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(5.65/25-eef) id AA04356; Mon, 25 Oct 93 17:04:50 GMT Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 17:04 GMT0 From: Darren Ingram Subject: Satnews 118-1 To: satnews@orbital.demon.co.uk Cc: satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk Reply-To: satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk Message-Id: Sender: satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk X-Mailing-List: Satnews Status: RO SSSSSSSS AAAAAAAA TTTTTTTT NNNNNNNNN EEEEEEEEE WWWWWWWWW SSSSSSSS SS SS AAA AAA T T N NNN N E E W WWW W SS SS S SS S AA AA TTT TTT N NN N E EEEEEEE W WWW W S SS S SS SSSS A AA A TTT TTT N N N E EEEEEEE W WWW W SS SSSS SSS SSS A AA A TTT TTT N N N E EEE W W W W SS SSSS SSSS S A A TTT TTT N NN N E EEEEEEE W W W SSSS SS S SS S A AA A TTT TTT N NNN N E EEEEEEE W W W S SS S SS SS A AA A TTT TTT N NNN N E E W WWW W SS SS SSSSSSSS AAAAAAAA TTTTTTTT NNNNNNNNN EEEEEEEEE WWWWWWWWW SSSSSSSS :---------------------Electronic Headlines----------------------: : : : Issue: 118 :-------:Published Biweekly:------: Date: 11/10/93 : : : :---------(C) Copyright 1991-93 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD ----------: : : :-------------------------------------------:-------------------: : SATNEWS is published biweekly by M2 : HOW TO CONTACT US : : Communications Limited and is Copyright(C): : : 1991-93 M2 Communications Limited. This : INTERNET : : electronic version is a delayed, limited : satnews@cix. : : subset of the printed subscription edition: compulink.co.uk: : which is available from the publisher. : TELEPHONE : : This file may be freely distributed as : +44 203 717 417 : : long as NO portion is amended in any shape: FACSIMILE : : or form. Copyright violators will face : +44 203 717 418 : : legal action for unauthorised editing and TELEX : : breach of copyright. : 94026650 DBRI G : :-------------------------------------------:-------------------: : Editor/Publisher: Darren Ingram : Contact Satnews : :---------------------------------------------------------------: NBC BUYS SUPER CHANNEL IN EUROPE The massive US television network NBC has bought a 75 percent stake in Super Channel, the European cable and satellite television channel for a reported GBP40 million. The majority of the channel's 60 million European viewers view the service through cable networks, but on the whole its programming content is considered quite dire by viewers. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed, and rumours of a GBP40 million pricetag have ben dismissed as being inaccurate by NBC, who admitted that the channel has been losing around GBP10 million per year. Super Channel is set to keep its emphasis on light entertainment and music, although a higher content of business and financial news is to be introduced. NBC's CNBC business news channel has previously said that it intends to expand into Europe and Asia. This growth in business news could enable the channel to test the water and establish European operations. Patrick Cox, managing director of NBC Europe, is heading the channel, and says that broadcasts of music videos will be cut back and replaced with news and talk shows like NBC does in the US. Many of NBC's US programmes will also be aired on the channel. "Super channel will offer an array of original programming appealing directly to Europe's dynamic, internationally minded professional business men and women," said Cox. Tom Rogers, executive vice president of NBC, said that the new Super Channel will provide NBC greater presence in Europe than CNN. In 1988 Super Channel was purchased by the Marcucci family after it crashed only a year after being set up by companies including the Branson Virgin empire. Marcucci paid GBP9 for the company and agreed to honour GBP2.5 million of trade debts. Since 1988 the channel has spent over GBP25 million in establishing viewers and support in eastern Europe. According to the company, Austria, Switzerland and Holland are the largest markets for the channel, where they command 3 percent of the television audience. SKY EUROPE TO BE RELAUNCHED? British Sky Broadcasting is presently planning to launch its multichannel service to Germany, and later throughout Europe, according to company sources. Following on from Rupert Murdoch's comments at the 1 September launch of the multichannels and the cooperative pact between PRO 7 and the Leo Kirch empire, the basic multichannel package will be offered in Germany and Austria for DM20 per month (1GBP=DM2.45). Videocrypt decoders will be shipped into Germany for the service. BSkyB is also looking at using digital compression services as a delivery mechanism in the future, and this would be ideally suited towards a multi-channel offering, even on a language basis. BSkyB declined to be drawn about the relaunch, but one source said that it was also renegotiating many of the film rights to cover European English-language pay television services. BSkyB, while now making a profit, has