From wood@stab.sr.seTue Apr 2 17:26:01 1996
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 1996 15:50:45 +0100
From: George Wood <wood@stab.sr.se>
To: wood@rs.sr.se
Subject: MediaScan/Sweden Calling DXers 2245
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: MediaScan ::
:: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ::
:: from Radio Sweden ::
:: Number 2245--April 2, 1996 ::
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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 SCDX2245
All times UTC unless otherwise noted.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
NORDIC MEDIA NEWS:
SWEDEN--Yesterday Lisa Soederberg took over as head of Sweden's public
service radio broadcaster, the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, which
includes Radio Sweden, four national channels, and 25 local radio
stations.
Lisa comes to her job from the News Department, where she's spent most
of her career, most recently as News Director. In fact her predecessor
as head of Swedish Radio was also News Director. Lisa Soederberg is
with me in the studio today. For those of you who've missed today's
program, you can hear download it in au-format from our Web pages
(www.sr.se/rs) or access it in RealAudio from the World Radio Network
(www.wrn.org).
RADIO SWEDEN--We've also just opened a new attraction on our Web pages
called Virtual Sweden, where you can experience this country in
images, and access information about Sweden as well.
KINNEVIK RADIO--There's been a shake-up among Stockholm's private
radio stations. When commercial radio licences were first auctioned
off to the highest bidders here a couple of years ago, two of the new
Stockholm stations tried to do more than just play pop music. Both
went broke.
Radio Q concentrated on programming for women, and recently had to
sell out to Luxembourg's CLT. Storstadsradion (Big City Radio) on
106.3 MHz concentrated on sports. Ultimately they sold out to the
Kinnevik media empire. Kinnevik already had a Stockholm stations (now
they have 3), so they changed the format on 106 to classical music,
and renamed the station Classic Radio. Unfortunately for them, they
had to compete with Classic FM, owned by a British company, which did
better.
A few days ago Classic Radio went off the air, and has been replaced
with a new rock format, and a new name, Power 106. (The Stockholm
newspapers are still running the Classic Radio schedules.)
KINNEVIK TV--Meanwhile, Kinnevik is having trouble on the TV front.
Last weekend they had to abandon plans to launch their new Sports
Channel (Sportkanalen) 7 days a week, because of competition from
rival FilmNet's SuperSport. Instead, the Sports Channel has relaced
Kinnevik's existing women's channel TV 6 on weekends.
But this has led the country's largest cable operator, owned by
Swedish Telecom, to cancel its contract with TV 6, on the grounds that
the station has violated the agreement by changing its format. The two
sides are negotiating, before the cancellation goes into effect on
April 25. ("Svenska Dagbladet")
MORE SPORTS--Both new channels, SuperSport and the Sports Channel have
been accused of violated UEFA rules by broadcasting Swedish soccer
matches, without signing a contract with the Swedish Football
Association. ("Svenska Dagbladet")
SuperSport seems to have become just about the only station in Europe
broadcasting American baseball. Games are at 17:00 hrs CET Tuesdays,
apparently rerun at 16:00 hrs CET on Thursdays. NBC Super Channel is
to start carrying live games on Friday nights (Saturday mornings
really) at 1:00 AM CET.
DIGITAL TELEVISION--The Swedish government has called on the National
Board for Industrial and Technical Development (NUTEK) to investigate
when decoders for terrestrial digital television will be available to
consumers. This follows the agreement between Sweden's minority Social
Democrat government and the opposition Liberal and Center Parties to
introduce digital terrestrial TV here in 1998.
Digital satellite receivers already exist in North America for the
DirecTV system, and are about to be introduced in Europe, by Nethold
and others. The government wants NUTEK's report by this Fall so that
parliament can make its decision on the timetable to the introduction
of digital TV.
At the same time, the govenrment is calling on the telecommunications
authorities to allocate the frequencies for digital terrestrial TV.
Initially there will be four allocations, which will provide 16
channels, including the current terrestrial broadcasters, the public
service SVT 1 and SVT 2, and the public service TV 4. (TT)
THE NORDIC INTELSAT--Intelsat 707 was launched on March 14 on an
Ariane rocket. Originally intended to serve the Nordic region from 1
degree West, this was changed after the failure of a Chinese rocket to
launch the Atlantic relay satellite Intelsat 708. Intelsat decided to
deploy the 707 satellite tp 50 degrees West in place of Intelsat 708.
