30/09/04

Firstly SORRY about the stupid delays in being able to access the site via the usual apsattv.com address the former host isp is being very slow in releasing the i.p.

"mansi test" is new on 4140V Asiasat 3, also new on Asiasat 3 4129H Sr 13240 is CCTV E&F

New CCTV channel Asiasat 3/Pas8 Pas 10 Etc

Note this is translated via Babblefish from Chinese to English

On October 1, 2004, the Central Committee Television officially will begin broadcasting ?? the language frequency channel, the foreign call letter will be CCTV-E & F. This is the Central Committee Television continues the third international frequency channel which CCTV-4 (Chinese international frequency channel) and CCTV-9 (English international frequency channel) sets up afterwards, symbolized the Chinese television foreign propaganda leapt on a new stair. ?? the language frequency channel is the news synthesis frequency channel which 24 hours broadcast, is objective by the Chinese angle of view, fairly reported occurs in Chinese and the world each place news, outside the people are interested content demonstration modern China, lets Spanish and French country people understands China through this window, the understanding world. Arranges the aspect at the program, uses Spanish and French broadcasts the way in turn, every 8 hours for as soon as broadcast the sector, among, Spanish and French program respectively occupy for 4 hours. In various time intervals, the news implementation rolls broadcast that, special program first broadcast, rebroadcasts two time. In Spanish time interval broadcast the column includes: "Synthesis News", "Finance and economics News", "Cultural News", "Sporting news", "This Is China", "Traveling Guide", "Foreigner Looked China", "the Chinese Artistic and literary realm", "Dialogue", "Human relations Chinese", "Study Makes Chinese dish" and so on. French time interval broadcast the column includes: "Synthesis News", "Important news Renew", "Brief news", "Go all over China", "Riotous Life", "Literary Stage", "Documentary film" and "Television Theater" and so on. What is worth mentioning, ?? the language frequency channel hires massively domestic and foreign west, French expert holds the post of the M.C, the language pure tunnel, broadcasts the newspaper to be relaxed freely. ?? the language frequency channel uses the digital compression technology to carry on broadcast that, transmits the signal through Pan-America 8, 9, 10, satellite and so on Milky Way 3C and Asian 3S covers the whole world.



From my Emails & ICQ


From Zaparra W.A

NSS 6 Signals`

Ok I was bored so moved my 2.7nt over to NSS 6. This is what I found.
10966 Horz 2498 1/2 Data so strong my Nokia reads it as FF FF ** Data
11105 Horz 3254 3/4 TVRI should be able to receive on a 45cm Nokia A9 FF FF
11634 Horz 27492 3/4 Data
12716 Horz 4997 1/2 Data
12701 Vert 4997 7/8 Data


From David Leach

Apstar6 launch

hi craig, its david here from nsw australia ,im just letting you know that the official launch of apstar6 to replace apstar1a at 134east is december 4th on wards ,source apt satellite control centre who ove just spoke to on the phone ,thank yoiu

david nsw australia .


From Nucklehead

Hi Craig

Just a note about the Worldnet (VoA) mux on Intelsat 701. There are 4 separate Video program channels in operation. Details are;

Worldnet mux 3885R sr25000 fec3/4

VoA ch1 Vpid 2160 Apid 2120 PCR pid 2160
VoA ch2 Vpid 2260 Apid 2220 PCRpid 2260
Voa ch3 Vpid 2360 Apid 2320 PCRpid 2360
AlHurra (VoA Arab language channel) Vpid 2560 Apid 2520 PCRpid 2560

The Worldnet mux on Asiasat 2 does not containVoA ch3 or AlHurra

Cheers
Knucklehead


From George (Thailand)

Insat 3C 74E DD North-East 3760V SR 6250


From the Dish

No Lyngsat received, a bit frustrating they are arriving very late these days


NEWS


Optus reviews video options


From http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10921834%255E15306,00.html

OPTUS is conducting a comprehensive review of its video offerings for its hybrid coaxial cable and planned high-speed internet network that uses Telstra's copper wires.

The company is considering a range of options, including Foxtel's digital pay-TV offering and a number of options that would see video services offered over broadband links.

Optus consumer and multimedia chief Scott Lorson said: "As it relates to the HFC (hybrid coaxial cable), we maintain a genuine interest and have a sophisticated understanding in video services over all of our networks and are currently investigating several options, which include video streaming, video-on-demand and subscription TV services, as well as other entertainment."

Added impetus for the review has been Foxtel's move to push pricing for its analogue pay-TV - received by Optus's 195,000 pay-TV subscribers - towards that of more expensive digital services.

Optus's first step has been to jack up the fees it charges customers for pay-TV by as much as $10 a month for a standard plus movies package for new subscribers.

In a letter to customers signed by customer solution manager Stephen Baylas, Optus said: "Optus has been informed by our content provider Foxtel that our wholesale price will shortly rise."

Foxtel spokesman Mark Furness confirmed that Optus's rates had been put up and that all other Foxtel customers would also see a price rise before Christmas.

Sources said that Optus could offer Foxtel's digital services within three months, if it so decided.

Three years ago, Optus spent at least $200 million on Australia's first interactive television trial.

This involved digitisation of the company's entire hybrid coaxial cable network, which passes about 1.6 million homes in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

That means it would cost Optus only about $20 million to prepare its network for digital, plus the cost of new set-top boxes.

But it is understood Optus is more in favour of providing video using broadband and emerging technologies, such as Microsoft's IPTV, which is a different set-top box that sits between the internet connection and the user's television set.

Telstra is also testing IPTV on it own HFC network. Optus management is preparing a business case for a national deployment of the service over residential digital subscriber line (DSL).

Optus is eyeing the emerging ADSL2+ standard, which will see internet speeds jump from the 1.5Mbps available on current generation technology, to 3Mbps, which is fast enough for DVD quality video, later rising to 14Mbps.

As well as access technology, the Optus review is also exploring its online content options.

Unlike Telstra, which has its own in-house content team, known as BigPond Media, with budget of about $25 million a year, Optus has preferred to partner with content providers.

The company is watching a growing trend of other global telecommunications players developing relationships with Microsoft's internet content arm msn according to sources close to the project


TV station to reapply


From http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=9228

A CHINESE television company hoping to set up a cable television station in the Northern Division would have to reapply.

Labasa Mayor Councillor Paul Jaduram said Fushun Television (Fiji) Limited was expected to apply to the Government for a television licence.

The company had been waiting for the Government's approval after former Labasa mayor Charan Jeath Singh and the television company executives signed a memorandum of understanding at Fushun City, in China earlier this year.

Mr Jaduram said it was good the Government had finally come up with their set of guidelines and policies in regards to the set up of television stations by other companies.

"All Fushun Television (Fiji) Limited has to do is to reapply and I hope they do meet the guidelines set out by the Government," he said.

Fushun Television (Fiji) Limited with the Labasa Town Council plans to set up a 15 channel cable TV station in Labasa.

A CHINESE television company hoping to set up a cable television station in the Northern Division would have to reapply.

Labasa Mayor Councillor Paul Jaduram said Fushun Television (Fiji) Limited was expected to apply to the Government for a television licence.

The company had been waiting for the Government's approval after former Labasa mayor Charan Jeath Singh and the television company executives signed a memorandum of understanding at Fushun City, in China earlier this year.

Mr Jaduram said it was good the Government had finally come up with their set of guidelines and policies in regards to the set up of television stations by other companies.

"All Fushun Television (Fiji) Limited has to do is to reapply and I hope they do meet the guidelines set out by the Government," he said.

Fushun Television (Fiji) Limited with the Labasa Town Council plans to set up a 15 channel cable TV station in Labasa.


India's 'teacher in the sky'


From http://www.scidev.net/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=readnews&itemid=1629&language=1

[CHENNAI] Indian space scientists have launched a US$20 million satellite — called 'Edusat' — that will be used exclusively for teaching. The "teacher in the sky" will address the twin problems of rural illiteracy and the lack of trained staff, says Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

From next month, the satellite will beam programmes in local languages directly to 1,000 schools, 200 each in the states of Assam, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa. In the coming three years, Edusat's reach will be extended to a total of 10,000 schools. The satellite's powerful 'spot beam' technology enables reception by small satellite dishes whose low-cost means that households could also turn into interactive classrooms.

"Edusat will propel India into a leadership role in distance education," predicts Nair.

The satellite technology lends itself to interactive learning, as participating schools will be connected to a hub that communicates with Edusat. In one planned programme — the question hour — students' questions will be beamed to the satellite and rebroadcast. This system will allow a teacher in any classroom to communicate with all other participating classrooms, so the answer to a pupil's question might come from a teacher on the other side of India.

Initially, Edusat's programme content will be decided by the state governments' education departments and by the users themselves. Eventually, however, a new organisation is expected to take on this role.

The satellite was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, 80 km north of Chennai on 20 September. Although Edusat has only a seven-year mission life, it is the forerunner of a planned nationwide service that aims beam educational programmes from space to 200,000 classrooms.

According to the ISRO, India would need to create a "constellation of Edusats" in phases to meet the needs of the entire country. The organisation has proposed a self-sustaining business model under which it would provide the satellites, and industry would supply the hardware for schools and colleges, which in turn would produce the teaching material.

ISRO looks upon the Edusat project as social mission but hopes that commercial education programmes driven by the private sector could eventually use Edusat's transponders for a fee.

"The benefits of Edusat could also reach neighbouring countries covered by the satellite's 'footprint'," says Nair.




29/09/04

ACC has left Globecast B3 12524V replaced by The God Channel

Up Fm returned to Sky NZ FTA on B1 12644V


From my Emails & ICQ


From Bill Richards

0745 UTC
Thaicom3 3671 Horz 13333 3/4 Vpid2561 Apid2562 God Channel has started FTA

Also Sky 1,2,3 are all FTA

Regards
Bill Richards
South Australia


From Vk4bkp

Weak sig on NSS6

Can someone with a large solid or in Asia/India/Middle East check
NSS6 11636H 27515ish 3/4. Don't think it's an Oz beam. Wondering if
it's a TV mux or just data. Just a little too weak for a CH ID at the
moment on the 2.3m.


From Steve Hume

Indonesian Game Show Feed
The show is called "ot AK atik REJEKI "
Satelindo Asialink
PalapaC2 3765H, 5632 VID: 308, AUD: 256, PCR: 8190


From Steve Draper

Up FM Sky NZ B1

Sky is currently testing the radio channel UP FM
f-t-a.

Quoting the October 'Skywatch': "Auckland's only full
spectrum dance music radio station returns to Sky
Digital with the help of Erox Adult Lifestyle
Centres". Huh?

Steve D


From the Dish


Intelsat 701 180E 11074 H "BBC World" has started on , Fta, PIDs 515/680.

PAS 8 166E 3836 V "Azio TV" has started on , Fta, PIDs 166/104.
PAS 8 166E 3836 V "TVBS Golden" is encrypted again.

Optus B3 152E 12525 V "Australian Christian Channel" has left , moved to Optus C1.
Optus B3 152E 12525 V "Radio 16 NTC" has started on APID 2093, Fta.

Agila 2 146E TCT World has moved from 3717 H to 3854 H, Fta, SR 2660, FEC 3/4,PIDs 4130/4131.
Agila 2 146E 12661 H "Dream Golf" has changed name to Sports Plus.

Telstar 18 138E 12402 V "ETTV Movie and LS Movie Channel" are encrypted again.

Telstar 18 138E 12302 V "ETTV News and Da-Ai TV have replaced ETTV Shopping and ETTV Shopping 2" on, Viaccess, PIDs 57/58 and 54/55.

Apstar 1A 134E 4058 V "A Golden Eagle Cartoon TV test card" has started on , Fta, SR 4420,FEC 3/4, PIDs 64/65.

JCSAT 3 128E 4120 V "Super TV" has started on, Fta, PIDs 1070/1071.

Sinosat 1 110.5E 12560 V "Celestial Movies has replaced MSTV" on , Irdeto, PIDs 264/520.

Express AM 11 96.5E "STS (+4h), STS (+7h), Muz TV and Love Radio (Russia)" have started on 11044 V, Fta, SR 29800, FEC 3/4, PIDs 522/750-524/770 and 772.

NSS 6 95E 11172 H "Smile TV" is now encrypted.

Insat 3A 93.5E 3894 V "Occasional feeds" on, SR 1990, FEC 3/4.(Ouch low SR not blind search friendly)

Measat 1 91.5E 11106 V An 8TV promo has started on , Mediaguard, PIDs 161/84.

Yamal 102 90E 3594 R New PIDs for STS (+7h) on : 2160/2120.
Yamal 102 90E 3701 L "MTV Russia" has left , moved to Yamal 201: 3674 L.
Yamal 201 90E 3944 L "World Fashion Channel" has started on , Fta, SR 4285, FEC 3/4,PIDs 4450/4451.

ChinaStar 1 87.5E 3848 V "GreatSports Channel" is now Fta.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3585 V "ILearn" has left , replaced by a Shin promo.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 4113 V "TV Cambodia 5 and Hot Wave FM 98" have started on, fta, SR 2694,FEC 3/4, PIDs 512/650 and 661, Asian beam.

Telstar 10 76.5E 12333 H "ETTV News and Da-Ai TV have replaced ETTV Shopping and ETTV Shopping 2" on Viaccess, PIDs 57/58 and 54/55.
Telstar 10 76.5E 12493 H "ETTV Movie and LS Movie Channel" are encrypted again.
Telstar 10 76.5E 12734 V "TVBS Golden" is encrypted again.

PAS 4 72E 11521 V "Alsumaria" has started on , Fta, SR 4220, FEC 3/4, PIDs 308/256.

PAS 10 68.5E 4099 V "Pulse" has started testing on , Fta, PIDs 513/641.



NEWS


Price push on digital TV subscribers


From http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10913923%255E7582,00.html

AUSTRALIA'S 1.1 million pay-TV customers will be stung by a price rise of up to 9 per cent on their monthly bills by December. The move comes as Foxtel attempts to accelerate the migration of pay-TV customers to its new digital platform, launched earlier this year.

The price hikes are a result of a comprehensive pricing review by loss-making Foxtel (25 per cent owned by The Australian's publisher, News Limited).

First to be hit will be the 195,000 customers who receive their traditional analogue pay-TV service from number two telecommunications company Optus. In a letter to customers, Optus has outlined the price rises from November that will see a total package rise by $9 a month to $100.80.

The basic package will jump $5 a month to $46.95 The 900,000 Foxtel-managed customers will be hit by a price rise in December.


News Corp buys the rest of Sky Italia


From http://seven.com.au/news/topstories/123354

News Corp Ltd snapped up the rest of Sky Italia at a bargain price as its deputy chief operating officer Lachlan Murdoch met with Australian funds to shore up support for the group's proposed move to the US.

News Corp, which recently enthused about the long-term potential of the satellite platform, said it had bought out partner Telecom Italia S.p.A.'s 19.9 per cent stake for just 88 million euros.

Merrill Lynch media analyst Jessica Reif Cohen recently reported it would be an exceptional transaction at that price.

"Since the assets are already under News Corp direction, which mitigates transaction risk versus typical acquisitions, and potentially frees Sky Italia to market more aggressively," Ms Reif Cohen said.

Sky Italia has over 2,700,000 subscribers throughout Italy.

And at an investor presentation in July, News Corp said it was on track to meet its immediate objective of three million subscribers by the end of calendar 2004.

SKY Italia is one of four parts to News Corp's direct broadcast satellite television segment. The other three are Foxtel, BSkyB and DirecTV.

Meanwhile, Lachlan Murdoch is in Australia this week for a series meetings at which he will discuss the company's plan to reincorporate in the US state of Delaware.

Earlier this week, a coalition of Australian and international superannuation funds warned they would not guarantee to support Rupert Murdoch's plan for his media group because they believed the move would spell diminished rights for investors.

The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, which represents 32 Australian funds, said it had raised concerns with News Corp including that takeover protection for minority shareholders were negligible in the US.

A spokesman for News Corp's Australian arm, News Ltd, rejected the claim that corporate governance was inferior in the US.

"At its core we don't agree with the fundamental position which is that US governance is substantially different from Australian governance," the spokesman said.

"These regimes are extremely known to a large number of US investors, who are very comfortable with them.

"About 20 per cent of funds under management in Australia are invested in foreign companies, a large proportion of which are in the US, so Australians already have a heavy exposure to foreign companies listed on foreign exchanges operating under foreign governance regimes."


Singapore Knows The China Frequency


From http://www.chinatechnews.com/index.php?action=show&type=news&id=1885

Turn now to Singapore. The country has been making a push for its financial sector to become more relevant in China. While a listing in the U.S. or Hong Kong continues to be the dream of Chinese entrepreneurs, the Lion City has recently gained traction as an attractor of capital.

A few months ago, ChinaCast became one of the latest mainland-based companies to list in Singapore. ChinaCast is a Bermuda-registered, Beijing-based company that traffics in satellites. And it boasts an A-list group of shareholders, including Intel, Hughes Electronics and Sun Hung Kai (the Hong Kong real estate powerhouse).

ChinaCast did its IPO on the Singapore stock exchange in May 2004.

ChinaCast’s basic business is to rent raw bandwidth from third-party satellite providers, and then package this satellite bandwidth out to businesses that need a turn-key satellite hookup. The company has focused on universities that use the satellite hook-ups to provide distance-learning courses.

The Chinese Ministry of Education has now issued dozens of licenses to universities across China to use distance learning in their curriculums. At last count, ChinaCast had inked deals to provide distance learning to at least 15 of these universities, including Beijing University.

Although by now it is a cliché, Chinese do tend to value education. As Chinese become prosperous, there is every reason to think more money will be spent on education, making universities growing markets. By focusing on the education market, ChinaCast is probably betting on the right horse.

Essentially, the Chinese universities decide what to teach, and then outsource the rest to ChinaCast. ChinaCast then delivers an end-to-end technology solution to deliver the course via satellite. This includes the bandwidth, data transmission and the operation of the entire network system. The lectures are then broadcast from whatever venue the university chooses, to any registered student in China with Internet access.

It is a win-win situation for both the university and ChinaCast. Rare is the university that would want to put up the capital needed to operate a satellite network. Even if a university were able to muster the resources, the maintenance and management of such a system would probably be out of reach.

There is also a largely untapped market in corporate distance learning. As Chinese and foreign companies become less regionalized and more national, distance learning will only become more important. And already ChinaCast has a footprint in this market. With its Enterprise Networking Division, ChinaCast has set its sights on capturing the market for large organizations that need to communicate among branch offices in China.

ChinaCast does not have its own satellite but pays a satellite provider a periodic usage fee, and incurs a transponder fee. And by focusing on providing satellite-based services and not on owning the actual satellite, ChinaCast has avoided many potential pitfalls.

AsiaSat, one of the most well-known satellite-providers in Asia, does actually own satellites. But along with this ownership of satellites comes numerous maintenance problems, and problems with finding customers. As a result AsiaSat, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has not been a lollapalooza to investors. Over the last seven to eight years AsiaSat’s stock price has ranged from highs of over US$40 to lows of just over US$10. It now sits at about US$18.

Let’s hope with the cash and recognition that came with their recent IPO, the executives at ChinaCast do not get any grandiose ideas of launching their own satellite like AsiaSat. They should stay closer to earth, lest investors feel the need to ground them.

Now listed on the Singapore stock exchange, ChinaCast’s market capitalization is in the neighborhood of US$80 million. With profits currently annualized for the year at just over US$4 million, the stock is not a screaming bargain.

But ChinaCast has virtually no debt and is poised to develop its distance learning courses deeper into the mainland. With a sky-high profit margin of 25%, ChinaCast is already showing signs of being a well-tuned company. As the company develops a track record and grows its profits, investors will want to stay tuned.


Zee To Air Sports Channel Test Signals From Today


From http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=70008

MUMBAI, SEPT 28: Zee Telefilms Limited (ZTL) has received approval for its upcoming channel Zee Sports. This was conveyed to the company’s shareholders by ZTL chairman Subhash Chandra at its Annual General Meeting held in Mumbai on Tuesday.

This comes at a time when the entire dispute over telecast rights is under dispute and is before the Supreme Court. "We got the approval last evening, and we will begin test signals from tomorrow," said Mr Chandra. Responding to a shareholder’s query, he pointed out that the matter was sub-judice. "All I can say is that we have full faith in the judicial system and we will get justice," he added.

ESPN-Star Sports had taken the issue to court after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) awarded the rights on an "in-principle" basis." ESPN-Star Sports maintained that Zee did not possess experience in cricket broadcasting. Subsequently, BCCI cancelled the tender.

Mr Chandra emphasised that Zee was committed to sports. "India is not just about cricket. Foreigners have milked cricket and Zee is keen on developing other sports as well," he explained. Answering a query on experience in sports broadcasting, he said: "The experience issue has been demolished since cricket is produced by third party experts. ESPN-Star Sports also does not have experience." To date, the legal expenses on this case for Zee has been Rs 23 lakh and Mr Chandra pointed out that if the case drags on, it could cost as much as Rs 1.5 crore.

Zee has a joint venture with MGM and this airs the Zee MGM channel. MGM was recently acquired worldwide by Sony. According to Mr Chandra, this will not make a difference to the television channel. "We have ceased our arrangement with MGM three months ago," he said.


SAB TV signs pact with SET Satellite, S`pore


From http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blnus/15281307.htm

MUMBAI: Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network Ltd has informed BSE that the company and SET Satellite (Singapore) Pte Ltd (SET) owners of Sony Entertainment Television and Max channels have entered into an understanding pursuant to which SET have entered into an exclusive option to distribute the SAB TV channel as part of the One Alliance bouquet and to acquire a equity stake in the broadcasting subsidiary of SABTNL.

The valuation and percentage of equity will be decided by both the parties in the near future.




28/09/04

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

Sorry if you can't get into the site using the apsattv.com address we are in the change over process moving to the new server.

Things are pretty quiet today

The Tarb's/UBI website is now online
http://www.ubiworldtv.com/

People calling the UBI phone number have been told Packages are priced from $49.95 upwards


From my Emails & ICQ


From Jon.C Thailand

Multicoice on Pas 10 Cband was fta for a while today


From the Dish


No Lyngsat received


NEWS


Foxtel confident of showing Indian tour


From http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/28/1096137216245.html

Satellite broadcaster Foxtel is confident it will show the upcoming Australia-India cricket series no matter who provides the telecast from India.

"We've had preliminary discussions with other possible providers to make sure that if the series goes ahead there will be coverage in Australia," Fox Sports spokesman Dugald Saunders said.

Television rights for the four-Test series - regarded as a virtual world Test championship - are the subject of a legal battle in the Supreme Court in Delhi.

The court is due to hear a petition filed by Zee Telefilms over the decision by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to cancel its $A430 million four-year contract to telecast Indian cricket.

The deal was challenged by the Disney-Murdoch broadcaster ESPN-Star Sports on the grounds that Zee did not have the required experience as a cricket broadcaster.

Both the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Cricket Australia have said they are not in favour of the series being played without live television coverage.

The BCCI is currently finalising arrangements for another broadcaster to pick up the series.

If that happens, Fox Sports has made arrangements to pick up its coverage for Australia.

"Discussions have been held with other parties. No matter who gets it we are in a position to provide coverage here," Saunders said.

"From our point of view it doesn't actually matter who gets the rights over there."

He said Foxtel merely plugged in the satellite feed and provided its own hosting.

"Whoever does get it needs us for Australian coverage. There's no one else here who can provide the coverage. We're the only option for them."

Saunders said Foxtel believed there was too much at stake with TV rights and sponsorship deals in India and elsewhere for the whole thing to fall over.

"If everything is scrapped we'll be shattered like everyone else, but I can't see that happening."

The first Test is scheduled to start in Bangalore on October 6.


Moody's cuts PamAmSat's rating deeper into junk


From http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=bondsNews&storyID=6343384

NEW YORK, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service on Monday cut its ratings on satellite operator PanAmSat Corp. deeper into junk, citing a $250 million debt offering that will be used to pay dividends to shareholders.

Moody's cut PanAmSat's senior implied rating to "B1," the fourth-highest junk rating, from "Ba3." and its senior unsecured rating to "B2," the fifth-highest junk rating, from "B1." The outlook is stable.

Moody's said it was concerned about the effect the added debt would have on the company, which was already highly leveraged as a result of its leveraged buyout by private equity sponsors in August


China launches twentieth scientific satellite


From http://www.abc.net.au/ra/newstories/RANewsStories_1208281.htm

China has launched a scientific satellite from a remote desert in northwestern Gansu province.

State media reports it's the 20th recoverable satellite for scientific and technological experiments that China has launched.

China sent a pair of satellites into space earlier this month for a two-year mission to investigate space radiation and its effects.

In October last year, China became the third country after the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve manned space flight, when astronaut Yang Liwei orbited the Earth 14 times.


BCCI says cricket telecast will be on DD


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep286.htm

NEW DELHI / MUMBAI: Even as the Supreme Court today referred the telecast rights issue to a five-judge constitutional bench, the Indian cricket board submitted in the court that the Indian pubcaster would be telecasting the Australia and South Africa series domestically.

This was conveyed to the apex court by the Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) counsel KK Venugopal, who added that the international rights would be given to "somebody else". This, he contended, was being done because of the gravity of the issue and that a situation is being attempted to be averted where Indian public do not get to see the matches being played in India.

On cue, ESPN-Star Sports has written a letter to the BCCI offering to produce the live telecast of the matches and share the feed with Doordarshan. "In view of the fact that the contract for telecast of cricket matches awarded to Zee Telefilms has been cancelled, we are ready to produce the live telecast of the matches," the Press Trust of India, quoting from the letter, reported today.

In its letter, ESS has again reiterated that it should be given the cricket rights as it has "all the infrastructure to do the live telecast of matches."

ESS COMMITS TO GIVE BCCI NET AD REVENUES FROM CRICKET TELECAST

In the letter, ESS has further committed to give BCCI all the net (international?) advertisement revenues the channel earns as well as the "net share of DD revenues net of costs."

Efforts made by indiantelevision.com to get comments from BCCI supremo Jagmohan Dalmiya and Prasar Bharati CEO KS Sarma proved futile. While Dalmiya refused to comment at all on the issue, including the fact whether an agreement with Prasar Bharati has been reached or not, Sarma could not be contacted as he was out of the country, scheduled to return late this evening.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has adjourned to Tuesday its hearing of Zee Telefilm's petition in the India cricket telecast rights case.

Reflecting the seriousness with which the apex court views the matter, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Santosh Hegde referred the case to a five-judge constitutional bench that will hear arguments in the case to which main respondent BCCI has already filed its caveat.

The first issue that the court will have to get out of the way is whether Zee's petition is maintainable or not. In its petition, Zee has contended that it is the rightful owner of the cricket rights as it has deposited $ 20 million with the Indian cricket board as per terms and conditions. It has also contended that the cricket board's decision to cancel an earlier tender process, which saw Zee emerge as the highest bidder with a quote of $ 308 million, is unjust and the court should overturn that decision.

The respondents in the case include the government of India, ESPN-Star Sports, BCCI and PriceWaterhouse Cooper (PwC), the audit firm that vetted the various bids.

Zee had moved the Supreme Court last Wednesday after the BCCI the previous day filed an affidavit in the Mumbai HC that it was cancelling the tendering process and would retain the rights of Indian cricket with itself. Immediately after that, ESPN Star Sports, a joint venture between Walt Disney and News Corp, withdrew its petition against the award of the rights to Zee.

Zee had said in its petition that its contract for cricket telecast rights with the BCCI was signed and was not incomplete as the BCCI maintains.


Cancellation of telecast rights — Constitution Bench to hear Zee's plea from today


From http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/09/28/stories/2004092802910100.htm

THE three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Mr Justice N. Santosh Hegde, today referred the petition filed by Zee Telefilms challenging the cancellation of the telecast rights and re-opening the bidding process by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to a five-judge Constitution Bench.

Mr Justice Hegde said that the Bench would request the Chief Justice to refer the case to a higher Bench as the petition filed by Zee raised constitutional issues.

The broadcaster, in its petition, has alleged that BCCI is inter-alia recognised by the Government of India as the Regulatory Authority for the game of cricket in India and that it is performing one of the most important public functions for the country with the authorisation and recognition by the Government of India.

The Court also issued notices to all the parties including the Government of India, ESPN-Star Sports and PricewaterhouseCoopers and asked them to be prepared to resume arguments from Tuesday.

Counsel for Zee, Mr Harish Salve, today said that the broadcasting company was only challenging the cancellation of the contract, which is mala fide and illegal. He contended that Zee Telefilms had emerged as the highest bidder at $308 million for the telecast rights and has already paid the BCCI $20 million.

He alleged that the BCCI had entered into a long and arduous negotiation process (with ESPN Software) contrary to the guidelines issued by the Central Vigilance Commission, which barred negotiations except with the highest bidder.

According to Mr Salve, the BCCI in its affidavit had clearly said that both Zee and ESPN Software were eligible to bid for the rights. It also alleged that there was collusion between the sports broadcaster ESPN-Star Sports and the BCCI, which led to the cancellation of the contract on September 21.




27/09/04

MYTV and TV Plus have merged acording to reports

Unofficial Tarb's/UBI forum http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=29&submit=Go

UBI World TV for more info call (02) 97762727 ?

New channel testing on Tarb's/UBI "Newsat" arab channel

China G.P was on Pas 2, 3795 V 20000 but in 4.2.2


From my Emails & ICQ


From George

This is from the mytvplus website
www.mytvplus.com.au translated with altavista babel fish

Dear friends, company MYTV Plus and TV Plus with happiness report to you
about the confluence of two companies for the purpose of assignment to the
clients of Australia and New Zealand of the most complete and interesting
packet of the russian television channels and radio. It was
established after prolonged analysis and contact with our potential
spectators that the absolute majority wished so that the first channel,
voshedshchim into our basic base packet would become the first channel of
Russian television - channel UNIT VECTOR. For this very reason we decided to
declare its basic channel of our four subsequent packets.

The channel, which entered our second packet became channel "SOYUZ", which
rightfully occupied this place, since is the fundamentally new channel,
which is differed significantly from all remaining programs of rossiysskogo
television, velekolepno supplementing channel UNIT VECTOR both on the
selection of programs and on the quality of their production, and in the
content of the proposed materials. The third channel those entered the third
packet became channel NTV, whose rating proved to be considerably higher
than in all remaining possible candidates. I think, takeing into account
this fact, this channel today in Australia it does not need any additional
advertisement.

1 packet includes one television channel - the first channel of Russia, one
radio channel, reduction A$5 to the bells for the boundary each month, all
the time of contract *, free connection and the replacement of decoder for
the former clients TARBS*. the cost of the first packet compose A$40 per
month, including GST.

2 packet includes two television channels: the first channel Russia,
channel - "Soyuz" one radio channel, reduction A$5 to the bells for the
boundary each month, all the time of contract *, free connection and the
replacement of decoder for the former clients TARBS*, and also beslatnye
local bells from 1 February, 2005, *.

The cost of the second packet composes A$54 per month, including GST.

3 packet includes three television channels: the first channel Russia,
channel - "Soyuz", channel"NTV" or equivalent channel, one radio channel,
reduction A$5 to the bells for the boundary each month all the time of
contract *, free connection and replacement of decoder for the former
clients TARBS*, and also beslatnye local bells from 1 February, 2005, *. the
cost of the third packet composes A$65 per month, including GST.

4 packet include four television channels (Channel four it will be declared
soon), one radio channel, vaucher on A$5 to the free bells for the boundary
*, free local bells from 1 February, 2005, *, free connections the
replacement of decoder for the former clients TARBS*, the cost of the fourth
packet - A$74 per month.

* these conditions are real only for the clients, who signed themselves to
the the russian television until 10 October, 2004. For obtaining all reductions on the telephone

it is necessary to also fill the accompanying form of company My Telecom.

In order to make a final decision by the selection of the third and the
fourth channelo in our packets, we request you to fill the following small form.

Since our company is interested so that this solution would correspond to the selection of the absolute majority of our clients and largest possible number people it passed to the third packet and as far as possible and to the fourth packet, this form it will allow us to make a selection most correctly.

You will estimate, if you please, your priorities of channels according to
the five-scale scale.

(Craigs comment, if you can make any sense from that it looks like the top package will be 4 Russian channels +1 radio and some sort of phone arrangement for free calls?? for $75 a month. OUCH!)


From Simmo

Telkom 1 108E Feed seen
RO-SB-TIMUR 4098 H 3125


From the Dish


PAS 8 166E 3836 V "TVBS Golden" is now fta
PAS 8 166E 4180 H "ABC Australia", FTA PIDs 7000/7010.(Only temp?)

Telstar 18 138E 12402 V "ETTV Movie and LS Movie Channel" on are fta again.

Telkom 1 108E 4097 H "SCTV Jawatimur" has left .New PIDs for JTV: 308/256.

NSS 6 95E 12534 H "AIR Kannada, AIR Bangla, AIR Hindi, AIR North East and AIR Punjabi" have started on , Fta, APIDs 731-740.(India beam)
NSS 6 95E 12595 V "NTV (Bangladesh)" has replaced Raj Digital Plus on , Fta,PIDs 4602/4603.(India beam)
NSS 6 95E 12595 V "ABC Asia Pacific" is now encrypted.
NSS 6 95E 12647 V "DD Kashmir, AIR Telugu, AIR Marathi, AIR Tamil and AIR Gujarati" have started on , Fta, PIDs 509/609 and 702-705.
NSS 6 95E 12688 V "Zee Music" is now encrypted.
NSS 6 95E 12729 V "DD North-East" has started on , Fta, PIDs 521/621.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 12658 H. "The test card" has left

Telstar 10 76.5E 3652 H "TV Lanka Channel 3" is now Fta.
Telstar 10 76.5E 3760 H "New Sat" has started on , Fta, PIDs 256/512.
Telstar 10 76.5E 3760 H "Kanal D Fun has replaced Kanal D" on , Fta, PIDs 261/517.

Telstar 10 76.5E 12493 H "ETTV Movie and LS Movie Channel" are fta.
Telstar 10 76.5E 12734 V "TVBS Golden" is Fta.



NEWS


SATELLITE PROBLEMS: Thaicom 5 to launch in 2006, four years early


From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=6&theme=A&usrsess=1&id=121512

ShinSat needs to replace Thaicom 3

Shin Satellite Plc wants to move up the launch of its fifth satellite by four years to 2006 in case its ailing Thaicom 3 goes on the blink sooner than planned.

Chief commercial officer Yongsit Rojsrivichaikul said last week that Thaicom 5, at a cost of US$200 million (Bt8 billion), will be bigger than Thaicom 3 but have a similar physical design.

ShinSat’s shortlist of potential builders has France’s Aerospatiale, the prime contractor for Thaicom 3, as well as Boeing Satellite Systems and Space Systems/Loral of the US.

“We’re negotiating the details regarding the number of transponders on Thaicom 5. We expect there will be more than 30. We have to hurry and conclude the deal with one of the companies within this year,” Yongsit said.

ShinSat had planned to launch Thaicom 5 three or four years after its broadband satellite iPStar, also known as Thaicom 4, which is scheduled for takeoff early next year. Thaicom 5 is intended to replace Thaicoms 1, 2 and 3.

But the plan was revised after the company found an irreparable glitch in Thaicom 3 that will terminate its service in 2007.

Thaicom 3 was put in orbit in 1997 with a mission lifetime of 14 years, meaning it was designed to run to 2011.

Thaicom 3 experienced a severe technical problem in its power supply last year that knocked out nine of its transponders.

The same glitch prompted another failure in Thaicom 3 in the middle of this month, forcing ShinSat to shut it down twice for maintenance during a solar eclipse.

Thaicom 1 was launched in 1993 and was followed by the identical Thaicom 2 in 1994, with both having a lifespan of about 13.5 years. Their missions are due to end in 2009.

After Thaicom 5 starts up, Thaicom 3 will continue working for the duration of its serviceable life.

Hughes – now Boeing Satellite Systems – built Thaicoms 1 and 2 for ShinSat, while Space Systems/Loral is assembling iPStar.

ShinSat needs Thaicom 5 to provide conventional broadcasting services now offered by Thaicoms 1, 2 and 3, since iPStar will offer mainly broadband telecom services. Thaicom 5 will become the broadcasting centre for all TV programmes in Thailand, Yongsit said.

Thaicom 5 will not likely encounter the same ills as Thaicom 3 because ShinSat now has much more technical expertise, he said.

ShinSat has had no trouble in securing financing to build Thaicom 5, he said.

Thaicom 5 will be positioned at 78.5 degrees east longitude, the same orbit as Thaicoms 2 and 3. Thaicom 1 has been relocated to 120 degrees east.

The newest Thaicom will cater to an expanding number of television operators, a trend that is expected to gain speed when the regulator gets off the ground to issue more licences and deregulate the market.

Thailand is in the process of forming the National Broadcasting Commission.


Murdoch sets sights on Russian television


From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2004/09/26/cnmurd26.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2004/09/26/ixcity.html

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is to expand into Russian television, with plans to create a pay-to-view platform and produce programmes.

Marty Pompadur, one of Murdoch's lieutenants, is on a fact-finding mission that has included visits to Siberia and Samara on the Volga river.

News Corporation, which owns the Sun and The Times newspapers and has a 35.5 per cent stake in British Sky Broadcasting, already has an outdoor billboard advertising business in Russia owned by its News Outdoor Group subsidiary.

The division has headquarters in Moscow and also operates in Hungary, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. News Corporation has also made a number of investments in radio in Russia, but has yet to invest in the country's television industry.

"We're looking for other investments," Pompadur said. "We are looking to add to our radio and our outdoor (advertising) holdings, and we are interested in pay-TV and content." He said the trip was a tour of the country designed to increase his understanding of the market.

The company is considering satellite, cable and broadband internet as ways of creating a pay-TV platform in Russia.

Several other media companies have also recently stepped up plans to invest in Russia. Two months ago WPP, the advertising giant headed by Sir Martin Sorrell, started talks to merge its Russian advertising operations with agencies owned by Video International, one of the country's leading media buyers.


Edusat placed in near-Geosynchronous Orbit


From http://www.123bharath.com/technology-india-news/index.php?action=fullnews&id=22775

Technology India > Bangalore, Sept 26 (PTI) India's dedicated educational satellite EDUSAT has been placed in a near Geosynchronous Orbit (GSO).

This was achieved after the third and final orbit-raising operation conducted from ISRO's Master Controal Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said here today.

The manoeuvre was completed by firing the Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) on board the satellite for a duration of two minutes, 15 secs on Sept 24, ISRO said in a statement.

With this operation, EDUSAT, launched on September 20, has achieved an orbital period of 23 hours and 46 minutes and is continuously within the radio visibility of MCF, ISRO said in its statement.

Located at 61 degree East longitude, the satellite is now drifting towards its orbital slot of 74 degree East, at a rate of 2.54 degrees per day and would reach its first In-Orbit Test slot by October 2, it said.

After the completion of the third apogee motor firing, the East side antenna, intended for transmitting and receiving Ku-band signals with multiple spots beams coverage, was also deployed successfully on September 24, the statement said.

Three-axes stabilisation of the satellite and deployment of its West side antenna, which is intended for transmitting and receiving Extended C-band signals, was done yesterday.

Besides the two deployable antennas, the satellite has one body-mounted antenna meant for transmitting and receiving Ku-band signals with national coverage beam.


`DD Direct Plus' to air 17 Doordarshan, 10 AIR channels


From http://www.hindu.com/2004/09/27/stories/2004092713250300.htm

MANGALORE, SEPT. 26. The direct-to-home (DTH) service of Doordarshan will enable people to access regional and national radio and Doordarshan channels in any part of the country, except Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Vasantha Kumar Perla, chief programme executive of All India Radio, Mangalore, and Suresh Kumar, station engineer, Doordarshan (Maintenance Centre), Vamanjoor, near here, have said.

Free-to-air service

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, they said Doordarshan had begun its DTH transmission on an experimental basis. "DD Direct Plus'', the first free-to-air DTH service of Doordarshan, would provide 17 Doordarshan channels and 10 channels of All India Radio.

There was a proposal to include 13 private television channels in the service. More number of television and radio channels would be added to the DTH service in phases.

Channels

Some Doordarshan channels available under the DTH are DD-Chandana, DD-National, DD-News, DD-Sports, DD-India, DD-Bharati, DD-Bangla, DD-Gujarati, DD-Kashmir, DD-Malayalam, DD-Podhigai, DD-Punjabi, DD-Sahyadri, DD-Saptagiri and DD-Gyanadarshan.

The 10 AIR channels available are AIR-Kannada, AIR-Delhi, AIR-Gujarati, AIR-Bangla, AIR-Marathi, AIR-Telugu, AIR-Tamil, AIR-Punjabi, AIR-North East Service and AIR-Vividh Bharathi.

These DTH digital channels offer crystal clear video and quality audio and the service is available throughout the country except in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Set-top box

The service can be directly received with a 60 cm/90 cm/120 cm dish antenna with the use of Ku-band LNBC and set-top box without any other intermediaries.

It involves one-time expenditure on installation and there is no hidden or recurring cost. The installation will cost between Rs. 3,500 and Rs. 5,000 depending on the quality of the equipment. The equipment is available in the open market.

"DD Direct Plus'' is available on the high power transponders of NSS-6 satellite parked at 95 degree E on the geo-stationary orbit.

Details regarding the DTH service may be had by logging on to ddindia.com and ddinews.com.

The service is also available in some neighbouring countries.


EDUSAT to be operational in a month: ISRO


From http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200409270301.htm

Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 27. (PTI): Edusat, India's exclusive satellite for education launched on September 20, would be fully operational within a month, ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair said here today.

"The satellite has been successfully placed in its accurate orbit and now the health of the same has to be monitored", Nair said while participating at a meet-the press programme, organised by the Kesari Memorial Journalists Trust here.

The first theme-based satellite of India would be made operational in four weeks by switching on its transponders, Nair said.

The objective of the project was to link various institutions of higher education and create 'virtual classrooms'.

There would be 50 receiving centres, he said. In the first phase, there would be 1000 terminals with two-way interactive facility.

In the second phase, there were plans to put up 10,000 terminals.

Of this, 5000 would have interactive two-way facility, he said, adding that the second phase would be completed in three years time.

On ISRO's future plans, he said the process of building a cryogenic engine was progressing at Mahendragiri. The first flight, carrying a GSLV using cryogenic engine, would be made next year, he said.

The second launch pad at Sriharikota would be commissioned in February-March next, he added.

Nair said the programme of linking Kerala's medical colleges with district hospitals to promote continuing medical education and expert consultation would be commissioned in three months. The Kerala Government had singed an MOU with ISRO for the scheme a few weeks ago.

ISRO would bear half of the total cost of the project of Rs 12 crore, he said.

On the immediate plans of ISRO, Nair said work on the satellite under the INSAT series four-A was progressing and would be launched from at French Guyana in February.

