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TELE-satellit
EUROPE'S SATELLITE MAGAZINE
International Satellite Broadcasting News
Number 75, Week ending 29 October 1995
By Martyn Williams
News Desk : Internet martyn@twics.com  or CompuServe CIS:martynw
(c) TELE-satellit Magazine


SCANDINAVIA'S FIRST SPORTS CHANNEL ANNOUNCED
  STOCKHOLM, Sweden (TS) -- Modern Times Group (MTG), formally known 
as Kinnevik, has announced it will launch Scandinavia's first sports 
channel next year.
  The channel will be aimed at cable and satellite viewers in Sweden, 
Denmark and Norway, all countries currently targeted by MTG with its 
TV3 channels.
  The new service will be developed in cooperation with US based Trans 
World International (TWI), the world's largest sports producer and 
distributor. 
  To serve viewers in the three countries the new service will feature 
separate audio feeds. Programming will be geared specifically to 
Scandinavian viewers, with extensive coverage of regional events, and 
popular local hosts and announcers.   
  Rights have already been secured for European Cup Soccer, the 
Italian Soccer League, the Ice Hockey World Championships, World 
Championship Wrestling, AmericaOs National Football League, the U.S. 
Open and French Open tennis tournaments, several hundred hours of 
golf, and exclusive access to hundreds of hours of sports documentary 
and international sports magazines from the TWI library.  
  "Scandinavia has some of the greatest sports fans in the world, so 
we're extremely confident that our all-sports channel will be a major 
success," said Pelle Tornberg, president of Modern Times Group.  "We 
see this as a great opportunity to offer our TV3 and TV1000 sports 
audiences even greater opportunities to follow their favorite events 
and athletes."
  Added Eric Drossart, IMG International Group vice president for 
Trans World International:  "In just a few short years, MTG properties 
have become the leaders in Scandinavian sports telecasts.  The new 
channel is a natural outgrowth of this leadership position and we are 
proud to be associated with the first free-to-air sports service in 
the region."


PEARSON, MAI AND CLT WIN COMPETITION FOR UK'S CHANNEL 5
  LONDON, England (TS) -- The Independant Television Commission on 
Friday announced the winners of the competition to run Britain's last 
analog television channel, Channel 5.
  The winners were Channel 5 Broadcasting, a consortium that includes 
Pearson, owners of the Financial Times and a stake of BSkyB, MAI, 
which holds interest in terrestrial and satellite channels, and 
Luxembourg's CLT, operators of the RTL channels.
  The consortium bid GBP 22 million for the licence and will begin 
broadcasting by 1 January 1997. Due to a shortage of frequencies, the 
UK uses only UHF channels, the network will reach 70% of the country 
and in some areas will require use of a second antenna or re-tuning of 
satellite receiver and VCR outputs because it will occupy the as yet 
unused channels 35,36 and 37.
  The winner had previously been predicted as UKTV, a group led be 
Canada's CanWest, which bid GBP 36.25 million but failed on a 
programming quality threshold measurement.


GOVERNMENT SAVES ABC INTERNATIONAL
  CANBERRA, Australia (TS) -- The Australian government gave loss 
making ABC TV International a new lease of life last week when it 
committed $18.6 million for the next three years broadcasting.
  The channel broadcasts to around 18 countries and claims a potential 
24 million viewers.
  Initially sponsorship had been intended to keep the station running 
although not enough companies could be found to make money.


PLAYBOY, WHARF ANNOUNCE PROGRAMMING PLANS
  HONG KONG (TS) -- A joint cooperation agreement has been announced 
by Hong Kong's Wharf Cable and Playboy Enterprises.
  The two will begin coproduction of adult television shows with Asian 
actors and actresses for cable television because of strong demand for 
the currently running pay-per-view shows broadcast.
  The shows, broadcast on Wednesday and Sunday evenings, are Wharf's 
most popular PPV programmes for which viewers pay HK$25 ($3.25) per 
programme.
  Underlining the importance of the deal, Christie Hefner, CEO of 
Playboy, said, "Asia is for us one of the most important areas of the 
globe. We believe it has the most growth to come over the next five 
years." She added, "Nearer term than co-operation on a full channel, 
we may integrate Asian actors and actresses into our productions."
  Playboy have just begun operating a channel in Japan and will launch 
a UK version next week.


SES DENIES LISTING CLAIMS
  BETZDORF, Luxembourg (TS) -- Societe Europeanne des Satellites, 
owners and operators of the Astra satellite system, have denied 
reports that they will offer shares in the company on the stock 
market.
  The denial followed an article the UK's Sunday Times newspaper that 
claimed SES would list soon.
  The newspaper said major shareholders, including Pearson, were keen 
on a flotation but the Luxembourg government was yet to be persuaded. 


TVX WARNED AGAIN
  LONDON, England (TS) -- Television X - The Fantasy Channel has been 
warned about its programming by Britain's TV watchdog, the ITC.
  In a formal warning, the channel was told to monitor its output more 
carefully after broadcasting an un-cut version of the movie "Requiem 
for a Vampire" last month. The film had received a UK certificate only 
after six minutes of cuts were made.
  Further breaches of regulations can lead to fines of up to GBP 
50,000 or even cancellation of its broadcasting licence.


