26/05/04

NZ Budget tomorrow, hopefully some funding for some sort of TVNZ digital?

Congratulations to REN...Joining the Big Dish club (3.7m)

League tonight State of Origin Game 1, usually seen as a feed. ..

From My Emails & ICQ

From Me

Feed seen this afternoon
B1 12367V sr 6000 "newslink" Fec 3/4 V pid 100 A pid 200
No audio??

From Stephen Mills

Hi Craig just did a scan of the services on B3 yesterday evening DAYSTAR back on 12501 and on 12525 where CTN previously was comes up with colour bars although it is listed as daystar on the channel no. I wonder if there is a new channel coming on that with the colour bars.Regards Stephen Mills

From Gareth E Welsby

RE: TechTV

Dear Craig,

Just to advise that G4 Media Inc. the new owners of the
TechTV service have advised us that they will be ceasing
their international distribution of TechTV on Asiasat-3 at
3,760 MHz on 25 June 2004 (revised from 13 June 2004)
with the intention of devoting more attention to the USA
market.

Regards,
Gareth E Welsby
Channel 8 Ltd

(Craigs comment, The latest is the new Tech/G4TV programming will be distributed by E! so expect it to be added in amongst the gossip and showbiz stuff on E!?)

From the Dish

PAS 2 169E 4126 V "NBN World" has started on , Fta SR 3075, FEC 3/4, PIDs 1160/1120.

PAS 8 166E 3880 V "ABS-CBN Channel 2-3" are FTa.
PAS 8 166E 3950 V "BCN - Box Cinema Network, UBS and CTS - Christian TV System" are back on PowerVu, SR 10125, FEC 3/4, PIDs 53/54-73/74.
PAS 8 166E 4050 V "TVB Xing He Channel" has started on , PowerVu, PIDs 1360/1320.
PAS 8 166E 4060 H Occasional feeds on , PIDs 1560/1520.

PAS 8 166E 12422 H "ComNet and FM America" have started on , Fta, APIDs 3606-3607.Inter FM is back on APID 3605.

Apstar 1A 134E 4045 H New SR for the SZTV test card on : 4420.
Apstar 1A 134E 4100 V "Shandong TV" is back on , PAL.(Still handy for Dxer's)

NEWS

Fast access for remote regions

From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3568582&thesection=business&thesubsection=telecommunications&thesecondsubsection=general

Thai satellite operator Shin Satellite could be just a week away from signing a deal with Telecom and internet provider Iconz to bring high-speed internet services to the remotest parts of the country.

News agency Reuters quoted Shin chairman Dumrong Kasemset yesterday as saying deals in New Zealand were close to being signed with two companies.

Auckland internet provider Iconz has confirmed it is one of those companies. The other is believed to be Telecom, however the telco is making no comment.

The deals will allow communities beyond the reach of Telecom's Jetstream and wireless broadband services, to get high-speed internet access using a small terminal and a satellite dish.

Satellite is used in countries such as Australia to supply rural communities with decent internet access.

Iconz general manager Sean Weekes said there was business to be had in the backblocks of New Zealand where finding a reliable internet connection was no easy task.

"There's a demographic of consumer that can't get any connection other than dial-up. It will do wonders for them." But he warned that the technology had a niche target and would be more expensive than more commonly used broadband services New Zealanders had come to know.

"It mustn't be confused with DSL [Jetstream] in terms of pricing."

A 1 megabit per second (Mbps) download link would cost about $2000 a month, with the 1.2-metre satellite dish receiving the service costing $900 to $1000. That would put the service out of reach of individual families, but it could be used to service multiple sites, such as schools, council offices and local businesses.

In a separate deal, Telecom is negotiating with a satellite provider to service "region 15" of the Government's Project Probe initiative, which aims to get broadband to all schools by the end of the year.

Region 15 covers the remotest of schools, but a deal is yet to be struck, despite a March target.

Shin said last year that it would invest $15 million in building a satellite earth station in Albany to support its local services. Local contractors are understood to have been recruited.

Shin has been trialling internet services using borrowed capacity from an Intelsat satellite covering the area. But it will launch its services on its own new US$350 million "bird", the IPStar-1, which is expected to be in orbit and functioning in the next two months.

IPStar-1's will have three "spot beams" covering the country.

Weekes said Iconz had been successfully trialling the Shin service and was hiring a company that would act as installer for the service.

Shin Satellite is 51 per cent-owned by Shin Corp, the flagship of a telecoms group founded by the Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Shin's New Zealand representative, John Humphrey, said the contracts were under negotiation and work on the earth station was under way.

Hammers fan nails TV rights

From http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9665204%255E23215,00.html

ORIGINALLY, Australian soccer fan David Lewis had just wanted to watch his team. Now he owns the exclusive Australian television rights to its game and has fielded an unwanted marriage proposal from England.

Lewis, a Sydney information technology businessman who has been a supporter of West Ham United for 32 up-and-down years, was appalled that no Australian network intended to telecast a division one promotion playoff against Crystal Palace on Saturday night and says he "couldn't stand it any more".

Lewis - just wanted to watch his team

Setanta, which telecasts niche sports programs through a closed satellite network, had the industry contacts to help Lewis buy from British Sky Broadcasting the rights to the game, which determines which of the two London clubs will reach the English Premier League next season, for broadcast at Australian clubs and pubs.

"I said I'd underwrite the whole thing and I'll put it on around the country," Lewis said.

"Setanta said they'd never done it before like this - a football fan buying the exclusive rights to the broadcast of a match from 24,000km away. To their credit, they went out on a limb to support what's become a people power thing.

"I've had an enormous number of e-mails from around the world since my getting the rights was put on the West Ham website last Friday.

"I even had a marriage proposal from the UK. She was so impressed that someone would go to that trouble. I didn't reply - I didn't think my wife would be too happy."

So far six Australian clubs and pubs in four cities have agreed to sell $25 tickets to the game and Brisbane West Ham fans can watch the midnight kick-off on Saturday night at the Pig 'N' Whistle pub at the Riverside Centre. Crystal Palace supporters are also welcome to purchase tickets, which Lewis said would be available from the pub today.

Lewis said a non-disclosure agreement means he cannot divulge how much he paid to acquire the rights and then cover the costs of the Australian broadcast.

But industry insiders say he might have had to pay BSkyB between $5000 and $25,000, depending on how favourably it viewed the tale of one football fan's obsession.

AUSTRALIA: Moguls won't be in picture for new TV network: Labor

From http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=11497

Media moguls Kerry Packer and Rupert Murdoch would never get their hands on a fourth commercial television licence under a Labor government, Opposition communications spokesman Lindsay Tanner told the Labor caucus yesterday.

Mr Tanner and Labor leader Mark Latham strongly favour allowing a new free-to-air network to be established in competition with the existing three commercial networks by 2007.

"Packer and Murdoch, but particularly Murdoch, will not get a slice of a fourth network under Labor," a Labor source said yesterday.

This month Mr Latham said a fourth commercial network was a reality. "It's going to happen eventually - it's a question of timing," he said.

Mr Tanner sought to assure colleagues who are nervous about a fight with media operators ahead of the election that the advertising market could support another network - and that the Government's legal timetable meant the issue had to be raised this side of the election.

In the past two years, TV ad revenues have grown 17.3 per cent to $3.1 billion a year. In the five years to 2000, TV advertising grew by about 25 per cent.

Two government reviews, to report by the end of the year, will make recommendations about what to do on a possible fourth network. The Broadcasting Services Act prohibits the introduction of new commercial licences before the end of 2006.

Mr Tanner told his colleagues that the sale of a fourth commercial licence could be a financial boon, providing a windfall of up to $1 billion that could be spent on services.

East Turkestan: Chinese-language NTDTV harassed by Beijing

From http://www.unpo.org/news_detail.php?arg=21&par=663

The New York based television station New Tang Dynasty TV is a valuable mean of expression and news source for oppressed peoples in China, like the Tibetans and Uyghurs.

Authorities in Beijing have been harassing New York-based television channel New Tang Dynasty TV (NTDTV) since its launch in February 2002 as the China ensures it maintains its grip on Chinese-language electronic media.

NTDTV's contract with satellite operator New Skies Satellites (NSS) for Asia transmission recently ended after prolonged financial and political pressure from Beijing. NTDTV has now resumed broadcasting to China and Asia via Eutelsat's W-5 satellite covering Asia.

China has showed itself ready to use the most reprehensible methods to protect its monopoly, including threats, political and financial pressure and blackmail.

Regrettably some Western telecommunication companies cave in to Chinese pressure and suspend broadcasts of channels that challenge the Chinese communist party monopoly of the airwaves.

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) fears that Beijing will keep up the pressure, particularly against Eutelsat, the French broadcast regulatory agency (CSA) and the French government, following resumption of NTDTV broadcasts to China and the recent inauguration of the channel on the Hotbird satellite to Europe and the Middle East.