There was also a plan to launch a CARTO-sat satellite under the IRS series for remote sensing for mapping purpose from Sriharikota in February-March.

To a question, he said ISRO would also go in for a satellite exclusively for medical purposes if the need arose.

ISRO Project Director, Perumal, who was also present, said ISRO was working on project of going in for a re-useable space vehicle.


Sahara TV to launch new movie channel


From http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG3_sub.asp?ccode=ENG3&newscode=73227

New Delhi, Sep 26 (UNI) As part of its massive expansion drive, Sahara India Pariwar' will launch a exclusive movie channel from January 1 under its newly formed brand SaharaOne.

SaharaOne is the umbrella brand of the Sahara Group under which four business of movies, television, radio and special feature have been brought together.

The Sahara group has a diverse portfolio of parabanking, life insurance, housing finance, infrastructure and housing, media and entertainment, aviation, consumer products, information technology and power.

SaharaOne Television -- the television arm -- will enter into exclusive long-term tie-ups with leading artistes, producers and technicians to develop original entertainment content for television, a company statement said.

While the channel has already made a entry into producing movies, it plans to release 70 films in the coming one year and has invested Rs 185 crore for the venture.

SaharaOne Motion Pictures, has entered into exclusive tie-ups with leading film producers and directors like Ram Gopal Verma and Boney Kapoor.

The Group's Radio venture, SaharaOne Radio, which currently operates in four channels on the WorldSpace satellite network also plans to expand its operations.

Sahara is also developing a state-of-the-art and fully digital film production facility, together with an academy for film and television arts in India.

''The academy will provide an all in one film production and finishing service to film producers and all others involved with film making,'' the statement said.

The proposed academy will offer courses in cinematography and lighting, production sound and picture, directing, FX motion graphics, motion capture and post production, web animation and independent producing.

The channel is also launching a host of new programmes in its entertainment and news channels.


No telecast means no Test status: BCCI


From http://www.thatscricket.com/2004/test_series/ind-aus/2609telecast.html

Kolkata: Expressing concern over the ongoing imbroglio over the telecasting rights of cricket matches the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday said that Test status of India-Australia series beginning on October 6 may be withdrawn if live telecast was not ensured.

"If live telecast of the India-Australia Test was not done then its Test status can be withdrawn," BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya said in Kolkata.

He, however, said that the Board was trying its best to ensure the live telecast of the four-Test series, which would begin with the first Test at Bangalore from October 6.

The BCCI had earlier granted telecasting rights to Zee Telefilms following a bidding process. But it was challenged by ESPN-Star Sports in Bombay High Court following which BCCI had cancelled the award to Zee.

But this prompted Zee to move Supreme Court challenging Board's decision and the matter is scheduled to be taken up by the apex court on Monday.

BCCI had earlier sought permission from International Cricket Council (ICC) to stage the Test series without live telecast in view of the current impasse, which had been rejected by the world body while emphasising the necessity of third umpires in the international matches.

The ICC had said in its communique, "The BCCI is required to organise live TV coverage of the Test matches and One-day Internationals as set out in the ICC standard playing conditions to provide for third umpire decisions".


TELE-satellite News - Number 39/2004 ­ 26 September 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


AUSTRALIA

LABOR IN FAVOUR OF TELSTRA GIVING UP FOXTEL STAKE

Government-owned telecom operator Telstra would be
forced to relinquish its stake in subscription
television leader Foxtel under a Labor government,
according to broadcasting policy released on September
21 by the main opposition party. The policy advocates
"greater competition and diversity" in the
communications sector and backs the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission's view that
"getting Telstra out of Foxtel will encourage
competition in the communications industry." Foxtel is
50% owned by Telstra, along with Rupert Murdoch's News
Corp. and Kerry Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting
Limited, each 25% stakeholders.

ABC TO LAUNCH SECOND CHANNEL IN MARCH

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) will
launch a second TV channel in March next year. The new
channel will include a mix of children's, documentary,
arts, international and regional news programming and
will be available to viewers with digital television
receivers or as a free channel through subscription
television. "We have now delivered hard fought cost
savings and efficiencies that allow the ABC to launch
a second television channel," ABC Managing Director
Russell Balding said. "A major purpose of the digital
service is to expand the reach of ABC children's
programming. The second channel will allow families to
switch between the main and second channel to access
trusted, safe and high quality children's programming
right through the day and into the early evening. "

BRUNEI

BRUNEI AND SINGAPORE IN FAVOUR OF DIGITAL TV PUSH

Brunei and Singapore are spearheading an initiative to
hasten the adoption of digital TV in the region,
according to a report in Singapore's Sunday Times.
Quoting Dr Tan Chin Nam, Permanent Secretary in
Singapore's Ministry of Information, Communications
and the Arts, who was in Brunei last week to attend
the 14th joint technical committee meeting on
cooperation in broadcasting between Brunei and
Singapore, the report stated that both countries have
jointly hosted two Asean Digital Broadcasting meetings
this year. The two meetings led to the setting up of a
taskforce, comprising representatives from six Asean
countries, which is formulating common specifications
for decoder set-top boxes (STB) for adoption at the
third Asean meeting on digital broadcasting. Brunei
mooted the idea of a common minimum standard for STBs
for the Asean region in December last year. The
proposal was supported by Singapore, Sunday Times
reported. Radio Television Brunei (RTB) and MediaCorp
Technologies will be working together to develop
interactive applications for digital TV, Dr Tan said.

CHINA ­ HONG KONG

ASTRO LAUNCHES CELESTIAL MOVIE CHANNEL

Malaysian pay-TV operator Astro All Asia Networks's
Celestial Pictures unit has launched its Celestial
Movie Channel in China at certain hotels. "Celestial
Pictures plans to secure broader distribution over
cable networks," Astro said in a statement to the
stock exchange. The sales and distribution of the
channel will be undertaken by China International TV
Corp. Launched last March, Celestial Movies is a
subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Celestial Pictures,
owner of the Shaw Brothers film library, which
includes such classics as "One-Armed Swordsman" and
"36th Chamber of Shaolin." The group is wholly owned
by Malaysian broadcaster Astro All-Asia Networks.

NASPER PLANS PAY-TV SERVICE

Media and electronic broadcasting giant Naspers is
laying the groundwork for a satellite television
broadcast licence in China so that it is able to
provide a product similar to its African DStv
offerings. Group nonexecutive chairman Ton Vosloo told
the Cape Town Press Club that he could not say more at
this stage, as the group was hopeful it was making
headway.

TVB ENTERS MAINLAND MARKET

Hong Kong's free-to-air broadcaster Television
Broadcasts Limited (TVB) says it has won long-sought
landing rights to legally air its two flagship
channels to about five million homes in the Pearl
River Delta area, the South China Morning Post has
reported. The broadcasting licence - granted on
September 2 - laid a foundation for TVB and its
mainland partner Southern Media Corporation (SMC) to
jointly develop the market, TVB's General Manager of
International Operations Dewy Ip said. The channels -
Jade and Pearl - will be broadcast in nine cities:
Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Zhuhai, Foshan,
Huizhou, Jiangmen, Zhongshan and Zhaoqing. Future
co-operation opportunities included the collection of
advertising sales and content production and
distribution. The parties were in talks to produce
drama series together and TVB would help SMC
distribute its Chinese channel overseas.

TVB INITIATES TALKS OVER GALAXY STAKE

Hong Kong's Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) says
it is in talks with potential partners who could take
51 per cent of its pay-TV venture, Galaxy Satellite TV
Holdings Ltd (Galaxy), the South China Morning Post
has reported. "We have started seeking partners since
the announcement (of Intelsat's departure)," Stephen
Chan, General Manager of TVB said. "We are asking the
government to grant us a grace period so we can have
more time to seek one or more partners. TVB announced
last week that Intelsat would quit Galaxy and transfer
its 51 per cent stake to TVB. The free-to-air
broadcaster needs government approval to hold more
than 49 per cent of its pay-TV arm. Hutchison Global
Communications tops the partner wish list with its
network coverage of one million homes. Galaxy -
launched in February - is estimated to have around
5,000 to 6,000 users.

MTV AND NICKELODEON TO EXPAND PRESENCE

MTV and Nickelodeon, two cable channels owned by the
media conglomerate Viacom Inc., announced several
deals on September 24 to expand their reach in China.
MTV is tripling the reach of its 24-hour channel in
China's Guangdong province to 10 million by the end of
the year. It also entered an agreement with Beijing
Television, a regional broadcaster, to produce
Chinese-language music and entertainment programs for
BTV. The production deal with BTV marks the second
production venture in China for MTV, following the
announcement in March of a joint venture with Shanghai
Media Group to create children's programming. China's
state broadcaster, CCTV, also expanded its agreement
with Nickelodeon to gain rights to all episodes of
Nickelodeon's animated shows CatDog and The Wild
Thornberrys, which have been top ratings performers on
CCTV's new channel for children, which launched in
March. Viacom and CCTV are also discussing other
possible deals, including using programming made by
CCTV to air on Nickelodeon channels outside of China,
and other licensing deals for Nickelodeon shows on
CCTV.

INDIA

STILL NO SOLUTION IN CRICKET TV BID

The battle over the TV rights to India's international
cricketing series for the next four years has turned
into a messy court tangle, according to a report in
Variety. The Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) last week awarded the rights to Zee Network for
a $308 million, a sixfold increase from the $54
million paid by pubcaster Doordarshan for the past
four years. But the decision was challenged in Mumbai
High Court by rival ESPN-Star Sports, which claimed it
had not been given a fair chance to better its bid.
The court's proposal for both nets to submit fresh
bids to the court was accepted by ESPN-Star but
rejected by Zee on September 14 -- leaving a prolonged
legal battle the only option. Cricket-crazy Indians
are now worried a cricket Test series between India
and world champions Australia starting October 6 will
be blacked out. The BCCI said it may have to look
elsewhere to ensure fans are not left in the dark.

DISCOVERY TO LAUNCH TWO LIFESTYLE NETWORKS

Discovery Networks International has announced the
names for its three new lifestyle networks, with the
first, Discovery Travel & Living, set to launch
October 18 in India. Discovery Travel & Living,
together with Discovery Home & Health and Discovery
Real Time, form the core of Discovery Lifestyle
Networks, an initiative announced in June of this
year. Following the India launch, the three channels
will be rolled out throughout 2005 and will launch
with 70 million cumulative subscribers in 82 countries
and will be available in 15 languages. Discovery
Travel & Living will target adults aged 25 to 45,
while Discovery Real Time will target men in that
demographic and Discovery Home & Health will gear to
women aged 18 to 45. Discovery is using India as the
test-bed for the new services, with Travel & Living
distributed in India by the One Alliance, a
joint-venture between Sony Entertainment Television
India and Discovery Communications India.

KIDS NETWORK TO LAUNCH ON SEPTEMBER 26

UTV has set September 26 as the launch date for
Hungama TV, a new 24-hour channel in India for kids
aged 4 to 14. Programming includes the Chattar Pattar
block for preschoolers and Halla Gulla, from 5 p.m. to
6 p.m., for tweens. Other programming blocks include
Non-Stop Dhamaka and the Ulta Pulta Club, which will
include game shows, comedies and sci-fi. Later in the
evening, Abracadabra Spell & Movies will target a
broader family audience.

NDTV CHALLENGES MURDOCH’S STAR TV

Prannoy Roy left Star network last year and created
created his own venture in competition with Rupert
Murdoch’s satellite TV platform. Roy's two channels -
NDTV, which broadcasts in English, and NDTV India,
whose programming is in Hindi - have established
themselves as the number one and number two channels
in their sectors. His recent quarterly results, £1
million profit from £5 million of advertising revenue,
are the best proof of his success. NDTV's rise can
also boast having pushed Star News into a distant
fourth place. Until 1992 television was the monopoly
of state broadcaster, Doordarshan. Now 10 new news
channels launch every year and it is estimated 44
all-news channels beam into India 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. Many of the new stations grew out
of news programmes commissioned by Doordarshan, which
started outsourcing production work in the early 1990s
as India liberalised. Roy’s latest project appears to
be a business channel to challenge the market leader,
CNBC, which is run by US network NBC and is backed by
General Electric.

DD SIGNS UP 13 PRIVATE TV CHANNELS FOR DTH SERVICE

State-owned broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) has reached
agreement with 13 private satellite channels to join
its free-to-air direct-to-home (DTH) service. The
private channels include Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, BBC
World, Zee News, Zee Music, STAR Utsav, ETC Punjabi,
Kairali (Malayalam), Sun TV (Tamil), Jain TV, Aakaash
Bangla and CMM Music. The date of launch, however, is
yet to be fixed. „A formal launch is expected to be
announced after the (state) elections," said the
Director of Doordarshan's Mumbai centre, Mukesh
Sharma. Except for the cost of dish installation and
the set-top box, the service is free. Set-top boxes
cost Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500 each, and are available
through dealers.
Internet ­ http://www.ddindia.com

MALAYSIA

8TV ON ASTRO

Free-to-air TV channel, 8TV, is extending its
broadcast to the east coast of the peninsular, Sabah
and Sarawak on October 1 via satellite TV operator
Astro All Asia Networks. Its parent company Media
Prima's group managing director Abdul Rahman Ahmad
said 8TV was also planning to spread its broadcast
reach free-to-air to Negri Sembilan, Malacca and
Kuantan with a RM7 million investment in new
transmitters by year-end. The TV station has so far
spent RM15 million on transmitters for the west coast
of the peninsular. 8TV is operated by Media Prima's
subsidiary Metropolitan TV. Media Prima also owns
Sistem Televisyen Malaysia and a 43% stake in The New
Straits Times (Malaysia). Currently, 8TV holds a
substantial market share of 20% for key demographics
of viewers between the ages of 15 and 34.

NEW ZEALAND

SKY TV SIGNS FIVE YEAR CRICKET DEAL

Sky Television has signed a deal with New Zealand
Cricket, giving the network exclusive rights to all
international and domestic cricket coverage for the
next five years. Under the deal, every home-based test
match and one-day international will be exclusively
live on Sky, until the end of the 2008/09 summer
season.

PAKISTAN

LICENSES TO BE AWARDED TO 12 NEW TV CHANNELS

Pakistan government would soon award licences to 12
new private TV channels, Mansoor Rasheed, a top
official of the Pakistan Electronic Media and
Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) said in Islamabad.
Rasheed said ten licences had been awarded to
satellite TV channels and two to virtual universities
that would air their transmissions soon. He also said
that licences to 22 new channels were in the pipeline
and would be completed soon, the Daily Times reported.

SOUTH KOREA

DIGITAL SATELLITE BROADCASTS IN BOTH KOREAS

South Korea's digital satellite broadcasting will be
made available this week in a North Korean border town
where South Korean companies are building a huge
industrial complex, officials said on September 23.
Officials of Skylife, South Korea's only operator of
digital satellite broadcasting, have set up equipment
necessary to receive broadcasting in the industrial
park in Kaesong. The broadcasting service is the third
of its kind in the reclusive country. The South Korean
operator has already offered the service at Mt
Kumgang, a scenic resort on the North's east coast, as
well as Sinpo-Kumho.

TAIWAN

CTS TO BE FIRST PUBLIC STATION

Taiwan’s Government Information Office (GIO) has
announced that the Chinese Television System (CTS)
would be the nation's first government-owned
terrestrial TV station to be made into a "publicly
operated" station, the Taipei Times newspaper has
reported. "Before an independent National
Communication Commission (NCC) is established, one of
our future missions is to integrate the Public
Television Service (PTS) with four other public
service TV channels, including CTS, into a public
television group before the end of next year," GIO
Director-General Lin Chia-lung said. The government
owns 75.04 per cent of CTS and 47.39 per cent of
Taiwan Television (TTV). The GIO plans to take a
gradual approach to the issue of making CTS and TTV
publicly operated. GIO would start with the CTS, then
decide whether to commercialise TTV or integrate it
into the public television group, which would be
allowed to run commercials.




26/09/04

No update Sunday




25/09/04

No update Saturday




24/09/04

Some good news about TVNZ's future plans. read the news section for info

Big changes are coming! I did some checking and "freeviewtv" "freesat" "freeview" .co.nz all appear to have been registerd and "parked" as domain names.

But some bad news, It seems 3.5ghz for broadband usage in NZ might become common place. NOT GOOD AT ALL!! many in Australia are already having problems on cband due to use of 3.5ghz for terrestrial broadband transmissions. Those in Auckland may like to know Wired Country are already using 3.5ghz via the Sky Tower.

NASA TV on I701 has boosted their power. Try again if you couldn't get it previously.

UBI TV? no announcement or launch mentioned anywhere?


From my Emails & ICQ


From Billo

NASA TV

NASA TV in Sth. Aust. stronger than it ever was - solid lock using 3m mesh
dish and PacificSatellites 20K linear LNBF with no dialectric plate - even
the Powtek sees it OK..


From Simmo (Cairns)

Nasa TV

49% Q here without plate on 3.8M..Not a hope before
without it...


From the Dish


Intelsat 701 180E 12729 H "Mad TV and Mazzika" have left .

PAS 8 166E 12726 H "Pink Plus, RTV International USA and RTV International Plus" have started on , Fta, PIDs 512/640, 514/642 and 515/643.

Measat 2 148E 12532 H The I-Sky-Net mux has left .

Telstar 18 138E 12402 V "ETTV Movie and LS Movie Channel" are now encrypted. (China beam)

AsiaSat 2 100.5E 3960 H "A SatLink test card" has started on , Fta, PIDs 2561/2562.

Yamal 201 90E 3674 L "MTV Russia" has started on , Fta, PIDs 769/770. New SR: 17500.
Yamal 201 90E 3546 R "Occasional feeds" on , SR 4285, FEC 3/4.

ST 1 88E 3484 V "ABTV 3" has started on , Fta, PIDs 514/670. New SR: 4214.

ChinaStar 1 87.5E 4062 V New PIDs for almost all channels in the Shanghai Media Group mux on .

Intelsat 709 85.2E 11486 V "ATV Home Channel and ATV World Channel" have left .

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3600 H "A Shin promo" has started on Fta, PIDs 519/720.

Telstar 10 76.5E 12493 H "ETTV Movie and LS Movie Channel" are now encrypted.


NEWS


TVNZ plans satellite television network


From The Independent

TVNZ is expected to soon announce plans for a satellite operation delivering free-to-air television channels and radio to the whole of New Zealand.

The system would deliver television signals to homes free of charge, so long as householders have bought an inexpensive set-top box.

TVNZ is believed to be modeling its service on the free view system in the UK.

TVNZ has registered the following trademarks: FREEVIEWTV, FREESATTV, FREESAT and FREEVIEW.

With the British Freeview, viewers can access around 50 channels and several radio stations free of charge once they have purchased a $150 set-top box.

Last week, TVNZ acquired a half transponder on the Optus B1 satellite, giving it sufficient capacity to launch a multi-channel digital operation to the entire country.

It claimed it didn’t know what it planned to use the extra satellite for, leaving market-watchers wondering why the state broadcaster would commit to a multi-million dollar deal without some plan for its use.

TVNZ is believed to have booked two transponders on the new Optus satellite being launched in 2006.

This would give the broadcaster capacity to deliver between 15 and 20 channels.

It is expected TVNZ’s competitors will be invited to transmit on the platform alongside TVNZ’s two channels.

TVNZ’s business model is also believed to have investigated the creation of new channels for the platform.

But its announcement last week that it had acquired a half transponder on the current Optus satellite means it can launch the new free digital TV platform anytime, without waiting for the new Optus satellites to be launched.

TVNZ’s moves come hard on the heels of Broadcasting Minister, Steve Maharey’s Review of Broadcasting in New Zealand, due at year’s end.

A key discussion will be whether New Zealand’s future digital television signals should be transmitted via a terrestrial network or via satellite.

One option is to use the Sky digital satellite platform.

But industry insiders believe the government is squeamish about the ‘Murdochisation’ of the New Zealand media, alarmed that the Sky platform would deliver News Ltd total control.

The new platform would ensure the government has control over any future free-to-air television delivery.

Insiders say the terrestrial option is expensive and a hangover from the early days of television technology when satellites weren’t available.

An earlier plan by TVNZ to launch a satellite pay TV operation in partnership with TelstraClear, and in competition with Sky TV, collapsed in mid-2001 when TelstraClear withdrew from the partnership.


(Craigs comment, progress at last? good to see they have noted the success of FREEVIEW in the U.K. A simple enough model to copy whether via Terrestrial or Satellite. Most likely they will use DVB-T in the main centers backed up by Satellite via B1 in other parts of the country. It will be interesting to see how Sky responds or if TVNZ will allow any of their new channels to be viewed using Sky's set-top box.)


Government Announces Allocation Plan for Wireless Broadband Spectrum


Media Statement from Hon David Cunliffe, Associate Minister of Communications

From http://www.med.govt.nz/rsm/spp/fixed-wireless-access/media/minister-20040913.html

"Widespread availability of broadband infrastructure is a key objective of the government," Associate Minister of Communications David Cunliffe said today, announcing a spectrum allocation plan for fixed wireless access broadband services.

Fixed wireless access is a method of delivering broadband by radio links, in competition with wire-based services.

"Additional radio spectrum for broadband services will help achieve our goal of increasing broadband availability. The allocation plan complements work done to implement project PROBE," the Associate Minister said.

"The allocation will make additional spectrum available to parties wishing to provide wireless broadband services in specific areas, who may not have had the incentives or resources to acquire nationwide rights. In doing so it should promote competition in the broadband marketplace," said Mr Cunliffe.

The spectrum will be managed by the Ministry of Economic Development on behalf of the Crown. It consists of two blocks in the 3.5GHz frequency band. Licences will be available for geographic areas based on territorial local authority boundaries.

Assignment of licences will be on a commercial basis. Some restrictions on use and eligibility are proposed to promote use of the spectrum in accordance with the Government’s objectives.

Details of the allocation plan are available from the link below. The first allocation round is expected to held early in 2005, once documentation is finalised.

http://www.med.govt.nz/rsm/spp/fixed-wireless-access/allocation-plan/index.html


(Craigs comment, not good news at all refer to the current problems in Australia with Terrestrial 3.5GHZ internet services wiping out cband)


Sky TV Acquires Assets, Name Of Dvd Rent Biz


Press Release: Sky Television

Thursday, 23 September 2004, 12:04 pm

Sky Television Acquires Assets And Name Of Dvd Rental Business

SKY Television announced today that it has acquired the assets, including the name, of DVD Unlimited, an online DVD movie rental business based in Nelson. The acquisition is effective from 1 October 2004.

Sandy Webster, of Nelson, pioneered New Zealand’s first online DVD business in late 2003.

John Fellet, SKY Television Chief Executive, said, “Sandy showed great initiative in establishing this business back in 2003. Her knowledge and experience, combined with DVD Unlimited’s comprehensive movie library provides us with the foundation on which to continue to grow a great business”

“We are excited about this new development as it adds a new dimension to our company - further announcements will be made in the near future”, said Fellet.

Sandy Webster, previous owner of the company, said, “I am pleased to have concluded the deal with SKY which will now give my family and I the opportunity to pursue other interests”

From October, the business will be relocated to Auckland, where SKY will continue to operate and service existing customers irrespective of whether or not they subscribe to SKY’s pay television services.

Over time, SKY plans to operate the most comprehensive DVD library in Australasia.


Integral Systems To Provide Satellite Control Software For Optus


From http://www.spacedaily.com/news/satellite-biz-04zzzzzzzi.html

Integral Systems Thursday announced that SingTel Optus ("Optus") has awarded Integral Systems a contract to expand the Optus C1 satellite control system to include support of the Optus D1 and D2 satellites.

Under this contract, Integral will provide the primary and backup control center software that will be used to operate the Optus D1 and D2 satellites. These satellites are currently under construction by Orbital Sciences Corp. and are based on their STAR 2 BUS platform.

Optus previously procured EPOCH Integrated Product Suite (IPS) from Integral for its Optus C1 satellite, a Loral FS1300 satellite.

Based on this experience and the cost advantage offered to Integral's recurring customers, Optus elected to specify EPOCH in their Request-For-Proposal (RFP) that was sent to potential satellite manufacturers for the D-Series satellites and to award a sole source satellite control software contract to Integral.

The EPOCH IPS software will provide real-time spacecraft and ground system command and control, long term archiving and trending functions for the Optus D1 and D2 satellites.

"We are extremely pleased that a highly respected operator like Optus has once again chosen EPOCH IPS to support their new D series satellites," said Stuart Daughtridge, Vice President of the Commercial Division at Integral Systems.

"Optus' decision to not only include EPOCH in their satellite RFP but also award us this contract sole source shows their confidence in both the capabilities offered by our EPOCH software and in Integral's ability to cost effectively support Optus as they add new satellites to their operation."


Arianespace To Launch AirTV Satellite In 2007


From http://www.spacedaily.com/news/launchers-04zl.html

AirTV has signed a launch services agreement with Arianespace to orbit its first broadband spacecraft, which will deliver a new level of in-flight entertainment and connectivity for airlines worldwide. The AirTV system will provide 60+ channels of live television (in multiple languages) and 40Mbps of Internet, e-mail and data services to aircraft.

The AirTV 1 satellite will be orbited by an Ariane 5 in 2007, and is to be positioned over the North Atlantic - initiating AirTV's commercial operations with service for airline traffic flying between America, Europe and the Middle East.

Additional spacecraft will follow to fill out the company's constellation, providing coverage for aircraft flying nearly all of the commercial airline routes around the globe.

"Arianespace is very happy to support AirTV's innovative project, and we are pleased to work with a company that is building the future of the airline in-flight entertainment industry," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, Arianespace's Chief Executive Officer.

"At Arianespace, serving our customer involves more than just providing launch services: we also are ready to help them in the search of financing."

AirTV's purpose-built satellites will supply real-time television in multiple languages, with the ability to tailor the programming by individual aircraft and for the specific international route that it is flying.

"The great success of live television in the U.S. has confirmed our belief in the benefits of real-time TV as part of a competitive airline's in-flight entertainment offering," said John Larkin, AirTV's Chairman and CEO.

"We are convinced the future of in-flight entertainment will be driven by live television and Internet services, and that this future is soon to become a reality. We believe the AirTV system is the most efficient and effective way to deliver these services in terms of capacity, cost and coverage."

AirTV has been - and plans to continue working - with an export credit guarantee agency to help secure debt financing for the launch of its initial satellite in 2007.

AirTV is developing its system with a European consortium that includes EADS as well as other leading suppliers.

Announcements regarding negotiations with other program partners to follow.


13 private FTA channels to join DD's DTH service


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep253.htm

MUMBAI: National broadcaster Doordarshan has roped in 13 private satellite channels to come onto its free-to-air (FTA) direct-to-home (DTH) service.

"A total of 30 channels will be available on our DTH service called DD Direct Plus," said Prasar Bharati chairman MV Kamath while addressing a press conference today in Mumbai. This will include Doordarshan's family of 17 channels.

The private channels are Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, BBC World, Zee News, Zee Music, STAR Utsav, ETC Punjabi, Kairali (Malayalam), Sun TV (Tamil), Jain TV, Aakaash Bangla and CMM Music. While Jain TV has signed the agreement, the other channels have lent their confirmation through fax, e-mail, letter or by telephone.

Consumers will have to invest Rs 3,000-3,500 on a dish and set-top box (STB), said Kamath. But there is no hidden or monthly bill for the service. "We are trying to give the people the best of programmes at no cost. In many countries, DTH is a pay system," Kamath stressed.

The date of launch, however, is yet to be fixed. "The test signals are on. A formal launch is expected to be announced after the (state) elections," said DD Kendra Mumbai director Mukesh Sharma.

DD's DTH service has channels from the news, music and vernacular language genres. "Personally I feel a movie channel will add strength to our platform," said Sharma.

AIR DTH service will be operating through the Prasar Bharati DTH platform with uplinking facilities at Todapur, Delhi. Though there is a provision for 20 radio channels, in the first phase 10 AIR channels are being launched. These are AIR Hindi, Begali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Punjabi, Gujarati, Kannada, Vividh Bharti and north-east services.

AIR currently produces news and programme content in 66 different languages and dialects and broadcasts through its terrestrial network of 215 stations. But terrestrial networks have the limitation of the programmes being available only within the coverage areas of the transmitters. The DTH service of AIR will make available to listeners across the country the multi-lingual broadcasts originating from different stations.

The TV and radio programmes can be received anywhere in the footprint area of the satellite with a 60-90 cm dish, converter and STB. The output of the STB is connected to a TV set. With a selection, the TV can be used for either watching TV programme or listening to radio programmes. During the radio programme, the screen is either blank or gives a fixed picture display. The DTH service will operate through satellite NSS-6, located at 95-degree east in the geo-stationary orbit.

DD is distributing 10,000 DTH receiver systems in public institutions like schools, panchayats and youth clubs across the country, said Sharma. Out of these, about 1,100 systems are to be installed in the north-east region.




23/09/04

Things pretty quiet today.

Nasa TV is still on I701 but with a possible beam change resulting in a drop in power. Requires 3.7M dish as minimum.

Tarb's/UBI launching tomorrow? SBS NEWS may have an item about it.

Now TV on B3 is only temporary.

It was nice of SkyNZ Last night to do a software update for 10 minutes during the cricket...


From my Emails & ICQ


From ChrisGlobe

ABC TV on Pas 8

On Pas 8 in the ABC Asia Pacific Mux (4180 H, sr 27500) besides the two
channels showing ABC AP, a third channel has been running for the last few
days and it is playing ABC SE. Vpid 7000, Apid 7010. You NZ'ers that have
missed ABC Northern from B1 can get your fix if you have C-Band. It might
just be some sort of backup of course and it might only last a few days but
a bit strange to put with ABC AP if it is a backup.

Chris


From the Dish


Optus B3 152E 12525 V "NOW" has started on , Fta, PIDs 2091/2092. Sigaram and Sun TV are now encrypted.
Optus B3 152E "20 UBI info cards" have started on 12613 H and 12640 H, Fta, SR 22500,FEC 3/4, PIDs 512/640-521/649.

NSS 6 95E 12729 V "Perviy kanal Vsemirnaya setj and BN Sat" have started on , Fta,PIDs 1025/1026 and 1793/1794, Australian beam.

Measat 1 91.5E 3802 H "NTV 7" is still on , Fta, SR 3214, FEC 3/4, PIDs 308/256.

ChinaStar 1 87.5E New SR for the muxes on 3900 V and 4062 V: 27500.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3600 H "WPT" has left , replaced by a test card.

Telstar 10 76.5E 12734 V "CSN" is Fta again.
Telstar 10 76.5E "Mazzika" has left 3780 V, moved to 3760 H.



NEWS


PanAmSat Corp. turns 20


From http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/scn-sa-panamsatsep22,0,2069715.story

Twenty years ago this week, when Rene Anselmo formed PanAmSat Corp., most people looked at it as David taking on Goliath.

Fed up with high costs and poor service from a government-run satellite monopoly, Anselmo, a rather eccentric Greenwich resident, used his family fortune to create PanAmSat, the country's first commercial satellite company.

Anselmo was called a "space cowboy" on the floor of the U.S. Congress as he led a decade-long fight to break the government lock on satellite communications. He died in 1995, one day before PanAmSat's initial public offering.

Today, PanAmSat is the largest U.S. commercial satellite operator. It has a fleet of 24 satellites that is capable of reaching over 98 percent of the world's population through cable television systems, broadcast affiliates, direct-to-home operators, Internet service providers and telecommunications companies.

It's a company that has successfully evolved in a competitive industry. And as it celebrates its 20-year anniversary, PanAmSat does so as it begins a fresh chapter.

After years of being a small subsidiary within mammoth corporations such General Motors Corp. and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., PanAmSat is now out on its own -- as part of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co's private equity portfolio.

In April, KKR, the world's biggest takeover partnership, acquired PanAmSat though the competitive bid for control of the company. But Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners, two firms on the losing side of the auction block, announced that they still wanted a piece of PanAmSat's pie. They each acquired 27 percent stakes.

"I was a bit surprised that we got as much attention as we did. We literally had every major equity company bidding for us," said Joseph R. Wright Jr., PanAmSat's chief executive officer, who took over the helm of a troubled PanAmSat three years ago.

PanAmSat, which spent 10 years headquartered in Greenwich before moving to Wilton in 2001, was foundering in a botched attempt to expand its Internet services division when Wright took charge.

Under Wright's leadership, the company did a complete turnaround in nine months, regaining its position as an industry leader. Wright immediately returned the focus to PanAmSat's core business, reconnecting with video content customers such as Time Warner and Disney.

The firm also upgraded its fleet and became the first satellite operator to transmit high-definition television on a commercial basis for a major network.

PanAmSat also aggressively chased the government market, a lucrative growth area for the industry.

"PanAmSat has always looked at the government as a regulator, not as a customer," Wright said. But Wright changed that. The company wasn't a player in the federal market two years ago, but quickly became one with its 2003 acquisitions of Hughes Global Services and Esatel Communications Inc.

"The government, right now, is the largest single user of satellite services," Wright said, adding that the firm's U.S. government business brought in $100 million in revenues this year, up from $15 million two years ago.

Today, PanAmSat is a firm that now has a clear direction for growth, a competitive edge and the ability to develop new services and move into new markets, Wright said.

Perhaps the single biggest change is that PanAmSat, after years of being for sale, is no longer on the auction block, Wright said.

"Three years ago, they were thinking of breaking up PanAmSat," he said. "During the past three years, while Hughes and News Corp. were supportive of us, we were not able to grow that much and put capital into business because we were for sale."

The new ownership brings a lot of capital and knowledge to the table, Wright said, giving PanAmSat the ability grow faster than it did under its corporate-giant parents.

However, the renewed interest by private equity firms in the commercial satellite industry leads to more questions than answers, said Christopher Baugh, managing director of Northern Sky Research LLC in Orlando, Fla., an international market research and consulting firm specializing in telecommunications technology and applications.

What will happen six, 12 or 18 months down the road, Baugh asks? Will these private equity firms stay in the industry for the long haul?

"For a long time, the satellite market had a black eye when it came to investing," said Baugh. Private investors shied away from the commercial satellite industry because there were some "spectacular failures in the market."

But beginning last year there was a string of private equity buyouts, including Inmarsat, Eutelsat, New Skies, and, most recently, Intelsat.

The commercial satellite industry is a slow growth market, Baugh said. "It is not quick to move. If these firms are not seeing quick returns, what will their decision be?"

"For some companies, it could be good, for some, it could be bad. There are many ways this can go," he said.


Skylife Faces 10-Day Sign-Up Ban


From http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech/200409/kt2004092218154812350.htm

Skylife, Korea’s satellite-based broadcaster, will not be able to sign up new subscribers until October 1 due to its illegal retransmission of terrestrial broadcasting KBS2.

The Korean Broadcasting Commission (KCC), the nation’s broadcasting regulator, on Tuesday ruled a 10-day business suspension on Skylife from Sept. 22 to Oct. 1.

But the continual services to the existing customers like contract terminations will be allowed to reduce their inconvenience, caused by the unprecedented measure.

``We decided to resort to the heavy punishment of the sign-up ban as Skylife continued to break the law despite our financial sanction,’’ a KCC official said.

The KCC has slapped 445 million won in 23 fines on Skylife for the past years because of the company’s unlawful retransmission of KBS2.

Despite KCC’s strong tone, however, market observers say the acquisition ban would not be a bitter pill for Skylife to swallow for a variety of respects.

First, the seamless services to current clients are possible and the 10-day sanction overlaps with Chusok thanksgiving holidays, which fall on Sept. 27-29.

Actually, Skylife expected the loss triggered by the suspension to stand at just 1.35 billion won.

In addition, Skylife will be permitted to air the KBS2 programs via its own channel as the KCC finally gave a green light to the firm’s long-standing requests on Tuesday.

``The ruling can be interpreted as a blessing in disguise because Skylife will be able to retransmit KBS2 at minimal costs,’’ a Seoul analyst said.

In a nutshell, Skylife subscribers can now view KBS2 on top of already-available KBS and EBS.

The firm is also negotiating with other terrestrial networks of MBC and SBS to air their programs from next year.

Skylife is a multi-channel digital broadcasting company, which the Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting launched in 2002, offering hundreds of video and audio channels and 10-plus pay-per-view ones.


INTERNATIONAL: New Nets for Discovery


From Skyreport

Discovery Networks International announced that Discovery
Travel and Living, Discovery Home and Health and Discovery
Real Time are its new lifestyle networks for markets outside
the United States. Discovery Travel and Living will launch in
India Oct. 18. Following that launch, the networks will be
rolled out throughout 2005 and will initially launch with 70
million cumulative subscribers in 82 countries and will be
available in 15 languages, the programmer said.


CHINA: Viacom TV plan caught in regulatory doldrums


From http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=14853

Progress on joint venture between the US giant and Shanghai Media Group hinges on crucial amendments to legislation

A high-profile Sino-foreign joint venture set up to co-produce television programmes has stalled, with Chinese authorities yet to approval the landmark deal.

United States media giant Viacom has been unable to make any progress in its first mainland media joint venture, with Shanghai Media Group (SMG), since the deal was announced in March.

The two key regulators - the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) and the Ministry of Commerce - have not yet amended their legislation to pave the way for a venture that allows foreign investment in the restricted media sector.

"SARFT is still drafting detailed regulations governing foreign investment in the TV production business," an industry source said.

"Unless SARFT changes its regulations, the Ministry of Commerce is not going to approve Viacom's joint venture."

Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone was in Beijing yesterday to meet SARFT director Xu Guangchun and discuss the venture.

Mr Xu said Viacom was very supportive of all local co-production and promised to issue written approval as soon as possible.

Mr Redstone is in Hong Kong today to attend the Forbes global CEO conference and will travel to Guangzhou to announce a strategic expansion in the southern part of the country.

Viacom, which owns the Nickelodeon children's channel and MTV, announced in March that it would set up China's first Sino-foreign joint venture in television content production.

The new company - with an investment of "a few million US dollars" from both parties - has found an office in Shanghai and plans to employ about 30 people. Production is scheduled to begin this quarter with product launches in the first quarter of next year.

"Things are going as well as we expected," said Charles Chau, senior vice-president of network strategy and managing director for MTV North Asia, Viacom's only representative in China. However, he admitted the firm had not yet received the formal approvals.

Last December, SARFT announced in principle that it was going to allow foreign participation in domestic TV programme production. However, it has yet to settle details such as what qualifies as a domestic or a foreign party when setting up a joint venture, how much of a stake a foreign partner can take and to what extent foreign companies can use their logos in the TV content.

Foreign media companies are banned from showing their logos on domestic TV under present legislation. Star TV, for example, had to enter the mainland market under the name Xingkong Weishi.

A regulatory framework allowing foreign investment in the TV programming business would not be in place until early next year, some industry sources said, meaning Viacom would have to wait about six months to make its move.

"The deal was announced too early," another industry source said. "The market and regulations are not clear and ready at the moment."

As far as Viacom is concerned, it wants to enter China under its own branding. "We want to leverage the power of the brand Nickelodeon," Mr Chau said.


BCCI pads up for Zee bouncer


From http://www.business-standard.com/bsonline/storypage.php?&autono=167891

Board files caveat in SC requesting court not to pass any orders on telecast issue.

Zee Telefilms moved the Supreme Court yesterday challenging the decision of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to cancel the telecast rights awarded to it, as the board considered options to keep cricket on air.

The channel has made the government, BCCI, its president Jagmohan Dalmiya, rival bidder ESPN-Star Sports and PricewaterhouseCoopers a party to the case. The matter is expected to come up for hearing on Friday.

Zee has requested the court to set aside the BCCI’s decision to cancel the contract, awarding the telecast rights for home matches between 2004 and 2008.

Saying that the contract for the telecast rights stands implemented as it had paid $20 million to the BCCI, the channel said it was fully equipped to cover the India-Australia cricket series starting from October 6.

Zee requested the court that the board should not grant the telecast rights to any other channel before adjudication of the dispute.

Anticipating the petition, the BCCI had filed a caveat in the Supreme Court yesterday, requesting the court not to pass any orders on the telecast issue without hearing the board.

The BCCI’s Dalmiya said the board had worked out a formula to ensure that cricket in India was not affected. It told the high court that it could split the four-year contract into two parts. The next three series could be treated separately and a fresh contract given for it.

“We offered that the three series could be taken out from the purview of the TV rights contract and be treated separately. The four-year TV rights contract could commence from May 2005 to April 2009. Or else both parties could bid for the rights of these three series before the court and adjustments in the payment could be allowed,” said Dalmiya.

Meanwhile, ESPN-Star Sports today demanded a public apology from Chandra for alleging collusion between the BCCI and ESPN-Star Sports in cancelling the award.

The ESPN statement also said that if an apology is not given, it reserves the rights to take appropriate remedial legal action against Zee for slander and defamation.

Zee denied receiving any communication from ESPN regarding an apology. “If they have to go to court, we will provide enough information proving a nexus between the BCCI and ESPN,” said a Zee executive.


Prasar Bharati Tries To Muscle Its Way Into Telecast Rights


From http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=69533

NEW DELHI, SEPT 22: Within hours of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) cancelling the tender for four-year telecast rights on Tuesday, Prasar Bharati CEO K S Sarma was on the phone to Mr Dalmiya. Sources said Mr Dalmiya made two offers to Mr Sarma, but Prasar Bharati did not find them good enough.

So the issue of who will get the cricket telecast rights is still wide open. It could well go to the Doordarshan-TWI combine. At least for the first three series against Australia, South Africa and Pakistan.

The Prasar Bharati source said Mr Dalmiya offered the four-year contract to the public broadcaster for just a dollar over and above what the original highest bidder Zee had quoted. That’s $308 million plus $1. Mr Sarma was also given the choice of showing the India-Australia Test matches at $2 million per day.

It is believed that the government expressed the view that the pubcaster should not acquire cricket telecast rights at an ‘inflated’ price. In 1999, Prasar Bharati had paid around $230 million for five-year rights to matches played in India. This time too, it was hoping for exclusive telecast rights to matches in India.

In Kolkata, BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya told the press the Indian cricket board would try to telecast the India-Australia cricket series on its own, as it is a question of the country’s prestige.

Meanwhile, Zee Telefilms has taken a more solid step: of approaching the Supreme Court challenging BCCI’s cancellation of the tenders. Not surprisingly, the Zee stock ended at Rs 156.95 on the National Stock Exchange, up 5.9%, on Wednesday.

Zee has made the Centre the first respondent in its writ. BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, ESPN-Star and Pricewater-houseCoopers are the other respondents in the case. Hearing of the case is expected to begin on Friday, Zee officials said.

BCCI had filed a caveat in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, requesting the court not to pass any orders on the telecast issue without hearing the board, according to agencies.

The cricket rights issue took a new turn on Tuesday when BCCI cancelled the existing tender, after granting in-principle rights to Zee.