But the March (14-19) meeting of Intelsat's Board of Governors, after
reviewing the deployment plan for the entire Intelsat fleet in the
Atlantic region, reversed the decision. Intelsat 707 will enter into
service at 1 degree West in mid-April.
It carries 40 Ku and C-band transponders.
Curt Swinehart writes: "Speculation is that this change of heart on
the part of Intelsat has everything to with the recent 'breach of
contract' charge made by Comsat vs Panamsat, News Corp, and Televisa."
As we reported before, Rupert Murdoch and his partners cancelled their
contract with Intelsat (and Comsat) for their DTH service to Latin
America, after the 708 crash, despite Intelsat's decision to move 707
to the same slot. Comsat has charged that partner Televisa, which is a
major owner of Panamsat, was instrumental in influencing the other
partners to decide to switch to Pamamsat.
EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS:
REGAL SHOP--Regal Shop has ceased transmissions on Astra transponder
41 between 00:00 and 09:00 hrs. (James Robinson)
RACING CHANNEL - The Racing Channel, transmitting on Astra 1D channel
60, will from 1 May be on air until 18:00 hrs UTC instead of 1500 hrs.
>From then on, the channel will transmit as follows:
>From 1 November from 11:00-17:00
>From 1 May 1997 from 10:00-16:00
(James Robinson)
SKY--Sky Movies Gold is reportedly reducing its transmission hours,
although in the movie listings for May on SkyText, a film is listed
for Sky Movies Gold at 15:00 UTC on 3 May. If this is the case,
perhaps Movies Gold is moving, because the Racing Channel is
definately staying on Channel 60. If Sky Movies Gold does move, it is
likely to go to Channel 53 (10.773 GHz H). This is because SBS6 is
leaving this transponder on 1 May. (James Robinson)
CNBC - CNBC is now officially part of Sky Multi-Channels, as from 25
March. This is despite being unscrabled. It is not clear however,
whether they intend to scramble the service in the future. Sky News
is also a Multichannel, but this is not going to be scrambled.
Therefore, it does not mean necessarily that CNBC is to do this
either, but they do have an option to do so if they wish. (James
Robinson)
RADIO--NDR's five German domestic services are due to start
transmissions in ADR (Astra Digital Radio) this month. They will use
6.12-6.84 MHz on Transponder 25, meaning that very soon, N3 TV will
drop its 6.50 subcarrier. The precise date has not yet been
announced.
Another station due to start ADR transmissions is WDR 3. This will
eventually use the 6.48 subcarrier of Astra Transponder 39 (WDR 3 TV).
The date for the service has not yet been announced.
Also announced last weekend for ADR launch is the German-language
Swiss domestic radio service Radio DRS. This will utilise subcarriers
on Transponder 55 of Astra 1D, used by Teleclub, the Swiss pay movie
channel. The precise frequencies are yet to be announced. (James
Robinson)
DMX--During the Olympics, DMX, the new 24-hour a day pay music service
on Astra, sueing ADR will launch an Olympic music channel. This will
feature music to be transmitted in the Olympic Village during the
games. The frequency has yet to be announced. The full list of DMX
services (sent by James Robinson) is as follows:
(The numbers alongside each channel are "transponder
number/subcarrier". Where no number is shown the channel is not yet
available).
