From WOOD@stab.sr.seMon Feb 20 17:58:01 1995 Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 16:53:16 +0100 From: George Wood To: bergstamta@decus.se, andy.sennitt@almac.co.uk, ab5sm@netcom.com, hermod.pedersen@swedx.ct.se, kauto.huopio@lut.fi, kenta@sr.se, ar416@freenet.buffalo.edu, bignoise@cix.compulink.co.uk, tstader@aol.com, satnews@cix.compulink.co.uk, 100121.655@compuserve.com, 71163.1735@compuserve.com, 70630.560@compuserve.com, 100113.1517@compuserve.com, 76703.407@compuserve.com, 3382983@mcimail.com, 2446376@mcimail.com, jpdonnio@dialup.francenet.fr, scdx@get.pp.se, tp6@evansville.edu, martyn@euro.demon.co.uk, xx024@detroit.freenet.org Subject: scdx2218 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: MediaScan :: :: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS :: :: from Radio Sweden :: :: Number 2218--Feb. 21, 1995 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden. This week's bulletin was written by George Wood. Packet Radio BID SCDX2218 All times UTC unless otherwise noted. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS: EU QUOTAS--As we mentioned last time, the new European Commission has been looking at the issue of quotas for non-European television programming. France has been trying to tighten the directive "Television Without Frontiers", adopted a few years ago, that sought to force European broadcasters to use a majority of European programming, but added a loophole, saying this would only be where practical. The French suffered a set-back at the recent meeting of European Union Ministers of Culture. But what do European film-makers feel about quotas? Radio Sweden's Jim Downing was at the recent Gothenburg Film Festival, and filed a report, including an interview with fil director Christina Olofsson, who is against quotas and in favor of subsidies to local film-makers to make better European films which can compete with Hollywood. NORWEGIAN QUOTAS--Norway is not a member of the European Union, and it looks like Norwegian attempts to enforce another sort of quota, on media ownership, may force one of the country's most popular satellite broadcasters to move its uplink abroad. TV Norge, on the Intelsat 702 satellite, is owned by the Scandinavian Broadcasting System, which despite its name is based in Luxembourg, and owned primarily by the ABC television network in the US. It also runs Sweden's TV 5, or Femman, another station in Denmark, and Belgium's new VT-4 channel. Norwegian politicians are considering legislation to block a single owner from holding more than one third of a broadcasting organization. While TV Norge's management has denied there are plans to move, there's widespread speculation in Norway this will happen should be ownership law be passed. (NTB) TV3--There's a precedent--Sweden's TV3, which broadcasts separate Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish services by satellite and cable, is based in London to avoid Swedish media laws. They've suffered a setback recently -- a leading Swedish department store chain has withdrawn all its advertising from TV3, to protest against television violence. The Aahlens chain says TV3 carries the most violent programming on Swedish television. The channel took its most violent children's program, the American series "Power Rangers", off the air last year, following several incidents of children assaulting playmates in Scandinavia. However, the program returned to the schedule a few weeks later. ("Dagens Nyheter") TV-SAT--There's been a lot of speculation about Germany's TV-Sat direct broadcast satellite, which has been up for sale. The main rivals have apparently been the Norwegians, who want to place the satellite next to Thor at 1 degree West, the Swedish Space Coporation, who want another satellite with Tele-X and Sirius at 5 degrees East, and Eutelsat, who want to beef up the 13 degrees East position while waiting for the delayed Hot Bird satellite. According to an item on the Usenet alt.satellite.tv.europe newsgroup, the Norwegians have won, and the satellite began its move from 19 degrees East to 1 degree West last weekend. It's expected to arrive at its new position in mid-March. (Kauto Huopio) FINLAND--Finland's first local TV station started transmissions last week in Tampere. It is the first regional television station in the Nordic countries, and in his opening address, Finnish Communications Minister Ole Norrback promised franchises for Helsinki, Turku, and Lahti, if the applicants were forthcoming. (YLE via BBC Monitoring and Kauto Huopio) EUROPEAN DIGITAL RADIO--Last time we started a conversation with Andrew Taussig, the BBC World Service radio's head of broadcasting for Europe, who was here in Stockholm. Britain is expected to become the first country in the world with regular broadcasts using digital audio broadcasting, D-A-B, due to start later this year. But the BBC is also involved in a program with several other countries to carry separate international digital channels in English, French, and German across Europe. The initial project is between the BBC and counterparts in Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Once the project is running, other European broadcasters will be invited to join in. There's a practical reason for this, the participants want the system to be relayed across the continent, with a single DAB frequency from northern Sweden to southern Italy. In addition, the