::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: MediaScan :: :: SWEDEN CALLING DXERS :: :: from Radio Sweden :: :: Number 2234--Oct 17, 1995 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Satellite, shortwave and other electronic media news from Radio Sweden. This week's bulletin was written by George Wood. Packet Radio BID SCDX2234 All times UTC unless otherwise noted. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- First of all, apologies to anyone who tried to order a schedule or put themselves on this mailing list last week. My mailbox was offline. Everything should be restored now. Secondly, if you have access to the World Wide Web, check out: http://www.sr.se/rs/english/scdx.htm for a multimedia version of this text, including sound cuts. Interviews from previous programs can now be found at: http://www.sr.se/rs/english/media2.htm NORDIC MEDIA NEWS: RADIO SWEDEN--There's a change in the Radio Sweden shortwave schedule to North America. Because of interference on an adjacent channel, the broadcasts at 02:30 and 03:30 hrs UTC have moved down 5 kHz to 7115 kHz. If you'd like our complete schedule, you can order a copy by e- mail by sending a message to english@rs.sr.se DENMARK--On Friday, the Danish broadcasting authorities gave permission for a neo-Nazi organization to start a local radio station. But the national local radio committee warned the station, Radio Oasis, that it's licence will be immediately withdrawn if it airs programs with racist propaganda. (AP) Today's program includes a report from Christopher Follet in Copenhagen on the controversy over Radio Oasis. Danish private radio grew out of non-commercial community radio. There are around 300 organizations there licenced for radio. When I was in Denmark recently I met Stig Hartvig Nielsen, who's active in the private radio scene there. I asked him about the transition from community radio to commercial radio, and that interview is in today's program. EUROPEAN MEDIA NEWS: ASTRA--The Astra 1E satellite was supposed to launch during the weekend, but has been delayed because of a technical problem. Arianespace, which will launch the satellite from French Guyana, says an interface electronic component was found to be defective during testing in Europe. (Reuters) The new launch window is early Thursday morning, October 19, between 00:38 and 01:56 hrs UTC. If you want to follow the launch, it's scheduled to be relayed on Astra transponder 57 (currently used for Astra demo promos). (James Robinson) Relays on transponders 45 (Bayern 3)and 46 (Nickelodeon) are also reported. ("Tele-satellit") North Americans can follow on Telstar 302, transponder 4. (Curt Swinehart) Astra 1E will be Europe's first all digital broadcast satellite, with a total of 18 active 85 watt Ku-band transponders. In the last edition of the program, Jan Friedman of Nethold described the channels they intend to launch via Astra and other digital satellites in the future. The first Nethold channel from Astra 1E to go on the air will be Supersport, which will feature English soccer, NHL hockey, and tennis, with commentary in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish. (TT) Other companies who have booked transponders on Astra 1E include France's Canal Plus, with four transponders, CLT with two, Germany's Kirsch Group with three, Pro Seben from Germany, and British Sky Broadcasting. Each transponder can be used for several digital channels. Astra 1E will use the band between 11.7 and 12.1 GHz. Special new digital receivers will be needed to pick up the signals. ("What Satellite TV") There's a new audio subcarrier in use on FilmNet's Astra transponder 63, 7.74 MHz. It is currently relaying the regular FilmNet sound. (James Robinson) Nickelodeon is expanding to 06:00-20:00 hrs British time. When the Paramount channel launchs on Astra transponder 46 on November 1, it will begin when Nickelodeon goes off the air at 20:00 hrs. Starting on November 1 on Astra transponder 47 are the History Channel at 16:00 hrs, the SciFi Channel at 19:00 hrs, and Sky Sports Gold at 22:00 hrs. (James Robinson) AMERICA ONE--The America One 24 hour European service from National Public Radio and Public Radio International is set to go on the air in January, most likely on the same transponder as WRN, Astra transponder 22, with sound at 7.74 MHz. NPR/PRI programming on WRN will drop from 10 to 8 hours a day, which will be simulcast on the new service, which will offer an additional 16 hours a day of American public radio programming. (Larry Sherwin, America One) GENERAL ELECTRIC--GE Capital Satellites-Europe, a division of GE Capital Satellites International, Inc., announced that it is offering satellite communications services on the new Sirius 2 Ku-band satellite, which will be launched to the 5 degrees East orbital slot in 1997. GE Capital Satellites-Europe was established to provide point- to-multipoint satellite transmission for video programmers and other satellite users seeking to reach audiences throughout Europe. GE's pan-European satellite service via Sirius 2 will feature two available transmission coverage beams: a Europe-wide