From: roberts@triton.unm.edu Newsgroups: rec.video.satellite Subject: DishCetra Satellite TV/Cable TV magazine for Feb 1992 (long) Date: 22 Feb 92 07:04:00 GMT Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Here is this month's DishCetra. Enjoy! Robert -------- ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 "The World's Most Important Publication!" 3 CDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD4 3 DISHCETERA - THE SATELLITE TV NEWS ON-LINE MAGAZINE 3 CDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD4 CDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD4 3 Volume 4 - Issue # 04 (C)Copyright 1992 February 1, 1992 3 CDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD4 @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY This entire newsletter is (C)Copyrighted 1992, by Jm Dolan. You may freely copy and distribute this newsletter as long as you distribute it in whole, AND without any changes of copy or content, AND without any deletions or additions, AND without any format re-arrangement or any other alterations. This newsletter may NOT be electronically stored and/or transmitted, relayed, echoed, and/or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright proprietor and it may NOT be relayed on any network as an individual message, multiple messages, and/or message packets. Bulletin board systems may post this newsletter under the previous conditions provided that this newsletter may be accessed by any user without any payment required to gain access to the newsletter. A fee may be required in order to gain access to the bulletin board system. You may not charge for the newsletter itself. DISHCETERA makes no warranty or guaranty of accuracy for any of the information or material contained herein. A reasonable effort has been made to verify all information. DISHCETERA will not knowingly report any false information. The source data for all information reported is readily available upon request and in most cases, may be obtained by logging onto our bulletin board system and visiting the public files and texts areas. There is no charge for public access. In many cases, the information contained in DISHCETERA has been obtained from various industry news sources, trade journals, and/or press releases. An effort is made to verify all stories reported with more than one source before publication. The views and opinions expressed by DISHCETERA are the views and opinions of DISHCETERA, and do not necessarily reflect or express the views and opinions and/or the viewpoint of any bulletin board system and/or any system operator where this newsletter may be found. Any questions or comments should be directed to DISHCETERA Satellite TV On-Line Magazine. The bulletin board system and/or the SysOp where this newsletter may be posted, is providing a valuable additional service to it's callers by making this newsletter, and/or other similar newsletters available. However, the bulletin board system and/or system operator is not in any way connected-with, and/or responsible for this newsletter. The DISHCETERA Satellite TV On-Line Magazine is published on the 1st MONDAY of the month at Bellaire, Texas 77402. Mailing address is P.O. Box 189 - Bellaire, Texas 77402. A message may be sent via E-mail to: any of the following: On SATELLITE TV BOARD: (713) 623-4899 On G*E*N*I*E: JDolan2 On CompuServ: 76164, 1564 On PCRelaynet(tm)... Sat TV Conference Host Or on FIDO... in the TVRO Conference ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 THIS MONTH'S TOP SATELLITE NEWS STORIES 3 @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY SENATE PASSES CABLE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT OF 1991 BY WIDE MARGIN ROLL CALL VOTE ON S12 - WHICH WAY DID YOUR SENATORS VOTE? FIND OUT MORE "LITTLE" DETAILS OF GENERAL INSTRUMENT'S "BIG" PLAN FOR TVRO BRIGHTSIDE'S 60 CHANNEL SATELLITE DIRECT-TO-EVERYONE PLAN APPEARS THE "STATE-OF-THE-SKY-FI" MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT - NEW NEWS THE NATIONAL CABLE TELEVISION ASSOCIATION SAYS 'NO' TO CABLE MONTH IF SOMEBODY OFFERS YOU A FREE SATELLITE DISH... JUST SAY NO OTHER SATELLITE TV ITEMS OF INTEREST THAT WE'VE HEARD THIS MONTH ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 SENATE PASSES CABLE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT OF 1991 BY WIDE MARGIN 3 @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY Well, Congress has returned from their Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year's vacation and it's business as usual. As previously promised, on January 27, 1992, some Senators gave some more speeches on the new rate increases and abuses of the cable tv industry and 'talked' about S12. Sometime later in the week they plan to 'talk'about S12 a little more. Maybe add some amendments, refuse to accept others, take a few of those ever-popular day-long roll call votes where CSPAN plays music all day long (actually, in all fairness to CSPAN, though there's nothing remotely fair about CSPAN, the music is provided before the signal gets to CSPAN) and from time-to-time a Senator will interrupt to tell each other how honorable they each are - but, nothing gets done. They simply adjourn and agree to try again the next day. We all know Senator Helms will have his usual "bare shoulders are forbidden and obscene" amendments to add-on. He attempts to add his nonsense utterings to each and every bill that passes through. This always wastes an entire day of legislative business while his crap is voted-down again and again and again. But, you