
This news is provided free of charge to on-line users by TELE-satellit 
magazine and TS News Service GB. IT IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. It may 
not be reproduced for commercial reasons by any means what so ever. If 
you wish to reproduce this news or redistribute it for non commercial 
use please contact the email address below.

Der TS Nachrichtendienst ist ein Service fuer die Freunde von 
TELE-satellit und TS-TV und ist nur fuer persoenliche infromation 
freigegeben.
______________________________________________________________________

TELE-satellit
EUROPE'S SATELLITE MAGAZINE
International Satellite Broadcasting News
Number 83, Week ending 7 January 1996
By Martyn Williams
News Desk : Internet martyn@twics.com  or CompuServe CIS:martynw
(c) TELE-satellit Magazine


ARIANE-5 PASSES ENGINE TEST, ARIANE-4 LAUNCH POSTPONED
  KOUROU, French Guiana (TS) -- Ending a long string of set backs and 
accidents, in which two technicians died, Arianespace's new Ariane-5 
engine finally passed all engine tests at the weekend.
  The first launch of the new Ariane-5 rocket is now set for May 7th.
  The rocket is capable of launching satellites weighing up to 6.8 
tonnes or double payloads weighing up to 5.9 tonnes.
  Also in the South American jungle this week, Ariane has had to 
cancel a planned launch of an Ariane 44L rocket that was due to carry 
Malaysia's Measat into orbit.
  Problems preparing the satellite for launch caused the delay which 
should last several days.


CHANNEL KTV SINGS OUT TO ASIA
  SINGAPORE (TS) -- A new TV channel took to the air this week aboard 
PanAmSat's new PAS-2 satellite. Channel KTV is a Singapore-based 
service delivering a unique brand of sing-along television programming 
to Karaoke enthusiasts throughout Northeast Asia.
  The full-time service over a high-power PAS-2 Ku-band spot beam is 
expected to start in late February 1996.
  Commenting on Channel KTV's unique programming, P. Berman, 
PanAmSat's vice president of program distribution, said, "The winning
combination of Channel KTV and PAS-2 represents the marriage of 
innovative entertainment programming with state-of-the-art satellite 
services."
  Channel KTV is the world's first programming service offering 
voice-optional music videos, turning any television into a Karaoke 
set. The network will offer two separate language feeds, one in 
Mandarin and one in Cantonese.
  In addition to  offering Karaoke via a viewer's television set, the 
channel also can be played through any Karaoke VCR and some laser disc 
players.
  Channel KTV is a joint venture of Carlton Communications of the 
United Kingdom, Pan Pacific Public Company of Singapore and Nanyang 
Press of Malaysia. Under the long-term service agreement, Channel KTV 
will transmit over PAS-2's Ku-band Northeast Asia beam.
  The PAS-2 service, which will uplink from Singapore, permits Channel 
KTV signal reception using small antennas in Taiwan, Hong Kong and 
major population centers in the People's Republic of China.


MDD TO LAUNCH KOREAN SATELLITE
  HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, USA (MDD) -- The Republic of Korea's
second communications satellite will be carried into orbit aboard a 
McDonnell Douglas Delta II expendable launch vehicle on Jan. 14, 1996, 
from the U.S. Air Force Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla.
  The launch window opens at 5:27 a.m. and closes at 7:56 a.m. EST.
  The Koreasat-2 satellite will be placed in geosynchronous transfer 
orbit by the 7925 version of the Delta II, which is built by McDonnell 
Douglas in Huntington Beach, Calif.  An identical satellite, 
Koreasat-1, was launched on Aug. 5.
  Both satellites have been designed to provide direct broadcasting 
and fixed station telecommunications covering the Korean peninsula.
  "McDonnell Douglas is proud to have a role in the establishment of 
the Republic of Korea's world-class telecommunications system," said 
Rich Murphy, director of NASA and commercial operations for the Delta 
program.
  The Delta flight path is on a launch azimuth of 93 degrees, designed 
to route the vehicle over the tracking station at Guam in the South 
Pacific Ocean.
  Initial orbit parameters include an apogee altitude of 19,323 
nautical miles and perigee altitude of 731 nautical miles.  Time from 
launch until spacecraft separation will be approximately one hour and 
16 minutes.