Netherlands-based satellite operator NSS had begun broadcasting the channel on open signal to Asia on 1st July 2003. But just three days after the start of broadcasts, NSS encrypted the signal preventing Chinese satellite dish owners from seeing the channel.

The decision was taken following threats of financial reprisals against the company made to NSS representatives in Beijing. In January 2004, pressure was intensified to ensure that NTDTV was completely excluded from NSS-6 Asia satellite transmission. NTDTV management many times requested NSS to restore the open signal broadcast but this was refused, and on 1st May 2004 the NTDTV transmission to Asia ended.

Beijing accuses NTDTV of belonging to the banned Falungong movement, which it considers a ³diabolical cult². Many of the channel's volunteers are indeed followers of Falungong, but NTDTV offers a range of programmes, in particular news programmes that provide a sharp contrast with the propaganda on state television CCTV.

NTDTV told Reporters Without Borders that other companies had refused to broadcast or host the channel on their satellites for fear of Chinese reprisals. At the start of 2004, Philippines satellite operator Mabuhay cancelled plans to transmit a special Chinese New Year broadcast after threats from the Chinese ambassador in Manila. PanAmSat, which carries the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on many of its satellite platforms worldwide, has also refused to broadcast NTDTV.

Through CCTV, Beijing broadcasts on 30 different satellite platforms worldwide, while six is enough to ensure coverage of 99% of the world¹s population.

This massive presence allows the government to blackmail operators. In 2002, CCTV left the operator Taipei International because it decided to accept NTDTV. The state channel signed a new contract after the removal of NTDTV. In February 2003, the US operator Atlanta ADTH went back on an agreement in principle to carry NTDTV, for fear of losing contracts with Chinese channels.

Since 1st May 2004, NTDTV is once again accessible to satellite dish owners in China thanks to transmission on the W-5 satellite by the Paris-based Eutelsat.

NTDTV is now freely accessible to more than 200 million satellite viewers worldwide. The channel was approved in April by the French Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA). Reporters without borders fears that the CSA and the French government are coming under official pressure from China for this licensing decision.

Moreover, Eutelsat is legally obliged to comply with the principle of equality of access, pluralism and non-discrimination set out under Article 3 of the Convention that regulates this company under French law.

In addition to leaning on telecommunication operators, the Chinese authorities have several times prevented NTDTV journalists from working. Its reporters have been refused access to public events and press conferences in the United States and Europe under pressure from Chinese officials.

(Craigs comment, take note of that New Skies being pressured to remove a service off Nss6...)

Second pay-TV station MiTV poised to take on Astro

From http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/5/26/business/8066888&sec=business

TAN Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun plans to launch Malaysia’s second pay-TV operator in October, a source familiar with the plans said yesterday, in a move to tap growing consumer demand amid a buoyant economy.

The new station will go head-to-head with Astro All Asia Networks Plc, controlled by T. Ananda Krishnan, which currently holds a monopoly over the subscriber-based TV market.

“It will offer about 80 channels and charge a monthly flat rate,” the source told Reuters.

The new station, to be called MiTV, will be fighting for a piece of the country's TV market that has some 5 million viewers. Astro has just over a quarter of that, or 1.28 million customers, with a customer base that grew 30% in the year to the end of January.

Tan is betting on delivering MiTV using Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcast technology, which will drastically reduce costs, the source said.

Terrestrial digital technology, which has been used successfully in Britain and works through existing aerials, costs about 1/15th as much as satellite technology.

Tan took over privately-held Grafimatix Sdn Bhd, which holds a pay-TV licence, for some RM26mil and he has invested close to RM100mil to develop the station, the source said.

The station has plans for an initial public offering in about 2 years.

Astro took 7 years before selling its shares to the public in the country’s biggest IPO last year, which raised some RM2bil.

HK i-Cable To Distribute TV Channel In Shenzhen, China

From http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/040526/15/3kl28.html

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--Local cable-television operator i-Cable Communications Ltd. (ICAB) said it had signed an agreement allowing it to broadcast one of its channels in the neighboring city of Shenzhen, greatly expanding its reach in mainland China's television market.

Under the deal, the Horizon channel will be carried on Shenzhen Television Station's network starting Friday. In exchange, i-Cable will carry Shenzhen TV's satellite channel on its own platform, Hong Kong Cable Television.

"It is the first Hong Kong channel to be carried in full by a mainland television system," said Siuming Tsui, executive director of programming services, in a statement issued late Tuesday.

Though Hong Kong TV channels are widely distributed in neighboring Guangdong province, where Shenzhen is located, that doesn't bring in much revenue: local stations often just take the channels off satellites and put in their own advertising.

So the formal landing-rights arrangement will allow i-Cable to sell advertising for a much broader base of viewers. Press reports said Shenzhen TV has about 800,000 viewers in the city. By contrast, i-Cable, the media arm of local blue-chip conglomerate Wharf (Holdings) Ltd. (0004.HK), has just over 650,000 paying subscribers in Hong Kong.

Prior to this deal, i-Cable's Horizon channel already had some distribution in China, through a government-run satellite system that serves foreign residence compounds and high-class hotels. But because that system doesn't directly reach local Chinese households, it is less valued by advertisers.

HONG KONG: I-Cable wins Shenzhen ad foothold

From http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=11500

Hong Kong pay-television operator i-Cable Communications has been given approval to broadcast a 24-hour information and entertainment channel on Shenzhen's cable network from Friday

Hong Kong pay-television operator i-Cable Communications has been given approval to broadcast a 24-hour information and entertainment channel on Shenzhen's cable network from Friday.

The joint-venture deal could point the way for other local broadcasters to tap Guangdong's advertising market.

The company has signed a three-year contract that will see Shenzhen Television air i-Cable's Horizon channel on its cable network, which has 750,000 to 800,000 viewers. In return, i-Cable will broadcast Shenzhen TV-1, a news and variety channel, to its 666,000 Hong Kong viewers.

Both broadcasters will set up sales teams to sell advertising spots on their cross-border channels.

Tsui Siuming, Hong Kong Cable Television's programming chief, said Shenzhen Television would ensure that no advertising slots were spliced out and resold to local advertisers, a long-running and costly problem faced by Hong Kong broadcasters on the mainland.

"It is a breakthrough," Mr Tsui said, adding the deal would expand Horizon's nationwide coverage to 17 million to 18 million, compared with Phoenix Satellite TV with its potential audience of 20 million.

Horizon was set up in 2001 to cater for mainland audiences. In April last year it was granted broadcasting rights for upmarket hotels and foreign compounds.

Mr Tsui said the deal had been approved by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (Sarft).

He said i-Cable was also in talks with other mainland broadcasters, including Beijing Media Group and Shanghai Media Group, on seeking similar agreements.

"We want to make sure that once the central government gives its approval to open the market, everything can proceed immediately," he said.

Industry watchers said while the scale of the operation might be small for i-Cable, it carried huge potential in the lucrative mainland market, which saw television advertising sales reach almost US$11 billion last year.

Yesterday's announcement would have come as a surprise to Hong Kong's free-to-air broadcasters, which have spent years negotiating with Sarft and Guangdong broadcasters over provincial landing rights and advertising revenue-sharing arrangements.

Asia Television was given a broadcasting licence in Guangdong in July 2002 and reached an agreement on sharing advertising revenue with local operators late last year.

However, it has not yet collected any revenue outside Guangzhou. Television Broadcasts is still waiting for landing rights in Guangdong, where its Cantonese channel Jade has ratings as high as 60 per cent.

"I-Cable's unconventional deal would be a big slap to TVB and ATV," said an analyst with a Singapore brokerage. "However, this might help TVB and ATV to negotiate with mainland TV stations in the future."

The Hong Kong government said yesterday it had given ATV a licence to broadcast its Home channel into the mainland as a satellite pay-television service.

STMicroelectronics' Technology Lowers Costs by Easing Installation and Configuration of Domestic Satellite Systems

From Press Release

New integrated circuits allow greater flexibility in satellite installations

GENEVA, May 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM - News), the leading supplier of silicon devices for set-top box (STB) applications*, announced today the availability of a complete Low-Noise Block (LNB) downconverter subsystem to help satellite broadcasters simplify installations and reduce costs. The new LNB subsystem combines up to eight signals on one cable, which can then be delivered to either a single STB or many STBs around the home via a simple splitter box.

The deployment of Digital Video Recorders (DVR) and dual-TV STBs brings enormous benefits to consumers and operators, but the complexity of each installation comes at substantial cost. For example, because the DVR allows a user to watch one channel while recording another, it requires two coaxial cables to be connected to the roof-top dish, one for each demodulator within the STB. A fully-functional dual-DVR requires four inputs from outside the home.