have to give the guy his due - he offers the same amendment over and over and makes the same speech each and every time. It takes a lot of guts to do that. Anyway, many Senators do expect that sometime during January there will be some sort-of action on S12. As this is being prepared, Senator Dole is saying the "Senator Pac-money amendment" will be offered on the morning of January 30th, and perhaps all debate can be concluded the same day. At that time, a vote would come on S12. Please understand that as this is being written, the outcome of S12 is unknown. S12 was scheduled to be brought up for debate the day Congress returned from holiday but was postponed so that all of cable's bought and paid-for Senator's could re-draft their highly promoted "substitute" bill - which has been re-written several times and each time someone finds out what it says, they have to re-write it again. As it stands at this particular moment, the anti-consumer group of "cable tv" Senators want action on S12 postponed again until late in the fall just before Congress adjourns for the year. It appears that Senator Inouye, who is controlling S12, is not interested in any more delays and wants to go ahead. I hope that by the time you read this, S12 will have been passed by the Senate and all of this will be moot. >>> That ended the "worst case scenario" synopsis of how legislative >>> activity was going. The story would have concluded at this point >>> if the cable tv lobby was able to gain enough votes to either >>> pass their "cable tv is great" substitute amendment or get any >>> further action delayed until later this year. Things didn't go >>> the way the cable guys planned. Up to this point it had been the usual "business as usual" and it appeared that S12 wasn't going anywhere. However, at the close of business on January 29, Senator Inouye made it very clear that action was going to be taken the next day no matter what - a time agreement had been worked-out by both sides and S12 would pass or fail during the following day. I'm sure that the thousands of dish owners who were crouded around their monitors thought the same as I did - the cable guys would execute some last minute ploy and get debate postponed. After all, we have seen this happen over and over for the last six years. From the start of business on January 30th, Senator Inouye made it very clear that any Senators who wanted to do battle had better get down to the Senate floor because he was going ahead with debate and he was going to get S12 voted-on and that was that. After announcing that he was trying to be fair to the cable tv industry proponents who were not on the Senate floor and ready to debate the issue, the endless quorum calls began. It looked like it was going to be a long day. It sure turned-out that way! One by one, the anti-consumer Senators representing the cable tv industry came in. Each making his the usual "there's no trouble and no legislation is necessary" speech, only to be followed by their "if there IS any problem, it's been taken care-of" speech. After that, they would give their "well, if we have to pass something, then we should pass the 'cable tv is great' substitute amendment" speech. We have all seen this approach several years in a row. This year the cable tv Senators were very unorganized. Usually, they have all of their "ducks-in-a-row" but not this time. As debate started, nobody on the pro-consumer side had even seen the final draft of the 'cable tv is great' substitute amendment. The evening before Senator Timothy Wirth said that the final language was not yet approved but he would get copies of their substitute amendment to the other side later in the evening. This was never done and now all the proponents of S12 are faced with having to make some arguement against something they haven't even seen. Suddenly, the 'cable tv is great' substitute amendment has been produced and the anti-consumer Senators are ready to start their attack. These guys were doomed from that moment on. Their substitute amendment contained new language claiming that the best way to spur competition was to eliminate the FCC's 12-12-12 rule. For those who are not familiar with this rule, it allows a network to own a maximum of 12 television stations, 12 AM radio stations, and 12 FM radio stations. All the major networks currently own their top 12 affiliate stations, as well as, the maximum number of radio stations allowed under this rule. The reason they don't own ALL of their affiliates is due to this 12-12-12 rule. Senator Wirth actually tried to explain that the elimination of this rule would create increased competition and keep cable rates low and improve customer service. Of course, what everyone knew and Mr. Wirth didn't say, was that if the rule was removed, the largest cable company in the world, Tele-Communications, Inc., (located in Senator Wirth's state) would immediately buy ALL of the television stations. That would certainly be 'good' for competition. It was now necessary to have a quorum call while the cable tv side tried to re-group their forces. Nobody was 'buying' Wirth's story about increased competition. Senator Helms showed-up to make his usual hour-long speech about the evils of pornography and offer his 'evils of un-solicited cable tv pornography' amendment. Shortly thereafter, Senator Pressler also offered the exact same amendment - this time as an amendment to S12 - while the Helms amendment was offered as an amendment to the 'substitute' amendment. Are you confused yet? As the