::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: MediaScan :: :: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS :: :: from Radio Sweden :: :: Number 2205--Aug. 2, 1994 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden. This week's bulletin was written by George Wood. Packet Radio BID SCDX2205 All times UTC unless otherwise noted. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NORDIC MEDIA NEWS: SWEDISH PRIVATE RADIO--Sweden's private commercial radio stations have been on the air for less than a year, and the changes keep coming, as the market sorts itself out. The two new classical radio stations here in Stockholm are slowly establishing regular service. The British-owned Classic FM is still broadcasting bird song and an announcement of their imminent start on 107.5 MHz, but they've actually introduced some classic hits, like "Pacabel's Canon", into their tape loop. Arch-rival Classic Radio, run by the Kinnevik media empire, has been running a loop of classic hits for some weeks here on 106.3 MHz and in Gothenburg on 107.8 MHz. Now they say they will start regular broadcasts on August 8th, but actually plan to begin the day before. Meanwhile, Stockholmers were surprised recently when a new and unexpected station appeared, the new oldies station Golden Hits on 100.8 MHz. That isn't a Stockholm allocation. It turns out that it's actually in Sdertlje, 30 kilometers southwest of the capital. While the station is obviously trying to serve Stockholm, coverage is spotty at best. What's interesting about Golden Hits is that it's a station without any staff. Everything is totally automaticated. ("Dagens Nyheter") Ultimately, the station hopes to take listener requests on a voice mail premium rate telephone line, in effect earning money for the station for just playing the music it would have played anyway. CABLE--Innovations continue with Swedish cable radio and television. Swedish Telecom, the country's largest cable operator, has just finished a month-long trial in limited pay-per-view video-on-demand, where viewers use the phone to order movies from the cable. In today's program we interview Claes Gustafsson, head of Information for Swedish Telecom Cable. He tells us that the trial during June reached 550,000 households in 28 Swedish cities. They offered four Swedish films three times each evening. This is a far cry from true video-on-demand, where you can choose between many films and events, and see your choice soon, waiting 20 minutes at most. Claes Gustafsson tells us that his company is working towards providing a service where films are available at least every 30 minutes, and they hope it will be in place this Fall. True pay-per-view video-on-demand will take a few years, however. The project to place cable radio stations on their terrestrial frequencies has stalled in Stockholm, due to the many new stations placed so close together. This is also expected to be implemented during the Fall. Meanwhile, they're also talking to DMX and several other companies about providing themed digital radio channels, without commercials or talk. This is another project set to begin in the Fall, although in this case Claes Gustafsson is less sure they'll meet this target. EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS: SKY SPORTS 2--There are major changes on Astra transponder 47, which has been a Sky preview channel. Sky has confirmed that Sky Sports 2 will be officially starting there on August 19th. But the transponder is already scrambled, because on Friday and Saturday it's being previewed as a special events outlet for pubs and clubs, which are paying 75 pounds each for the opportunity to show the Ibrox International International Challenge Trophy soccer tournament from Glasgow, featuring such teams as Glasgow Rangers, Manchester United, and Newcastle United. The match begin at 17:30 and 19:45 hrs UTC on Friday, and at 15:00 and 17:15 hrs on Saturday. When it officially launches, Sky Sports 2 will be carried on Fridays and weekends only. It will be encrypted in videocrypt, and will be free to existing Sky Sports subscribers. During the week, Sky may eventually carry its own Science Fiction channel (NOT the same as the American Sci-Fi Channel said to be coming to Eutelsat II-F1) in the evenings, and possibly soap operas during the day, with the current preview channel the rest of the time. The latest edition of "Sky Plus" magazine states that Sky will introduce "even more new