At the heart of ST's LNB subsystem is a new silicon integrated circuit, the SaTCR-1. This chip shifts the frequency of any input signal to an intermediate frequency that can then be combined with other similarly processed signals and passed down a single cable to a corresponding number of tuners in one or more STBs within the home. This capability allows consumers to upgrade a basic satellite free-to-air STBs to a DVR box without the need for an expensive site visit by an engineer.

"By using LNBs equipped with the SaTCR-1 chip, consumers can purchase additional STBs and be confident of a simple self-installation procedure," said Christos Lagomichos, General Manager of ST's Set Top Box Division. "Also, they can use the original set-top box with a second TV set, all without any modification to the satellite dish or any additional cables outside the home."

Control of the SaTCR-1 device is achieved through a cost-effective 8-bit microcontroller, the ST7LNB1. This pre-programmed microcontroller decodes DiSEqC (Digital Satellite Equipment Control) commands issued by the STBs within the home and controls each SaTCR-1 through a two-wire interface, without any additional external resources. The micro also supports seven pre- defined LNB applications. This simple control mechanism ensures that the host STB requires no new hardware to take advantage of the capabilities of a SaTCR- 1-enabled LNB. Furthermore, by including a microcontroller with upgradeable software in the LNB, ST is enabling innovative applications such as LNB positioning, intelligent diagnostic functions, and simple inter-box communication.

The SaTCR-1 and ST7LNB1 devices are available now priced at $3 and $1.5, respectively, in quantities of ten thousand units.

About STMicroelectronics

STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. An unrivalled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners positions the Company at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a key role in enabling today's convergence markets. The Company's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on Euronext Paris and on the Milan Stock Exchange. In 2003, the Company's net revenues were $7.24 billion and net earnings were $253 million. Further information on ST can be found at http://www.st.com.

NDTV on WorldSpace Radio

From http://www.agencyfaqs.com/news/stories/2004/05/26/9103.html

YOU can now hear NDTV news on WorldSpace. The news channel's Hindi and English streams will soon be aired on its network, according to satellite radio provider WorldSpace.

NDTV 24x7 and NDTV India will be joining the WorldSpace news bouquet of BBC, CNN, Fox News and Bloomberg, said WorldSpace MD, Mr K.R. Harish. The addition, he said, is part of their brand repositioning exercise and content improvement.

"The partnership with WorldSpace will help us jump shift our growth plans in the Indian market. The unique voice portability option is in line with the various plans for expansion of reach that we have drawn up," said Mr Nayak, CEO of NDTV Media Ltd.

WorldSpace, which bases its India operations out of Bangalore, also offers 31 channels from jazz to classical to old Hindi music.

25/05/04

Live satellite chat 9p.m NZ and 8.30p.m Syd time onwards in the chatroom tonight.

Anyone looked for the French Open Tennis feed? speaking of feeds Lyngsat reports a few feeds for "great sports" on Asiasat 3. So that may be worth keeping an eye on.

T.A.R.B.S what is it??? coming soon to Apsattv...a hint.... its a new tv service..

From My Emails & ICQ

From Splog

They have changed the symbol rate for Nss6 12646 V 28060
A new channel - BN Television BN R.Srpska

From the Dish

JCSAT 3 128E 12448 H Occasional Yozemi Sateline feeds on , SR 21096, FEC 3/4.(Japan beam)

Sinosat 1 110.5E 12440 V All radio channels in the CBTV Sat mux are now encrypted. (China beam)
Sinosat 1 110.5E CETV-KongKe has replaced CCTV 1 on 12622 V.CCTV-SD has left this mux, replaced by a test card. CCTV 9 and CEBsat Info Channel are now encrypted. (China beam)

AsiaSat 3 105.5E Occasional GreatSports Channel feeds on 4046 V and 4052 V, SR 4420, FEC 3/4.
AsiaSat 3 105.5E Occasional GreatSports Channel feeds on 4056 V and 4068 V, SR 5632, FEC 3/4.

AsiaSat 2 100.5E 3905 H "Reuters World News Service" is Fta.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3840 V "Nepal 1, Sadhana TV, Punjab Today and Mh 1" have started on , Fta,SR 26667, FEC 3/4, PIDs 257/258-321/322.

NEWS

Govt ship deal not linked: ShinSat

From http://nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=6&id=114275&usrsess=1

Shin Satellite yesterday denied opposition claims that |its broadband Internet satellite iPSTAR had won a frequency-coordination deal from a Hong Kong rival after Thailand awarded a Bt3.5-billion ship procurement deal |to China.

"The two events are unlikely to be connected," ShinSat chairman Dumrong Kasemset said at the press conference yesterday, which was called in response to the opposition allegation.

In his closing speech in last week's censure debate, Democrat Jurin Laksanavisit said that the Navy's procurement of offshore vessels from CSTC of China in 2002 was |a kind of trade-off for the upcoming iPSTAR to secure a frequency-coordination agreement from the Hong Kong-based operator of the AsiaSat 4 satellite.

General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was deputy prime minister at the time.

ShinSat was founded by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's family.

IPSTAR, which is expected to go into orbit in several months' time, will be positioned at 120 degrees East, while the rival AsiaSat 4, which was launched late last year, is hovering at 122 degree East.

Such proximity prompted concern about a possible frequency jam, particularly over their main markets of China and Australia.

The Thai and Chinese governments started discussing possible resolutions to solve the satellites' problem in 1999 before reaching the frequency-coordination deal late last year.

Dumrong said that Chinese and Australian customers were expected to account for 25 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, of iPSTAR's total customer-serving capacity |of 40 gigabytes.

"If we can't agree, it's estimated iPSTAR will lose 30 |per cent of its yearly revenue and AsiaSat 4 US$20 million [Bt8 billion] annually," he said.

IPSTAR is set to launch its service in China and Australia soon, he added.

Thailand is expected to account for 7 per cent of iPSTAR's total customer-service capacity.

A telecom industry observer said ShinSat had a big chance to secure many broadband Internet users in the Kingdom.

"Now the government is promoting low-cost broadband Internet services, aiming to see one million broadband Internet users within a year, up from the present 20,000," he said.

Dumrong said that if there are one million broadband Internet users, 20 per cent were expected to be iPSTAR customers.

He said that the firm would also sign contracts to provide iPSTAR service to new customers for e-farming technology in New Zealand in the next few weeks.

ShinSat's share price closed at Bt12.40 per share yesterday, up from Bt12 on Friday.

Thai Shin Satellite To Sign With Australia, NZ Ptnrs Soon

From http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/040524/15/3kj1y.html

BANGKOK (Dow Jones)--Shin Satellite PCL (SATTEL.TH) said Monday it will sign deals in the near future with partners in Australia and New Zealand to market its soon-to-be launched iPSTAR broadband satellite.

Shin Satellite's executive chairman Dumrong Kasemset told reporters that the company is expected to sign deals with two telecommunication operators in New Zealand in the next one or two weeks.

Meanwhile, four or five companies in Australia are also waiting to sign deals with the company pending an operating license from Australian authorities, he said.

"We are expected to get the license from Australia soon. The agreements will be signed shortly after that," Dumrong said.

The partners will help the company to sell broadband satellite services on its fourth satellite, iPSTAR, which is expected to be launched by the end of the third quarter.

He also reiterated that the company will sell new shares around early July to raise up to $90 million, which will be mostly used to repay short-term debts and serve as its working capital.

Shin Satellite is a unit of Shin Corp. PCL (SHIN.TH), which was founded by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Members of his family hold a majority stake in Shin Corp.

New Skies Satellites; Press Statement

From http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040524006193&newsLang=en

THE HAGUE, Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 2004--New Skies Satellites N.V. (AEX, NYSE:NSK), the global satellite communications company, today announced that it is engaged in advanced negotiations with a leading private equity firm regarding a proposal from this firm to acquire the Company. New Skies has also received proposals from other third parties and is in concurrent discussions with certain of these parties.

All current discussions contemplate a sale of substantially all of New Skies' assets and liabilities for cash at values representing a premium to the Company's current share price. Any such sale would be followed by a liquidation of the Company and the distribution of the cash to its shareholders. New Skies' business and operations would be continued by the purchaser, with the effect of the transaction being a change in ownership of the New Skies business enterprise.

Any agreement to sell New Skies' assets would be subject to the approval of New Skies' Management and Supervisory Boards. Consummation of a transaction, once agreed, would be subject to a number of other conditions including approval by New Skies' shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting and receipt of necessary regulatory approvals. In view of these conditions, New Skies anticipates that a transaction would be completed, and liquidating distributions paid to shareholders, no sooner than the end of 2004.

New Skies cautioned that there is no certainty regarding the final terms and conditions (including price) or timing of any such agreement, nor can any assurance be given that the current discussions will result in any agreement to sell the Company. New Skies expects to be able to make a further announcement regarding these matters in the near future.