1 Symphonic 12/7.74 61 Dutch Hits
35/7.92 2 Chamber 12/7.92 62 Dutch Easy
Listening 3 Opera 12/8.10 63 Flemish Hits
8/8.46 4 Light Classical 41/7.74 64 Italian Hits
35/7.74 5 Baroc 65 Italian
Traditional 6 Classical Guitar 47/7.74 66 Danish Songs
35/8.46 7 Piano 41/8.46 67 Norwegian
Hits 35/8.28 8 Beautiful Instruments 20/7.92 68 Swedish
Songs 9 Contemporary Instrumental 38/7.74 69 Greek Sounds
8/7.92
10 New Age 38/7.92 70 Hebrew Hits 8/7.74
11 Classic Rock 15/8.10 71 Oriental Sounds 8/8.10
12 Folk Rock 41/7.92 72 Turkish Songs 13
Dance/Techno 12/8.46 73 World Beat 14 US Hits
16/8.10 74 Indian Music 38/8.28 15 Album Rock
15/7.56 75 Reggae 20/8.28 16 Heavy Metal
16/8.46 76 Cajun 17 Alternative Rock
16/8.28 77 Czech Songs 18 Rap 16/7.92 78
Polish Hits 19 UK Hits 12/8.28 79 L American
Hits 35/7.56 20 European Pop Hits 16/7.74 80 Flemenco
34/6.12 21 Power Hits 8/8.28 81
Brazillian Music 34/8.84 22 New Music 42/7.74 82
Mariachi 38/8.46 23 Rythm & Blues 34/6.66
83 Sulsa 24 50s Oldies 47/8.10 84 Christian
Inspir. 25 60s Oldies 41/7.56 85 Gospel Music 26
70s Oldies 47/8.28 86 Hawaiian Music 42/8.10 27
80s Oldies 87 Polynesian Sounds 28 Soul
Classics 41/8.28 88 S African Sounds 34/6.30 29
Beach Party 41/8.10 89 Chinese Songs 30 Classic
Pop Artists 20/7.74 90 Children's Classics 31 Love Songs
18/7.92 91 32 Soft Hits 47/8.46
92 33 Great Singers 18/8.46 93 34 Contemporary
Singers 18/7.74 94 35 Smooth Hits 18/8.10
95 36 Cool Music 96 Olympic Music 37
Show Tunes 97 38 Movie Soundtracks
98 39 Light Jazz 15/8.10 99 40 Classic
Jazz 15/8.28 100 41 Big Band/Swing
15/8.46 101 42 Dixieland 42/7.92 102 43 Jazz
Vocal Blend 38/8.10 103 44 Traditional Blues
20/8.10 104 45 Contemporary Blues 42/8.46 105 46
Traditional Country 42/8.28 106 47 Modern Country
18/8.28 107 48 Blue Grass 108 49 Folk
Music 34/6.48 109 50 Irish Folk
110 51 Swiss Folk 111 52 German Songs
35/8.10 112 53 German Rock 47/7.92
113 54 German Folk 114 55 German Light
Music 115 56 German Hits
116 57 French Chansons 20/8.46 117 58 French Pop Hits
118 59 French Chanseaurse 119 60
French Riviera 120
EUTELSAT--As from 1 April, RTL TV is no longer transmitting in PAL on
Eutelsat 2-F1. As from 2 April, it will transmit in clear MPEG2, on
11.588 GHz Horizontal.
On Eutelsat 2F3, Muslim TV Ahmediyyah is no longer transmitting on
11.575 GHz. You can now find the channel, apparently 24 hours a day,
via Intelsat 603 at 34.5 degrees West, on 11.004 GHz Vertical. The
change took place on 1 April. (James Robinson)
ASTRA--The first commercial Proton launch, carrying the Astra 1F
satellite, has been rescheduled for April 9, from March 28. (Curt
Swinehart)
BRITAIN--The British government said on March 25 it was extending the
rules regulating the content of television services broadcast to
Europe to cover other countries around the world.
"Technology and the (relatively low) costs of satellite broadcasting
now mean that any organisation could broadcast from the U.K. to
anywhere in the world," National Heritage Secretary Virginia Bottomley
said in a statement.
She said she had signed an order extending the existing regulatory and
licensing powers of Britain's Independent Television Commission (ITC)
to all television services broadcast from Britain regardless of which
country received the service.
"Currently, the ITC can only licence television services which are
broadcast to Europe," Bottomley said. "This means that anyone can
broadcast from the U.K. to countries beyond Europe without requiring a
licence and under no regulatory control."
>From now on, she added all broadcasters would be "obliged to comply
with this country's rules on taste and decency and impartiality...
Today's action ensures that the U.K. maintains its international
reputation for high standards in television programming".
Bottomley also announced that the government intends to introduce an
amendment to the Broadcasting Bill currently being considered by
parliament which would reinforce the ITC's duty and powers to satisfy
itself that any organisation applying for a licence had no political
objectives.
She said the government was also considering whether to make the
provision of false information to secure a broadcast licence a
criminal offence. (Reuters)
DIGITAL TELEVISION--Digital television looks set to be at the
centre of entertainment in many homes across Europe by the year 2000
and has been tipped to replace the personal computer as a gateway onto
the information superhighway.