beam and a European North/Central beam, both delivering an Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) of 50dBW at the edge of the primary service area. "Our new European service will increase the number of video choices for European consumers, while providing an effective satellite distribution channel for video programmers," said George Monaster, vice president of international marketing at GE American Communications, Inc. (GE Americom), the parent of GE Capital Satellites International, Inc. "Our GE European service offers both the power and coverage video programmers need to expand their services throughout Europe," he said. "We will also offer the value and quality service that being a GE company enables us to provide our customers," he added. GE Capital Satellites and Nordiska Satellitaktiebolaget (NSAB) of Sweden announced in June that they will share capacity on the 32-transponder Sirius 2 satellite, which will replace NSAB's Tele-X. Aerospatiale of France will build the new satellite for NSAB. (NewsPage) BRITAIN--Britain's Independent Television Commission is expected to announce which of four bids has been successful in the contest for the new Channel 5 licence. Two Scandinavian media companies are involved in rival bids. The favorite is the UKTV consortium assembled by Canadian broadcaster CanWest, which also includes the Scandinavian Broadcasting System, Britain's SelecTV, and Australia's Network 10. If UKTV doesn't get the bid, it might go to Richard Branson's Virgin TV, or Channel 5 Broadcasting, which includes Pearson and Luxembourg's CLT. Out of the running, after turning in a bid less than one tenth that of the other contenders, is New Century, which includes Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting and Granada. One important consideration is that the licence holder must be controlled by European Union companies. UKTV is satisfying that condition by establishing that the Scandinavian Broadcasting System and SelecTV will own 50 percent of the company. (Reuters) Of course, SBS is controlled by the ABC network in the United States, that is, Disney. DIGITAL TELEVISION--The British Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday (October 10) demanded a bigger piece of the action in the move towards digital television, which promises to deliver more channels than current technology. The BBC, spelling out its response to a government policy document on digital terrestrial television (DTV), said that it should be allocated its own "multiplex" -- a frequency block that can carry three or more channels using the new technology. "We need a BBC multiplex," BBC Director-General John Birt told a news conference. "With a full multiplex we can fully exploit the possibilites of digitial television in the public interest," he added. The BBC said that full control of the multiplex would allow it to provide uninterrupted coverage of big sporting occasions, parliament and artistic events such as concerts. It could also make a 24-hour news service possible. With digital technology, the TV signal is compressed and converted into electronic pulses for transmission. The effect is to improve picture quality and provide more channel capacity than the existing analogue method. The government said in August that it planned to open up six frequencies for digital television -- meaning that Britain's existing four terrestrial television stations will be joined by at least 18 more in the next few years. Under the government proposals, the BBC was offered guaranteed access to the new technology for its two channels but not its own dedicated frequency block. Viewers wishing to receive the new channels will either have to upgrade their existing television set with a set-top digital decoder or splash out on a new set capable of receiving via the new method. Set-top decoders are expected to emerge first but not to be on the market for two years or so. Digital technology is seen as the future of broadcasting but the switch from analogue will be neither simple nor cheap. "This will be a very high risk venture and will require many billions of pounds of investment," Birt said, adding that leading broadcasters must be involved for it to take off. The BBC called on the government to set a timetable for the eventual end of analogue services but would not be drawn on how long would be needed to phase out the old system. The switch would free up the UHF broadcasting spectrum which the government could sell for use in mobile communications or data broadcasting -- which industry analysts say could raise as much as two billion pounds ($3.2 billion) a year. The BBC, which is funded by a licence fee levied on all TV owners, said that it must remain a service available to all. It urged the government to ensure that cable and satellite providers were obliged to carry or offer its services. (Reuters) AMERICAN MEDIA NEWS: WRN--The World Radio Network has started its WRN2 network in non- English languages to North America. It's in the same place as WRN Network 1, that is Galaxy 5, transponder 6. But while Network 1 is on 6.8 MHz, WRN2 is using 6.2 MHz. Right now the