30/04/03

Thanks to those who showed up for the chatroom, it was interesting as usual. A bit slow to get started but that's the way it is sometimes. I have some email from Optus that will hopefully clear up a few of the rumours about Optus C1 or else it might create more? I have sent a followup email to them asking about the Symbol rates so just have to wait and see if they have info on that subject.

Slow news day again!



From my Emails & ICQ


From Optus

Hi Craig,

I work in Optus Corporate Affairs and look after Satellite.
***** passed on your C1 questions and Below are the answers.
let me know if you have any other questions.

regards,
Joni

Q1. Ku band on Optus C1 will it be using the usual 12250 to 12750 mhz? or
will it require a Universal type LNBF that will cover the 11 GHZ band?

* 12/14 GHZ

Q2. Transponder sizes on the Ku band, nowhere can I find confirmed
specifications of transponder bandwidth. E.G will they will be 54mhz?

* 8 - 36 MHz Aust/Nz
* 2 - 72 mhz aust/nz
* 4 - 72 mhz east asia
* 2 - 36 mhz/ aust or east asia
* 1 - 72 mhz/aust or east asia
* 6 - 36 mhz/ aust only
* 1 - 72 mhz/aust only

Q3. How many Ku band transponders on Optus C1?

* 24

Q4. Footprint maps or EIRP details, do any exist for public viewing?

* None available at the moment.

Q5. Is there and updated Optus Network Designers guide available anywhere?

* There is no updated version but i can send you the one that is
available if required - let me know.

Q6. Is Optus B3 moving to 152E?

* yes it will.


Joni Gathercole
Optus Corporate Affairs


(Craigs comment, I have refrained from posting her? email address as the last thing they need is 500 Humax people emailing them questions about Symbol rates.)


From Hans

Subject: BVN


We get regular phone enquiries from viewers about how to receive BVN from B3 and who to contact to do/quote a satellite installation. Any reputable installers in the Auckland area we can refer?

Kind regards,
Hans Versluys
Director of Programming, Triangle Television

[email protected]
http://www.tritv.co.nz
PO Box 78-034, Grey Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand
+64 9 376 5030


(Craigs comment, Try Tisco's)


From Dave Knight

B1 12430V 6670 3/4

Looks like Rove is dropping in on another unsuspecting viewer.


(Craigs comment, looks like the return of the Tuesday night chatnight Rove feed)


From the Dish


Nothing to report other than

Launch date for BSAT 2C & Optus C1 with Ariane: 8th of June.(fingers crossed anyone putting money on it?)


NEWS


New Skies Executes Share Buy Back Program


From Satellite Today

New Skies Satellites [NYSE: NSK], a Hague, Netherlands-based satellite communications company, has acquired through its previously announced share repurchase program more than 12 million ordinary shares, or 92 percent of the total authorized buy back program, at an average price of $4.01 per share.

As part of the share repurchase program, New Skies bought back shares from its pre-IPO shareholders, including the stakes held by Deutsche Telekom, KDDI Corp., SingTel Optus, Singapore Telecom and Teleglobe. New Skies intends to buy back the remaining shares under a share purchase program following the announcement of the first quarter results on May 7.

Goldman Sachs International and ABN AMRO Rothschild are acting as advisors to the company, and Goldman Sachs is serving as agent for the share repurchase program.


GlobeCast Carries Dutch Channel BVN-TV


From Satellite Today

GlobeCast has begun carrying Dutch public broadcaster BVN-TV via its digital platform on the Optus B3 satellite across Australia and New Zealand.

GlobeCast, a France Telecom subsidiary providing satellite transmission and production, is providing BVN-TV with end-to-end signal backhaul from Europe to GlobeCast's Optus B3 gateway in Australia. BVN-TV's signal is picked up by GlobeCast in Greece off Astra 1G, where it is transmitted via Thaicom 3 to Perth for turnaround on Optus A3 to GlobeCast's Optus B3 gateway in Sydney. BVN-TV is the first Dutch channel to be distributed in Australia and New Zealand, with one video and one audio channel broadcast 24/7 free- to-air on the DTH platform.


(Craigs comment, not really NEW news but interesting how many hops it takes to reach us!)




29/04/03

Live chat tonight 9pm NZ and 8.30pm Syd time onwards in the chatroom.

Not much news today very quiet in fact. Be sure to checkout our new Satellite message forums if everyone posts 1 message a day that will kickstart it into life. You will see I have changed it to open in its own screen rather than inside my frame it looks better that way and oneday if I ever get around to redesigning my site it might even get moved onto my server. I know there are the Austech forums that cover pretty much everything but I think there are some very knowledgeable satellite people out there that may prefer a more serious discussion forum with less piracy talk. Dealers, installers, Channel Providers, satellite operators will all be welcome, yes even Tarb's :-)

Insat 3A at 93.5E testing analog? take a look not sure if will reach Australia, please report if you check for it even if you don't find anything.


From my Emails & ICQ


From GUY

RE: AUDIO PROBLEMS ON RAI INTERNATIONAL 4

Dear Mr Sutton

I have contacted Rai International by phone and E-mail and they are aware of the problem. They have been working on it since Friday, along with DWTV , as you know they are the administrators. They have told me to tell everyone to be patient as the problem will be resolved. If it is not resolved over the next few days they want me to contact them once again.

Keep up the good work with that touch of occasional humour.

Regards
Guy


Big Brother Feed seen B1 12367V Sr 6666 Fec 3/4


From the Dish


PAS 2 169E 12292 H "CTS" has left .
PAS 2 169E 12297 H "National Open University" has left .