day wore on, it became clear that there was NOT going to be a vote on S12 - there was too much going on behind the scenes. At least once every half hour the quorum calls would be stopped by a Senator who would announce that 'his' amendment had been cleared by both sides. A voice vote would then be taken on these amendments and the quorum call would resume. You knew that all the important stuff was being worked-out in the hallway and you weren't going to find out who did what to whom until much later. By the end of the day you knew S12 WAS going to pass - you just didn't know when they were finally going to take the vote. Or, what the final version of S12 would say. In all fairness, we still don't know what Senator Pressler's technical amendments say. I "think" he offered the 'restriction against home dishes receiving any Ku band signals' amendment but I'm not sure. It will be a couple of days yet before I have a copy of all the new amendments. Finally, at the end of the day Senator Inouye announced there was to be six hours of debate the next morning followed by the vote. A last ditch effort to postpone consideration of S12 due to an injury to Senator Packwood failed to gain any support but the cable guys made a strong effort to gain sympathy. Senator Packwood later appeared with his head bandaged like a mummy - we never did hear what was supposed to have happened to him. I forgot to call his office to find out. It took more than half a day to get to a vote on the so-called S12 substitute amendment and it was soundly defeated by a vote of 35 votes for the substitute and 54 votes against it. After a couple more hours of patting each other on the back, they got around to offering S12 for a vote. It came down pretty much the way we figured it would - bought and paid-for cable Senators on one side - and the remaining Senators on the pro-consumer side. Several Senators had their name added as a co-sponsor of S12 at the very last second, including long-time opponents Senators Glenn and Kerrey. This way, they can write to the folks back home and lie about how they were co-sponsors of S12... they WEREN'T! Senator Kerrey didn't even vote. S12 passed by a wide margin - 73 YEA; 18 NAY - and now goes to the House for action. Members of the House have been saying they were going to act swiftly if the Senate ever got the bill to them. Now they have their chance. We'll see just how fast is fast! If our anti-consumer friend the President decides to veto S12 as the administration has claimed he would all along, 73 votes will be more than enough to over-ride the veto - in fact you only need 66 votes and getting at least 66 Senators to vote pro-consumer again shouldn't be a problem. Of course, Mr. Bush is in such a fix that he may see quite a benefit in the passage of S12 and not veto it. We have now come a long, long way, but we still have a long way to go before S12 gets to the President. Please call your U.S. Representative this week and give him your input on the quick passage of the HR1303, the House version of S12. The exact breakdown of the vote follows so you can see how well your Senators represented you. Please consider calling their offices and thanking them for their vote. Remember, we may need their vote again in a couple of months. ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 ROLL CALL VOTE ON S12 - WHICH WAY DID YOUR SENATORS VOTE? FIND OUT 3 @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY Here is the the 73-18 roll call by which the Senate voted Friday to pass legislation re-regulating the cable television industry and seeking to spur new competition. On this vote, a "yes" vote was a vote to pass the bill, and a "no" vote was a vote to defeat it. Total Senators voting "yes" were 46 Democrats and 27 Republicans; while those voting "no" were 4 Democrats and 14 Republicans. On a state by state basis, here's the break-down... Alabama: Heflin (D) Yes; Shelby (D) No. Alaska: Murkowski (R) Yes; Stevens (R) No. Arizona: DeConcini (D) No; McCain (R) Yes. Arkansas: Bumpers (D) Yes; Pryor (D) Yes. California: Cranston (D) Not Voting; Seymour (R) Yes. Colorado: Brown (R) No; Wirth (D) No. Connecticut: Dodd (D) Yes; Lieberman (D) Yes. Delaware: Biden (D) Yes; Roth (R) Yes. Florida: Graham (D) Yes; Mack (R) Not Voting. Georgia: Fowler (D) Yes; Nunn (D) Yes. Hawaii: Akaka (D) Yes; Inouye (D) Yes. Idaho: Craig (R) No; Symms (R) No. Illinois: Dixon (D) Yes; Simon (D) Yes. Indiana: Coats (R) Yes; Lugar (R) No. Iowa: Grassley (R) Yes; Harkin (D) Not Voting. Kansas: Dole (R) No; Kassebaum (R) Yes. Kentucky: Ford (D) Yes; McConnell (R) Yes. Louisiana: Breaux (D) Yes; Johnston (D) Yes. Maine: Cohen (R) Yes; Mitchell (D) Yes. Maryland: Mikulski (D) Yes; Sarbanes (D) Yes. Massachusetts: Kennedy (D) Yes; Kerry (D) Yes. Michigan: Levin (D) Yes; Riegle (D) Not Voting. Minnesota: Durenberger (R) Yes; Wellstone (D) Yes. Mississippi: Cochran (R) Yes; Lott (R) Yes. Missouri: Bond (R) Not Voting; Danforth (R) Yes. Montana: Baucus (D) Yes; Burns (R) No. Nebraska: Exon (D) Yes; Kerrey (D) Not Voting. Nevada: Bryan (D) Yes; Reid (D) No. New Hampshire: Rudman (R) No; Smith (R) No. New Jersey: Bradley (D) Not Voting; Lautenberg (D) Yes. New Mexico: Bingaman (D) Yes; Domenici (R) Yes. New York: D'Amato (R) Yes; Moynihan (D) Yes. North Carolina: Helms (R) No; Sanford (D) Yes. North Dakota: Burdick (D) Yes; Conrad (D) Yes. Ohio: Glenn (D) Yes; Metzenbaum (D) Yes. Oklahoma: Boren (D) Not Voting; Nickles (R) Yes. Oregon: Hatfield (R) Yes; Packwood (R) No. Pennsylvania: Specter (R) Yes; Wofford (D) Not Voting. Rhode Island: Chafee (R) Yes; Pell (D) Yes. South Carolina: Hollings (D) Yes; Thurmond (R) Yes. South Dakota: Daschle (D) Yes; Pressler (R) Yes. Tennessee: Gore (D) Yes; Sasser (D) Yes. Texas: Bentsen (D) Yes; Gramm (R) No. Utah: Garn (R) No; Hatch (R) Yes. Vermont: Jeffords (R) Yes; Leahy (D) Yes. Virginia: Robb (D) Yes; Warner (R) Yes. Washington: Adams (D) Yes; Gorton (R) Yes. West Virginia: Byrd (D) Yes; Rockefeller (D) Yes. Wisconsin: Kasten (R) Yes; Kohl (D) Yes. Wyoming: Simpson (R) Yes; Wallop (R) No. ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 MORE "LITTLE" DETAILS OF GENERAL INSTRUMENT'S "BIG" PLANS FOR TVRO 3 @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY The more things change, the more they stay the same. Following the big announcement by General Instruments, that they would upgrade their existing subscriber-base of VC-II's and then turn the VC-II data stream off, comes some more very interesting little tidbits. For those of you who missed last month's updated edition and may not have heard, General Instruments has officially announced that all of the old VC-II descrambler units will be turned-off by the end of this year. This will happen after the existing base of the VC-II programmer's LEGALLY AUTHORIZED subscribers have been furnished a new VC-II RS unit at no charge. No charge includes a home visit by GI's own dealers where necessary, at no additional charge, to do the swap out. In announcing the program GI cited Home Box Office, Showtime Networks, Inc., TCI's Netlink Networks and WTBS as the only VC-II programmers who would be affected. All of the current subscribers to HBO and/or Cinemax, Showtime and/or The Movie Channel, TCI's Netlink Denver 5 superstation package, and/or Superstation TBS were said to be the ONLY affected programming services. (These subscribers thru these programmers total 90% of all legal subscribers.) While that's all well and good if you're currently subscribing to one and/or more of the services changing-over, what about the folks who have purchased an ird satellite tv receiver during the last year or so but, for one reason or another have never purchased any of the various subscription program services? And, what about folks who may have subscribed to any of the services for a period of time but now do not subscribe to any of the affected services? What happens with these folks? Do they get a free upgrade too? Nope! There are no current plans to offer a free upgrade to anyone who is not currently using their VC-II to purchase subscription services that will be moving to the newer unit. Now, although General Instruments hasn't made their official announcement due to the fact that all of the other programmers who will be involved haven't signed agreements, General Instrument's is going to be adding ALL programmers now using their VC-II descrambler to the free upgrade program. Yes, that means that all of the users of the VC-II system will be moving to the "more secure" technology. So, it's not just the major movie channels and superstations that are going to switch, it's everybody! The end of the line is here. Where does that leave those VC-II descrambler owners who do not subscribe to any programming? It would seem to leave them at least $400. poorer. At least several hundred dollars of the cost of their satellite tv receiver WAS the VC-II descrambler module. At the end of the year all of the non-subscribing modules will be terminated. Of course, this won't matter a heck of a lot to folks who never plan to subscribe to anything but you'll still loose your $400. investment in the descrambler module. What happens if you suddenly want to subscribe to programming, as you now have no working descrambler module? We don't know. The few programmers now involved have no policy on this and a spokesman for General Instruments says you can take advantage of their "early upgrade" program - which ended January 31, 1992. Why in the world would somebody who didn't subscribe to anything be interested in the "early upgrade" program? It's too late now anyway. As the other programmers come onboard the VC-II change-out train as it rolls along, their subscribers will get a letter confirming the necessary subscriber information, and then GI will UPS the new module to them. As nobody yet knows exactly how smooth this upgrade program will proceed, it is probably alright to assume that most anything may happen to slow-down the process and delay the actual VC-II turn-off date until sometime in early 1993. How long the date COULD be delayed is anybody's guess. As I read and understand the GI press releases, only the VC-II data stream for the movie and superstation programmers will be turned-off at the end of this year. Now here's the "fly in the ointment" as I see it. Jim Shelton, a spokesman for General Instruments, and the man in charge of their dbs authorization center in San Diego, let slip this little piece of information. While GI is pushing all of the commercial guys to get their cable tv and smatv head-end descramblers upgraded to the commercial 'plus' version, there are no plans to turn off the VC-II data stream used by the commercial descrambler units. Hmmmmmmm. Is it just me, or does somebody else smell a fish? Did I hear this correctly? General Instruments plans to turn off all the VC-II datastreams EXCEPT one? Is this whole change-out routine a sham to fool Congress? Why in the world would anybody be wasting their time, and spending all this money they claim to be spending ($50 million dollars), in