting to India again courtesy of the state
broadcaster Doordarshan. The two and a half hour a day program on the DD2
Metro Channel reaches most homes in India's major cities and is ahead of
MTV's Asian satellite relaunch in December. MTV is the first foreign
programmer to air daily blocks on Doordarshan, which is heavily criticised
for running boring programs.
MTV will also relaunch throughout Asia in December with two satellite
services, one free-to-air in English with some Hindi targeted at India and
Southeast Asia, and a pay Mandarin service targeted at China, Taiwan, and
Singapore. (Reuters and "Tele Satellit" via Martyn Williams)
Veteran BBC Indian correspondent Mark Tully left the corporation last year,
protesting the changes introduced by Director General John Birt. Now,
together with two Indian partners, Mark Tully is launching a radi network,
which will broadcast for three hours a day in English, Hindi, and Bengali.
(PTI via BBC Monitoring) It's unclear if this station will be in Calcutta
only.
NBC--NBC has booked a transponder on PAS-2 to relay NBC and CNB programming
to Asia. ("In Orbit")
RIMSAT/APSTAR--Rimsat Ltd says that it and APT Satellite Co are continuing to
discuss options that will permit APT to operate a communications satellite
over Asia without interfering with an existing Rimsat satellite.
Michael Sternberg, COO of Rimsat, said that talks were initially convened
after APT launched a satellite on 21 July for location at 131 degrees east
longitude. Rimsat complained that the launch could cause interference to its
satellites at 130 degreees east longitude and NTT Corp's satellite at 132
degrees east longitude.
APT is yet to position its satellite, but it came under criticism for failing
to seek a geostationary position with the ITU. While there is no legal
requirement for such arrangements, it is a long-standing agreement between
satellite operators to ensure that there is no in-orbit interference from
badly-positioned satellites. Rimsat's technical experts believe that the APT
satellite will cause minimal interference with Rimsat's satellite because all
of its transponders are dedicated to customers in India, which is outside the
APT satellite's footprint.
However, transponders on the APT satellite would be affected by Rimsat's
broader footprint and signal strength, which already covers Southeast Asia
and Southern China. Rimsat is planning to launch a series of more powerful
satellites later in the year and this could make problems worse. Rimsat
currently operates three satellites at 130, 134 and 142.5 degrees east under
license from the Kingdom of Tonga. When Tonga filed its claim for orbital
space there was an outcry from space-enabled nations because of the
profiteering the country was expected to make from previous orbital space.
("Satnews")
AUSTRALIA/CHINA--A Chinese rocket orbited Australia's Optus B3 satellite on
August 28th. It replaces Optus B2, which was lost shortly after launch 2
years ago. (Reuters)
VIETNAM--Satellite viewers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam have been ordered to
remove all satellite dishes. A government order threatens dish owners with
confiscation of equipment. Sources suggest a new government plan to licence
satellite reception will shortly be introduced. Only hotels are exempted from
the order. ("Tele Satellit")
PHILIPPINES/USA--ABS-CBN BROADCASTING CORP in the Philippines is to start
broadcasting programs in Tagalog to Filipinos living in the US by PanAmSat
satellite. The service will be a live feed of the ABS-CBN service.
("Satnews")
KDD--KDD Corp of Japan is planning to introduce international satellite
television broadcasts in December in association with Keystone Television of
the US, the Korean Telecommunications Authority and the Hong Kong
International Ltd Co. KDD and Keystone have already been cooperating in a
video broadcast service between Japan and the US known as K2 Skylink.
The new service, presently dabbed Global Skylink Service, will build on K2
Skylink to provide video and audio broadcasting around the world, mainly
relaying material to and from Japan. A Pacific Ocean Region Intelsat
satellite will be used to host the service. ("Satnews")
AFRICAN MEDIA NEWS:
RWANDA--Radio Rwanda, which had not been heard on shortwave since August 1,
has been heard again on its former frequency of 6055 kHz since August 26.
(BBC Monitoring)
NORTH AMERICAN MEDIA NEWS:
NBC--According to the "New York Times", the American media giant Time Warner
is interested in buying NBC from General Electric. The sale would also
include the business channel CNBC, but not the seven television stations
owned by the network. (AP)
Canal de Noticias NBC has moved from Spacenet 2 to Spacenet 4/6. (Robert
Smathers in "Satnews")
CBS--The Walt Disney Company is reported to be interested in buying another
American network, CBS. Neither side will comment. (AP) Of course, there's
another rumor that Ted Turner may once again be interested in buying CBS.
