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. Der TS Nachrichtendienst ist ein Service fuer die Freunde von TELE Satellit und TS-TV und ist nur fuer persoenliche infromation freigegeben. Programming Note : TELE Satellit News is proud to announce new outlets for the service. We would like to welcome members of the Fidonet newsgroup SAT.028 who are now receiving this news courtesty of Rene Vreeman. Excerpts from this news service are also now available to users of the German BTX / Datex J network courtesy of Thomas Straehle. Key page *DX# and follow the instructions for satellite news. Internet users with FTP access can now download the ASCII or Windows Write version of TS News from ftp.funet.fi in the directory /pub/dx/satellite/text/telesatellit This is a new source and we will be adding back issues this week. Thanks to Kauto Haupio for his work in Finland on this service. For details of all outlets please see the bottom of the file ! We would like to remind our readers that any comments, suggestions, news items, tips or observations are always appreciated. If we use you news we will credit you. Our email address is beneath the masthead. These email addresses can also be used for any contact with the TELE Satellit editorial team in Muenich for your suggestions and comments of the magazine, on line services and TS-TV. TELE SATELLIT European Satellite News - English Version Number 14, Week ending 28 August 1994 By Martyn Williams CompuServe 100025,1637 Internet martyn@euro.demon.co.uk (c) TELE Satellit Magazine SKY TELEVISION - Profits up - Subscriptions up - New channels Three major pieces of news came from Sky TV this week. News Corporation announced profits for all their businesses, including 50% owned BSkyB, Sky announced an increase in subscription charges and four new channels. Profits at the network are surging ahead. In the year to June 30 BSkyB made GBP176.8m, a more than 300% increase from £54.1m in the previous year. The figures included GBP20m from the sale of the old BSB satellite now known as Sirius. Operating profits rose from GBP61.5m to GBP170.1m. The figures, revealed in the annual financial statement from News Corporation, 50% owners of BSkyB, also showed the number of subscribers had increased by 1.1 million to 3.45 million. Of these, 2.6 million are movie subscribers and 2.5 million take Sky Sports. News Corp profits, which include all of Murdochs interests in TV, newspapers and other holdings totaled $998 million making them the biggest profits ever registered by an Australian company. Just one day after announcing the increase in profits Sky quietly announced an increase in all subscription charges by GBP3. This takes the price of the full Sky 21 channel packet to GBP22,99 a month. Subscribers to Sky's multichannel bouquet will pay GBP9,99 from October. In response to the Sky announcement Labour consumer spokesman Nigel Griffiths called for an investigation into the increase by the Office of Fair Trade. He said that there were no reasons for Sky to announce the increase after record annual profits and the huge amount of cash that the channel has for movies and sports purchase. The first edition of the new Sky TV Guide was being mailed out to subscribers this week along with details of five new channels coming in September. - The Learning Channel will make it's Astra debut after disappearing into UAP's MPEG stream on Intelsat 601. TLC will be broadcast for four hours a day. The transponder that TLC will use remains unknown. It had been widely anticipated that Country Music TV would leave the multichannel packet and go clear in October. This was first reported back in January of this year and more recently it was reported by Skyguide that CMTE would move to Astra's channel 24 during the day with TLC sharing a channel with Discovery but the new Sky TV Guide makes no mention of this and lists CMTE as still on with Discovery in October and part of multi channels. - The second new channel from Sky is the much awaited "adult" MTV - VH-1. The channel will launch on October 1st using Astra's channel 22, currently carrying MTV and a message that viewers should retune to channel 15. - Sky's new daytime offering for weekdays on the Sky Sports 2 transponder is a romance channel, tentaively named The Soap Channel. The current programme scheme is : 0800 Loving 0830 Peyton Place 0900 As the World Turns 1000 Guiding Light 1100 Another World All programming on the channel will be American sourced. - Sky are launching a new travel agancy and Travel Channel to accompany it. The Sky Travel Channel will broadcast on transponder 47 of Astra from midday to midnight Monday to Thursday and from midday to six pm on Friday when Sky Sports 2 will take over. Sky say "Sky Travel will provide a wealth of information and entertainment giving you the full travel picture. Sky Travel's innovative home shopping service, The Sky Travel Shop, will showcase the best offers available to Sky's subscribers through the Sky Travel Service." The mouse visits Luxembourg Walt Disney Co and CLT have signed an agreement to develop a new European alliance and TV programme. Disney programming will now form the backbone of the new Super RTL service set to launch in January. Chairman and CEO of Disney, Michael Eisner said "This venture with CLT provides us with a perfect opportunity to develop a family programming service in Germany and to evaluate the potential for similar services elsewhere in Europe". "CLT has established itself as a major