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:: MediaScan ::
:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2234--Oct 17, 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 SCDX2234
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
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First of all, apologies to anyone who tried to order a schedule or put
themselves on this mailing list last week. My mailbox was offline.
Everything should be restored now.
Secondly, if you have access to the World Wide Web, check out:
http://www.sr.se/rs/english/scdx.htm
for a multimedia version of this text, including sound cuts. Interviews
from previous programs can now be found at:
http://www.sr.se/rs/english/media2.htm
NORDIC MEDIA NEWS:
RADIO SWEDEN--There's a change in the Radio Sweden shortwave schedule
to North America. Because of interference on an adjacent channel, the
broadcasts at 02:30 and 03:30 hrs UTC have moved down 5 kHz to 7115
kHz. If you'd like our complete schedule, you can order a copy by e-
mail by sending a message to english@rs.sr.se
DENMARK--On Friday, the Danish broadcasting authorities gave permission
for a neo-Nazi organization to start a local radio station. But the
national local radio committee warned the station, Radio Oasis, that
it's licence will be immediately withdrawn if it airs programs with
racist propaganda. (AP)
Today's program includes a report from Christopher Follet in Copenhagen
on the controversy over Radio Oasis.
Danish private radio grew out of non-commercial community radio. There
are around 300 organizations there licenced for radio. When I was in
Denmark recently I met Stig Hartvig Nielsen, who's active in the
private radio scene there. I asked him about the transition from
community radio to commercial radio, and that interview is in today's
program.
EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS:
ASTRA--The Astra 1E satellite was supposed to launch during the
weekend, but has been delayed because of a technical problem.
Arianespace, which will launch the satellite from French Guyana, says
an interface electronic component was found to be defective during
testing in Europe. (Reuters)
The new launch window is early Thursday morning, October 19, between
00:38 and 01:56 hrs UTC. If you want to follow the launch, it's
scheduled to be relayed on Astra transponder 57 (currently used for
Astra demo promos). (James Robinson) Relays on transponders 45
(Bayern 3)and 46 (Nickelodeon) are also reported. ("Tele-satellit")
North Americans can follow on Telstar 302, transponder 4. (Curt
Swinehart)
Astra 1E will be Europe's first all digital broadcast satellite, with a
total of 18 active 85 watt Ku-band transponders. In the last edition of
the program, Jan Friedman of Nethold described the channels they intend
to launch via Astra and other digital satellites in the future. The
first Nethold channel from Astra 1E to go on the air will be
Supersport, which will feature English soccer, NHL hockey, and tennis,
with commentary in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish. (TT)
Other companies who have booked transponders on Astra 1E include
France's Canal Plus, with four transponders, CLT with two, Germany's
Kirsch Group with three, Pro Seben from Germany, and British Sky
Broadcasting.
Each transponder can be used for several digital channels. Astra 1E
will use the band between 11.7 and 12.1 GHz. Special new digital
receivers will be needed to pick up the signals. ("What Satellite TV")
There's a new audio subcarrier in use on FilmNet's Astra transponder
63, 7.74 MHz. It is currently relaying the regular FilmNet sound.
(James Robinson)
Nickelodeon is expanding to 06:00-20:00 hrs British time. When the
Paramount channel launchs on Astra transponder 46 on November 1, it
will begin when Nickelodeon goes off the air at 20:00 hrs.
Starting on November 1 on Astra transponder 47 are the History Channel
at 16:00 hrs, the SciFi Channel at 19:00 hrs, and Sky Sports Gold at
22:00 hrs. (James Robinson)
AMERICA ONE--The America One 24 hour European service from National
Public Radio and Public Radio International is set to go on the air in
January, most likely on the same transponder as WRN, Astra transponder
22, with sound at 7.74 MHz. NPR/PRI programming on WRN will drop from
10 to 8 hours a day, which will be simulcast on the new service, which
will offer an additional 16 hours a day of American public radio
programming. (Larry Sherwin, America One)
GENERAL ELECTRIC--GE Capital Satellites-Europe, a division of GE
Capital Satellites International, Inc., announced that it is offering
satellite communications services on the new Sirius 2 Ku-band
satellite, which will be launched to the 5 degrees East orbital slot in
1997. GE Capital Satellites-Europe was established to provide point-
to-multipoint satellite transmission for video programmers and other
satellite users seeking to reach audiences throughout Europe.
GE's pan-European satellite service via Sirius 2 will feature two
available transmission coverage beams: a Europe-wide beam and a
European North/Central beam, both delivering an Effective Isotropic
Radiated Power (EIRP) of 50dBW at the edge of the primary service
area.