("Tele Satellit")
ASC-1--The ASC-2 satellite at 128 degrees West failed in late August. The
satellite had been expected to continue until the end of the year.) Scola,
which rebroadcasts news programs from broadcasters around the world, had
already moved to Telstar 401. The World Radio Network, which relays
international radio broadcasters, including Radio Sweden, had already moved
with Scola, as well as to the WTBS transponder on the Galaxy 5 satellite.
(WRN)
ANIK--Anik E2 has had a few more services move on it since it went re-
operational in late July. CFTM (TVA network), a French language service, is
on transponder 5. TV 5, another French service, is on transponder 21.
MuchMusic Canada version has left transponder 8. Newfoundland TV (NTV) has
begun part time transmissions on transponder 20 with full 24-hour service to
begin on September 1. Some other services will be moving from Anik E1 to
Anik E2 in the very near future. (Robert Smathers in "Satnews")
RADIO MIAMI INTERNATIONAL-- Here is the WRMI Program Schedule, effective
Sept. 4, 1994:
All broadcasts are on 9,955 kHz (31 meter band).
DAYS/UTC TIME/UTC PROGRAM LANGUAGE
Sunday 0000-0030 Cristianos en Marcha Spanish
Sunday 0030-0045 Musica Spanish
Sunday 0045-0100 Escrito Esta (begins Sept. 17) Spanish
Tues-Sun 0100-0130 Viva Miami! English
Tues-Sun 0130-0200 Viva Miami! Spanish
Tues-Sun 0200-0500 La Voz de La Fundacion Spanish
Mon-Sat 1100-1400 La Voz de La Fundacion Spanish
Sunday 1100-1130 Palabras de Vida Spanish
Sunday 1130-1145 Ministerios Cristianos Spanish
Sunday 1145-1200 Gospel Through His Name Spanish
Sunday 1200-1215 Abundant Life Broadcast English
Sunday 1215-1230 Spirit of Hope English
Sunday 1230-1245 Harbor Light English
Sunday 1245-1300 Spirit of Truth English
Sunday 1300-1315 Search for Truth English
Sunday 1315-1330 Music English
Sunday 1330-1400 Fellowship Hour English
Saturday 1900-1930 Another Voice of Freedom English
Sunday 1900-1930 Stimme der Freiheit German
Sat, Sun 1930-2000 Viva Miami! English
PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
VIVA MIAMI! - This is WRMI's own production, in both English and Spanish.
Jeff White hosts the program, which includes information, interviews and
entertainment from and about Miami and the State of Florida. It also
includes international travel features, "DX" information for shortwave
enthusiasts, and letters from WRMI listeners around the world. Daily
tropical weather updates are broadcast from the National Hurricane Center in
Florida (during the hurricane season from June-November), covering the North
Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
All other programs aired on WRMI are paid broadcasts by independent
producers, and views expressed are not necessarily those of WRMI.
WRMI TECHNICAL DATA
Studio and Transmitter Location: Miami, Florida, USA
Transmitter: Wilkinson AM-50,000B (50,000 watts)
Antenna: Corner reflector, directed 160 degrees from Miami
Primary Target Area: Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America (ITU
Zones 10-16)
Frequency: 9,955 kHz in the 31-meter shortwave band
HRJA/RADIO COPAN INTERNATIONAL is Radio Miami International's affiliated
station in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Radio Copan is presently transmitting
daily (7 days per week) from 1900-0200 UTC on 15,675 kHz with a
transmitter power of 1,000 watts and a five-element beam antenna directed 26
degrees from Tegucigalpa (toward Cuba and Eastern North America). Programming
is a mixture of music, cultural features and paid religious, political and
commercial programs in both English and Spanish. WRMI's "Viva Miami!"
program in English and Spanish is rebroadcast one week later via Radio Copan
International on 15,675 kHz.
RADIO MIAMI INTERNATIONAL, INC.
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 526852, Miami, Florida 33152 USA
Telephone: (305) 267-1728 Fax: (305) 267-9253
CompuServe: 71163,1735 Internet: 71163.1735@compuserve.com
CYBERSPACE:
VOICE OF AMERICA--The Voice of America began offering digitized audio
versions of selected newscasts and other program segments in 15 languages on
its public Internet server on Aug. 15.