PAS 8 166E 3860 H "Z Channel" is encrypted again.Occasional feeds on PIDs 410/411.

Insat 3A 93.5E Test carriers on 3725 V and 3885 V

Apstar 2R 76.5E "I-Cable" has left 3976 V, moved to 4033 H.


NEWS


Sorry nothing to report today!




28/04/03

Several reports of Audio problems on Rai on Asiasat 2, try changing to left or right Audio channel see if that fixes it. Kind of quiet today activity and newswise.



From my Emails & ICQ


From Pallen

Optus B1, Bigbrother feed seen 12366V Sr 6666 Fec 3/4


From Bill Richards

Satlink Asia and Tarbs Promo via NSS6 at 95E


From the Dish


PAS 8 166E 3860 H "Z Channel" is Fta now.

AsiaSat 2 100.5E 3946 H "Sichuan People's Radio" has left again.

Yamal 102 90E 3564 R The NetService mux is still on , SR 2000, FEC 3/4.Avtoradio has started on APID 4200, clear.


NEWS


Sky to Hike price


From Newspaper

Pay Tv company Sky Network Television said today it will hike its subscription charges by an average 4.1 percent as part of moves to make the network profitable.

"It's just to try and turn the financial fortunes around," chief executive John Fellet said.

"We think we've added a lot more value, we're buying more product, our subscriber intake is actually increasing."

The price increase is effective from June. Mr Fellet also said churn - a measure of how many subscribers disconnect from the service - was at an alltime low.

He couldn't release the figures, but said Sky is on track to better the 18.4 percent churn figure recorded in the first half of the current financial year.


(Craigs comment, mine went up $3. A June start up for Impactv is looking more and more like an appealing option in the NZ market for subscribers looking for a cheaper alternative to Sky)


Nickelodeon announces break with Zee


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k3/apr/apr194.htm

MUMBAI: When it finally happened, a terse three-paragraph statement was all that was offered. Viacom kids channel Nickelodeon India today formalised a break that has been speculated about for months now.

From 1 May, Nickelodeon India will cease to be on the Zee Turner Bouquet. Just ahead of that, on 30 April, the Nickelodeon India feed will migrate from AsiaSat-3 satellite to PAS 10, joining sister music channel MTV.

No one in MTV would offer anything beyond what was said in the official release as to what the future implications of this development could be. And certainly not about what the industry believes will happen in due course - MTV and Nickelodeon joining the Sony-Discovery One Alliance platform. One issue that is complicating matters of course is the amount of confusion that is currently swirling around the conditional access rollout.

The message emanating from MTV India at this point is that the two channels will continue to go it alone, independent of any distribution platform.

Nick will reportedly be witnessing a major marketing and programming push over the coming months, the initial impetus for which has been provided by the Nickelodeon Kid Marketing Forum that was held on Wednesday.

For the record these were the comments put out by Nickelodeon and former distribution partner Zee Telefilms:

"Zee has been a great support for Nickelodeon over the past few years. We will continue to have a warm relationship with them," said Alex Kuruvilla, MD, Nickelodeon India.

Dev Naganand, Director Zee Telefilms and chairman Zee-Turner said, "Zee-Turner always valued Nickelodeon as part of its bouquet. Our excellent relationship with Viacom would continue."

Nickelodeon has been on the Zee platform since October 1999, which was when it launched in India. Nickelodeon initially beamed off PAS-4 and has been an encrypted feed from day one, unlike its sister channel MTV India, which only turned digital free-to-air last August.

Nickelodeon's New Technical Specifications:
Satellite: Panamsat 10
Transponder: 7C
Downlink Frequency: 4034 MHz
Downlink Pole: Horizontal
Modulation: QPSK
Symbol Rate: 20.5 MS/s
FEC: 2/3


Trends TV channel coming on Zee platform


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k3/apr/apr195.htm

NEW DELHI: The Zee-Turner distribution platform is taking in another entrant. Zee is set to announce next week the addition of a lifestyle channel T (Trends) TV to the bouquet.

Targeted at upmarket viewers, T TV is expected to form part of the wider bouquet offering that Zee will have on its DTH platform that Subhash Chandra hopes to have up and running before the year is out.

Rohinton Maloo's Cutting Edge Media will be handling the ad sales and marketing of the channel. Cutting Edge already manages the ad sales of Zee MGM and Zee English.

T TV is the second new niche channel that Zee is bringing in after Reality TV (promoted by Zone Vision, the London based international thematic channel creators) made its formal debut on the platform on 1 February.


(Craigs comment, this supposed to launch today so check Zees transponder the new channel may be fta)


T S I C H A N N E L N E W S - Number 17/2003 27 April 2003 -

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

Editor: Branislav Pekic

Edited Apsattv.com Edition

A S I A


AUSTRALIA

UAP SELLS AUSTAR STAKE

Australia's second largest provider of pay-TV services, Austar United Communications has been acquired by a private equity firm. Castle Harlan Australian Mezzanine Partners, or Champ, has revealed it paid US$34.5 million to the bondholder creditor of United Australia Pacific Inc for its 80% interest in Austar. In early May, Champ plans to initiate an offer to acquire all remaining publicity held Austar shares. The firm will offer 16 cents for each Austar share, which is half a cent higher than what Champ paid for UAP's Austar shares. Austar is the only provider of satellite pay-TV in non-urban eastern Australia and currently has more than 400,000 subscribers. The platform has exclusive pay-TV rights in all but the major Australian cities such as Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane.

