From WOOD@stab.sr.seSun Oct 22 23:25:05 1995 Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 13:32:37 +0200 From: George Wood Reply to: wood@rs.sr.se To: wood@rs.sr.se Subject: MediaScan/Sweden Calling DXers 2232 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: MediaScan :: :: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS :: :: from Radio Sweden :: :: Number 2232--Sept. 19, 1995 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden. This week's bulletin was written by George Wood. Packet Radio BID SCDX2232 All times UTC unless otherwise noted. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Finally finally finally...the Radio Sweden section on the Worldwide Web is up and running. Aim your Web browser at the following address: http://www.sr.se/rs And you'll find Radio Sweden's little home in Cyberspace. And you can go directly to the MediaScan page: http://www.sr.se/rs/media.htm Please update bookmarks and Web links to reflect these URLs. My own personal pages will remain at: http://www.abc.se/~m8914 And many many thanks to the ABC Computer Club for allowing us to set up the temporary site. At the end of this newsletter, you'll find the new Radio Sweden shortwave schedule, which goes into effect on Septebmer 25, 1995. You can now also remove yourself from the MediaScan mailing list by sending a message to: unsubscribe@rs.sr.se RADIO IN CYBERSPACE: INTERNET VIA TV--Last time we talked to Bert Willborg, who's putting Sweden's Kinnevik media empire on the Microsoft Network and the Internet. Kinnevik is well-placed on the Information Superhighway. Besides a whole series of satellite TV channels, Kinnevik also owns the Tele2 telephone company, an Internet service provider called Everyday, and a major Swedish data network, Swipnet. Much of that is coming into play now as a Kinnevik subsidiary says it is about to offer access to the Worldwide Web using teletext on an ordinary television set, with communications back using the telephone. Per Leine is Products Manager for Kinnevik's Infral subsidiary. In today's program we talk to him over a GSM telephone (the GSM operator Comviq is also a Kinnevik subsidiary), at the IBC Show in Amsterdam, where he's been busy selling the new system. Infral's system strips away the graphics, so the result is text- browsing, similar to using Lynx. According to Leine, Kinnevik's TV3 Sweden is to offer Web access beginning next month. No mention of whether the phone call will be free, or whether Kinnevik will be trying to earn big money by using a premium phone number (like 900 in the US). The company is already offering e-mail using teletext and such a phone number, costing users a whopping 63 cents a minute to compose their messages on a touchtone phone. THE BIG BYTE--There was an impressive example of the future of broadcast multi-media on the WorldWide Web Sunday during the Big Byte program on the BBC's Radio Five Live. While the program is medium wave only in the UK, it's also carried on the Astra satellite to Europe. And this Sunday, the program used just about every possible means of Internet contact. There was a camera taking studio pictures every minute, and putting them out on the World Wide Web. The entire program was carried live to the world using RealAudio and the Internet Multicast Backbone. A transcript of everything said was typed into Internet Relay Chat, so even the hearing impaired could follow the program. And listeners could send immediate feedback using e-mail and Internet Relay Chat. SATELLITE LINKS--Jay Friedman writes in rec.video.satellite: "I just came across a great web page full of links to satellite and related topics:" http://trance.helix.net/~lekei/links.html NORDIC MEDIA NEWS: STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL--We welcome a new foreign broadcaster to the Stockholm International transmitter on 89.6 MHz. Beginning October 2, Deutschlandsradio will be carried on Stockholm International daily between 12:00 and 13:00 hrs CET. That precedes National Public Radio, which is carried daily except Saturdays 13:00-14:30 hrs. SKY SPORTS--Last Spring Sky Sports was very close to signing an agreement to broadcast on Swedish cable systems. What stopped the deal was