only programs are in Finnish and Swedish from Radio Finland, at 07:00, 11:00, and 19:30 hrs Eastern time. Radio Finland also seems to have launched a service on Intelsat 702. (WRN) Radio Sweden's Swedish service may follow. Stay tuned! EDTV--Kelly Broadcasting has leased capacity on the INTELSAT-K satellite to distribute Arabic-language programming to Latin America. The programming, supplied by Emirates Dubai Television, is the first 24-hour Arabic-language satellite television service available on the continent. It will provide the 27 million people of Arab descent living in Latin America with Middle Eastern information and entertainment that was previously unavailable. This new service to Latin America adds to Kelly's menu of foreign-language program offerings. From its Orange, N.J. facility, Kelly distributes Arab-, Greek-, Irish-, Italian-, Polish-, Portuguese- and Russian-language programming throughout the U.S. to foreign nationals who are eager for news from their country of origin. (NewsPage) PANAMSAT--As part of its ongoing expansion program, PanAmSat Corp. has requested U.S. government approval to operate several new international communications satellites that will expand its broadcast and telecommunications services throughout the Americas by the year 2000. PanAmSat has requested approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to operate international communications satellites in orbital locations in space that traditionally have been used for domestic U.S. satellites. The two orbital slots-- 79 degrees West Longitude and 103 degrees West Longitude-- will be used to provide international communications over the C-band and Ku-band frequencies. Fred Landman, PanAmSat's president and chief executive officer, said: "Over the past month, PanAmSat has taken several strategic steps to assure the long-term growth of its global satellite system. In response to growing customer demand, PanAmSat will launch these new satellites to achieve total coverage of the Americas and build upon its market leadership providing international broadcast and telecommunications services around the world." In addition to these latest orbital slots, PanAmSat has requested FCC approval to operate two new satellites that will provide international communications services over the Ka-band frequencies. These satellites will be located at 58 degrees West Longitude and 79 degrees West Longitude. "PanAmSat will remain in the forefront of international satellite communications by pursuing new opportunities in higher frequency bands," Landman said. "PanAmSat's planned Ka-band satellites hold the prospect of providing future commercial applications for video and data communications by the end of the decade." PanAmSat Corp. is the first private-sector company to provide global and satellite services. The company has over 300 customers worldwide. It currently operates three satellites: PAS-1 serving the Atlantic Ocean Region; PAS-2 serving the Pacific Ocean Region; and PAS-4 serving the Indian Ocean Region. Three additional Atlantic Ocean Region satellites are under construction, including PAS-3, which is scheduled for launch in Dec. 1995. The company also plans in 1997 to launch PAS-7 over the Indian Ocean Region and PAS-8 over the Pacific Ocean Region. (NewsPage) ASIAN-PACIFIC MEDIA NEWS: HONG KONG--Dow Jones and TCI have increased their stake in Asian Business News to a joint 98.5 percent. The two have bought the 10 percent stake held by Singapore-based Sim Ventures, which wants to focus on its own regional broadcasting projects, starting with the launch of its Mandarin entertainment channel this month. The other 1.5 percent is held by Hong Kong-based BNN Ltd. (Reuters) CHINA--Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. says China's state launching company is ready to send Asiasat-2 into orbit in late November or early December, after a delay of almost a year. The delay followed the failure of a Lockheed satellite in September, 1994 and the explosion of the Apstar 2 satellite during launch in China in January this year. AsiaSat will choose from bids by Hughes, Lockheed, and Space Systems Loral to build Asiasat-3. China's Great Wall will be consdiered with other launchers after the size and specifications of the satellite were decided. Asiasat-2 will boost coverage of News Corp.'s Star-TV into Eastern Europe and Australia. Asiasat-3 will try to attract other broadcasters than Star-TV. It will have more space than Asiasat-2 and equally broad coverage. It will launch in 1997, and will occupy a position at 122 degrees East. (Curt Swinehart and "Tele-satellit") STAR-TV--Addressing the News Corp annual meeting, in Adelaide, Australia, media baron Rupert Murdoch said Asian satellite broadcaster Star-TV would experience "great growth" during the next 12 months, noting that the Hong Kong-based broadcaster would launch a package of 15 movie channels into Indonesia in six months, while working on its first venture into Japan. "We've got to move fast. There is just a huge opportunity there, and you call it a loss, I call it an investment," Murdoch told reporters after the meeting. "We