BROADCASTERS CONTINUE TO MAKE A PROFIT

Despite fierce competition for advertising dollars and for the attention of audiences, Australia's commercial television broadcasters made a profit of A$410.7 million in 2001/02, the Australian Broadcasting Authority has revealed. The 48 television licensees - nearly all of which are owned by or closely affiliated to the three national networks - generated A$3,233.1 million in revenues. This was about 3.4% down on the previous year but expenses were also down 3.9%. The top-rating Nine Network and its affiliates were responsible for 44% of revenues, and Seven accounted for 32%. Ten's 24% share was up 12.4% on the previous year while the other two dipped. Seven and Nine both spent about A$288 million on a range of Australian programming through the year - Seven cutting spending by 17% and Nine increasing it by 11% - while Ten only spent A$12 million, a 41% increase. The ABA collected A$188.6 million in licence fees based on the revenues of these three free-to-air networks. SBS also earns money from through advertising - although it is called sponsorship - but the other national public broadcaster, ABC, is commercial free.

TELECOM NZ ENTERS PAY-TV BUSINESS

Telecom New Zealand chief executive Theresa Gattung has announced negotiations with Foxtel towards a content-sharing agreement that is set to make Telecom NZ the newest pay-TV company in Australia. The deal, which would require approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, will allow bundling of Telecom NZ's telephony offerings and pay-TV services.

CHINA - HONG KONG

SATELLITE TV VIEWERS FACED WITH BLACKOUT

Thousands of homes and bars using satellite decoders to screen sports programmes and movies face a blackout after six major pay channels scored a decisive victory in their efforts to block sales of the equipment in Hong Kong. Star TV, CNN, Turner Entertainment Network, ESPN Star Sports, Discovery and NGC Network filed legal complaints against five local companies last October for allegedly importing and trading in unlicensed satellite signal decoders. The decoders allow sport and movie channels to be watched through illegal satellite feeds from the mainland and Southeast Asia. The pay channels said the practice had infringed their copyright and lost them millions of dollars in revenue. The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA), representing the channels, on April 24 announced that they had settled out of court with two defendants, the company Alpha Communications Technology and Andy Yeung Chun Wah, who is connected to the company. They admitted infringing the plaintiffs' intellectual property rights and agreed to pay an undisclosed amount in compensation.

GOVERNMENT OUTLINES DIGITAL TV GOALS

China's State Administration for Radio, Film and TV has outlined a three-year plan to boost digital TV set-top box users to 30 million by 2005. Under the proposals, SARFT aims to increase the number of pay-TV channels available in China to 80 during the same time frame. More than 10 pay-TV channels are expected to launch in China before the end of 2003, with the number of digital set-tops in use set to reach about 1 million.

INDIA

ESPN-STAR CUTS FEED TO INCABLENET

INCablenet subscribers in Mumbai will miss out on TVS Cup and Summer Sports Bonanza on ESPN and STAR Sports as Indus Ind Media and Communications Ltd (IMC), a subsidiary of Hinduja TMT, failed to pay routine monthly dues to ESPN Software. ESPN Software was forced to discontinue its signal for ESPN and STAR Sports to INCablenet as the outstanding crossed the Rs 2 crore mark for January-April, 2003.

NEW MUSIC CHANNELS TO LAUNCH

Following the footsteps of Southern Spice (SS) Music, music channels such as Raj and Star are looking to tap this segment by wooing the youth. Raj, which plans to roll out its free-to-air music channel on May 23, has decided to dish out music in all South Indian languages, in addition to English and Hindi. The Raj's Associate Vice-President (Sales & Marketing), Mr R. Radhakrishnan, believes that the space for music channels has opened up in the South, as viewers have accepted channels with a difference. He says the launch of SS Music has changed the market's perception that the Southern viewer would not accept MTV- and Channel V-type programming. Two-year-old SS Music announced in February that it has higher viewership than MTV and Channel V in Chennai, and is second to MTV in other Southern States. Nearly 70 per cent of SS Music's content is in South Indian languages, with Tamil taking the lion's share. English music, and to a lesser extent Hindi, takes up the remaining slots. Raj is planning a similar break-up. Star's Channel V is betting wholly on Tamil music. In a recent press conference in Chennai, the Chief Operating Officer of Star India Pvt, Mr Sameer Nair, said the group was toying with the idea of a Tamil version of Channel V.

CAS TO BE INTRODUCED FROM JULY 15

Television viewers in all the four metros would have access to a bouquet of a minimum of 30 channels for Rs 72 under the Conditional Access System (CAS) which would be brought into force from 15 July, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union information and broadcasting minister, said on April 19. “The government is showing utmost commitment and seriousness to CAS,” Mr Prasad told reporters. There will be no relaxation of the date of implementation of CAS and all the MSOs, cable TV operators and broadcasters would have to telecast the bouquet of free-to-air channels at Rs 72. While the bouquet could have more than 30 channels, it should be priced not more than Rs 72. Moreover, it will be “a good mix” of programmes on entertainment, music, children, sports, news, etc.

SAHARA TV RENAMED

Sahara TV, a general entertainment Hindi channel from the stable of Sahara Media and Entertainment Network, has taken on a new identity of Sahara Manoranjan. This forms a part of the initiatives to differentiate itself from the 30-odd channels in the country and position itself as an upmarket channel against Star, Sony and Zee.

INDIAVISION STARTS TESTING

Indiavision, an Indian infotainment satellite news channel, has commenced test transmissions in advance of a July 14 commercial launch. Indiavision, which will be competing in the crowded Malayalam satellite channel market, claims to be the first 24-hour news channel in India to uplink from its own earth station and is being relayed via the Thaicom 3 satellite.