Nethold, owner of FilmNet, which has bought most of the rights for broadcasting English soccer matches to Scandinavia. Nethold's new channel SuperSports is scheduled to go on the air on December 1st. (Frank Oestergren, "Aftonbladet") NETHOLD--Nethold also says it is launching a new digital service offering near-video-on-demand in Europe by the end of the year. 50 near-video-on-demand channels are to be available via Astra, presumeably the upcoming Astra 1E satellite, in the Benelux and Northern Europe. Near-video-on-demand is as close as a satellite broadcaster can get to video-on-demand, where you can order up any program you want at any time. The near version means starting the same program at different times on different channels, so you don't have to wait very long to see it. The first services will offer movies timed to begin every half an hour meaning that around four channels will be required for each movie making a total of ten movies available at any one time. Sports will also be offered to viewers. Decoder prices are planned to come in at around 900 to 1000 Dutch guilders with monthly subscriptions priced at around 70 guilders. Additional charges will be levied for movies. The Dutch PTT will link Nethold, parent of FilmNet, to the Astra satellite from where the service will operate. (Reuters and "Tele-satellit") FilmNet's arch-rival Kinnevik is planning to start some kind of near- vdieo-on-demand from the Norwegian satellite position at 1 degree West. Other stations starting there soon are probably the Sci-Fi Channel, the English version of VH-1, and Nickelodeon. A new station called the History Channel is also coming. (Frank Oestergren, "Aftonbladet") EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS: SKY MOVIES GOLD--Despite it's being exiled to the Astra 1D satellite, Sky Movies Gold is actually expanding its hours of operation. Beginning October 1, the channel will begin broadcasts daily at 12:00 hrs British time, instead of the current 14:00 hrs. (James Robinson) SHOP EUROPE--A new channel called Shop Europe is to replace TV3 Norway on Astra transponder 31, when Kinnevik's TV3 and TV1000 channels leave Astra next month. (James Robinson) CHINA NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT--China News and Entertainment is moving on October 30 to Astra transponder 53, which it will share with SBS-6 (James Robinson) PLAYBOY--It looks like the Playboy Channel will be launching on November 1 on Astra transponder 47 (Sky Soap, etc.) instead of transponder 42 as previously reported. The Adult Channel continues on transponder 42. (James Robinson) GRAFF/PENTHOUSE--Graff Pay Per View and Penthouse International, annouced this week a joint venture between Spice, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Graff, and Penthouse International, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of GMI. The company will be the exclusive vehicle for the development and distribution of adult entertainment television networks and programming outside North America, using the Penthouse and Spice brand names. Spice and Penthouse will each own 50% of the equity of the joint venture company. The proposed terms of the transaction are that The Home Video Channel Limited (HVC), a wholly owned United Kingdom subsidiary of Graff, together with the Spice name and related identity, will be contributed to the joint venture company for additional consideration. HVC currently operates three subscription networks: The Home Video Channel, which features Hollywood movies; and The Adult Channel, an adult television network distributed to more than 40 countries from the U.K.; and Eurotica, a more explicit adult channel broadcast to more than 30 European countries from Denmark. ("Tele-satellit") SKY MULTICHANNELS--When EBN joins the Sky Multichannels package on October 30, transmissions on Astra transponder 42 will be at 06:00- 12:00 hrs British time, rather than 04:00-12:00 hrs as previously reported. (EBN continues in the clear 24 hours a day on Hot Bird). The Sci-Fi Channel will be joining the transponder 47 package on October 30 as well. (James Robinson) ASTRA TRANSPONDER SWAP--Having swapped transponders, HOT is now on Astra transponder 62, while Cable Plus