Pulling Plug on Ethnic TV Shrinks Space for Diversity

From http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=23889

SYDNEY, May 25 (IPS) - Sydney's ethnic community groups are outraged by the media regulating body's decision to pull the plug on an innovative television channel in Australia that has been giving a voice to them for 11 years now.

Channel 31, run by Community Television Sydney and Australia's first truly multicultural channel run by ethnic communities, lost its test licence in mid-April after the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) decided to give a permanent community-television licence for Sydney to another group called Television Sydney.

Television Sydney (TVS) is a consortium of educational institutions that includes a sprinkle of predominantly Anglo-Saxon community groups.

In the wake of the ABA's decision, ethnic communities held rallies outside the Sydney town hall.

Meantime, some broadcasters are starting to look beyond this issue and trying to look at the possibility of using satellite and digital subscription channels to air programmes.

Community leaders argue that they have been disenfranchised now that the channel is off the air. ''The ABA has given the licence to an organisation which doesn't have the facility to broadcast - not at least for a year,'' screamed an angry Salvatore Scevola, an ethnic programme producer, at one rally.

''We have been broadcasting for over ten years and have built a monthly audience of 1.3 million in Sydney,'' Edmond Taouk, president of CTS, said in an interview.

''They (ABA) gave us 12 hours notice to go off air. . . . That's the amount of recognition they gave to our efforts of developing a huge network of ethnic production houses and running a successful community television station without even a dollar of government money,'' he added.

Community radio programmers say this shrinks the room for diversity in a media market already dominated by larger, commercial and mainstream interests.

''Losing the channel is a blow for ethnic communities, because a lot of people of non-European background within Sydney came to rely on different programmes broadcast on Channel 31, not only for news from their homelands but also for information on activities within their local communities,'' said Rihab Charida, a programme producer of Palestinian descent.

''Because we are marginalised in the mainstream media, it is important for us to have a media made by us and controlled by us,'' Charida told IPS.

Channel 31 had both news and entertainment programmes for various ethnic communities such as Italian, Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian and Latin American. There were also current affairs programmes from left-wing groups.

The mix is a reflection of the fact that about one-third of Australians today are born overseas. The biggest communities are Greek, Italian with emerging groups of Arabic speakers, Latin Americans, those from the Baltic states and Chinese.

Taouk pointed out that the new consortium that got a community television licence, is 80 percent educational and only 20 percent community. ''And they haven't included us in that community component after all the community broadcasting we've done,'' he added.

But Professor Janice Reid, TVS chairwoman, said in a press statement: ''TVS has a strong commitment to deliver high quality Australian content and culturally diverse programming for all sectors of the community. We have been inundated with offers of support from many Channel 31 programme providers.''

But CTS says that TVS has refused to discuss with it the possibility of continuing the broadcasts on a temporary basis until it is ready with its infrastructure.

Gina Herro of ABA's licensing section told IPS that the authority cannot offer another temporary licence once a permanent one has been issued. But TVS can agree to allow CTS to broadcast using their licence on a transitionary basis.

When the federal government allocated in 1992 the spectrum for community broadcasting, it did so on the basis of freeing up the airwaves for community access in the name of equity.

But since the 1996 election of the conservative government led by Prime Minister John Howard, critics say there has been an assault on multiculturalism and the access and equity principles that underline that policy, and point to CTS as the latest victim of this trend.

Already, many ethnic community groups here see the ABA action as reflecting a trend in other Western democracies where ethnic minority groups are seen with a measure of suspicion by authorities.

''What we have seen is a bloodless coup,'' Farzin Yektaparast, an Iranian-born community television producer, said in an interview. ''The ABA wanted to give control of the station to someone whose agenda they know about and they could control.''

Added Charida: ''Mainstream stations don't cater to us. It's Anglo media made for them.''

''CTS ran a very diverse TV station. They had a diverse network of programme producers from the far right to centre and the far left in a political sense,'' noted John Reynolds, director of Actively Radical Television, a left-wing group that produced a weekly current affairs programme on global issues broadcast on Sunday nights.

''It has allowed access to a broad spectrum of perspectives to go on air from groups and communities who otherwise don't have access to the airwaves on government or commercial channels,'' he said in an interview. He expressed concern that the new operators may not be that accommodating of ''progressive political programming'' because of its educational institution focus.

''We created a very interactive community media in Sydney,'' argues Yektaparast, who was trained in Channel 31 and now works as a community media trainer and producer.

There were 18 hours of ethnic programming on prime time every week on Channel 31. TVS had indicated in their licence application that this would come down to less than four hours per week.

But a spokesman for Slice TV, the community component of the new licensee, denies plans to scrap ethnic programming. ''Our membership will be open to ethnic programme providers and we expect a big influx of them,'' John Curtis of Slice TV said in an interview.

''What worries people is the absolute power ABA has over making and implementing broadcasting law in Australia,'' said Zelinka. ''It is ridiculous to ignore and wipe out eleven years of cultural development of television in Sydney.''

TELE-satellite News - Number 21/2004 ­ 23 May 2004 -

A weekly roundup of global TV news sponsored by
TELE-satellite International

Editor: Branislav Pekic

Edited Apsattv.com Edition

A S I A & P A C I F I C

CNN LEADING NEWS CHANNEL IN THE MIDDLE EAST

CNN has confirmed its position as the international
market leader in television news in the Middle East,
according to latest research conducted by Ipsos Stat.
The survey shows that CNN reaches more people in a
typical day than BBC World or any other international
news channel reaches in a week. CNN ranks number one
against all other international channels, reaching
double the number of viewers in a typical week than
BBC World, and three times the viewers (than BBC
World) in peak morning and evening day parts. Research
reveals that CNN International reaches 21% of target
viewers daily, 38% weekly and 50% monthly and is
considerably ahead of its two closest competitors in
the region, BBC World and EuroNews (8%, 19% and 27%
for BBC World and 8%, 15% and 19% for EuroNews
respectively).

AD RATES UP ON ARAB TV CHANNELS

Advertising rates on Arab satellite channels skyrocket
during reality TV programs and can be up to 130 per
cent of regular prime time rates, according to a
report by the Gulf News. A new report from Arab
Advisors Group said that the prime time on Arab
television channels extends from 9 p.m. to mid-night,
with Saudi Arabia as the reference time zone. With the
huge success of regional Arabic stations, the TV
advertising rates increased dramatically, especially
with the adoption of hit programs that attracted huge
audiences. Examples are LBC's Star Academy and Miss
Lebanon with a rate of $11,000, MBC's Fear Factor with
a rate of $10,000 and Future's Superstar with a rate
of $11,500 for a 30-second commercial spot. The rates
for regional satellite TV stations are usually higher
than the rates for local. For example the rate for
Future satellite TV's prime time reaches $5,500 while
the local channel has a rate of $3,000 during the same
time. As for the LBC satellite channel, the rate for
prime time reaches $7,000 and on the local channel
during the same time reaches $5,000, the report added.

CHINA ­ HONG KONG

YES TV EXITS PAY-TV BUSINESS

Two more pay-television licence holders are pulling
the plug, highlighting the failure of government
efforts to broaden competition in the non-terrestrial
television market, according to a report by the South
China Morning Post. Yes Television (Hong Kong), a
subsidiary of Britain's Yes Television, said it would
quit the territory's pay-TV operations and surrender
its licence to the Broadcasting Authority. The move
followed a decision by niche broadcaster TV Plus of
Taiwan to end its pay-TV business last month. Yes TV
had invested HK$40 million in its three-year-old
service, and paid an annual licence fee of $1.37
million. Yes TV chairman and chief executive Thomas
Kressner had earlier admitted the company entered the
sector too early. He also said it was difficult to cut
its monthly fee of HK$298 as it needed to pay $198 to
PCCW for access charges. The firm will end its service
on May 31. Existing customers, numbering in the
thousands, have been transferred to its broadband
operation Yes TV Plus, which offers subscribed
content. The departure of TV Plus and Yes TV will
leave Hong Kong with just four pay-TV operators -
i-Cable Communications, Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting,
NOW Broadband TV and City Telecom's Hong Kong
Broadband Network.

CARTOON CHANNEL TO LAUNCH IN SEPTEMBER

The Jinying, or Golden Eagle, Cartoon Channel, the
first of its kind in China, is expected to open in
central Hunan Province this September. Officials said
that at least 50 per cent of air time of the channel
will be used for cartoons. Meanwhile, shows geared
towards teenagers will take up the rest of the time.
The channel will be one of the three cartoon channels
that are to be opened in China this year.