media player in Europe. In Germany, our combined strengths will help us develop Super RTL as a successful new satellite/cable channel. We look forward to a rewarding relationship with CLT." "The programming format of Super RTL will effectively fill a market niche and will be complementary to RTL Television and RTL2," mentioned Ferdinand Kayser, president, TV Activities of CLT Multi Media. "Our partnership with Disney definitely will be an enrichment of the TV landscape in Germany, as Disney stands for the highest quality programs putting emphasis on family values." Super RTL will be comprised of animated series, live-action series, a wide variety of feature films and entertainment specials geared toward the entire family. Weekdays will include Disney's top animated series, along with theatrical features and series from other German and international producers. Broadcast by satellite and cable, Super RTL is expected to reach between 30 percent and 35 percent of all German TV households when it launches in 1995. Details concerning program offerings and schedules will be announced shortly. CLT has 40 years of experience in commercial TV broadcasting in Europe and has substantial interests in 10 TV stations as well as 13 radio stations in 9 different countries. The company's television interests include: RTL Television, the No. 1 commercial television network in Germany, and RTL 2 (Germany); M6/RTL TV/Serie Club/Multivision (France); RTL TVi (Belgium); RTL4 & RTL5 (the Netherlands); and RTL Hei Elei (Luxembourg). Spiegal - TV Sat for sale The new edition of Der Spiegal reports that Telekom has decided to sell TV Sat. The DBS satellite at 19 degrees West will loose RTL, Sat 1 and 3sat at the end of the year according to the magazine. The magazine says that Telekom are looking for a foreign buyer. Goldman Sachs take VOX stake New York based securities firm Goldman Sachs are to take the remaining 25.2% stake in German TV network VOX. They join other shareholders Rupert Murdoch, 49.9% and Bertlesmann, 24.9%. The failed "Infotainment" channel now seems to have a more certain future. Rupert Murdoch recently said he wanted to introduce more shows programming onto the channel such as game shows and childrens programming. Launch news .... Titan carries secret satellite into orbit A Titan 4 rocket finally blasted off from the NASA Cape Canaveral launch facility early Saturday morning carrying a secret US military cargo. According to reports the payload is a massive electronic eavesdropping satellite but the US military declined comment on use of the satellite on grounds of national security. The launch was delayed for 2 days by bad weather and a further 2 hour delay was imposed on Saturday morning, again due to weather problems. Chinese rocket carries Australian satellite into space A Chinese Long March 2E rocket carried the Australian Otpus B3 satellite into space early on Sunday morning. The satellite almost never made it to orbit though. The original satellite was destroyed in a mystery explosion and the replacement was delayed after US technology sanctions meant that part of the satellite couldn't be transported into China. The Optus B3 satellite is a Hughes HS 601 type satellite. Japan's H2 launches The delayed H2 launch in Japan went well early Sunday. At 0710 local time the second H2 rocket lifted off from the NASDA Tanagashima launch pad carrying a experimental communications satellite into space. The launch was delayed for a week due to a faulty fuel valve. News from Intelsat - The Republic of Kazakhstan joined Intelsat on 22 August as the 134th member. The Republican Corporation Television and Radio of Kazakhstan will hold an investment share of 0.05% of the organisation. - It's been an interesting week on the new Intelsat 702. The current transponder plan looks like this : 11.016 GHz H TV Norge PAL Clear 11.055 GHz V TV 1000 D2 MAC Eurocrypt 11.096 GHz H TV 3 Norway D2 MAC Eurocrypt 11.177 GHz H NRK D MAC Clear 11.468 GHz V SVT 2 D MAC Eurocrypt 11.555 GHz H TV 2 Norge D2 MAC Eurocrypt 11.679 GHz H SVT 1 D MAC Eurocrypt Early in the week NRK replaced Swedish TV's channel 2 which moved onto 11.468 GHz. TV Norge will leave their current transponder on 18 degrees West to end dual illumination on Intelsat.Information received this week from Intelsat gives more details about the use of the satellite. Uses for the satellite include a new data network fro Reuters, Egyptian global TV distribution network, domestic broadcasting for Namibia, expanded domestic services for Norway and expanded service in Eastern Europe and the CIS. PAL Plus set for UK show debut The first live demonstrations of Nokia's new PAL Plus TV set will take place a Live '94 in Olympia in a month's time. The event will also mark the first broadcasts of PAL Plus by Channel 4 TV. Granada TV will start broadcasting in the new 16:9 format next year. CNN Online CNN has joined the growing number of TV stations by going on-line. The US based world news channel now hosts it's own forum on CompuServe. CIS users can GO CNNFORUM for files including latest programme news, station logos, presenter profiles and more. The message section also deals with CNN and programmes and news presented on the station. Euratel tests Eutelsat 2F1 is currently carrying a test programme for Brussels based TV sender Euratel. The transmissions on transponder 38 will be replaced by the new BBC News Channel when it launched later this year. Euratel is expected to move to Eutelsat 2F3 in two