From WOOD@stab.sr.seSun Oct 22 23:24:28 1995
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 14:30:51 +0100
From: George Wood <WOOD@stab.sr.se>
To: wood@rs.sr.se
Subject: MediaScan/Sweden Calling DXers 2233
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:: MediaScan ::
:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2233--Oct. 3, 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 SCDX2233
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
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NORDIC MEDIA NEWS:
DAB PREMIER--The telecommunications world is currently gathered in
Geneva for Telecom 95, as we mark the 100th anniversary of Marconi's
first radio broadcasts. And international broadcast history has been
made here in Sweden. Last Wednesday, Swedish Radio and the BBC both
became the first radio companies in the world to begin regular
broadcasts in terrestrial digital radio, Digital Audio Broadcasting,
the Eureka 147 system that's to be used in Europe and many other
countries. The man behind Swedish Radio's DAB broadcasts is Christer
Grewin, Head of the Transmission Development Department, who we
interview in today's program.
DVB--Digital Video Broadcasting is on the way, as well. Here in
Scandinavia it's Nethold, owners of FilmNet, who will be first with
DVB. The Astra 1E satellite is due to be launched from French Guyana in
just two weeks. It's transponders will be equipped for digital
transmissions, using the MPEG-2 system, and Nethold has announced it
will start digital broadcasts to Scandinavia and the Benelux before the
end of the year.
In today's program, Jan Friedman of Nethold Nordic describes their
planned offerings. This will include local channels, premium channels
like today's FilmNet, international themed channels, near-video-on-
demand, pay-per-view events, home shopping, and interactive games.
During 1996 Nethold will expand its offerings to Africa and the Middle
East using the new PanAmSat-4 satellite. Altogether, Nethold has booked
24 transponders on Astra 1E, Astra 1F, scheduled for launch in April,
the later Astra 1G, PAS-4, and Eutelsat's Hot Bird 1 and 2. ("Dagens
Nyheter" and "Tele-satellit")
Nethold is also linking up with Silvio Berlusconi's Finninvest,
Pearson, which is selling its stake in British Sky Broadcasting, and
DirecTV, the digital satellite service operated by Hughes to North
America. Together with satellite operator Measat, they plan to launch a
digital service from a new satellite at 28.5 degrees East. ("What
Satellite TV")
ANALOG RADIO--Stockholm has a new radio station on 104.7 MHz FM. That
frequency used to belong to Radio Q, an ambitious station with public
affairs programming mainly for women. Unfortunately they ran out of
money in July, and sold their licence to CLT, the owners of Radio
Luxembourg. Since then the transmitter has been silent, and when we
talked to Travis Baxter of CLT back then, they hadn't decided what to
do with the new station.
In the meantime, CLT has also acquired Stockholm's sole English-
language commercial station, the hard rocker Bandit Radio. Test
broadcasts on 104.7 started during the weekend. Yesterday CLT's Travis
Baxter was here in Stockholm, closeted with the head of Bandit, Tom
Macalevee, who is now apparently in charge of the new station.
Unfortunately they were unavailable for comment. But to judge from
what's being played in the test broadcasts, the soft pop on new station
won't sound quite like Bandit's hard rock.
PRIVATE RADIO--Despite opposition from the Swedish government, 14 new
private radio frequencies in 7 communities here are to auctioned off to
the highest bidder next month. The government has tried to stop the
auction, which was authorized under legislation passed by the previous
Conservative-led administration. But last year the now opposition
Conservatives and Liberals used a constitutional loophole to prolong
the old system by one year. Parliament can stop the auction on November
23 at the earliest, which will probably be three days too late. (TT)
Meanwhile parliament is starting a study into new rules for commercial
and community radio here. The working group is expected to propose an
alternative to the highest bidder system for frequency allocations, as
well as stricter rules on program content. (TT)
KINNEVIK--Back in the satellite TV world, Sweden's Kinnevik didn't move
its TV1000 and 3 TV3 stations from Astra on October 1st as previously
announced. Because of the shortage of D2-MAC decoders for people who
have been watching Kinnevik's stations on their new home on the Sirius
satellite, use of Astra will probably continue until the end of the
year. (Bertil Sundberg in "Paa TV")
On the other hand, both Kinnevik and FilmNet have taken counter-
measures against pirate decoder cards, which were deactivated last
week. TV1000 pirate cards may have looked like they came back to life
again during the weekend, but that's just because the station was
running uncoded as part of a promotional campaign.
EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS:
DISNEY--The Disney Channel began operations on Astra transponder 26
Sunday, available only to British viewers with a full subscription to
Sky's movie channels. However, Walt Disney executives say they play to
spread the channel across Europe as well as into the Asia/Pacific
region. The Disney Channel already has 14 million subscribers in the
U.S., and is also available in Taiwan. Disney's current joint venture
in Germany in the Super RTL channel is expected to lay the foundation
for introduction of the Disney Channel there.
Dennis Hightower, president of Disney's Television and
Telecommunications Division says the company's pending merger with
Capital Cities/ABC, parent of the ABC television network, will provide
an important platform for expansion via the ESPN sports channel. The
proposed merger with ABC will allow Dinsey to use ESPN to expand its
global television in ways that are not yet obvious to the public, he
says. (Reuters)
Capital Cities/ABC is the largest owner of the Scandinavian
Broadcasting System, which operates satellite stations broadcasting to
Sweden, Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands. SBS recently purchased
the remaining 25 percent of TV 5 Nordic, or Femman, Sweden's third
largest commercial TV broadcaster. While the new connection does not
mean SBS will have automatic access to Disney programming (Disney
programs are already being carried by Swedish Television, commercial
arch-rival TV3, and FilmNet), SBS is well-placed to become Disney's
Scandinavian outlook. ("Dagens Nyheter")
CHRISTIAN CHANNEL--The new Christian Channel Europe went on the air
Sunday, uncoded early mornings on transponder 47. The current schedule
is 05:55-07:55 hrs during the week, 05:00-07:00 hrs weekends. For the
schedule from October 30, see below. (James Robinson)
CCE hopes to expand into 24 hour operation, and the current offerings
of Christian rock videos are to get their own channel, Christian Music
Television. The line-up excludes mainstream evangelist Billy Graham,
but includes controversial Morris Cerullo, whom critics have accused of
dubious fund-raising methods. (Reuters)
ONE TRANSPONDER-SEVEN CHANNELS--Our correspondent James Robinson has
given us the new schedule for transponder 47 beginnning October 30th:
04:00-07:00 hrs Christian Channel (clear PAL)
07:00-11:00 hrs Sky Soap (Monday to Friday) (Sky Multichannels)
11:00-16:00 hrs Sky Travel (Monday to Friday) (Sky Multichannels)
16:00-19:00 hrs History Channel (Monday to Friday) (Sky Multi.)
19:00-22:00 hrs Sci-Fi Channel (Monday to Wednesday) (Sky Multi.)
22:00-01:00 hrs Sky Sports Gold (Monday to Wednesday) (Sports premium)
01:00-04:00 hrs Sci-Fi channel (daily) (Sky Multichannels)
from 19:00 hrs Friday and all weekend Sky Sports 2 (Sports premium)
(So, James asks, what runs 19:00-22:00 hrs Thursdays?)
SKY MULTICHANNELS--European Business News and the Playboy Channel are
joining Bravo on transponder 42. Beginning November 1, Playboy will be
00:00-04:00 hrs, with its own subscription system.
Beginning October 30, EBN will be 06:00-12:00 hrs, as part of the Sky
Multichannels package (and still uncoded and 24 hours on Hot Bird).