CASBAA BOOSTS ANTI-PIRACY EFFORTS

The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia
(CASBAA) is bolstering its efforts to clamp down on
pay-TV signal piracy in the SAR, issuing "cease and
desist" letters to a number of bars and clubs in Hong
Kong that are illegally receiving satellite
broadcasts. The move follows a High Court ruling and
support from Hong Kong's Office of the
Telecommunications Authority (OFTA). If the venues
persist in broadcasting pirated signals, they could
face charges. The venues that have been contacted by
CASBAA are bypassing Hong Kong platforms-including
Hong Kong Cable Television, PCCW, Yes TV and Galaxy
Satellite Broadcasting-by buying illegal set-top boxes
that are receiving pirated satellite signals from
Thailand and the Philippines. Simon Twiston Davies,
the CEO of CASBAA, noted, "Pay-TV signal piracy is a
major issue for the broadcasting industry in Hong
Kong. In October 2003, it was estimated that the gross
cost associated with pay-TV signal piracy in Hong Kong
amounted to approximately US$27 million over a
12-month period."

TVB CLOSER TO GUANGDONG DEAL

Hong Kong's Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) says
talks to strike landing rights and revenue sharing
agreements in China's Guangdong province are in good
shape and it expects to finalise a deal in the near
future, the South China Morning Post has reported. TVB
Group Managing Director Ho Ting-Kwan said the firm had
reached a consensus with the Guangdong Administration
of Radio, Film and Television (GARFT) on some
revenue-sharing principles after a meeting with its
director, Wang Keman, on May 10. A joint venture
between TVB and a GARFT unit, believed to be Southern
Broadcasting Media Group, is expected to be announced
soon

CHANNEL NEWSASIA GRANTED BROADCASTING RIGHTS

Channel NewsAsia, the Singapore-based news and
information channel, is to start broadcasting to
viewers in China's top hotels and foreign residential
compounds. This comes with the granting of rights by
China's State Administration of Radio, Film and
Television, and the signing of a mutual landing
agreement in Beijing. Under the agreement signed
between MediaCorp, which operates Channel NewsAsia,
and China International TV Corporation (CITV), both
parties will work out the details for Channel
NewsAsia's distribution in China, and for China's CCTV
9 channel to be carried on cable in Singapore by June
1. The agreement opens up a potentially huge TV market
for Channel NewsAsia, making it the second Asian-owned
news network to be given landing rights in China.
Launched in 1999, Channel NewsAsia is viewed in more
than 16 million homes and hotels in 18 territories
across Asia.

INDIA

DD SLAPS NOTICE ON TV CHANNELS

Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has slapped legal
notices to a dozen odd private TV channels and plans
to bill them for amounts which could run into crores
of rupees for stealing exclusive footage, without so
much as "by your leave". The notices sent to these
channels by Sanjiv Dutta, ADG, news, say the private
channels — Star, Zee, Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, NDTV,
Sahara, ETV — and the foreign ones had acted against
"all norms of professional ethics" without seeking
clearance.

JAPAN

WOWOW IN THE RED

WOWOW Inc, one of the two main satellite pay-TV
service firms, said on May 21 its group net balance
fell into the red in the year to March 31. WOWOW said
its operating revenues fell by 2.2% to 61.61 billion
yen. WOWOW said the number of subscribers dropped by a
13,843 during the 12-month period to 2,484,681 as of
March 31, with the number of those canceling
subscriptions topping that of new subscribers.

MALAYSIA

GOVERNMENT TO STUDY NEW ASTRO FEES

Malaysia's Information Minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh
Fadzir said on May 19 a study will be carried out into
Astro's 5 ringgit rise in monthly satellite television
subscription fees, the Star reports. Astro is
increasing its monthly fees by MYR5 starting May 24.
The rise will be the first since January 2002. Many
subscribers have complained in the local newspapers
about the increase. Astro is owned by Astro All Asia
Networks. However, the broadcaster said the move will
serve to facilitate the improvement on the variety of
programmes and channels as Astro expects "to deliver
over a hundred channels by next year, courtesy of a
new Measat 3 satellite." Astro, controlled by
Malaysian tycoon Ananda Krishnan, has embarked on an
aggressive push to attract more viewers in Malaysia
and Brunei to the channels it shows through its pay-TV
services. The report also stated that the move to
raise the subscription rates might add RM83 million to
its annual sales given its subscriber base of 1.39
million people at the end of January.

NEW ZEALAND

CANWEST PLANS IPO

CanWest Global Communications will be floating 68
million shares in its newly-incorporated radio and
television operation, CanWest MediaWorks (NZ) Ltd, in
June, in order to help reduce its debts. It is
expected by the company that public investors will
acquire approximately 30% of CanWest MediaWorks NZ,
with CanWest acquiring some 70% interest in the
outfit. However, CanWest may reduce its ownership to
64% of CanWest MediaWorks, if an over allotment is
fully exercised. On completion of the offering on June
29, CanWest MediaWorks NZ will use the funds raised
from the share sales, together with bank financing and
a further issue of shares, to also bag all of the
parent company's other NZ media operations: CanWest
RadioWorks and CanWest TVWorks. CanWest MediaWorks
NZ's raft of television brands will include
privately-owned TV network, TV3 and C4, the newly
launched free-to-air music channel.

PAKISTAN

PUSHTO TV CHANNEL STARTS TESTING

The first Pushto language satellite television
channel, AVT Khyber, will begin test transmissions on
May 20. Based in Islamabad, the AVT Khyber will air
programmes on social, political, cultural and
socio-economic events besides news in Pushto. The
Pushtoons in Afghanistan will be the prime
beneficiaries of the new channel because unlike their
Pakistani counterparts, they can't understand Urdu
programmes.

TAIWAN

CABINET DEBATES PRIVATISATION OF TV STATIONS

Activists, academics and students protested on May 17
in front of the Government Information Office (GIO) to
back demands that the government merge Taiwan
Television (TTV) and Chinese Television System (CTS)
into a public TV channel. While the cabinet's stated
policy is to sell the government's shares in the two
terrestrial TV stations, the GIO has not yet decided
whether to sell the stock to conglomerates or convert
one or both stations into a public television channel.
GIO Director-General Huang Hui-chen told lawmakers
during a legislative committee meeting that the GIO
has mapped out three possible scenarios for the two stations,
TTV and CTS. "One possibility is to
nationalize the two, another is to privatize them and
the other is to privatize one of them and nationalize
the other," Huang said. "However, I don't expect to
come to the final decision until the end of this
month." The GIO plans to hold public hearings to
solicit opinions from media activists, academics and
experts by the beginning of next month before sending
the draft statute regulating the shares in TTV
[part-owned by the provincial government] and CTS
[part-owned by the military] by the end of next month.
The government owns 25.64 per cent of TTV and 36.25
per cent of CTS. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
owns a 35.6 per cent share of Chinese Television
Company (CTV) and has a majority of shares in the
Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC). To free the
media from political influence, the legislature passed
draft amendments to the Broadcasting and Television
Law last December, banning certain civil servants and
political party members from owning, funding or
assuming certain key positions in the media. The law -
which integrates the Terrestrial Radio and Television
Law of 1976, the Cable, Radio and Television Law of
1993 and the Satellite Radio and Television Law of
1999 - also asked the cabinet present a measure on
government shares at TTV and CTS six months after the
law took effect.

A F R I C A

SOUTH AFRICA

SABC TO BE BROKEN-UP

The South African Broadcasting Corp. has applied to
divide into a public service and a commercial service
- a step required by the Broadcasting Act of 1999. The
public broadcaster has invested $125 million over the
past four years in the local production industry.
Interested parties have until Friday to lodge
comments, and the SABC hopes to be able to proceed
with the split by the end of the year.

24/05/04

Many problems reported with Sexz.tv on NSS6. Hold onto your money....

Nice big dish up for auction
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Electronics/Other/auction-11771270.htm

From my Emails & ICQ

From Simmo

F1 on palapa? Says F1 2004 on channel ID? monte carlo?
4188 Sr 6700

From Mr Humax

B1 Feed seen- Rugby
Super 12 Final - B1, 12367V, SR 6620, FEC 3/4.

From Jsat

Optus B1 12316H 6980

Womens netball

(Craigs comment, well I doubt it would be the mens netball.!...)

From the Dish

PAS 8 166E 3860 H "KFC Music" has started on , FTA, APIDs 651 and 901.The test card and Kiss Radio have left this mux.
PAS 8 166E 3950 V "BCN - Box Cinema Network, UBS and CTS - Christian TV System" have left
PAS8 166E 12405 H "TV Masala" is back on , Fta, SR 2207, FEC 3/4, PIDs 308/256.

Apstar 1A 134E 4100 V "Shandong TV" has left (PAL).
Apstar 1A 134E 4160 H All channels in the CCTV mux on are now encrypted, except CCTV Kids.