is on 61. (James Robinson) RADIO--Radio Austria International will be broadcasting digitally on Astra transponder 45 (Bayern 3) on 8.10 MHz, as part of Astra Digital Radio. (James Robinson) PARAMOUNT--Viacom has been looking for something to take over from Nickelodeon after it shuts down on Astra transponder 46 early every evening. Nick-at-Nite didn't materialize. Now British Sky Broadcasting is working with Viacom to bring a Paramount channel to Britain. ("Tele- Satellit") One wonders if this could be the United Paramount Network, complete with "Star Trek Voyager", which is otherwise scheduled to begin on Sky One next month. Sky holds the rights to "Star Trek: Next Generation" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". NOS SATELLITE SERVICE--Dutch public broadcasting is set to light up Europe's skies next year when the NOS begins a satellite TV service for Dutch citizens abroad. Basing the service on Germany's Deutsche Welle TV and France's TV5, the new channel will offer tailor made programmes for an international audience and the best of Dutch public TV. The channel will make money from advertising and sponsorship and target the estimated 600,000 Dutch speakers living outside Holland and the Belgian region of Flanders. ("Tele-satellit") TRT--TRT was supposed to leave Eutelsat II-F1 on September 15, but is till there. It remains on Turksat. (James Robinson) Turksat's European beam should be called "The Invisible Beam". ASIAN MEDIA NEWS: PANAMSAT--PanAmSat's new PAS-4 has entered operation at 68.5 degrees East. According to "Tele-Satellit" monitors, the following transponders are already in use: >From Australia 3.905 V Sony Entertainment Television 3.912 H Carrier 3.965 V CNN International 4.111 H CNBC Asia 4.035 V NHK TV-Japan 3.995 V CNN Newsource 3.935 H Test Pattern - "PAS 2 SYLMAR, CA." (courtesy Nathan Kopel, International Radio Monitors and Peter Merrett) >From South Africa 12.5375 V M-Net South Africa 12.6645 V SABC TV 1 12.6975 V SABC CCV 12.7245 V SABC NNTV 12.7405 V CDAT (courtesy Michael Cookson, TELE-satellit South Africa) NHK will also be using the satellite to link Tokyo to Paris and India's Doordarshan has also announced it will be using the satellite for services to Asia and Europe. Hong Kong Telecom this week said it would begin using PAS-4 for broadcasting service also. Other broadcasters include China Central Television, Disney Co., Capital Cities/ABC Inc.'s ESPN, HBO & Co., Liberty Media Corp., MNET/Multichoice, SABC/Sentech, Sony Corp., Turner Broadcasting Corp. and Viacom Inc. IRAN--The Iranian police are reported to have made around thirty arrests over production of satellite reception equipment and dishes. A local newspaper said police seized 226 satellite dishes from a workshop just outside the capital, Tehran. In April, the Middle Eastern country made ownership of such equipment an offence. Some dishes are reported to have been placed back on the roofs of Tehran and disguised with air conditioners and other equipment. There are no reports of arrests for individual possesion of satellite reception equipment. ("Tele-satellit") LATIN AMERICA: TURNER BROADCASTING--General Instrument Corporation and Truner Broadcasting System have announced the US broadcaster will use GI's DigiCipher(R) II equipment to provide compressed video/audio and data services to Latin America. Turner Broadcasting will use GI's DigiCipher II MPEG-2 compatible digital compression system to eventually reach over 1,500 different sites throughout Latin America. The service will be transmitted over PanAmSat 3 which is scheduled to launch in late 1995, and will become operational in February 1996. ("Tele-satellit") SHORTWAVE: VOICE OF AMERICA--Congratulations to Dr. Kim Andrew Elliot, the new host of the Voice of America's Communications World program. We can confirm that in response to his highly representative and scientific audience survey ("If you want me to continue as host write a letter to the VOA, if you don't want me, write to Radio Sweden"), that we have received just one letter, which actually was more critical of Congressional budget cuts of the VOA than of Kim's performance. HOBBY NEWS: GROVE--We've often reported in the program about the European