INDONESIA

SHAKE UP AT TVRI

State television channel, TVRI, has officially become a limited liability company and the government has replaced all its directors. Its new status will give it more commercial freedom, including the right to air advertisements, and help it stay viable in competition with the country's nine private stations. The channel has been struggling to stay afloat since the government began reducing funding last year. TVRI's 23 regional stations across the country have struggled recently, with those in North Sumatra, Aceh and Lampung going off the air because of high operating costs and mounting debts.

IRAQ

TV BROADCASTS TO RESUME SOON

Informed sources in Baghdad have reported that the information adviser at the US Defence Department, Robert Reily, has begun his responsibilities of overseeing the resumption of Iraqi TV broadcasting. The sources added that TV broadcasting was expected to begin in Baghdad within two to three weeks. Meanwhile work is under way to get regular radio broadcasting started within a week.

JAPAN

DIGITAL BROADCASTS TO START IN DECEMBER

The Japanese government has given the go-ahead to 16 commercial broadcasters and the Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) to begin terrestrial digital TV broadcasting in December. Toranosuke Katayama, head of the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) issued the licenses to broadcasters on April 18. Broadcasters will start preliminarily digital broadcasting by next June and are scheduled to begin regular broadcasts on December 1 in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. Digital broadcasting is scheduled to be expanded to other Japanese cities in 2006. A nation-wide system is expected to be operating by 2011, when analogue terrestrial broadcasts will end. Japan's terrestrial broadcasting system, called Integrated Services Digital BroadcastingTerrestrial (ISDB-T), features SFN (Single Frequency Network) for more efficient use of spectrum, HDTV services and mobile reception. The government urged broadcasters to air HDTV programming during roughly half their broadcast day.

DISNEY CHANNEL TO LAUNCH ON SATELLITE AND CABLE

US media giant is to launch Disney Channel Japan on cable and satellite. Satellite platform Sky PerfecTV will offer the 24/7 channel as an á la carte option in winter 2003/4, with the channel also going into basic tier on Japanese cable networks around the same time. The channel will also feature a Playhouse Disney preschool block. The move brings Disney Channel's international footprint to 100 million homes in 63 territories.

WOWOW REVENUES AND SUBSCRIBERS DOWN

Pay-TV operator WOWOW has estimated it sales fell by 4% in the year to March 31 to Yen62.8 billion in line with earlier forecasts. Subscriptions to the platform are expected to have fallen by 6% to 2.49 million, although customers for its digital services increased by 56% to reach 104,000. During the year, WOWOW says it reduced its operating costs by 10% due to lower programming spend.

NEW ZEALAND

TV4 TO BECOME MUSIC CHANNEL

CanWest New Zealand will relaunch its struggling TV4 as a music channel in October. It will feature music shows aimed at 15-29-year-olds and will benefit from synergies with CanWest radio stations the Edge and Channel Z, managing director Rick Friesen said on April 22. CanWest launched TV4 as a sister channel to TV3 in 1997 but downgraded its programming soon after to stop it from cannibalizing TV3's audience. Since then it has lost about NZ$30 million. The channel will air a music selection from 16:00 to midnight Monday through Thursday, extending the shows to 01:00 in the weekends.

SAUDI ARABIA

GREEN LIGHT FOR NEW NEWS CHANNEL

According to the Middle Eastern daily newspaper Arab News, Saudi Arabian authorities have greenlit a new television channel for the country. The network, Saudi Arabia's fourth, would cover local, regional and international events, and will reportedly be geared to correcting misconceptions about Arabs and Islam.




27/04/03

Sunday no updates




26/04/03

Several people report problems receiving MYX the music channel on Pas 8. Be sure you have your Feed skewed correctly as Pas 8 is kind of screwy for polarity.


From my Email & ICQ


From Bill Richards

NSS 6

12595V SR 27500, FEC 7/8
Vpid257 Apid258 SID10 SatLink Test Card
Vpid513 Apid514 SID20 Tarbs Promo

Regards
Bill


From Mitch

just found nss 6, 12595V 27500 7/8 on a 65cm offset. Tarbs promo channel and satlink Israel testcard. 72 percent sig quality.strangest pos for offset dish, it looks like its pointing at the ground !

blue mtns nsw. mitch


(Craigs comment, those checking should be aware of Asiasat 3 12595H close by)


From the Dish


PAS 8 166E Net 25 has moved from 4136 V to 4121 V, Fta, SR 4773, FEC 3/4, SID 2, PIDs 514/515. IncTV has started on SID 1, PIDs 257/258.

Apstar 1A 134E 4180 V The CCTV channels are encrypted again.

AsiaSat 4 122E AsiaSat 4 is now geostationary at 122 East.

Reception reports are very welcome.

AsiaSat 2 100.5E 3946 H "Sichuan TV and Sichuan People's Radio" have started , Fta, SR 4420, FEC 3/4, SIDs 1-2, PIDs 308/256 and 2046.

NSS 6 95E 12595 V The SatLink test card and TARBS promo have moved here , Fta, SR 27500, FEC 7/8, PIDs 257/258 and 513/514, Australian beam.

Yamal 102 90E 3564 R Nashe Vremya has started, Fta APID 4140.
Yamal 102 90E 3564 R The NetService mux has left again.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3695 H "Sky Racing 1-2" are encrypted again.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3640 H Radio Nederland Wereldomroep International and Radio Nederland Wereldomroep Europa have replaced El-Quran El-Karim , Fta, APID 669.

PAS 10 68.5E 3836 H "BBC World" is now encrypted.
PAS 10 68.5E 4034 V "All India Radio" has started , Fta, APID 651
PAS 10 68.5E 4090 H "China Radio International" is back on , fta, APIDs 1322 and 1422.