the potential to succeed throughout Europe, making better use of renegotiated film rights. The European Commission is also looking into the European satellite services market, and BSkyB's plans could preempt any future EC ruling. SES ORDERS SIXTH ASTRA SATELLITE The sixth Astra direct broadcasting satellite has been ordered by Societe Europeenne des Satellites. Astra 1F is to be built by Hughes Space and Communications Inc. in Los Angeles, and it will be based on its popular HS-601 payload. The satellite will have 20 active transponders and eight spares, and will be co-located at 19.2 degrees east, enhancing the digital capabilities and providing a back up for the Astra 1E satellite, set to commence operations in 1995. Arianespace has already been contracted to provide launch facilities for Astra 1D and 1E, but negotiations are presently ongoing with launch companies for the 1F launch. CABLE TV COMPUTER SYSTEM TO BE LAUNCHED General Instrument's subsidiary Jerrold Communications is to launch a 80386 PC-based set-top convertor for interactive multimedia cable services at the European Cable Communications show in London (18-20 October). The convertor, known as the International Consumer-Friendly Terminal (ICFT-2200), has been developed to combine the intelligence of a PC with the simplicity of a television set and is set to transform the use of cable television services. Tony White, managing director of Jerrold in the UK, said: "Our new convertor is an easy-to-use interactive gateway, designed to appeal to subscribers and to enable cable operators to take advantage of the full potential of two-way services as they are developed." Production is being geared up for the first availability of products early in 1994. The ICFT-2200 is going to be updated as new technologies become available, and it can be operated in a secure mode because of in-built addressability modules that permit the operation of subscription-only data and information services. LANDSCAPE RESTRUCTURES CABLE OFFERING The Landscape Channel in the UK has completely restructured its pricing terms to UK cable operators as a result of it revising its plans to be a long-term cable-dedicated programmer, dashing hopes of many satellite viewers that Landscape would lease downtime from an existing satellite broadcaster. But the channel is to use a low-powered cable distribution satellite to beam its programming to cable network headends. The satellite service, enabling live Landscape programming, is set to be introduced before the end of 1994. Nick Austin, chairman of Landscape Channel, said that the revised pricing was being made to recoup costs and to safeguard the future of the channel. "When Landscape started operations on cable television the market was very different from the one we are in now. When we entered that market, Landscape was determined to prove to a very sceptical cable trade that there was space on the network for a dedicated instrumental music service. In order to do this we adopted a market entry policy that, to be frank, hardly covered the copyright costs." "Copyright costs have risen substantially but we have held our prices in line with our stated policy of working for growth. We believe that having started at the bottom and built our UK network to nearly 80 percent of all broadband cable homes, that the time is right to look to the future and reappraise our position." Under the new rates cable companies will pay a negotiable sliding scale of charges dependent upon the number of homes connected and whether Landscape is used as a dedicated channel or as a filler. All existing cable operators under contract will be offered the option of either continuing their contract until the end of its term or a new long-term contract with guaranteed discounts. Landscape will now charge 10 pence (100 pence = GBP1) per subscriber terminal per month, rising to 15 pence when it is used as a time- shift/shared service. ITC SPEAKS ON 'VIDEO ON DEMAND' The UK's Independent Television Commission has issued a statement saying that it does not consider that a service which consists solely of video on demand -- programmes delivered by a telecommunications system to a household at a time upon request -- need to be licensed as a local delivery system under part II of the 1990 Broadcasting Act. While the ITC has yet to receive any detailed applications or inquiries about the operation of such a service, there has been intense press speculation that BT is considering launching such a service. Discussions between the ITC, Oftel and the Department of Trade and Industry, have been held, with a common view emerging that the licences held by BT and other national fixed link PTOs would not prohibit the conveyance of a video on demand service that did not need to be licensed under the Broadcasting Act. The ITC is not disputing that a video on demand service would not have been licensable by the Cable Authority under the Cable & Broadcasting Act 1984, but since the Broadcasting Act was