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 European Satellite News - English Version Number 29, Week ending 11 December 1994 By Martyn Williams News Desk : Internet martyn@euro.demon.co.uk or CompuServe 100025,1637 (c) TELE Satellit Magazine Ariane halts launches, announces inquiry Arianespace has set up an independant board of inquiry to establish the reason for failure of flight 70 which resulted in the loss of PanAmSat 3 last week. The board of inquiry is being established in association with the ESA and CNES. Arianespace said "Its mandate is to establish the causes of the failure of Flight 70 and to recommend all the necessary measures to be taken to correct the anomalies found." The first results of the board are due on December 19 and Ariane will offer no comment on the possible cause until the board of inquiry has presented it's findings. Until the final report of the board is in Ariane has suspended the launch schedule which means that the next launch will probably not take place until next March or April. Kinnevik's Christmas present to you Scandinavia's movie channel TV 1000 is getting a sister ! On Radio Sweden, George Wood interviewed Jens Haeger of TV 1000 who said that from 24 Decemeber Kinnevik will launch TV 1000 Cinema - a pure movies channel with nothing but movies and related programmes. Despite the new channel, Kinnevik will continue sending Filmmax. According to Hager, the channel identified a large group of people who love classic movies so they love Filmmax. He also cleared up any remaining rumours about the placing of Kinnevik channels on the various European satellites by confirming that TV 1000 Cinema will begin broadcasting on Intelsat 702 and Sirius. TV 3 Norway, and in fact all of the Kinnevik channels would remain on Astra according to Hager. He added that they wanted to be on as many satellite positions as possible. The new channel will be available free of charge to existing TV 1000 subscribers. Tunisia suspends dish installation Tunisia this week suspended the installation and importation of all satellite antennas. According to reports, officials did not elaborate on the reason but cited an upcoming reorganisation of the rules concerning reception of foreign television broadcasts as the reason. Astra 1D update Astra 1D is currently testing at 18.9 degrees East. The satellite will be moved into position in the last few days of December in time for the start of TV Asia and other new broadcasters due to begin in 1995. SES will announce the Astra 1D line up next Wednesday and we'll have it next weekend. Alternatively you can check out teletext page on NBC Text for details on Thursday. In addition to the sub ku band transponders, Astra has been testing it's four DBS band channels which will be used for digital television experiments. Next Week ... The complete guide to Astra 1D. We'll tell you the channels that will broadcast and tell you what you need to do the receive the new satellite. Any questions you have about frequency extenders, wideband tuners and reception of the Astra 1D band in an easy to use format ... next week ! Sky announces new Disney Channel Five years after originally announcing that The Disney Channel would be part of the initial Sky line up the UK based broadcaster has finally completed an agreement with Disney and the channel will launch in Autumn 1995. When Sky originally launched the Astra service they apparently thought they had an agreement with Disney to start such a service and it was advertised heavily in Sky promotional literature. Disney subsequently pulled out of the deal and the plans were shelved but earlier this year Disney came to an agreement with CLT for the launch of Disney programming on a new RTL station in Germany. Sky jumped into talks about launching a similar service in the UK and announced the details last week. Sky and The Walt Disney Company Ltd. have reached a binding agreement to launch The Disney Channel exclusively on Sky in Autumn 1995. The announcement was made by Etienne de Villiers, President of Walt Disney Television International and Sam Chisholm, Chief Executive and Managing Director of Sky Television. "This is an historic day as it me as the launch of the first subscription Disney Channel in Europe," said de Villiers. "The Disney Channel will offer viewers what no other family service can: a menu of programming for the entire family complete with Disney's unique brand of magic. We are pleased to be able to make The Disney Channel available in the UK and to develop this alliance with Sky." The Disney Channel will be offered as a "premium bonus" channel to satellite and cable subsibers receiving Sky's dual movies package and be initially broadcast on Sky for 16 hours a day on one of the first three Astra satellites. The expansion into the UK adds to Disney's growing success overseas, The Disney Channel-Taiwan, a pay cable family service featuring quality Disney programs, will be introduced in Spring 1995 and delivered through Apstar 1. Earlier this year, Disney and Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Telediffusion (CLT) established a joint venture for the launch of Super RTL, a satellite/cable