TELE SATELLIT European Satellite News - English Version Number 2, Week ending 5 June 1994 Reuters launch new TV service International news agency Reuters has launched a new daily financial television service. Reuters Financial Television won't be seen by viewers with regular satellite receivers though. The new service uses digital transmission to deliver a signal into a window on a computer screen. The new channel draws on Reuters worldwide news network by providing subscribers with live coverage of financial news and other stories that affect the markets. RTL 7 for Poland Poland may soon get an RTL Television channel. Talks are underway between RTL parent company CLT, 16 polish investors, news agency Reuters and ITT for a new RTL 7 programme to be transmitted by the Eutelsat Hot Bird. The new satellite will be available to the group from September. Eutelsar 2 F3 resident TV Polonia may also move onto Hot Bird when it launches. Also in Poland, PolSat, the countries first private TV station will begin uplinking direct from June 7. Currently the service is uplinked from the Netherlands. The channel will use the current 11.638GHz ferquency on Eutelsat 2F3. The 11.678GHz channel, currently used in parallel is the planned home of pay TV channel Canal Plus Poland. International broadcasters form new group A new group has been formed between leading international broadcasters to promote better co-operation between them. The Bruges Group members are BBC World Service TV, Deutsche Welle Fernsehen, Duna TV, Euronews, TV Polonia, RAI Sat, RTP Internacional, 3 Sat, TRT International, TV 5 Europe and TVE Interncaional. Other subjects the group will handle include co-production and information sharing about satellite broadcasting. The President of the new group is TV 5 Europe chief Patrick Imhaus. The Vice President is Dr Burkhard Nowotny from Deutsche Welle Fernsehen. Cable Plus switches on VideoCrypt 2 Czech pay TV network Cable Plus has begun using VideoCrypt 2 on their feed to cable networks throughout the country. The channel, on Gorizont, had the distinction of being Europe's best source for unscrambled late night adult movies ! TV 69, RHT ..... After continually delaying their launch date it came as no surprise that TV69 failed to appear on Eutelsat 2F3 on June 1. No new start date has been announced and we await pictures on the 10.987 GHz transponder. When TELE-Satellit contacted the German office of TV69 they claimed they would broadcast in D2-MAC with Eurocrypt. Maybe this is because it will be easier to send Eurocrypt cards to the UK. Officially UK viewers will not be able to watch the channel but cards are easily sent through the post ! The proposed VideoCrypt 2 system would cause problems because the decoders are not sold in the UK. European viewers are also awaiting the appearance of Red Hot TV. Rumours have circulated giving the uplinking country as Croatia. Reports last week were received that RHT had been seen on Eutelsat 2F1 but these are currently unconfirmed. Latvia decides fate of 32 metre dish The Latvia Government is currently trying to decide what to do with a massive 32 metre satellite dish left at a former Russian Military facility. The centre was gutted of all it's equipment except for the dish, the largest of its kind in Northen Europe and one of only a handful in the world. Scientists in the country want an astronomy centre to be built around the dish but time is running out.The Russian Military leave the site in just over a month and if Latvia doesn't decide what to do with the dish it will be taken away. RTL, SAT 1 introduce stereo Germany's top two broadcasters are finally going to introduce stereo in their programming. Both Cologne based RTL and Mainz based SAT 1 have tested stereo across their satellite networks and are set to introduce it soon. SAT 1 has announced the official launch of stereo as 1 July. Space night on BR3 from June 1 German regional broadcaster BR is broadcasting a new night programme from June 1. The programme, "Space Night", will be transmitted whilst the channel would otherwise be off the air and features film from NASA and the ESA. Sky Radio Deutschland Sky Radio are planning a second radio service for Germany. The new station could be on air in a months time. Sky Radio is one of the top radio stations in The Netherlands enjoying a terrestrial frequency as well as carriage on most cable networks throughout the country. The programme is expected to come from the Bussum studios of Sky Radio and sister station Radio 538 and use an Astra subcarrier. More Eutelsat seminars Eutelsat will once again broadcast one of their seminars by satellite. The seminar will take place on the 20 June from 1000 to 1800 CET. The broadcast will be carried over transponder 4 of Eutelsat 1-F5 at 21.5 degrees East. In brief ..... New on C-band, EDTV on Arabsat now carries two radio stations. An as yet unidentified station is on the 7.20 MHz subcarrier whilst the English language station Dubai FM is on 7.74 MHz. Euronews may be have financial problems. The amount of advertising on the European news service has been very low. West 3 will have a new name starting June 4. The channel will be called simply WDR Fernsehen. Teletext on RTL 2 has now been put back even further. Sometime next year is the current projected start date. NBC Super Channel has a new look to Supertext. Deutsche Welle radio's African service is now available on the DW-TV channel via Eutelsat 2F1. The subcarrier is 8.46MHz. Eutelsat member Deutsche Telekom now has a 25% stake in SES, the owners of Astra.