Weekly SatcoDX News 14 May 2004 - 21 May 2004

NSS 703 (57.0E)

http://www.satcodx3.com/0570

==============================

TV 5 feeds on 11.142 (V,1500): It has replaced SatLink feeds
CTV on 3.923 (R,3000,308,256,8190): It Has Started

PANAMSAT 7, 10 (68.5E)

http://www.satcodx3.com/0685

==============================
Afrisat info card on 12.722 (V,26656,62,63,62): It has started
SABC 1 on 12.722 (V,26656,256,257,256): It's back encrypted
SABC 2 on 12.722 (V,26656,260,261,260): It's back encrypted
SABC 3 on 12.722 (V,26656,264,265,264): It's back encrypted
E TV on 12.722 (V,26656,272,273,272): It's back encrypted
Afrisat on 12.722 (V,26656,62,63,62): It has started regular programmes
A copy of SETMAX on 3.932 (H,19835,1160,1120,1160): It Has Started
India TV on 4.173 (V,3000,1160,1120,8190): Has Offically started 24Hrs Service from Today
Telly Track on 12.687 (V,3254,512,650,512): It has started
New Africa Network on 12.687 (V,3254,513,641,513): It has started

TELSTAR 10/APSTAR IIR (76.5E)

http://www.satcodx3.com/0765

==============================
TV Lanka on 3.652 (H,9000,1160,1122,1160): New SR
TV Lanka - 2 on 3.652 (H,9000,1260,1222,1260): New SR
TV Lanka - 3 on 3.652 (H,9000,1260,1360,1320): It has started
TV LANKA /LAK HANDA on 3.652 (H,9000,1520,1520): New SR
no name on 4.037 (H,2300,33,36,33)

THAICOM 2,3 (78.5E)

http://www.satcodx3.com/0785

==============================
WPTV Card on 3.600 (H,26667,519,720,8190): It Has Started
Feeds (Satmedia.tv) on 3.671 (H,13333,6177,6193): New PCR
Feeds (RR2-TR) on 3.671 (H,13333,6193,6193): New PCR
Feeds (VIC-TV TR2) on 3.671 (H,13333,6209,6193): New PCR
Feeds (VIC-TV TR1) on 3.671 (H,13333,6225,6193): New PCR
World peace TV on 3.600 (H,26667,519,720,8190): It Has Started
Feeds (Fasion TV) on 3.671 (H,13333,3105,3106,3105): It Is has Restarted
Feeds (Panjab Radio) on 3.671 (H,13333,513,1057): It Has Started
TVC Tv on 3.545 (V,26667,337,338,337): It Has Started
Test Bar VSNL on 3.545 (V,26667,353,355,353): It has Started
DrDish@TV [May 21,22,23- 12GMT to15GMT] on 3.671 (H,13333,1057,1058,1057): It has Started

ST 1 (88.0E)

http://www.satcodx3.com/0880

==============================
CTS on 3.632 (V,26666,2097,2081,2097)
FTV News on 3.632 (V,26666,2609,2593,2609)
Formosa TV on 3.632 (V,26666,3121,3105,3121)
BBC World on 3.632 (V,26666,3633,3617,3633)
CTV - China TV on 3.632 (V,26666,4145,4129,4145)
Da Ai TV on 3.632 (V,26666,4657,4641,4657)
Public TV Service on 3.632 (V,26666,6193,6177,6193)
TTV on 3.632 (V,26666,7217,7201,7217)
TVB8 on 3.550 (V,7500,49,33,49): It has started
MATV on 3.550 (V,7500,1057,1058,1057): It has started
Channel [V] on 3.550 (V,7500,2097,2081,2097): It has started

ASIASAT 2 (100.5E)

http://www.satcodx4.com/1005

==============================
Saudi Channel 1 on 3.660 (V,27500,512,650,8190): New NID
Al-Alam News Channel on 3.660 (V,27500,513,651,8190): New NID
Kuwait Space Channel on 3.660 (V,27500,2560,2561,2560): New NID
IRIB3 on 3.660 (V,27500,2695,2690,2695): New NID
Al Quran Al Karim on 3.660 (V,27500,660,8190): New NID
Voice of Saudi Arabia Kingdom on 3.660 (V,27500,670,8190): New NID
IRIB Radio 1 on 3.660 (V,27500,2693,2689): New NID
IRIB Payam on 3.660 (V,27500,2694,2688): New NID
Data Service on 3.660 (V,27500): New NID
KUWAIT SP. Channel on 3.660 (V,27500,2560,2561,2560)
Saudi Channel1 on 3.660 (V,27500,512,650,8190)
AL-ALAM on 3.660 (V,27500,513,651,8190)
IRIB3 on 3.660 (V,27500,2695,2690,2695)
Al-Quran Al-Karim on 3.660 (V,27500,660,8190)
Voice of the Kingdom 1 on 3.660 (V,27500,670,8190)
IRIB Radio1 on 3.660 (V,27500,2693,2689)
IRIB Payam on 3.660 (V,27500,2694,2688)
Res-Asiasat2 on 3.660 (V,27500)
UKI on 4.095 (V,5700,308,256,8190): It has started

ASIASAT 3S (105.5E)

http://www.satcodx4.com/1055

==============================
STAR UTSAV on 3.780 (V,28100,519,668,8190): It's clear now
769 STAR UTSAV on 3.780 (V,28100,519,668,8190): It's clear now
†ZEE SE Asia‡ on 3.700 (V,27500,164,96,164)
Qatar TV on 3.880 (H,27500,1181,1182,1181)
Syria TV on 3.880 (H,27500,1111,1112,1111)
Emarat FM on 3.880 (H,27500,1412,1412)
Oman on 3.880 (H,27500,1141,1142,1141)
Sudan on 3.880 (H,27500,1191,1192,1191)
Libya on 3.880 (H,27500,1121,1122,1121)
Al manar on 3.880 (H,27500,1161,1162,1161)
Saudi 1 on 3.880 (H,27500,1171,1172,1171)
Oman Radio on 3.880 (H,27500,1712,1712)
Program One on 3.880 (H,27500,1812,1812)
Radio Quran on 3.880 (H,27500,1912,1912)
Zee SE Asia on 3.700 (V,27500,164,96,164): It has started

PALAPA C2 (113.0E)

http://www.satcodx4.com/1130

==============================
BALI TV on 3.926 (H,4208,33,36,33)
no name on 3.977 (H,2539)

ASIASAT 4 (122.0E)

http://www.satcodx4.com/1220

==============================
Linkstar on 12.274 (V,10000,869): New SR

APSTAR 1A (134.0E)

http://www.satcodx4.com/1340

==============================
CCTV 3 on 4.160 (H,27500,512,650,8190): It's clear now
CCTV 5 on 4.160 (H,27500,513,660,8190): It's clear now
CCTV 6 on 4.160 (H,27500,514,670,8190): It's clear now
CCTV 8 on 4.160 (H,27500,515,680,8190): It's clear now
CCTV Kids on 4.160 (H,27500,516,690,8190): It's clear now
CCTV News on 4.160 (H,27500,517,700,8190): It's clear now
Guizhou Radio1 on 3.920 (H,6930,37,37): It has started
Guizhou Radio2 on 3.920 (H,6930,54,54): It has started
XinJiang Cable TV1 on 4.120 (H,27500,163,92,163): It's encrypted now
XinJiang Cable TV2 on 4.120 (H,27500,164,96,164): It's encrypted now
XinJiang Cable TV3 on 4.120 (H,27500,165,100,165): It's encrypted now

PANAMSAT 2 (169.0E)

http://www.satcodx5.com/1690

==============================
Hope Channel Intl - SAP on 4.040 (H,5900,1160,1122,1160)
Audio 3 on 4.040 (H,5900,1160,1130,1160)

NEWS

TV minnow fights SBS over ad ban

From AFR

Mike and Regina Boulos are not afraid of a fight. For the past six years, the husband-and-wife owners of ethnic pay television company Television and Radio Broadcasting Services (Tarbs) have been fighting Telstra and Foxtel to gain access to their network.

Now they are fighting SBS over its refusal to carry ads for Tarbs.

Tarbs operates 65 TV and radio channels, the bulk of which carry programs in Arabic, Italian, Greek, Turkish and 10 other foreign languages. The company claims it has 75,000 subscribers in Australia, paying $60 a month, and about 2000 overseas.

Tarbs started its pay TV service in 1998 when it picked up microwave spectrum licences after the collapse of pay TV operator Australis Media. Mr Boulos on-sold the licences to regional pay TV company Austar in 2000 for $140 million.

Mr Boulos said the number of Tarbs subscribers had increased 20,000 over the past year, thanks in part to the addition of English-language channels such as MTV, the Movie Network and CNN, which are pitched at second- and third-generation migrants.

In late 2001, Mr Boulos claimed that the company would have 350,000 subscribers in Australia by mid-2003. He blamed the 275,000 shortfall on a lack of funds.

"This business requires a lot of money in terms of subsidising the satellite dishes and set-top boxes," he said. "In late 2001, I was hopeful that a number of investors would come on board and help fund our expansion. That didn't happen."