"Our new European service will increase the number of video choices
for European consumers, while providing an effective satellite
distribution channel for video programmers," said George Monaster,
vice president of international marketing at GE American
Communications, Inc. (GE Americom), the parent of GE Capital
Satellites International, Inc. "Our GE European service offers both
the power and coverage video programmers need to expand their services
throughout Europe," he said. "We will also offer the value and quality
service that being a GE company enables us to provide our customers,"
he added.
GE Capital Satellites and Nordiska Satellitaktiebolaget (NSAB) of
Sweden announced in June that they will share capacity on the
32-transponder Sirius 2 satellite, which will replace NSAB's Tele-X.
Aerospatiale of France will build the new satellite for NSAB.
(NewsPage)
BRITAIN--Britain's Independent Television Commission is expected to
announce which of four bids has been successful in the contest for the
new Channel 5 licence. Two Scandinavian media companies are involved in
rival bids. The favorite is the UKTV consortium assembled by Canadian
broadcaster CanWest, which also includes the Scandinavian Broadcasting
System, Britain's SelecTV, and Australia's Network 10.
If UKTV doesn't get the bid, it might go to Richard Branson's Virgin
TV, or Channel 5 Broadcasting, which includes Pearson and Luxembourg's
CLT.
Out of the running, after turning in a bid less than one tenth that of
the other contenders, is New Century, which includes Rupert Murdoch's
British Sky Broadcasting and Granada.
One important consideration is that the licence holder must be
controlled by European Union companies. UKTV is satisfying that
condition by establishing that the Scandinavian Broadcasting System and
SelecTV will own 50 percent of the company. (Reuters) Of course, SBS is
controlled by the ABC network in the United States, that is, Disney.
DIGITAL TELEVISION--The British Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday
(October 10) demanded a bigger piece of the action in the move towards
digital television, which promises to deliver more channels than
current technology.
The BBC, spelling out its response to a government policy document on
digital terrestrial television (DTV), said that it should be allocated
its own "multiplex" -- a frequency block that can carry three or more
channels using the new technology.
"We need a BBC multiplex," BBC Director-General John Birt told a news
conference. "With a full multiplex we can fully exploit the
possibilites of digitial television in the public interest," he added.
The BBC said that full control of the multiplex would allow it to
provide uninterrupted coverage of big sporting occasions, parliament
and artistic events such as concerts. It could also make a 24-hour news
service possible.
With digital technology, the TV signal is compressed and converted into
electronic pulses for transmission. The effect is to improve picture
quality and provide more channel capacity than the existing analogue
method. The government said in August that it planned to open up six
frequencies for digital television -- meaning that Britain's existing
four terrestrial television stations will be joined by at least 18 more
in the next few years.
Under the government proposals, the BBC was offered guaranteed access
to the new technology for its two channels but not its own dedicated
frequency block. Viewers wishing to receive the new channels will
either have to upgrade their existing television set with a set-top
digital decoder or splash out on a new set capable of receiving via the
new method.
Set-top decoders are expected to emerge first but not to be on the
market for two years or so. Digital technology is seen as the future of
broadcasting but the switch from analogue will be neither simple nor
cheap.
"This will be a very high risk venture and will require many billions
of pounds of investment," Birt said, adding that leading broadcasters
must be involved for it to take off.
The BBC called on the government to set a timetable for the eventual
end of analogue services but would not be drawn on how long would be
needed to phase out the old system.
The switch would free up the UHF broadcasting spectrum which the
government could sell for use in mobile communications or data
broadcasting -- which industry analysts say could raise as
much as two billion pounds ($3.2 billion) a year.
The BBC, which is funded by a licence fee levied on all TV owners, said
that it must remain a service available to all. It urged the government
to ensure that cable and satellite providers were obliged to carry or
offer its services. (Reuters)
AMERICAN MEDIA NEWS:
WRN--The World Radio Network has started its WRN2 network in non-
English languages to North America. It's in the same place as WRN
Network 1, that is Galaxy 5, transponder 6. But while Network 1 is on
6.8 MHz, WRN2 is using 6.2 MHz. Right now the only programs are in
Finnish and Swedish from Radio Finland, at 07:00, 11:00, and 19:30 hrs
Eastern time. Radio Finland also seems to have launched a service on
Intelsat 702. (WRN)
Radio Sweden's Swedish service may follow. Stay tuned!
EDTV--Kelly Broadcasting has leased capacity on the INTELSAT-K
satellite to distribute Arabic-language programming to Latin America.
The programming, supplied by Emirates Dubai Television, is the first
24-hour Arabic-language satellite television service available on the
continent.
It will provide the 27 million people of Arab descent living in Latin
America with Middle Eastern information and entertainment that was
previously unavailable.
This new service to Latin America adds to Kelly's menu of
foreign-language program offerings. From its Orange, N.J. facility,
Kelly distributes Arab-, Greek-, Irish-, Italian-, Polish-, Portuguese-
and Russian-language programming throughout the U.S. to foreign
nationals who are eager for news from their country of origin.