DX Council, the organization that links clubs for radio monitoring hobbysts in Europe. The closest North American counterpart to the annual EDXC Conference is happening next month. The Grove Communications Expo-95 will be help October 13-15 in Atlanta. This is the new name for the Monitoring Times Convention, and seems to reflect the addition of Grove Enterprises new magazine "Satellite Times". (In the interests of journalistic integrity here, I have to reveal that I write a column for "Satellite Times".) Radio and satellite monitor hobbyists from around North America and the rest of the world will join together with a number of international broadcasters, including Ian McFarland of Radio Canada International and Radio Japan fame, and Radio Moscow's Joe Adamov. For more information, North Americans and USA Direct users can call: 800-438-8155 Overseas callers can try: +1-704-837-9200 Fax: +1-837-2216 You can write to: Grove Enterprises 300 S. Highway 64 West Brasstown, NC 28902 USA Or even check out the new Grove WWW pages at: http://www.grove.net ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweden Calling DXers/MediaScan is the world's oldest radio program about international broadcasting. Radio Sweden has presented this round-up of radio news, features, and interviews on Tuesdays since 1948. It's currently broadcast on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. Beginning September 25, 1995, Radio Sweden broadcasts in English: To Europe: 17:15 hrs 1179 and 6065 kHz 18:30 1179, 6065, 7240, and 9655 kHz (also Africa/Middle East) 21:30 1179, 6065, and 7230 kHz (also Africa/Middle East) 22:30 1179 and 6065 kHz (also Africa/Middle East) 23:30 1179 kHz Asia/Pacific: 12:30 hrs 9835, 13740, and 15240 kHz 01:30 hrs 7120 kHz North America: 13:30 and 14:30 hrs on 11650 and 15240 kHz 02:30 and 03:30 hrs on 7120 kHz Latin America: 00:30 hrs on 6065 and 9850 kHz The broadcasts at 17:15 and 18:30 hrs are also relayed to Europe by satellite: Astra 1C on ZDF's transponder 33 at 10.964 GHz, audio subcarrier at 7.38 MHz Tele-X via TV5 Nordic/Femman's transponder at 12.475 GHz, audio subcarrier 7.38 MHz Radio Sweden is also relayed to Europe via the World Radio Network on VH-1's transponder 22 on Astra 1C, audio 7.38 MHz, daily at 22:00 hrs CET. Radio Sweden can also be heard on WRN's North American service on Galaxy-5, on WTBS's transponder 6, audio 6.8 MHz, daily at 16:00 and 20:30 hrs Eastern time. Our new World Wide Web page is at: http://www.sr.se/rs Sound files of Mediascan are archived at: ftp.funet.fi:pub/sounds/RadioSweden/Mediascan. You can also find the programs among the offerings of Internet Talk Radio at various sites, including: ftp://town.hall.org/radio/Mirrors/RadioSweden/MediaScan Radio Sweden news (recorded at 01:30 hrs UTC daily) is available in the Real Audio format via the World Radio Network, at: http://www.wrn.org Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to +468-667-6283 or by e-mail to: wood@rs.sr.se Reports can also be sent to: Radio Sweden S-105 10 Stockholm Sweden Contributions should be NEWS about electronic media--from shortwave to satellites--and not loggings of information already available from sources such as the "World Radio TV Handbook". Clubs and DX publications may reprint material as long as MediaScan/Sweden Calling DXers and the original contributor are acknowledged. We welcome comments and suggestions about the electronic edition, Sweden Calling DXers, and our programs in general. The mailing list for the Electronic Edition is now open to general subscription. If you can send e-mail over the Internet, send a message to: subscribe@rs.sr.se You ought to get a confirmation message in reply. To unsubscribe from the list, send a message to unsubscribe@rs.sr.se To get a copy of Radio Sweden's English program schedule, write to: english@rs.sr.se And for general questions, comments, and reception reports, our e-mail address is: info@rs.sr.se ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to this week's contributors Good Listening!  ************************ George Wood wood@rs.sr.se Radio Sweden http://www.abc.se/~m8914/ S-105 10 Stockholm tel: +468-784-7239 Sweden fax: +468-667-6283 ************************