Details of Tarbs' revenue and profit were not available. Mr Boulos said the company was "about 15,000 subscribers away from breaking even".

Mr Boulos said the reason for his long-running dispute with Foxtel was simple: the access fees set by the pay TV company were too high.

According to Mr Boulos, Telstra charges $750,000 per channel a year for access to its cable network, with Foxtel charging $245 a year for access to its set-top boxes.

A Foxtel spokesman denied it was charging $245 a year for access to its set-top boxes.

In April, Tarbs launched a two-year, $10 million marketing push. The campaign was initially aimed at 100,000 homes in Sydney's Canterbury-Bankstown area, using direct mail, door-to-door selling, sponsorships of community events and outdoor ads.

The campaign ran for six weeks in Canterbury-Bankstown and is now being launched in other areas.

Reaching potential customers through SBS is not an option, according to Ms Boulos, who said the government-owned multicultural broadcaster had consistently refused to carry Tarbs ads on its TV and radio channels.

"SBS runs ads for Foxtel and for World Movies [a pay-TV channel 40per cent owned by SBS]," she said. "But it will not accept ads for Tarbs, telling us that our proposed ads are too channel-specific."

A spokesman for SBS confirmed it had refused ads for Tarbs. "It offers services in specific languages to audiences from non-English-speaking backgrounds. That makes Tarbs a direct competitor to SBS."

Foxing on pay TV: new subscribers hard to find

From AFR.com.au

Kim Williams is happy to announce that 250,000 homes have subscribed to Foxtel's digital pay TV service since it was launched on March 14. But ask how many of those homes are first-time pay TV subscribers and the normally loquacious Foxtel chief executive clams up.

Williams will not reveal how many new subscribers have been lured by Foxtel's $15 million digital pay TV marketing blitz, claiming such details are market-sensitive.

The Australian Financial Review understands that Foxtel's digital push has attracted only 63,000 new subscribers, and the other 187,000 are existing subscribers to Foxtel's analog service who have upgraded to digital.

Foxtel's shareholders - Telstra, Kerry Packer's Publishing & Broadcasting and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp - are not spending $600million on the introduction of digital pay TV simply to convert Foxtel's existing 1.07 million subscribers to new technology.

Their plan to make Foxtel, which has lost more than $600 million over the past seven years, cash-flow positive by mid-2006 calls for 800,000 new subscribers by 2008.

The figure of 250,000 homes signed up is believed to be on budget, but the 63,000 new-subscriber number is reportedly lower than expected.

On the positive side, among digital subscribers, the average revenue per user (ARPU) - a key measure of success in subscription-based industries such as pay TV - is slightly higher than expected.

On May 16, Williams said Foxtel had installed digital pay TV in more than 100,000 homes. The roll-out has been disrupted by industrial action by the subcontractors hired by Foxtel's installation companies.

In the three weeks after March 14, fewer than 5000 digital services were being installed each week, compared with Foxtel's target of between 13,000 and 15,000.

The number of weekly installations is now about 13,000 and Foxtel says it will climb to 15,000 by next month.

But industrial action was not the only problem. One of the installation companies dramatically overestimated the number of installations it could handle each week.

The internet broadband war between Telstra and Optus that started in February reduced the number of subcontractors available to install Foxtel. They then ran into more installation difficulties than expected.

There have been other problems at Foxtel, including key management changes in recent months, rumoured problems in its call centre, a weak customer retention strategy and complaints from some customers about the price and content of its digital service.

Two of Foxtel's three shareholders declined to talk to the AFR. David Moffatt, the group managing director of Telstra's consumer and marketing division and a director of Foxtel, referred questions to Williams. News Corporation executives were unavailable for comment.

Peter Yates, chief executive of PBL and a director of Foxtel, says he is very happy with the management of Foxtel and the way it has handled the development, marketing and roll-out of digital pay TV.

"It is a very complex project to roll out," he says. "There were lots of issues to address under trying circumstances. Demand for digital pay TV has been higher than we expected because it is a great product."

Foxtel insiders insist that the lower-than-expected number of new subscribers is not a disaster. They claim the number will increase as positive word-of-mouth publicity spreads.

But right now, much of the word-of-mouth publicity about Foxtel's digital service is negative, with people complaining about long delays in installation, sloppy customer service and inexperienced call-centre staff.

PBL, News and Telstra are convinced that digital technology will boost Foxtel's subscriber numbers 75 per cent by 2008, cut its subscriber churn rate from 18 per cent today to below 15 per cent in 2007-08 and push the penetration of pay TV from 23 per cent of Australian homes now to between 35 per cent and 40 per cent in 2008.

Williams has said that Foxtel will break even when pay TV's penetration reaches between 26 per cent and 28 per cent. One analyst forecasts that Foxtel's earnings before interest and tax will climb from a negative $71 million in 2003-04 to a positive $384 million in 2007-08.

"Foxtel is on track to hit its target of profitability by mid-2006, converting all its customers to digital by 2006, and achieving penetration in the range of 35 to 40 per cent by 2008," says Foxtel's director of corporate affairs, Mark Furness.

Predictably, Foxtel executives say that consumers have embraced digital pay TV.

Patrick Delany, promoted earlier this month from director of digital to executive director, content, product development and delivery, says customer feedback is positive.

"The response has been fantastic," he says. "The level of demand from existing subscribers is evidence of that.

"The word-of-mouth has been exceptional. We underestimated the appeal of digital-quality pictures and sound, and we've been surprised at how many subscribers are using all the digital channels."

Subscribers to digital pay TV might like the product, but industry sources claim Foxtel has been deluged by complaints about poor customer service and long installation delays.

Some consumers are rumoured to have been told they cannot be hooked up until September. But Furness says the waiting time for installation varies from days and weeks in many areas to a few months in some areas.

"The vast majority of our customers are booked for installations within an 11-week period," he says.

Earlier this month, Foxtel said it would launch an advertising and promotions campaign "to better manage bookings and installations across various parts of Australia".

Details of that campaign are not available. But a Foxtel insider says it simply consists of existing ads for Foxtel's digital service with a new headline: "Join the queue."

"Telling consumers that they have to join a queue is an admission that the introduction of digital pay TV has been handled very badly," says one industry source.

"It is bizarre to launch a new product and then tell your prospective customers they have to queue to get it."

Foxtel staff report many complaints from customers about the price and content (a basic package costs $48.95 a month.)

Nick Falloon, a former chief executive of PBL and now executive chairman of Ten Network, has been a strident critic of Foxtel's monopoly on pay TV in metropolitan markets and - more recently - the pricing of its digital service.

Last month he infuriated Foxtel executives by claiming that three-quarters of Australians will never be able to afford to subscribe to Foxtel's digital network, which he describes as one of the most expensive pay TV services in the world.

In February, Williams told the AFR that price would not be an issue. "Digital pay TV is a very affordable product," he said. "The pricing has been done very carefully."

"Australians aren't silly," says one TV network executive. "They don't see a value proposition in pay television.

"Given the strengths of free-to-air TV, and until Foxtel moves significantly towards the production of original Australian programming, it will struggle against free-to-air TV and, equally importantly, the impact of DVDs."

A source close to Foxtel says that many customers have complained about the content of the digital service.

For digital subscribers, the basic Foxtel package has been expanded from 25 channels to 66. But only three of the 41 additional channels are new video channels; most are audio channels.

Foxtel did not respond to questions from the AFR about low staff morale and key management changes over the past five months, such as the exit of chief financial officer Sankar Narayan, who quit in February to join John Fairfax Holdings (publisher of the AFR), and Rick McKenna, who resigned as Foxtel's director of AFL operations last month to join the Nine Network.

"Foxtel has lost many talented senior executives over the past year or so," says one source. "The marketing department, for example, has seen constant change, including the exit of the marketing director [Karen Ganschow] and national marketing manager [Rhonda Brown] since December."

The Foxtel call centre is believed to have seen myriad management and staff changes since it was folded into the sales and marketing department last year (it previously operated as a stand-alone department).

"The staff turnover in the call centre has been very high," says one source.

"The result is a lot of inexperienced staff with poor product knowledge. And there is no customer-retention strategy in the call centre: if someone rings up to un-subscribe, there is no attempt to convince them to stay."

An effective customer-retention strategy is one of the key elements in cutting Foxtel's churn rate. In February, Williams said the churn rate had dropped from 30 per cent in 2001 to 18 per cent.

Foxtel's rivals in the free-to-air TV industry often claim that 75 per cent of Australian homes have tried pay TV since it was launched in 1994, but only 23 per cent have liked it enough to keep it.

Foxtel executives say the 75 per cent claim is wrong. Giving a rare insight into the number of homes that have subscribed to Foxtel and then dropped it, Furness says there are 645,000 lapsed subscribers in Foxtel's service area, which covers 4.97 million homes.

"We are currently marketing Foxtel digital to many of those former customers and are getting encouraging response rates," he says.