introduced, the wording was slightly different there was some confusion over whether such a service would be allowed. The ITC concluded it is unlikely that it would. BT says that it is planning to test its video-on-demand entertainment system in around 250,000 homes during 1994 as part of a GBP75 million experiment. Initially the trials will be conducted in rural areas in the south of England. Technicians at BT's Martlesham Heath research labs believe that VHS video picture quality signals can be sent compressed down telephone lines at the same time as a conversation. Board approval for the trial is expected to be given late in October. COPY PROTECTION FOR SATELLITE RADIO? A new music protection system which 'watermarks' music tracks with a hidden code number is being developed in the UK by EMI's former research arm, CRL. The system, known as Identification Coding Embedded (ICE) enables companies to automatically monitor and log tracks as they are played on radio or cable delivery systems. Executives also believe that it can aid piracy detection, as illegal copies of pre-production material could easily be traced back to the source. ICE cuts a small frequency slot in the audio transmission at the 2kHz frequency range and adds a 50-bit digital code in its place, with the code conforming to the International Standards Recording Code which has been uniquely assigned to every track on music productions for years. ISRC was originally designed for incorporation into CD systems, but it failed to take off. Trials have proven that the ICE system works on terrestrial, cable and satellite-delivered broadcasts of audio. There is no degradation of the audio source. Test CDs of ICE encoded material were sent to selected engineers around the world, and only two could identify the codes from analysing the soundtrack. CRL believes that it will be able to improve the system even more so that this cannot happen A standalone PC and decoder will be used to decode the ICE codes from audio fed into it. The only thing now needed is for all sections of the record industry to insert ISRC references into their soundtracks. NTL CHANGES IDENTITY, GETS CONTRACTS As forecast in Satnews 117, National Transcommunications Limited (NTL), the former engineering arm of the UK Independent Broadcasting Authority is no more -- it has been renamed NTL. NTL says that the change was made because the industry was already calling it by its short-form name, and that it seemed logical for it to follow the industry trend while at the same time revising its corporate appearance. "The introduction of the new image reinforces the completed transition of NTL from a public service culture to a 'customer orientated' commercial company. It also reflects the company's success in new markets such as satellite uplinking, digital compression and telecommunications." Image consultants Lloyd Northover were responsible for the new image and corporate logo. Tony Gee, marketing manager at NTL, said: "The developments in our corporate image build on the progress we have made in sustaining our established business. We are in the communications business and we think we are now presenting ourselves in a more appropriate light." NTL has also been awarded a contract by Television New Zealand to provide the first TV link across the Indian Ocean using digital video compression. TV programmes will be fed from the UK and Europe by NTL to TVNZ's studios in digital component form. The GBP1 million pound plus contract includes dual System 2000 video compression hardware and Intelsat uplinking contracts for five years. Two diversely-routed 8mbit/s compressed circuits will be linked terrestrially from the BBC Television Centre in London to NTL's Winchester teleport before being uplinked onto a C-band transponder aboard the Intelsat satellite at 57 degrees east longitude. A Telecom Australia (Telestra) earth station will downlink the signal and reuplink it in digital form to another transponder aboard an Intelsat satellite at 180 degrees east longitude before being downlinked and decoded at TVNZ. NTL's digital compression system enables broadcasters to carry the equivalent of four analogue programmes in a digital format in one conventional transponder. SATELLITE AIDS RUSSIAN REVOLUTION COVERAGE In probably one of the biggest news stories of the year -- the last Russian revolution -- all of the major news networks were there braving gunfire and shelling to beam live pictures back to the living rooms and offices of viewers, or so they would have us believe. ABC, CBS and NBC in the US stayed, on the whole, with their mainstream coverage, leaving the field open to CNN to provide constant live coverage of developments. Only CNN's bureau chief Steve Hurst was on live when foes of Boris Yeltsin broke through police lines by the Russian parliament building. When opponents of Yeltsin stormed the offices of Moscow's mayor, NBC and CBS staff operating a flyaway uplink on the roof were arrested briefly and ordered to closedown