Viacom is launching Paramount TV on transponder 46 19:00-02:00 hrs
(when Nickelodeon is off the air) on November 1, also as part of Sky
Multichannels. (James Robinson)
Sky is squeezing all these channels together because of an alleged
shortage of Astra transponders. There are in fact at least 7 empty
Astra transponders (see below for some new channels), but they are all
on Astra 1D, out of the range of many older satellite receivers. The
multitude of new part-time channels are expected to expand into full-
time digital offerings on the new Astra 1E satellite (although a new
MPEG receiver will certainly cost people much more than a simple Astra
1D converter). (Curt Swinehart)
Besides Britain, the Sci-Fi Channel will be made available via cable
and satellite as well in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, the
Netherlands, and Luxembourg. ("Tele-satellit")
The much vaunted Sega Channel, certain to arrive as part of the
Multichannels package, will now not be seen until next Summer. ("What
Satellite TV")
ASTRA--Astra 1E is scheduled for launch with Ariane between October 13
and 16. (Curt Swinehart)
CHINA NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT--China News and Entertainment is moving to
Astra transponder 53 on October 30. (James Robinson)
NBC SUPER CHANNEL--Despite its new November schedule, mailed recently,
NBC Super Channel is beginning the planned split in its Astra and
Eutelsat services on October 30. From that date the Astra service will
carry the CNBC business channel 13:00-21:00 hrs UTC, while CNBC will be
carried on Eutelsat II-F1 13:00-17:00 hrs. (James Robinson)
The Astra service is to eventually become a 24 hour business channel,
while Eutelsat will become a pure entertainment channel. This is
despite Astra's concentration on entertainment, and the lack of any
other business channels on that system, while Eutelsat and Hot Bird are
the home of European Business News, BBC World, Euronews, and Deutsche
Welle.
TURNER--Turner Broadcasting is revamping its schedule on Astra
transponder 37. Beginning October 22, the highly popular Cartoon
Network is expanding its schedule by 2 hours until 21:00 hrs daily,
with a corresponding cut-back in the B and C movies carried on TNT.
(James Robinson)
HOME ORDER TV--The German Home Order TV begins on Astra transponder 62
on October 16. (James Robinson)
RADIO--Radio Austria International is joining Astra Digital radio on
November 1. (James Robinson)
Teleport London International has announced that it has signed a 10
year contract with the BBC World Service to distribute multiple digital
radio services from the UK. The service, which began on October 1,
involves the supply of ulink services and satellite capacity on the
Intelsat 702 satellite. 9 MHz of transponder capacity is being used to
relay programming to the BBC's planned Asiasat 2 uplink in Cyprus, and
for broadcast to the Middle East and Africa. ("Tele-satellit")
COURT TV--So successful has been Sky News' coverage of the O.J. Simpson
trial every evening that British Sky Broadcasting has decided that
after the trial the time slot will be taken up by further trial
reporting from Court TV, the American provider of the Simpson coverage.
("What Satellite TV")
AMERICAN MEDIA NEWS:
WARNER-TURNER--After weeks of speculation, Time Warner and Turner
Broadcasting finally announced agreement on terms to merge on September
22. The USD 7.2 million deal will create the world's largest media and
entertainment company, with combined revenues exceeding USD 18 billion
(compared to USD 16 billion for the new combined Capital Cities/ABC and
Disney). Ted Turner becomes vice chairman of Time Warner and will
retain control of TBS plus Time Warner's Home Box Office. Because of
his cable interests, John Malone, head of TCI, a major TBS owner,
becomes a passive stockholder in Time Warner with non-voting stock,
pending a change in federal law. ("Tele-satellit")
TELSTAR--On September 23 Ariane successfully launched Telstar 402R. The
new satellite is expected to be fully operational at 89 degrees West
from December 1. It replaces a satellite that was lost in 1994. The new
satellite carries 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders. Broadcasters
and leading syndicators will beam programs to network affiliates
through-out the United States, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
(Curt Swinehart and "Tele-satellit")
AMERICAN SATELLITE SHIFTS--SBS 6 is moving from 95 degrees to 74
degrees West between October 16 and 31; Galaxy 3 may be decommissioned
by now; and Galaxy 3, expected to be launched on December 14, is to be
placed at 95 degrees West, becoming operational by March, 1996. (Curt
Swinehart)
ASIAN-PACIFIC MEDIA NEWS:
AUSTRALIA--Media barons Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Packer reached an
uneasy truce in late September when Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting
formed an alliance with Packer's Nine Network to launch a 24 hour news
channel for Australia. Optus Vision and Foxtel have agreed to carry the
service, which will be called News Channel. Domestic and international
news will be provided in part by Sky News in London and Nine Network's
news resources. (Reuters and "Tele-satellit")
BAHRAIN--Bahrain has become the latest country to ban reception of
satellite television and radio. ("Tele-satellit")
PAS-4--Four C-band channels have been active on PAS-4 at 68.5 degrees
east, all in clear PAL:
3870 GHz ESPN
3910 GHz Sony
4085 GHz CNN International
4115 GHz Cartoon Network/TNT
(Bertil Sundberg)
RIMSAT--Here's the latest in the confused Rimsat saga:
Rimsat, Ltd., of Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a US company which leased the
use of 2 satellites from Russia's Informcosmos: Gorizont 29 launched on
18 Nov 1993 and located at 130 degrees East, and Gorizont 30 launched
on 20 May 1994 and located at 142.5 degrees East. Those 2 slots were
leased to the Kingdom on Tonga and are now also known as Statsionar-R1
and Statsionar-R2.