EU, which is funding the project, wants all its members included. A non-DAB pilot program will be airing on the BBC's medium wave transmitter on 648 kHz, which is well received in Brussels. (Andrew Taussig) EBN--The new European Business Channel from Dow Jones is due to launch on Intelsat 601 on February 27th. EUROPEAN UNION--Not content with the EBU's Euronews, the European Union has started its own broadcasts on Eutelsat II-F2, on 11.080 GHz. It's in clear PAL. Five subcarriers of the trnsponder, at 6.60, 7.02, 7.20, 7.38, and 7.56 MHz, carry audio to accompany the video in different EU languages. The transmissions are all of EU-related material, including relays of sessions of the European parliament, and news conferences gives by EU officials. The transmissions are on the air at various times of the day. When no events are being relays, a program schedule is displayed. (BBC Monitoring and James Robinson) ARIANE--After being stopped by a launch failure in December, Western Europe's Ariane satellite launch program is scheduled to resume operations from March 14. Arianespace says a series of 21 corrective measures costing more than USD 8 million have been adopted to ensure the reliability of the rocket. March's scheduled mission will attempt to launch Eutelsat's Hot Bird-1 satellite, and Brazil's Brasilsat B2. A spokesman for Arianespace would not give an exact date, but said the launch was scheduled from March 14th onwards. (Reuters) DMX--DMX is ready to launch its CD-quality mucis service from Astra in April. Offering 90 channels of themes music, DMX anticipates that relatively few satellite TV enthusiasts will take the service at first. Consumer receivers, made by Technisat and Kathrein in Germany, will cost in Germany around the equivalent of GBP 200, but should fall to around GBP 100 when the market has matured. The service will cost around GBP 7 a month. ("What Satellite TV") EUTELSAT--Eutelsat says its sold all 20 transponder leases on its Hot Bird 2 satellite, due to launch in August, 1996. ("What Satellite TV") QVC--Which we've previously reported would be leaving the Sky Multichannels package and switching to clear PAL, has changed instead to soft Videocrypt encoding. Like UK Gold and Sky Sports previously (but no longer), this means that anyone with a Videocrypt decoder can watch the station, without a BSkyB smartcard. ("What Satellite TV") GERMANY--The media authorities in Frankfurt have issued five licences for new TV channels in Germany. They have been awarded to new music channels Viva 2 and VH-1 Germany, FAB (Fernsehen aus Berlin), the family channel Super RTL, and TM3, the third channel from Tele Munchen. So far none of the new channels that have booked space on Astra 1D have been awarded licences. This includes Kabel Plus and the shopping channel HOT. Viva 2 is believed to have secured the Eurosport transponder on Eutelsat II- F1 which will be vacated when Europsort moves to the upcoming Hot Bird satellite. Super RTL will occupy channels on Hot Bird and Astra's transponder 13 when RTL vacates for Astra 1D. ("Tele-Satellit") Despite a report that the German VH-1 will be using the evening time on Nickelodeon's transponder 46 on Astra, there's nothing there yet. It's worth keeping an eye on it, along with the other vacant Astra transponders. DEUTSCHE WELLE--Dieter Weirich, director of Deutsche Welle Radio and TV International, announced at the Intersat 95 trade fair in Frankfurt that Deutsche Welle will launch a 24 hour international TV channel in German, English, and Spanish from July 1, 1995. (apparently expanding the current Deutsche Welle TV in those three languages, and squeezing the USIA's Worldnet off the transponders, just as France's TV5 did a couple of years ago). (ADN via BBC Monitoring) TV ASIA/ZEE--Astra broadcaster TV Asia has dealt with its first serious potential competitor by merging with it. Last December Zee-TV, broadcast to India over Rupert Murdoch's Star-TV, and partly owned by Star, announced it would start a European channel this March. TV Asia has responded by merging with Zee-TV. ("What Satellite TV") ASIAN MEDIA NEWS: IRAN--Iran's Council of Guardians, a body responsible for endorsing the approvals of the Majlis, on February 15 endorsed a law banning the use of satellite dishes and equipment. Satellite dish owners will have one month to turn in their equipment or pay fines ofup to USD 740. Over the past few years, hundreds of thousands of Iranian households, bored by state television, have installed satellite dishes, which are smuggled into the country. Supporters of the ban say satellite dishes are the spearhead of a "Western cultural invasion". Opponents say the government should first supply alternative entertainment. (IRNA via BBC Monitoring and Reuters) ISRAEL--Israel TV's channel 3 began full-time broadcasting on satellite and cable on January 22. It can now be received in most of the Middle East, the Gulf, and North Africa. (BBC Monitoring) Presumeably the satellite in question is Intelsat 702, which carries three Israeli television channels. Channel 3 is listed on 11.023 GHz. APSTAR--A pro-Chinese newspaper in Hong Kong has claimed that the recent loss of the Apstar-2 satellite was due to a failure within the satellite, and not the Chinese Long March rocket. China made similar claims when Australia's Optus satellite failed to achieve orbit in 1992. Later in the week the