22/09/04

More ethnic TV activity reported via NSS6 and PAS8. Tarbs/UBI are reporting they will start their service on B3 in 2 days time and be using MDS boxes. Gee they may as well just leave it FTA considering how many modified boxes are out there that were used to watch Tarb's for free.



From my Emails & ICQ


From Bill Richards

NSS6

2000 UTC

12729V S/R27500 FEC 7/8

Vpid1793 Apid1794 SID7 BN R.Srpska FTA
Vpid1025 Apid1026 SID65 RUS-ORTi FTA

Regards
Bill Richards
South Australia


From Jamal

UBI update

Mr Boulos was on SBS Radio (Arabic Info) this morning and he said that UBI will start officially in 2 days on Optus B3 . All channels will be encrypted. More Channels will be added soon. You will see a phone number on your screen to call UBI.Tarbs Boxes can be used to watch UBI and if you ring UBI and give your box number you can have 1 month free programs.

Cheers
Jamal-Melbourne

From George

PINK PLUS on Pas8 12729 H 28066
Tele Liban on B3 12614 H 22500


From Sarkis

Hi
2 new channels on NSS6 on 12729V /27500
Russian ORT1 and I think Serbian BNr Sipska

regards
Sarkis


From Rick Warner

Craig,

I was reading on your web page today that someone was looking for
their Lat & Long, a great site for this is www.heavens-above.com. Not only
for looking up location details but for seeing when the ISS and Hubble are
passing your location. This might be a good site to add to your links page
as it is related to satellites, not TVRO but satellites none the less.

Regards
Rick Warner


From the Dish


Intelsat 701 180E 12729 H "Zee TV Australia, Zee Cinema Australia/New Zealand and Zee Music" have started on , MDS, PIDs 522/650-524/652.

PAS 8 166E 12726 H "RTR Planeta" has started on , Fta, SR 28066, FEC 3/4, PIDs 513/641.

Measat 1 91.5E 3802 H "NTV 7" has left .

Yamal 201 90E 3605 L "Fashion TV" has started on , Ftas SR 2626, FEC 3/4, PIDs 4194/4195.

Telstar 10 76.5E 3760 H "Mazzika" has started on , Fta, PIDs 264/520.



NEWS


Labor pledge on TV sport


From http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/21/1095651329272.html

A Labor government would reverse new rules covering TV sport to ensure soccer fans could watch the 2010 soccer World Cup on free-to-air television.

Fans were outraged this year when the Federal Government revamped broadcasting rules that ensure that certain sports can be shown only on free-to-air TV.

In the revamp, the soccer World Cup was dropped from the so-called anti-siphoning list of sporting events that are protected by the government.

Opposition communications spokesman Lindsay Tanner yesterday said a Labor government would strengthen the list to make sure the World Cup was shown for free and not on pay TV.

"Labor will strengthen the anti-siphoning list to include the FIFA World Cup 2010 and preliminary games involving Australia, which the Howard Government has allowed to drop off the list," he said.

He also reiterated Labor's plan to introduce rules to ensure that if free-to-air TV networks decided not to show sports protected by the anti-siphoning list they could be shown by pay TV.

His comments came as Labor unveiled its broadcasting policy, which also includes plans to give the ABC a $105 million new cash injection.

The ABC financing, announced last week, would help the national broadcaster to multi-channel.

The policy also confirmed Labor's pledges to require Telstra to sell its 50 per cent shareholding in pay TV broadcaster Foxtel and consider introducing a fourth free-to-air TV network.


Cricket: Sky secures all TV rights for five more years


From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sports/sportsstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3593620&thesection=sport&thesubsection=cricket&thesecondsubsection=blackcaps

Sky Television has secured exclusive rights to all domestic and international cricket coverage for another five years.

Sky and New Zealand Cricket today confirmed a new five-year deal, giving the network exclusive rights until the end of the 2008-9 season.

Every home test and one-day international will continue to be televised live on Sky, along with several rounds of the State Shield one-day series and the finals.

NZC chief executive Martin Snedden said he was delighted with the five-year deal, which demonstrated the strength of interest in cricket nationally.

"The Black Caps are an exciting side and this coupled with the strength of State domestic cricket ensures that cricket is recognised as New Zealand's summer game.

"Sky's commitment to this partnership will ensure that the New Zealand public are provided with quality cricket coverage until 2009."

The first home series in December will be against Sri Lanka and includes five one-day internationals and two tests.

That series will be followed by a visit from Australia in February, and involve five one-day internationals and three tests.

In 2005-6, New Zealand will host Zimbabwe and the West Indies, in 2006-7 Bangladesh and India, in 2007-08 Sri Lanka and England, and in 2008-09 Pakistan and Australia.


HONG KONG: Talks begin with potential partners over Galaxy stake


From http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=14821

TVB says it is in talks with potential partners who could take 51 per cent of its pay-television venture, Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting

"We have started seeking partners since the announcement [of Intelsat's departure]," said TVB broadcasting general manager Stephen Chan Chi-wan. "We are asking the government to grant us a grace period so we can have more time to seek one or more partners.

"Intelsat dropped out mainly because of the refocusing of its business, rather than lack of confidence in the pay-TV market ... we can, and will, continue operating the business if the government gives us the waiver."

TVB last week said Intelsat would quit Galaxy and transfer its 51 per cent stake to TVB. The free-to-air broadcaster needs government approval to hold more than 49 per cent of its pay-television arm.

Hutchison Global Communications tops the partner wish list with its network coverage of one million homes. Galaxy - launched in February - is estimated to have only 5,000 to 6,000 users due to poor satellite coverage across the territory.

Separately, Hong Kong Cable Television said it had stopped carrying TVB and ATV channels on its platform from yesterday, after TVB alleged copyright infringement and threatened legal action.


8TV on Astro


From http://www.theedgedaily.com/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.article.Article_20f61b69-cb73c03a-18e609b0-e090dec3

Free-to-air TV channel, 8TV, is extending its broadcast to the east coast of the peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak on October 1 via satellite TV operator Astro All Asia Networks Plc.

Its parent company Media Prima Bhd's group managing director Abdul Rahman Ahmad said 8TV was also planning to spread its broadcast reach free-to-air to Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Kuantan with a RM7 million investment in new transmitters by year-end.

The TV station has so far spent RM15 million on transmitters for the west coast of the peninsular.

8TV is operated by Media Prima's subsidiary Metropolitan TV Sdn Bhd. Media Prima also owns Sistem Televisyen Malaysia and a 43% stake in The New Straits Times (Malaysia) Bhd.

Currently, 8TV holds a substantial market share of 20% for key demographics of viewers between the ages of 15 and 34, Abdul Rahman told reporters after the signing ceremony between 8TV and Astro.

Metropolitan TV chief operating officer Ahmad Izham Omar said: “This translates to 1.92 million viewers in the west coast alone; a majority of our views comes from these age group and also from Chinese viewers.”


BCCI to cancel tender process for telecast rights — ESPN-Star withdraws case, Zee may approach SC


From http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/09/22/stories/2004092203080100.htm

THE Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today told the Bombay High Court that it is cancelling the tender process for the telecast of cricket matches to be played in India between October 2004 and September 2008.

Following this submission, ESPN-Star Sports withdrew its petition against BCCI for awarding the telecast rights to Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL).

These developments appear to have temporarily scuttled ZTL's plan to enter sports broadcasting.

Mr Subhash Chandra, Chairman and Managing Director, ZTL, visibly disappointed with the proceedings in the Court, told journalists that he suspected a conspiracy between BCCI and ESPN-Star Sports.

ZTL plans to file a petition against BCCI in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. It is likely to be filed under Article 32 of the Constitution.

BCCI Counsel, Mr K.K. Venugopal, told the division bench of Chief Justice Mr Dalveer Bhandari and Mr Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud that there was no concluding contractual agreement between the cricket board and ZTL.

A draft letter of intent (LoI) was offered to ZTL; however, the latter did not accept it, as it wanted to renegotiate on some of the conditions, Mr Venugopal said. BCCI is, therefore, exercising its power to cancel the tender process. As there is urgency to finalise the arrangements for production and telecast of the India-Australia series, the Board is looking at producing and telecasting on its own, Mr Venugopal said.

The Board is also examining the option of going in for two sets of bids - one for the first three series (India-Australia; India-South Africa and India-Pakistan) and the second for cricket matches played in India for a period of four years commencing May 2005.

However, Mr Rafique Dada appearing for Zee, argued that the network was ready to produce the India-Australia series. It has already initiated discussions with a couple of production companies.

Mr Dada told the court that BCCI was making statements contrary to its affidavit. "Why should they defer from their earlier stand and go for a re-bid?" he asked the court.

ZTL has also submitted an initial surety amount of $20 million (around Rs 92 crore). To this point, the BCCI lawyer said that the Board would return the money to the company. In the first tender for telecast floated by BCCI, Zee had emerged the highest bidder at $260 million (around Rs 1,194 crore) and later hiked the amount to $308 million (around Rs 1,415 crore) during subsequent rounds of negotiations. BCCI had selected ZTL as the broadcaster for these telecast rights.

ESPN-Star Sports, which was the second highest bidder at $230 million (around Rs 1,056 crore), then filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court against BCCI's decision.

The share movement of ZTL on the Bombay Stock Exchange bore testimony to how equity investors perceive these developments. ZTL's shares, on an upturn ever since it emerged as the highest bidder, fell to Rs 148.45 from the previous close of Rs 153.80 including an intra-day low of Rs 145.25.

According to industry sources and company officials, cricket as a property would have helped ZTL drive up its earnings potential and enhance its distribution network.

Responding to the Court developments, ZTL said in its statement, "BCCI has given us an LoI and have taken $20 million (around Rs 92 crore) from us. So how can anyone say that the rights do not legitimately belong to us?"


EDUSAT first orbit raising operation carried out


From http://www.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=48477&cat=India

The first orbit raising manoeuvre of ISRO’s latest satellite, EDUSAT was successfully carried out by firing the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor on board the satellite for a duration of 49 minutes 56 seconds at 07:48 am this morning (September 21, 2004) by commanding the satellite from Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka.

With this operation, the perigee (nearest point to earth) of EDUSAT has been raised from 181 km at the time of its injection orbit to 8800 km. The apogee (the farthest point to earth) height remains at 36,000 km. The inclination of the orbit with respect to the equatorial plane has been reduced from 19.33 degree at the time of injection into orbit to 7.15 degree now. The satellite is now orbiting the earth once every 13 hour 25 minutes.

It may be recalled that EDUSAT was successfully launched into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit by the first operation flight of ISRO’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F01) yesterday (September 20,2004) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.

The signals from EDUSAT were acquired at Biak in Indonesia, 40 seconds before its separation from launch vehicle. The solar panel of the satellite was deployed soon after its injection into orbit, which was confirmed by Biak station. Lake Cowichan (Canada) acquired the signal at 17:20 hours IST yesterday, and MCF Hassan acquired the satellite signal at 03:09 am IST this morning as per prediction. Ground stations at Lake Cowichan (Canada), Fucino (Italy) and Beijing (China) are supporting MCF in monitoring the health of the satellite and its orbit raising operations.

The next orbit raising manoeuvre is planned on September 22, 2004 around 10:30 am. All systems on board the satellite are functioning normally.(PIB)


DD's DTH plan awaits government nod


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep223.htm

NEW DELHI: Indian pubcaster Doordarshan's KU-band television services foray, it seems, hinges on the government okaying a proposal to allow private satellite channels to come on the DTH platform free of any charge.

Fazed by the lack of interest shown by a large number of popular TV channels, DD had said that it would not charge any carriage fee to private broadcasters who join DD's DTH service, called DD Direct Plus.

However, it now transpires that for this to happen, a government nod is needed because this could mean changes in the original cabinet note on the basis of which the previous government had cleared financial aid to the KU-band project.

According to a source in Prasar Bharati, which looks after DD and sibling All India Radio, "The original cabinet note on DTH had mentioned that a certain charge would be levied on private channels as carriage fee for those that would agree to come on board. Even for a waiver of this condition, a government okay is needed and it is being awaited." Interestingly, the whole game plan involving DD's DTH forays seems to be flawed, including the communication strategy, and this is being increasingly realized in Prasar Bharati, whose secretariat is finding itself helpless as various regional centres of DD have been announcing DTH plans without co-ordination.

"We understand that there is a flaw in the strategy as various regional kendras (centres) are announcing that they are launching DTH services. How can regional centres launch a DTH service? What was originally planned that each regional centre would do its bit to create the hype for the DTH service. But now, it seems, every centre is communicating the wrong things to the media," the Prasar Bharati source said.

What is the information and broadcasting ministry doing on DD's much-hyped-but-still-to-be-seen DTH service? Ministerial sources said that the file is being studied as the government would like to wait and see if the broadcast and cable regulator recommends, as part of an overall report, that all TV channels must be made available to all platforms on a non-discriminatory basis, including DTH.

Since July, DD has been heavily advertising on its network that its DTH service was to be launched soon. As of today, no final date has been fixed for the formal launch. The last date that Prasar Bharati was looking at was 15 September, which has come and gone.


BPCL studying scope of leasing satellite for DTH


From http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/09/22/stories/2004092202440200.htm

BHARAT Petroleum Corporation Ltd is studying the feasibility of leasing out satellite time to television companies for relaying television signals through DTH (direct-to-home) broadcasting services in India.

"Someone had sent us a proposal (about leasing the satellite). We have the basic technology. And we would like to see if we can leverage it. But the project is at a preliminary stage," a senior BPCL official told Business Line.

The company uses a VSAT (very small aperture terminal) at Noida, to read information regarding inventory status, relayed through satellite signals, as part of its disaster management and ERP systems.

While some of the analysts tracking the sector expressed doubts about the technical limitations of beaming in TV programmes through a VSAT, the company is understood to be weighing options on ramping up the existing infrastructure to meet the requirements of DTH broadcasting.

Most of the company's operations take place during the day.

As the peak traffic for television signals begins only towards the evening and picks up momentum through the night, the company could lease its satellite to broadcasters during those hours, it is felt.

Although the proposal has not been placed before the board of directors, officials are studying the technical and economic feasibility of such a move. The company may shortly appoint consultants to carry out feasibility studies of such a move, the official said.

"DTH services offered by Zee's Dish TV have already attracted more than a lakh customers. And the market is expected to expand once Star TV launches Space TV, its joint venture DTH platform with the Tatas; and Doordarshan introduces its own platform later this month," said an entertainment sector analyst.

Also, the Government is said to be working on reducing both spectrum and licence fee for VSAT and DTH operators.

However, BPCL officials agreed that the diversification plan may take a while to be implemented with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas sending a clear message to the public sector oil majors that they must concentrate on their areas of "core competence."




21/09/04

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

B3 UBI transponders have changed SR to 22500


From my Emails & ICQ


From George

PAS8 RTVI 2 channels
12726 28066 H

RTVI 2 russian channels have started


From A Mobasheri

Dear Craig,

I have bought a new receiver equipped with USALS in it. To activate it I need to have
Longitude and latitude of each satellite in our region (From AS2 at 100.5 to 171 at 180 east).
Could you please assist me to find a source to get this information? Also where can I get my location (AK)
details.?

Thanking you in advance

A. Eddie Mobasheri


(Craigs comment, you only need to enter your lattitude and longitude which you can get via a G.P.S or a paper map. Failing that Google should be able to find the info)


From the Dish


No Lyngsats in my email yet


NEWS


India launches education satellite


From http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10831058%255E29098,00.html

SRIHARIKOTA, India: India on Monday launched its first satellite to be used exclusively for education which will connect classrooms in remote parts of the country, the space agency said.

The EDUSAT satellite weighing 1950kg blasted off at 4:01 pm local time (10:31 GMT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

"We have got a perfect launch. I hope in the next few days we will have major operations running," P.S. Goel, director of the satellite centre, told reporters.

"It will be another beautiful bird in the sky spreading education."

The satellite, built with a mission life of seven years, will help train teachers and provide primary and university education in remote regions, said S. Krishnamurthy, spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organisation.

The agency in January announced a 900 million-rupee (US$19.5 million) project to use satellites to offer literacy instruction.

Some 350 million of India's billion-plus people cannot read and only 13 per cent finish high school. India began the literacy project through the communications satellite INSAT-3A which is currently in orbit. The service will be shifted to the new satellite.

EDUSAT will initially link universities from three states -- southern Karnataka, western Maharashtra and central Madhya Pradesh. In the second phase the satellite will reach two more states and connect more than 1000 classrooms.

The space program expects educational institutions and research agencies eventually to help fund the satellite.

"When it is fully operational the Indian Space Research Organisation will provide technical support in the replication of EDUSAT ground systems to manufacturers and service providers," Krishnamurthy said.

The satellite was sent into space by India's locally-built Geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle which can carry communication satellites weighing up to 2000kg.

India has been eyeing the lucrative launch market. The government last year approved an ambitious plan to send an unmanned mission to the moon by 2008.

Of the 135 transponders India has in space, 11 are leased to the US-based firm Intelsat, bringing in US$10 million over a five-year period.

Another 24 of the transponders are used by India's state-run television, with the rest mostly leased by private operators.


EDUSAT launched successfully


From http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=EDUSAT+launched+successfully&id=60648

'EDUSAT', India's exclusive satellite for educational services, was successfully placed into the geostationary orbit today.

The satellite was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota by the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

The 1950-kg satellite, the heaviest built by the Indian Space Research Organisation, and carried by the 49-metre Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F-01) was placed in the Geosynchronous stationary orbit, about 17 minutes after the vehicle's perfect take-off at 4.01 PM (IST).

The satellite, which will provide a fillip to distance education in the country, has a mission life of seven years.

It will be co-located with Kalpana-1 and INSAT-3C satellites already in orbit. This is the first operational flight of GSLV.

Scores of scientists, including the ISRO Chairman, Madhavan Nair and his predecessor, Dr Kasturi Rangan, witnessed the launch.

Meeting global standards

Though in his immediate reaction, Nair said India had once again proved that it can undertake satellite projects with "perfection and thoroughness" to meet any global standards.

At a press briefing later, he said the launch took place against "many odds" as the scientists were worried over atmospheric conditions.

"This is one of the finest missions ISRO has had. The launch went off well without any deviation and on dot," Nair said.

The main motor, and various stages including the cryogenic stage supplied by Russia, and all on-board computers performed well as planned.

Educational benefits

The scope of the EDUSAT programmes would be realised in three phases.

In the first phase, Visvesvariah Technological University in Karnataka, Y B Chavan state university in Maharashtra and Rajiv Gandhi Technical university in Madhya Pradesh would be covered.

The second phase would see inclusion of two more states and a national institution and in the third and final phase, EDUSAT network would become fully operational.

"There is also need to reach the remote parts of the country and providing adult literacy programme. All these are planned to be fulfilled by distant connectivity which can be achieved by EDUSAT," Nair added.

The concept of beaming educational programmes through satellites was effectively demonstrated for the first time in India in 1975-76 through Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), conducted using the American Application Technology Satellite. (PTI)


PM congratulates scientists and engineers of EDUSAT satellite Department


From http://www.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=48391&cat=India

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has congratulated scientists and engineers of the Department of Space and ISRO for the successful launch of EDUSAT satellite. Following is the text of the Prime Minister’s message:

“I was very pleased to be informed of the first operational flight of the GSLV which marks an important landmark in the history of our launch vehicle programme.

I am also happy to learn that the GSLV has successfully put into orbit our first satellite dedicated to education, EDUSAT, that would provide connectivity to educational institutions across the country. This is indeed a proud moment for our indigenous space programme.

I convey my congratulations and good wishes to all the Scientists and Engineers of the Department of Space and ISRO, who have worked tirelessly to ensure our country is among the select group of countries with advanced space capabilities”. (PIB)


Edusat not enough: Rural schools need TVs, dish-antennae


From http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=55543

NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 20: The Edusat’s successful launch this afternoon does not mean that Indian village schools will throw open virtual classrooms to their students immediately.

That almost-utopian scenario is quite a few years away and will depend on how fast the government is able to provide televisions and dish-antennae to rural schools. Soon after the successful launch from Sriharikota this afternoon, HRD experts closely associated with the project said that to begin with, the focus of the new education channels would be essentially to train and re-train teachers.

There is one part of the homework that has, however, been done. More than half the 550-odd District Institutes for Education and Training (DIET) have the basic reception equipment. Each DIET will also serve as a digital reception centre and will be equipped with a one-way video and two-way audio connection.

The HRD ministry has convened two meetings of concerned officials last week and one more is being planned this week, to ensure that this basic infrastructural requirement is provided without delay. The satellite will become fully operational in 40 days, by October 30. By then, the ministry wants to provide better infrastructural backup.

At the moment, there are only four uplinking hubs at Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and near IGNOU in Delhi. Such uplinking hubs have to be created in all 17 major states. These hubs will operate from the State Institute of Education and Training.

Though all regions of the country would be provided these hubs, there is going to be a special emphasis on this mode of distant education reaching the North-Eastern states.

With very few teacher-training and education-related programmes available, the National Institute of Education Planning and Administration (NIEPA) has just made an inventory of all education software available in the country. This includes a complete list of primary education software.

Even if all the DIETs connected, virtual classrooms for school-children can be started only in a limited way if the students themselves are brought over to the district headquarters.

For the virtual classroom facility to be made available in villages, dish antennae have to be supplied to schools, along with colour televisions. Initially, rural teachers will be brought over in batches to district centres and retrained with the help of programmes transmitted by the Edusat.

The Edusat will create a maximum of 74 channels. It has not yet been decided who will run all these channels. There is one proposal that each of the 27 states and union territories be handed over two channels and the Centre retain the remaining 20.


Singapore closes its doors to FTA TV


From http://www.advanced-television.com/pages/pagesb/newsdaily.html

Singapore has called a halt to a four-year-long attempt to create competition in its domestic free to air TV industry - a move that is also likely to end the chance that further players will be introduced into the pay-TV arena.

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and the state-owned broadcaster MediaCorp have agreed to merge their seven terrestrial channels in a venture that will be 80 per cent owned by MediaCorp, with the remainder going to SPH.

The announcement ends the plan unveiled in 2000 for SPH to start two terrestrial channels while MediaCorp began publishing a newspaper. However, SPH's channels remained loss-makers, totalling nearly $120 million in losses over the last four years. The move to merge the channels is an admission that the city state of four million could not sustain the cash flow needed to support the extra TV output and demand for advertising.

Meanwhile, the news will also have ramifications for the pay TV sector. Pay TV has been a monopoly since Singapore CableVision was introduced in 1995.

The extra channels introduced by SPH also raised expectations that the government would introduce a second pay TV operation, yet the merger of SPH and MediaOne's output is likely to put these plans on indefinite hold.


Alcatel signs a new contract with the Russian company RSCC for the delivery of Express AM33 and AM44 payload modules


From Press Release

Paris, September 17, 2004 - Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) today announces the signature of a new contract with the Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) to develop and deliver the payloads for the Express AM33 and AM44 communications satellites. The two payloads - electronic equipment which specifies the satellite mission - will be manufactured in Alcatel Space's Toulouse plant and then integrated into "Express-AM" platforms produced by NPO- PM in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

The contract has been signed today in Russia in the presence of the French Minister of Finance, Nicolas Sarkozy, Alcatel's President and Chief Executive Officer, Serge Tchuruk and the General Director of RSCC, Youri D. Ismaïlov.

The new Russian Express AM33 and AM44 communications satellites will carry C-band transponders, Ku-band transponders and L-band transponders. The spacecraft are designed to provide digital TV and radio broadcasting, telephony, data transmission channels, videoconferencing services and Internet access. The satellites will be also used to deploy communication networks by applying VSAT technology across the territory of Russia, CIS countries, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Alcatel Space has extensive experience in the development of Russian spacecraft equipment. Today three RSCC "Express-A" satellites (A1R, A2, A3) and the new Russian Express AM11 and AM22 communications satellites are equipped with the payloads produced by Alcatel Space. Lastly, Alcatel Space has delivered in August the Express AM2 satellite payload and AM3 is currently shipped from Alcatel Space facility in Cannes to NPO-PM factory in the same time this contract for the AM 33 & 44 payloads is signed in Moscow.

During the contract signing ceremony in the Hotel President, Serge Tchuruk said: "This latest contract confirms our position as a reference partner to the Russian Space industry for communications satellites. At the end of this program, we shall have delivered eleven payloads to NPO-PM for Russian and European telecommunication space programs."

Alcatel Space and industrial collaboration policy with Russia started in the mid-1990s with Sesat satellite construction for Eutelsat in cooperation with our NPO-PM partners.

About Alcatel Space

Alcatel Space, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alcatel, is a global leader for satellite solutions. Deploying extensive dual expertise in civil and military applications, Alcatel Space develops complete system solutions for telecommunications, navigation, environment and risk management, radar and optical observation, meteorology and scientific satellites. It is also the leading European prime contractor for ground segments in earth observation, meteorology and navigation systems, as well as space system operation. For more information, visit the Alcatel Space web site: www.alcatel.com/space

About Alcatel

Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or to their employees. Alcatel leverages its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services to bring value to its customers in the framework of a broadband world. With sales of EURO 12.5 billion in 2003, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.


TELE-satellite News - Number 38/2004 ­ 19 September 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

ADD LAUNCHES ADVERTISING OPTINS ON REALITY TV CHANNEL

Arab Digital Distribution (ADD), the largest pay TV
platform management company in the Middle East, North
Africa and Europe, offers over 3 pay TV bouquets in
the region with over 60 channels on the platform
catering to Arabic, Western and Asian viewers. ADD
currently offers Al-Awael - Premium Arabic family
entertainment, Pehla ­ Premium Asian Entertainment and
Firstnet- Premium International Entertainment. ADD has
now launched a multitude of advertising and
sponsorship options on the Reality TV channel offering
brands, brand managers, Media buying agencies,
marketers, a fantastic opportunity on focused
advertisement options targeting this ever expanding
segment of viewers who are into edge of the seat
reality programming in the Middle East.
Internet - http://www.adduniverse.com

BANGLADESH

NEW POLICY FOR MONITORING PRIVATE TV CHANNELS

Information Minister M Shamsul Islam said that it was
not the main objective of the government to run
Bangladesh Television (BTV) on commercial basis and a
profiting organisation. "As a national electronic
media, the main objective of BTV is public service
broadcasting or broadcasting for the welfare of the
people," Islam said. Replying to a supplementary, he
said that the government would soon formulate a policy
to monitor activities of the private television
channels to promote national causes. He said the BTV
is involved to promote public welfare by broadcasting
activities of the government, including the issues
relating to education, culture, sports, health and
national heritages.

CHINA ­ HONG KONG

INTELSAT TO SELL GALAXY STAKE

Intelsat on September 16 announced that is has decided
to end its 51% participation in Galaxy Satellite TV
Holdings Limited of Hong Kong, whose subsidiary Galaxy
Satellite Broadcasting Limited provides local and
international pay-TV programming to the Hong Kong
market. Intelsat's partner in the Galaxy business,
TVB, will acquire Intelsat's share in the joint
venture and has agreed to release Intelsat from any
future cash contributions. A related existing
agreement for Intelsat's in-kind contribution of
satellite capacity on the IS-709 satellite will end on
31 March 2005. TVB will take the remaining 51% stake
in its pay-TV joint venture from Intelsat Ltd. for
free. TVB has applied to the government for a 12-month
waiver to a provision that restricts the company from
owning 50% or more of Galaxy. The waiver will give TVB
time to find a new investor to take up the 51% stake
in Galaxy.

INDIA

GOVERNMENT EXPECTS DTH CONTENT SHARING

The Government has asked Telecom Regulatory Authority
of India (TRAI) to expedite its recommendations on
non-discriminatory clause for direct-to-home (DTH)
broadcasting, according to sources. The TRAI
formulation will be incorporated in the DTH licence,
even for those who are already in the market. The
non-discriminatory clause would make it mandatory for
all broadcasters to share their feed across DTH
platforms. Tata-STAR’s 80:20 DTH application was made
early this year, but no decision has been taken on it
yet. Sources in the government said that a decision
was likely only after TRAI issues the
non-discriminatory formulation. The move is to prevent
monopolies in the industry, it is believed. Currently,
there’s only one DTH player in the market, Subhash
Chandra-promoted ASC Enterprises’ Dish TV, which was
launched late last year. And broadcasters such as STAR
and Sony have not joined the Dish TV platform yet.

CONSUMERS TO PAY TV LICENSE FEE

Indian consumers may soon be asked to pay an annual
fee or a one-time licence fee on the purchase of radio
and television sets, the Hindu newspaper has reported.
India’s Information and Broadcasting Minister, S.
Jaipal Reddy, said that this was being contemplated in
order to guarantee financial autonomy for the public
broadcasters All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan
(DD). Alternatively, the minister has suggested a
one-time licence fee on the purchase of TV or radio
sets.

GOVERNMENT WARNS TV CHANNELS TO CURB OBSCENITY

The Indian government has warned TV channels they may
be pulled off air unless they stop beaming programmes,
mainly movies and music videos, featuring “vulgar
content”. Censor board chief Anupam Kher slammed the
network representatives for ignoring repeated warnings
to avoid telecasting “programmes unsuitable for
unrestricted public exhibition.” The Indian
Broadcasting Federation, representing broadcasters,
said it would take up the issue with members and draw
up guidelines for self regulation. Government
officials are worried that channels are showing adult
films and explicit music videos during prime time
television. While cinema theatres are obliged to
submit films for approval with the censor board,
television stations are not faced with similar
restrictions.

ESPN STAR SPORTS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR TV CRICKET RIGHTS

ESPN-Star Sports on September 16 told the court that
Zee Telefilms was not eligible for the cricket
telecast rights, which it had bagged for $308 million.
ESPN-Star said Zee did not comply with the clause of
having two years' experience covering "live" cricket
matches. While ESPN had both a production and
distribution network, Zee was only a broadcaster that
received a producer's licence to telecast live feed.
Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI), which had earlier said both ESPN-Star Sports
and Zee Telefilms were eligible for telecast rights,
stated that both were ineligible.

JAPAN

JAPAN TELECOM AND BBC TO OFFER IMAGES FOR BROADCASTERS

Japan Telecom announced September 13 that the company
has signed an agreement with the BBC to jointly launch
a high-quality video transmission service in Europe.
Set for launch on October 1, the new service will use
Japan Telecom's non-compressed television signal
transmission technology and BBC's 2.4Gbps
communications network to distribute high-quality,
non-compressed TV content online to London, Paris,
Amsterdam, and Frankfurt. The service will be ideally
suited for news, sports and concert video transmission
applications.

SINGAPORE

SPH AND MEDIA CORP TO SWAP SHARES

Singapore Press Holdings and its state-owned rival,
MediaCorp on September 17 confirmed the two companies
will take stakes in each other's business to stem
losses, signalling the end of government attempts to
boost competition in the media sector. The move will
cast a shadow over the future of a free-to-air
television channel and limit options for advertisers.
Under the deal, the two companies will merge their
seven free-to-air channels into a new company that
will be 80% owned by MediaCorp. SPH will own the rest,
paying S$10 million for the stake. The new TV company
will later decide if SPH's unprofitable
English-language Channel i will remain on air; most
analysts expect it to be shut down.

TAIWAN

TV VIEWERS TO GET 30 NEW DIGITAL TV CHANNELS

Taiwan viewers will be able to watch up to 30 digital
television channels by 2006, according to a government
spokesperson. The government has drawn up plans to
offer digital programming such as news, entertainment
and sports to the island's viewing audience. The head
of the Government Information Office (GIO), Lin
Chia-lung, promised that the first digital TV channel
would begin broadcasting by December 26, 2005.
Following this move, Lin continued, bandwidth of
analogue channels currently allocated to five
terrestrial TV stations will be brought back to the
control of government properties, with part of the
recalled wavebands designated to serve more programs
for public interests and child education. Authorities
expected the reformation of the island's radio,
wireless, cable as well as satellite TV systems will
help pave the way for a single, unified broadcasting
group to launch in Taiwan. According to the Radio and
Television Law, the nation's five terrestrial
television stations will have priority in requesting
access to the digital channel bandwidth. These
stations are Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV),
Chinese Television System (CTS), Public Television
Service Foundation (PTS), China Television Company
(CTV) and Formosa Television (FTV). Using digital TV
technology, each of these networks could broadcast up
to three separate stations on the same bandwidth they
are currently using to transmit one. Foreigners will
be forbidden from investing in digital channels in
Taiwan, emphasized the GIO head. This includes Chinese
companies, he pointed out.

CTV OPERATING LICENSE EXTENDED

Taiwan's Government Information Office has decided to
extend the operating licence of the Kuomintang-owned
China Television Company (CTV), on the condition that
CTV refrain from transferring its KMT holdings to
foreign investors, GIO Director-General Lin Chia-lung
said on September 15. The commission also recommended
that the GIO should renew the operating licences of
another two local wireless TV stations, Taiwan
Television Enterprise (TTV) and China Television
System, the Standard newspaper reported. TTV will
receive a new licence with provisionary articles that
would prohibit sale of its holdings to foreign
investors - an action that would violate the current
Broadcasting and Television Law.

THAILAND

UBC MIGHT APPEAL ON CABLE TV RULES

Leading pay-TV operator United Broadcasting Corp (UBC)
said it will consider an appeal of the government's
decision to liberalize the local cable-television
market unless its concerns are addressed by October 1,
Business Day reports. The Department of Public
Relations' decision to open up the cable-TV market
without requiring royalty-based fees from providers
will hurt the company's revenue, UBC Chief Executive
Officer Sompan Charumilinda was quoted as saying. The
department has also allowed private companies that
have no licenses to submit proposals to run free
cable-based television on a temporary basis from
September 1 onwards, Business Day said.

SHINSAT TO PROVIDE UBC BACK-UP SIGNAL

Shin Satellite has promised to provide a back-up
signal of the pay-TV programmes shown on United
Broadcasting Corp (UBC) ­ in the event of future
disruptions from its Thaicom-3 satellite. But both
ShinSat and UBC have kept mum on the question of a
refund for its 300,000 satellite TV subscribers unable
to view programmes last Sunday and Monday because of a
temporary glitch with the Thaicom-3 satellite. “UBC
and ShinSat have jointly developed additional measures
to ensure continuous service for UBC’s satellite TV
programme viewers,” said Yongsit Rojsrivichaikul,
ShinSat’s executive vice president. ShinSat will
deploy additional back-up transponder capacity for UBC
in case of future transmission disruptions. The extra
capacity will either come from existing Thaicom
satellites or from its partners, Yongsit said. A
telecom industry source said ShinSat would have to use
transponders of its Asian operator partners if the
glitch occurs again. That’s because its Thaicom-1 and
-2 satellites are fully utilised. The situation is
likely to improve if ShinSat can launch the broadband
satellite iPSTAR as scheduled early next year and then
shift UBC to iPSTAR, he said. Services from the
Thaicom-3 satellite were disrupted on the nights of
September 12 and 13. ShinSat said the problem was due
to maintenance that had to be undertaken immediately,
which coincided with an eclipse. This resulted in a
temporary blank-out of all UBC satellite TV
programmes, which sparked an outcry from viewers, who
demanded that UBC should give them a refund. UBC has
400,000 subscribers, 300,000 of which are satellite TV
programme subscribers. The remainder are cable-TV
programme subscribers. Thaicom-3 satellite has 23
international customers and seven local customers.




20/09/04

A Russian channel has started testing on Pas 8 KU, TV Plus or MYtv or maybe Panglobal tv?

My Daily KU scan finds ETV on B3 Globecast 12524V is running NOW TV off Asiasat3


From my Email & ICQ


From Herb Gardiner

Now TV now on B3...
Just did a scan... comes up as ETV, clear!
Grab it while it's hot (there)!

Herb.


From George

PTP Planet Russian PAS8 12726 28066 H


From Adhoc

India V Pakistan
Looks like the Kolkata Feed has the cricket, Currently delayed by 15 mins.

Insat 2E 3860 v 6250

Name: Kolkata Feed
Provider: Doordarshan
Service reference: 1:0:1:47:1:ffff:33e8ef8:0:0:0:
VPID: 0201h (513d)
APID: 0294h (660d)
PCRPID: 0201h (513d)
TPID: ffffffffh (-1d)
TSID: 0001h
ONID: ffffh
SID: 0047h
PMT: 0103h
Video Format: 720x576 (4:3)


From Mr Humax

Telkom Transponders up in power
3460 H is up from 50-55% SNR to 74% SNR. 3m mesh Brisbane
if you want to try and find this bird now would be the time to do it


From the Dish


Intelsat 701 180E 10975 H "Canal + Sport (France)" has started on , Mediaguard, PIDs 175/140.

Optus B3 152E 12407 V "Mitre 10 Instore Radio has replaced Kmart Garden Centre Radio" on ,Irdeto, APID 259.

Palapa C2 113E 3580 H The Kabelvision mux has left .

NSS 6 95E 10977 H New SR for PlanetSky on : 36000.
NSS 6 95E 11543 V "Sexy Sat TV Asia" has left .
NSS 6 95E 12729 V "TCT World" has left .

Yamal 201 90E 3571 L "Kolyma +" has started on , Fta, SR 3570, FEC 3/4, PIDs 308/256.

ChinaStar 1 87.5E "CCTV 4" has moved from 3790 H to 4085 H, Fta, SR 6150, FEC 3/4,PIDs 1160/1120.
ChinaStar 1 87.5E 4062 V All channels in the Shanghai Media Group on are now encrypted. New PIDs for almost all channels.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3600 H "Indiavision News and Indiavision Entertainment" are back on , Fta, PIDs 515/680 and 517/700.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3625 V "CMD" has started on , Fta, PIDs 513/660.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3625 V "Sindh TV" has started testing on , Fta, PIDs 514/670.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3840 V New PIDs for almost all channels
Thaicom 3 78.5E 4151 V "Raj Music and Vissa" have left .

Telstar 10 76.5E 3760 H "TVE Internacional Asia-Africa" has left again. New PIDs for Tele Liban: 263/519.

PAS 10 68.5E 4075 V "A Hungama TV promo" has started on , Encrypted, SR 4000, FEC 2/3,PIDs 500/600.



NEWS


TVNZ coy on details after buying TelstraClear satellite capacity


From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/businessstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3592399&thesection=business&thesubsection=media&thesecondsubsection=television

Telstraclear has offloaded its unused satellite capacity to TVNZ, giving the state broadcaster scope to offer more channels via satellite in competition to Canwest and Sky TV.

TVNZ refused to disclose how much it paid for the transponder space on the Optus B1 satellite, which is understood to be capable of delivering up to eight TV channels. Industry sources indicate the price would have been a few million dollars at most.

TVNZ is also coy on what it may use the capacity for. Chief executive Ian Fraser said one possibility was to add to the three regional advertising breakout zones it provided through Sky's digital service, but the broadcaster was weighing up its options.

TVNZ already has its own capacity on the same satellite, which it uses to deliver TV1 and TV2 to a few thousand customers who have bought digital set-top boxes.

The purchase is seen by some in the industry as a land-grab for satellite capacity before TVNZ makes a real play in satellite TV services.

TelstraSaturn originally leased the capacity from TVNZ a few years ago when the telco had its own ambitions of entering the satellite pay TV market in partnership with TVNZ. Those plans evaporated and the capacity languished as Sky signed up more households to its own service.

TVNZ has the transponder space until June 2006, when the contract will be up for renewal. By that stage, there is likely to be a lot more satellite capacity available to New Zealand companies seeking to offer pay TV and high-speed internet services.

Sky chief executive John Fellet said last month he was not interested in TelstraClear's transponder space because Sky would be getting increased space on a new satellite in 2006 and compression technology would allow it to deliver more channels using the same capacity.

Thai operator Shin Satellite also hopes to have its IPSTAR satellite in orbit by March next year. The satellite will cover the whole of New Zealand, and local internet provider Iconz won Government funding to set up an internet service using Shin's satellite.


THAICOM 3: Satellite woes force action


From http://nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=6&id=121136&usrsess=1

An irreparable glitch is still haunting Shin Satellite’s Thaicom 3, and the only remedy seems to be the upcoming launch into orbit of iPSTAR.

After twice shutting down Thaicom 3 early last week, ShinSat explained it was routine maintenance involving recharging batteries during an eclipse.

That explanation raised eyebrows among telecom industrialists, as did the shutdowns coming with absolutely no warning to major customers, including pay-television operator United Broadcasting Corp (UBC).

Industrialists also wondered why ShinSat did not switch off Thaicom 2, which is co-positioned with Thaicom 3 at 78.5 degrees east, for the same reason, that of the eclipse.

The shutdowns blacked out UBC’s satellite-television programming and left its 300,000 satellite-channel viewers in frustration.

Dumrong Kasemseth, executive chairman of ShinSat, told The Nation that a reoccurrence was unlikely, but if it were to happen again, ShinSat’s Thaicom 1 and 2 satellites would back up Thaicom 3. “We’ve already provided an explanation to all of our domestic and international customers,” said Dumrong.

But another source at ShinSat said the major cause of last week’s shutdown was really a side-effect of an unsolved solar-array glitch that occurred in nine of Thaicom 3’s transponders early last year. ShinSat had to shut down Thaicom 3 last week to reposition the satellite, which had become unbalanced from a work overload due to using its remaining transponders to broadcast all of the programmes, he said.

“The old problem with the satellite would not go away,” he added.

One telecom at a foreign brokerage estimated that Thaicom 3 has contributed approximately Bt1.15 billion in annual revenues to ShinSat.
He forecast that in a worst-case scenario, such as Thaicom 3 no longer being able to be used at all, ShinSat would lose Bt100 million from pre-exceptional profits of Bt464 million.

And there is yet another plausible negative scenario. An engineering source estimated that the solar array glitch had shortened the lifespan of Thaicom 3 by several years. This might result in it being shut down before its planned expiry in 2011. UBC’s contract for the use of the satellite expires in 2008.

The only way out for ShinSat is iPSTAR, scheduled for launch early next year. If iPSTAR blasts off successfully, ShinSat can switch its Thaicom 3 customers over to it, the source added.


(Craigs comment, great how many thousand antenna repoints will that mean...)


PSLV to launch Indonesian satellite


From http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200409172204.htm

New Delhi, Sep 17. (PTI): India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will launch a 50-kilogram Indonesian satellite along with an Indian satellite in the last quarter of next year or early 2006.

Antrix Corporation, the marketing arm of the Department of Space has concluded a contract for commercial launch of the satellite, LAPAN-TUBSAT of the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LPAN), Indonesia, to the effect.

The service has been provided by Antrix Corporation at a price which compares well with what ISRO's competitors offer for launches of micro-satellites, an official release said today.

Four satellites for countries like Germany, Korea, and Belgium have so far been launched by Antrix on a commercial basis and contracts have been entered into for launch of two more satellites (Singapore and Europe) during the next year.

LAPAN has in the past provided a location for establishing Indian Space Research Organisation's ground station in Biak, Indonesia to support tracking of GSLV (Geostationary Launch Vehicle) launches.