(NewsPage)
PANAMSAT--As part of its ongoing expansion program, PanAmSat Corp. has
requested U.S. government approval to operate several new international
communications satellites that will expand its broadcast and
telecommunications services throughout the Americas by the year 2000.
PanAmSat has requested approval from the U.S. Federal Communications
Commission to operate international communications satellites in
orbital locations in space that traditionally have been used for
domestic U.S. satellites. The two orbital slots-- 79 degrees West
Longitude and 103 degrees West Longitude-- will be used to provide
international communications over the C-band and Ku-band frequencies.
Fred Landman, PanAmSat's president and chief executive officer, said:
"Over the past month, PanAmSat has taken several strategic steps to
assure the long-term growth of its global satellite system. In
response to growing customer demand, PanAmSat will launch these new
satellites to achieve total coverage of the Americas and build upon
its market leadership providing international broadcast and
telecommunications services around the world."
In addition to these latest orbital slots, PanAmSat has requested FCC
approval to operate two new satellites that will provide international
communications services over the Ka-band frequencies. These satellites
will be located at 58 degrees West Longitude and 79 degrees West
Longitude.
"PanAmSat will remain in the forefront of international satellite
communications by pursuing new opportunities in higher frequency
bands," Landman said. "PanAmSat's planned Ka-band satellites hold the
prospect of providing future commercial applications for video and
data communications by the end of the decade."
PanAmSat Corp. is the first private-sector company to provide global
and satellite services. The company has over 300 customers worldwide.
It currently operates three satellites: PAS-1 serving the Atlantic
Ocean Region; PAS-2 serving the Pacific Ocean Region; and PAS-4
serving the Indian Ocean Region. Three additional Atlantic Ocean
Region satellites are under construction, including PAS-3, which is
scheduled for launch in Dec. 1995. The company also plans in 1997 to
launch PAS-7 over the Indian Ocean Region and PAS-8 over the Pacific
Ocean Region. (NewsPage)
ASIAN-PACIFIC MEDIA NEWS:
HONG KONG--Dow Jones and TCI have increased their stake in Asian
Business News to a joint 98.5 percent. The two have bought the 10
percent stake held by Singapore-based Sim Ventures, which wants to
focus on its own regional broadcasting projects, starting with the
launch of its Mandarin entertainment channel this month. The other 1.5
percent is held by Hong Kong-based BNN Ltd. (Reuters)
CHINA--Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. says China's state
launching company is ready to send Asiasat-2 into orbit in late
November or early December, after a delay of almost a year. The delay
followed the failure of a Lockheed satellite in September, 1994 and the
explosion of the Apstar 2 satellite during launch in China in January
this year.
AsiaSat will choose from bids by Hughes, Lockheed, and Space Systems
Loral to build Asiasat-3. China's Great Wall will be consdiered with
other launchers after the size and specifications of the satellite were
decided. Asiasat-2 will boost coverage of News Corp.'s Star-TV into
Eastern Europe and Australia. Asiasat-3 will try to attract other
broadcasters than Star-TV. It will have more space than Asiasat-2 and
equally broad coverage. It will launch in 1997, and will occupy a
position at 122 degrees East. (Curt Swinehart and "Tele-satellit")
STAR-TV--Addressing the News Corp annual meeting, in Adelaide,
Australia, media baron Rupert Murdoch said Asian satellite broadcaster
Star-TV would experience "great growth" during the next 12 months,
noting that the Hong Kong-based broadcaster would launch a package of
15 movie channels into Indonesia in six months, while working on its
first venture into Japan.
"We've got to move fast. There is just a huge opportunity there, and
you call it a loss, I call it an investment," Murdoch told reporters
after the meeting. "We expect to see great growth in the next year. We
have a launch of a new satellite, AsiaSat 2, in a few months time and
Star will have access to infinitely greater capacity for the launch of
new and more local TV services," he said.
He said during the next six months Star would broadcast movie channels
in five languages -- Mandarin, Hindi, English, Bahasa Indonesia and
Tagalog -- and would add Cantonese and Japanese within 12 months.
Sports would remain a key element of Star's television strategy and
Star was looking to develop more youth-oriented services based on the
format of India's Channel V, he said.
"That is our strategy -- to dominate in four key programme categories:
sports, music, movies and general entertainment," Murdoch said,
referring to Star. (Reuters)
AUSTRALIA--Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch seems to have sewn up an A$ 1.0
billion (USD 760 million) merger of his Foxtel pay-TV group with a
budding rival, a deal likely to let him dominate Australia's industry,
analysts said Friday.