channel in Germany, beginning January 1995. The Disney Channel in the United States is the fastest growing pay TV service in the United States with over 8 million subscribers. TNT / Cartoon Network expands cable outlets Marc Ruenger, TS News Bureaux Bonn Ted Turner's Cartoon Network / TNT has won the right to broadcast on the Berlin / Brandenburg cable network from the authorities. The networks are now seen in more than 7 million cable households in Germany alone. Space companies hope to gain business Doug Clarke (RFE/RL Inc) Interfax reported on 6 December that Russia's two largest builders of space launch vehicles hoped to become more active in launching commercial satellites following recent launch failures by the European Ariane space consortium. The company most likely to benefit, the report said, is the Central Specialized Design Bureau in Samara, maker of the "Soyuz" and "Progress" medium-sized boosters. The "Soyuz" is now competing with the European agency's Ariane-4 for the right to launch 26 low-orbit satellites under the Globalstar program. Moscow's Khrunichev Research and Production Center produces the large "Proton" booster. However, a 1993 agreement with the United States authorizes Russia to launch no more than 12 Western commercial telecommunications satellites into geostationary orbit by the end of the year 2000. Anatolii Kiselev, Khrunichev's general director, said that the Proton was fully booked until 1997 and that the international company marketing the Proton had used all the quotas of the 1993 agreement. ABN executive looks to 1997 Max Ruston (VOA) in Hong Kong The managing editor of one of East Asia's largest satellite broadcasting companies says he does not expect China to open its media until beijing finds it in its commercial interest to do so. As we hear from VOA's Max Ruston, the editor -- speaking in Hong Kong -- says he believes it is up to foreign investors to pressure the countries they are investing in to show respect for the media's role in society. Issues concerning press freedom and the possibility of change in China are regular topics of debate in Hong Kong as the territory prepares for Chinese rule in 1997. Many journalists in Hong Kong are concerned China will impose restrictions on the territory's media once it takes control. They say their best hope for the future is if china starts to lift restrictions on its own media before the change in sovereignty. The managing editor of singapore-based satellite-broadcaster Asia Business News, Christopher Graves, says he doubts China will allow its media more freedom until it finds it profitable to do so. "The only reason china -- or anywhere else -- will get a free press is, I believe, when businesses and investors say a free press is important to them, because all that is speaking right now is money. The reason it does not work, if you do not do it, is because across the board they can say look, if you do not invest, this guy from this other oil company is going to. So as long as that is the case you look to your left, you look to your right, and say I will be damned if I am going to get caught out. I am going in there, forget the free press." Speaking to a group of media executives in Hong Kong, Mr. Graves says he does not expect to see significant change in China's media situation until Beijing determines a free press will result in more foreign investment. Mr. Graves says he believes media proprietors no longer have significant influence in changing national press policies. He says proprietors' policies are, by necessity, largely driven by financial considerations. He says Asia Business News is currently exploring the opportunities available in the China media market. But, he says it will not alter the content of its stories just to please the governments of its client countries. New from Echostar Echostar have just released new receivers. The LT-730 Plus is a low threshold receiver proclaimed as the "ultimate receiver in today's low threshold technology markets". The LT-730 has a threshold of less than 4Mb and includes features such as 100 preprogrammed channels, 2 GHz tuner, 22kHz switching and independantly setable threshold for each channel. The unit has a matching antenna positioner, the AP-750. On the same day, Echostar unveiled the SR-80 Satellite receiver. It shares many features in common with the LT-730 but boasts 250 channels in memory and on screen graphics in English, Spanish and Italian. Echostar say the SR-80 "contains many of the features and benefits of a high end unit while costing less". The SR-80 will also match up with the new positioner. In brief ... - Country Music Radio is making a comeback on JSTV's transponder 24 on Astra 1B. The station will use the 7.56 MHz subcarrier and broadcast during the evening hours of JSTV (2000 - 0700 CET). 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 132 pages, full colour with tables, charts and news with many off-screen photos of the satellite channels plus an informative technical section. Subscriptions are available for DM 120, Europe surface mail; DM 144, Europe airmail and DM 192, ROW airmail. 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