Digital TV signalling a brand-new era for the Asian broadcasting scene


From http://nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=6&id=121058&usrsess=1

Key economic powers in Asia such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are moving towards digital television broadcasting with a plan to transform the TV set into a “total information device”.

In Thailand, MCOT, which operates Channel 9, will be among the local pioneers making aggressive moves into the digital broadcasting arena.

The initial transition from analogue to digital language will be costly and broadcasters and audiences alike will have to shoulder the financial burden, according to an annual survey by Japan’s NHK.

“The transformation from analogue TV to a digital system is still quite expensive for all broadcasters,” said Yuji Suzuki, senior researcher at the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute.

Speaking at “The 1st Asia Pacific Programme Research and Development Workshop” yesterday, he said that each broadcaster in Japan would be compelled to spend over US$40 million (Bt1.65 billion) upgrading their equipment to go digital.

Existing analogue broadcasters that earn on average between US$2 million to US$5 million a year in profits would have to wait a further 10 to 20 years to break-even after switching to digital.

For audiences, the cost of digital-based receiving equipment is also expensive. In Japan, the price of a digital set-top box can reach $400, while a bulky CRT (cathode ray tube) costs over $1,000, a liquid crystal display (LCD) terminal about $2,000, and consumers must pay up to $4,000 for a plasma display.

“Anyway, the price of digital receiving equipment will be half of today’s level in the next two to three years,” Suzuki said.

There are currently one million (terrestrial) digital TV sets in Japan, representing between 2-3 per cent of total households that own televisions. The proportion increases to 10 per cent if satellite TVs are included.

Suzuki said the digital transition is further complicated because only 10 per cent of the Japanese population are interested in trying out the new technology.

According to the company’s annual survey of 2,000 Japanese aged between 16 and 64, 12 per cent of the respondents would “look for a while” before changing their TV set to digital, while 15 per cent would wait until the price of receivers drops. About 10 per cent would move to digital when they felt it was time to bin their old TV, and 5 per cent would wait until the analogue waves switched over to digital. Suzuki said the digital era is forcing broadcasters who are unable to adjust out of business. Many broadcasters in Japan have already gone bankrupt.

“Broadcasters will lose a lot of income from screening commercial films as viewers can skip commercials,” said Suzuki. “With analogue, about 95 per cent of their income is generated by commercials”, he said.

Broadcasters are now looking to buttress their income in other areas such as through product placement deals with sponsors, by providing interactive services such as TV shopping and ways to pay bills, and providing broadcasting services to cell-phones.

Lee Kilseob, executive programmer at South Korea’s Munhwa Broadcasting Corp (MBC) said digital TV sets now account for 12-13 per cent of all TV sets used in that country. Some 73 per cent of audiences subscribe to cable TV.

Major cable TV stations plan to start running a digital service by the end of 2004, due to competition with satellite broadcasting and the diversification of services such as multi-channel, interactive and data services, he said.

Lee added that the Korean government has set a deadline of 2010 for an end to analogue television broadcasting.

He anticipates a new wave of “digital multimedia broadcasting” using satellite technology to send digital information to a broader range of platforms including radio sets, mobile and automobile terminals.

“In 2010, Korea predicts the market for digital media broadcasting will be four times larger than radio and 40 per cent of television,” Lee said.

He said total subscription fees for satellite-based digital media broadcasting services in Korea are expected to hit $500 million in 2010, while revenue from advertisements will reach $630 million. “We will see the full convergence of telecommunication and broadcasting networks and services,” Lee said.


TVB confident of finding investor for ailing Galaxy


From http://www.thestandard.com.hk/thestandard/news_detail_frame.cfm?articleid=50891&intcatid=1

Television Broadcasts (TVB), Hong Kong's dominant free-to-air TV broadcaster, is confident of securing a new investor to take up the abandoned 51 per cent in unprofitable pay-TV venture Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting.

Hutchison Global Communications (HGC), the fixed-line unit controlled by Li Ka-shing, still tops the list of likely candidates to take over Intelsat's stake in Galaxy, market watchers said, adding TVB may even pull the plug on the unit to cut losses.

TVB managing director Louis Page said on Friday that the broadcaster has asked the Broadcasting Authority to extend the deadline to secure another new investor to take up the abandoned stake.

Even though pay-TV business growth has slowed, Page said TVB was confident it would find a new investor. And he said the 51 per cent stake need not be limited to just one partner. TVB shares rose 1.84 per cent to HK$33.30 on Friday after the news late on Thursday that it agreed to take back Intelsat's stake in Galaxy.

Deutsche Bank cut its profit forecast on TVB by 23 per cent for next year and target price by 4 per cent to HK$31.80, saying TVB would need to shoulder higher losses from Galaxy before it landed a new investor.

``Today's share price upswing is not that related to the Intelsat pull-out,'' a US investment bank analyst said. ``This is because the pull-out is not new at all,'' he said, adding that HGC is always the one tipped to take over the stake. ``TVB may also have to consider pulling out of the business to avoid further losses.''

A Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau spokesman said TVB had to secure a new investor before the scheduled date in December to take back the Intelsat stake, otherwise Galaxy would not be allowed to broadcast its content.

``The move is no surprise to me, and my take is that TVB will either sell the controlling stake to a partner that could easily provide better network coverage or otherwise exit the Hong Kong pay-TV market,'' Standard & Poor's Equity Research associate director David So said.

``If the latter is the case, then TVB will be relieved of the start-up losses generated by Galaxy for the next few years, and accordingly the move will be earnings-accretive to TVB. In any case, I think it will be very difficult to find a partner that is interested in gaining a controlling stake in Galaxy unless it could structure a deal that would also enable the buyer to capitalise on the mainland market through this JV.

``Also, the purchaser should be a telecom infrastructure player in Hong Kong that provides broadband last-mile access into homes ... such as City Telecom, PCCW [and] Hutchison.''

Intelsat's financial results for the period ended September 30 will reflect a non-cash charge of US$30 million (HK$234 million) to write down the Galaxy investment.


Licences to 12 new TV channels


From http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_19-9-2004_pg7_27

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Electronic Media and Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) General Manager (Enforcement) Col (r) Mansoor Rasheed said on Saturday that the government would soon award licences for 12 new television channels.

Speaking in a Pakistan Television programme, he said licences to 22 new channels were in the pipeline and would be completed soon. Mr Rasheed said ten licences had also been awarded to satellite TV channels and two had been awarded to virtual universities that would air their transmissions soon.

He said the government was keen to provide quality entertainment to television viewers. Mr Rasheed said 1,196 cable operators were currently operating legally and PEMRA had taken action against 2,300 illegal cable operators. app



EDUSAT to be launched on Sept 20


From http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=EDUSAT+to+be+launched+on+Sept+20&id=60648

"EDUSAT", the first Indian satellite built exclusively for serving the education sector, will be launched on Monday.

The satellite will be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota by the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

The 1950-kg EDUCAT is mainly intended to meet the demand for an interactive satellite based distance education system for the country.

"The main purpose is to provide connectivity to educational institutions. So we are going to have the classes taken by eminent personalities beamed to other places," says Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO.

Operational flight

The GSLV will launch the satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and from GTO, the EDUSAT will reach the 36,000 km high Geostationary Orbit (GSO).

In GSO, the satellite will be co-located with Kalpana-1 and INSAT-3C satellites.

Built with a mission life of seven years, the EDUSAT will be launched by the third flight of ISRO's GSLV.

Designed as GSLV-F0-1, this will be the first operational (FO-1) flight of the vehicle.

"We have been working on the final preparation of the launch vehicle for the last three months. The entire launch system has been integrated, the checkouts have been carried out and we have moved the spacecraft," said Nair.

Costs incurred

The satellite has been built at a cost of Rs 80 crore over the last two and a half years.

The vehicle that will launch the satellite, India's GSLV, has cost Rs 160 crore to design and develop.

"If you have to carry this spacecraft outside for a launch it will cost us anywhere between Rs 250 to 300 crore. Compared to that we are doing in a very cost effective manner," Nair added.

Test flights

In the two developmental test flights conducted in April 2001 and May 2003, the GSLV successfully placed GSAT-1 and GSAT-2 into GTO.

The 49-metre tall three-stage GSLV, will consist of a core motor with 138 tonne of solid propellant and four strap-on motors in the first stage.

It will also contain 39 tonnes of hypergolic liquid propellants in the second stage and 12.5 tonnes of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen in the third cryogenic stage.

Monday's launch has a double significance for India's space programme. The first satellite dedicated to education being launched by the indigenously designed and built GSLV in its first operational flight.


25 Tamil Nadu colleges to benefit from Edusat


From http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IET20040919132828&Title=Southern+News+-+Tamil+Nadu&Topic=0

CHENNAI: The Anna University is most likely to switch its tele-education facility on to the Edusat (Education Satellite) platform as soon it is operationalised.

This would mean that students and faculty of 25 engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu, which have been experimenting with tele-education since September 6, will get to view as many as 72 education channels.

According to sources, the varsity is likely to be one among the first institutions on the Edusat Board along with ISRO and IGNOU. It is expected after its launch from Sriharikota on Monday the Edusat would take about a month's time to stabilise and become operational.

Immediately thereafter, the 25 colleges including Anna University constituent units, six Government colleges, the VIT Deemed University and 14 self-financing engineering colleges, will be able to access the Edusat facility.

The same would be extended to all institutions in phases.

This has been made possible as similar facilities are available for the Anna University's tele-education and the Edusat. While the varsity has a full-fledged earth station directly uplinked to Insat 3 B on a Extended C Band (like a normal television), the Edusat has both C Band and Ku Band (which facilitates Direct To Home transmission).

Meanwhile, the experimentation with tele-education has been fruitful for the institutions. At a review meeting chaired by Anna University Vice Chancellor E Balagurusamy on September 15, the principals of the all the 25 colleges suggested that the tele-education facility be extended for more hours.

They wanted the programmes to be completely syllabus-based and fit the college time-table as well.

Some colleges are already downloading the lectures on a CD and distributing them for students who are not able to participate in the video-conferencing.

The Kanyakumari-based Noorul Islam College of Engineering has in fact put up a television in every classroom for the benfit of students.

Explaining the concept of tele-education, the varsity Educational Multimedia Research Centre Director R Sreedhar said on each day two lectures of an hour's duration each is delivered by resource persons at the varsity and this is beamed live to the 25 colleges.

The students at the other end come up with questions, which are answered by the resource persons. This helps institutions as some of them do not have faculty in certain subjects like Enviornment and Ethics or even technical subjects.

The Tamil Nadu Open University too has agreed to use the facility for its B.Ed programme as and when affiliation was granted for the same. Besides, the Anna University was keen on extending the facility for training primary school teachers through the Education Department and also use it for imparting a telemedicine course with Apollo Hospitals


B4U finds ally for distribution


From http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/855765.cms

NEW DELHI: After having suffered major distribution bottlenecks in the past, B4U Television Network has finally roped in a partner to mitigate its distribution problems.

The broadcaster has appointed Satman Strategies Pvt Ltd as distributors of its two channels in India — B4U Movies and B4U Music. The channel is also in the process of repackaging its content and a new look is in the offing.

While B4U Movies is a subscription-based channel, B4U Music is a free-to-air entity . Satman Strategies will handle the two channels’ distribution in the entire South Asian region, which includes the markets of India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

The company has been involved with the cable industry since 1981 and has handled designing and implementation of the distribution strategies of several satellite channels, such as SAB TV, CMM Music, TV 5, DW TV and Aastha TV.

In addition, Satman has also distributed, in selected territories, other channels such as Cartoon Network, HBO, CNN, Zee TV and its associated channels.

B4U India’s head of operations Ravi Nair said: “SMG’s expertise and experience in the satellite distribution industry will strengthen B4U’s distribution and enhance the channel’s footprint across the cable and satellite households.” B4U and B4U Music are currently available in around 9 million households across the country.

B4U was first launched in May 2000 in India. B4U Movies offers movie buffs a range of Bollywood shows and movies. B4U Music offer a variety of Bollywood entertainment.

“Though distribution has been our major weakness in the recent past, it is interesting to note that even during the low visibility phase the time spent on B4U Music has been often higher than some of our competitors,” Nair said.

B4U Movies is also gearing up to launch its new programming plan in the near future. It is hoping that with a revived distribution, it will be able to increase its market share significantly in the near future.


After hearing Zee's side, case adjourned to Monday


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep193.htm

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has adjourned hearing in the much-contested BCCI cricket telecast rights case to Monday after Zee Telefilms exhaustively put forward its argument.

Arguing before a two-judge Bench of Chief Justice DS Bhandari and Justice DY Chandrachud, Zee's counsel Harish Salve argued that ESPN has not produced a “clean signal” of live cricket matches completely in-house. Neither the West Indies-India series nor the South Africa-India and England matches were exclusively produced by ESPN. It was only in the Asia Cup that the production was done in-house.

Zee raised the point that ESPN had sidelined the consortium clause and was creating confusion over production facilities. The “hawk eye” camera and other facilities belonged to proprietary companies and neither to ESPN or to Zee. “Today to produce the match for telecasting, cameras are planted. All of us rent out those facilities. It is only a question of how much each of us do,” Salve argued.

ESPN had been showing cricket in India so far. Zee has a presence in 88 countries and has been showing cricket when India plays overseas. “If BCCI is entertaining Zee today, the board obviously considers us eligible,” said Salve.

Justice Chandrachud then queried Salve on whether the company had experience in TV production of cricket matches as Zee had mentioned “telecast but no production” experience in its bid for the BCCI rights. Salve admitted that Zee had never produced clean signals. “But neither ESPN nor Zee have produced clean signals for two years,” the counsel said.

The court then observed, "If we strictly stick to your line of argument then both the parties (Zee and ESS) would be ineligible."

Responding to the court's observation, Salve, while agreeing with the point made by the bench, drew attention to the fact that none of the parties, and that includes Prasar Bharti, would "strictly speaking" be eligible to get the telecast rights as all were merely licensees and hire production units to telecast matches.

Moving on to another issue, Salve pointed out that PriceWaterhouse Coopers, which had been assigned the task of vetting the bids, was the global auditor of ESPN and had a conflict of interest. “PwC had not sent any reply to Zee on its inquiries. But ESPN had got a response from PwC in a letter on September 6,” Salve said.

India has emerged as the largest commercial market for cricket and accounts for 80 per cent of the worldwide revenue for the sport. BCCI has put up tenders and an Indian-owned company with a homegrown network with large production facilities has bid. “Let’s not miss the wood for the trees,” he said. “The public interest has suffered. ESPN has put no argument saying that it has been detrimental to public interest. They are only working for their interest and monopoly.”

Earlier, ESPN's counsel Iqbal Chaggla, referring to SAB TV's argument about ESS being a foreign entity in an intervention application filed yesterday, told the court that even Zee has its registered offices in countries like the USA and United Kingdom. Chaggla argued that company's licence was under Zee TV, USA.

BCCI TO HONOUR COURT DIKTAT

The working committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which held an emergency meeting in Kolkata yesterday, has decided to follow the court's diktat that status quo be maintained on the issue of telecast rights.

This rules out any further moves on the part of the BCCI to offer the piecemeal rights of the upcoming Australia series to national broadcaster Doordarshan.

In its submission to the court today, the BCCI sought time for arguments and the court told it to put forward its submissions on Monday when its counsel, KK Venugopal, is expected to address the court.

The court has still to look into the maintainability of the writ filed by ESS and the arguments will continue on Monday at 2:45 pm. The court has also allowed the intervention application filed by SAB TV.

This of course raises the question of whether the court will be able to deliver its verdict on the matter by next week because time is running out for all the parties to the dispute.




19/09/04

No update Sundays




18/09/04

No update Saturday




17/09/04

Nothing to say up here


From my Emails & ICQ


From vk4bkp

B3 new transponders
Optus B3 12640H 21000 3/4 loads 13 tv and 13 radio.
Optus B3 12613H 21000 3/4 also loads 13 tv and 13 radio.

Both transponders display a message from UBI.
"UBI has successfully completed it's test. UBI is now proud to
officially announce it's service on Optus B3. Please watch for
announcements as to how to subscribe to your favourite channels.


From Chris Pickstock

Cricket: Aus v NZ

Insat 2E, 3832V, sr 6250, Australia v New Zealand
Vpid 513, Apid 660

Chris


From Simmo

Footy Show on B1
there's a 4.2.2 on B1, 12491 10850...

It is the footy show, in 4.2.2


From the Dish



PAS 8 166E 3977 V "Thai Outlook TV" has started on , Fta, SR 3253, FEC 3/4, PIDs 308/256.
PAS 8 166E 4080 V All channels in the TAS mux are encrypted again.

Optus C1 156E 12367 V "Australian Christian Channel" has started on , Fta, PIDs 1091/1092.

Palapa C2 113E 3580 H "RCTI has replaced Trans TV" on , Fta, PIDs 201/202.

NSS 6 95E 12678 V "ABC Asia Pacific and Radio Australia" have started on , Fta, SR 6510, PIDs 2307/2308, 2310 and 2311, Australian beam.

ST 1 88E 12642 H "FTV News Channel has replaced CTV" on , Conax, PIDs 102/103.

ChinaStar 1 87.5E 4062 V All channels in the Shanghai Media Group mux on are Fta.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3625 V "SS Music and a test card" have started on , Fta, SR 30000, FEC 5/6, PIDs 515/680 and 521/740, Asian beam.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3600 H "Indiavision News and Indiavision Entertainment" have left , replaced by test cards.

Telstar 10 76.5E 12308 V "KTTVS" has started on , Fta, PIDs 880/881.

PAS 10 68.5E 12722 V "YFM" has left .


NEWS


TV war puts tour of India in doubt


From http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/16/1095320902113.html

Australian cricket chiefs fear a battle over television rights could cause next month's Test series in India to be cancelled, and last night were seeking clarification from Indian board president Jagmohan Dalmiya about the implications for Australia's tour if the multimillion-dollar broadcasting crisis is not settled.

At the heart of the dispute is ESPN-Star Sports, which has challenged the Board of Control for Cricket in India's decision to award TV rights for all international cricket played in India for the next four years to rival network Zee for almost $444 million. The BCCI has received a court order preventing it from seeking fresh bids for rights to the Australian series until the wrangle is resolved.

"There is a concern. (Chairman) Bob (Merriman) has had some preliminary advice from BCCI that there could be a risk to the tour going ahead," a Cricket Australia spokesman said last night. "We are seeking urgent clarification, and we are hoping that some time in the next 12 to 24 hours, he'll be able to get some more detailed communication from BCCI."

When The Age tracked down Dalmiya last night and asked whether the tour would proceed, he replied: "I can't say at this stage." When pressed on the matter, Dalmiya said: "I can't say anything more at the moment because it would be prejudicial. While the matter is in the courts, it is difficult for me to comment."

ESPN-Star contended in the Bombay High Court that Zee, India's biggest listed media company, did not fulfil a requirement to have two years' experience of telecasting international cricket matches.

The court, which has put off hearings until September 21, wants the BCCI to maintain the status quo until it reaches a verdict after it emerged there were negotiations afoot with public broadcaster Doordarshan. But with the Australian series set to start on October 6, the BCCI maintains the court's decision is untenable.

BCCI lawyer Virendra Tulzapurkar told a hearing on Wednesday that if the matches were not telecast, "there is every likelihood that not only will the entire series be cancelled with the possibility of penal measures, but also that the same is likely to cause serious international repercussions".

The International Cricket Council requires third-umpire coverage for all Tests, and usually uses footage from the broadcaster. The issue also raises serious financial concerns for the BCCI, which relies on media income to sustain the matches.

"Time is running out and we are desperate," a senior BCCI official told Agence France-Presse. "There is no guarantee that even if the court gives an early ruling, it will not be challenged by the losing party in a higher court. The case could go on for months."

The official said there were serious concerns about the Australian series. "It is mandatory that third-umpire coverage is made available for the Tests.

"If this is not done, anything can happen. Official status for the series may be withdrawn, the International Cricket Council may not post third umpires or referees and more punitive action may be taken."


Sky silence talkative refs


From http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10792726%255E23217,00.html

NEW Zealand's chief rugby broadcaster, Sky TV, has pulled the plug on talkative referees.

The pay channel will turn down the volume on officials' microphones during match broadcasts because it believes some referees talk too much.

"Some guys talk the whole time. We don't want 'War and Peace' from them, just the Readers' Digest version," director of rugby Andy Fyfe said today.

All referees have microphones in major matches in New Zealand and they are left open to let viewers hear conversations between refs and players.

"Our gut instinct tells us the referees have become too prevalent in the NPC (New Zealand's National Provincial Championship) and we're going to reduce their input," said Fyfe.

"There are times when you want to hear a referee and these are the times when we will make sure they can be heard."

The behaviour of some referees this season has led to complaints from viewers. New Zealand international referee Paul Honiss was recently criticised for his chattiness and for a "patronising" attitude to players.

New Zealand Rugby Union deputy chief executive Steve Tew said the matter was "a production issue" for Sky


Dunedin meeting on TVNZ


From http://www.odt.co.nz/

Got a gripe with the television? Or maybe a compliment?

TVNZ is holding a public meeting in Dunedin to hear the views and opinions of TV One and TV2's southern audience next week.

"We are coming to talk to our shareholders. You own us. We want to hear the issues and concerns you have about TVNZ, receive feedback and listen to your ideas," public affairs head Avon Adams said.

"We have a mandate to focus more on public broadcasting and we take that very seriously," Ms Adams said.

TVNZ chief executive Ian Fraser, members of the executive, sales staff and local journalists would attend the meeting, which would start with a short presentation before taking questions from the floor and then breaking for refreshments and informal chatting, she said.

The first of the Talk Television public meetings was held in Hamilton last month.

It attracted about 150 people, who raised a range of issues, including wanting fewer commercials during children's television, more agricultural programmes and criticising the unbalanced coverage of the war in Iraq, Ms Adams said.

The third meeting is planned for Napier in November.

TVNZ hopes to hold four public meetings a year around the country.

The Dunedin meeting will be held in the Fullwood Room at the Dunedin Centre from 5.30pm to 7.30pm next Thursday.

Entry is free, but for seating purposes tickets are required and can be ordered by calling 0800-825-588.

Under the charter, introduced last year, TVNZ has to focus on programmes that will develop New Zealand's cultural and national identity.


(Craigs comment, there you go South Island Apsatters turn up at the meeting and ask WHY TVNZ is not making sensible use of their transponder space on B1)


SATELLITE TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS: ShinSat to provide UBC back-up signal


From http://nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=6&id=120992&usrsess=1

But companies still silent about refund demanded by thousands of viewers

Shin Satellite Plc has promised to provide a back-up signal of the pay-TV programmes shown on United Broadcasting Corp (UBC) – in the event of future disruptions from its Thaicom-3 satellite.

But both ShinSat and UBC have kept mum on the question of a refund for its 300,000 satellite TV subscribers unable to view programmes last Sunday and Monday because of a temporary glitch with the Thaicom-3 satellite.

“UBC and ShinSat have jointly developed additional measures to ensure continuous service for UBC’s satellite TV programme viewers,” said Yongsit Rojsrivichaikul, ShinSat’s executive vice president in a joint statement yesterday after a meeting on Wednesday to try to prevent similar problems.

ShinSat will deploy additional back-up transponder capacity for UBC in case of future tranmission disruptions. The extra capacity will either come from existing Thaicom satellites or from its partners, Yongsit said. A telecom industry source said ShinSat would have to use transponders of its Asian operator partners if the glitch occurs again. That’s because its Thaicom-1 and -2 satellites are fully utilised.

The situation is likely to improve if ShinSat can launch the broadband satellite iPSTAR as scheduled early next year and then shift UBC to iPSTAR, he said.

The source said ShinSat and UBC did not reveal if or how they would refund viewers affected by the glitch.

Services from the Thaicom-3 satellite were disrupted on the nights of September 12 and 13. ShinSat said the problem was due to maintenance that had to be undertaken immediately, which coincided with an eclipse.

This resulted in a temporary blank-out of all UBC satellite TV programmes, which sparked an outcry from viewers, who demanded that UBC should give them a refund.

UBC has 400,000 subscribers, 300,000 of which are satellite TV programme subscribers. The remainder are cable-TV programme subscribers. Thaicom-3 satellite has 23 international customers and seven local customers.

UBC chief executive Sompan Charumilinda said the group understands that technical glitches sometimes occur with satellites.

UBC’s share price closed at Bt21.30 yesterday, down from Bt22.60 on the previous day.


Intelsat to End Participation in Galaxy Satellite TV Holdings Limited


From Press Release (Edited)

Pembroke, Bermuda, 16 September 2004 - Intelsat today announced that is has decided to end its 51% participation in Galaxy Satellite TV Holdings Limited of Hong Kong, whose subsidiary Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting Limited provides local and international pay-TV programming to the Hong Kong market.

Intelsat’s partner in the Galaxy business, TVB, will acquire Intelsat’s share in the joint venture and has agreed to release Intelsat from any future cash contributions. A related existing agreement for Intelsat’s in-kind contribution of satellite capacity on the IS-709 satellite will end on 31 March 2005. Intelsat’s financial results for the period ended 30 September 2004 will reflect a non-cash charge of approximately $30 million to write down the Galaxy investment.

“We continue to believe that Galaxy’s service offering represents an attractive alternative for pay-TV subscribers in Hong Kong,” said Conny Kullman, CEO of Intelsat. “Galaxy’s growth has been slower than anticipated, however, and it is not in Intelsat’s strategic interest to invest additional resources and management time on this business.”

About Intelsat

Building on 40 Years of Leadership. As a global communications leader with 40 years of experience, Intelsat helps service providers, broadcasters, corporations and governments deliver information and entertainment anywhere in the world, instantly, securely and reliably. Intelsat's global reach and expanding solutions portfolio enable customers to enhance their communications networks, venture into new markets and grow their businesses with confidence. For more information, please go to www.intelsat.com.

Contact
Dianne VanBeber
[email protected]
+1 202 944 7406

Allison Scuriatti
[email protected]
+1 202 944 7841


Subash Chandra bats for sport


From http://inhome.rediff.com/cricket/2004/sep/17zee.htm

From trading in vegetable oils to taking on global heavyweights in a fight for India's cricket television rights, Subhash Chandra delights in challenges.

The chairman of India's biggest listed media company, Zee Telefilms, caused a stir last week when he walked into a Bombay court room to defend Zee's cricket coup.

Zee, which launched India's first satellite TV channel in 1992, was the surprise highest bidder and won conditional rights to show the Indian cricket team's home matches for four years starting in October.

But ESPN Star Sports, a joint venture of Walt Disney and News Corp.'s Star, challenged Zee, claiming it had no experience in broadcasting live cricket.

A court ruling is expected later this week.

The clash is reminiscent of a stand-off in July between media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi over broadcast rights to Italy's soccer clubs.

But 54-year-old Chandra, a devout Hindu who is fond of quoting the Bhagavad Gita scriptures, loves a good fight.

Chandra's Essel group, which owns Zee and employs 5,000 staff, has interests ranging from packaging, entertainment parks and online lotteries to films, television and publishing.

Its slick glass-and-chrome offices in Bombay are a stark contrast to Chandra's more rural background.

Born in a village in Haryana, Chandra is one of seven children of a cottonseed trader.

As a young boy, he wanted to be an engineer. Aged 19, he opted against college studies and, spurred by his grandfather, set up a vegetable oil unit, later moving to grain exports.

NEW PATHS

A visit to a packaging exhibition led to the 1982 launch of Essel Packaging, which makes laminated tubes for toothpastes, cosmetics, food and drugs. The company merged with Swiss firm Propack AG in 2001 and became Essel Propack Ltd.

In 1988, Chandra set up Bombay's first amusement park, EsselWorld.

Zee was the outcome of a casual visit in the early 1990s to a friend at Doordarshan, the state-owned television channel. Chandra signed a lease for a transponder on the Asiasat satellite and won equity backing from some non-resident Indians.

Chandra is said to have watched every programme aired on the channel in its initial years. Today, the network is distributed in the United States, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and is preparing to launch a sports channel to add to its news, films and music.

After a near-monopoly, Zee now lags rivals Star and Sony. Analysts say cricket could help Zee bridge the gap.

Zee is very nearly a fully integrated entertainment company, with production and distribution alliances for feature films, and dominant cable and direct-to-home (DTH) TV ventures.

With a swathe of white hair over his right temple, Chandra is described by colleagues as down-to-earth and hands-on. He makes decisions quickly and is unafraid to ask for opinions or admit to mistakes, an associate said.

He also makes no bones about his background, preferring to speak Hindi than English and smoking 'bidis.'

While some question the viability of spreading himself so thin, others say that, despite the appearance of a professionally-run group, Essel remains a family concern.

Three of Chandra's brothers head Essel Propack, Zee News and the cable unit, while his two sons lead the newer businesses -- online lottery, DTH broadcasting and the sports channel.

Known to say "walking down beaten paths is for beaten men", Chandra's path is as gripping as an India-Pakistan cricket Test.


HC asks TV channels to work out norms for censorship


From http://sify.com/peopleandplaces/fullstory.php?id=13569020

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has asked nine satellite TV channels to come together and work out self-censorship norms over airing of adult movies and programmes.

A Bench of Chief Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice D Y Chandrachud gave the order on a PIL filed by a teacher of St Xavier College, Pratibha Naithani. Naithani contended that once a film had been rated A by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), it could not be shown on TV.

Earlier, the Bench had restrained satellite channels from beaming adults only movies or programmes without prior permission of the CBFC.

On September 1, the respondents namely Star TV, Sony TV, Zee TV, Udaya TV, AXN TV, Surya TV were restrained from showing such programmes and were also asked to file affidavits stating how many adult movies were shown during last three months and at what time.

However, only Sony TV filed an affidavit stating that it had shown 25 adult movies in the last three months




16/09/04

My TV+ are planning a 3 channel Russian service via B3. I reckon most likely to be in the Globecast mux. I wonder how they will source the Russian channels? via 96.5E? keep an eye on the Russian sats

Website for My TV+ note this is not the other group who call themselves TV PLUS
http://www.mytvplus.com.au

Tarbs/UBI will officially be using Optus B3 (no surprise with that announcement)

We are still using the old Apsattv server due to a problem with the power supply on the new one. The new server may be switched over next week.


From my Emails & ICQ


From George (Who took the info from Auscity forums)

MyTV+
Here it is:

They planning to start transmission in the middle of October, sat B3, three
channels: (all Russians)
1 - 1 TV + 1 Radio -- $40
2 - 2 TV + 1 Radio -- $49
3 - 3 TV + 1 Radio ~~ $60

With existing dish - new box free.
No dish - $120 installation.

One year contract, two weeks - one month prepaid.
Interesting they are going to run it on B3!

Info from MY TV+ website translated useing Altavista Babblefish

Dear friends!

We resemble to you that by company MYTV Plus.
They will be officially until 30 September
are declared three basic russkoyazychnykh television channels,
which, we are assured, it is maximal
your interests will satisfy, will justify your expectations
and will not exceed your possibilities.
If you please, you follow our news bulletins on the Russian program SBS,
in the newspaper "arguments and facts"
and also in the stores of company "Russian leisure".
Immediately after obtaining of the entire information

You will be able to ring on the telephone
1300 738 290

and to agree about the convenient for you bottom and the time
for the connection.The filled form you will be able
to transmit to the technical representative of the company
after connection. If to you and by your friends be necessary additional
forms, you will be able to also order them on the telephone pointed out
above.

The Russian version of contract conditions will be published
in the newspaper "arguments and facts", and also it it is possible
to order on the vyshcheukazannomu telephone.

With the respect, the board
company MYTV Plus.


(Craigs comment, you may get more sense out of them if you ring the number?)


From George

Tele Libian is testing on UBI channels CH57
Optus B3 12674 22500 H


From Rudino Penny

Craig,
F.Y.I. RCTI channel Palapa C2 loading on 3580H Freq 27000.Comes up as Family Channel.Clear here in North western australia.


From Steve Hume

Chinastar 1 87.5E fta
4062V, 26500 are all currently fta


From the Dish


Intelsat 701 180E 10975 H "Canal Evenement" has started on , enc., PIDs 169/116.(Fta at times)
Intelsat 701 180E 11074 H "ESPN" has started on , Fta, PIDs 521/740.
Intelsat 701 180E 11500 H "TVSN" has left again, replaced by a test card.

(N Kawano)

PAS 8 166E 3836 V "TVBS Golden" is now encrypted.
PAS 8 166E 4080 V "Gala TV Variety, Gala TV Comprehensive and Gala TV Drama" are now Fta

Optus B3 152E 12525 V "Sigaram Movie Channel" has started on , Fta, PIDs 2360/2320.
Optus B3 152E 12674 H "Tele Liban" has started on , PIDs 522/650.
Optus B3 152E 12701 H "TVE Internacional Asia-Africa" has started on , PIDs 522/650.

Agila 2 146E 3880 H "ESC 1" has started on , Fta, SR 3200, FEC 3/4, PIDs 4144/4145.

Koreasat 3 116E 12490 H "Quizup Interactive TV" has left , replaced by a test card.

Palapa C2 113E 3580 H "Trans TV" has started on , Fta, PIDs 201/202.
Palapa C2 113E 3580 H "Family Channel" has left .

AsiaSat 3 105.5E 3760 H "Indus Plus" has left .

Measat 1 91.5E All radio channels in Astro are Fta.

Yamal 201 90E 4084 R "Radio Disco and Narodnoe Radio" have left .

ST 1 88E 3632 VAll channels in the Space TV mux on are now encrypted, except Taiwan Music Channel, Casa TV, and TNN.

Telstar 10 76.5E 3760 H "TVE Internacional Asia-Africa and Tele Liban have replaced TRT International,BVN TV and RNW 1-3" on , Fta, PIds 263/519 and 264/520.
Telstar 10 76.5E 3920 H "Animax Asia" has started on , PowerVu, PIDs 1110/1102.

PAS 10 68.5E 3974 H "Cartoon Network Pakistan" has started on , enc., PIDs 1560/1520.

(N Kawano)

(W Zaremba, H Heijden)




NEWS


Optus renews satellite deal


From http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,10782308%255E1702,00.html

TELECOMMUNICATIONS company Optus has re-signed a multi-million dollar agreement with satellite owner PanAmSat to operate its PAS 4 satellite for another 10 years.

Optus has been operating PAS 4 since its launch in 1995.
Under the re-signed agreement, Optus would continue to look after the orbit determination and manoeuvre planning of PanAmSat's PAS 4, the telco said.

Optus said it would also monitor all PAS 4 technical systems including fuel, batteries, propulsion and communications payload.

Optus – a subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd – uses its Perth Earth Station in Lockridge to communicate with the satellite, which is roughly located over Australia.

Under the agreement, Optus will continue to fly the PAS 4 satellite until it reaches the end of its useful life, when Optus will implement the satellite's de-orbit procedure.

Optus did not reveal the cost of the agreement.


Gilat Announces First SkyEdge Contract With Australia's Optus


From http://www.spacedaily.com/news/vsat-04zze.html

Petah Tikva, Israel (SPX) Sep 15, 2004

Gilat Satellite Networks announced Tuesday an agreement to supply Australia's second largest telecommunications company, SingTel Optus, with a SkyEdge hub and remote sites for the expansion of Optus's already existing Gilat networks, which will be upgraded to SkyEdge as well.

SkyEdge is Gilat's recently announced revolutionary, unified platform supporting a variety of applications and topologies including mesh, star and multi-star.

The introduction of the system represents a major step forward in VSAT technology.

The agreement with Optus is the first SkyEdge contract to be announced following a successful beta phase. The deployment and upgrade of the network is expected to be completed in Q4 of 2004.

Optus operates two-way satellite services throughout Australia and New Zealand based predominantly on Gilat's 360 and 360E systems, which will now be expanded to SkyEdge as well.

The existing Gilat network is already being used by Optus to deliver distance-learning services to small rural towns and isolated homesteads in New South Wales (NSW) and across the Northern Territory (NT).

The network will now be expanded to support additional distance learning applications, health, rural broadband for SOHO and SMEs as well as total solutions for corporations throughout Australia.

"We are pleased to continue our relationship with Gilat and are confident that this upgrade will enable us to improve the quality and range of services we supply to our customers," said Warren Hardy, Managing Director of Optus Wholesale & Satellite.

Oded Sheshinski, Gilat's Manager for Australia-Pacific, said, "This agreement with Optus is a natural extension of the successful operation of our network in the past and Optus's satisfaction with our technology, solutions and close customer support."

"We are pleased that the first network of our new SkyEdge Product family should be deployed by Optus which will benefit from the most advanced VSAT technology available and be able to continue to expand its offering of solutions to its customers throughout Australia and New Zealand."

The SkyEdge Product Family: One system. A world of possibilities.

With the ability to support an endless array of applications in data, telephony and broadband IP all using the same hub, the SkyEdge product family represents a breakthrough in the industry.

It is the first truly comprehensive satellite communications platform to deliver superior data, voice and video services over a single, powerful system.

The family consists of the SkyEdge System (the hub), and five VSAT products including:

- SkyEdge Pro - Multi-service VSAT, supporting interactive data, mesh telephony, broadband IP and video, with plug-in cards architecture expanding the VSAT capabilities.

- SkyEdge IP - IP Router VSAT, supporting interactive, broadband IP, VoIP and multicasting applications.

- SkyEdge Call - Telephony VSAT, supporting thin-route telephony applications.

- SkyEdge Gateway - Trunking Solutions VSAT, providing mesh trunking solutions supporting digital telephony and IP data on demand trunking applications.

- SkyEdge DVB-RCS - Enhanced Standard VSAT, fully supporting the DVB-RCS standard. Being much more than only a return link standard, this dual mode VSAT provides a unique real end to end standard solution for a satellite network operator with an arsenal of additional access schemes, embedded software and enhanced IP acceleration features for full flexibility and support in a complex IP environment.


Echostar to carry 17 CCTV channels


From http://www.advanced-television.com/pages/pagesb/newsdaily.html

China Central Television (CCTV) is to sign a deal next month to allow the distribution of 17 channels originated in mainland China by Echostar in the US.

A formal announcement is expected in Los Angeles on October 1, China's national day, following the signing ceremony attended by a group of senior CCTV executives.

The agreement will give Echostar six CCTV channels, seven provincial ones, three produced by Hong Kong's Phoenix Satellite TV and one service by Hong Kong terrestrial Asia Television. The channels will mainly be in Mandarin, although CCTV-9 is in English.

Echostar reaches more than 8.5 million homes in the U.S. and is the country 's second largest direct to home satellite TV provider. News Corp-owned DirecTV had been angling for the carriage rights, but backed out of the bidding.


Zee mulls launch of new English movie channel


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep173.htm

MUMBAI: The Zee Group is contemplating launching its own English movie channel following the buy-out of its current partner Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by a group headed by Sony Corp.

According to a PTI report, the business head for Zee's English channels Ajay Trigunayat has been quoted as saying that the group is contemplating starting its own English movie channel, either on its own or in partnership with some other media company.

The decision, he is reported to have told, will be taken in the next four to five days following a meeting of senior programming, marketing and other personnel at Zee.

According to the report, Zee had a content sourcing agreement with MGM for the last four years and the Zee-MGM English channel commanded a market share of around 17 per cent.

In the report Trigunayat said that MGM had no equity participation in the venture and both parties were free to call off the agreement if they desired so.

"Even as we had the partnership with MGM, many of the movies on the channel were being sourced from other players like Paramount and Miramax. Thus we can go solo, taking the content from various partners," he has been quoted in the report as saying.

He said that after four years of existence in the market along with MGM, the channel had developed enough expertise in marketing and distribution, adds the report.




15/09/04

Sorry abut the lateness of the update, got a lot going on. Repairing pc's etc

New software version 5.5 for Emetabox 1,2,3 and clones (Divitone vbox etc) is out, it fixes bugs relating to Irdeto / Zee TV and other issues. Get this from your dealer! A very worthwhile upgrade.


From my Emails & ICQ


From ANON

The outage affecting TRT, TFM, VOT, 3ABN, 3ABN Radio and Daystar since 0415 GMT is apparently due to the incorrect positioning of Thaicom 3 due to a control issue at Thaicom. As RRSat do not have a tracking antenna they are no longer able to uplink to the bird in it’s “new” position and T4GL is therefore inoperative.

Thaicom advised that they are aiming to reposition the satellite manually (possibly by 1100 GMT but likely later) at which point RRSat should be able to hit it again and we should reacquire the missing services. Theoretically the control systems should then keep it in the box.

RRSat are aware of the above situation and recovery plan.


(Craigs comment, This of course affects those services that Globecast re-broadcast via B3)


From Herb Gardiner (NZ)

Lamenting the truth... my musings

Well, I guess one has to face the cold hard reality... No satellite
provider is seriously interested in NZ. Why? It appears that it may
be because we are such a small population. Which in the scheme of
things is true, yet we have one of the highest ethnic counts per head
of population in the western world! Surely 3 million ethnic kiwis is
worth tapping into??!

On the national front, TVNZ has it's own transponder on B1, with
rumours it now has a partner for it's newly acquired transponder
which used to belong to TelstraClear. What's TVNZ doing with this
valuable commodity? Nothing! Oh yes, we have the TVNZ channels and
two far removed international news channels, but who seriously wants
that? No one, that's who. We all know that to make this service fly,
TVNZ need to have both TV3 and Prime on their bouquet. Will this
happen? After some careful research (with some collegues), we found
that TV3, at least for now, isn't interested - and is certainly not
TVNZ's 'partner'. Which leaves Australian channel 9-based Prime. Who
knows what they're thinking. No one there ever seems to be able to
comment. Besides, having Prime would be good, but certainly not the
attaction that TV3 would be!

What about TVNZ acquiring quality programming for it's bouquet from
overseas? The first and obvious choice would be ABC's Asia/Pacific
service. But can they get the re-screening rights for it here?
Ofcourse not! It would appear that the powers that be (at the ABC)
have forgotten that NZ makes up a large population of the pacific,
and/or are just not interested in providing services here. Duh??
Maybe they should re-name their service ABC Asia/Selective pacific
states only. It would be more accurate.

Yes, we could all have large c-band dishes, but who the hell wants
one of them in their backyard! (the average punter, that is)
As for other channels, forget it. Sky already has them sewn up, or at
least they'd like us to believe they have! TVNZ are in the perfect
position to test this, but will they? Ofcourse not, because unlike
our Prime Minister, they have no balls!

What about Ku channels from overseas being beamed into NZ? Yes, one
gets here, and very strong too where I live. Problem is, it's
encrypted, and one can not buy a card legally for use here. Answer,
buy a decoder which you can type in a number to unlock the channel,
or buy a pirated card. Hmmm, the lengths we have to go to!
Oh yes, we used to have the ABC Northern service too. A quality
service which attracted much support from this side of the Tasman.
This service mysteriously disappeared one night, never to return...
One could get sceptical over either TVNZ's or Sky's involvement over
this, especially now since Sky are now showing the national netball
cup from ABC Australia live on it's sport channels. Something we once
didn't have to subscribe to watch. Very interesting...

