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 30, Week ending 18 December 1994 By Martyn Williams News Desk : Internet martyn@euro.demon.co.uk or CompuServe 100025,1637 (c) TELE Satellit Magazine CLT looks to digital future One of Europe's oldest and biggest commercial broadcasters Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Telediffusion (CLT) has been looking to the future and considering new digital pay TV ventures across the continent. At a meeting this week of finanical analysits, Michael Delloye, CEO of CLT, said that the company would strive to keep it's lead in commercial broadcasting but also move into the pay TV market. According to Delloye, CLT is talking about possible collaborations with French pay TV group Canal Plus and expanding into new markets such as Eastern Europe. He added that CLT were also looking at entering the Spanish and UK markets but no plans had been decided on yet. The CLT effectivly withdrew from the UK market when they discontinued the English language service from RTL Radio Luxembourg. Next year CLT will launch RTL Super with Disney which will join it's network of 11 TV stations and 13 radio stations across Europe. Yeltsin Elected Public TV Guardian Julia Wishnevsky (RFE/RL) At a meeting of shareholders of Russian Public Television (formerly Ostankino) on 10 December, Russian President Boris Yeltsin was elected chairman of the companies' Board of Guardians. Aleksandr Yakovlev, chairman of the Federal Broadcasting Service and of the Ostankino Radio and TV Company, was elected chairman of its Board of Directors. Eutelsat orders Hot Bird 3 The European satellite organisation, Eutelsat, has placed an order for the third Hot Bird satelite. Hot Bidr three will be built by the British / French company Matra Marconi Aerospace. Eutelsat also announced that the Hot Bird 1 satellite had been lined up for the next Ariane launch. The satellite is delayed due to a launch halt by Arianespace following a failure of the previous mission. Commission clears the way for satellite venture The European Commission has given its formal green light to the creation of International Private Satellite Partners (IPSP). The new, US based, company will provide international private busines telecommunications services via satellites to businesses in Europe and North America. IPSP will also offer bulk satellite transmission capacity to third parties, but only to the extent that IPSP or its partners do not use all the available capacity. IPSP will own and operate the Orion satellites above the Atlantic Ocean, the first of which was launched on 29 November last and is expected to be operational by the end of the year. The partners of IPSP are the following: Orion Satellite Co. (USA), Orion Networks Systems (U), British Aerospace Communications (UK), COM DEV Satellite Communications Ltd (Canada), General Dynamics Commercial Launch Services (USA), Kingston Communications International Ltd. (UK), MCN Sat US (USA), STET (Italy) and Trans-Atlantic Satellitenc. (Japan). VOA Europe fans campaign for the station Fans of the VOA Europe radio station in the Netherlands are grouping together to campaign against the threat of the Dutch cable authorities to remove the station from the cable network there. The network has scheduled replacement of the service in the spring of 1995 to make way for new Dutch FM radio services that are starting there soon. One listener, Neils Raijer decided that he didn't want to loose VOA Europe for a station that he will be able to get on FM anyway. Neils has started a campaign to keep VOA Europe on the Dutch cable. The station also recently confirmed to TS News that the service would continue until the summer of 1995 on it's Eutelsat analogue feed and may then move to an exclusively digital feed on eutelsat 2F4. This would also mean that many listeners across Europe with a satellite dish would loose the popular music station. If you want to support the campaign to keep VOA on Dutch cable then Niels asks that you email him and VOA Europe to let your voice be heard ! Niels Raijer Maalstroom 35 1511 JL Oostzaan The Netherlands email : niels@qaz.nest.nl Intelsat 502 : Grandaddy of the fleet turns 14 ! The first launched member of the Intelsat V family of spacecraft marked 14 years in orbit December 6th, making it the oldest Intelsat satellite still in service. When launched on 6 December 1980, Intelsat 502 was predicted to reach the end of it's operational life by 1987 or 1988. Instead a decision was made in 1988 to scale back the 502's station keeping operations to simple East - West maneuvers, resulting in dramatic on board fuel savings. The Intelsat 502 was built by Ford Aerospace and launched from Cape Canaveral 14 years ago by an Atlas rocket. From it's initial 21.5 degrees West, the Intelsat 502 has recently been moved to 40.5 degrees West, where it's poised to resume operations this month. The satellite will provide C band as well as Ku band voice, video and data transmission through two re-configurable spotbeams over the Atlantic Ocean Region until October 1997. Book review - 1995 WRTH Satellite guide The 1995 edition of the WRTH Satellite Broadcasting Guide marks the second year that the Brussels based media publisher has produced a satellite handbook. The guide grew out of the World Radio TV Handbook which continues to cover national TV and radio plus shortwave broadcasts. The new edition is some 20 pages longer than the 1994 edition but there's a lot more than 20 new pages of information. The book needs to be useful throughout the year and so needs strong reference sections which author Bart Kuperus provides. The equipment test bench has gone and been replaced with a section