From WOOD@stab.sr.seTue May 2 23:39:06 1995
Date: Tue, 2 May 1995 15:49:02 +0200
From: George Wood <WOOD@stab.sr.se>
To: wood@stab.sr.se
Subject: MediaScan/Sweden Calling DXers 2223
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:: MediaScan ::
:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2223--May 2, 1995 ::
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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 SCDX2223
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
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NORDIC MEDIA NEWS:
PIRATE CARDS--the Scandinavian channels that use D2-MAC on Astra are very
popular in Britain, which many pirate decoder cards available. This is mostly
because TV1000 and FilmNet carry late night pornography. But we have it from
sources that the Norwegian version of the general entertainment channel TV3
suddenly no longer works on the pirate cards.
PRIVATE RADIO--The first private commercial radio stations in Sweden went on
the air about a year and a half ago. In today's program we talk to Radio
Sweden's Nick George, who's been following the private radio scene here,
about how the scene has developed, who's doing well, and the criticism of the
stations for all sounding alike, and circumventing the provisions of the law
against networking.
The Social Democratic government has objected to the channel auctions of the
previous Conservative-led government, which granted frequencies solely on the
basis of the highest bid, taking no account of format of even whether the
owners could afford the licence fees.
The Swedish government has set up a commission which will be investigating
the concentration of power in the mass media here. Of particular interest are
the Kinnevik group, with holdings in satellite and terrestrial television,
and local radio, as well as cable, data and telephone networks, and the
Bonniers family's publishing empire. We'll be getting back to this in future
programs.
FINLAND--Scandinavian Broadcasting Systems, which operates Sweden's TV5
Nordic (Femman), Norway's TV Norge, and Belgium's VT-4, says it will probably
launch a satellite/cable channel to Finland, in late 1995 or early 1996.
It's unclear which channel and system will be used, possibly D2-MAC at 1
degree West (Intelsat 702, Thor, and TV-Sat) or MPEG-2 at 5 degrees East
(Tele-X and Sirius) or a Eutelsat. ("Tele-Satellit")
EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS:
HOT BIRD--Europe has a new television satellite on the air. In what must be
record time, Eutelsat has put its new Hot Bird-1 into operation alongside the
Eutelsat II-F1 satellite at 13 degrees East.
The first to appear was English audio from Eurosport on 11.387 GHz, at 21:57
hrs UTC Friday night, followed by the picture and German audio at 22:25.
The two Italian stations RAI Uno and RAI Due came on at 22:21 hrs, with
Dubai's EDTV shortly thereafter at 22:27 hrs. All of these are moving from
other satellites, Eurosport and EDTV from Eutelsat II-F1 at the same
position. (James Robinson)
European Business News, which has been broadcasting over Intelsat 601 since
February, made the move to Hot Bird Monday, on 11.262 GHz. And they have a
program called Media Report weeknights at 20:00 hrs UTC, with several
repeats.
Here is the complete Hot Bird channel list (from "What Satellite TV"):
11.221 GHz TVE Internacional (Spanish)
11.242 MTV Europe
11.263 European Business News
11.283 Sci-Fi Europe
11.304 MCM Euromusique (French)
11.325 TV5 Europe (French)
11.345 Premiera TV
11.366 RTL-7
11.387 Eurosport
11.408 Canal Horizons (French to Africa)
11.428 TV Polonia (Polish)
11.449 Rai Uno (Italian)
11.471 NPT
11.492 Rai Due (Italian)
11.513 EDTV (Arabic, with English)
11.534 RTL East Europe
ASTRA--Meanwhile, another new channel showed up right on time on Hot Bird's
rival Astra on April 28th, the German language Super RTL. Super RTL will be
carrying Disney programming in English, in the clear, on Astra transponder
13.