an effort to turn off all the pirate units... when they really have no plan to turn them off at all. Every single pirated descrambler unit will be modified to use the only remaining datastream - the pirates will be doing a land- office business upgrading their boxes. And, you can bet the pirates aren't going to be doing THEIR upgrades for free! So, what's the point to all this "change-out"? That's easy, the purpose is to stop legislation. (It will be too late to have any effect on a Senate vote.) How does that work? Send out lots of press releases and tell everybody the end is here. Go to Congress and tell them that all the problems are now solved. All the "good" guys will get a replacement descrambler for free, and all the "bad" guys will get turned-off. No more problems - no need for legislation... just WAIT a year or two or three and see what happens. Everything will be okay. All those nasty letters from the dish heads from hell will stop. Those phone calls from constituents who know your voting record on the important issues better than you do - will stop. It's not really necessary to waste any more time on "needless" legislation... I know, you're probably laughing so hard you're about to fall out of your chair and saying what kind of fool would believe such an incredibly dumb story. Hmmmmm... Congress? That's the only answer I can think of - maybe there's some other logical reason to be going thru all the motions while doing nothing. Do they really have 500,000 of the RS units in stock for immediate delivery or is it DigiCiphers using RS that they have in stock and plan to ship later this year? GI won't confirm or deny anything. And, we won't know until they actually start shipping the "free" upgrade units - not until much later this year. Exactly HOW much later this year is still not too clear. Recently, General Instruments shifted their pay-per-view signals and everyone who was getting all those channels for free lost their sound. However, common sense tells me that the users of pirate units which rely on the commercial datastream for their authorization may still be receiving the sound just fine. I hope that some folks with such units will tell me what their particular descramblers are doing. If General Instruments is NOT able to kill the sound on those units right now - the war is over and General Instruments lost again. I want to hear from folks who are still getting the audio without any difficulty on all the pay-per- views channels. Let's find out now before ANYONE goes through the hassle of upgrading if it's not going to do anything except generate a lot of revenue for U.P.S. If we can come up with the necessary proof that this whole scheme is just that, a scheme, and of no value except to enhance General Instrument's chances for future encryption/compression contracts, now is the time to strike. Everyone has expressed the desire to strike a death-blow at General Instruments - here's your chance! If they are not able to prove the integrity of their new system, we can put a lid on their can once and for all. No programmer is going to select a technology that they know in advance is completely compromised and has been totally misrepresented to them. Back in 1985, everyone believed the 'story' that nobody would be able to defeat the VC-II technology and nobody could prove otherwise. If evidence that the new system is already broken even before it can be put in place - nobody will buy it! Home Box Office, Request TV, Viewer's Choice, CNN, and ESPN have already begun using a different encryption technology for all of their programming outside of this country. All of the proposed dbs services that are planning to come online in the near future have also chosen other encryption technologies. If EVERY dish owner in this hemisphere is going to have to upgrade, let's upgrade to a system that works now... not a new one every year! I repeat, if you're still getting the audio on all the pay-per- view channels since GI made the switch a couple of weeks ago, let me hear from you. Send e-mail thru one of the networks or drop a card in the mail. However, what we really need is visual proof in the form of a videotape. There's a pay-per-view scheduled in the next couple of weeks and it would make excellent proof that the security is a complete failure if you can record it sound and all. It would have to include frames of the set-up screens to show the unit is really getting authorization. I can block-out the unit ID so that it won't end-up being turned-off but we need positive proof that the new system is crap. Right now it's only my opinion that it'scrap, and probably your opinion too; that won't do us any good. What we need is actual proof! If we can document the descrambler change-out is nothing more than a fraud, it's all over for ONE company and satellite tv will live again! Don't be shy - let's hear from you. ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 THE "STATE-OF-THE-SKY-FI" MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT - NEW NEWS 3 @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY For those of you who are interested in what is happening with the heavily promoted - and non-existant - Sci-Fi Channel, and it seems that there is a considerable interest in this particular channel, the only 'new' news is that the Sci-Fi Channel has once again postponed any possible start-up until fall of 1992 at the earliest. Having said that, it should also be pointed-out that it seems to be pretty clear that if there ever will be a Sci-Fi Channel, it will not be the Sci-Fi Channel everyone was eagerly anticipating. The Sci-Fi Channel being promoted by Rubenstein for several years. Yes, if it actually does become a reality, it will be a channel, or more properly, a segment of programming on the USA Cable Network. Those of you who are familiar with USA scheduling will have noticed that they have specific blocks of programming that they air on a regular basis each week. A sci-fi night segment would fit in nicely and also fill-up some of the 'holes' they have in their current schedule. It would also enhance other USA offerings such as Rhonda Shear's Up-All-Night segment. A sci-fi programming block would be attractive to a similar audience - an audience that USA already has gained with their Up-All-Night week-end segment. It's too bad that the USA Cable Network has butchered all of their movies so terribly or they would have a much stronger programming line-up. There's a small catch to USA suddenly becoming the new owner of the Sci-Fi Channel, that's the fact that Rubenstein has been running around for two years telling everyone he was going to have all of these very expensive shows - shows you don't see anywhere else, and why don't you see them anywhere else? They're too expensive! And, not only has Rubenstein been telling everyone he would be broadcasting all these expensive shows, he's been telling the entire cable tv industry that they could carry the Sci-Fi Channel on their systems for FREE for the first two years. Well, that's certainly an interesting way to do business - how long can you stay in business that way? Enter the USA Cable Network. They ARE interested in getting the audience for such a channel to watch USA but they aren't interested in paying high dollars to get it. So, USA is currently trying to re-negotiate all these "deals" Rubenstien has been making in an effort to get a reasonable price for programming. They are also now telling cable operators that the service will not be free for two years - in fact, it won't be free at all. As only a couple of very small cable systems consisting of very few subscribers have actually agreed to carry the Sci-Fi Channel, the price is really not going to be an issue. Nobody has any channels available anyway! If there were any cable systems with vacant channels looking for something to fill them up, the Sci-Fi Channel would already be on a bunch of cable systems and everything would be great. But, there are no systems with vacant channels. Nobody is going to invest any money in a service that nobody has any use for. Unless, or until, there is a considerable nationwide upgrade of all the cable systems or another delivery method comes along that HAS some available channels - what is the point? Anyway, for what it's worth, the USA Cable Network is looking into the possibility of becoming a 'sci-fi' channel and I'm sure that if they can work out a real good deal, we'll hear about it as soon as it happens. This month SkyPix is more or less silent. No press releases to report everything proceeding as planned or otherwise. Will there really be a SkyPix? Sure there will... Maybe... They did indicate in their most recent release that the design of their receiver has been changed and now includes a plug-in card to allow 'software' upgrades easily in the field. Their receiver will also offer an S-VHS output for hook-up to the newer vcrs, a standard RS-232 port for direct interaction with a personal computer, and the new DAT output jack for connection to DAT conforming equipment. SkyPix also announced an arrangement to provide point-of-sale system financing thru Ford Motor Company's Associated Financial Services. This is starting to sound like a very expensive system. ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 THE NATIONAL CABLE TELEVISION ASSOCIATION SAYS 'NO' TO CABLE MONTH 3 @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY If someone asks you to support national cable month, just say no! Just when the sewer is about to hit the fan over the pay-per-view Olympic Games and the cable tv industry's huge price increases are being read into the Congressional Record, the National Cable TV Assn., the official representative of the cable industry, has decided that a national cable month isn't something that they really want to support. For the last six years, the NCTA has promoted their national cable tv month idea. Subscribers will remember this as being the only month when there was something good to watch each and every night. Or, at least that was 'supposed' to be the idea. I guess everyone agrees it must ahve been a really 'bad' idea. The NCTA isn't giving any reason for the termination of the yearly promotion. They have said it wasn't something they wanted to be involved with. It occurs to me that this is probably a job for the S.B.C.A. - if I could just find that number I'd give them a call. They're always promoting cable stuff. Maybe they can get Mickey Mantle again! ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 BRIGHTSIDE'S 60 CHANNEL SATELLITE DIRECT-TO-EVERYONE PLAN APPEARS 3 @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY Same song - fourth verse, or maybe not. We've all heard this at least three or four times before. "Somebody" is planning to provide 60 channels of programming via dbs, direct-to-the-home, beginning in the very new future and of course, it will use those very small, easy to install dishes that sit on the window ledge. Brightside Network Systems is sort-of like that - only completely different. First, they're not planning to use those nine inch square dishes that require high signal levels not currently available. Instead, they plan to use four to six foot dishes and broadcast their signals on satellites that are already in operation. You won't have to wait four or five years for a new satellite that 'may' be launched to be able to get started. Nope, they plan to go ahead right now. Second, instead of defining their 'audience' as those folks not able to be served by existing cable systems or existing satellite dishes... they're going after anyone and everyone. If you're willing to pay $25. or $30. per month for 60 channels - Brightside is for you. Third, there are no geographical restrictions on reception. If you're on planet Earth - they plan to serve YOU! Your money spends just as well as anyone else's. I know all you dish heads are saying... wait til cable hears about these guys... nobody will sell them any programming! Well, according to Primal Fernando, the ceo of Brightside Network Systems, Inc., "that's no American programmer." There are lots of other programming sources outside of the United States and they plan to go where ever it's necessary to get programming. If they are not able to buy any American programming - they won't use any! That may lead to their demise in this country but it won't mean a darn thing anywhere else. There's lots of countries that will be thrilled to get 60 channels of ANYTHING! Yes, we're talking every other country in the world. Brightside Network plans to begin broadcasting its signal on four different geostationary satellites - capable of reception in every country in the world. At this time, their promotional broadcast signal is now being beamed from four satellites including the Canadian Anik bird, E1. The signal of E1 is easily received in all of North America. All of the proposed transmissions will be on the C band. Brightside plans to broadcast various programming as a promotion until August of 1992 - that's THIS year folks - and at that time, a secure encryption/compression system provided by Scientific-Atlanta will be used. Via a compressed signal, Brightside will transmit 60 channels of programming similar to a wireless cable system. For the proposed monthly fee of $25. to $30., Brightside will supply the enire system including the dish, receiver, decryption/ de-compression unit and the programming. Of course, they also plan to offer pay-per-view events, financial data services and teletext. The package, including installation and service, will be marketed thru distributors in each area. They will not sell their service to do-it-yourselfers or thru local retail stores. Brightside Network is operating out of Atlanta, Georgia and is not connected with any of the current "small dish scams." They are planning to be a true cable system without the wires. And, they plan to do it later THIS year! >>> Since I wrote this story, and too late to be included in this >>> month's issue of DISHCETERA, several rumors have been heard that >>> at least two of the major broadcast networks have suddenly seen >>> Brightside's press release and thought what a good idea it would >>> be if their network signal was available on several satellites >>> and could be seen (and sold) in every country of the world. It's >>> too late to confirm these rumors and verify reports that all of >>> available transponder time on some satellites has suddenly been >>> gobbled-up. ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 IF SOMEBODY OFFERS YOU A FREE SATELLITE DISH... JUST SAY NO 3 @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY From our 'too good to be true' department, comes the following tale of another satellite dish scam - this time its large dishes. How would you like to get a $5000. satellite dish free of charge? What's the catch you ask? The catch is that YOU have to pay for it. That's what more than 700 families in North Carolina have found out the hard way. It was just a scam. Here's the way it works. Folks were told they could 'earn' a satellite dish system valued at $5000. (top-of-the-line systems run around $3500. anywhere) for free by by either addressing and stuffing 1000 envelopes or getting at least 100 people to answer some survey questions. Sound too good to be true? As is usual with most 'too good to be true' deals, the first ones to sign-up for the deal actually DID get the satellite dish systems they were promised, usually the same day or with-in one or two days. Needless to say, they told all of their friends. And, before they knew it, everyone was signing a big stack of papers to participate in the dish giveaway. More than 700 families signed-up and received their promised system. A company called Contax said they would pay for the 'free' satellite systems in return for the work the people promised to do. Central Satellite Technologies immediately arrived and made the installations at no charge. About 30 of the more than 700 dish systems were actually paid for by Contax. This is why the deal was so good - everyone knew somebody who had received a free dish. What the folks didn't know, although Contax had paid the costs of some of the systems, they were also selling the 'paperwork' that had been signed to outfits like Avco Financial, Household Retail Service, Chrysler First Financial, Associates, and other national finance companies, and being paid a large percentage of that so-called $5000. system price. Then, Contax used the money to payoff some of the systems while making only the first monthly payment on the four year retail