the station. CNN's facilities were on another roof and were unaffected. Heavy firing was aimed at Moscow's Ostankino broadcasting centre, forcing news crews to flee in all direction. A CNN cameraman and reporter were pinned down under heavy gunfire, but in the best traditions of the job filming continued to produce a rather spectacular report. Government troops fended off an attack against the Russian television complex, and the three Russian TV channels went off the air after protestors attacked the complex with grenades and other weapons. When the broadcasts came back on air, CNN relayed the broadcasts live around the world. SHARP INTRODUCES SATELLITE TV SETS Sharp Corporation has introduced two 24-inch widescreen television sets with built-in satellite tuners. Additionally one of the models launched has a built in S-VHS video recorder. Both television sets can switch between 4:3 and 16:9 screen formats at the touch of a button Close captions can also be displayed on 16:9 widescreen transmissions as appropriate. The units will only be available in the Japan/Asia-Pacific region. The VT-24WS1 set with a built in video also enables the satellite receiver to be programmed to switch channels for video recording at pre-set intervals. One feature which may upset advertisers in the region is 'commercial zapping' whereby the video automatically fast forwards past commercials during the playback of TV programs on the video. Sets will be launched at the end of October, with production initially set at 10,000 units per month. Additionally a 32-inch HDTV television with a built-in MUSE decoder has been launched by Sharp, enabling the viewer to take advantage of Hi-Vision HDTV broadcasts. Circuitry has been built into the television set to enable it to enhance conventional 525 line NTSC transmissions, which help reduce snow and colour bleeding. Around 1,000 units of the YEN800,000 set will be produced monthly. NEW HOME SHOPPING CHANNEL TO LAUNCH Time Warner has joined forces with Spiegel, a leading retailer in the US, to form two new 24-hour home shopping cable television channels. One of the channels will be called "The Catalog Channel" and it will feature goods from a wide range of speciality catalogue companies, and it will be launched on Time Warner cable systems early in 1994 before being offered nationally later in the year. The second channel will utilise interactive television technology allowing customers to call up descriptions of products upon demand, ordering electronically as required. Interactive television technology will be introduced in Orlando, Florida as part of a prototype network operated by Time Warner to trial the network. According to marketing data released by the venture, the channels will be aimed primarily at women between the ages of 25 and 55. Each supplier will be responsible for the fulfilment and after-sales support of the merchandise, a change from the industry norm of the network operating its own fulfilment services. QVC will also launch its Latin American shopping channel on 15 November. Telemercado Aladmea SA de CV will be operated in conjunction with Grupo Television, and broadcast initially in Mexico and throughout Latin America in time. Meanwhile QVC Chesapeake, a subsidiary of QVC Network, has opened a new 52,600 square-foot telecommunications centre for its telehandling service. It will also handle over 60 million calls yearly for QVC Network's home shopping service. The centre has been opened in Chesapeake, Virginia. Home shopping is a growth market in America at the moment, and Europe is still teetering on the edge of the home shopping revolution. QVC Network Inc., a leading home shopping network, has mounted a hostile takeover bid against Paramount Communications, the movie channel, as well as one against its arch-competitor Home Shopping Network. On 1 October QVC -- The Shopping Channel launched in Europe on the Astra channel as part of the BSkyB multichannel offering. The channel is initially restricted to UK shoppers although there are plans to roll out the service next year into Europe. QVC hopes that demand will be high for its 24-hour, 364 day-a-year service, and in the first hour of trading (1400-1500 BST) it claimed to have taken over a thousand telephone orders. "Together with our partners BSkyB, we have mounted an interactive, 24-hour shopping and programming service in just a few short months," said Mike Boyd, president and COO of QVC. "It is really a revolution in the way people shop!" ANOTHER LATIN SIGNS FOR PAS-1 Latin America's latest satellite television network Tele-UNO has signed a contract with PanAmSat for a 24-hour compressed digital video circuit on PAS-1. Tele-UNO, a joint venture between Spelling Satellite Networks and Multivision Mexico, will use the circuit for program distribution. This service is PanAmSat's 30th full-time video service to Latin America, and the 10th major programmer to use CDV services on PAS-1, with broadcasters such as MTV Latino, Fox Hollywood