channels" in September. VH-1 is already slated for a September 30th launch. The Travel Channel may also be moving to Astra as part of the Sky Multichannels package. There are also reports Sky may be about to increase its subscription fees. (James Robinson, Martyn Williams, and "Skyguide") ASTRA RADIO--Asda FM, the in-store music channel for a chain of British supermarkets, has moved to 7.56 MHz on Astra transponder 47, while Super Gold is on 7.38 MHz. Asda's moving from Sky Movies Plus, and Super Gold from Sky News, where all the available sound channels are being cleared out for use by DMX, which plans to offer dozens of themed digital radio channels to Europe. (James Robinson) Country Music Radio may be returning to Astra on MTV's transponder 22, audio 7.74 MHz. (We've had previous reports that WRN's new German service would be located here.) Or possibly to 7.38 and 7.56 kHz on Nickelodeon's transponder 46. (James Robinson) EUROSPORT--Eurosport is moving (or has already moved) from Astra 1A to 1C, keeping the same transponder frequency, as 1C is the back-up for 1A. Reception may be somewhat worse in northern Europe, as the coverage pattern on 1C is aimed more towards the south. Eurosport is adding a soundtrack in Spanish to take advantage of its new coverage area. (Bertil Sundberg in "Paa TV", James Robinson, Andy Sennitt, "Sky Guide") ARIANE--Ariane has now announced the Astra 1D satelite will be on its V69 launch, which will follow the Eutelsat Hot Bird on V68, scheduled for November 11th. So hopefully the new Astra will be in orbit before the end of the year. (Bertil Sundberg in "Paa TV") EUTELSAT--Eutelsat II-F1 is apparently fully booked. This includes the new BBC World Service news channel to Europe, the Sci-Fi Channel, and others. ("In Orbit") Eutelsat is to begin tests of digital radio on August 4th. The SaRa system will provide up to 100 channels via the soon-to-be-launched Hot Bird satellite. The stations involved in the tests include Deutschlandradio, Deutsche Welle, and WDR Radio. ("Satnews") INTELSAT--Intelsat 601 bears the message "Reserved for United Artists Programming" on 11.055 GHz. (Bertil Sundberg in "Paa TV") GHORIZONT--Channel 6 from St. Petersburg has been testing in PAL on the Ghorizont at 53 degrees East, on 11.525 GHz. (Bertil Sundberg in "Paa TV") TELECOM--The new French all-news channel LCI on Telecom 2-B will be encrypted from September 15th. (Martyn Williams) MIDDLE EASTERN MEDIA NEWS: BBC--The new BBC Arabic service is running as part of a digital coded package in the C-band on the Arabsat 1-D satellite. But the service can also be found, in clear PAL, evenings on Eutelsat 1-F4 at 25.5 degrees East, the same satellite that's carrying CNN to Eastern Europe. The BBC is at 11.660 GHz. TURKSAT--CNN is Eutelsat I-F4 because the Ariane rocket carrying the first Turksat, on which CNN had booked a transponder, crashed a few months ago. The second Turksat was supposed to be launched with Ariane last Saturday, but because of a problem in the oxygen tank of the rocket's third stage, the launch has been postponed until August 10th. Brazilsat is also onboard. (Reuters) PALESTINE--The Voice of Palestine has been heard on 675 kHz, replacing 702 kHz. The station, which is located in Jericho, has denied a report it intends to use Abie Nathan's former Peace Ship for offshore broadcasts. Palestinean Television is now transmitting from Jericho on UHF channel 21. (BBC Monitoring) ASIAN MEDIA NEWS: APSTAR--On July 21st, China launched Apstar-1. This, and its sister satellite Apstar-2, will be major competition for Rupert Murdoch's Star-TV service on Asiasat. Programmers on Apstar's 24 transponders will include CNN, the sports channel ESPN, HBO, Discovery, Reuters Television, Australia's Channel 9, and TVB from Hong Kong. MTV Asia, which left Star-TV package on Asiasat, is to resume broadcasts from Apstar, from a new base in Singapore. But there's controversy over Apstar as well. China is placing it at 131 degees East. The problem is that the Pacific satellite Rimsat is at 130 degrees, and Japan's Sakura 3A is at 132 degrees. Generally broadcast satellites are placed at least 2 degrees apart to avoid interference. (Reuters and AP) AFRICAN MEDIA NEWS: RWANDA--Radio Rwanda, now taken over by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, has resumed broadcasts on 6055 kHz, and has announced the new 99.3 MHz VHF FM. English has been heard at 11:45 and 18:30 or 18:45 hrs UTC. (BBC Monitoring) NORTH