So that's about it. Summing up... TVNZ has a commodity it could use
to it's full advantage, but won't. GlobeCast who have supported the
NZ ethnic community up to now seem to be abandoning it with it's new
agreement with Panamsat. Time will tell. And any other quality
external services can only be obtained illegally. Great!

What are we left with? Nothing. Yep, the future does seem bright...
For Sky Television!

Herb.


From vk4bkp

Mystery B3
B3 12501

I have a bump there, make that a mountain at 12500H. Very strong on
the 2.3m but no symbol rate can be found from 2000-45000. Either the
symbol rate is lower than 2000 or it's not a digital signal?


From George

TVE is showing on CH70 on UBI channels
B3 12701 22500 H


From the Dish


No lyngsat in my email yet


NEWS


This debacle brought to you, slowly, by Telstra


From http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/15/1094927618151.html

The world is rushing towards using the internet to deliver TV channels to viewers in their lounge rooms - all except, that is, for Australia.

That's because Australia does not actually have broadband. We call it broadband, and a million people have bought it, but it's a bit like calling a bicycle a Harley-Davidson.

Broadband TV needs 4 megabits (million binary digits of data) per second to work. Soon that will drop to 2mbps because of new compression technology. On ADSL broadband in Australia we get 256 kilobits (a thousand bits) per second, and up to 512kbps, for most people. On cable, if you can get it, the speed is around 1mbps.

Consumers in France, Italy and Austria are routinely getting 4mbps speeds over their copper wires. In Korea, a quarter of all broadband subscribers are getting 25mbps on fibre; in Japan there are a million people getting a 100mbps.

Every country in the world has broadband speeds of at least 2mbps - except Australia.

Why? Because other countries' copper wires are a bit fatter, and the distance from the exchange to the home is usually shorter, but mostly because they have spent the money in their exchanges that Telstra hasn't.

Microsoft is trialling broadband TV services in Switzerland and Canada and selling broadband television software called IPTV to global cable and telecommunications companies.

Telstra's partner in Hong Kong, PCCW, has a service called Nowbroadband TV offering an a la carte menu of 59 channels (that is, you can buy them one at a time). ESPN was added this month. It has 300,000 customers.

In Paris, the French phone company is offering 17 TV channels on broadband as part of its standard internet/telephony package.

Go to any one of the dozens of broadband TV websites and you will find hundreds of channels available to watch from all over the world. The other day I watched Sudan TV but couldn't understand a word of it.

Sony has just launched "LocationFree" in the US - basically a portable 12-inch LCD monitor that can connect wirelessly to the internet and play broadband TV channels wherever you are.

There is some activity in Australia too. The ABC is already producing content with eight separate broadband TV channels: news, sport, business, kids, music, comedy, media watch and, would you believe, Basil Brush.

As I write this I'm watching the ABC's comedy channel on my laptop, but it's not very funny.

In Melbourne, TEAC is designing a set-top box that connects a television set to the internet and allows viewers to switch seamlessly between normal TV and broadband TV using a remote control. Manufacturers everywhere are rushing similar set-top boxes to the market.

Foxtel's Kim Williams says he is looking at broadband TV closely and expects Foxtel to be delivering channels via the internet within three years. But it could be earlier, he's not sure.

Telstra is also looking at it, along with every other phone company in the world, and thereby hangs a small tale.

The 1995 Foxtel shareholders' agreement gives each of the three shareholders - Telstra, PBL and News Corp - a right of veto over anything Foxtel does.

More importantly, the agreement allows Telstra to offer TV channels over the phone lines and there's nothing PBL or News could do to stop it.

In 1995, Packer and Murdoch and their lawyers obviously didn't think of broadband TV; Telstra's engineers had an idea it might happen and they told the lawyers to keep that option available.

Telstra's problem is not its Foxtel relationships but its failure to increase the speed limit of the network.

The ABC comedy channel I'm watching is streaming at 222kbps but it is playing in a window on my laptop about two inches square. Playing a TV channel on a large television in lounge room - perhaps a plasma screen - would need 4mbps.

After the new compressions standard called MPEG4 comes out later this year that could fall to 2mbps. (MPEG stands for moving picture expert's group, a standard setting body and MPEG4 is the fourth compression standard; compression uses very fancy software to work out which parts of a picture aren't moving and don't have to be sent that particular second, saving on data).

TransACT sells 37 TV channels in Canberra using packet switched data streaming technology (as opposed to the cable broadcasting that Foxtel does). Mostly it is carried on its fibre network but in Canberra's southern suburbs 1000 customers are connected via Telstra's copper wires.

To repeat: a thousand people in Canberra are watching TV streamed down the copper wires. It cost TransACT a bundle to upgrade the exchanges and it is still losing money but expects to make good profits eventually.

The rest of the country needs to catch up with south Canberra


UBC subscribers demand refund


From http://nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=6&id=120864&usrsess=1

Scores of frustrated satellite-TV customers of United Broadcasting Corp Plc (UBC) have called for a refund after programmes were blacked out for hours on Sunday and Monday following a glitch on the Thaicom 3 satellite.

Many affected subscribers said UBC had to show responsibility for the night-time blackouts.

“I subscribed to its Bt1,500 monthly package, meaning I pay UBC Bt50 per day. So UBC has to refund me around Bt100,” one disgruntled customer said.

She said she was left feeling even more frustrated when she called UBC on Monday morning and only got an answering machine, which told her that the blackout was due to a technical problem on Thaicom 3.

Another UBC satellite-TV viewer said that if the problem occurred again, he would switch to an illegal satellite dish.

A UBC executive source said the company would today meet with Shin Satellite, which owns the Thaicom 3 satellite that broadcasts UBC programmes, to discuss ways of ensuring no future glitches.

The source added that the two companies had not yet talked about refunding subscribers.

“We’ll talk about the satellite’s reliability and how to ensure such glitches never happen again,” the source said.

Thaicom 3 experienced a technical error on Sunday night, blacking out all UBC programmes.

ShinSat took 13 hours to fix the glitch.

In a filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Monday, ShinSat said the disruption on Monday night occurred when the company “decided to temporarily turn off the transponders on its Thaicom 3 satellite in order to recharge the batteries while performing maintenance during the eclipse”.

But UBC satellite-TV programmes were blacked out again on Monday night and it took 10 hours for the problem to be fixed.

ShinSat’s share price dipped to Bt14.80 yesterday from Bt15 a day earlier, while UBC’s share price fell to Bt23 yesterday from Bt23.10 the previous day.

UBC subscribers who receive the programme signal via cable lines were not affected by the glitches.

UBC has more than 400,000 subscribers, of which around 300,000 receive programming through satellite signals. The rest get their service via cable lines.

The Thaicom 3 satellite experienced a glitch in February following a power-supply error, blacking out some UBC shows.


STREET WISE: Satellite snafus snuff out UBC


From http://nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=6&id=120868&usrsess=1

Sunday night was a real nightmare for the 75 per cent of United Broadcasting Corp’s customers who tuned in on the TV provider’s satellite dishes.

That was the night when the final round of the US Open, the last tennis Grand Slam of the year, was set to take place.

It was a big night as Swiss Roger Federer was to serve and volley with Australian Leighton Hewitt. A win by Federer would have made him the third person to ever snatch three Grand Slams in the same year.

But as the satellite went dead, viewers were left disappointed.

Tennis fans grumbled but they were happy for Federer when learning about his victory – through other channels, like the Internet and good old-fashioned radio. And at least, they figured, they could catch a repeat of the game on Monday night.

But as right as rain, the satellite went kaput again Monday night, a few hours before the rerun was about to air. There might be a chance to catch the game later, but as time passes, it won’t be as enjoyable.

With the problem repeating itself two days in a row, a bad feeling washed over many a UBC subscriber. Some fretted that it would happen again and most likely during their favourite programmes.

On Monday night, a subscriber cried foul when the satellite was dead in the middle of “Will and Grace”. Others were upset about having the start of American football season interrupted both on Sunday night and the rerun game at 8pm on Monday.

UBC might not truly understand the extent of the discontent until it imagines this could have happened when its highly popular reality show “Academy Fantasia” was still running.

With UBC’s service coming at a substantial price on a par with what many western nations charge for cable, subscribers do not want explanations but confirmations that the problem won’t recur.

If the ShinSat satellite UBC uses can’t be fixed, it may be time that the cable operator thinks about other options.

It may have to consider expanding its fibre-optic network, to replace all the satellite dishes. Indeed, the dish is something no subscriber wants . Aside from the monthly rent, they have to cope with so many related problems – such as delayed transmission signals or total signal disruptions under heavy clouds or rains.

Or, what about a discount during rainy season?


STMicroelectronics' High Definition Set Top Box Decoder Selected for Integrated Digital TV Reference Design


From http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/09-14-2004/0002249638&EDATE=

Oplus Technologies Ltd. chooses the STi7710 for integrated HDTV reference design

GENEVA, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM),
the world's leading supplier of integrated circuits for digital set top
boxes(1), announced today that its latest high definition MPEG-2 decoder has
been chosen by Oplus Technologies Ltd. (http://www.oplus.com) to be included
in its Leonardo(TM) reference design for high definition integrated digital
television sets. The new ATSC-compliant reference design will be used by Flat
Panel TV manufacturers to add digital capability to their existing products to
meet the U.S. Federal Communications Commission mandate stating that, by July
2007, all but the smallest TV sets sold in the U.S. must include a digital
tuner to receive over-the-air digital broadcasts.

"We are delighted that Oplus has selected the STi7710 for their latest
reference design," said Armando Caltabiano, General Manager of the Retail
Products Division of ST's Home Entertainment Group. "The combination of our
expertise in digital video applications and Oplus' high-performance,
high-quality video display processors will provide a compelling solution to
customers."

The Leonardo(TM) reference design includes Oplus' Matisse and Rembrandt
ICs which employ innovative de-interlacing, scaling and image enhancements
algorithms to ensure superior image quality irrespective of the input and
output formats. Complementing these chips, the STi7710 combines a high
definition MPEG-2 decoder, a powerful CPU and a comprehensive range of
interfaces all in a single package. The input digital signal may come from a
terrestrial, cable or satellite network.

"Selecting the STi7710 was a natural decision for us as it provides all
the digital components for a Digital TV on a single device and allows Oplus to
take advantage of ST's market-leading position," said Yair Alpern, CEO of
Oplus Technologies. "We are confident that our Leonardo(TM) reference design
will enable Flat Panel TV manufacturers develop new high quality Integrated
Digital TV products, while meeting regulatory requirements and minimising
their time to market."

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.

(1) In-Stat/MDR MPEG Video ICs: The Promise of MPEG-4, June 2004


GSLV To Launch EDUSAT On September 20


From http://www.spacedaily.com/news/india-04n.html

Preparations for the launch of EDUSAT by India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F01) are proceeding satisfactorily at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. As per the present progress, the launch is expected to take place at 4:01 pm on Monday, September 20, 2004.

Integration of GSLV-F01 on the launch pad commenced on July 7, 2004. All launch vehicle systems have been integrated and checked out successfully.

EDUSAT, the first exclusive satellite for educational services, was transported to SDSC SHAR in the first week of August 2004 and, since then, it has undergone all checks. After propellant filling operations, the spacecraft has been encapsulated and integrated with GSLV.

In the next few days, a complete checkout of the fully integrated launch vehicle along with satellite will be carried out. The launch rehearsal is planned on September 16, 2004 and the final countdown is expected to begin in the early hours of September 19, 2004.

The Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office, Mr Prithviraj Chavan, today visited SDSC SHAR and had a view of the fully integrated vehicle. Mr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO briefed the Minister on the preparations for the launch.


Zee rejects re-bid proposal; action moves to Bombay HC on Thursday


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep145.htm

MUMBAI / NEW DELHI: Acting on expected lines, Zee Telefilms Ltd this evening filed an affidavit with the Bombay High Court stating that it has rejected outright the "suggestion" made by the court last Thursday that it enter into a re-bid process for the telecast rights of international and domestic fixtures controlled by the Indian cricket board for the next four years.

The move by Subhash Chandra's company, which can legitimately lay claim to having won the rights fair and square over two rounds of what the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) supremo Jagmohan Dalmiya has turned from a tender process into an auction, confirms a report put out first by Indiantelevision.com on 11 September.

In a related development, the Union sports ministry also filed an affidavit today to state its position vis-a-vis the ESS-Zee case as it had been made a party to the case by the peritioner.

The sports ministry has stated, according to officials, that BCCI is an autonomous body and reserves the right to conduct its own business the way it deems fit.

A statement issued by Zee after it filed its affidavit says: "Zee Telefilms Limited Board of Directors in their meeting on September 13, 2004 firmly decided against re-bidding. Accordingly we have served the copies of our affidavit on the parties to the writ petition no. 2462 of 2004, pending in front of the divisional bench in Hon'ble High Court of Mumbai. The matter will come up for direction at 11 am tomorrow and hearing will commence on Thursday morning," Copies of the affidavit have also been served on BCCI and ESPN-Star Sports.

What this means is that the issue of Zee's eligibility to bid for India cricket rights, which was the argument around which ESPN Star Sports moved the courts in the first place, will be argued between the opposing counsels on Thursday. The case is being heard by a two-judge Bench of Chief Justice DS Bhandari and Justice DY Chandrachud.

It is pertinent to note that even in this case, it was the BCCI's counsel that threw in yet another googly when the hearings began last Thursday by suggesting a re-bid as a way out of the legal imbroglio. The argument put forth by the counsel of the Indian board was that in the light of the fact that the crucial Australia series was set to kick off early next month, some resolution was essential, and fast.

The BCCI counsel's proposal came even though it had announced on 5 September that Zee had won the rights after increasing its bid amount from the earlier $ 260 million to a humungous $ 308 million. Additionally, Zee on 7 September made an initial payment of $20 million, honouring one of the conditions set by the board when it awarded Zee the rights.

As already reported by Indiantelevision.com, Zee is not letting any "roadblocks", legal or otherwise, detract from its determination to have its channel begin beaming into Indian homes on its scheduled launch date of 2 October.

While the details of what exactly the company is doing in this regard remain sketchy at the moment, what can be confirmed is that that Subhash Chandra's media company is not about to enter into any equity collaboration a foreign partner outside of content agreements. This puts paid to any chance of the Zee Group and AOL Time Warner entering into a JV for the sports channel. What it also rules out is any JV deal with the Dubai-based sports broadcaster Ten Sports.

Speaking of content, the question that comes up is around the sort of programming that will go into channel when it launches. As per indications, for the first three months after launch, Zee Sports (as the channel has been christened) will be primarily cricket-led.

And what happens if the legal tussle is not resolved by the time the Australian team lands in India in the first week of October? The argument looks like being that it is for the Board for Control of Cricket in India to sort out.

Speaking to indiantelevision.com over phone yesterday, Dalmiya said, “We have to think ahead to the Australians series and others too if the legal case does not get resolved, as much we would like it to get settled soon.” Dalmiya further pointed out that if the cricket matches were not telecast, BCCI would also run into problems with the International Cricket Council.

“Forget the money, we would lose face if the matches are not televised as we are obliged to provide replays, etc to the third umpire and ICC may even penalise us heavily, apart from the likelihood of the Australian cricket board demanding compensation,” Dalmiya tried to explain.

And it is not just the Indian telecast that is at issue. The feed has to go Australia and other international territories as well. Highlighting the mess the BCCI has landed itself in, the Indian Express in a report filed today, has quoted a Sky Sports spokesperson as saying, ‘‘The BCCI is yet to get back to us (on the telecast issue). We have been waiting to hear from them for months on end now.’’


Ten Sports asserts going it alone on distribution


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep156.htm

MUMBAI: Dubai-based sports broadcaster Ten Sports declared today that they have set up their own in-house distribution team and are managing the distribution side of the business independently.

The "clarification" was made in response to rumours in the industry that Ten Sports was likely to hitch its distribution activity to the Zee Group stable following its recent split from Modi Entertainment Network.

The statement issued by Ten today states: "Any rumours of the channel joining or aligning with the Zee Turner bouquet or forming a distribution JV with Zee are completely false. Any pricing offers made by Zee’s distribution team or its distributors, involving the selling of the Ten Sports channel as a part of an alignment with the Zee’s bouquet or Zee’s sports channel are baseless."

With the upcoming Pakistan-India hockey series and the tri-series in Pakistan involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe round the corner, the Ten Sports distribution team is working closely with distributors and cable trade on the ground, the statement adds.

After its break with MEN, the question that has been doing the rounds is on whether it would ally with Zee or the Sony-Discovery distribution platform.


Star likely to beam Sky, Fox News


From http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2004/sep/15star.htm

The Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star India is planning to launch two of its parent News Corporation's prime television channels -- Sky News and Fox News -- in India. Fox News, the 24-hours news channel, is a part of News Corp's US television network Fox Broadcasting Company.

Sky News is a part of the media conglomerate's UK direct broadcast satellite television service British Sky Broadcasting.

Peter Mukherjea, chief executive of Star India told Business Standard: "We are considering introducing both Fox News from the US and Sky News from the UK. But this will depend on the cable operators' carriage capacity which by all accounts is pretty full up these days and shows very little sign of change."

He admitted that channels like Sky News would have a small audience but said there was an appetite for this kind of news.

FBC, News Corp's most prominent presence in American television, is aimed at an 18-34 year-old audience. According to the company, the emergence of BSkyB in the early 1990s as an extremely profitable venture, along with the growing success of FBC in the US, helped News Corp back to financial health in a relatively short time.




14/09/04

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

Seems a major item slipped past me at the end of last week. Now we know what those Pas 8 KU signals are all about. See news section!

So we now have UBI, PanGlobal, WMI, TV Plus and My TV ? all after a slice of Ethnic tv in Australia. There are others as well such as TVB and A-Skynet. Things are going to get very interesting as they battle it out for the ethnic market.

The new Pas 8 KU service is no good for us in NZ though due to the beam footprint, unless you have access to a high quality 5M or larger Ku rated dish and live in the South Island.

B3 Globecast mux new channel loads "Sigiram 2" has movies logo. But looks like usual song and dance type Indian stuff its FTA at the moment.


From my Emails & ICQ


From Mayuran

Sigaram 2 movies

Sigaram 2 is a 24hrs Tamil Movies channel. Sigaram, Sigaram 2 and Sun TV india will remain FTA for next three months.

Regards
Mayuran


From D.Koon

NSS6 95E
12716H Mhz; SR 5000 reads TV 2050. Vpid/0 Apid/0 PCR/8191 A single carrier and encrypted.
12678V SR 6510 is ABC Asia Pacific Television. Pids are V/2307 A/2308 PCR/2305.
Radio Pids are A/2310 PCR/2305 for ch1 and A/2311 PCR2306 for ch2

D.K.
Northern Australia


From Vk4bkp

Intelsat 701 11500H 3800 3/4 now showing colour bars


From Justin

Hi all

BVN-TV is now testing on the UBI channels, as well as TRT.
Anyone have any idea if BVN-TV is destined to become part of UBI and lose the FTA service on 12658?

Thanks
Justin


From the Dish


New launch time for Apstar 6 with Long March: October-December.

Intelsat 701 180E 12729 H All channels in the PBS mux are now encrypted in MDS.

Optus C1 156E 12487 V "The test card" has left .

Apstar 1A 134E 4058 V "The Hunan TV test card" has left .

Telkom 1 108E 3460 H "Radio Singapore International" has started on , APID 82.
Telkom 1 108E 3500 H "FeMale Radio" has started on , APID 62.

AsiaSat 3 105.5E 4111 H "Celestial Movies" is now encrypted.
AsiaSat 3 105.5E 4140 V "Alpha Telugu" has started on , Encrypted, PIDs 105/112.

Asiasat 2 100.5E 3960 H "EuroSport News" has started on , Viaccess, SR 27500, FEC 3/4,PIDs 257/259.
Asiasat 2 100.5E 4148 V "CBN" has started regular transmissions on , Fta, PIDs 350/351.

AsiaSat 2 100.5E 12222 V "CRI TV and two CRI" have started on , PowerVu, SR 6000, FEC 3/4,PIDs 1110/1211, 1213 and 1221.(China beam)

NSS 6 95E 12595 V "TCM" has replaced DD News on , Conax, PIDs 169/110.

ChinaStar 1 87.5E 3900 V "Channel H, Channel Documentary, Game Channel and Cahnnel C" have started on , Irdeto, PIDs 3909/3912, 5477/5480, 5605/5608 and 5733/5736.
ChinaStar 1 87.5E 4062 V "Guide of Gestation, TJTV Home Channel, Dressy Channel, Guizhou Tianyan I-Go,Collectibles Channel and GTV" have started on , Irdeto.

Insat 2E 83E 3683 V "Cine World" is still on , Conax, SR 2950, FEC 3/4, PIDs 258/259.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3600 H A Shin promo has started on , Fta, PIDs 523/760.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3640 H The RR Sat mux has left .

Telstar 10 76.5E 3760 H "TRT International, BVN TV and RNW 1-3" have started on fta, PIDs 263/519, 264/520 and 2076-2077.

PAS 10 68.5E 3778 V "Aastha TV 2 has replaced CMM Music" on , Fta SR 2940, FEC 3/4,PIDs 4194/4195.



NEWS


PanAmSat and GlobeCast launch PanGlobal TV


From http://www.aib.org.uk/newsContent.asp?node_id=8,9&content_id=762

10th September 2004

PanAmSat Corporation has teamed up with GlobeCast to launch PanGlobal TV. Hosted on the PAS-8 Pacific Ocean Region satellite, this new Australian DTH platform will target international broadcasters wanting to reach Australia’s 5 million multicultural viewers.

“By joining forces with GlobeCast to form PanGlobal TV, PanAmSat has added another dimension to its already varied Asia-Pacific satellite offerings,” said David Ball, vice president, Asia Pacific sales, PanAmSat. “International customers looking to distribute their programming to Australia’s vibrant Pay TV market will be able to access an established DTH neighborhood of more than 60,000 homes, where the necessary antennas have already been deployed. This is the ideal opportunity to reach a fast-growing market.”

“GlobeCast is a leading DTH service provider worldwide, including in Australia with its successful DTH platforms,” said Mark Lobwein, DTH Sales Manager, GlobeCast Australia. “Through our relationship with PanAmSat, GlobeCast greatly expands its satellite portfolio over Australia, and its ability to offer customers a choice of Direct-to-Home distribution paths to this dynamic market.”

PanGlobal TV’s customer base will target international broadcasters who wish to reach Australia’s diverse multi-cultural communities. The service will transmit channel signals from either GlobeCast Australia’s Sydney teleport or the PanAmSat Napa Valley teleport. In addition to digital encoding, signal processing and transport, PanAmSat and GlobeCast Australia will uplink the space segment to the PAS-8 Ku-Band Australia beam. PanGlobal TV offers backhaul to either the Napa teleport or the Sydney teleport by satellite, fiber or hybrid satellite/fiber contribution.

www.pansamsat.com
www.globecast.com


Encore Beams Up NewSat


From http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=59234

DULLES, Va. -- Encore Networks, a leading developer of integrated converged Virtual Private Network (VPN) security solutions, today announced that it has signed a reseller agreement with Australian satellite broadband operator, NewSat. NewSat will add Encore’s complete line of IP only and IP+Legacy VPN security appliances to their broadband satellite solutions.

NewSat, a wholly owned subsidiary of Multiemedia Ltd. (ASX:MUL.AX), one of Australia’s largest satellite communications companies, offers high-speed, two way (V-SAT) satellite broadband services. NewSat provides next generation video, Internet, VoIP and data communications for organizations throughout the Australasian market whose networking needs have outgrown traditional broadband technologies, such as ADSL, ISDN and cable. NewSat’s customers include Woolworths Department Stores through Airworks Media and the US Department of Defense.

“NewSat has taken the lead in deploying products that can provide end-to-end secure remote access over satellite and terrestrial connections to remote Australian locations,” stated Bill Grant, Encore’s Vice-President of Broadband Network Solutions. “Encore’s site-to-site satellite VPN solutions will be instrumental in NewSat’s ability to continue delivery of bundled broadband VPN solutions.”

Encore Network’s VPN security products, including the BANDITä and the VSR-30ä are uniquely versatile IP+Legacy and IP only VPN appliances that provide satellite enterprise data networks support for IP VPNs, stateful inspection firewall, IP routing and QoS, legacy data protocol convergence, and patent-pending Selective Layer Encryption (SLE). With its feature-rich ELIOS operating Systems, Encore Networks help NewSat address their today and tomorrow customers need with a broad range of applications and services that allow them to converge their data applications to broadband IP infrastructure without compromising the security of their data and the level of performance that they get over terrestrial networks.

“Our mission is to open new frontiers for networks in any location, with video, Internet, voice and data communications that make traditional broadband services look dated,” said James Kellett Director of Marketing of NewSat. “Encore’s VPN security solutions insures our quality of service to these locations by providing the only appliance to date with Selective Layer Encryption which guarantees our high, two way throughput.”


ShinSat blames satellite glitch on ‘eclipse’ repairs


From http://nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=6&id=120792&usrsess=1

The Thaicom 3 satellite temporarily malfunctioned late Sunday night, disrupting the television programming of its main customer, United Broadcasting Corp Plc (UBC).

Shin Satellite Plc (ShinSat), the owner of the satellite, filed a notice with the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday, saying the disruption occurred when the company “decided to turn off temporarily the transponders on its Thaicom 3 satellite in order to recharge the batteries while performing maintenance during the eclipse”.

The Thaicom 3 satellite resumed service in the early afternoon yesterday.

The maintenance knocked out UBC satellite television programmes at 11.54pm on Sunday, leaving many viewers frustrated, especially those waiting for the US Open final between Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt at 3am yesterday and American football fans waiting for some of the first games of the season at midnight.

“It’s very frustrating for me that it had to blank out during the final round,” said one UBC satellite TV viewer.

Subscribers of UBC’s cable television were unaffected by Thaicom 3 satellite’s downtime. But ATMs at some banks, which use the satellite to link with their branches, also experienced disruptions.

Sompan Charumilinda, chief executive of UBC, said the company did not receive prior warnings about the maintenance.

“We have already made an appointment with ShinSat executives to discuss how to prevent such events from happening in the future,” he said.

UBC has more than 400,000 subscribers, of which about 300,000 receive programming through satellite signals.

The rest get their service via cable lines.

The Thaicom 3 satellite experienced its first glitch in February when a problem surfaced in its power supply.

That knocked out some UBC satellite programmes and cut off a number of transponders, which have been rendered useless to provide television signals. ShinSat has yet to solve the power supply problem in the affected transponders.

A telecom industry source said the power problem means Thaicom 3 can only provide service via the unaffected transponders.

“As a result, its unaffected transponders are overloaded, thus tilting the satellite off-balance on Sunday night.

“ShinSat had to shut down all power and reposition it back to the right position,” the source added.

He said if such events continue it would affect customer trust, especially regional customers who receive the iPSTAR broadband satellite service from Thaicom 3 satellite.

ShinSat currently provide iPSTAR broadband satellite service via the Thaicom 3 to regional customers.

It is planning to launch the real iPSTAR satellite into orbit early next year.

Thaicom 3 satellite started operating in 1997 and under normal conditions is expected to last 15 years.


(Craigs comment, this prompted a follow up comment in the Nation newspaper, see below)


Blaming disrespectful & permanent lies of Shin management towards their customers


From http://nationmultimedia.com/page.discuss.php3?clid=6&theme=A&usrsess=1&did=13036&newsid=120792

For a geosynchronous satellite like Thaicom, eclipse is natural phenomena and it happens during 2 equinox seasons every year. it means that the solar panels don't receive light during this period to power up fully the satellite, instead it must run on batteries...but Thaicom3 batteries and power system have a failure and are partially out since 2002...then Shinsat to not dry up/discharge completly the batterries and protect their asset decide simply to switch down some transponders... that's look normal but it could not qualified as normal maintenance "to recharge the batteries" as they said...cause they always do this in emergency without any planning/warning/caring/informations to their customers in order to avoid reimbursement claims for glitch/services shutdown...as it's also Shinsat policy to cut immediately services to pressure any late payment!


SATTEL :Resumption of services on Thaicom 3


From http://www.thaimisc.com/freewebboard/php/vreply.php?user=boranphone&topic=8636

13th September 2004

Resumption of services on Thaicom 3

To : The President
Stock Exchange of Thailand

With reference to the notice sent to the Stock Exchange of Thailand,
letter reference No.SSA405/2004 dated September 13, 2004, on the
disruption of services on Thaicom 3 due to the recharge of batteries
while performing maintenance during eclipse.

The Company would like to inform the Stock Exchange of Thailand of
the latest information, that at this time the batteries on Thaicom 3
have been recharged to their normal status, and the Company has
commenced opening transponders sequentially since midday today.

Please be informed accordingly.

Yours sincerely
- signed -
(Dr.Nongluck Phinainitisart) President
Shin Satellite Public Company Limited


Hitch in Thaicom transponder affects Star News, etc, SS Music


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep137.htm

MUMBAI: Star News faced a transponder problem late Sunday night, which was resolved only early this morning at 6 am. The news channel uplinks from India via the Thaicom transponder to the Asiasat 3 satellite.

The hitch was with the Thaicom transponder, which broke down late last night and being a weekend, took a while to get fixed. Shekhar Suman's Poll Khol was the show that lost out as a result of this.

Star News uplinks through the Videsh Sanchar Nigam's Ltd.'s gateway in Mumbai to an Insat satellite from where it would be downlinked at Star's Hong Kong headquarters. The final product, in a digital format, would then be again uplinked to Asiasat 3 satellite for beam back into India and the neighbouring areas where it can be downlinked by MSOs and cable operators for further re-distribution.

Star News brand director Keertan Adhayantaya says, "Since it was a weekend, the problem took some time to get resolved. We usually have a back-up plan ready for such unforeseen problems. On our part, the effort is always such that the channel doesn't get affected. But since it was a Sunday, it took longer."

As a result of this break down, the news channel lost about an hour of advertising moolah, but Adhayantaya was confident that the channel would recover this loss in the next couple of days.

The other channels that were also affected by this were music channels etc and SS Music.

All the other Star channels uplink from Hong Kong as each sends in the programme tapes to the head office. Star News is the only channel on the Star Network that uplinks from India.


Tamil TV channels go off screen for hours


From http://newstodaynet.com/13sep/rf17.htm

To state that Raj TV network has run into trouble would be an understatement. At a time when the network has come under the scanner for violation of licence guidelines, the channels beamed by Raj TV Network Limited went off air last night till this afternoon. Also off the screens were a few channels including Vijay TV and SS Music giving rise to speculation among the viewers.

It may be recalled that the Centre had informed the Madras High Court that Raj Television Network Limited had consistently involved itself in violation of the conditions of licence for two television channels and operating two others without licence.

However, cable TV operators said a technical snag in the satellite had resulted in the channels going off air and added that this was being sorted out. As a result, a total of 60 channels could not be beamed in Chennai.

The Centre had sent a notice to Raj Television Network Limited recently for not renewing their licence which expired on 30 September, 2003. The management of Raj TV approached the Madras Court on 25 August, 2004 and obtained a stay on the Centre's move to cancel their licence P-4790.

In its counter submitted in the Madras High Court on Raj TV obtaining a stay, the Ministry of Communications and Technology said 'continuation of the stay would perpetrate an illegality.'

They contended that the channels were on air without renewal of licence and the management had paid a demand draft towards the renewal fee and royalty fee only after a notice.

They also contended that two channels - Raj Vissa, a Telugu channel and Raj Music - were being operated without permission from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. These channels had been uplinking through its teleport illegally for over a year with daily news bulletins and current affairs programmes.

They also submitted that renewal of licence was not automatic and that would in no way recognise the right of renewal of licence.

Meanwhile, political reasons are also linked to the Centre's decision to cancel Raj TV's licence. They say, a political party running a satellite TV network, has been taking up the cudgels against Raj TV for beaming MDMK general secretary Vaiko's padayatra on their channel.

In this backdrop, a few channels including Raj TV going off air since last night had led to doubts among viewers.

When contacted, an employee of Sumangali Cable Vision, the Multi-System Operator for Chennai, denied any political reasons behind the blackout of these channels. It is due to a satellite fault, he said.

Enquiries with cable TV operators also revealed that it was only a technical snag in the satellite.

A fault had been detected in THAICOM, a satellite in Thailand. It is being sorted out and efforts were on to get these channels back on air as early as possible, said officials in Raj TV.


TELE-satellite News - Number 37/2004 ­ 12 September 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


AUSTRALIA

DIGITAL TV TO ARRIVE IN 2005

Digital TV services are coming to the Border and
Albury-Wodonga viewers will be able to take them up
next year. Digital television was launched in
metropolitan markets in January, 2001, and the service
will now be available in Albury-Wodonga from 2005 and
in smaller outlying towns from 2006. An Australian
Broadcast Authority spokesman said the Border would
soon have digital television available. "We are
looking at some time between July and September next
year," he said.

NEW DIGITAL TV STANDARD HITS 400,000

Free-to-air channels have agreed on a standard new
set-top box to give viewers interactive power on their
digital TVs, but the new standard leaves 400,000
people with existing set-top boxes out in the cold.
After more than three years, the ABC, Seven, Nine,
Ten, SBS and the regional broadcasters will have the
facility to compete with the interactive capabilities
of digital pay-television networks such as Foxtel.
Whatever they offer in terms of interactivity will be
available on set-top boxes sold in the future and
labelled "interactive". But those 400,000-plus people
who have already bought similar boxes will not be able
to see the interactive features. Pay-TV group Foxtel
has begun promoting interactivity as one of its key
selling points since the services began with the
launch of the new Foxtel Digital service. Foxtel
recently launched a polling service on Sky News, has
the Sports Active interactive service on Fox Sports
channels and has an interactive service on the Weather
Channel. Now the free-to-air TV networks will be able
to introduce similar services on their digital
free-to-air channels. The set-top boxes are expected
to be available early next year.

PANAMSAT AND GLOBECAST LAUNCH PANGLOBAL TV

PanAmSat Corporation has teamed up with GlobeCast to
launch PanGlobal TV. Hosted on the PAS-8 Pacific Ocean
Region satellite, this new Australian DTH platform
will target international broadcasters wanting to
reach Australia’s 5 million multicultural viewers.
PanGlobal TV’s customer base will target international
broadcasters who wish to reach Australia’s diverse
multi-cultural communities. The service will transmit
channel signals from either GlobeCast Australia’s
Sydney teleport or the PanAmSat Napa Valley teleport.
In addition to digital encoding, signal processing and
transport, PanAmSat and GlobeCast Australia will
uplink the space segment to the PAS-8 Ku-Band
Australia beam. PanGlobal TV offers backhaul to either
the Napa teleport or the Sydney teleport by satellite,
fiber or hybrid satellite/fiber contribution.

CHINA ­ HONG KONG

SHANGAI MEDIA GROUP LAUNCHES FIVE DIGITAL TV CHANNELS

The Shanghai Media Group (SMG) launched five digital
channels in Beijing on September 9, with digital
signals covering 22 municipalities and provinces
nationwide, the Xinhua News Agency has reported. "The
five channels have 245,000 digital television viewers,
making up 79 per cent of the total viewers in China,"
a source from the group said. "China Satellite
Communication Corporation will provide a satellite to
safeguard signal transmission for these channels," the
source said. Encrypted by the satellite, the digital
signals from the five channels, together with other
six paid TV channels provided by Tianjin TV Station,
Hubei TV Station and Jiangsu TV Station, will be sent
to digital television viewers. SMG is the second firm
authorised in China to launch digital channels. On
August 9, state-owned China Central Television
launched six digital channels in Shanghai, Guizhou,
Chongqing and Sichuan.

FIJI

PAY-TV PROCESS CLARIFIED

Applications for pay-TV licences are assessed on merit
and its endorsement is the prerogative of the
licensing committee and the Communications ministry.
Chief executive in the Prime Minister's office Jioji
Kotobalavu said this as Fu Shun Television (Fiji)
Limited, a Chinese company, enquired as to when they
would be granted a pay-TV licence. "They have to go
through the proper channel which is the Information
and Communications Ministry. Besides, Fiji Television
only enjoys an exclusive licence in providing public
service television - not pay TV," Kotobalavu said.

INDIA

ESPN STAR SPORTS TAKES BCCI TO COURT OVER TV RIGHTS

Walt Disney Co. and News Corp. are challenging in
court the conditional award of Indian cricket TV
rights to media firm Zee Telefilms. On September 5,
the Indian cricket board awarded Zee, India's biggest
listed media company, rights to telecast all of the
Indian team's home matches for the next four years.
Zee had been in a fierce bidding war with ESPN. Zee
emerged the victor over the global TV heavyweight
pairing after raising its bid to $308 million from
$260 million, compared with ESPN Star's $230-million
bid. The cost is equal to Zee's sales over the last
three years, but at stake is a potential revenue pie
of as much as $350 million. Provided Zee meets certain
initial payment conditions, the Board of Control for
Cricket in India has promised it 144 days of
international cricket over four years starting in
October. ESPN Star filed its petition against the
decision in the Bombay High Court, said a spokesman
for ESPN Software India, which provides programming to
ESPN Star. ESPN Star said Zee was not qualified to bid
because it did not have experience in broadcasting or
producing live international cricket events as
specified in the tender. The chairman of the country's
largest private channel network Subash Chandra said
that the new channel would be launched irrespective of
BCCI granting the telecast rights to it.

KAIRALI TO LAUNCH SECOND CHANNEL

Buoyed by its impressive growth, recorded for the
first time, the Malayalam Communications Ltd beaming
the pro-Left Kairali Television, proposes to launch a
second channel very soon. ''We are in the process of
launching a second channel,'' to cater to the growing
needs of the viewers spread across the continents,
Kairali Managing director John Brittas said. Beyond
news and informative programmes, the channel would
beam the latest developments in agriculture,
technology, tourism and other sectors, he said. A
final decision on the launch would be taken by the
annual general body meeting of the company slated for
September 25, he said.

DTH TO BE COMMISSIONED IN KERALA

Doordarshan's free-to-air Direct-To-Home satellite
television service would soon be commissioned in
Kerala, a top official said on September 9. The DTH
service would initially offer a bouquet of 30
television channels directly to the user, of which 17
would be DD channels and the remaining that of private
broadcasters, Peer Mohammed, Director, Doordarshan
Kendra, Thiruvananthapuram, told reporters. Barring
the initial investment of around Rs 3000 on the
equipment, there would be no monthly subscription as
Doordarshan had made it free-to-air. The 30 channels
would be beamed through KU-band transponders and the
reception would be of highest quality.

NDRTV APPLIES FOR UPLINK FOR BUSINESS NEWS TV CHANNEL

New Delhi Television Ltd has informed BSE that an
application has been made to the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting on September 9 for
permission to uplink another TV channel i. e. a
business news channel.

ENGLISH TV CHANNEL DEDICATED TO RAMANUJA PHILOSOPHY

A new satellite television channel in English, Sri
Vaishnava Channel, is to be launched on January 5 to
propagate the philosophy of Sri Ramanuja. P.
Sundararajan, one of the promoter-directors said that
initially the channel would function as a joint
venture with Sanskar channel, New Delhi, till it gets
its own transponder. The channel is the brainchild of
Sri Prasanna Venkatacharyar Chaturvedi Swami and its
goal is to spread the Vaishnavic dharma and culture.

PRASAR BHARATI TO CARRY BBC AND CNN

India’s broadcasting corporation, Prasar Bharati,
plans to include BBC and CNN in its DTH
(direct-to-home) platform, India’s Business Line has
reported. Prasar Bharati has distributed about 5,000
sets of set-top boxes and dish antenna to rural areas
in the country so far.

MALAYSIA

TV3 AND RTM TO WORK TOGETHER

Private station TV3 says it is keen to work with
government-owned Radio Television Malaysia for the
benefit of the nation, the official Bernama news
agency has reported. TV3 chief executive officer Datuk
Farid Ridzuan said although there was competition
between them in certain areas, there were other areas
where they could compromise for the sake of the
country. The matter, however, was still at the
discussion stage. Datuk Farid said he had met
Information Minister Datuk Paduka Abdul Kadir Sheikh
Fadzir to discuss the best way to cooperate with RTM.
He said TV3 had a 26 per cent market share of the
overall advertising revenue and hoped to double the
figure in the future. Asked what TV3's area of focus
would be, Datuk Farid said the station had always
emphasised providing informative entertainment to
viewers.

QATAR

SAUDI ARABIA

AL-JAZEERA MOST POPULAR CHANNEL

With some 90 per cent Saudi households having
satellite TVs, the Kingdom has a much larger
Al-Jazeera viewership base than US-sponsored Al-Hurra,
a new survey reveals. Al Hurra’s credibility ratings
were also found to be quite poor all over Saudi Arabia
in contrast with the high scores of Doha-based
Al-Jazeera and Dubai-based Al-Arabiya. The Arab
Advisors Group survey covered all channels viewed in
Saudi Arabia, be they news, music, sports or general
entertainment. The survey indicates that close to 16
per cent of Arab households in Saudi Arabia have
pay-TV subscription. The survey also gives an
indication of the market shares of the main pay-TV
operators— ART, Orbit and Showtime. Ninety per cent of
surveyed households indicated that they prefer to
watch satellite TV programs in Arabic, or with Arabic
subtitles. Only 10 per cent prefer the English
language. On the news channels front, Al-Jazeera
topped the ranks in brand recognition and viewers with
close to 82 per cent of households watching the
station. Al-Jazeera is closely followed by Al-Arabiya
with 75 per cent. The Saudi Al-Ekhbaria is viewed by
33 per cent of households, while Al-Hurra is watched
by 16 per cent of households. CNN was next with 12 per
cent followed by Al Mustakila (11 per cent), ANN (8
per cent), NBN (8 per cent), and BBC World (6 per
cent). Close to 70 per cent of respondents said that
Al-Arabiya is very trustworthy.

SOUTH KOREA

MOBILE SATELLITE BROADCASTING SERVICE PREPARES FOR START

Companies in South Korea and Japan say they are ready
to launch a new satellite broadcasting service in the
next two months that can send video and audio directly
to devices such as mobile telephones, handheld
terminals and in-car receivers. Prototype terminals
for the service, which will be launched in South Korea
by TU Media Corp. and in Japan by Mobile Broadcasting
Corporation (MBCO), were on show at the International
Telecommunication Union's Telecom Asia 2004 conference
and exhibition in South Korea. TU Media is planning to
broadcast a package of 14 video channels and 24 audio
channels from November for a monthly charge of US$11
said Cho Jin-Ho, manager of the company's technology
strategy team. Japan's MBCO will start its service in
October and plans to offer seven video channels and 30
audio channels, said Yoshitake Yamaguchi, senior
manager for MBCO's satellite and coordination group.
The service will cost between US$9 and US$27 depending
on the number of channels selected. TU Media's TV
line-up will include South Korea's four major TV
networks while MBCO will include about eight hours per
day from Japanese public broadcaster Nippon Hoso
Kyokai and cable channels such as MTV Japan and
all-news NNN24.