The dispute between Rimsat and several Russian agencies is fairly
complex. First of all the 2 satellites were manufactured by NPO-PM, the
prime contractor for the Informkosmos agency. Intersputnik is the
operator of the Raduga, Gorizont, Gals and Express Russian satellites
on behalf of Informcosmos. Those agencies are subsidiaries of the
Russian Space Agency (RSA).
The first agreement between Rimsat and Informcosmos was to build and
launch the 2 satellites, and this contract was honored and paid for.
The things get mixed up because Rimsat also has an agreement with
Informcosmos to build and launch a new generation satellite (possibly
in the Express series) and several others with Intersputnik for the
lease of aged satellites.
Rimsat says it stopped paying for the construction of the new satellite
in May 1994 because Informcosmos was unable to give details on the
construction and launch dates, and another leased satellite wasn't made
available in mid-1994 by Intersputnik, even though Rimsat had paid for
the satellite.
After obscure negotiations, Informcosmos decided to take over the 2
Rimsat satellites (Gorizont 29 and 30). This was blocked by NPO-PM,
which in turn led to the RSA revoking Informcosmos' licence under which
Rimsat operated, and giving it to Intersputnik!
On 21 August 1995 Rimsat's clients were ordered to make payments to
Intersputnik otherwise they would lose service by midnight August 31.
An American Federal Court blocked the seizure on 30 August and US
Senators protested against the Russian action.
Meanwhile Intersputnik has reached agreed with the Kingdom of Tonga for
the use of the orbital slots... Since Intersputnik is now authorized by
both the satellite owner and the slot owner it claims to be the
operator of both Gorizont 29 and 30. (Jean-Phillipe Donnio, in "Tele-
satellit")
AFRICAN MEDIA NEWS:
SOUTH AFRICA--South Africa's SABC says it hopes to have 14 pay TV
channels on the air by the end of next year. Two free channels will
launch this December, 8 pay channels by June, and the remainder by the
end of next year. SABC says the system could eventually be expanded to
as many as 21 channels. ("Tele-satellit")
RADIO IN CYBERSPACE:
REALAUDIO--Ziff Davis Interactive is carrying the popular weekly radio
show "On Computers with Gina Smith" in the RealAudio format on the
Internet. The program is being carried on a trial basis through the end
of October on Sundays between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM Pacific Time at:
http://www.zdnet.com
There's also a live video version using CU-SeeMe. (Curt Swinehart)
ABC Radio has been carrying the Simpson trial live using RealAudio.
See:
http://www.realaudio.com
STREAMWORKS--Taiwan's International Community Radio Taiwan is providing
24 hours of English programming using the Streamworks system. Access to
the server is included in the most recent version of the free
Streamworks software (available at http://www.xingtech.com).
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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:
17:15 hrs 1179 and 6065 kHz
18:30 1179, 6065, 7240, and 9655 kHz (also Africa/Middle East)
21:30 1179, 6065, and 7230 kHz (also Africa/Middle East)
22:30 1179 and 6065 kHz (also Africa/Middle East)
23:30 1179 kHz
Asia/Pacific:
12:30 hrs 9835, 13740, and 15240 kHz
01:30 hrs 7120 kHz
North America:
13:30 and 14:30 hrs on 11650 and 15240 kHz
02:30 and 03:30 hrs on 7120 kHz
Latin America:
00:30 hrs on 6065 and 9850 kHz
The broadcasts at 17:15 and 18:30 hrs are also relayed to Europe
by satellite:
Astra 1C on ZDF's transponder 33 at 10.964 GHz, audio subcarrier at
7.38 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 1C, 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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Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to
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Thanks to this week's contributors Good Listening!