newspaper backed away from the claims, saying only that the investigation was continuing. Shortly after the crash, the same newspaper had claimed that sabotage from foreign tracking stations was responsible for the failure, in order to cause a loss of confidence in the Chinese space program. ("Tele- Satellit" and Reuters) Despite the Apstar failure, MTV Asia plans to launch new channels in April and May, using current capacity on four existing satellites. Meanwhile, another Apstar broadcaster, Asian Business News, has now booked a transponder on PAS-4, due to be launched in mid-1995. ABN, owned jointly by Television New Zealand, Dow Jones, Singapore's SIM, and cable giant TCI, is currently on Indonesia's Palapa P2 satellite. Ted Turner's TNT and Cartoon Network, scheduled for Apstar-2, continue to broadcast on Apstar-1. (Reuters) TVB--Britain's media group Pearson has bought 10 percent of Hong Kong's Television Broadcasts, TVB, the world's leading producer of Chinese language drama, and a potential rival to Rupert Murdoch's Star-TV. TVB's plans to expand into South Asia have been temporarily halted by the failure of the Apstar-2 satellite, but Pearson has also secured an agreement with a local broadcaster in that region to start a TV channel soon. ("Tele-Satellit") JAPAN--NHK is to launch a gloval TV service via satellite. By using the TV Japan services for North America and Europe, this will mean a five hour program to North America and three hours to Europe, free of charge. From 1996 onwards, NHK's plans include expanding broadcasting hours, and launching a similar service to Asia and the Pacific in 1998. (Radio Japan via BBC Monitoring) Is this a reference to the Japanese service on Astra, JSTV? It is hardly free, except for immediately after the Kobe earthquake when JSTV commendably dropped its coding. NORTH AMERICAN MEDIA NEWS: USA--The Federal Communications Commission has announced the award of spectrum located between 2310 and 2360 MHz for the creasion of a "direct-to- radio" satellite broadcasting service. The Digital Aufio Radio Swervice (DARS) will deliver CD quality radio to the public. While four companies have applied to provide the new service, it is expected that a challenge from the National Association of Broadcasters will delay any start-up for at least two years. ("Dishcetera" via Curt Swinehart) CYBERSPACE: USA--A third American college radio station has begun broadcasts over the Internet. This is KUGS at Western Washington University in Bellingham. Information about the station can be found at: http://www.pacificrim.net:80/~kugs Another college station, WREK at Georgia Tech, is preparing to launch on the Net. The URL seems to be: http://www.gatech.edu/wrek/wreknet_tech.html (Pete Costello, who's Shortwave/Radio Catalog can be found at: http://itre.unceces.edu/radio) EUROPE--Wildfire, the service reported last time that intends to transmit the Usenet newsgroups to Europe using the blank lines on an Astra transponder, has the URL: htt://www.tecc.co.uk/wildfire/index.html They write: "Each user will need to purchase our receiver/ decoder unit which is an internal PC card. This will be available throughout Europe. Our target end user price is around GBP 50 - 80, inclusive of VAT (17.5%) and UK postage. Prices for other systems will be similar when they are available, with the exception of the external RS232 box which will be considerably more. It is intended that the receiver will be sold for close to cost price, to encourage take up of the service "In addition to this each user will need to take out a subscription to receive the service. This pays our satellite transmission costs (our largest cost), and enables up to provide support in an ongoing basis. The subscription will be around GBP 8 - 10 per month, and this will include the user receiving as much or as little of the service as they wish. All users will of course need a normal Internet account (for sending news and for using interactive services), and a satellite dish and receiver...Note that the dish and receiver is not dedicated to use with this system, it can be used for watching TV at any time other than when we are 'on air'." (Wildfire) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: 17:15 hrs 1179 and 6065 kHz 18:30 1179, 6065, 9655, and 13690 kHz (also Africa/Middle East) 21:30 1179, 6065, and 9655 kHz (also Africa/Middle East) 22:30 1179 and 6065 kHz 23:30 1179 kHz Asia/Pacific: 12:30 hrs 13775, 15120, and 15240 kHz 23:30 11910 kHz 01:30 9895 and 11695 kHz North America: 13:30 and 14:30 hrs on 11650 and 15240 kHz 02:30 and 03:30 hrs on 6200 and 7120 kHz Latin America: 00:30 hrs on 6065 and 6200 kHz The broadcasts at 17:15 and 18:30 hrs 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 (5 degrees East) via TV5 Nordic 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, 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. Sound files of Mediascan are archived at: ftp.funet.fi:pub/sounds/RadioSweden/Mediascan. If you access to the WorldWide Web, 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 The World Radio Network is also available live via the Internet MBONE. Check: http://town.hall.org/radio/wrn.html Contributions can be sent to DX Editor George Wood by fax to +468-667-6283, via the Internet to wood@stab.sr.se, from MCI Mail or CompuServe to the CompuServe mailbox 70247,3516, 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!