Channel and NBC Canal de Noticias. Mike Antonovich, director of broadcast services at Alpha Lyracom, said: "Tele-UNO is the latest sensation to hit Latin America. "We are very pleased to be able to provide the state-of-the-art technology which will allow Tele-UNO to have the widest distribution possible. PanAmSat's dedication to technological innovation and service is what allows us to keep broadcasters such as Tele-UNO ahead of the game." AIRPORT TV BOUND FOR UK Plans are being formulated for a private airport television news network called Airport Television, designed to keep passengers entertained and informed. The channel will be based on Turner Broadcasting's Airport Channel in the US. Initially six of the UK's largest airports will carry the new service, broadcast for 17 hours daily. A range of light entertainment and news is set to be provided by the service, being operated by Sky Sites, a concession which holds the rights to advertise at airports owned by the British Airport Authority, Discussions are ongoing with news vendors in the UK and Europe to provide bite-sized news nuggets for the service, which is set to be supported by advertising. Presumably TV news footage of air crashes will be omitted from any airport TV news broadcasts. At first the network would be fed by leased lines although if the concept is extended into other airports an encrypted satellite channel may be secured. The advertising industry is reportedly excited about the prospect of Airport Television, as typically air travellers have to wait in captivity for a while and are usually bored or anxious to do something, and television will help calm their nerves, ease their boredom and (hopefully) sell products for the advertisers. A series of local ad breaks is also planned, enabling airport concession stores to advise of special offers, such as a promotion on gin at the duty-free store or special luncheons at the restaurant. MORE SEX URGED ON AMERICAN TELEVISION Instead of complaining about the high levels of sex on American screens, one organisation is asking for more to be aired. Moralists need not fear, as the organisation hopes that the programmes will enable more children and parents to talk about sex and become educated at the same time. The Centre for Population Options is a non-profit-making organisation which aims to provide education on safe sex and birth control. In its latest publication 'Talking with TV: A guide to starting dialogue with youth," a number of TV shows to be aired which talk about sex are listed, in the hope that American families will tune in and learn together. More shows which responsibly talk about sex were also sought. "TV has the potential to be tremendously powerful for providing powerful role models for parents as well," said Jennifer Daves, director of the Centre's media project. RELAXATION IN US HI-TECH EXPORT CONTROLS The United States government has announced a new sweeping liberalisation programme of export controls for high technology products and it is to increase its subsidy of export financing. News of the plans has been greeted by US companies who have previously been hampered by the restrictions. At the announcement, President Bill Clinton said: "I don't believe a wealthy country can grow much richer...without expanding exports." The government expects six million jobs to be created, generating US$1 trillion of exports by the end of the century, aggressively matching rival exporters around the world. "The Cold War is over and the technologies have changed dramatically. Therefore, today I am ordering sweeping changes in our export controls that dramatically reduce controls on telecommunications technologies and computers. What we have today at long last is a coordinated, targeted, aggressive export strategy," said Clinton. The US Congress forced the setting up of a committee to increase and co-ordinate trade exports, and 65 different wide-ranging recommendations were made. Liberalisation will mean a great reduction in the amount of orders that need to be referred to the state department for export licensing and clearance. MARTIN MARIETTA TO SHED 3,5000 JOBS Only weeks after starting internal investigation into the loss of two space satellites and a spacecraft in close proximity, Martin Marietta Corp. says that it plans to lay off at least 3,500 workers over the next 15 months, and this figure could be even greater if there are more cuts in the US Defence budget. The company says that about 2000 of the layoffs are at sites earmarked as part of a consolidation programme aimed at streamling the company after it merged in April with GE Aerospace, but according to Norman Augustine, chairman of Martin Marietta, the space and commercial activities were on the whole unaffected by the moves. Martin Marietta presently employs around 94,000 people in the US, but this is around 46,000 less than it and GE Aerospace had combined in 1987. Company reports show that around 65 percent of its revenue is sourced from defence projects.