months. New plan on Eutelsat 1 F5 Tr Freq Pol Beam Use 1 10.991 H Euro TDMA Telephone 2 11.075 H East sporadic use 8 11.075 V East TDMA Telephone 3 11.156 H Euro sporadic use 9 11.158 V Euro TDMA Telephone 4 11.480 H West sporadic use 10 11.498 V West RTS Sat Belgrade TV 11 11.575 V Atlantic TDMA Telephone 6 11.658 H West TDMA Telephone If you don't pay your bills .... Uzbekistan's Ministry of Communications and state radio and television company reminded listeners and viewers on 20 August that they will stop rebroadcasting Russian TV in September, because the Russian state radio and TV system ceased paying the Uzbeks for the service, Radio Rossii reported. The decision of the Uzbek authorities was taken in June but not put into effect, apparently to give the Russian agency time to reconsider. Ostankino will continue to supply some programming in the mornings and evenings. Uzbek state TV hopes to develop more Uzbek-language programming and to obtain broadcasts from the US, Turkey and India. Bess Brown, RFE/RL, Inc. India licences private operators An Indian newspaper has reported that India is to allow commercial companies to broadcast thus ending the state monopoly on broadcasting. This will also allow companies to uplink TV programmes direct from India for the first time. Currenlty several TV services, including Star TV, uplink from outside the country into India. Financial News - IDB, worldwide telephone and satellite communications company announced a second quarter loss of $24m. These were reported as mostly non recurring items. Revenues from the transmission services part of the company doubled in the first six months on 1994 from $127m to $233m. SJI appointed as American WRN agent Our friends at Satellite Journal International make the news this week with the announcement that they have a new agreement whereby Satellite Journal International will be the North American agent for World Radio Network. Listeners of WRN will be able to obtain the latest WRN schedule from Satellite Journal International and various other WRN offerings. Gary Torrens publisher of SJI said, " Satellite Journal was instrumental in finding WRN a new location once SCOLA announced its move from the ASC1 satellite." WRN's new location assures them of a home for many years to come. This agreement continues SJI's commitment to WRN and the world-wide satellite community to bring news and information on the industry. WRN is a audio service available in Europe on the Astra satellite and in North America on Galaxy 5 Transponder 6 6.80MHz audio. WRN rebroadcasts portions of the most popular short wave stations from around the world, including Radio Netherlands, Radio Sweden, YLE and the BBC World Service in FM quality. Readers in North America requiring information on WRN should contact SJI either via fax, post or email : SATELLITE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, PO BOX 2065, BURLESON, TEXAS 76097, USA Fax : +1-817-295-1893 email : gtorrens@tenet.edu TELE Satellit Magazine This news is from the English language news service of TELE Satellit, a monthly satellite magazine edited in Munich, Germany. It consists of 164 pages, full colour with tables, charts and news with many off-screen photos of the satellite channels plus a informative technical section. Part of the magazine is written in English. Subscriptions are available for DM 120, Europe surface mail; DM 144, Europe airmail and DM 192, ROW airmail. Orders for subscriptions and more information should be sent to : TELE-satellit Customer Service, Silheimer Str. 6a, D-89278 Nersingen, Germany, Fax +49-7308-5296 Where to find satellite news : TELE Satellit News, English : CompuServe UK Forum (UKFORUM) - Windows Write / ASCII version CompuServe European Forum (EURFORUM) - Windows Write version CompuServe Deutschland on line (GERLINE) - Windows Write version Fax polling - +31-45-273615 *2*44 ; +49-89-496287 *9 alt.satellite.tv.europe newsgroup on Usenet World Wide Web : http://xan.esrin.esa.it:2602/satellite.html Fidonet SAT.028 newsgroup ftp.funet.fi /pub/dx/satellite/text/telesatellit TELE Satellit News, German : ASCII Text Version - CompuServe Deutschland On Line Forum (GERLINE) library 15 Fax polling - +49-89-496287 / +31-45-273615 TELE Satellit TV ! Last Friday of every month, repeated following Sunday . Eutlesat 2F3, 11.141 GHz, Vertical. 20:00 UK, 21:00 CET Other reliable sources of satellite news : - Satellite Journal International provides worldwide satellite news and can be found in UKFORUM, EURFORUM, TELECOM, BPFORUM and CEFORUM plus other networks worldwide including Internet, Nifty Serve Japan and Fidonet. - 3615 SATPHONE on Minitel for the latest hot news ! - *DX# on BTX / Datex J - 3670-8192 in France for the latest French language satellite news updates - SAT 1 Text, page 550 with fresh news every 3-4 days plus frequency charts. - BAYERNTEXT page 575 / 576 - Radio Sweden Mediascan. 1st and 3rd Tuesday, 20 minutes into the English programme via Astra, Shortwave, Mediumwave 1197 kHz and the World Radio Network. - Sat News on the Internet - Skyguide on the Internet - SAT.028 group on Fidonet - Radio Netherlands Media Network, Thursday, 23 minutes into the English programme via shorwave and The World Radio Network - SAT NET BBS network in Muenchen, Landsberg, Balingen and Bad Worishofen - World Wide Web users can access TS News and the electronic journals above and more information via the European satellite home page, URL http://xan.esrin.esa.it:2602/satellite.html