installment contracts they sold. This allowed Contax to keep the scam going for a couple of months before they left town and the finance companies started calling to collect their money. The sale of more than 700 retail installment contracts should have generated at least several million dollars during the short-lived scam. The consumer protection division of the Attorney General's office is looking into the mess and hoping to work something out with the various finance companies. The Attorney General's Office, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Greensboro Police Department are investigating both of the companies. James B. Mimbs at Central Satellite and Ray T. Brown Sr. at Contax, have been said to be under investigation. The whereabouts of the two men is unknown. As the participants in these deals knew they were signing a retail installment contract when they signed it, you can bet they are going to be asked to make the necessary payments or offered a buy-out to cancel the transactions. So, if somebody offers you a free satellite dish, large or small, expensive or otherwise... just say no. ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 OTHER SATELLITE TV ITEMS OF INTEREST THAT WE'VE HEARD THIS MONTH 3 @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY WGBH-TV (PBS) in Boston will finally air "The Machine That Changed the World," a five-part series that resulted from a partnership between WGBH and The Association for Computing Machinery, in the U.S. beginning the week of April 6, 1992. It will continue weekly for four more weeks. "The Machine That Changed the World" tells of the vast changes in our lives brought about by the modern invention and use of computers, showing viewers how the industry has developed through interviews with individuals who have spent their lives advancing the computer's development. The ACM's membership raised $500,000 to fund the two-year project which aired in Germany last August and in Great Britain in November under the title, "The Dream Machine." This series was previously known as "The Information Age." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Another MTV fiasco.... Yes, just when MTV is overhauling its schedule of aging shows to try to pull itself out of the cable tv cellar, Sammons Communications, discontinued MTV on four of it's cable systems and replaced it with Video Jukebox Network. MTV has tried the usual stunts to get publicity and get itself put back onto the systems. Sammons says it costs too much and they have trouble selling the ads to local businesses. On the other hand, CNN costs the same and they don't have any trouble selling the ads. Meanwhile MTV's sister service VH1 has also begun charging several cents per month for the channel. VH1 had been provided free to cable systems which carried MTV. A discounted rate is also available to systems that also carry Viacom's other basic service, Nickelodeon. The once popular MTV has seen quite a decline in the last year or so and I guess that means the viewers are changing channels and their viewing habits as they get older. Instead of those VJ segments that only take five minutes per hour to tape, MTV will be adding longer segments which require at least sixty minutes to put together. Things such as Just Say Julie will get the axe and be replaced by 'lifestyles' shows. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Landmark Communications, the company that owns and operates The Weather Channel, has made a deal to take-over The Travel Channel from from it's current owner, TWA. TWA will continue to promote products on the channel for three years. Recently, The Vacation Network began broadcasting a similar program schedule and you have to wonder how many more of these 24 hour a day shopping networks can make money. I wonder if anyone even watches this stuff. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Court TV is talking to independent television stations about the possibility that the stations could carry Court TV during the day instead of whatever syndicated programming currently being offered. The new channel serves some 5 million cable tv homes but hopes to be offered in as many as 15 million homes by the end of the year. A lack of available channels on cable systems is making it tough for Court TV to get carriage and the broadcast stations would be an easy way to get into millions of additional homes. ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 DISHCETERA - THE SATELLITE TV INDUSTRY ON-LINE MAGAZINE 3 @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY * DISHCETERA Satellite TV On-Line Magazine is available on the first MONDAY of each month at our BBS or at a fine BBS near you * News items, press releases, questions, comments, and/or any paperless feedback may be sent to any of the following: * G*E*N*I*E: JDolan2 (local access number) * CompuServ: 76164,1564 (local access number) * NODE:->SATEL on PCRelaynet(tm) - Sat Tv Conference Host. * On any FIDO board that carries the TVRO conference. -OR- ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 SATELLITE TV BOARD OF INFORMATION BBS : (713) 623-4899 3 @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY ZDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD? 3 Many satellite tv/cable tv and other related public interest news 3 3 items and files are available and there's no charge to access bbs 3 @DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDY -- Robert Smathers (roberts@triton.unm.edu) Albuquerque, NM USA Moderator, UNI Satellite TV Conference