of off screen images from Europe's TV channels, much like TELE Satellit's own section. The first 60 pages of the book contain a well written guide to satellite TV basics including how reception of satellite TV is possible, discussion of the various transmission techniques and a short history of satellite broadcasting. Next up is the installation guide. The detailed guide talks the reader through all aspects of installing a fixed or motorised dish and describes well how the more complicated motorised dish setup works. The rest of the book is filled with invaluable data starting with a European picture gallery much like TELE Satellit's own transponder photos. The data extends to cover details of the various satellite organisations such as Intelsat and Eutelsat. One of the most useful sections of the book is the footprint maps. Over 70 pages are devoted to maps of all the major satellites in the world with data for each beam and EIRP numbers. The data on broadcasters is split into three sections, each ITU region, and covers both TV and radio on all worldwide birds. This is all supplemented with a list of address, phone and fax numbers for all of the broadcasters. The 1995 edition is billed on the cover as a "US DBS Special" and the final chapter of the book covers the new DirecTV system in detail with descriptions of how it all works and what some of the advantages and disadvantages are. Overall, the book will provide a very interesting book when you buy it certainly won't get buried in the bookshelf. My copy gets regularly consulted throughout the year for the single fact that much of the data is unavailable anywhere else or as easy to access. Much of the data in the book will be referred to throughout the year by the average enthusiast and I recommend this book to anyone interested in satellite TV. 1995 WRTH Satellite Broadcasting Guide Publisher : Billboard Books ISBN : 0-8230-5955-3 US $24.95 Astra 1D Reception Guide With the new Astra 1D satellite due to begin broadcast within a month we thought we'd bring you our Astra 1D reception guide. The Astra 1D allocations were not announced last week, as anticipated, and should be available next week ! There are three types of receiver on the market and two types on LNB. The first chart below, courtesy of Amstrad, will enable you to determine which of the Astra satellites you can receive. A Standard receiver has an input of 950 - 1750 MHz An Enhanced receiver has an input of 950 - 2100 MHz An Enhanced Wide Band receiver has an input of 700 - 2100 MHz. Systems with 10GHz LO LNB Receiver Type Standard Enhanced En.Wide Astra 1D 10,70 - 10,95 No No Yes Astra 1C 10,95 - 11,20 Yes Yes Yes Astra 1A 11,20 - 11,45 Yes Yes Yes Astra 1B 11,45 - 11,70 Yes Yes Yes Systems with 9.75GHz LO LNB Receiver Type Standard Enhanced En. Wide Astra 1D 10,70 - 10,95 Yes Yes Yes Astra 1C 10,95 - 11,20 Yes Yes Yes Astra 1A 11,20 - 11,45 Yes Yes Yes Astra 1B 11,45 - 11,70 No Yes Yes As you can see, owners of standard or enhanced receivers with the old 10 GHz LNB's will not be able to receive Astra 1D. SES advise you to wait until the channels are announced or begin until you invest any money in equipment to receive 1D. The most popular add on devices are frequency shifters. Global make an extensive range including the ADX Plus which they claim will work with any receiver. In the first example or a standard receiver with 10 GHz LNB, the unit will take the 1D band and place it in the same position as the Astra 1A band. There is a switch provided to enable jumping between Astra 1A and Astra 1D. For the other two instances the ADX Plus shifts the whole spectrum up by 250 MHz. On an enhanced receiver this means Astra 1D replaces 1C, 1C replaces 1A, 1A replaces 1B and 1B uses the currently vacant top end of the band. For standard receivers with 9.75GHz LNB's this means that the 1B band is shifted out of the spectrum. The unit accomodates this by enabling the band to be down shifted, on top of the new 1C band. Again, switching is provided. 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. 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, library 19 CompuServe European Forum (EURFORUM) - Windows Write version, library 5 CompuServe Deutschland on line (GERLINE) - Windows Write version, library 15 fax polling +49-8282-81003 fax polling +49-2163-81744 NBC Super Channel - NBC Text page 171 ISDN Mailbox IDTRANS (128 kBps), User Gast, Password SAT, +49-89-45001424 alt.satellite.tv.europe newsgroup on Usenet World Wide Web : http://xan.esrin.esa.it:2602/satellite.html Fidonet SAT.028 Fidonet RADIOCOMMS.FR Fidonet RU.SAT Fidonet SATELLIT_R23.PUB Globalnet : GN.ONDES.COURTES.FR Sparknet : SK_SATELLITE Anonymous FTP to : ftp.funet.fi /pub/dx/text/satellite/telesatellit CIX Skyguide/telesat conference SAT NET BBS network TELE Satellit News, German : CompuServe Deutschland on line (GERLINE) - ASCII version, library 15 CompuServe Der Spiegel Forum (SPIEGEL) - ASCII version, library 11 fax polling +49-8282-81003 fax polling +49-2163-81744 SAT 1 Text - page 513 SAT NET BBS network ISDN Mailbox IDTRANS (128 kBps), User Gast, Password SAT, +49-89-45001424 TELE Satellit TV ! Last Friday of every month, repeated following Sunday . DFS Kopernikus 2, 28.5 degrees east. 11.625 GHz, Horizontal polarisation. Audio 6.60 MHz. 20:00 UK, 21:00 CET Other reliable sources of satellite news : • *44022999# ,menu option 30 on BTX / Datex J • 3615 SATPHONE on Minitel • Phone 3670-8192 in France • 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 • Radio Netherlands Media Network, Thursday, 23 minutes into the English programme via shorwave and The World Radio Network • 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