THAILAND

MCOT PREPARES GLOBAL TV CHANNEL

MCOT has moved a step closer to fulfilling its dream
of creating a new global television channel. "The day
after tomorrow, MCOT executives and I will fly to
Europe to sign contracts with Rai Uno, Italy's biggest
TV channel, and TV5 of France," said MCOT president
Mingkwan Sangsuwan on September 6. "Through the
channel, we will broadcast the world's
English-language news around the clock." The new
global TV channel will be called MCOT Television, the
company's first-ever English-language offering. MCOT
plans to ink similar deals with stations from another
18 countries as part of its plan to broadcast the
channel around the world.

PROVINCIAL CABLE FIRMS AGAINST PAY-TV PLAN

Provincial pay-TV operators have strongly opposed the
government’s proposal to pour billions of baht into a
pay-TV service, the Bangkok Post has reported. They
said the service would create new barriers for local
operators to attract new subscribers. The local
operators currently face limited financial resources,
high operating costs and debt burdens, as they depend
on subscription fees for their core revenue. Deputy
Prime Minister Visanu Krue-ngarm recently floated a
plan to create a pay-TV service, costing up to
US$480.6 million, as part of a government plan to
crack down on unlicensed operators. The minister said
the initiative was also aimed at narrowing the gap of
information access between urban centres and the
provinces, and would charge customers an
''affordable'' monthly fee. It was not fair for the
government to jump into the business to compete with
the private sector, said Bumroong Wasontakorn, the
President of the Thailand Cable TV Association.




13/09/04

Thaicom 3 Down all day? Thaicom appears to have had some major power problems today. I'm trying to find out more info but both C and Ku were down at one stage. Thaicom 3 has had power problems in the past. All the B3 Globecast Thaicom3 sourced channels were affected and had cards up all day. The outage does not appear to be sun outage related. Sun outages don't last all day...

Sun outage time of the year..so if you lose your signals for a while don't panic

NTV Turkish channel on B3 showed the G.P last night.

Horizon channel Asiasat 3 TV guide link
http://www.21126888.com/timetable/tt_new.asp?chno=ch51&yyyymmdd=



From my Emails & ICQ


From Vk4bkp

Intelsat 701 new sig 11500
Colour bars are up on Intelsat 701 11500H sr3800 3/4 vpid 33 apid 36.
Channel ID is "TV1" with [test] underneath.
Has Audio off 7 Central!!

I701 Fiji TV is now much weaker


From Bill Richards

Subject: I701
0000 UTC
I701 11500 H SR 3800 FEC 3/4 Vpid33 Apid36 SID2
Colour test card FTA Nokia says ch is labelled *TV1

Asiasat 2
0620 UTC
4072 V SR 6110 FEC 3/4 Vpid308 Apid256 SID1
"Asiaworks TV Jakarta Bureau Test Card" FTA

Thaicom3
0025 UTC
3600H Vpid523 Apid760 SID12
IPSTAR and Shin Satellite Promo has started FTA

Regards
Bill Richards
South Australia


From George

V'8s feed seen on B3
12442 H Sr 6670
12451 H


From Dharmesh Bamrolia

Know me if you have the details of freq. showing live ICC mini world cup
cricket as a FTA channel???

Thanks.


(Craigs comment, DD National is showing some of them , Insat 2E or Insat 3A)


From the Dish


PAS 8 166E 4080 VAll channels in the TAS mux are encrypted again.

Optus B3 152E 12701 H "NTV Avrupa and Show TV" have started on , Fta, PIDs 512/640 and 513/641.

Telstar 18 138E 12402 V "ETTV Movie and LS Movie Channel" are fta.

Apstar 1A 134E 4058 V A Hunan TV test card has started on , Fta, SR 4420, FEC 3/4,PIDs 100/110.

AsiaSat 4 122E 4100 V All channels in the CDM mux are fta.

Palapa C2 113E 4080 H "RRI Pro 2 FM" has started on , Fta, APID 661, right channel.

AsiaSat 3 105.5E 4111 H "Celestial Movies has replaced TVB 8" on , Fta, PIDs 1100/1120.

AsiaSat 2 100.5E 3706 H "APTN Direct" has started on , cFta, SR 4167, FEC 5/6, PIDs 4226/4227.

ChinaStar 1 87.5E 3790 H "CCTV 4" has started on , Fta, SR 6150, FEC 3/4, PIDs 1160/1120.

ChinaStar 1 87.5E 3900 V "OTV Arts & Entertainment Channel, OTV News & Entertainment Channel, OTV Music Channel and OTV Folk Opera Channel" have left , replaced by test cards.

Telstar 10 76.5E 3780 V "Show TV has replaced Syria Satellite Channel" on , MDS, PIDs 515/643.(MDS???????)
Telstar 10 76.5E 3920 H "A test card" has started on , PowerVu, PIDs 610/602.


NEWS


Players deeply divided on digital


From http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10708301%255E7582,00.html

AUSTRALIA'S media industry has emerged deeply divided over how to increase uptake of free-to-air digital TV after 37 submissions were made to the federal Government's first digital TV review.

The first of the four reviews focuses on whether new digital TV channels or other services should be allowed on the digital TV signals of the Seven, Nine and Ten Networks.

The reviews, which will create headaches for whichever political party wins the federal election, will set the Australian media's agenda for the next 10 years. And while the timing of the reviews was set by legislation, they are occurring as free TV's conversion to digital is being surpassed by pay TV.

The reviews will help the government decide whether a fourth TV network will be allowed; if pay-TV services can be provided by the free-TV networks and if the free-TV networks or other media can offer extra channels through digital TVs.

On that last point, not even Seven, Nine and Ten can agree on what they should be able to do.

Seven strongly supports multi-channeling, Nine remains completely against the idea and Ten says multi-channeling should be allowed but only if on a subscription-based system.

The pay-TV industry has adopted the most conciliatory position, saying multi-channeling should be allowed from 2008 but only if the anti-siphoning regime which keeps most sport on free-TV is removed.

And Telstra, which owns half of Foxtel, disagrees with free-TV multi-channeling due to its likely threat to the broadband internet sector.

The Australian Consumers Association has advocated the greatest relaxation of existing rules, arguing for a fourth digital-only TV network and the ability for TV groups to use their spectrum how they see fit.

That means they could offer extra digital TV channels, high definition TV programs or data enhancements as long as they maintain a minimum standard of digital TV signal.

But the ACA said the free-TV networks should not be allowed to provide pay-TV services on their digital TV spectrum unless they began paying for use of the spectrum.

Australia's advertisers were also keen for change, with the Australian Association of National Advertisers saying the Government should either allow multi-channeling or begin subsidising the cost of free-TV digital set-top boxes.

"There is no indication the take-up of free-to-air digital TV is going to grow appreciably solely on the basis of improved picture quality," it said.

Sony Australia, which produces digital TVs and is the main supplier of high definition (cinema quality) digital broadcasting equipment, said the digital TV uptake was in line with its forecasts.

But it still believed changes were needed to increase digital TV uptake, such as the ability for the free-TV networks to multi-channel.

"In order for Sony, and the equipment supply industry more broadly, to continue to successfully promote digital technology . . . it is important that Australian TV networks have the ability to significantly increase the transmission of digital TV programming," it said.

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance criticised the "painfully slow" take up of digital TV and said the free-TV networks should be able to provide only two extra channels but only if they paid to use that extra spectrum.

But the MEAA did not believe multi-channeling should be mandated and if a free-TV network did not use that spectrum it should be made available to others.

The MEAA said the digital TV spectrum could also be used to provide a fourth TV network, an indigenous TV service or a third national public broadcaster.


Astro posts RM53m 1H profit


From http://www.theedgedaily.com/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.article.Article_e8d43e4b-cb73c03a-940b8400-5096fb53

Astro All Asia Networks Plc recorded its maiden net profit of RM53.13 million in the six months ended July 31, 2004, from a net loss of RM31.24 million a year earlier, on the back of higher growth of its multi-channel television (MC-TV) segment.

In a statement on Sept 10, Astro said revenue grew 25.14% to RM814.53 million from RM649.51 million previously, driven primarily by TV subscription revenues of RM650.7 million from a growing subscriber base.

Astro’s group chief executive officer Ralph Marshall in a letter to shareholders said prospects for the group were bright due to strong local and regional economic conditions.

“The vibrant media and entertainment industry will continue to outpace economic growth as it feeds off a young, growing population with rising disposable income and discretionary spending,” he said.

He said, outside Malaysia, Astro would continue to seek regional opportunities where it could leverage on its infrastructure, multi-lingual skills and broadcast expertise to drive future profitability and growth.

“We remain focussed on opportunities we believe exist in Indonesia for MC-TV, in India and Vietnam for radio, and in China for Celestial,” he added.

Capital expenditure (capex) for the first half was RM36.1 million, up from RM19.3 million a year earlier due to the implementation of its customer relationship management system and the broadcast back-up facility in Cyberjaya that would require capex of some RM70 million for the financial year ending Jan 31, 2005.

Astro’s MC-TV division achieved 102,958 new residential subscribers in the first half. However, it suffered a higher level of churn at 9.6% in the second quarter, up from 9.2% in the first quarter and 7.3% a year ago from the full impact of unauthorised access to its services through cloned smartcards and set-top boxes.

Astro currently has a subscriber base of 1.5 million. Out of this figure, about 1.386 million are residential subscribers, representing a penetration of 27.7% of TV homes, up from 23.3% the year before.

The average revenue per subscriber rose to RM80.7 in the second quarter after a rate adjustment in late May. However, its programming cost had gone up to RM206.1 million from RM177 million last year.

Subscriber acquisition costs on a per-box-sold basis declined 17.1% to RM754. Its total subscriber acquisition costs decreased some 10% from RM171.1 million to RM154.9 million.

Marshall said work was in progress to substantially grow its service next year when Astro take on its new satellite transponder capacity on Measat 3, which is scheduled for launch in mid-2005.

Revenue from Astro's radio business grew 22.8% to RM58.2 million, accounting for about 75% of the total advertising spend on radio. Astro has 8.9 million listeners or 44.1% of total listener share tuning in to any of its five stations weekly.

An AC Nielsen survey in April affirmed ERA, MY FM, hitz.fm as the top stations in their respective Malay, Chinese and English language category with MIX FM and Light & Easy coming in second and third among the English stations.

Astro’s Chinese movie distributor Celestial Movies continued to pose solid future growth with revenue growing 65% year-on-year to RM23.4 million, Marshall said.

Work was continuing on the re-mastering of the 760-film Shaw Library, with 82 titles completed in the first half, while 54 titles were released for DVD and movie channel distribution, he added.

At the end of July, some 287 titles had been re-mastered and over three million copies had been sold globally.

Celestial Movies has secured video distribution deals from another five countries and from two additional countries for its movie channel. It has now penetrated 15 countries for DVD distribution and six countries for its movie channel.


(Craigs comment, Celestial movies has also just started on Asiasat 3)


Tech Firms Announce Video Anti-Piracy Technology


From http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) - NDS, STMicroelectronics and Thomson said on Friday they will develop new encryption technology to foil video piracy, a $3.5 billion problem for broadcasters and movie studios.

The anti-piracy technology, known as the secure video processor (SVP) platform, is designed for media companies to protect their content from unauthorized copying and redistribution.

A rise in piracy has accompanied the explosion of digital video players. Crafty programmers have discovered ways to crack into DVD players, for example, to make copies of Hollywood movies quickly and cheaply.

The new technology is designed to allow media companies to encrypt their content with their own digital rights management (DRM) specifications and have it unscrambled for viewing solely by devices embedded with SVP-enabled chips.

The companies hope enough SVP-enabled video playback devices and TV set-top boxes will hit the market in coming years so as to allow consumers to transport the encrypted content to specially equipped SVP devices for playback.

NDS, 78 percent owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, has developed the anti-piracy software component for SVP. Beginning next year, Thomson will embed SVP-enabled chips developed by STMicro into its video playback devices and set-top boxes.

American satellite TV operator DIRECTV, a News Corp affiliate, is the first to use the new technology, the companies said.

The SVP alliance was introduced in Amsterdam on Friday at a broadcasters conference in Amsterdam.


Scientific-Atlanta Launches New DVB Satellite Receivers for Delivery of Video and IP Services


From Press Release

KORTRIJK, Belgium and ATLANTA, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Four new
satellite receivers introduced at IBC 2004 by Scientific-Atlanta will provide
a variety of cost-saving, video, audio and data delivery features for free-to-
air or secure broadcast reception of digitally encoded content. The new
satellite receivers will be on display at IBC 2004 in Amsterdam, The
Netherlands, 10-14 September, Stand 479, Hall 1.

New DVB Satellite Receivers for Broadcast and Cable TV Distribution
For optimized flexibility in commercial headends, the new Satellite
Receiver (D9840) has a common interface (DVB-CI) for operation with a number
of Conditional Access systems and optional features include ASI input, ASI
outputs and SDI outputs to support digital-tier cable pass-through or
re-encoding using digital video output. The new Professional Receiver (D9842)
supports 4:2:2/4:2:0 video decoding for contribution applications where high
video quality is required. This product supports BISS for secure distribution
of video using an interoperable scrambling system and has an optional DVB 8PSK
front-end to support more bandwidth efficiency over the satellite, using
higher order demodulation.

New DVB Satellite Receivers for Private Networks/Business TV /SMATV/IP
The new PowerVu(R) Satellite Receiver (D9834) is designed for cost-
effective satellite content distribution to provide a highly-affordable
solution for the business TV, private networks and SMATV environments. Whether
the customer requires free-to-air reception or secure broadcast reception via
PowerVu conditional access, this receiver will meet the video, audio, data and
VBI needs (supports DVB VBI and DVB subtitling). Up to 10 Mbps of IP data
support (simultaneously with video) allows for support of services such as
business training, corporate announcements, storage of data to a network
server, ad insertion, and multicast or unicast streaming video requirements.

The D9834 is a variable-rate, content delivery solution to facilitate
transition from analog to digital. To further meet customer needs, Scientific-
Atlanta is also introducing the entry-level PowerVu Satellite Receiver (D9835)
for SMATV applications.

Enhanced PowerVu Program Receiver for Analog-to-Digital Migration
At the show, Scientific-Atlanta will introduce the latest version of the
popular, cost-effective DVB-S PowerVu Program Receiver (D9850) for use by
programmers and cable operators as they transition from the analog to digital
tier. The new D9850 receiver (Release 4), offers a number of new and enhanced
features including, support for BISS-E and BISS-mode 1, and Digital Program
Replacement to further assist operators in their digital transition. In
addition to these latest features, the new version of the D9850 also includes
ASI transport input for monitoring, SDI output with embedded audio for
professional re-encoding in the studio or production facility, AES-3id high
quality digital audio output. A popular new feature, Disaster Recovery,
supports capabilities which automatically helps ensure continuous program
delivery via an alternate satellite transponder in case of primary
transmission path interruption. A convenient Web browser interface supports
easy control and monitoring, while an SNMP interface enables control by a
network management system. All of these features are provided in a compact 1RU
space, including support of up to 50 Mbps of IP data to facilitate large IP
file transfer capabilities to deliver content into VOD/SVOD and ad servers.

About Scientific-Atlanta EuropeNV : http://www.saeurope.com

Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. (NYSE: SFA) ( http://www.scientificatlanta.com )
is a leading supplier of digital content distribution systems, transmission
networks for broadband access to the home, digital interactive set-tops and
subscriber systems designed for video, high-speed Internet and voice over IP
(VoIP) networks, and worldwide customer service and support.

"Forward-looking statements," as defined in the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, may be included in this news release. A variety
of factors could cause Scientific-Atlanta's actual results to differ from the
anticipated results expressed in such forward-looking statements. Investors
are referred to Scientific-Atlanta's Cautionary Statements (Exhibit 99.1 to
the Company's most recent Form 10-Q), which statements are incorporated into
this news release by reference.


Pace Reveals First MPEG-4 HD Set Top Box


From http://news.designtechnica.com/article5335.html

Pace Technology has revealed its first MPEG-4 Part 10 high definition (HD) set-top box platform as the Company continues to demonstrate its expertise in advanced video coding.

The TDX800 incorporates a hard disk for personal video recording (PVR) and at IBC 2004 it will be demonstrated alongside one of the world's first commercially available VC-1/Windows Media 9 set-top boxes(2), the DB440, also premiering at IBC, completing Pace's advanced video coding (AVC) line-up.

"Within the next three years, advanced video coding will become the dominant TV technology, for both standard and high definition content. Pace, with our MPEG-4 Part 10 and Windows Media 9 demonstrations, is at the forefront of making this transition," says David Gillies, Director of Technology at Pace. "Advanced video coding will be a critical factor in the market acceptance of HDTV and it's also certain that consumers will want PVR with their HD."

Pace's Gillies continues: "At Pace we believe in actively supporting new standards, so operators can be confident that all AVC bases are covered when they select Pace high definition technology."

The TDX800 demonstration utilises the latest Broadcom silicon AVC co-processor and will be available across all television delivery platforms; satellite, cable, terrestrial and IP. It will also be able to demodulate both high and standard definition programming, with the potential to use advanced modulation schemes such as DVB-S2. DVB-S2, when used in conjunction with advanced video codecs, will deliver the same number of HD channels per transponder as available in SD today.

The DB440 is Pace's second generation Windows Media 9-based set-top box and uses the latest developments in this codec. It is based on Microsoft's Windows CE operating system and can deliver a full range of Windows Media 9 video and audio content. In addition, low bit-rate content can be viewed on the DB440 at high resolution (full D1) due to Pace's full utilisation of the advanced post-processing options available in WM9.


DD, Max gear up for Champions Trophy


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep103.htm

MUMBAI: With the mini world cup, The Champions Trophy, kicking off today (10 September) it will be a fight between Max and Doordarshan to see who comes out on top, ratings wise.

While Max will air all the matches, Doodarshan has selected nine matches which will air on DD 1. They include India against Kenya tomorrow (11 September) and the big one India vs Pakistan on 19 September.

While on the subject of India vs Pakistan cricket, it may be recalled that during their World Cup clash last year on 1 March 2003, Max had decimated DD in the ratings war.

Tam data for six metros shows that while Max had a TVR of 20.91 DD only managed 2.28 c&s 4+. Even for 4+ Max was ahead at 13.84 versus 9.01 for DD.

More recently Max managed impressive TVR of 7.99 c&s 4+ six metros when the arch rivals met in the Holland Tourney last month. Keep in mind the fact that the match was rain interrupted. Also, the Holland Tourney is not well known. Evidently Max's ground activities which involved Mandira Bedi playing cricket in different centres with housewives paid off big time.

As had been reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Max has beefed up its wrap around programming Extraaa Innings. The question now is whether Max can equal or even better its World Cup ratings. Watch this space for more on that.


Alpha Telugu pay channel from Sept 20


From http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/009200409110332.htm

Hyderabad, Sep 11. (UNI): Ahead of the launch of Alpha Telugu, the first of Zee Telefilms' south channels, from September 20, the pay channel has started the telecast of test signals and trailers of programmes, the company announced on Friday.

Till September 19, it will be free to air signal, after which the signal will be encrypted, a release here said.

The company claimed that the programmes would be "reality dramatised".

"Even the news bulletins will have a different flavour", the release said.


(Craigs comment started on Asiasat 3)


Bharatidasan varsity to use EDUSAT services


From http://www.sunnetwork.org/news/regional/tamilnadu/tamilnadu.asp?id=12477

Tiruchirappalli, Sep 13 - The Bharatidasan university was aiming to become the first university to utilise the services of educational satellite EDUSAT which is yet to be launched by the ISRO.

Senior officials and experts had been deputed to ISRO headquarters for the purpose, Prof C Thangamuthu, vice-chancellor of the university, said while addressing a function organised to launch a novel scheme of book bank.

The university was working on the modalities of utilising the satellite's transponder in the most effective manner, Thangamuthu said. The university was simultaneously working on the procedure to instal virtual laboratory, classrooms and online connectivity in seven districts, he said.

Over 150 poor students belonging to SC/ST categories were given textbooks. The computerised library on the varsity campus would get digitalised in two to three years after which affiliated colleges could have online access to the books for reference, he said.




12/09/04

No update Sunday




11/09/04

No update Saturday




10/09/04

TVNZ + Partner? have secured the Telstra transponder on B1 I don't have any furthur info on it at this stage.

If you are going to APSATTV.COM at the moment all you will get is the old server with non updated info. Please use the link

http://202.9.227.18/~csutton/

Until the old servers pushed over a cliff somewhere.

Globecast have added a 2nd ADHOC channel on B3 12524V

Page will be trimmed majorly for Mondays update


From my Emails & ICQ


From Vk4bkp in Mackay (Far Northern Australia)

DX from Jcsat 2a 154E

I've got an NTSC analogue test card showing on Jcsat2A 12734V on the
2.3m solid and Fuji LNB. It's very weak but it's there!

Found another on 12718V playing a program. Well it's v pol if the
other one is H pol!

Anyone else getting these?

My first Ku analogue, from Japan beam at that! Ah this is like TV DXing all over
again. :-)


(Craigs comment, Great work any other reports from Northern Australia?)


From the Dish


PAS 8 166E 3860 H "BLTV - Buddhism Light TV" has left , replaced by occasional feeds.
PAS 8 166E 3836 V "TVBS Asia" is now encrypted.
PAS 8 166E 3987 V "TVT Channel 11 News 1" is now encrypted.
PAS 8 166E 4080 V All channels in the TAS mux are now Fta.

Optus C1 156E 12367 V "SBS World News Channel, SBS South East and SBS Western" are now encrypted.

Measat 2 148E 11602 H "BLTV - Buddhism Light TV" has started on , Fta, PIDs 512/513.

JCSAT 3 128E 3960 V "ETTV Movie" has started on , Viaccess, PIDs 1136/1137, nighttime.
JCSAT 3 128E 4120 V "MAC TV" has started on , Fta, PIDs 1060/1061.

Palapa C2 113E 3875 V The test card has left .

Telkom 1 108E Updates in TelkomVision:
Bloomberg Radio has left 3460 H.
The test card and Delta/FeMale Satelit have left 3500 H.

AsiaSat 3 105.5E 3729 H "TVB Xing He Channel, MATV and Horizon Channel" have left again.

AsiaSat 2 100.5E 3705 H Occasional feeds on , SR 4166, FEC 5/6.

NSS 6 95E 11035 H "ARY Digital India" has started on , Conax, PIDs 1160/1120.

Measat 1 91.5E Updates in Astro:
Astro SuperSport 4-6 have left 10982 V.
Astro SuperSport 3 has left 11106 V.

Insat 2E 83E 3683 V "Cine World" has left .



NEWS


APT Satellite reduces its losses


From http://www.advanced-television.com/pages/pagesb/newsdaily.html#apt

APT Satellite Holdings, a transponder, telecommunications and broadcasting service provider in the Asia-Pacific region, has reduced its losses in the first half. The company posted a net loss of US$6.3 million in comparison to $20.3 million a year earlier. The loss in previous year were attributed to higher depreciation and asset impairment charges.

APT blamed weak demand for transponders and intense market competition for turnover dropped 13.7 per cent year on year to $16.5 million.

"Owing to the transitional stage of [satellites] Apstar I and Apstar IA, and the fact that the satellite transponder services market in Asia-Pacific region has remained highly competitive, the first half of 2004 was full of challenges," said group president and executive director Chen Zhaobin

The group launched Apstar V, the fourth and most powerful satellite of the Apstar fleet, on June 29 to replace Apstar I. The satellite, with 38 C-band and 16 Ku-band transponders and an operational life of 15.3 years, started commercial operation on August 13. The reports says that all existing customers of Apstar I have been transferred to the new satellite and the group has also started transponder services for new customers such as Hong Kong Cable TV and Singapore Telecommunications.

Apstar VI, a $240 million satellite with 38 C-band and 12 Ku-band transponders constructed by Alcatel Space, is scheduled to be launched in the fourth quarter this year to replace Apstar IA.


Twinkle, twinkle, little Ipstar


From http://www.financialexpress-bd.com/index3.asp?cnd=9/10/2004&section_id=15&newsid=&spcl=yes

SHANGHAI - By early next year the night sky will have a new twinkle: Ipstar, a massive satellite beaming broadband Internet across Asia. Conceived in the dial-up dot-com mania of the 1990s, when millions of speed-hungry urbanites promised soaring revenues, the largest commercial satellite ever now seems destined to serve dull, but steady, income-seeking governments, telcos and consumers beyond wired broadband's reach in rural Asia.

Shin Satellite, which plans to launch Ipstar between mid-February and mid-March and belongs to Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's family, will wholesale services to resellers across Asia, leaving them to deal with local regulators while battling stiff competition from ever cheaper, faster wired and wireless broadband.

"I'm not sure a satellite guy charging higher up-front fees is really a threat to ADSL [asymmetric digital subscriber line] operators in urban areas," says Richard Moe, a MacQuarie Securities telecom analyst. "The Shin Corp has always had a bias towards the higher end of the market. To be honest, I was more bullish a few years ago."

ADSL is a technology that provides broadband cheaply, for about US$25 (1,040 baht) a month or less. It uses telephone lines, usually more reliable and faster than satellite links, and works best in urban areas where customers pack around telephone exchanges.

Ipstar's earth stations have provided a low-key first-generation service using current satellites for the past two years. Suppliers targeting users in rural Thailand ask $100 a month for this service. Ipstar is keeping mum about prices for second-generation services using the new Ipstar satellite. "We will charge consumers the market rate in each territory," says an Ipstar spokeswoman. "We will break even when we have 20% of capacity booked."

That may be so, but with broadband prices on a one-way trip south it may not be true for long. "The primary challenge is to get some payback in a reasonable amount of time in a market that is fast commoditizing," says Ross O'Brien, research house Intercedent's Hong Kong managing director.

"The perception that bandwidth is a commodity has driven long-distance rates down to unprecedented levels. Bandwidth is not a commodity like coffee or orange juice, the price is not going to come back," O'Brien adds.

So far two major customers have signed up, neither of which seems destined to deliver fat revenues. Chinasat, a second-tier telco, faces a tough fight from China's huge incumbents China Telecom and China Unicom. While Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), which runs a network of high-tech industrial estates in India, does not appear well positioned for expansion.

In Japan and South Korea, which together account for about half of Asia's 70 million broadband connections, fiber-optic cables, which are even faster and more reliable, are becoming common as prices fall and companies battle fiercely.

"How are they going to compete in the real money markets like Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong that are wired to the max?" wonders O'Brien. "You aren't going to pull anybody away from a fiber-optic cable to their home with satellite Internet."

The Ipstar edge

Alone, this behemoth, at 6.6 tonnes the largest commercial satellite ever, costs $350 million. Adding on launch fees, ground stations, insurance, terminal design and marketing probably pushes the bill beyond $500 million.

Ipstar's size is not all that makes it unique. Its 45 gigabits-per-second capacity, almost equal to that of all the communications satellites floating above Asia, is one reason it weighs the equivalent of five cars. Power is another. When nasty weather threatens, Ipstar focuses more power on that area, in effect burning through all but the most intense storms.

Greater reliability gives Ipstar a significant edge over competing satellites, which cannot perform similar stunts. "They cannot compete on capacity, price or efficiency," says Ipstar's spokeswoman.

Down on Earth, users will tune in using meter-wide dishes connected to an Ipstar terminal that uses compression algorithms to move data between a computer and the satellite. These boxes also have a jack for telephones, providing a direct Internet-protocol (IP) telephony connection allowing worldwide calls for next to nothing.

Local laws and regulators' sympathy for fuming telcos' protests may determine whether consumers and corporations can use this service. In Thailand, for example, IP telephony is technically illegal, a factor that has dissuaded global corporations from pitching regional headquarters in Bangkok.

Unlike the European Union or North America, Asia is a regulatory mosaic that adds costs and has caused companies to give up on more than a few promising products. "Their markets are remarkably disparate and differently regulated," says O'Brien.

However, given Asian politicians' penchant for resolving such inconveniences on the golf course, Ipstar's family connections should help iron out any serious problems, especially involving the often opaque laws in jurisdictions that comprise developing Asia, where Ipstar's greatest opportunities now lie.

In much of developing Asia, broadband is limited, unreliable and expensive. Thailand is a good example. Even in Bangkok connections can be spotty with speed rising and falling.

Conspiracy theorists, propped up on Bangkok's bars, see this as a ruse by the Thaksin government to create an instant market for Ipstar. Perhaps, but it is as likely that Thailand's snail-speed Internet is a result of contradictory laws, bureaucratic infighting and competition among state-owned telcos trying to protect revenues.

In any case, even if Thailand's wired broadband users all migrated to Ipstar, it would still need many more customers to turn a healthy profit. That would require many broadband users across Asia to cut their cable and put up a dish. And while that may happen in the short term, longer-term wired solutions will win out.

But then cities do not comprise the bulk of Asia, where most people still live in rural communities that until recently were lucky to have a fistful of phone lines. "At least initially they [Ipstar] will find a good market among people in rural areas who need large download capabilities," says Moe.

High-speed Internet also offers great potential for delivering government services, improving data collection (which means better-targeted budgets) and improving education and even health knowledge. Ipstar can fill that gap.

Unfortunately, that gap is closing fast. Fixed-line networks are also on the cusp of a revolution. By 2008 British Telecom will replace its current switched network with an IP system, giving almost every home broadband by default. Developing Asia will not be long in following, as this system is cheaper to install and operate than traditional solutions.

Mobile-phone networks are also offering faster data speeds. Although still significantly slower than Ipstar and no competition for wired broadband, they do offer mobility, for which some users will pay a premium.

And then there is wireless broadband, in its first incarnation, Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), a short-range unregulated radio system typified by hot spots appearing in airports, offices and cafes. Its first incarnation, 802.11b, offers only 11 megabits-per- second (Mbps) that peter out about 50 meters from a base station. Its latest incarnations, the mutually incompatible 802.11a and 802.11g, deliver 55Mbps.

Hong Kong's PCCW is now testing Wi-Max (worldwide interoperability for microwave access), which has a promised range of 48 kilometers from a base station, in six towns in the United Kingdom. Wi-Max mobile phones are already under design. Intel will build Wi-Max into its personal computer processor chips from 2006, after which Wi-Max networks will mushroom.

"My concern is that we are getting more terrestrial broadband solutions, the biggest threat being Wi-Max," says Moe. "When Wi-Max arrives, they may find trunking emerges as their primary business."

Trunking links exchanges and base stations that form a communication network's backbone. Ipstar will likely prove cheaper than laying a fiber-optic cable out to a remote mobile-phone or Wi-Max base station serving a village or a mine and will offer insurance.

"If it's for trunking, there should be a market for it, for redundancy. If you're a telco, you always want a backup if the fiber-optic network goes down, especially in the current climate of terrorism concerns," says Moe.

Regulatory hurdles that may hamper Ipstar in some jurisdictions could also come to haunt other emerging technologies such as ultra-wideband and Wi-Max. "Regulatory authorities in each country will each deal with Wi-Max in a slightly different way," says Moe.

So while Ipstar appears set for a less glamorous role serving governments, telcos and scattered rural consumers, it may yet find its place under the sun. Rising rural incomes will make broadband increasingly affordable.

Five years ago, few predicted broadband's spectacular growth and commoditization in such a short time. Likewise there are signs, such as emerging high-definition television and accompanying 18 gigabyte DVDs, that broadband demand will accelerate. This in turn will spur demand for trunking and redundancy among remote users, suggesting Ipstar's long-term revenue will be steady, if not rising.



STMicroelectronics Publishes Extensions to DiSEqC Protocol to Enable Greater Flexibility for Satellite Broadcasters


From Press Release

Set-top box manufacturers now have additional commands to control Low-Noise
Block subsystems, including ST's SaTCR-1, to simplify installation and reduce costs for broadcasters

GENEVA, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM)
has published a set of extensions to the DiSEqC (Digital Satellite Equipment
Control) specification as defined in the CENELEC EN-61319-1 European standard
-- a widely used protocol that allows a satellite set-top box (STB) to control
peripheral devices connected to the coaxial cable -- which will enable the box
to manage a Low-Noise Block (LNB) based on ST's SaTCR-1 satellite channel
router chip. An LNB is part of the electronics in every rooftop dish aerial.

The SaTCR-1 chip is at the centre of an advanced LNB downconverter
subsystem which simplifies installations that need to handle more than one
signal by combining up to eight input signals onto a single cable. These
signals are then decoded by a corresponding number of tuners, potentially
distributed across many set-top boxes within the home or throughout an
apartment block. This capability allows a consumer to record one channel while
watching another, for example, without needing two separate coaxial cables
from the rooftop dish. Such an upgrade previously required an expensive site
visit by an engineer.

ST is the world's largest supplier of Set-top Box (STB) silicon devices.*
It has worked closely with Eutelsat, at the origin of the DiSEqC
specification, and with SES ASTRA, operator of one of the major European
satellite platforms, in developing the extensions. DiSEqC is an open standard
-- with additions controlled by industry agreement -- that defines a
standardized communication bus between satellite receivers and satellite
peripheral equipment, using only the existing coaxial cable.

By implementing the new protocol, all STB manufacturers can take advantage
of the benefits of SaTCR-1-enabled LNBs, independently of the hardware within
their box. STBs already in the field can be updated via an over-the-air
software download. For software development, ST has made available an
implementation of the new commands as part of the STAPI driver suite used by
STB manufacturers working with ST's leading range of decoders and
demodulators.

"We believe that the market for dual TV and DVR set-top boxes will show
significant growth over the coming years," said Armando Caltabiano, General
Manager of the Retail Products Division, within ST's Home Entertainment Group.
"By publishing our extensions to the DiSEqC protocol, we are ensuring that any
set-top box serving these markets can support LNBs fitted with the SaTCR-1
device."

ST will invite STB makers to carry out compliance tests with a reference
LNB design in its regional laboratories. LNB providers are already delivering
equipment based on the SaTCR-1 chip, and their LNBs are backwards compatible
with set-top boxes which have not yet been upgraded to use the new DiSEqC
protocol.

"After having supported STMicroelectronics on finalizing the respective
command protocol, we are excited to see this new LNB technology now arriving
on the market," said Thomas Wrede, VP Product Management of SES ASTRA.
"Consumers will, in future, only need a single coaxial cable to connect a
multi-tuner hard disk receiver, or to feed several digital satellite receivers
in their home. This will make their decision to get satellite reception even
easier. We will include this new LNB technology in our ASTRA Reception
Equipment Recommendations. The necessary new DiSEqC protocol extensions should
be incorporated into the CENELEC EN 61319-1 standard."

"We have been most eager to drive the characterization and specification
of the new DiSEqC protocol from its end-product and deployment scenario
perspectives and become early adopters of ST's technology," commented Tomer
Bentzion, Chief Executive Officer of FTA Communication Technologies, a leader
in the digital broadcast reception equipment market. "SaTCR-1 based products
will facilitate multiple receiver and Digital Video Recorder deployment across
Europe and will remove upgrade barriers thereof."

About the Technology
The SaTCR-1 Satellite Channel Router works by shifting the frequency of
any input signal to a fixed intermediate frequency. The output signal is band-
pass filtered to generate a narrow sub-band output. By combining several
SaTCR-1 devices, a corresponding number of sub-bands may be generated and
multiplexed together. This composite band can be made up of different
independent channels issued from different LNB inputs and polarizations, and
can be carried on a single coaxial cable.

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

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.

* InStat/MDR - MPEG Video IC Market: Larger than Ever - June 2003 (Report number IN030573MI) iSuppli 2001 Consumer Electronics Semiconductors:
Market Share and Supplier Analysis


Envivio Demonstrates High Definition (HD) MPEG-4 H.264 (AVC) Solution for Cost-Effective Delivery of Broadcast-Quality Video


From Press Release

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Envivio, Inc., a leading
provider of MPEG-4 broadcast and streaming solutions, will demonstrate at IBC
2004 its High Definition (HD) MPEG-4 H.264 AVC solution at Envivio stand
1.469. The Envivio HD H.264 solution cost-effectively delivers HD
broadcast-quality video over satellite, cable, and telecommunications
networks. The H.264 format offers a significant improvement in coding
efficiency compared to other compression standards such as MPEG-2.

Envivio's HD H.264 technology doubles compression efficiency, lowers bit
rates to half of the MPEG-2 requirements for high-quality video, and
dramatically decreases storage capacity. As a result, more content can be
transmitted over existing infrastructures using lower bit rates.

Envivio will demonstrate its standards-based HD MPEG-4 H.264 encoding and
decoding systems at Envivio stand 1.469, for the duration of the IBC 2004
exhibition this week in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

About Envivio

Envivio is a leading provider of complete MPEG-4 solutions, which consist
of a rich set of integrated streaming media tools and systems. The company has
established itself as the most experienced creator of high-quality MPEG-4
solutions that enable broadcasters, network operators, and content developers
to build new revenue streams and use the efficiencies of delivering content to
the full range of MPEG-4 capable devices. The Envivio solution includes
various components to create, encode, protect, and distribute MPEG-4 content.
For more information, visit http://www.envivio.com.

NOTE: Envivio is a trademark of Envivio, Inc.
Contact: Barry Strauss of Envivio, +1-650-243-2718, or
[email protected].


Court adjourns sports rights case; Zee has till Tuesday to decide whether it will re-bid


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep94.htm

MUMBAI: Give this round to ESPN-Star Sports. The Bombay High Court, which this morning proposed that the sports broadcaster and Zee Network submit fresh bids to the Registrar General of the High Court, has given Subhash Chandra's network till Tuesday to decide whether it is agreeable to the court's proposition.

Zee's board of directors is meeting on Monday to decide on what course of action to take. If Zee agrees to the proposal, it has to inform the court accordingly on Tuesday. Then both Zee and ESS will have to submit fresh bids on Wednesday, 15 September. If it does decide to put in a fresh bid, only ESS and Zee will be allowed to submit afresh. One rider the court has inserted here is that there will be no further avenue of appeal if this route is taken by the two claimants in the case.

What is curious about the proposal put forth by the High Court however, is that whosever's bid is higher, will get the rights. That means that the criteria of merit goes out of the window, which is the sole argument around which ESS moved the courts in the first place.

Coming back to the choice before Zee, if it is not agreeable to a re-bid, the case will stand adjourned till Thursday (16 September), when the Bench of Chief Justice DS Bhandari and Justice DY Chandrachud will here arguments on whether Zee is eligible or not to telecast cricket matches.

The bench apparently decided to take the re-bid route to try and avoid further waste of time on the issue. The BCCI counsel had expressed worry that if the issue continued rebounding back and forth, then when the Australian team comes down in October, a broadcaster might still not be finalised.

The talk doing the rounds is that if Zee agrees to the re-bid, then the price for the India telecast rights could touch an astronomical and financially crippling $350 million. Either way the third party in the case, the BCCI benefits.

However, addressing a media gathering after the hearing, ESS Asia MD Rik Dovey maintained that India cricket was not a survival issue for the broadcaster.

"We are looking to grow our business. We have a strong connection with Indian cricket through our brand ambassador Sachin Tendulkar. We also have Saurav Ganguly. We also have cricket from England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Bangladesh. We would like to add India to our kitty."

Earlier in the day, ESS' counsel had argued that Zee had not produced a single day of cricket thus far. "They buy the rights to cricket for their international territories. This includes animation graphics and replays. The only thing that is from Zee are the ads.

What we are disappointed at is the fact that the BCCI deviated from its norms. The bids were supposed to be placed before Price waterhouse Coopers for evaluation. This never happened. PWC only tabulated the bids. In fact, responding to a letter from us, they said that they had told the BCCI to inform all the bidders of their limited role. The BCCI did not do so."

The counsel added that BCCI president Jagmohan Dalimya had had a private phone conversation with Subhash Chandra where the Zee Group CMD was informed that his network was eligible. "How can Dalmiya do this? The bid stipulation is clearly aimed at excluding those parties who do not have their own production unit.

"We gave details of our production unit in our bid document. Even for England tours which are produced by Sky, we take our own production team along with cameras. That is because Indian viewers want to view the action from the perspective of Saurav Ganguly and the team. We also have our own commentary team."

The counsel maintained that Zee on the other hand would either hire a production unit or license the rights to a third party. "If you do that then you cannot claim to be possessing production expertise." Dovey added that a sports broadcaster would produce cricket in a far better manner than a non sports broadcaster. "There are a host of specials that we create around our presentation. The Asia Cup is an example of that."

Meanwhile, the tremors of today's developments were felt on the bourses with the Zee scrip getting quite a hammering. Zee's share price, which opened the day at Rs 161.50, plummeted to a low of Rs 149.40 before recovering slightly to close at Rs 151.15, down 6.4 per cent.

As had been earlier reported by Indiantelevision.com Zee Telefilms has already made the initial payment of $20 million to BCCI for telecast rights of the India cricket matches.


Doordarshan moves to pad up DTH bouquet


From http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/09/10/stories/2004091001291900.htm

Of the 30 channels on offer to start with, 17 would be Doordarshan's own channels and the rest private.

DOORDARSHAN has plans to increase from 30 the number of channels to be offered in its free-to-air bouquet of Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite television service.

Announcing this to presspersons here, Mr Peer Muhammed, Director, and Mr Abraham George, Superintending Engineer, Doordarshan Kendra, Thiruvananthapuram, said that the regular service, named DD Direct + (Direct Plus), would be commissioned very shortly.

Trial transmission had been on air from as early as April this year and the fully digital reception quality conforms to international standards.

The Doordarshan team also presented a demo of the service before assembled presspersons at the Press Club here. Explaining the features, it said that the key benefits to users included a one-time investment on the receive system, its easy local availability, absence of any hidden/recurring cost, a bouquet that will be suitable for viewing by the whole family, excellent signal quality and freedom from intervention by a third player. Of the 30 channels on offer to start with, 17 would be Doordarshan's own channels and the rest private.

Users can access them at their own premises by deploying a small dish of 60 cm to 90-cm size catering to the desired individual signal strength and a set-top box (STB).

Barring the initial investment on equipment estimated at Rs 3,000 for the complete system including the dish and the STB, there will be no monthly subscription to be paid by users. The 30 channels will be beamed through three Ku-band transponders, each with a capacity of hosting 10 channels, leased on the New Skies Satellite (NSS-6) located at 95 degrees East. The footprint covers the whole of India except the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The 17 Doordarshan channels on offer are DD National, DD India, DD Bharati, DD Sports, DD News, DD Gyan Darshan and 11 regional language channels. Twenty radio channels in regional languages are also available.

Further details are available at www.ddindia.com or www.ddinews.com.




9/09/04

Apsattv is back!!!

Well using a temp address at the moment but as soon as the I.P routing is working the usual Apsattv.com address should start working.