AMERICAN MEDIA NEWS: DIRECTV--The launch of DirecTV-2 has been delayed due to problems at the launch site. The Atlas rocket at NASA's Cape Canaveral facility was grounded by the rocket manufacturer after the discovery of possible problems with the onboard systems. ("Satnews") WORLD RADIO NETWORK--The WRN Network 1 transmissions of international broadcasters (including Radio Sweden) to North America began relays on the Galaxy 5 satellite, on WTBS's transponder 6, audio 6.8 MHz, on August 1st. The ASC-1 transmissions will end in December. (WRN) The relatively high-powered Galaxy 5 is the most popular American satellite, with many services, such as: the Disney Channel, Playboy, the Sci-Fi Channel, CNN, WTBS, WGN, HBO, ESPN and ESPN 2, the Family Channel, Discovery, CNBC, Cinemax, TNT, the USA Network, and Arts and Entertainment. It's the only American C-band satellite for which fixed, non-motorized dishes are sold. LATIN AMERICAN MEDIA NEWS: NBC--Following its take-over of Europe's Super Channel, and subsidiary CNBC's newly started service on Indonesia's Palapa satellite, the NBC TV network is now moving into Latin America. NBC has signed an agreement with Mexico's upstart network Television Azteca, which has two networks with 168 affiliated stations. NBC will provide some programs to the two networks, but is more interested in helping TV Azteca develop programs that can beshown in other Spanish-speaking countries and to cities in the United States. NBC already operates Canal de Noticias NBC, a 24-hour Spanish-language news service. (AP) SWITZERLAND--Swiss Radio International is now broadcasting via a relay station in French Guiana. The following schedule was carredi in the "World of Radio" program on WWCR: 00:30-03:15 hrs on 13635 kHz to Central America and eastern North America 03:30-05:30 hrs on 11620 kHz to Western North America 08:30-10:45 hrs on 11640 kHz to Australasia 20:00-21:00 hrs on 9770 kHz to Africa 22:15-24:00 hrs on 11650 kHz to South America (replacing the relay from Gabon in 12035 kHz) (BBC Monitoring) AMATEUR RADIO SATELLITES: SOUTH AFRICA--The US space agency NASA has agreed to launch South Africa's first satellite, in January, 1996. Designed originally for the French commercial Ariane rocket, the Stellenbosch University Satellite (SUNSAT) has to be modified to meet NASA's requirements. The project was chosen from among around 150 applications a year for two or three places on American delivery rockets. Sunsat is to deliver high-resolution multi-spectral stereo images of the Earth, and will carry amateur radio equipment, which will enable school children to talk with the satellite in space. (Reuters) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Radio Sweden broadcasts in English: Europe and Africa: 16:15 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz 17:30 hrs on 1179, 6065, 9655, and 15390 kHz 20:30 hrs on 1179, 6065 and 9655 kHz 21:30 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz, and 22:30 hrs on 1179 and 6065 kHz Middle East and Africa: 17:30 hrs on 6065, 9655, and 15390 kHz 20:30 hrs on 6065 and 9655 kHz Asia and the Pacific: 11:30 hrs on 13775, 15120, and 15240 kHz 23:30 hrs on 11910 kHz and 01:30 hrs on 9695 and 11695 kHz North America: 12:30 and 13:30 hrs on 15240 and 17870 kHz 02:30 and 03:30 hrs on 6155 and 9850 kHz South America: 00:30 hrs on 6065 and 9810 kHz The broadcasts at 16:15, 17:30, 21:30, and 22:30 hrs (and weekends at 20:30) are also relayed to Europe by satellite: Astra 1B (19.2 degrees East) transponder 26 (Sky Movies Gold) at 11.597 GHz, audio subcarrier at 7.74 MHz, Tele-X and Sirius (5 degrees East) via TV5 Nordic at 12.475 GHz and TV4 on 11.938 GHz, audio subcarrier 7.38 MHz. Radio Sweden is also relayed to Europe via the World Radio Network on MTV's transponder 22 on Astra, audio 7.38 MHz, daily at 20:00 hrs UTC. 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 00:00 and 20:00 hrs. Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to +468-667-6283, from MCI Mail or CompuServe to the CompuServe mailbox 70247,3516, from the Internet to 70247.3516@compuserve.com, or to SM0IIN at the packet radio BBS SM0ETV. 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, with the exception of items from BBC Monitoring, which are copyright. We welcome comments and suggestions about the electronic edition, Sweden Calling DXers, and our programs in general. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to this week's contributors Good Listening!