NEWS


Pay-TV piracy, out-of-court settlement


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

The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) has settled civil actions in Hong Kong against two defendants in private prosecutions for allegedly importing and trading in unlicensed satellite TV signal decoding equipment. In the out-of-court settlement the two defendants - Alpha Communications Technology Ltd and Andy Yeung Chun Wah - admitted infringement of intellectual property rights and have made payment on account of damages and costs of an undisclosed sum. The plaintiffs named in the actions are STAR, CNN, Turner Entertainment Networks Asia, ESPN STAR Sports, Discovery Asia and NGC Network Asia. Five additional cases undertaken by the plaintiffs are scheduled for hearing in Hong Kong. The defendants are now restrained by the court from importing into Hong Kong and selling any smart cards or decoders that are obtained from distributors in territories outside of Hong Kong. Effectively it is the "trafficking" in these cards that is illegal. The defendants have also agreed not to renew, or assist in the renewal on behalf of their previous customers, the subscriptions they obtained for those customers.

The defendants have also delivered all the smart cards and pay-TV decoders in their possession which contravene these injunctions, and they have identified the retail supplier in Thailand who sold these items to them.


AAP-1 Used to Provide Internet Connection to the Top of the World


From Press Release

April 23, 2003--The first-ever Internet cafe at the Mt. Everest base camp went live last week using space segment on AMERICOM ASIA-PACIFIC's AAP-1 satellite to establish the connection between the cafe and the Internet. AMERICOM ASIA-PACIFIC, a 50/50 joint venture company of Lockheed Martin and SES AMERICOM, donated bandwidth on the satellite to help make the cafe possible.

The Internet cafe is largely the result of the vision of Tsering Gyalzen, a native Sherpa and grandson of one of the Sherpas who participated in the 1953 first conquest of Mt. Everest. The path between the cafe and the outside world consists of a WiFi connection between the base camp located on a glacier and a satellite earth station installed within two miles of the camp at the height of 16,000 feet. The AAP-1 satellite then connects the earth station to a teleport in Taipei, which in turn, is connected to the Internet backbone via fiber. Although Tsering Gyalzen is the main force behind the cafe, its existence was made possible through the support and contributions of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, AMERICOM ASIA-PACIFIC, Cisco Systems, Teleport Access Services, Inc., and WorldLink Communications Pvt. Ltd. of Nepal.

Deepak Mathur, AMERICOM ASIA-PACIFIC Managing Director, said, "We are delighted and honored we are able to participate in this project. Since we first became aware of its existence, everything about the cafe has intrigued us: from the entrepreneurial spirit of Tsering to the mystic nature of Mt. Everest to showcasing some of the unique benefits and capabilities of satellite communications technology to working with a number of esteemed companies to conquer the mountain once again."

Located at 108.2(degree) E.L., AAP-1 is a high-powered, all Ku-band FSS satellite with coverage of China, North-East Asia, the Philippines and India. The satellite includes up to 28 transponders with 36 MHz bandwidth and is suitable for broadcast program distribution, DTH applications, broadband data networks and VSAT applications.


DD's DTH initially will use 'C' band


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k3/apr/apr173.htm

New Delhi: The direct-to-home (DTH) platform of Doordarshan, which is expected to initially have about 50 free-to-air television channels, will be on 'C' Band and not KU-band as had been expected. The service will be uplinked with the help of the Indian Space Research organisation (ISRO) to an Insat satellite.

DD's DTH service would switch over as soon as possible - may be in a year or so - to Ku-Band, reports an India wire service, United News of India (UNI).

However, as per information available with indiantelevision, something that has been reported earlier also, DD is planning a DTH service so as to cut down on the cost of expanding its terrestrial coverage, including in those remote part of this vast country where it becomes a very expensive proposition to set up either terrestrial or cable television services.

The primary reason for launching in 'C' band is because free-to-air channels are aired on those frequencies and it is difficult at present to switch over to Ku Band that is generally used for DTH, ISRO sources told UNI.

Apart from about 25 channels of Doordarshan, the attempt will be to get as many other private channels on board too.

Interestingly, ISRO also has an agreement with the only other licensed DTH player - the Subhash Chandra-promoted ASC Enterprises. But India's Space Department officials, including ISRO chief K. Kasturirangan, assured information and broadcasting ministry and Doordarshan officials earlier this week that this will not create any problems.

They said that since Doordarshan is a public service broadcaster, it will be given the number of transponders it requires. Those who attended the meeting apart from Dr Kasturirangan included I & B ministry secretary Pawan Chopra, Prasar Bharati CEO K. S. Sarma, and Doordarshan DG S. Y. Quraishi, in addition to Space Department officials.

Though more than 100 transponders are available over the Indian Ocean, ISRO officials said that a C-band transponder can accommodate at the most three to four channels though reception will be good, while each Ku-band transponder can beam up to 10 channels as these are digitized. ISRO assured that Prasar Bharati will not be charged any money for the switch-over since it is a public service broadcaster.

After mulling over the idea for a fairly long time during which ASC Enterprises managed to get its licence, the Prasar Bharati Board in its meeting on 9 April decided to set up its own DTH platform instead of just functioning as a gateway for other players.

Furthermore, Doordarshan had already initiated steps to start a limited DTH under which about 160 villages (twenty in each of the eight states) in the north-east will be provided with a DTH dish and sets to receive DD programmes under the special north-east package announced by the Government more than a year ago.