This email from Jamie Lovick who owns the new server

Hi,

My name is Jamie Lovick, I run the server that apsattv.com resides on,
doof.org. I have been providing the hosting service for apsattv.com for
free since apsattv.com started.

Recently I had issues with the hosting provider where doof.org has been
hosted for the last 6 years or so. In that time there has been a good
relationship, but due to some issues, it is now time to move on.

The old server, which has been co-located in Adelaide where I used to
live was old and badly in need of an upgrade. The old server was:

Generic Intel based PC
Slimline desktop case (mounted on a rack shelf)
Intel Pentium 200MMX Processor
64 Meg of RAM
3.8 Gig of Hard Drive
RedHat Linux 6.2

That old server reliably hosted around 10 sites (most have moved on to
other providers), some including forums.

The new server is miles ahead of the old one, and is now co-located in
Sydney where I now live. The new server is:

Generic AMD Athlon XP based server PC
2RU Rack Mount server chassis
AMD Athlon XP 2000+ Processor
256 Meg of DDR 333 RAM (to be expanded later)
240 Gig of Hard Drive
FreeBSD 5.2.1

As you can see, the new server has a lot better specs, and will allow me
to provide other services to apsattv.com and other users.

A big thanks needs to go to Ken from Sydney Internet Exchange Pty Ltd
(http://www.six.net.au/) for providing the co-location facilities to
host doof.org in.

I hope to have the apsattv.com domain back up and running again in the
next few days, once we get everything transferred to the new server.

Thank you to everyone for your understanding and patience.

Regards
Jamie

(Craigs comment, without generous folks like Jamie and Ken and others Apsattv would not be available. A big round of applause to these folk!)

Terrorist bombing in Indonesia, check Palapac2, Telkom 1 108E, and Asiasat 2 for feeds

Soccer check B3 Adhoc for feeds...

SUN TV and Sigiram to stay FTA on B3 for a year?

The data service that was on Pas 2 12411V has moved to 12413V sr 2500 Fec 1/2, this makes Arirang on 12401V good and stable. no problem here on 76cm a solid %37 quality


From my Emails & ICQ


From Bill Richards

0820 UTC

Asiasat2
3705H SR 4166 FEC 5/6 Vpid 4226 Apid 4227 SID2

"ANTV News Feed in Indonesian covering Australian Embassy Bombing in Jakarta."

Regards
Bill Richards


From Justin

ABC Asia Pacific back on NSS6 Australian beam
12677 V 6515 3/4

Justin


From Various

B1 12380 H sr 6620 3/4 "Boxing feed"


From the Dish


PAS 8 166E 3987 V "TVT Channel 11 News 1" has started on , Ft, SR 3253, FEC 3/4,PIDs 308/256.(No signal???)

Optus B3 152E 12701 H "Kanal D" has started on , Fta, PIDs 514/642.

Apstar 1A 134E 4054 H "TVS 2" on, Fta, SR 4420, FEC 3/4, PIDs 160/80.

AsiaSat 4 122E 3880 H "CBN (clear), OTV Arts & Entertainment Channel, OTV News & Entertainment Channel, OTV Music Channel and OTV Folk Opera Channel" have started on ,Irdeto, SR 26500, FEC 3/4, PIDs 560/563, 4176/4179, 4192/4195, 4208/4211 and 4224/4227, 20-22 HKT.(Not new at all just as usual Lyngsat not listing them because he was unsure of the correct names)
AsiaSat 4 122E 3864 V "TVSN (China)" is back on , PowerVu, SR 4300, FEC 3/4, PIDs 1160/1120.
AsiaSat 4 122E 4100 V "It's Jilin TV Happy Shopping" on , Fta, PIDs 514/670.

Palapa C2 113E 3580 H The Kabelvision mux has started on , Nagravision, SR 27000.

AsiaSat 3 105.5E 3729 H "TVB 8, TVB Xing He Channel (Irdeto), MATV and Horizon" have started on ,Fta, SR 13650, FEC 374, PIDs 1100/1120-1410/1420.

AsiaSat 3 105.5E 3920 H "ESPN" has started on , Videoguard, PIDs 515/652.

NSS 6 95E 12595 V "ABC Asia Pacific" is now fta
NSS 6 95E 12729 V "X-Dream TV has replaced Back Room" on , Irdeto, PIDs 1537/1538.

TTV has left 1
ChinaStar 1 87.5E 3900 V "OTV Arts & Entertainment Channel, CBN (clear), OTV News & Entertainment Channel, OTV Music Channel and OTV Folk Opera Channel" have started on ,Irdeto, SR 26500, FEC 3/4, PIDs 3909/3912, 5285/5288, 5477/5480, 5605/5608 and 5733/5736, 20-22 HKT.
ChinaStar 1 87.5E 4062 V The six test cards in the Shanghai Media Group mux on are now encrypted.


NEWS


Digital TV 'to hit broadband'


From http://finance.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10709767%255E462,00.html

TELSTRA has provided a new twist in the debate on the future of digital TV, saying broadband internet take-up would be threatened if the Seven, Nine and Ten Networks were allowed to provide extra digital TV channels.

And if the law were changed to allow the free-TV networks to multi-channel, Telstra said that part of the TV spectrum should be publicly auctioned.

Telstra made the statements in its submission to the review by the Department of Communication, Information Technology and the Arts on what services should be provided on digital TV signals.

"Allowing free-TV networks to offer multi-channel services would allow the sector to develop business models similar to those offered by the broadband services sector," it said.

"Telstra believes the department must consider whether there is a policy rationale for protecting the emerging 'other communications' sector."

Telstra agreed the take-up of free-to-air digital TV was below expectations but said increased penetration should not be "purchased" at the expense of broadband service providers.

Only 5 per cent of Australian homes have upgraded to digital TV, and multi-channels have been suggested as one way of accelerating that growth.

Apart from its internet interests, Telstra also owns 50 per cent of the Foxtel pay-TV group and it said free-to-air multi-channels would also hurt pay-TV.

Telstra said it also supported the stance of Foxtel in relation to the effect extra channels might have on pay-TV. But Foxtel recently outlined a more relaxed approach to multi-channelling. Foxtel now says the free-TV networks should be able to offer extra channels from 2008, but only if the anti-siphoning rules which prevent most sport being shown on pay-TV are abolished.

Telstra agrees any change to multi-channel restrictions should only occur if anti-siphoning is reformed.

As for the public auction of digital-TV spectrum, Telstra said that would ensure the federal Government was paid market price and "ensure the entity that values the spectrum most highly would be allowed to use it".

"In no circumstances should free-TV networks be permitted to unfairly compete with the pay-TV and 'other communications' sectors on a non-level playing field," it said.


Trackside set to broadcast 24hr


From http://www.odt.co.nz

Wellington: Plans are afoot for New Zealand television racing channel Trackside to telecast 24hr a day.

The intention was confirmed by New Zealand Racing Board chief executive Graeme Hanson.

"We are wanting to head in that direction," Hansen said.

He said the reason was "because we have a television channel and it seems a nonsense not to use it".

Hansen said his focus was to develop a wider audience for the Trackside channel.

"I am driven by the need to reset Trackside as an entertainment channel."

Hansen said packages would be put in place to be screened in the early hours of the mornings. They would include re-runs of races from previous days, interviews with trainers and jockeys and film clips of great races.

"If anyone is a casual viewer overnight, they can turn on," he said.

The overnight telecast would not be part of the free-to-air cover. Hansen said. It would be available through the subscriber section of Sky TV which was already in place.

Hansen said a dedicated national radio racing network was nearing completion.

He said NZRB had secured most of the frequencies it required for the network.

Hansen said it was unlikely Radio Pacific would continue to broadcast racing when the dedicated radio racing network began transmitting.


Fiji PM to open satellite facility


From http://www.fijilive.com/news/show/news/2004/09/09/09flive18.html

Fiji's Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase will open a multi-million-dollar satellite facility in Yaqara, north-west of Viti Levu on Saturday.

The facility was built by Telecom Fiji at a cost of at least FJD$45 million and is called VTSat Services, short for Viti, which is Fiji in Fijian.

The facility is right in the middle of the area where it's close to the world famous Fiji Water plant and a short distance from the proposed studio city area.

A government statement says the VTSat brand will surely grow as the project obits around the Fiji Groups of Islands.

The system will enable our rural population to have access to telephones like never before because they do not have to wait for cables and telephone lines to be laid from Telecom Fiji centres to their homes but they are hooked to satellites in an instant, the statement said. .

VTSat will also open villages and settlements to the world's most comprehensive information hub - the Internet.


Shanghai Media Group launches digital channels


From http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-09/09/content_373175.htm

The Shanghai Media Group launched five digital channels Thursday, with digital signals covering 22 municipalities and provinces nationwide.

"The five channels have 245,000 digital television viewers, making up 79 percent of the total viewers in China," a source from the group said.

The Shanghai Media Group is the second firm authorized in China to launch digital channels. On August 9, China Central Television (CCTV) launched six digital channels for 58 yuan (US$7) per month.

"China Satellite Communication Corporation will provide a satellite to safeguard signal transmission for these channels," the source noted.

Encrypted by the satellite, the digital signals from the five channels, together with other six paid TV channels provided by Tianjin TV Station, Hubei TV Station and Jiangsu TV Station will be sent to digital television viewers.

"The group cooperated closely with program suppliers and network companies both at home and abroad, aiming to speed up development of digital TV sectors in China," sources said.

Besides soap operas, the channels will show programs involving fashion, sports and music.


(Craigs comment, see todays from the dish section..Chinastar 87.5E)


Mobile satellite broadcasting ready for launch


From http://www.idg.com.sg/idgwww.nsf/0/D9EB9E31B19D03CA48256F0A0024934E?OpenDocument

Companies in South Korea and Japan say they are ready to launch a new satellite broadcasting service in the next two months that can send video and audio directly to devices such as mobile telephones, handheld terminals and in-car receivers.

Prototype terminals for the service, which will be launched in South Korea by TU Media Corp. and in Japan by Mobile Broadcasting Co. (MBCO), were on show at the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Telecom Asia 2004 conference and exhibition here in Busan, South Korea, this week.

The services will broadcast from a satellite launched by the two companies earlier this year. Unlike existing satellite systems that require dish antennas, the service uses L-band frequencies, which are around 2.6GHz and close to those used by third-generation (3G) cellular services, so it can be received using an antenna built into a portable receiver.

TU Media is planning to broadcast a package of 14 video channels and 24 audio channels from November for a monthly charge of 13,000 won (US$11), said Cho Jin-Ho, manager of the company's technology strategy team. The service also will include video files that can be downloaded into the memory of the terminal device and played on demand, he said.

Both Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and LG Electronics Inc. have produced prototype cellular telephones for the service, which were on show at the exhibition.

The Samsung SCH-B100 is a candy-bar form factor model and has viewing screen that swivels out from behind the telephone body to provide a landscape-oriented screen on which to watch TU Media's TV offering. It can record up to two hours of video in MPEG4, has a 2-megapixel camera, MP3 player and QVGA resolution (240 pixels by 320 pixels) TFT (thin film transistor) LCD (liquid crystal display).

The LG SB-100 is a clamshell handset with a square 2.4-inch LCD that offers 320 pixel by 320 pixel resolution. Because the screen is wider than a conventional mobile phone, it means the video can be watched in full QVGA resolution without having to turn the phone on its side to accommodate the image. It too can record TV programming and comes with a 1-megapixel camera.

Both telephones are expected out before the end of this year and TU Media is also planning to provide a handheld terminal and receiver system for cars, said Cho.

Japan's MBCO will start its service in October and plans to offer seven video channels and 30 audio channels, said Yoshitake Yamaguchi, senior manager for MBCO's satellite and coordination group. The service will cost between ¥1,000 ($9) and ¥3,000 depending on the number of channels selected.

The company was demonstrating a prototype receiver, produced by Toshiba, at the exhibition and Yamaguchi said Sharp Corp. is also working on a receiver. Both are expected to be ready in time for next month's launch. The company is also anticipating a CF (Compact Flash) card receiver for use with personal computers will be available soon and, sometime next year, cellular telephones with support for the service.

Whether consumers are willing to pay for such multimedia content remains to be seen. TU Media's TV lineup will include South Korea's four major TV networks while MBCO will include about eight hours per day from leading Japanese public broadcaster NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai) and cable channels such as MTV Japan and all-news NNN24.

"I think (satellite broadcasting to mobile terminals) will work well in markets were there are many commuters," said Tim Kelly, head of the ITU's policy and strategy unit. Kelly, the author of a new ITU report on the mobile Internet that was published on Wednesday, said he believes people on long commutes want to watch TV and that delivering such services via satellite works better and more efficiently that over the cellular network.

Commuters make up one market that MBCO is interested in, Yamaguchi said. Many people who work in Tokyo face commutes of at least an hour to get to work each day and so listening to music or browsing or messaging on cell phones is a popular activity during what would otherwise be dead time.

Yamaguchi said MBCO has worked to build a network of gap-filler transmitters that provide service in areas that cannot be reached via satellite. One of MBCO's priorities was the Yamanote railway line that circles central Tokyo and carries more than 3 million passengers per day. Coverage of that area is now at 99 percent, he said.


THAILAND: Provincial cable firms up in arms against government's pay-TV plan


From http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=14443

Thailand's cable television networks say government should stick to educational ventures and public service rather than creating a competing cable television network

Provincial pay television operators are strongly opposed to a government proposal to pour billions of baht into a pay-TV service, saying it threatens to force them out of business.

They said the service would create new barriers to adding subscribers for local operators, who currently face limited financial resources, high operating costs and debt burdens. All depend on subscription fees for their core revenue.

It was not fair for the government to jump into the business to compete with the private sector, said Bumroong Wasontakorn, the president of the Thailand Cable TV Association

When it comes to the broadcasting industry, he said, the government should stick to ventures involving educational or documentary channels for public service.

Deputy Prime Minister Visanu Krue-ngarm recently floated a plan to create a pay-TV service, costing up to 20 billion baht, as part of a government plan to crack down on unlicensed operators.

He said the initiative was also aimed at narrowing the gap of information access between urban centres and the provinces, and would charge customers an ''affordable'' monthly fee.

Chanyut Hengtrakool, the association's former president and also an adviser to the Tourism and Sports Ministry, said the local pay-TV business could be on the brink of collapse over the next two years because operators cannot bear heavier competition in the market.

Currently, there are 600 pay-TV operators nationwide. Of the total, only 78 have legitimate licences approved by the Public Relations Department. Some provinces also face an oversupply of the services.

Mr Chanyut said the local pay-TV business had evolved because of poor signals for free-to-air TV in many parts of the country.

Given the existing conditions, he said, any government money spent on a new project should be used for signal improvement. In addition, local operators could be encouraged with support from the government to serve their local communities.

In the near future, after the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is formed to oversee media liberalisation, new threats to the operators would emerge, he added.

He said local companies would face a growing number of new players with better finances and technology, increasing the pressure to improve services, and many would find it very difficult to adjust.

But he warned any new operators to study the business carefully, as 90% of the existing providers were losing money.

Mr Bumroong said his association wanted to promote harmony among operators to improve their chances of survival.

Small operators in provinces might be asked to consider mergers in order to raise their competitiveness, along with programme improvements, he said.


Arianespace wins three contracts to launch US satellites


From http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/105761/1/.html

PARIS : Arianespace, the European commercial satellite launch company, announced it had won three contracts to launch US communications satellites.

Two contracts were signed with DIRECTV and one with PanAmSat, Arianespace said in a statement. No financial details were disclosed.

The three new contracts confirm Arianespace's position as the leading launcher of commercial geostationary satellites.

Under the first contract with DIRECTV, Arianespace will launch a Spaceway 2 satellite in April 2005. Weighing 6.1 tonnes, the Spaceway 2 is aimed at expanding direct satellite television and broadband services in the United States.

The second contract with DIRECTV covers direct satellite television. No launch date has been set.

Both satellites are to be placed into orbit by Ariane 5 rockets from the European Space Agency's (ESA) launchpad in Kourou, French Guiana.

The third contract, signed with US operator PanAmSat, will see the launch of a Galaxy XVII satellite.

Built by Alcatel Space on the Spacebus 3000 BE platform, the satellite, with a launch weight of about 4.1 tonnes, will be used in television and telecommunications services across North America.

It is to be launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou in late 2006 at the earliest.

To date this year, Arianespace has signed seven launch contracts.

Its subsidiary Starsem, which provides commercial launch services for the Russian rocket Soyuz, has signed two contracts with ESA for the launch of experimental satellites for Galileo, the future European satellite global positioning system.

In terms of total satellite launch orders, Arianespace has 36 and Starsem has five.


Zee Sports name given for Chandra's new channel


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep85.htm

NEW DELHI: Zee Telefilms Limited, India's largest media and entertainment conglomerate, today announced the name of its news sports channel. "Zee Sports" will be formally launched on 2 October, the Zee Network's 12th anniversary.

When contacted Ashish Kaul, vice-president, Corporate Brand Development Group, confirmed the news and said, "Zee Network is happy to present Zee Sports, a 24-hour sports channel that is looking forward to bringing the finest sporting action to its viewers."

Kaul further said, "It is for the first time that a concentrated and focused effort will be made to leverage the status of domestic cricket. We are quite positive that apart from international Cricket, Zee Sports will lay its total effort in promoting domestic cricket in India.

Zee Telefilms Limited bagged the telecast rights at a price of $ 308 million. This deal entails that Zee will telecast 144 days of International cricket, which is likely to go upto 160 days over the next four years.

Zee has already paid $ 20 million as part of the deal to BCCI and is reportedly ready with the remaining in the form of a bank guarantee that is to be paid at the time of signing the contract.


Zee may have to share cricket footage


From http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/09/09/stories/2004090902730100.htm

CRICKET live and exclusive on Subhash Chandra owned direct-to-home (DTH) platform, Dish TV, might just be interrupted. The Government is in the process of coming up with a norm on sharing of channels on a non-discriminatory basis by DTH operators.

According to sources, the Zee Group, which has the rights to cricket organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) cannot deny the Tata-Star Group or any other DTH platform the right to access the footage on a commercial basis.

Currently, the Star Group has not given any of its channels to be aired on Dish TV. The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry is planning to incorporate this clause in the DTH licensing agreement very soon. "The DTH operator cannot drive its platform by denying content to other operators. Just as in cable, the broadcaster offers its channels to various cable operators, it should be willing to share popular content with other DTH platforms as well for a financial consideration," the sources said. The broadcasters and the DTH provider would have to work out a financial agreement.

According to Mr Jawahar Goel, Head of Siticable and Dish TV, "Whenever the Government comes up with a norm, we will abide by it. We are not looking for monopoly." The Zee Group had been maintaining that it would take cricket broadcasting to another level, increasing viewer interest. The Ministry is also in the process of coming up with down-linking norms that could incorporate the clause making it mandatory to share rights to certain events with the national broadcaster, Prasar Bharati. The Government is following the Australian model wherein the events of national importance would be decided at the start of each year, depending on the year's calendar.


It's `plain 'n simple' Zee Sports


From unknown

THE suspense surrounding the name of the yet-to-be launched sports channel by the Zee Group is over. It will be called Zee Sports.

Mr Ashish Kaul, Vice-President, Corporate Brand Development, Zee Telefilms, said: "We have decided to keep the name plain and simple. Research indicated that this name was best suited and had a wider audience connect." The company had asked its creative agency, FCB Ulka to come up with options. With the name finalised, the creative team would now have to work on the logo and the look of the channel.

Meanwhile, other issues relating to the whether the channel would be pay or free would have to be finalised. Besides this, the talks between the Subhash Chandra company and Ten Sports and Turner Broadcasting on possible alliance are still on. The private broadcaster has already written to the public broadcaster on sharing of terrestrial rights.


BCCI: Zee Likely To Name Partner Today


From http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=68223

NEW DELHI: Zee Telefilms is expected to announce its production partner on Thursday, for broadcasting cricket matches to be played in India between October 2004 and 2008. Zee was scheduled to have a late night meeting on Wednesday to take a decision on its production partner, according to a company spokesperson.

Production house Nimbus was understood to be pitching for the production of BCCI matches for Zee. Others in the race included WorldTel, TWI, Trademark, Sunset & Vine and ESC. Dubai-based sport channel Ten Sports has also been named in this context. Meanwhile, Turner International also expressed interest in sharing its expertise with Zee for launching a sport channel.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to award the four-year telecast rights to Zee on Sunday. Since then, Zee has been in talks with production companies.

According to Nimbus chairman Harish Thawani, “we’ll certainly pitch for it,” referring to production of BCCI matches over a period of four years. He clarified that it would not be a tieup, but a “customer-vendor relationship”, if the agreement materialises. Nimbus has the requisite credentials for the job, Mr Thawani added.

Zee emerged the highest bidder for broadcasting the four-year series.


44th National Open Athletics Championship on DD Sports


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/tube/y2k4/sep/septube9.htm

Doordarshan will telecast live Athletic Federation of India 44th National Open Athletics Championships-2004. The championship is being held at Priyadarshni Park, Mumbai from 10 -12 September.

According to the press release issued by DD, DD-Sports will air the championship on 10 September from 2 pm to 4 pm, on 11 (Saturday) from 2 pm to 6 pm and on 12 September 2 pm to 6 pm.




8/09/04

TV plus? not much more on them as yet other than a few posts in another forum saying that the service will use existing ex Tarb's dishes (Pas8?) but with a new decoder. Subs will be in the $50-$60 range? and include free dialup internet plus cheap overseas call rates.

Arirang Korean on PAS 2 KU 12401V seems much more stable now as the other signal on the same transponder on 12411V has left.

Mundine Fight tonight, keep a lookout for it perhaps B1

A mixed bag of news items today.


From my Emails & ICQ


From D.Koons

I rang TV plus and they said..
Channels from every where. Spanish, Arab, Croatian etc etc.

Got cut off twice.

Seems dodgy.

Could it be Tarbs?

Now it knows my voice it comes up: an error has occurred please call back later.

D.Koons


From John Harrison

Canal Evenement
sorry folks, meant to post this yesterday but got caught up with things, Canal Evenement on 701 has been FTA for the past 2 days 10975H 30000 3/4


From Herb Gardiner

Radio NTC Australia has started on B3 12525V 30000. Sounds like country
music to me. Dosy doe and away we go...

Herb.


From the Dish


Optus C1 156E 12367 V "SBS World News Channel and SBS South East" have started on ,Fta, PIDs 1011/1012 and 1021/1022.

NSS 6 95E 11635 H "SpaceGate" is back on , SR 27672, FEC 7/8, Middle East beam.

Telstar 10 76.5E 3760 H "Kanal D" has started on , FTA, PIDs 261/517.

PAS 7 68.5E 11090 V "The Block has replaced Fame" on , Irdeto, PIDs 1993/1992.


NEWS


NFL Renews Television Agreements in Japan


From http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/sports/9602457.htm

NEW YORK - The NFL has renewed its television agreements with three Japanese networks on the eve of the 2004 season.

The league announced deals with NHK, NTV and Gaora starting on Thursday, when Indianapolis is at New England.

NHK will continue to broadcast ABC's "Monday Night Football" and has exclusive pay television and high-definition rights to carry the Super Bowl live.

Two games per week will be aired on NHK-BS, which is available in 13 million homes, and one game each week on NHK Hi-Vision, the network's 24-hour high definition channel. NHK, which has been affiliated with the NFL since 1989, also will show "NFL Weekly," a 30-minute recap of the week's games, and incorporate material from the NFL Network and NFL Films into existing shows.

Gaora, a satellite sports channel, will broadcast up to six games per week. The network will continue to produce its own 30-minute, biweekly NFL-themed show. NTV, which reaches 44 million homes, will continue to produce its weekly 30-minute show, "NFL Club."


(Craigs comment, there you go NFL fans in Asia)


CSG Systems' Billing Platform Grows With Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting's Skylife


From http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Sep/1070813.htm

SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Global customer care and billing solutions provider CSG Systems today announced that Skylife -- Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting (KDB), a leading digital satellite broadcasting corporation -- has signed an agreement to expand its use of CSG's Kenan(R)/BP billing platform, its core billing platform supporting its growth and continued rollout of advanced services.

Skylife currently has about 1.5 million subscribers to its multi-channel, satellite broadcasting and pay-per-view services and expects to grow to 3 million subscribers over the next few years.

According to data from leading research group Media Partners Asia (MPA), Skylife is the fastest growing digital satellite platform in the Asia Pacific region with subscriber growth of 115% in 2003 and a projected 50% in 2004. MPA forecasts that Skylife could acquire up to 1.7 million subscribers by year-end 2004, making it the second largest multi-channel satellite operator in the region.

"We selected and implemented CSG Kenan/BP as our strategic billing platform because we knew it had the scalability and flexibility to grow with us over time," said Mr. Seong Yong Woo, Managing Director, Systems Engineering Group, Skylife. "Skylife operates in a highly competitive market with very sophisticated customers and rapidly changing needs. By leveraging CSG Kenan/BP, we can create a diverse array of competitive pricing models and innovative offerings to effectively respond to the ever-changing needs of the Korean marketplace."

"KDB's decision to continue to expand its use of CSG Kenan/BP illustrates the platform's ability to grow with an operator as its subscriber base increases and as its service offerings become more complex and more competitive," said Raghav Sahgal, vice president and managing director of CSG Asia Pacific and China. "KDB is an important customer to CSG, and we look forward to supporting their business needs today and in the future."

About Skylife

Skylife is Korea's exclusive satellite broadcasting corporation, delivering high-quality definition sound and data directly to viewers. Skylife plans to invest 1.8 billion (USD) in digital broadcasting over the next five years. Major stockholders include Korea Telecom, KBS, MBC, SBS and Samsung Electronics, among others. For more information, please see http://www.skylife.co.kr/

About CSG Systems

With worldwide headquarters in Denver, Colo., CSG Systems is a subsidiary of CSG Systems International, Inc. Serving telecommunications service providers in over 40 countries, CSG is a leader in next-generation billing and customer care solutions for the cable television, direct broadcast satellite, advanced IP services, next generation mobile, and fixed wireline markets. CSG's unique combination of proven and future-ready solutions, delivered in both outsourced and licensed formats, empowers its clients to deliver unparalleled customer service, improve operational efficiencies and rapidly bring new revenue-generating products to market. For more information, visit our website at http://www.csgsystems.com/.

Zee makes initial payment of $ 20 million to BCCI


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep71.htm

MUMBAI / NEW DELHI: Challenges in the court notwithstanding, Zee Telefilms is not letting any such distractions come in the way as it moves ahead full steam with its plans for the mother of all cricket acquisitions - India cricket telecast rights.

Honouring one of the conditions set by the Board for Cricket Control in India (BCCI) when it awarded Zee the rights for the next four years for a whopping $ 308 million, Subhash Chandra's network made an initial payment of $20 million this morning.

According to a spokesperson for Essel Group, the parent entity for Zee Telefilms and Chandra's other companies, it has also been conveyed to the BCCI that a bank guarantee worth $ 75 million is also ready as per conditions. "As and when the BCCI indicates, the bank guarantee would be furnished, which would also facilitate the signing of the contract simultaneously," the spokesperson added.

The other condition Zee had to fulfil when it was awarded the contract was to provide a bank guarantee. The board has also said it expects Zee to enter into an agreement with Prasar Bharati for the live feed of the cricket matches

ESS CASE ADJOURNED TO THURSDAY

Meanwhile, the case filed yesterday by ESPN Star Sports in the Bombay High Court challenging BCCI's decision to award the rights to the Zee Network has been adjourned to Thursday.

A division bench of Chief Justice DC Bhandari and Justice DY Chandrachud gave this decision when the ESS petition came up for hearing before them.

Petitioner ESS, incidentally, has also made the Indian government a party to the case.


ESPN-Star Sports moves Mumbai HC


From http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/09/07/stories/2004090703040100.htm

ESPN-Star Sports on Monday announced that it has challenged the BCCI's decision to award conditional allotment of telecast rights for all cricket to be played in India to Zee Network in the Mumbai High Court.

The ESPN-Star Sports Asia Managing Director, Mr Rik Dovey, said: "Unfortunately, we are left with no option but to resort to the law in an attempt to bring fair-dealing and justice to the process. ESPN STAR Sports was the highest eligible bidder under the rules of bidding specified by the BCCI and now BCCI has changed the entire process of bidding in violation of rules set by BCCI themselves to favour our competitor by giving them an unfair advantage."

The Managing Director of ESPN Software India, Mr R.C. Venkatesh, said: "As described in the terms of the BCCI tender document, Zee should not have been allowed to bid in the first place. Zee does not qualify because it does not have any experience in broadcasting or producing live international cricket event as specified in the tender. Clearly the required technical evaluation of bids has not been carried out."


Cricket telecast: court asks BCCI to produce file


From http://www.hindu.com/2004/09/08/stories/2004090806771300.htm

MUMBAI, SEPT. 7. The Bombay High Court today asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India to produce the file pertaining to the awarding of telecast rights to Zee Network for a four-year period.

A Bench consisting of the Chief Justice, D.S. Bhandari, and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, adjourned the matter to September 9 after asking for the file.

The ESPN-Star TV Network had challenged the BCCI's decision to award the rights to Zee for which a tender was floated earlier.

The tender pertained to the telecast rights of national and international cricket matches played in the country from October 2004 to September 2008.

The petition contended that ``Zee was not eligible as it did not satisfy the tender conditions.''

It said that Zee did not possess the required two years experience of telecasting cricket matches of international level and also claimed that awarding tender rights to Zee was a violation of the principle of natural justice.

The petition said that ESPN-Star was not given an opportunity to improve its bid after the BCCI had negotiated the price with Zee. — PTI


Zee Hopes To Bowl Over Viewers


From http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=68024

Zee Telefilms Ltd is spending three years of revenues to broadcast the national cricket team, but analysts warn the attempt to win back viewers may not score a six with advertisers.

Zee, India's biggest listed media company, won the rights to all of the Indian team's home matches in the next four years after a fierce bidding war with ESPN Star Sports, a joint venture of Walt Disney and News Corp.

Cricket corners more than three-quarters of Sports advertising spending in India and draws millions of viewers. Airtime during the India-Pakistan series earlier this year sold at 200,000-300,000 Rupees ($4,300-$6,500) per 10 seconds.

At stake was a potential revenue pie of $300-$350 million, according to estimates by research firm Media Partners Asia.

Zee emerged the victor on Sunday after it upped its bid to $308 million from $260 million.

ESPN Star Sports, which had bid $230 million, had questioned whether Zee had the experience to carry out the broadcasts.

"It's obviously a very positive property to have, and we got the deal fairly cheap in comparison to other recent deals, and considering what we've got in return," said Ashish Kaul, a vice president of brand development at Essel Group, which owns Zee.

Its shares rose as much as 8 per cent in a firm Mumbai market, but ended just 1.8 per cent higher at Rs 161.60. The $308 million is more than Zee's cumulative net sales for the last three years and a fifth of its market capitalisation.

NEW CHANNEL

Zee must pay an initial deposit of $20 million and a bank guarantee for $75 million by Sept 15. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has, in turn, promised it 144 days of international cricket over four years, starting in October.

Zee said it would launch a Sports channel on Oct 2, just ahead of Australia's tour of India. The channel can help grow Zee's base of cable subscribers and its direct-to-home arm.

Zee says it may launch the channel with Time Warner Inc's Turner International, but Turner has declined comment.

"Cricket-related programming remains a major driver of viewership and has historically driven both advertising and subscription on specialised Sports channels," said Vivek Couto, an analyst at Media Partners.

"(But) profiting from the coverage will be tough ... the implied revenue, set against costs, translate into about a $40 million loss, but more revenue benefits and intangible strategic gain should flow to the overall Zee bouquet," he added.

Zee, once India's leading network, trails News Corp's Star and Sony Entertainment in advertising and viewership. Sony paid $225 million for rights to International Cricket Council World Cup matches for four years until 2007.

TEAM INDIA

The new Sports channel's fortunes will hinge on the Indian team, whose performance has been iffy lately.

Sony pocketed more than $43 million from advertising in last year's World Cup, in which India reached the final. But out of a series of three matches against England, completed on Sunday, India won just one.

"It's a volatile market: when the Indian team is playing well, ad rates go up, but there have also been distress sales when they're playing badly," said Ashutosh Srivastava, South Asia head of WPP's media buying arm, Group M.

Besides, Zee will incur substantial production and marketing costs and will have to acquire or licence additional content.


Zee to launch sports channel in alliance with Ten


From http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/841617.cms

MUMBAI: In another big coup for Subhash Chandra, Zee Telefilms has worked out an alliance with Ten Sports for the launch of its new sports channel and is negotiating a distribution deal for Ten Sports.

The deal involves Zee outsourcing cricket and other production work to the more experienced Ten Sports.

Zee chairman Subhash Chandra announced that the network will be launching its sports channel on October 2.

While the outsourcing agreement is said to be almost through, the two broadcasters are in talks for Zee-Turner taking on the distribution of the Ten Sports channel. Negotiations to finalise the deal are reportedly on between Zee chairman Subhash Chandra and the Dubai-based Ten Sports promoter, Abdul Rehman Bukhatir.

The new Zee-Ten Sports alliance follows the breakdown of the distribution deal between Ten Sports and its earlier distribution partner, the Lalit Modi-promoted HMA Udyog. The distribution deal between the two was terminated on August 10 and Ten Sports currently handles its own distribution.

The sports channel has also secured an order from the Delhi High Court restraining HMA Udyog from representing Ten Sports’ interests to cable networks and subscribers. The Modi-Ten Sports distribution contract for three years was to expire on March 31, ’05.

Ten Sports had alleged consistent non-performance on the part of the Modi company. The channel stated in court that even the minimum guaranteed payments were not made by the distributor. It includes the current year’s Rs 110 crore, the channel claimed.


Downlinking policy to fight sleaze channels


From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/841568.cms

NEW DELHI: Those who watch television late into the night have often got a taste of Russian porn on a sneaking channel called Ren. But that is not the only ghost haunting the bosses in the information and broadcasting ministry. They have got evidence of more spooky channels beaming into the country — some preaching evangelism, another subversion.

To fight such infiltration of footsteps from foreign satellites, the ministry has drafted a downlinking policy. The guidelines for downlinking from foreign satellites are being sent to the Union cabinet for approval.

"The purpose behind the policy is to identify the invisible broadcaster beaming into India and regulate such intrusion," says a ministry official.

But the Ren and God channels are not the only offenders. A sneak survey by the ministry's monitoring arm has revealed that even Italian, German, Spanish, French and South Korean channels are beaming into India to make their presence felt.

"Nowhere else downlinking is unregulated, only our laws have so far been vague about it," remarks an official. He points out that Doordarshan has had to comply with a host of rules in the UK for joining a DTH platform there to cater to the Indian diaspora.

Once the downlinking policy is adopted, every foreign broadcaster intending to beam into the country will have to furnish information in a prescribed proforma stating the name, source of funding, board of directors, registered office in India and pay a one-time fee.

The policy will also stipulate that Doordarshan as the national broadcaster will automatically get the terrestrial right to telecast any major sport event.

That will end the uncertainties about Doordarshan getting the terrestrial signals from the satellite telecaster every time the BCCI awards the right to a broadcaster for major cricket tournaments.

With digitalisation of television technology the capacity of the air waves has gone up enormously allowing the presence of more and more channels.

This onrush of new channels has lent an urgency to the need for regulation.

The ministry has proposed that the downlinking policy be incorporated into the convergence Bill later.


(Craigs comment, Hilarious!! so now every Satellite channel received in INDIA will require a license. I would love to know how they plan on enforcing that!)


CNBC Pakistan to launch early next year: report


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep55.htm

MUMBAI: CNBC is gearing up to set up base in Pakistan early next year by launching CNBC Pakistan, which will be the country's first international business channel. UAE's minister of higher education and scientific research and CNBC Pakistan chairman Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan announced that the channel will launch in the first quarter of 2005.

Al Nahayan was quoted in the Dubai-based Khaleej Times as saying that broadcasting from state-of-the-art studios and production facilities in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore, the channel would transmit live programmes in both Urdu and English from Pakistan's perspective 24x7.

He also said that new standards of accurate and credible TV journalism would be set via this channel and that they were looking at hiring new talent to operate the new television station.

CNBC Pakistan president Zafar Siddiqui was also quoted in the report as saying that the channel would be a value addition to the Pakistani media landscape and would utilise the global resources of the CNBC network to deliver a continuous flow of relevant, engaging news and information from all of the Pakistani markets and from global business centres.

CNBC Pakistan is owned by VNTV - a Pakistani company - and has access to the CNBC global network and the resources of Dow Jones.

According to the KT report, VNTV, which is a public limited company with a paid-up capital of $14 million, will offer its shares to the general public for subscription by the end of year 2005. A total of four slots - two each at Pas-2 and Pak-Sat have been booked to air the transmission for the viewers across the globe.




7/09/04

Chatroom live chat in the chatroom tonight use the special link

http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=cache:8FjAiQknD0wJ:www.apsattv.com/chat.html+apsattv+chatroom&hl=en

Satmagazine at satmagazine.com is worth a read it has an interesting article about Pacific Century Matrix (These guys run the mux on Asiasat 3 that has NOWtv,Bloomberg etc) They plan to start another mux on Asiasat 2. As well as that in October the Living Asia Channel will start on the Asiasat 3 mux. Not a bad channel and in English! hopefully FTA as it is elsewhere.

TV Plus? the mystery provider mentioned on Apsattv a few weeks ago as taking on one of the Serbian channels in Australia? well seems they have a website up and running now www.tvplus.com.au their gimmick appears to be offering free internet as part of the deal. I don't know much about them as yet. But their website shows logos for at least 5 Russian channels as well as MKTVsat, TV polonia, TV Chile, and BNTV

Domain report for: tvplus.com.au

Domain Name: tvplus.com.au
Last Modified: 26-Aug-2004 09:27:12 UTC
Registrar ID: R00015-AR
Registrar Name: NetRegistry
Status: OK

Registrant: JEREMIC HEALTH CARE GROUP PTY. LTD.
Registrant ID: ACN 076875486

Registrant ROID: C1814345-AR
Registrant Contact Name: Network Admin
Registrant Email: [email protected]

Tech ID: C0573762-AR
Tech Name: Dominic Main
Tech Email: [email protected]

Name Server: ns1.prodigy.net.au
Name Server IP: 202.147.112.13
Name Server: ns2.prodigy.net.au
Name Server IP: 202.147.112.14

KanalD is testing in the Tarbs/Ubi test service on B3

Xdream TV replaced Backroom on Nss6


From my Emails & ICQ


From Anon

Aus Idol Feed seen on B3 12552V sr 6666 last night


From vkbkp

BLTV on Measat2

BLTV Buddhism Light Television appears to have replaced the test card
on Measat2 11602H 41500 3/4 vpid 512 apid 513.


From the Dish


Nothing in from Lyngsat


NEWS


Australian firm awards Net deal to iPSTAR


From http://nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=6&id=120391&usrsess=1

Thai broadband-satellite operator iPSTAR Co, a subsidiary of Shin Satellite, has won a five-year deal from Australian telecom firm AirNet to jointly provide its service in Australia.

AirNet, iPSTAR’s first Australian customer, will use the iPSTAR broadband-satellite channel to provide Internet services to state and corporate customers across the island-continent.

The services include video conferencing and long-distance learning.

The AirNet deal, said Komson Seripapong, iPSTAR general manager for Australia and New Zealand, has enabled iPSTAR to get a foothold in the Australia market.

iPSTAR will initially target education institutions in regional and remote parts of South Australia, he said.

AirNet will also deploy the iPSTAR service to provide broadband-Internet access to Australia’s Broadband for Health Programme.

iPSTAR is a subsidiary of Shin Satellite Plc, which was founded by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Currently the company has deployed its existing Thaicom 3 satellite to provide the iPSTAR broadband-Internet service together with iPSTAR signal-receiving terminals.

The company will launch the iPSTAR satellite early next year after uncompleted technical tests delayed the set date of late this year.

ShinSat anticipates the US$400-million satellite project will become its new flagship by tapping the huge demand for high-speed Internet access in the Asia-Pacific region.

Last week iPSTAR clinched a similar five-year contract with New Zealand’s major Internet service provider BayCity New Zealand.

ShinSat executive chairman Dumrong Kasemseth recently said the Australia market was expected to account for 10 per cent of iPSTAR’s total revenue, while China would be its largest market – accounting for 25 per cent of revenue – followed by India with 15 per cent.


Melbourne company wins Sudan relief comms deal


From http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/0,2000061791,39158446,00.htm

A Melbourne-based Australian-owned communications provider will supply satellite-based broadband services to United Nations relief teams working in refugee camps in the conflict-ridden Darfur region in western Sudan.

Multiemedia told the Australian Stock Exchange today its NewSat division had secured a contract with Sudan's national telecommunications company SudaTel to supply the services to the relief teams.

The contract will involve the delivery via two-way broadband satellite infrastructure of Internet, data and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to the teams, who are struggling to deal with the fallout from attacks by Arab militias on civilians in the region. The attacks are so far believed to have cost the lives of around 30,000 people.

The Multiemedia deal initially encompasses 10 sites over 12 months, with that number expected to grow to 40 during the life of the contract. The company indicated it was no charity deal, saying the agreement had been struck at commercial rates. However, pricing is confidential, Multiemedia said, under the terms agreed with SudaTel.

Multiemedia's chief executive officer, Adrian Ballintine, said in a statement that while was pleased to have won the contract, he was "further delighted NewSat had been selected to assist with the relief program and contribute to the ending of this humanitarian crisis that has seen thousands killed or driven from their homes".


Zee to pump in Rs 2 billion into sports channel: Chandra


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep61.htm

NEW DELHI: Zee Telefilms Ltd, which reported a 10.8 per cent growth in consolidated revenue for the quarter ended 30 June 2004, would be investing about Rs 2 billion in its proposed sports channel in the initial phase.

Speaking to indiantelevision.com yesterday, Zee Telefilms CMD Subhash Chandra said, "Investments are an ongoing process. But we do plan to pump in between Rs 150 crore and Rs 200 crore (Rs 1.5 - Rs 2 billion) initially (in the proposed sports channel)."

This is not the first time that Zee Tele has thrown its hat in the sports broadcasting arena. Some years back, a Zee affiliate, Buddha Films, had attempted to do a marketing tie-up with Indian pubcaster Doordarshan relating to cricket matches.

Asked whether the sports channel would be in collaboration with Turner Broadcasting, a Time Warner group company, Chandra said those aspects would be "looked into now" after having finally acquired the telecast rights for Indian cricket for the next four years.

Chandra believes he has got a good deal

"Now that we have got the rights, we'll start the process of setting up the sports channel. There is an offer from Turner, but we'll have to look into some other aspects too before we make any announcements in this regard (relating to a possible joint venture)," said the maverick media baron, who is credited with changing the face of Indian television market by starting the country's first Hindi language entertainment channel, delivered via satellite, over a decade back.