Taiwan celebrates satellite launch

From http://www.etaiwannews.com/Taiwan/2004/05/22/1085194844.htm

Top officials and scientists celebrated the successful launch of Taiwan's second satellite (ROCSAT-2) early yesterday morning, as the space vehicle was propelled into an orbiting altitude of 737 kilometers in the sky, and then established communications with ground receiving stations.

With the countdown, the 35-meter tall Taurus XI rocket carrying the ROCSAT-2 payload blasted off at 10:47:03 a.m. Thursday U.S. West Coast time (1:47:03 a.m. Friday, Taiwan time), from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Through a trans-continental video link, the successful satellite launch was witnessed by hundreds of the aerospace work crew, ground operation personnel, government officials headed by outgoing National Science Council minister Wei Che-ho, and journalists at the National Space Program Office in Hsinchu.

There was also an official Taiwanese delegation at the U.S. Vandenberg Air Force launch site, led by National Science Council Deputy Minister Shieh Ching-jyh , and joined by the press corps, American contractor technicians, and throngs of overseas Taiwanese groups.

"It was a successful launch. Everything went very well without a hitch... It heralds a new era of space science research for Taiwan... We have waited a long time for this and overcame a lot of challenges. This is the happiest day of my life," said National Space Program Office Director Lee Lou-chuan, who had been in charge of the project since its start in 1999.

"Once in orbit, the satellite will be wholly operated by our own Taiwanese crew at the NSPO Mission Control Center. It opens a new chapter in the development of our own domestic aerospace program and satellite imagery technology. The scientific research on upper atmosphere electrical phenomena carried out by ROCSAT-2 will elevate Taiwan's visibility in the world and enhance our cooperation with the international community," Lee shared to the press yesterday.

At about 8:25 a.m. yesterday morning, President Chen Shui-bian pressed the button to initiate the first contact and confirmed telemetry communications between ROCSAT-2 and Taiwan's ground receiving station in Chungli, Taoyuan, as it flies directly over Taiwan for the first time on its high-flying orbit above the globe.

Chen lauded the mission's success, "Coming right after the presidential inauguration yesterday, the space program team members have presented the best gift for the May 20 event and for the country as a whole. This is an exciting moment, and also a proud moment for all of the 23 million people of Taiwan. It is also an important milestone for Taiwan to advance towards international aerospace programs.

Accompanying Chen in the ceremony to signal the start of the first communication between the remote sensing satellite and the ground receiving station were Vice President Annette Lu , new minister of National Science Council Wu Mao-kung (???), and NSPO director Lee Lou-chuan.

Co-developed through 5-years of collaboration with the French satellite manufacturer Astrium, along with Taiwanese and American companies, the 724-kilogram hexagonal-shaped vehicle is Taiwan's own "Eye-in-the-Sky" that is capable of taking remote photographs of the earth with a 2-meter resolution.

Fifteen minutes after lift off from the launch pad in California, the ROCSAT-2 was separated from the rocket and went into orbit at 737 kilometers above the earth. The satellite completed its first telemetry signal feedback to a ground station in Kiruna, Sweden, an hour and 14 minutes after launching and confirmed the opening of its solar panels.

Over the next week, NSPO Mission Control Center will track the progress of space vehicle's flight as it gradually heads towards its final orbiting altitude of 891 kilometer.

National Science Council deputy minister Shieh Ching-jyh said he was greatly relieved with the success of the mission, as there had been delays due to technical problems during the testing phase. Shieh said the American rocket contractor Orbital Sciences Corp. had done a meticulous job ironing out the bugs with attention to quality control and engineering precision to ensure the smooth completion of the launch mission. He said OSC will also likely provide the rocket carrier for Taiwan's next satellite, ROCSAT-3, scheduled near the end of next year.

Taiwan's first satellite, 295-kilogram ROCSAT-1 was launched from the Florida Cape Canaveral on January 27, 1999. Originally planned with a life span of 4 years, the ROCSAT-1 is still operating and functioning with on its space imaging and scientific research mission.

PM: I did not order probe into Astro programmes, fees

From http://www.emedia.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/National/20040522071413/Article/indexb_html

Both Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his deputy, Da-tuk Seri Najib Razak, today refuted claims that the Cabinet had in-structed Information Minister Datuk Paduka Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir to investigate private satellite broadcaster Astro for allegedly airing programmes in breach of broadcasting regulations.

Abdullah also denied that the Cabinet had issued any directive to look at Astro's proposed RM5 hike in subscription fees which has met with some objections from customers.

Abdul Kadir, who has been on the warpath against Astro over the last week, was quoted in the Utusan Malaysia today as saying Abdullah had instructed him to investigate Astro for airing programmes with excessive sex and violence.

He had also claimed that Abdullah had asked him to look at Astro's proposed RM5 hike in subscription fees to which some of the station's 1.3 million subscribers have objected.

Abdullah today denied issuing either directive to Kadir.

"No, as far as I can recall, I never instructed Datuk Kadir to carry out any investigations on Astro," he said after attending the Public Sector Workers' Day gathering at Intan Bukit Kiara here.

Turning to Najib, who was seated next to him, Abdullah said: "We did discuss the issue of media content. I highlighted the matter to the Cabinet after my meeting with non-governmental organisations who raised concerns on domestic violence, rape and social decay in general.

"We are concerned about the contents of programmes aired on television and disturbing pictures carried by newspapers ...it is not confined to Astro but all media practitioners," Abdullah said. Najib concurred.

Abdul Kadir, who had earlier last week also claimed Abdullah had raised concerns about Astro during the Cabinet meeting, today backtracked, saying Utusan Malaysia had quoted him incorrectly.

The Information Minister has a history of public spats with businessmen, beginning with an ugly quarrel with Malaysia Airlines some years ago, attacks on no-frills airline AirAsia earlier this year and with Astro last week.

Abdul Kadir told the Berita Harian: "I did not say the Prime Minister had instructed Astro be investigated. He had asked me to advise the media, in general, against showing excessive violence and sex." He was quoted by Utusan Malaysia as saying that he had been "specifically instructed by the Prime Minister to investigate the satellite television channel for its recent rate hike and for allegedly airing programmes inconsistent with Malaysian culture".

Abdullah today said the Government would not interfere in the ongoing debate over Astro's subscription rate increase as it was an issue for the station's subscribers to decide.

"The Cabinet did not make any decision pertaining to the RM5 hike as Astro is a private company. If people feel that the increase is too steep, then Astro will lose out if they cancel (their subscriptions). Ultimately, it is the consumers' choice." "What the Cabinet is concerned about is the content," he added.

Abdullah, who is Internal Security Minister, also issued a blanket warning to all electronic and print media practitioners to strictly adhere to existing rules and regulations pertaining to violent, pornographic and sexually explicit content.

He said editors must be sensitive to the feelings of the public.

Abdullah cautioned that the Government would not hesitate to take action if media organisations went overboard.

No double standards, says Astro

From http://www.emedia.com.my/Current_News/MM/Sunday/National/20040523095312

ASTRO has refuted allegations that it is practising “double standards” in its implementation of the RM5 subscription fee hike which takes effect tomorrow.

In a statement to Sunday Mail yesterday, Astro’s chief operating officer David Butorac said: “There will be no change to the price structure for the packages ranging from RM104.95 to RM124.95.

“During 2003, Astro introduced new channels in the Emperor package comprising Celestial Movies and the two Shuang Xing channels. Customers who chose to take those channels or package were levied an increased charge at that time.

“As such, customers who are paying the higher prices currently and who took the additional package during 2003 have not been charged additional fees in the current price review. The decision is not based on any ethnic consideration.

“With the launch of the Measat 3 satellite next year, more channels and more exciting programmes and services will be added for all sectors of the Malaysian community.”

Butorac was responding to complaints from some of Astro’s customers who claimed that the company was practising double standards by subjecting some subscribers to the hike in fees while others were exempted.

A subscriber, Aftar Singh, had wanted to know why the fee increase was only imposed on some quarters if it was due to increasing operational costs and to enable Astro to provide better-quality programmes.

Another subscriber who called Astro’s toll-free-number last week, to enquire about the rationale for subjecting certain subscribers to the increase in subscription fees, was aghast when a worker told her the reason was because they made up the minority of the subscribers.

“Those who were not required to pay had signed up for packages which included vernacular ones, thus they would be paying more than RM100 as monthly subscription fees and that was why they are not required to pay the RM5. This is unfair,” she said.

Since Astro’s announcement of the RM5 hike, many of its 1.3 million subscribers have objected to the increase as some claimed the exercise was too soon as the last hike was about two years ago.

The complainants also felt that most of Astro’s content on all its channels consists of repeats.

On the other hand, there are many subscribers who are equally grateful to Astro for the repeats of certain movies or programmes, as not everybody can catch all the original screenings.