PRIMESTAR REACHES ONE MILLION CUSTOMERS
  BALA CYNWYD, Pennsilvaniya, USA (TS) -- Only seventeen months after 
its national launch, Primestar, one of America's digital direct 
broadcast satellite (DBS) TV entertainment services, is celebrating 
its one millionth customer.
  Primestar now claims to hold 45% of the DBS market in the United 
States and says it is adding 100,000 customers a month currently.
  The company says it expects to double the number of subscribers to 
two million by the end of 1996 which would represent a slow down in 
the current growth of 100,000 customers per month.
  The service attributes some of its success to the lack of a need to 
buy any equipment. From around $1 a day, subscribers can not only 
watch the basic Primestar services but also rent the equipment needed 
to view the channels, an advantage over competing services that 
require purchase of satellite systems.
  "With up to 95 channels to choose from, including 28 new channels 
added last year, Primestar's expansive selection of hit movies, cinema 
classics and brandname programming -- ranging from the HBO and Cinemax 
multiplexes to The Discovery Channel and A&E -- provides outstanding 
digital-quality entertainment for everyone in the family," said Denny 
Wilkinson, senior vice president of marketing and programming.
  Primestar also provides a wide variety of sports, including 16 
regional sports networks and the NHL, NBA and MLB seasonal sports 
packages, national and international news, family fare, special 
interest programming, home shopping, music channels and
pay-per-view movies and special events.


IN BRIEF
- AMERICA ONE -- The new America One channel from National Public 
Radio and Public Radio International went on the air to Europe as 
scheduled right after midnight on New Years. It's on Astra transponder 
22, the sound channel two steps up from the World Radio Network, at 
7.74 MHz. (Radio Sweden)
- STAR TREK -- For Star Trek fans, the "Next Generation" and "Voyager" 
series have been running on Sky One. Now the original series is 
returning to Sky One as well, Sundays at noon UTC. And Trekkers will 
be happy to know that Sweden's TV1000 will be broadcasting the "Deep 
Space Nine" series, beginning this Wednesday, at 17:00 hrs UTC. There 
seem to be a lot of pirate TV1000 cards out there, especially in 
Britain. The programs will be repeated the following Wednesdays at 
07:00 hrs, and TV1000 is committed to broadcasting 46 episodes, which 
corresponds to the series first two seasons. (Radio Sweden)


LETTERS

Europe Gives More Money For Widescreen ...

> The decision will enable the Austrian ORF, the Italian Telenuovo, 
> Synthesia and Videolina and the Danish Danmarks Radio to present 
> widescreen TV to their viewers for the first time. 

While the Austrian ORF and the Danish DR are well-known broadcasters, 
I have never heard of the three TV stations mentioned for Italy. I 
hope  they are not some sort of dummy company set up to collect this 
money !

Has anybody ever heard about them ? I only have a recollection, from 
many years ago, of something like "Videolina", but it was a company
selling broadcast equipment, not a broadcaster.

Massimo Macucci
macucci@pimic.iet.unipi.it

______________________________________________________________________

   
TELE-satellit is available from newsstands in central Europe of via 
subscription worldwide. You can get a one-time sample copy at a 
special price from our UK subscription centre. UK readers pay just 
GBP 2, Europe GBP 4, RoW GBP 6.

TELE-satellit GB
  PO Box 1124
  Ascot
  Berkshire
  GB-SL5-0XH

email : 100574.1003@compuserve.com

______________________________________________________________________

CREDITS,

Reports in TELE-satellit news are from our worldwide network of 
reporters and sources. In particular we would like to thank :

Curt Swinehart for keeping us up to date with all parts of the 
satellite industry.

Don Fitzpatrick of DFA in San Francisco for providing permission to 
reproduce articles from Shoptalk, the TV news industry's daily news 
and information magazine.

OMRI material was reprinted with permission of the Open Media Research 
Institute, a nonprofit organization with research offices in Prague, 
Czech Republic. For more information on OMRI publications, please 
write to: info@omri.cz

Reproduction in part of Jonathan's Space Report was maded possible by 
kind permission of Jonathan McDowell. To read the full edition see 
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html or 
ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news/news.*

News from Radio Sweden is made possible by Geroge Wood, presenter of 
Sweden Calling DXers/MediaScan,  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. http://www.sr.se/rs



___