Program segments from the following VOA broadcast services will be included:
Arabic
Cantonese
Standard Chinese (a.k.a. Mandarin)
Czech
English (worldwide program thread)
French-to-Africa
Hindi
Hungarian
Korean
Polish
Russian
Slovak
Spanish
Swahili
Ukrainian
In most cases, we will offer two daily newscasts, one in the morning (local
time in the intended audience area) and one in the evening. In a few
languages, scheduling conflicts for the two VOA Master Control outputs
available to us will restrict us to a single daily newscast, at least for the
time being. Digitized newscasts from VOA's "Worldwide English" program
thread will be available on the server throughout the 24-hour broadcast
cycle.
We will have a README file at the top of the audio hierarchy that will
explain the file formats we will support and provide some suggestions about
downloading them.
These audio files will be available via anonymous FTP (from
ftp.voa.gov) and the Internet Gopher protocol (Uniform Resource Locator
gopher://gopher.voa.gov/). In accordance with U.S. law, program materials
such as VOA newscasts and the VOA News and English Broadcasts radio newswire
are provided exclusively for recipients outside the United States.
(VOA)
TELE-SATELLIT--TELE Satellit News in English is now also available via the
SAT-NET collection of bulletin boards. In addition to our English news there
is also a daily digest of news in German.
Via a central hub in Munich the news is distributed to all BBS connected to
the so-called SAT-NET. Currently, SAT-NET consists of five bulletin board
systems throughout Southern Germany. Any sysop of a BBS from whatever area
who is interested in joining the SAT-NET system, may contact the central
mailbox "vidi" in Munich or any of the other SAT-NET boxes:
BBS city number bps
vidi Muenchen +49-89-133247 28.800
SAT-BOX Landsberg +49-8191-39747 14.400
First Aid Muenchen +49-89-6732410 14.400
BL-Box Balingen +49-7433-15908 28.800
Telepoint BBS Bad Wuerishofen +49-8247-31828 14.400
"TELE Satellit News" in English is also available:
Zipped Windows Write Version - CompuServe UKFORUM library 19, EURFORUM
library 5
ASCII Text Version - CompuServe UKFORUM library 19
Fax polling - +31-45-273615 *2*44 ; +49-89-496287 *9
alt.satellite.tv.europe newsgroup on Internet
World Wide Web : http://xan.esrin.esa.it:2602/satellite.html
Via the SAT-NET BBS network
"TELE Satellit News" in German is available:
ASCII Text Version - CompuServe Deutschland On Line Forum (GERLINE)
Fax polling - +49-89-496287 / +31-45-273615
Via the SAT-NET BBS network
("Tele-Satellit")
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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:
Europe and Africa:
16:15 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz
17:30 hrs on 1179, 6065, 9655, and 15390 kHz
20:30 hrs on 1179, 6065 and 9655 kHz
21:30 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz, and
22:30 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz
Middle East and Africa:
17:30 hrs on 6065, 9655, and 15390 kHz
20:30 hrs on 6065 and 9655 kHz
Asia and the Pacific:
11:30 hrs on 13775, 15120, and 15240 kHz
23:30 hrs on 11910 kHz and
01:30 hrs on 9695 and 11695 kHz
North America:
12:30 and 13:30 hrs on 15240 and 17870 kHz
02:30 and 03:30 hrs on 6155 and 9850 kHz
South America:
00:30 hrs on 6065 and 9810 kHz
The broadcasts at 16:15, 17:30, 21:30, and 22:30 hrs (and weekends at 20:30)
are also relayed to Europe by satellite:
Astra 1B (19.2 degrees East) transponder 26 (Sky Movies Gold) at
11.597 GHz, audio subcarrier at 7.74 MHz,
Tele-X and Sirius (5 degrees East) via TV5 Nordic at 12.475 GHz and TV4 on
11.938 GHz, audio subcarrier 7.38 MHz.
Radio Sweden is also relayed to Europe via the World Radio Network on MTV's
transponder 22 on Astra, audio 7.38 MHz, daily at 20:00 hrs UTC.
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 00:00 and 20:00 hrs.
Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to +468-667-6283,
from MCI Mail or CompuServe to the CompuServe mailbox 70247,3516, from the
Internet to 70247.3516@compuserve.com, 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!