They said Foxtel, a 50-50 joint venture group between Murdoch's global
media machine News Corp Ltd and state-owned telecom group Telstra Corp,
was expected to announce a tie-up with pay-TV group Australis Media Ltd
within days. The deal would create the most powerful pay-television
group in Australia, combining Australis' microwave and satellite
services with Foxtel's plans to roll out a 20-channel cable pay-TV
service on October 23. Analysts estimate the enlarged group would have
access to 90 percent of Australian homes.
Most analysts expect Foxtel to effectively take over Australis, giving
the Murdoch pay-TV service a so-called back-door listing on the local
exchange. They expect the new group to be named Foxtel and headed by
Australis' chairman.
The enlarged Foxtel would strike a harsh blow to the third player in
Australia's pay-TV industry, Optus Vision, which is partly financed by
Australia's richest man and long-time Murdoch rival Kerry Packer and
launched services last month.
"They would have to have a significant advantage over Optus because
they would have allied with the satellite service," said one Sydney-
based analyst. Current regulations prevent Optus from delivering
through satellites until 1997. Australis' pay-TV service, Galaxy,
reaches 31,000 subscribers through its microwave delivery system, but
its customer base was expected to jump once the group begins satellite
broadcasts later this year.
That viewer reach would combine with the Murdoch-backed programming of
Foxtel and Telstra's cable rollout which is expected to pass one
million homes by year-end. Optus is currently available only to a
maximum of 250,000 homes. (Reuters)
CYBERSPACE:
INTERNET VIA TV--Last time we talked to Sweden's Kinnevik about their
system to provide text-based World Wide Web access to viewers with
teletext and touchtone phones. Now Philips says it will launch a UK
service this month that will offer Internet access via television and
telephone, based on its CD-I player system. CD-Online will require the
use of a special CD-I accessory called the Internet Starter Pack. (Curt
Swinehart)
ESI--The new location for European Satellite Information is:
http://www.funet.fi/indexd/esi/
TTRN--The Tech Talk Radio Network Cybergeek Gateway is a Net site
devoted to the Tech Talk Radio Network, along with links to similar
pages. The site is at:
http://www.nai.net/~bmw
The programs are broadcast over Telstar 302, transponder 21, sound 5.8
MHz. The schedule is:
ALL TIMES EASTERN TIME
TUESDAY 11PM-Midnight Houston Area AMSAT Net (Ham Radio Net)
WEDNESDAY 9PM-Midnight DB1 (Dan Morgan) Satellite Tech Topics
THURSDAY 9PM-Midnight Tom and Darryl Satellite Activism and
Tech
FRIDAY 7:30PM-8:30PM Glenn Hauser's World of Radio SWL Media
program
FRIDAY 8:30PM-9PM FNL Pre-Game Wackiness/Insanity!
FRIDAY 9PM-Midnight FNL TVRO News, Commentary,
Callins
SATURDAY Midnight-??? Marathon! (Tom/Darryl or GaryB Marathons!)
-- you have to check this time slot each
week
to see if there is a marathon
SATURDAY 7:30-9:00PM This Week in Amateur Radio (HAM RADIO
NEWS)
SUNDAY 8PM-9PM Full Disclosure Live (Glen L. Roberts)
SUNDAY 9PM-11:00PM The Pro Show (Fred Deferbrache)
(Curt Swinehart and TTRN)
CAR RADIO--Test drive the car radio of the future at:
http://www.radiosat.com/radiostar/
ECUADOR--Bernd Pfromm has started an FTP mirror site for HCJB:
ftp://inka.de/sites/immanuel/HCJB
ISRAEL--IDF Radio, operated by the Israeli Army, has a new site at:
http://www.netvision.net.il/~radioron/
JAPAN--Tokyo FM Broadcasting will begin maintaining a World Wide Web
homepage on November 1. (Curt Swinehart) Unfortunately we have no
information what the URL will be.
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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.
Our new World Wide Web page is at:
http://www.sr.se/rs
A multimedia version of this bulletin can be found at:
http://www.sr.se/rs/english/scdx.htm
Sound recordings of interviews from previous programs can be found at:
http://www.sr.se/rs/english/media2.htm
Sound files of Mediascan are archived at:
ftp.funet.fi:pub/sounds/RadioSweden/Mediascan.
You can also find the programs among the offerings of Internet Talk
Radio at various sites, including:
ftp://town.hall.org/radio/Mirrors/RadioSweden/MediaScan
Radio Sweden news (recorded at 01:30 hrs UTC daily) is available in the
Real Audio format via the World Radio Network, at:
http://www.wrn.org
Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to
+468-667-6283 or by e-mail to: wood@rs.sr.se
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.
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And for general questions, comments, and reception reports, our e-mail
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info@rs.sr.se
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Thanks to this week's contributors Good Listening!
************************
George Wood wood@rs.sr.se
Radio Sweden http://www.sr.se/rs
S-105 10 Stockholm tel: +468-784-7239
Sweden fax: +468-667-6283
************************