Digital television promises consumers improved picture quality and a
vastly increased range of choice -- at a price. Movie moguls,
publishing companies, and satellite launchers, are sizing up this new
market, which offers a more flexible and cost effective way to reach
more customers.
Digital television converts pictures and sound into electronic
particles, compresses them into easily transmitted packets for
transmission over cable networks or satellite transmission, then
reorganises them back on the TV screen.
Subscribers need a black-box to handle the technology, but in a couple
of years digital TVs will be available. This not only means better
quality, but allows a massive increase in capacity over conventional
analogue networks, where signals are transmitted by radio waves.
But with thousands of channels becoming available, the question
remains, will it be possible to fill all this potential capacity with
programmes that people will pay for?
"Digital TV is going to be one of the most important areas of
telecommunications involving pictorial information," said Professor
Anthony Constantinides of Imperial College's department of electrical
and electronic engineering.
Constantinides says this method of delivering entertainment and
information will also take over from the personal computer as pioneer
of the so-called information superhighway.
"We would have video-on-demand, picture databases...you could
advertise houses, shopping, banking, you could access from home on a
high resolution screen," Constantinides said.
Video-on-demand allows subscribers to dial-up the film of their
choice, which then spurts back down a cable or bounces off a satellite
into the home. Yet experiments, such as one conducted by Time Warner
in Orlando, Florida, have shown a reluctance to pay premium prices for
this type of service. A stroll to the local video store is still
favoured.
In Europe, the advance of digital television is being led by sports
programmes.
"Digital TV has been running for a couple of years. SIS (Satellite
Information Services) for horse racing runs into betting shops in
Britain," said Barclay Dutson, managing director of industry
consultants Vision Group.
"Telepiu in Italy has started digital test transmissions this year,"
said Dutson.
Telepiu, which has 800,000 subscribers to its analogue service, is
jointly owned by South African financier Johann Rupert's Nethold
group, and German media magnate Leo Kirch. At a recent conference in
London, Herve Payan, Telepiu's general manager, said the company wants
150,000 subscribers this year. So far the company has 770.
Among the services to be offered by Telepiu is pay-per-view Italian
soccer. This shows the kind of technical flexibility and ability to
target small groups of consumers which only digital televison can
offer. Subscribers can sign up for single games, or buy a season
ticket. And soccer clubs can insist that local subscribers can be
blacked out to help protect their local "gate" revenues. Analogue TV
cannot do this in a targetted way.
And more satellite launches are planned. "When the new ones go up,
from the middle of this year, you could have a bouquet of channels in
Germany and Italy," says Dutson.
German media giant Bertelsmann AG, cable TV operator Canal Plus of
France, and Britain's BSkyB recently announced an alliance to attack
digital satellite television markets in Europe.
Jolyon Barker, managing consultant with Arthur Andersen, also sees an
impact from less likely sources.
"We may see BT (British Telecommunications Plc) and BSkyB (owned 40
percent by Rupert Murdoch`s News Corp Ltd) building a relationship.
Other telecommunications groups like ATT recognise that there are
revenues to be earned here," Barker said.
As telecommunications embrace computer technolgy, and computer
companies increasingly communicate over telephone lines, the
traditional demarcation lines have become blurred -- even movie-makers
are now seeking to beam films into the home.
"Top entertainment companies, the major studios have a huge interest,
like Viacom and Time Warner. Another exciting participant could be
(software giant) Microsoft which is developing the interfaces and even
investing in content for this new age," Barker said.
It remains to be seen whether this mass of data available over a
multitude of channels will provide consumer satisfaction.
Barker says that individuals can only really use between eight and 16
channels. (Reuters)
NORTH AMERICA:
CANADA--At 15:47 EST on March 26 following a malfunction in a solar
power array on the Anik E1 satellite, Telesat lost both the C and Ku-
bands. More than 50 percent of the satellite's capacity (24 C-band, 16
Ku-band transponders) has been lost. Telesat Canada, which had been
leasing satellite services to U.S. concerns, exercised its pre-emptive
rights on the leased capacity to make it available to Canadian
customers. The company may have to lease temporarily some channels
from U.S. satellites to meet Canadian requirements. (Telesat via Curt
Swinehart and "Wall Street Journal")
More news from:
http://www.telesat.ca
INMARSAT--Inmarsat III is to be launched from Cape Canaveral later
today. Launch windows are 23:02-23:41 UTC and 01:37-02:05 UTC.