The plan in the northeast was being executed by the Broadcast Engineering Consultants (India) Limited. Doordarshan DG S. Y. Quraishi had said earlier that the Planning Commission had also approved the proposal by Doordarshan for setting up a DTH platform and a sum of up to Rs 5 billion may be spent over the next five years for this purpose.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the ASC Enterprises will be encouraged to use the INSAT platform since that will help the government to ensure adherence to the advertising and broadcasting codes, apart from being subject to Indian laws


INSAT 3A reaches space home


From http://news.sify.com

The multi-purpose Indian satellite INSAT-3A has reached its space home of 93 degrees east longitude in the geo-stationary orbit and its transponders will be tested before the spacecraft is declared operational by the middle of May, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Thursday.

The satellite, launched on April 10 by an Ariane five launch vehicle from the European Spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana was in fine health, an ISRO press release added.

Spacecraft controllers at the Master Control Facility (MCF) of ISRO at Hassan, 180 km from here, arrested the drift of the satellite last night to place it in its space home from where it will serve the country for the next 12 years.

The controllers in a precise operation fired 10 Newton Reaction Control Thrusters on board the satellite to place it at 93.5 deg.

In the coming weeks, MCF scientists would check the 24 transponders--12 in C Band and six each in extended C Band and Ku Band--besides the mobile satellite service transponders and ensure that they were functioning in accordance with the specifications before the satellite was commissioned into service.

ISRO Chairman K Kasturirangan had recently stated that the transponder capacity of the satellite was "overbooked".




25/04/03

Anzac day no update




24/04/03

No site update on Friday due to Anzac Day

Anzac day coverage, usually via TRT Turkey from Anzac cove feeds from around Australia probably via b1.

Globecast B3 are adding a Tamil channel in 4 weeks, encrypted I think no other details as yet as to which channel.

Sorry things a little late today went shopping this evening before site was completed.


From my Emails & ICQ


From Jsat

Pas 8 166E 4123 V "Net 25" Sr 4773 fec 3/4 in NTSC 2service loading.

Also Jeffs been busy with his Nokia grabbing some of the missing screenshots.

Hallmark Taiwan, PTS, Cti and Hzawan Satellite TV all Via Panamsat 8

regards jeff bannister.
MANJIMUP WA


(Craigs comment, more screenshots coming as soon as I get them converted)


From Mike (Auckland, NZ)

Ihug off skytower, Auckland NZ
Discovery, Animal planet, Cnbc channels all fta 12338h Sr 27500 locosc 10750


From Zapara

A new signal seen on JCSAT 2a 154deg e

4051 vert Sr 26493 Fec 7/8

this signal is weaker then the 3915 Morman service and the Nokia can not lock on to it, any assistance appreciated.


(Craigs comment, I think this one is data.)


From the Dish


PAS 2 169E It's NOT Abu Dhabi TV Europe on 12327 V. It's still occasional feeds.

Yamal 102 90E 3564 R SR 2000, FEC 3/4, .Radio Retro, Radio Dinamit FM, Radio Novaja Zhizn, Russkoe Radio 2, Radio
Monte Carlo (Russia), Radio Courants and Hit FM have started on APIDs 4097-4180,
Yamal 102 90E 3601 L "Oblastnoe TV" has replaced Evrasija TV, Fta, SR 4285, FEC 3/4,PIDs 308/256.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3424 H New SR for Korean Central TV : 3366.

Intelsat 906 64E 3938 L "Alpha TV Punjabi" has started, fta, SR 3332, FEC 2/3,PIDs 4194/4195, NW zone beam.


NEWS


Sorry no news update for today




23/04/03

Tarbs on NSS 6 at 95E? reports needed see below for freq and setting details. Can anyone in the lower South Island of NZ receive it? I guess not many have access to a suitable Lnbf. I think its 1 or 2 deg below horizon where I live.

Now the question is what are they doing on this satellite? anyone have any ideas? maybe they ran out of room on Pas 8 ku. A toroidial dish with LNBF's on NSS6 , Pas 8 and C1? could be what they are thinking? If anyone has any info please let me know (anonymous or not to be published is fine)

How about the other New Skies bird at 183W Do they also have a signal on it??



From my Emails & ICQ


Nothing to report


From the Dish


PAS 2 169E 12327 V "Abu Dhabi TV Europe" is still on , fta, SR 6010, FEC 7/8, PIDs 1160/1120.

PAS 8 166E 3880 V New FEC for the ABS-CBN Bouquet: 5/6.(Reports of improved reception also)

AsiaSat 3 105.5E 4110 H New VPID for TVB 8 : 1100.

NSS 6 95E 11131 H A SatLink test card and a TARBS promo have started, fta, SR 27500, FEC 7/8, PIDs 257/258 and 513/514, Australian beam.

NSS 6 95E 12647 H A SatLink test card has started, Fta, SR 27500, FEC 7/8, PIDs 257/258, NE Asian beam.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3545 V "Sanskar TV" has started testing, Fta, SR 26663, FEC 3/4, PIDs 273/274.
Thaicom 3 78.5E Korean Central TV and Voice of Korea have moved from 3665 H to 3424 H, Fta, SR 3665, FEC 3/4, PIDs 308/256 and 257, global beam.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3685 H Indiavision has started regular transmissions, Fta, SR 6830, FEC 3/4, PIDs 1160/1120.

PAS 10 68.5E 4090 H "China Radio International" is still on , Fta, APID 1222.
PAS 10 68.5E 4099 V "RTS 1 and Radio Senegal International" have left , replaced by Afrisat tests.


NEWS


Telecom confident of settling content deal with Foxtel


From http://www.nzherald.co.nz

Telecom is set to follow rivals Telstra and Optus in securing a content-sharing deal with pay TV operator Foxtel in Australia.