expect to see great growth in the next year. We have a launch of a new satellite, AsiaSat 2, in a few months time and Star will have access to infinitely greater capacity for the launch of new and more local TV services," he said. He said during the next six months Star would broadcast movie channels in five languages -- Mandarin, Hindi, English, Bahasa Indonesia and Tagalog -- and would add Cantonese and Japanese within 12 months. Sports would remain a key element of Star's television strategy and Star was looking to develop more youth-oriented services based on the format of India's Channel V, he said. "That is our strategy -- to dominate in four key programme categories: sports, music, movies and general entertainment," Murdoch said, referring to Star. (Reuters) AUSTRALIA--Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch seems to have sewn up an A$ 1.0 billion (USD 760 million) merger of his Foxtel pay-TV group with a budding rival, a deal likely to let him dominate Australia's industry, analysts said Friday. They said Foxtel, a 50-50 joint venture group between Murdoch's global media machine News Corp Ltd and state-owned telecom group Telstra Corp, was expected to announce a tie-up with pay-TV group Australis Media Ltd within days. The deal would create the most powerful pay-television group in Australia, combining Australis' microwave and satellite services with Foxtel's plans to roll out a 20-channel cable pay-TV service on October 23. Analysts estimate the enlarged group would have access to 90 percent of Australian homes. Most analysts expect Foxtel to effectively take over Australis, giving the Murdoch pay-TV service a so-called back-door listing on the local exchange. They expect the new group to be named Foxtel and headed by Australis' chairman. The enlarged Foxtel would strike a harsh blow to the third player in Australia's pay-TV industry, Optus Vision, which is partly financed by Australia's richest man and long-time Murdoch rival Kerry Packer and launched services last month. "They would have to have a significant advantage over Optus because they would have allied with the satellite service," said one Sydney- based analyst. Current regulations prevent Optus from delivering through satellites until 1997. Australis' pay-TV service, Galaxy, reaches 31,000 subscribers through its microwave delivery system, but its customer base was expected to jump once the group begins satellite broadcasts later this year. That viewer reach would combine with the Murdoch-backed programming of Foxtel and Telstra's cable rollout which is expected to pass one million homes by year-end. Optus is currently available only to a maximum of 250,000 homes. (Reuters) CYBERSPACE: INTERNET VIA TV--Last time we talked to Sweden's Kinnevik about their system to provide text-based World Wide Web access to viewers with teletext and touchtone phones. Now Philips says it will launch a UK service this month that will offer Internet access via television and telephone, based on its CD-I player system. CD-Online will require the use of a special CD-I accessory called the Internet Starter Pack. (Curt Swinehart) ESI--The new location for European Satellite Information is: http://www.funet.fi/indexd/esi/ TTRN--The Tech Talk Radio Network Cybergeek Gateway is a Net site devoted to the Tech Talk Radio Network, along with links to similar pages. The site is at: http://www.nai.net/~bmw The programs are broadcast over Telstar 302, transponder 21, sound 5.8 MHz. The schedule is: ALL TIMES EASTERN TIME TUESDAY 11PM-Midnight Houston Area AMSAT Net (Ham Radio Net) WEDNESDAY 9PM-Midnight DB1 (Dan Morgan) Satellite Tech Topics THURSDAY 9PM-Midnight Tom and Darryl Satellite Activism and Tech FRIDAY 7:30PM-8:30PM Glenn Hauser's World of Radio SWL Media program FRIDAY 8:30PM-9PM FNL Pre-Game Wackiness/Insanity! FRIDAY 9PM-Midnight FNL TVRO News, Commentary, Callins SATURDAY Midnight-??? Marathon! (Tom/Darryl or GaryB Marathons!) -- you have to check this time slot each week to see if there is a marathon SATURDAY 7:30-9:00PM This Week in Amateur Radio (HAM RADIO NEWS) SUNDAY 8PM-9PM Full Disclosure Live (Glen L. Roberts) SUNDAY 9PM-11:00PM The Pro Show (Fred Deferbrache) (Curt Swinehart and TTRN) CAR RADIO--Test drive the car radio of the future at: http://www.radiosat.com/radiostar/ ECUADOR--Bernd Pfromm has started an FTP mirror site for HCJB: ftp://inka.de/sites/immanuel/HCJB ISRAEL--IDF Radio, operated by the Israeli Army, has a new site at: http://www.netvision.net.il/~radioron/ JAPAN--Tokyo FM Broadcasting will begin maintaining a World Wide Web homepage on November 1. (Curt Swinehart) Unfortunately we have no information what the URL will be. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: 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 A multimedia version of this bulletin can be found at: http://www.sr.se/rs/english/scdx.htm Sound recordings of interviews from previous programs can be found at: http://www.sr.se/rs/english/media2.htm 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.sr.se/rs S-105 10 Stockholm tel: +468-784-7239 Sweden fax: +468-667-6283 ************************