Coverage on Galaxy 6 transponder 18 begins at 22:00 hrs UTC. (Curt
Swinehart)
ATT/DIRECTV--AT&T Corp. entered the entertainment world March 25,
saying it began to sell its satellite television service DirecTV to
its customers in four states and will roll out the service nationwide
this summer.
AT&T customers in Dallas, Los Angeles, Tampa and St. Petersburg, Fla.,
and Hartford, Conn., can order the service, which offers 175 channels
of movies, pay-per-view, sports, and news for $29.95 a month, by
calling a toll-free number.
The satellite dish and related equipment to receive the signal costs
$800, but AT&T is offering incentives to its long-distance and
Universal Card customers.
Customers buying with their Universal Card pay no interest for a year
on equipment bought, and get a free pay-per-view movie a week for a
year. After a year as an AT&T long-distance and DirecTV customer they
get a free month of DirecTV.
Basking Ridge, N.J.-based AT&T also said it signed an agreement with
U.S. Satellite Broadcasting Co. to market its package of movies and
entertainment, giving those who sign up for DirecTV a free month of
U.S. Satellite programming.
U.S. Satellite is the only other service that can be received on the
same satellite dish.
Installations are scheduled to start on May 1 in the four states, and
AT&T will also take orders from customers in other parts of the
country to schedule an early installation.
The launch follows January's deal in which AT&T paid $137.5 million
for a 2.5 percent stake in DirecTV Inc., a unit of General Motors'
Hughes Electronics Corp.
AT&T is planning to package together long distance, local and wireless
telephone, Internet access and entertainment for its 80 million
residential customers across the country.
Facing unprecedented competition in basic telephone services,
companies like AT&T hope the lure of entertainment and the sheer
breadth of services offered will stop customers hopping from one
supplier to another, and bolster profits.
For DirecTV it offers a huge new outlet for its services which have
already garnered more than 1.3 million customers in 20 months. The
company is now aiming for 2.5 million to three million by the end of
the year.
AT&T, DirecTV and fellow satellite broadcaster PrimeStar which is
majority owned by Colorado-based Tele-Communications Inc. have a
headstart over a gaggle of TV service competitors, and analysts say
they need to move fast.
"These players are looking at 1996-1997 as the last big opportunity to
build market share clear of the competition," said Jimmy Shaeffler of
consultancy Carmel Group.
Regional Bell phone companies are building broadband networks, both
wired and wireless, to carry voice, video and data. AT&T's arch-rival
MCI Communications Corp. is teaming up with News Corp. to offer a
satellite TV service.
For AT&T and DirecTV the theory is that customers who pay hundreds of
dollars for a satellite dish now are seen unlikely to throw it out for
other services later.
However AT&T's dish price looks a little high to get them coming in in
droves, and may have to be reduced.
"Its a little high, but is the first shot of the gun," Shaeffler said.
(Reuters)
ASIA:
CROWDED IN ORBIT--Space might stretch on till eternity, but not
for the satellite industry over Asia. As Asia plugs in more
televisions and telephones, the satellites that bounce their signals
down to earth are heading for gridlock.
The more satellites that go up the closer they get, and the closer
they get the more they interfere with each other and distort each
other's signals. At least a dozen satellites are scheduled to vault
into Asian skies in this year, more in 1997 and 1998 and there are
already at least 40 blinking down on the region, according to industry
figures.
"It's certainly crowded," said Peter Jackson, chief executive of Hong
Kong based satellite company Asiasat in a recent interview. "But
remember, we didn't have any satellites over Asia until recently, so
we're really catching up to the U.S."
A decade ago few Asian television viewers enjoyed much choice and
telephones were hard to come by in less developed countries. But the
region quickly got smart.
It started its own satellite industry both building satellites and the
rockets to launch them into space, and foreign broadcasters and
telecoms companies eager to get rich in the region clamoured on board.
Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, China and
India are among Asian countries with satellite industries in varying
stages of development.
Witness China. In an effort to earn foreign exchange, China set up a
commercial launch industry in its mountainous inland Sichuan province,
using converted ballistic missiles. It quickly attracted foreign
satellite builders and customers because its launch prices undercut
the industry.