SHARP ANNOUNCES DIGITAL TUNER
  TOKYO, Japan (TS) -- Sharp Electronics has announced a digital 
satellite receiver and add on unit for analog receivers that can be 
used to receive broadcasts made by DMC, a digital TV packet due to 
begin broadcasting to Japan from April next year.
  The receiver version can also pickup analog satellite television.
  Sharp are the first manufacturers to announce a unit and expect 
sales to total 25,000 units a month for both devices.


BSKYB, DISNEY DEAL NIXED
  LONDON, England (TS) -- Cable operators wishing to offer The Disney 
Channel to subscribers irrespective of whether they take Sky's movie 
channels may be able to do so after the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) 
ruled it could not sell the service through Sky.
  The OFT began investigating the set up after complaints from cable 
operators who wished to carry The Disney Channel but not force viewers 
to take both of Sky's movie channels to gain access to Disney as 
satellite viewers must.


DIREC-TV ANNOUNCES NEW SUPPLIERS
  LOS ANGELES, California, USA (DIRECTV) -- DirecTV, Inc., a unit of 
Hughes Electronics Corporation, announced today that Samsung 
Electronics Co. Ltd., SANYO Electric Co. Ltd. and Daewoo Electronics 
Co. Ltd. have been authorized to manufacture the DSS satellite 
receiving equipment. The DSS system is used to receive up to 200 
channels of entertainment and informational programming from DirecTV 
and USSB (United States Satellite Broadcasting, Inc.).
  Each new supplier has been authorized by DIRECTV, the DSS trademark 
holder, to manufacture and distribute DSS equipment. The suppliers are 
also entering into separate agreements with Thomson Consumer 
Electronics and News Datacom. Under terms of each agreement, the three 
manufacturers can introduce DSS equipment into the marketplace as 
early as June 1996. Additional manufacturers are also scheduled to 
begin selling DSS equipment in mid-1996.


FINALLY...
  LONDON, England (TS) -- A couple in Peacehaven, East Sussex, 
England, were enjoying an evening of television when the picture was 
suddenly lost.
  After attempting to fix the problem on the receiver, they ventured 
outside to check the dish was OK. As they left the house they saw a 
car driving away at high speed and the dish missing from the roof. It 
had been stolen while they were watching TV.


NEW PRODUCTS
By Petra Huether, TS Munich

The Advert Killer
  The example:, You recorded an interesting film being shown on a 
private TV transmitter for later viewing in a quiet hour. Now you sit 
down to watch it, and here comes the crunch, - at the moment of peak 
suspense, the ads come on. 
  To use this break you have several alternatives, you could make a 
cup of tea, skip to the loo or sit there in front of the screen, 
fuming, frantically spooling the cassette forwards.
  An interruption to the film cannot be avoided. This is all now a 
thing of the past. At the International Radio Show in Berlin, a 
decoder named "TV-Aktiv" made its debut. 
  With this system you can record a TV programme without irritating 
advertising interruptions, just like watching a home-video. The 
principle behind this is quite simple.
  So-called watch-dogs monitor the TV programmes around the clock. As 
soon as the start of an ad is detected a signal is sent to a small 
chip in the decoder, and another at the end of the break.
  A digital data map, generated in this way, is sent via a long-wave 
transmitter at a frequency of 55,25 kHz. This can be received with the 
aid of the decoder, that in turn controls the VCR, ensuring 
advert-free recording. 
  One prerequisite, however, TV equipment and video-recorders must be 
equipped with the TV-Aktiv decoder - a real challenge for the 
industry.


Low Noise and Crystal Clear from the Galaxis Digi 500
  With the new digital receiver from the Galaxis Company, satellite 
reception will be a pleasure. With this receiver you can receive not 
only digital but also analogue programmes. 
  It is, therefore, fitted with an MPEG-2 system, a method of decoding 
digital satellite signals. Apart from 500 freely programmable 
memories, the Digi-500 unit is also fitted with a Dolby-Surround-Sound 
facility for superb sound reception. 
  The special display, (VFD-Vacuum Fluorescent Display) shows not only 
programme names but also symbols and information.
  Using the Space-Scanner you can step through the orbital positions. 
The time consuming search for the correct position and the often 
difficult fine-adjustment of the dish towards the required satellite 
is now a thing of the past. 
  With the newly developed satellite search system from Galaxis the 
whole thing is very simple. All you have to do is to load the required 
satellite position and the "Space-Scanner" with the satellite antenna 
will move until the optimum position of the required satellite is 
reached. 
  Should the position of the Scanner be changed, then the antenna will 
automatically compensate. With this facility the scanner is ideal for 
installation in caravans, campers or yachts. The Space-Scanner is 
suitable for satellite antennae with a maximum size of 85 cm.
Infofax: +49-451-8960907

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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. A temporary web site exists at 
http://www.abc.se/~m8914/media.html