FilmNet has changed its schedule on transponder 63, presumeably to make room
for the Adult Channel to move there. But the Adult Channel remains on
transponder 42. (James Robinson)
MTV is to join the Sky Multichannels package and encrypt, beginning on July
1, 1995. The channel admits it can lose up to 5.6 direct to home viewers in
Europe, but hopes increased cable distribution will make up the shortfall.
("What Satellite TV"
As yet there are 7 unused transponders on Astra 1D, including transponder 51,
where CLT is supposed to broadcast. In addition, two transponders are being
used for Astra promos. So far, British Sky Broadcasting has yet to announce
what it plans to do on Astra 1D.
Sky does plan to offer att least 20 new digital channels by the end of 1996,
as well as video-near-on-demand films and interactive services, according to
director of programmes David Elstein. Speaking at a conference during the
Television Show, Elstein said Sky would offers VNOD films by Christmas, and
that several niched Sky Sports and Sky One channels are being considered, as
well as science fiction and arts channels. Further wholly new channels would
be bought from other broadcasters around the world. ("What Satellite TV")
A religous channel is set to debut on Astra 1C in June, on the Sky Sports
transponder. The Christian Channel will broadcast for two every morning (5:00
AM to 7:00 AM British time weekdays, the entire schedule 55 minutes later on
weekends). Eventually the channel aims to get its own transponder with a
round-the-clock service. ("What Satellite TV")
BRITAIN--British Sky Broadcasting, working together with Grenada and Sweden's
Kinnevik, is among the applicants for Britain's coming Channel 5. A
consortium led by the MIrror Group and NBC has pulled out of the race, citing
costs as the reason. Remaining in the running are groups bringing together
Virgin, Philips, and Paramount Television; and Anglia, Pearson, and
Luxembourg's CLT.
The Channel 5 network will broadcast nationwide on UHF channels 35 and 36,
which are currently used by VCRs, satellite receivers, and a host of other
entertainment products. The successful bidder will be responsible for
retuning the equipment nationwide so that no interference occurs to
consumers. ("Tele-Satellit")
VIRGIN--Richard Branson is looking at turning Virgin Radio, the two year old
national UK rock station, into a European station. Besides medium wave in the
UK, Virgin is already broadcasting to Western Europe via Astra. ("Tele-
Satellit")
SKY--One of Europe's most popular satellite radio stations, Sky Radio, is now
on the World Wide Web, at URL:
http://www.euronet.nl:80/user/skyradio
("Tele-Satellit")
MED TV--Med TV is broadcasting in Kurdish to Turkey from London on Eutelsat
II-F2. Broadcasts are at 16:00-19:00 hrs UTC on 11.575 GHz. The name comes
from Medes, the ancient name of the Kurdish people. The Turkish government
has condemned the station as "the propaganda of a terrorist organization".
(BBC Monitoring)
SERBIA--Following the move of Greece's ET-1 to Eutelsat II-F2, Serbian
television has moved to Eutelsat II-F4, 11.181 GHz. Radio Belgrade uses the
subcarrier on 7.02 MHz. (BBC Monitoring)
NORTH AMERICAN MEDIA NEWS:
CANADA--The Canadian government has announced that it plans to open the skies
to satellite television competition, paving the way for entry of the so-
called U.S. "deathstar". Heritage Minister Michael Dupuy unveiled the new
policy in the House of Commons on April 26, that would allow any company to
apply for the licence to beam hundreds of channels direct to homes across
Canada.
The policy would allow the entry of Power DirecTV, a controversial US and
Canadian consortium, using Hughes' DBS satellites. Some Canadian nationalists
have dubbed the DirecTV service the "deathstar" because it would allegedly
beam American content that would overwhelm Canadian programming. (Reuters)
ASIAN MEDIA NEWS:
IRAN--Iranian police have seized 500 satellite TV dishes who's owners
violated the new government ban on the equipment. An Interior Ministry
official was quoted last week as saying that about 26,000 of the 27,800 dish
antennas in Tehran had been removed by their owners before the deadline.
Unofficial estimates put the number of antennas at more than 200,000.