Chief executive Theresa Gattung said a deal with Foxtel would be finalised soon - sources say as early as this week.

Telecom's Australian business AAPT cannot compete on bundled deals with Telstra and Optus, and is going after more discerning customers.

But being able to bundle pay TV, telephone and internet services on the one bill is a key requirement for consumers.

"We will hardly make any money on the Foxtel component of it, but being able to offer a whole range of products and services, we think, is important," Gattung told the Australian Financial Review.

Without a cable network of its own, AAPT will deliver pay TV over Telstra's cable network, which reaches 2.5 million Australian homes.

AAPT customers not on that network will use satellite dishes to access Foxtel content.

At home, Telecom eventually wants to deliver Sky to its customers in much the same way as Telstra delivers Foxtel to its subscriber base.

It has been negotiating with Sky to revive its "Sky-Fi" pay TV, phone and internet bundling deals for some time.

A future content-sharing arrangement will be more extensive than anything Telecom has done with Sky in the past.

In both countries, Telecom is ultimately dealing with pay TV king Rupert Murdoch.

His company News Corp owns 25 per cent of Foxtel. Telecom arch-rival Telstra owns 50 per cent and Publishing and Broadcasting owns the balance.

News Corp also has an interest in Sky through its 45 per cent shareholding in INL, which this month off-loaded its publishing business to Fairfax.

INL owns 66 per cent of Sky and is tipped to move to full ownership using the proceeds of the $1.188 billion sale to Fairfax.

Gattung said AAPT wanted to bundle AOL's high-speed internet service with its own telephony products and include mobile services it resells from Vodafone and Hutchison, which launched its 3G service last week.

Only 21 per cent of Australian households subscribe to pay TV services, leaving plenty of room for subscriber growth.

The competition

* Australia has three main landline telephony companies - Telstra, SingTel Optus and AAPT.

* Telstra offers Foxtel pay TV, telephony and high-speed internet, delivered over its broadband cable network.
* Optus also offers a bundle including Foxtel's pay TV service.
* AAPT would deliver its bundled Foxtel service over infrastructure leased from Telstra.


INL takeover paints a rosy picture for Sky TV


From http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2423071a1865,00.html

Sky TV management should have broad smiles on their faces after the semi-liquidation of parent company Independent Newspapers Ltd.

While there are some scenarios of cash takeover offers, the most likely outcome for Sky is a merger with a slightly cashed up INL, which will leave the company in a significantly better "space" than at present.

First the takeover scenario. Imagine hypothetically that INL was owned only by a collection of small shareholders. If INL was to buy out the minorities of Sky, its shareholders would have to pay a takeover premium. The new INL could effectively be renamed "Sky 2", for all that it would own would be the pay-TV business of the existing Sky.

Post-takeover, the premium paid for control would collapse in the market and the end result of the takeover would be a transfer of wealth from INL shareholders to minority shareholders in Sky. For INL minority shareholders, some sort of merger arrangement where no takeover premium was paid appears a more desirable outcome.

Moving back to the real world, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation owns 45 per cent of INL. He is known to be rather fond of satellite TV companies, having just paid $US6.6 billion for 34 per cent of DirecTV in the United States. He owns 36 per cent of BSkyB in Britain (worth US$7 billion), 25 per cent of Foxtel in Australia and has numerous pay-TV interests in Asia.

If INL was to make a cash takeover bid for Sky, News Corporation would end up with 45 per cent of the new company whereas, under most merger scenarios, Mr Murdoch would end up with closer to 30 per cent.

Even if Mr Murdoch would prefer 45 per cent to about 30 per cent, the problem would remain that a cash takeover would cause a value loss to the small and medium-sized INL shareholders taken along for the ride. And directors must be cognisant of the interests of all shareholders, not just the guy who voted them on.

Besides, the percentage shareholding in BSkyB, DirecTV and Foxtel would suggest Mr Murdoch is likely to be relatively content as about a 30 per cent holder in Sky TV.

After sales of its publication assets for $1.25 billion and repayment of debt, INL will find itself with approximately $820 million in cash and 66 per cent of Sky TV.

Getting cash back to shareholders in New Zealand in a tax-effective manner is not as simple as writing a bevy of cheques.

Distributions of capital can only be made tax-free up to the level of "available subscribed capital", an accounting measure that arises mainly from the money put into the company historically by shareholders. Imputed dividends also hand money to shareholders tax-efficiently.

INL has about $460 million in available subscribed capital and about $40 million of imputation credits, suggesting that it is able to return approximately $540 million tax-effectively to shareholders.

Such a distribution would leave the company with its stake in Sky TV and about $280 million in cash.

The obvious next move would be to merge INL with Sky TV. This would be good for INL shareholders as it would get rid of the problem of how to distribute that extra cash. Sky TV shareholders should also be very supportive of such a move.

The merger would increase liquidity in these tightly held shares, which is good for all shareholders.

Not only does increased liquidity allow the easier buying and selling of shares, but there is also much empirical evidence to suggest that the more liquid a company's shares, the higher value ascribed to them by the market.

But more importantly, the merger would get rid of a controlling shareholder on Sky's register, it would dilute Mr Murdoch's influence (which should give shareholders more comfort on intercompany transactions) and it would give Sky the option of improving its debt position.

The percentage holding of major shareholders in the merged entity will be dependent upon the amount of cash kept in INL and the value of Sky shares used, but the best guess scenario is that News Corporation would end up with 32 per cent, Telecom 18 per cent and Todd Corporation 10 per cent. That leaves about a 40 per cent free float among small holders, compared with only 22 per cent for Sky.