Some time back, Turner Broadcasting Asia-Pacific had written a letter to Chandra, offering collaboration on a sports channel, the details of which are still not available with the media. At present, Turner International India and Zee Telefilms have a 26:74 distribution joint venture called Zee Turner Pvt Ltd.

Wouldn't it be logical for Zee Telefilms to extend the relationship with Turner with the sports channel and, in turn Time Warner, if it wishes to take on other global giants like News Corp (Star's parent company) and Disney (ESPN's owners)? "These are business decisions that have to be taken after considering various other aspects and cannot be disclosed to the media always," Chandra said.

Zee Telefilms has also mandated FCB-Ulka, an advertising agency, to undertake a public opinion poll on a suitable name for the proposed sports channel. "We'd have to see what the agency has to say on the name," Chandra explained when asked what could be a likely name for the sports channel.

Some of the options on the names that are available with Zee include the traditional Zee Sports and the trendy Sportz, may be with an emphasis on the alphabet `Z' to denote its parentage.

According to company sources, a final decision on the name is likely to be taken either later in the day or over the next few days after Chandra returns from Chennai. He had been camping there over the weekend to make forceful presentations to the BCCI, which ultimately swung a split verdict on the issue in the cricket board in Zee's favour early Sunday afternoon.

Chandra also maintained that Zee has managed to get the telecast rights at a good bargain at $ 308 million, plus another Rs 930 million committed for the development of domestic cricket in association with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

"As a businessman, I do calculations. The percentage increase in the number of days of available cricket is 33, while our bid was hiked by about 20 per cent. So, in a way, we have managed to get a product worth Rs 33 at Rs 20," Chandra, who was in a jovial mood, tried to explain the intricacies of bidding and winning.

Experts seem to agree with the Zee Telefilms logic. According to conservative estimates from the Hong Kong-based research agency Media Partners Asia (MPA), Zee's cricket coverage could potentially bring in revenues between $320 and $350 million over a four-year period against total cost estimate between $350 million and $375 million. MPA also estimates that net advertising revenues have the potential of touching approximately $160 million with distribution or subscription revenues at around $140 million, with 80 per cent generated from India.

Short-term losses bit long-term gains? MPA analyst Vivek Couto grandly explains, "Did Subhash (Chandra) and Zee overbid? Who cares? In the Mogul-ish scheme of things when Ted Turner bid for the Atlanta Braves or when Rupert Murdoch outbid Barclay Knapp at NTL to win the English Premier League in 90s, sure the bids were inflated and early losses were sizeable. But long-term returns (both tangible and intangible) were there for the taking too."

Isn't Subhash Chandra also sometimes referred to as the Asian Rupert Murdoch?


Zoom looking at end-September launch


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/sep53.htm

MUMBAI: It's almost all systems go for the first of the four "premium, unique niche channels" that the Bennett, Coleman stable expects to launch over the next 12 to 15 months.

The group has categorised Zoom, which is expected to officially start beaming into Indian homes "anytime" after the third week of this month, as a premium, niche, non-fiction entertainment and lifestyle channel.

Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited president Arun Arora and Times Television Network COO Apurva Purohit, speaking exclusively to indiantelevision.com, dwelt at length about the "aspirational entertainment Hindi channel", its vision and why they were convinced that a mass niche channel (Arora's description) like Zoom would be able to redefine entertainment television in India. A point that Arora stressed upon was that all the research that the group had conducted (both internal and external) indicated that Zoom's key target audience of adult "metrosexuals" were craving for quality entertainment that was not "saas-bahu" driven. The language of the channel would hence be a mix - 80 per cent Hindi and 20 per cent English.

Times Group president Arun Arora offers a sneak peek into Zoom's channel id. The Zoom logo will appear at the bottom left of TV screens.
One of the channel's clear strengths that Arora alluded to was its capacity to get any and every Indian celebrity associated where and when required. That Zoom will have access to celebrities better than any other channel is one thing that no one disputes among the media fraternity.

Queried as to whether Zoom could be likened to international lifestyle channel E! in terms of content and USP, Purohit said that while there were similarities as far as the "celebrity-pull" quotient was concerned, the Times channel had a far broader range of coverage. Purohit confirmed that there would be an E! band from 11:30 pm to 12:30 am, as part of Zoom's content offerings. Arora said syndication of shows from other international networks was also on the cards but did not provide any details.

The marketing and promo efforts are ready for release as soon as the launch date is finalised, including teasers on radio and a radio contest for guessing the voice of the celebrity promoting Zoom, as well as hoardings and Internet campaigns. Lemon, which bagged the Zoom creative account, has shot the promo campaign for the channel in Dubai.

The Zoom team, which is creating 60 per cent of the programming in house, will shift to the 80,000 square feet of space that the company has acquired in the Kamla mills compound in Parel shortly.

CHANNEL TO BE PRICED AT Rs 7.50

For Zoom, which will be priced at a steep Rs 7.50, Irshwin Balwani has recently been appointed business head. Balwani, an old Times hand, has been involved in the launches of music label CBS, Times FM in its earlier avatar, and Planet M. While the Zoom team reports to Balwani, it is to Purohit as the chief operating officer for the entire Times television initiative, to whom all television channel heads will report.

As far as the character of the channel is concerned, the thinking is that "as aspirations in India revolve around the lives of the rich and famous from fields like Bollywood, sports, music and politics, the programming on Zoom would be created through celebrity-based shows. Zoom would create a platform where Celebs and viewers could interface with each other."

Programming genres that Zoom will cover are lifestyle and fashion, music based shows, film entertainment, celebrity chat shows, celebrity game shows, astrology and the paranormal.

Among the production houses that Zoom has tied up with to do its shows are Balaji Telefilms, UTV, Bombay Talkies, Miditech, Rose Audio Visuals and Cinevistaas. Hosting programmes on the channel will be celebrities like fashion designer Manish Malhotra, actor-director Pooja Bedi, stand-up comedian Vir Das, actor Irrfan Khan, model Yana Gupta, etc.

For uplinking, the group has already signed an agreement with the Essel Shyam facility in Noida. Zoom will be beaming off the PAS 10 satellite in C band with a strong footprint over India.


DD launches DTH in MP


From http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/002200409062231.htm

Bhopal, Sept 6 (PTI) Doordarshan today launched `DD Direct Service' -- for direct-to-home (DTH) telecast of its 17 channels and five private channels, and broadcast of five channels of All India Radio (AIR) through KU band receiver system in Madhya Pradesh.

"Eight new satellite channels would also be started shortly", Siraj Qureshi, Bhopal, Doordarshan Director, said at a press conference here after inaugurating the new service along with Superintending Engineer S R Chouhan and Air Bhopal Centre Director Gulabchand.

The private channels that would telecast their programmes through the service would include Zee News, Zee Music, Jagaran and ABC, they said adding all regional channels of Doordarshan would also be telecast.

Gulabchand said five channels of AIR, including the Vividh Bharti would be broadcast and 20 others will be shortly added to it.

The viewers will have to purchase a dish antenna and a set-top box ranging between Rs 3000 and Rs 4000. The cable operators will play no role and no rentals would be charged, they added.




6/09/04

Sorry if some of the news items are a little stale..

Catching up

Zee has won the broadcast rights for Indian Cricket matches, expect them to launch a new Sports channel in early October (not far away!)

Rai International was seen on B3 Globecast Adhoc Channel Sunday night

Future TV started on Pas 2 BAND WMI mux.FTA at the moment..

Al-Manar has left B3 Globecast

SUN TV and Sigaram have been FTA on 12525 OPTUS B3

ACC TV on B3 Globecast mux is TEST only and will move September 15th to C1

AFL/NRL finals ABC Asia Pacific

NEW SOFTWARE is due for EMETABOX (and clone) users in the next week or 2

September issue of Satmagazine is at satmagazine.com


From my Emails & ICQ


From Chris

FTA on C1 12367 V, sr 27800
SBS World News, SBS SE and SBS West running FTA
SBS News: V 1011 A 1012
SBS SE: V 1021 A 1022
SBS WA: V 1031 A 1032
Testcards : Vpids 1071, 1081, and 1091 with Apids 1072, 1082, and 1092

Chris


From Simmo

Moto GP

3767 H 5632 Palapa


From the Dish


Due to LAG some details may be incorrect

PAS 2 169E 3836 V "Future TV USA" has started on , Fta, PIDs 2315/2316.

Optus C1 156E 12367 V "SBS Western and three test cards" have started on , Fta, SR 27800,PIDs 1031/1032 and 1071/1072-1091/1092.

Optus B3 152E 12525 V "Sigaram and Sun TV" are Fta.
Optus B3 152E 12525 V "Al-Manar TV" has left .

Telstar 18 138E 12476 H The CCTV HD promo has left .

AsiaSat 4 122E 4020 V "CHC" is now encrypted.
AsiaSat 4 122E All channels on 4100 V are now encrypted, except TVSN.CCTV Sports 1-2 on have changed names to CCTV City Sports and CCTV Football.

Palapa C2 113E 3500 H The Kabelvision mux has left .

Telkom 1 108E 4097 H "SCTV Jawatimur" has started on , Fta, PIDs 1160/1120, time sharing with JTV.

AsiaSat 2 100.5E 3660 V The test card has left .

NSS 6 95E 12595 V "ABC Asia Pacific" is now encrypted.(What a shame Australians in India can't view ABC for free)

Measat 1 91.5E 4158 H "VTV 4" has started on , Fta, PIDs 204/104.
Measat 1 91.5E NTV 7 has moved from 3811 H to 3802 H, Fta, SR 3214, FEC 3/4, PIDs 308/256.

ST 1 88E 3632 V "CTS, CTV and TTV" are Fta

ChinaStar 1 87.5E 3734 H A Singtel test card has started on , Fta, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, PIDs 3601/3604.
ChinaStar 1 87.5E 3848 V "GreatSports Channel" is now encrypted.
ChinaStar 1 87.5E 4062 V "Six test cards" have started on , Fta, SR 26500, FEC 3/4.

Intelsat 709 85.2E 11486 V "TVB Jade and TVB Pearl" have left .

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3600 H "Indiavision News and Indiavision Entertainment" are back on , Fta,PIDs 515/680 and 517/700.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3520 H "Thai TV Global Network, Tara, Sur Sangeet, KTN, the Apna Channel tests,TVK, Radio Cambodia and Bangkok Radio 94 FM" have left .

PAS 7 68.5E 3521 V "CNBC TV 18" has started on , Encrypted, SR 4250, FEC 3/4, PIDs 308/256.
PAS 10 68.5E 3836 V "The Block" has started on , Irdeto, PIDs 1639/1638.
PAS 10 68.5E 3836 V "The SuperSport + info card" has left .
PAS 10 68.5E 4178 V "The Times TV test card" is now encrypted. New PIDs: 300/350.

NSS 703 57E 3980 R "Teja News and an Adithya TV info card" have started on , fta,PIDs 70/69 and 73/72. Sun International and Surya International have left.


NEWS


TV deal hits 400,000


From http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10680979%255E7582,00.html

FREE-TO-AIR channels have agreed on a standard new set-top box to give viewers interactive power on their digital TVs, but the new standard leaves 400,000 people with existing set-top boxes out in the cold.

After more than three years, the ABC, Seven, Nine, Ten, SBS and the regional broadcasters will have the facility to compete with the interactive capabilities of digital pay-television networks such as Foxtel.

Whatever they offer in terms of interactivity will be available on set-top boxes sold in the future and labelled "interactive".

But those 400,000-plus people who have already bought similar boxes will not be able to see the interactive features.

Pay-TV group Foxtel has begun promoting interactivity as one of its key selling points since the services began with the launch of the new Foxtel Digital service.

Foxtel recently launched a polling service on Sky News, has the Sports Active interactive service on Fox Sports channels and has an interactive service on the Weather Channel.

Now the free-to-air TV networks will be able to introduce similar services on their digital free-to-air channels.

The set-top boxes are expected to be available early next year.


CapRock Expands Its Asia-Pacific Presence By Acquiring Telematika


From http://www.spacedaily.com/news/satellite-biz-04zzzzzza.html

Through its global expansion effort, CapRock Communications has extended its service offerings in some of the world's harshest and most remote regions.

With the acquisition of Indonesia- based Telematika Java Duta, CapRock continues this expansion and provides increased services to energy exploration, maritime, construction, mining, forestry and government customers across Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

"The acquisition of Telematika, and the Asia Pacific market in general, represent a significant growth vehicle for CapRock," said CapRock CEO Peter Shaper.

"Having a large and experienced technical service presence in Indonesia enables us to extend our offerings to an increasing number of customers in this underserved market. This move demonstrates CapRock's commitment to its expanding customer base in the region."

Telematika has more than 15 years experience providing satellite, microwave and other telecommunication services to remote energy, mining and government customers across Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

Telematika was the first company to introduce very small aperture terminal (VSAT) satellite-technology-based services to Vietnam, with similar services provided in Australia, Thailand, Bhutan, Indonesia and the Philippines.

As part of the stock purchase deal, the Telematika management team will stay on to run the Asia-Pacific region for CapRock Communications.

The company's engineering and technical staff, which currently includes more than 100 employees, is the key asset for supporting new and existing customers.

Telematika's Jakarta-based teleport facilities will become CapRock's new base of operations in Asia and will be augmented by CapRock's existing regional facilities in Honolulu and Singapore.

This acquisition rounds out CapRock's privately owned and operated telecommunications infrastructure, which also includes international teleports and operations centers in Houston; Aberdeen, Scotland; and Macae, Brazil.

"CapRock has a proven track record of providing reliable telecommunications services to customers in hard-to-reach places and harsh environments," commented Shaper.

"Telematika's approach is a perfect fit with our service philosophy, making this acquisition an excellent move for us."

CapRock Communications has experienced rapid growth over the past few years, due, in part, to its continued investment in a unified global infrastructure.


Shin Satellite Chooses TANDBERG

From http://www.creativemac.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=27782

MPEG-2 system will upgrade video distribution and DTH network

TANDBERG Television today announced that it has been selected by Thailand's Shin Satellite to provide its industry-leading evolution 5000 compression system to carry Shin Satellite's video distribution across the Asia Pacific region. The hotly contested contract has been awarded to TANDBERG Television because the company is able to deliver the industry's highest performance compression solutions, supported with a long history of pioneering development in the satellite broadcasting market.

Shin Satellite was a very early adopter of MPEG digital technology, pioneering Digital DTH using the Ku-band frequency in 1993 and was the world's first full scale user to adopt the MPEG-2/DVB standard in May 1995. This early system included some of the first TANDBERG Television MPEG-2 products to ship anywhere in the world. Almost a decade later, the two companies are once again pushing the boundaries with the deployment of a state-of-the-art satellite distribution system that will enable Shin Satellite to take advantage of the significant performance developments that TANDBERG Television has built into its MPEG-2 systems over the years.

"We chose TANDBERG Television in the early 1990s because the company simply had the best technology. Almost ten years later, we have chosen TANDBERG Television again because we trust in their quality of products, their commitment and their long term support," says Teerayuth Boonchote, Vice President of Operations of Shin Satellite. "TANDBERG Television was instrumental in the launch of our DTH and satellite distribution network. Today, the company continues to support us in the migration to the latest generation of equipment that enables us to roll-out more cost-effective and operationally efficient systems."

The new system will be used for both the Direct-to-Home (DTH) and Global Digital TV distribution activities of Shinsat. The DTH Ku-band service allows Thailand's major pay television operator, The United Broadcasting Corporation Group (UBC), to provide up to 50 digital channels to its customers. Using Shinsat's Thaicom 3 Global Beam for Global Digital TV distribution, broadcasters and channel owners need only uplink once to ensure that over three billion people on four continents can potentially view their channel. This service has proven popular for ethnic language programming that enables ethnic groups on one side of the world to broadcast programs to their ethnic cousins on the other side of the world. While this vast footprint covers everything between Western Europe and Japan, for areas outside of this footprint, Shin Satellite can arrange for satellite capacity and turnaround arrangements using several satellites to achieve truly global viewing.

"Our continually evolving encoding technology has always been at the forefront of our success and our MPEG-2 compression engine will allow Shin Satellite to maximize their number of broadcast channels without compromising the quality of the video and audio content. We are delighted that they have chosen to upgrade their system with the latest TANDBERG Television technology," says David Godfrey, Sales & Marketing Director, TANDBERG Television APAC.

About TANDBERG Television

TANDBERG Television (Oslo: TAT) creates products and systems for the delivery of high quality live video and on demand content across cable, DSL, fibre, IP, satellite and terrestrial networks. Recognised as a market leader, the company provides systems integration and global support capabilities through its sales and 24-hour support operations in the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe. TANDBERG Television's customers include many of the major broadcasters, network operators and content owners around the world.

For more information visit: http://www.tandbergtv.com


New Skies rockets into Indian DTH space


From http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/835794.cms

NEW DELHI: Buoyed by the increasing demand for satellite services in the fledgling DTH and broadband areas of Indian broadcasting, global satellite communications company, New Skies Satellites is launching a new satellite NSS-8 to cater to the Indian ocean region.

It would carry both C-band and KU-band payloads. Commercial service will begin next year and the powerful satellite with 88 transponders with 36 megahertz capacity can carry 10-12 digitally compressed TV signals.

Dan Goldberg, CEO, New Skies Satellites who is based in The Netherlands is in India to take stock of the expanding opportunity.

He told ET that NSS-8 would gradually replace the existing NSS-703 satellite which serves the needs of Sun TV, Primus India, Reliance, CNN, ISRO, STPI, Data Access and others.

“India is becoming an increasingly important centre for us with 7% of the $215 million revenues accruing from services we render here,” Mr Goldberg said. New Skies’ NSS-6 is at present being used both by Zee-affiliate ASC Enterprises’ DTH operations, Dish TV as well as Doordarshan’s to-be-launched DTH services, DD Direct. While the DTH policy in India allows licence-holders to use ISRO satellites, ISRO in turn can hire space on foreign satellites.

Mr Goldberg believes that even after the INSAT 4A and 4B launch, there would be enough demand to sustain business.


Jubilant Chandra promises an exciting sports fest


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/sep/septzeesport1.htm

Mumbai: Zee Telefilms chairman Subhash Chandra was in a jubilant mood in Chennai on Sunday evening even as the network bagged the BCCI cricket telecast rights for the next four years.

Speaking to indiantelevision.com Chandra accepted the congratulations graciously and said that all formalities that the BCCI had asked for would be completed. Even the initial amount of $20 million within the next 48 hours. And the bank guarantees for a further $75 million by 15 September.

"We will be signing a letter of intent with the BCCI," he said.

He added that his network would be speaking to Turner Broadcasting Asia about a proposed collaborative effort to launch a sports channel tomorrow. "Today is a Sunday," he said. "We will be moving ahead aggressively."

Earlier while speaking to Zee News Chandra said that his network was well geared up to get the channel off the ground by 2 October for the Australian series. "The channel will be youthful," he told Zee News. "Sports is entertainment. We will provide more excitement than before. Our network infrastructure is strong and we will get adequate distribution."

He added: "Cricket has become a religion in India. We will give a boost to other sports also through our channel. We will work hard on improving the production quality."

Chandra says that all formalities that the BCCI has asked for will be completed. Even the initial amount of $20 million within the next 48 hours. And the bank guarantees for a further $75 million by 15 September

Earlier, BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya had told media persons in Chennai that the contract had not yet been awarded to Zee TV, but they had accepted Zee TV's revised bid.

"Formalities have to be completed," Dalmiya said. "Bank guarantees have to be furnished, who will be doing the production etc has to be clarified.."

He, however, added that he had no doubt that Zee would be able to meet with the conditions the board had set for it. He said that "the Letter of Intent will be extended to Zee soon after receipt of US$20 million by the Board."

Dalmiya told media persons that the tender had not been repoened but that rival bidder ESPN had agreed to pay $308 million at yesterday's meeting. Zee had been given an opportunity to bid since it was the highest bidder. And chairman Chandra agreed to match the bid put up by ESPN-Star.

BCCI spokesperson Amrit Mathur, while speaking to Zee News, added that the board expected domestic cricket to get a spurt. "The Ranji Trophy, junior cricket... you will see it all getting a shot in the arm," he said.

Meanwhile, ESPN Star Sports managing director Rik Dovey is believed to have issued a statement in which he has stated.

"I am disappointed to learn that Zee had been even offered the cricket rights and that the BCCI had changed the entire process of bidding in violation of rules set by BCCI themselves."

"Yesterday [4 September] we were asked by the BCCI, after they met Zee, to provide clarifications on our original bid, which we did in light of their statement to us, that such clarifications would be used by the Committee to conclude the process. The Tender Committee had clearly expressed that they wanted the bidding process to stop there."

"Today we were asked to attend a meeting to provide what was described as further clarification. However, when we met the committee we were informed that the BCCI `Tender Committee' had changed their position from yesterday. We were informed that BCCI had just given Zee the opportunity to increase their bid and that providing Zee met certain conditions, not all of which were disclosed to ESPN-Star Sports."

"We feel that today's proceedings clearly are a denial of natural justice and a violation by the BCCI of its own tendering process."

One will have to wait to see how the ESPN-Star management will react. On 4 September, Chandra had threatened the cricket board with legal action if "inspite of being the highest bidder we are deprived of the telecast rights."

Will ESPN-Star now take the legal route? Watch this space!


Sahara plans six regional news channels


From http://www.business-standard.com/bsonline/storypage.php?&autono=166235

Sahara India Media Company, the media and entertainment arm of the Sahara Group, plans to launch at least six regional news channels in the next 12 months as part of its plans to expand its footprint in the regional market.

The plans include regional language news channels in Tamil, Telugu, Kannda and Malayalam. In addition, it is also planning a news channels dedicated for the states of Rajasthan and Bihar.

“This is a part of our plan to expand in local markets. The channels meant for Rajasthan and Bihar will be using the same format as our Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh channels,” said a senior executive with the company.

The Rajasthan and Bihar channels are in the immediate horizon and the business plans of the two channels are being finalised.

“The plans of other channels are being finalised. These will happen in about 8 to 10 months,” he said.

Besides, the media company is looking at launching channel in other languages also.

According to sources, the company is also finalising plans for a channel targeting the East Indian market covering West Bengal and the North East region.

According to sources, the company sees regional markets as a major driver for its growth.

“We look at the regional news market as the major driver for operations in terms of revenue as well as viewership. Our strategy is to offer an alternative to the existing channels in terms of content and reach. We have a network that can offer regional and national news on the same platform,” said the company executive.

As a part of its regional push, the company plans to launch 37 channels, targeting citi-centric and national level viewers.


DTH: Prasar Bharati hopes to rope in BBC


From http://sify.com/finance/equity/fullstory.php?id=13559845

Prasar Bharati is in parleys with BBC and CNN to induct them into the DTH (direct-to-home) platform to be launched by Doordarshan on September 15, as part of the countrywide rollout of free-to-air television broadcast services and digital radio channels.

The Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati, K.S. Sarma, said, "We are in the process of holding parleys with BBC and CNN and several other players to induct them into the 30 free-to-air channels space to be beamed by the DD DTH platform. This project is to be launched by the Prime Minister on September 15. It was on September 15, 1959, Doordarshan came into being."

Prasar Bharati has distributed about 5,000 sets of set top boxes and dish antennae to rural areas in the country. This Rs 165-crore DTH project, in which Prasar Bharati has invested about Rs 90 crore so far, will be formally launched later this month with 30 channels. Addressing a press conference here, Sarmasaid Bharat Electronics Ltd has been mandated to manufacture set top boxes for the DTH rollout, and various retailers are being finalised. "We are also negotiating with the state-owned Electronics Corporation of India Ltd to manufacture these set top boxes and antennae."

The same set top box and dish can offer a host of digital radio channels, including 214 radio stations in the country"Since both DD DTH and Zee DTH are beamed out of same satellite feed, there is the possibility of accessing more channels initially, till we move over to Insat VI B," the CEO explained.


Ten Sports, Modis on verge of split


From http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/5922_983637,0015002200000167.htm

Serious differences threaten to scupper the partnership of leading television channel Ten Sports India and its exclusive Indian distributor Modi Entertainment Network. According to sources, relations have deteriorated to such an extent that a break-up is imminent.

The reasons include differences over the Rs 50 crore deposited by public broadcaster Prasar Bharti for the live feed of the Indo-Pak cricket series earlier this year. Ten and MEN are supposed to divide the money between themselves.

Meanwhile, Doordarshan is disputing this payment and a court hearing is scheduled for Thursday, said a lawyer associated with the case. Taj Television India managing director Sharmista Rijhwani sought more time to share the details. “I will be in Delhi tomorrow and will speak with you then,” Rijhwani said.

Lalit Modi, president and managing director, Modi Enterprises and CDN (Cable Distribution Network – Modi’s separate distribution arm for Ten Sports) also did not offer details. However, sources said the alliance is virtually over. “The cricket series telecast imbroglio of March severely tested the partnership. And now there are problems over the revenue sharing,” they said.

Sources added that there was another twist to the tale. Even as the arbitration over the Rs 50 crore is going on, Ten Sports is seeking another distribution partner. Cable and direct-to-home (DTH) broadcaster Zee, which recently bid aggressively for BCCI’s cricket telecast rights, is seen as a possible partner.

However, any move to abrogate the distribution contract will not go unchallenged by MEN. For Zee such a tie-up will make sense as it could get access to Ten’s considerable experience in sports events.

The sources added that Modi’s trouble with Ten Sports comes after souring of relations with Fashion TV and Disney. The Indo-Pak series earlier this year saw pitched battles between Prasar Bharti and Ten Sports.

Given the importance of the series, which India eventually won, the then BJP-led government exerted considerable pressure for simulcast rights being offered to Doordarshan. High-level parleys and a spirited legal battle followed, which culminated in DD getting the feed for a fee. Ten’s legal team at that time included legal eagle Kapil Sibal.




5/09/04

No Update Sunday




4/09/04

No update Saturday




3/09/04

No Update Friday due to me having the Flu




2/09/04

No update Thursday due to me having the Flu




1/09/04

The server issue is nearly sorted!



From my Emails & ICQ


From Chris Pickstock

B1 12370 H, sr 6670
Band in a bubble is what it says, no audio at the moment, but pictures ok

Chris


From Dharmesh Bamrolia

Dear Australians,

We are watching your ABC Asia-Pacific channel on our DishTV npackage on NSS 6.

The channels is very good, but the picture is very bright because of our fool engineer of DishTV.

All Indians are requested to watch this channel which is only available
through DishTV in India, there is no other satellite is beaming this channel in India.

Thanks DISHTV



From the Dish


PAS 8 166E 3836 V "TVBS Golden and TVBS Asia" are FTAr.

NSS 6 95E 12535 V "Sahara Samay National" has started on , Conax, PIDs 2906/2907.(Indian beam)

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3600 H "Indiavision News and Indiavision News" have left , replaced by Thaicom test cards.

Telstar 10 76.5E 12734 V "TVBS Golden" is Fta.

PAS 10 68.5E "SuperSport 8-12 have left Multichoice South Africa".


NEWS


ABC from Down Under comes aboard Dish TV


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/aug/aug269.htm

NEW DELHI: ASC Enterprise's Dish TV, country's first KU-band DTH service, has signed an exclusive deal with ABC Asia Pacific, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation's free-to-air international satellite television channel.

Now, for the first time this channel would be available in India exclusively through Dish TV making it possible for the subscribers to watch this Australian channel.

ABC Asia Pacific offers a rich and diverse range of information and general programming. The channel is already available in Bangladesh, China, Burma, Nepal, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, amongst various other countries across the Pacific, at present.

Commenting on the tie-up, Essel Group additional vice-chairman Jawahar Goel said, "It's a pleasure to have such a renowned channel on the Dish TV platform. This tie-up with ABC has just strengthened our commitment to provide the best entertainment to our customers spread across the length and breadth of the country."

However, neither Goel, nor the company offered any financial details of the deal. Essel group is the umbrella entity under which Subhash Chandra carries out his various business ventures through different companies.

On ABC Asia Pacific, viewers can catch the latest regional news, update English language skills and tune in to international documentaries, lifestyle programmes and top quality dramas. Extensive sports coverage and award-winning children's programmes are also included in the programming mix.

This Australian television channel draws on the vast inventory of programming available from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian commercial television networks and independent production houses from around the world.

According to John Doherty, joint head of ABC Asia Pacific Operations, "We are very delighted to be a part of the Dish TV family and look forward to a fruitful and lasting relationship with Dish and its viewers."

Existing Dish TV bouquet encapsulates channels from 32 Indian and international broadcasters that cover the entire gamut of TV viewing from news, soaps, sports, music, movies, cartoons regional languages, plus a range of niche channels.

Broadcasters on Dish TV include Turner, ESPN, Star Sports, NDTV, TV Today, India TV, Zee Network, ETV, Asianet, DD channels, MCM Trace, Fashion TV and Trendz. Dish TV signals is available on NSS-6 satellite.


VoIP goes regional via satellite


From http://www.itnews.com.au/storycontent.asp?ID=12&Art_ID=21337

Sydney service provider Multiemedia has launched VoIP over satellite broadband for customers in Australia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, parts of New Zealand and eventually even further afield.
Nigel Peterson, product manager for converged services at Multiemedia's satellite broadband operation NewSat, said no other companies so far were offering ways to connect far-flung Australian DSL users to "true" VoIP over two-way satellite broadband.

"As far as I'm aware, there's no one doing it. Optus can't do it and Telstra isn't either. The only thing close to this is done by Inmarsat, using satellite phones," Pederson said.

Telstra and Optus were doing satellite broadband, but only in one direction, he added.

Multiemedia's NewSat service uses the NSS-6 satellite to deliver broadband via satellite. It is capable of supporting video, voice and data communications over broadband internet.

Providing satellite broadband services to the Middle East offered big opportunities to Multiemedia. That part of the world already depended heavily on satellite services for its telecommunications, Peterson said.

Meanwhile, users in regional Australia were clamouring for such a service as standard telecommunications costs climbed. Demand was "huge", he said.

"Our call rates are quite competitive," Peterson said. "We have had calls to capital cities at 19 cents flat, to anywhere in Australia at 29 cents flat, fixed-to-mobile calls at 33 cents a minute, and a whole bunch of international deals."

Some SMB customers in regional areas had been paying $2000 to $3000 a month in telephony costs. Adopting VoIP had brought some down to $500 a month, Peterson said.

NewSat's satellite services were eventually expected to cover 60 percent of the globe, as Multiemedia beamed into more places. Also, the service could be hooked up to standard analogue telecommunications hardware, such as PABX, he said.

Customers could therefore access VoIP without having to invest in new equipment, he said.

Multiemedia planned to start bundling IP handsets with its service. "So customers don't have to buy them. Just buy a managed service with a handset," Peterson said. "At the moment, we're only delivering analogue and digital interfaces but we're very close to delivering IP handsets as well."

He conceded satellite broadband had latency issues. Latencies of 700 milliseconds were standard, and for most users -- including gamers -- they should not cause a problem, he said.

"There's really not that much difference," Peterson said. "But because the satellite is about 33,000 kilometres away and back again, you will get latency."

Satellite broadband is line of sight-dependent, so tall objects -- such as mountains -- can get in the way of the signal. But in practice most Australians would find they could get reception, he said.

However, quality of service could be guaranteed, he said.

Customers would also be able to connect to Multiemedia's satellite broadband service via their own DSL service provider. "That's something we're working towards in the next few months," Peterson said.

Market research firm IDC has forecast Australia's VoIP services market to hit $288 million by 2007, growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 62 percent. Some 61 percent of medium-sized and large companies here expect to have adopted IP telephony by 2007, according to a recent IDC survey of about 300 Australian firms.


BT Arm, Dish TV In Pact; Foreign Channels To Tap India Market


From From http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=67472

NEW DELHI: Broadcast and media solutions arm of British Telecom, BT Broadcast Services, has signed an agreement with Dish TV, a direct-to-home (DTH) platform of India.

Dish TV was launched by Subhash Chandra-promoted ASC Enterprises last September.

The agreement enables European and US broadcasters to tap into India, according to a news release issued by British Telecom. The deal applies to other markets in the Asia-Pacific region too.

ASC Enterprises director Amitabh Kumar said that the joint offering with BT Broadcast is a good opportunity for global broadcasters “to transmit their channels to a new potential audience of 1 billion people.”

According to CEO of BT Broadcast Services Mark Smith, “BTBS and ASC Enterprises have consolidated our international broadcasting capabilities to create a powerful channel to this key global market.”

He added that in the past, there have been significant barriers to entry for European and US broadcasters to the rapidly-growing Indian, Australian and Asian English speaking markets. The new service makes it easier and cost-effective, according to Mr Smith.

Elaborating on the pact, company officials said both BTBS and ASC Enterprises would market end-to-end services. These include encryption using Conax conditional access; signal quality monitoring; contribution of signals from Europe and the US to India, Australia and other markets in Asia-Pacific; access to Dish TV subscriber community; and subscriber management for premium channels.

The international customer base of BT Broadcast includes broadcasters, content owners, distributors, large corporations, and government organisations throughout the world. It delivers live broadcasts from major international events, provides digital terrestrial TV networks and DTH platforms, among others.


ATV signs landmark deal Southern Broadcasting Media


From http://www.advanced-television.com/pages/pagesb/newsdaily.html

Hong Kong's free-to-air broadcaster, Asia Television (ATV), is selling a 10 per cent stake to a Guangdong government-backed company for US$24 million. In what is investment in a local broadcaster by a mainland company, ATV will receive a cash injection from Southern Broadcasting Media Group, which is controlled by Guangdong's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

A 10 percent stake is the maximum a foreign investor is allowed to take in a local free-to-air broadcaster. The deal would see an executive from the Guangdong government media unit play an active role in ATV's operations. The development is being seen as a foundation for ATV to tap the lucrative Guangdong advertising market, which is estimated to be over US$350 million.

Another terrestrial broadcaster Television Broadcasts (TVB) Limited is expecting to gain landing rights in Guangdong province and sign a revenue-sharing agreement with mainland China media. The move would legalize its broadcasts in one of China's richest media markets and open up an important new revenue stream. According to local media, under the arrangement, TVB will establish an advertising sales joint venture with Guangdong's Southern Broadcasting Media Group (SBMG), allowing it to distribute and collect revenues from its Cantonese Jade and English Pearl channels on 10 networks in nine Pearl River Delta cities. The final decision is still awaited.


ESPN Star Sports Launches New Greater China Strategy


From Press Release

Kathy Sun Appointed ESPN Star Sports Managing Director Greater China

SINGAPORE, Aug. 31 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- ESPN Star Sports, Asia's number
one sports broadcaster, today announced key changes to its management team
aimed at strengthening its operations across China and Taiwan while furthering
the network's Greater China strategy. Kathy Sun, formerly Managing Director,
ESPN Star Sports Taiwan, has been appointed Managing Director, Greater China,
reporting directly to Rik Dovey, Managing Director, ESPN Star Sports.

In her expanded role, Sun will assume overall responsibility for
Advertising Sales, Distribution, Marketing, Event Management and Business
Development across the Greater China region.

Rik Dovey, Managing Director, ESPN Star Sports said, "The company is
growing from strength to strength, and these management changes are expected
to spur us to the next stage of growth. Kathy has played a vital role in
building our Taiwan business, demonstrating her ability in some of the
toughest situations in the market. Her experience operating sports and media
businesses will be invaluable in the company's objectives of growing demand
for our on-air networks across Greater China as well as developing new cross
straits business opportunities. I have a great deal of confidence in her
ability to lead ESPN Star Sports' overall Greater China initiative. "

Sun held senior management positions at Reebok-Taiwan and various
international media companies, before joining ESPN Star Sports as Managing
Director, Taiwan in 2003.

ESPN Star Sports China, Managing Director, David Cantalupo will continue
in his role heading up all ESPN STAR Sport's China operations including
Distribution, Advertising Sales, and Multi-Media Ventures and will report to
Sun. The new Managing Director in Taiwan when appointed will also report to
Sun.

Cantalupo has been the impetus behind the significant distribution growth
of ESPN STAR Sports in China through collaborative efforts with local media
partners such as Hunan Satellite and Hainan Travel Satellite. He has also
been instrumental in the formation of China's first directly foreign invested
Internet and new media joint venture, espnstar.com.

Concluded Mr Dovey, "This re-organisation is designed to unleash
additional synergies and sharpen our focus to address the Chinese-speaking
population from both these key television markets. As part of this growth plan
and Greater China strategy, ESPN STAR Sports has also strengthened its
Advertising Sales teams across China and Taiwan as well as other key
distribution and business development areas. These are exciting times for the
network and we look forward to what the future holds.'

ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world's
leading cable and satellite broadcasters ESPN Inc and STAR. We are Asia's
complete sports provider that reaches over 128 million households for ESPN and
57 million households for ESPN STAR Sports (as at June 2004). Our 11 networks
are ESPN Asia, ESPN India, ESPN Taiwan, ESPN Philippines, MBC-ESPN (Korea),
ESPN Singapore, STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Taiwan, STAR
Sports Singapore and STAR Sports S.E.A. We bring the world's premier live
sports and leading regional events to viewers 24 hours a day. On the ground,
the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier
sporting events around Asia. On-line, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and
espnstar.com.tw interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth
sports news, results and competitions. This multilingual, online platform is
closely integrated with ESPN and STAR Sports on air networks and has
established the sites as the number one on-line sports destination in their
respective markets.

Contact
Stephenie Vasko
ESPN STAR Sports
Tel: +65 6488 6126
[email protected]

Cheryl Sim
ESPN STAR Sports
Tel: +65 6488 6123
[email protected]


Taiwan: 30 digital TV channels by end 05


From http://www.advanced-television.com/pages/pagesb/newsdaily.html

Taiwan will have 30 digital television channels by the end of next year, the Government Information Office's Director Lin Chia-lung said. Lin said the government seek to ensure diversification of the content by the channels, the first of which is expected to open for business in December 2005.

According to Lin, the 30 channels will offer programs ranging from news, entertainment, movie, drama, music, sports, foreign language, education, children. The current five terrestrial channels must integrate among themselves, said Lin. This is to make sure their programs do not overlap, he added. If they fail, the government will seek to mediate and will probably have to make the decision for them, said Lin. In any case, they are required to submit their proposals on how they plan to operate the digital channels before the end of June next year.


VSNL may sell 2.6% stake in New Skies for $ 25 mn


From http://www.business-standard.com/bsonline/storypage.php?&autono=165787

Blackstone group wants to hold 100% equity in the company

The Tata-controlled Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) may rake in around $25 million in cash as The Blackstone Group is prep-aring to acquire the long-distance operator’s 2.6 per cent holding in New Skies Satellite.

“Blackstone wants to hold 100 per cent equity in the company. So VSNL will be offered to give up its stake in it,” Daniel S Goldberg, chief executive officer of New Skies Satellites, told Business Standard.

The Blackstone Group is ready to pay $956 million in cash for the complete holding in New Skies Satellites. This will see VSNL getting approximately $25 million, proportionate to its 2.6 per cent equity in the company.

This will be the second satellite service provider in which VSNL will be divesting its stake, the first being Intelsat, in which it held a 5.4 per cent stake valued at Rs 780 crore.

New Skies Satellite is one of the four fixed satellite communications companies with global satellite coverage, offering video, data, voice and Internet communications services to a range of telecommunications carriers, broadcasters, corporations, Internet service provi-ders and government entities. It has five satellites in orbit, ground facilities around the world and an additional spacecraft under construction.

New Skies Satellite sees India as a major market for it. In 2003, about 7 per cent of the company's global revenue came from India, which is expected to go to the double-digit figures in 2004.

According to Goldberg, the satellite company expects India to be one of the biggest markets for it in the world, with broadcasting and communication market in the country expected to grow rapidly.

In India, with the opening up of the direct to home (DTH) broadcasting service, New Skies is expecting major push for its operations. India's two DTH service providers, state-owned Doordarshan and ASC Enterprises, are using New Skies' satellite NSS 6.

Its second satellite is being used by Sun TV, Reliance, Data Access and the Software Technology Parks of India.

With the proposed new satellite by the second half of 2005, the company expects a better coverage of the Indian subcontinent.


DD’s free DTH from this month


From http://www.deccan.com/City/CityNews.asp?

Hyderabad, Aug. 31: Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting S Jaipal Reddy on Tuesday announced that the Direct-to-Home service of Doordarshan would be started in the country from September. The Minister also announced that the Centre has provided licences to 400 FM stations and 4,000 community radio stations which will revolutionise the FM radio sector in the country.

He was speaking after inaugurating a Low Power Transmitter in Miryalguda. Consumers opting for DTH will have to make a one-time payment of Rs 3,000 for the service which promises to show 40 free-to-air channels. Customers will be given a set top box with a remote to browse through the available channels. Customers will have the option to watch 20 Doordarshan channels and other free to air channels like Aastha, Sun TV, Jaya TV, education channels aired by UGC, BBC, CNN and Ten Sports. The 20 Doordarshan channels will also include all the regional channels run by DD.

But DD’s DTH seems a non-starter. Zee and Star TV have decided to stay away from Doordarshan’s DTH service. Zee is airing its Zee bouquet through Dish TV while Star officials have decided to stay away from the DTH service mooted by the Ministry. For the DTH services of Zee TV, customers have to pay Rs 300 to Rs 350 per month. Even Telugu channels like Gemini, Teja, TV 9 are not free to air and these channels are not included in Doordarshan’s Direct-To-Home service.


New Skies eyes 2-way broadband


From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/834160.cms

NEW DELHI: Netherlands-based New Skies Satellite sees big potential in India for two-way high-speed Internet (or broadband) access via satellite in areas where dial-up or digital subscriber line (DSL) infrastructure is not possible.

New Skies, which offers DTH transmission platform through NSS-6 satellite to Doordarshan and Essel group, says DTH operators will be able to provide two-way Internet access to any remote location.

"High-speed Internet connection from satellite is possible and viable," says Daniel Goldberg, CEO of New Skies Satellites, which has been recently acquired by the Blackstone Group. "India can leapfrog and connect its remote villages. Brazil, Africa and the Middle East have had good experience providing Internet connection directly from satellite."

Here is how it works: By renting transponder space on satellites which beam signals to dish antenna, service providers can provide Net connections through modem at customer premises. Goldberg, however, admits that cable, dial-up or DSL Internet service will be cheaper than accessing Net through satellite. "But, you can reach out to wherever you want to connect. We are waiting for a broadband policy from the Indian government," says Goldberg.

Goldberg is in Delhi to meet up with Doordarshan, which has bought multi-transponder space for providing DTH television service through ISRO. New Skies capacity will support the launch of the world's largest free-to-air DTH service — initially with a bouquet of 30 channels (15 each from DD and private broadcasters).

New Skies operates in 80 countries with network of 5 satellites, partnering with broadcasters, teleport operators, IP traffic, voice and data services.