(Reuters)
MTV--Polygram NV has announced it will launch two Asian channels with MTV.
MTV Mandarin, was to be launched on April 21. The English language MTV Asia
is to launch on May 5. (AP)
INDIA--The Indian state TV broadcaster Doordarshan plans to launch an
international channel to southeast Asia, Europe, and America from early
September. Three transponders have been booked on the PAS-4 satellite.
("Indian Express" via BBC Monitoring)
JAPAN--Japan opened its skies to foreign satellite broadcasters on April 19,
by allowing two Hong Kong-based companies to beam their programs to Japanese
subscribers. Rupert Murdoch's Star-TV is to launch four channels to Japan,
while Turner Entertainment is planning a Japanese version of its Cartoon
Network/TNT movie channel. Reports say Turner hopes to conclude contracts
with 10 to 15 Japanese cable operators by the end of the year, obtaining
30,000 to 50,000 subscribers in Japan.
The problem is the cable systems. Currently only one million Japanese homes
are wired for cable TV. Turner will use the Apstar 1 satellite, and Star will
use its current home on Asiasat-1. (Reuters)
GLOBAL BROADCASTING:
SUNERGY--There will be another Sunergy broadcast, this time from Russia, on
May 11. The program will be carried at 08:00-09:00 hrs UTC to Europe on
Intelsat-K on 11.485 GHz, and to Asia on Asiasat-1 on 3.931 GHz. North
Americans will receive a later rebroadcast at 11:30-13:00 hrs Eastern time on
May 16, via Telstar 401 C-band transponder 3 and Galaxy 7 Ku-band transponder
13. There will be a test transmission for one hour prior to the scheduled
broadcast. More details on the Worldwide Web at:
http://www.sun.com/sunergy/
(Sun Corp.)
CLUB NEWS:
EDXC--The organizers of the 1995 European DX Council conference, June 2-5 in
Rebild, Denmark, have announced there will be a shortwave station on the air
during the conference. This is the first time a shortwave broadcast station
has been on the air in connection with an EDXC conference, although the Voice
of America has put special programming on the air during conferences, and the
gathering in Finland three years ago featured a special FM station.
Broadcasting hours will probably be: 08:00-09:00, 16:00-17:00, and 22:00-
23:00 hrs UTC. No frequencies have been assigned yet, but the organizers are
applying for 2 frequencies for each transmission, in the bands: 3935-4020 kHz
(22:00 hrs only), 7400-7600 kHz (or 6210-6310 kHz), and 15740-15800 kHz.
Specific frequencies to watch for are: 3955, 3988, 7400, 7525, 7560, 7600,
15760, and 15795 kHz. The definate schedule will be issued 10 days before the
conference. Please listen to the major international DX programs for full
details. (EDXC 95)
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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:
16:15 hrs UTC on 1179 and 6065 kHz
17:30 on 1179, 6065, 13690, and 15600 kHz (also Africa and the Middle East)
20:30 and 21:30 on 1179, 6065, and 9665 kHz (also heard in Africa)
21:30 on 1179 kHz and 6065 kHz
22:30 hrs on 1179 kHz
Asia and the Pacific:
11:30 hrs on 13740, 15120, and 15240 kHz
01:30 hrs on 9695 kHz
North America:
12:30 and 13:30 hrs on 11650 and 15240 kHz
02:30 and 03:30 hrs on 7120 and 9850 kHz
Latin America:
OO:30 hrs on 6065 and 9810 kHz
The broadcasts at 16:15 and 17:30 hrs are also relayed to Europe
by satellite:
Astra 1B on Sky Movies Gold's transponder 26 at 11.597 GHz, audio subcarrier
at 7.74 MHz
Tele-X via TV5 Nordic/Femman's transponder 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 16:00 and 20:30 hrs Eastern time.
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ftp.funet.fi:pub/sounds/RadioSweden/Mediascan.
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Reports can also be sent to:
Radio Sweden
S-105 10 Stockholm
Sweden
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