However, a string of mishaps, including the February explosion of the
international satellite Intelsat on board a Long March 3 rocket, has
tarnished China's programme. The problem is that there are few launch
alternatives as there aren't many prime, unpopulated sites in the
world from where rockets can be launched. Launch companies generally
have long waiting lists.
One company owned by an international group has even sprung up to
launch satellites from floating platforms in the sea. While satellites
don't come cheap, increasing supply over Asia is bringing down prices
for customers who can now choose from a variety of providers, industry
participants say.
Customers can now decide to choose a carrier that will allow them to
blanket the whole region with their signal or spotlight a particular
country.
"I think you're seeing a more realistic costing," said Asiasat's
Jackson, who has not adjusted the prices on his high-powered
satellites despite competition.
He said operators are probably getting better value from smaller
transponders (the part on a satellite that customers lease). These
were traditionally priced about the same as higher-powered
transponders that span regions, but now there are more of them the
prices are coming down, he said.
Japanese operators, whose satellites are among the highest priced in
the world, say a stronger yen has allowed them to drop prices because
the cost of buying satellites has fallen.
"The general trend is that satellite's acquisition costs are
decreasing partly due to the yen's appreciation," said Yasuo Okuyama,
spokesman at Japan Satellite Systems Corp (JSAT).
"The transponder prices will drop to about one third the present level
when digital system starts this spring," Okuyama said. Currently
transponders on Japanese-owned satellites cost around 400 million to
500 million yen.
Leasing space on a satellite in the rest of Asia usually costs around
US$2 million a year for a C band transponder that sends a signal to a
big dish owned by, say, a bank or a cable television operator.
For a more powerful Ku-band transponder that beams to small private
dishes the cost is around US$4-5 million a year. Satellites themselves
are insured for around US$200 million each. Industry experts say
satellites are spaced about 2.5 degrees apart over Asia. This is still
roomy compared with the two degrees spacing over the United States.
But as each new satellite squeezes into the sky there is greater
potential to interfere with neighbouring satellites.
"You're certainly talking about an era where you're going see more
interference," said Asiasat's Jackson.
As there is no international body to arbitrate on interference,
countries who launch the satellites must coordinate with their
neighbours to ensure they can coexist.
In one current dispute over orbital positions, Thailand and China have
failed to agree on placement of two upcoming satellites, which will
interfere if launched where the two nations currently want to put
them.
They have agreed to resume discussions soon. (Reuters)
CHINA--The explosion of a Chinese Long March rocket that crashed into
a populated area on February 13 was deadlier than previously
announced, BBC World Service news reports. The news broadcast, said an
Israeli space technician smuggled out of China a video tape that
showed thousands of casualties in the explosion.
Officials of China's state-run contractor Great Wall Industries said
earlier this month the Long March 3-B rocket killed six people,
injured 57 and destroyed 100 homes when it slammed into a populated
area seconds after liftoff near the launch site in China's
southwestern Sichuan province in China's gravest space accident in
recent years.
A satellite for the Washington based INTELSAT organization with an
insured value of $205 million was also destroyed in the disaster.
INTELSAT officials present in China during the explosion declined to
comment on reports that the Long March explosion was deadlier than
announced by Chinese officials. The INTELSAT officials were
interviewed by Reuters March 14 when the organization launched another
satellite aboard a Western European Ariane rocket from the European
Space Agency (ESA) launch center in Kourou, French Guiana on the
northeast coast of South America.
The Paris-based Arianespace company that makes and markets the Ariane
rocket series, leader in commercial space launches, played down the
Chinese disaster when it became known in February.
"This is no time to go pointing fingers at our competitors mishaps ...
Failures like this are not good for the industry as a whole," an
Arianespace spokesman told Reuters.
Arianespace has long been critical of Long March's cost cutting
practices. Industry analysts said the cost of launching in China is
now half of what a European or American rocket launcher charges.
Though two French military officers were killed at the Kourou base in
May 1995 during tests of the new generation Ariane-5 rocket engine, no
deaths have been reported during launches in French Guiana since
Europe began using the equatorial facility 30 years ago. (Reuters)
ASIASAT--Hong Kong's Asiasat consortium, which is partly owned by the
Chinese government, has abandoned
************************
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
************************