The first thing to note is that no one party controls the company any more. Previously, there was only a very limited possibility of a takeover offer at premium price because control already rested with INL.

With a more widely dispersed share registry the possibility of shareholders one day waking up to read of a takeover offer over breakfast is once again present. Companies where such a possibility has been removed through one party gaining majority control generally trade at a discount on the sharemarket to what would otherwise be the case.

Also, News Corporation's reduced grip on the company is very interesting. Sky buys a lot of programming off News Corporation companies, the most high-profile transaction being the rugby rights which probably cost about $20 million or more a year, but also movies, cartoons, dramas, etc.

With the demise of Telstra Saturn's pay-TV business (and TVNZ's digital aspirations being stymied) Sky's bargaining position with content providers has been hugely strengthened. For example, no one else can now afford to pay anything like the level paid by Sky for rugby rights in New Zealand.

Theoretically, Sky just needs to bid a bit higher than what TV1 or TV3 could afford (and Sky can work this out using a calculator and its knowledge of ad rates and viewership) to secure the rights. These days, it has no other chequebook-toting pay-TV companies to beat off. Sky management has almost certainly already been as hardline with News Corporation over content rights as it has with other providers, but there has always been a concern that in any particularly difficult negotiations News Corporation could take advantage of its ownership links.

The distancing of Sky from News Corporation means that shareholders can be absolutely assured that Sky will be able to take advantage of its strong bargaining position. The other aspect of the postulated merger is that it would see INL's residual cash injected into Sky to reduce that company's debt to about $50 million.

It may be that Sky doesn't need such a strong balance sheet.

If so, the company will have available subscribed capital to be able to return this extra money to shareholders. But it could be the cash would be useful in accelerating Sky's business plans or allowing it to buy a complimentary business. Or simply, the reduced financial leverage could allow Sky to start paying dividends earlier than previously postulated.

If the market has pushed Sky's price up in the past week in anticipation of a cash takeover bid, investors may be disappointed. But without doubt, the outlook for Sky TV has been subtly improved on many levels after the developments at its major shareholder.


(Craigs comment, it should be noted INL own the Stuff website that this item was published on)


Indiavision News Channel Set To Debut On July 14


From http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=32671

Thiruvananthapuram: After a series of hiccups, Kerala’s first round-the-clock news channel Indiavision is set to be officially launched on July 14. The 24-hour test-run started from Monday.

The delay has been worth it, Dr M K Muneer, who wears the twin roles of Indiavision chairman and Kerala works minister told a press conference, here,“This afforded the project cost to ease from Rs 86 crore to Rs 40 crore,” he said. While early birds like the CPI (M)-backed Kairali TV had invested heavily on costly analogue equipment delaying its breakeven point, financial delays in beginning saved Indiavision from turning into a technology dinosaur. Instead, the Indiavision company had invested in cost-efficient digital technology.


(Craigs comment, running now on Thaicom 3)


To Lease Out Beaming Facility


From http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=32671

Gulf-based MET (Middle East Television) is close to clinching a deal with Indiavision for using its earth station. Indiavision’s teleport in Kochi can uplink two channels currently and will soon able to accommodate another pair.

Parleys are on with several channels as the rentals for Indiavision earth station are attractive enough to lure channels on cost-cutting drive. “The last mile connectivity in Kochi has also emerged a selling point,” said Indiavision chairman Dr Muneer told eFe.

The channel has not yet closed its talks with Sony TV on partnering, the earth station lease-out is likely to make Indiavision achieve its breakeven faster. Its direct competitors in content, channels like Kairali are also likely to draw cost synergy from utilising the Indiavision hub, he said.

“Through private participation, more capital will be brought to Indiavision soon through equity and debt in 1:1 ratio,” said Dr Muneer.

The channel’s USP (unique selling proposition) will be 24-hour news content, according to Indiavision directors. M V Nikesh Kumar, formerly with Asianet, has been appointed executive editor (news) at Indiavision.




22/04/03

Live chat tonight 9pm NZ and 8.30pm Syd time onwards in the chatroom.

I updated many pages over the weekend, if you find any pages with bad links or things missing please supply the info so I can correct them. I am not perfect I know some pages will have mistakes or things that can be fixed such as missing screenshots.


From my Emails & ICQ


From Sancharnet

FTV on asiasat 2 is FTA now.

Details freq-3796,sr-2625,vid-123,aud-133,pcr-123.


From the Dish


PAS 2 169E 12327 V "Abu Dhabi TV Europe" has left , replaced by occasional Fuji TV feeds.

Optus B3 156E 12336 V "Duna TV" is now encrypted.

Apstar 1A 134E 3900 V "CCTV 1" has left (PAL).
Apstar 1A 134E 4180 VAll CCTV channels are encrypted again.

Telkom 1 108E All channels in TelkomVision are encrypted again.

AsiaSat 2 100.5E 3796 V "Fashion TV" is Fta

Insat 3A 93.5E Insat 3A has arrived at 93.5 East.

Reception reports are very welcome.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3626 V "Mh1" has started testing fta, PIDs 3105/3106.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3626 V "Sadhana TV" has started regular transmissions , Fta ,PIDs 1057/1058.

Apstar 2R 76.5E 4033 H "I-Cable" has started , Fta, SR 5000, FEC 3/4, PIDs 36/37.

PAS 10 68.5E 3836 H "Vroom Vroom" Sr 19850 Fec 7/8 feed seen Sunday night..
PAS 10 68.5E 4090 H "China Radio International" has left , APIDs 1222 and 1322.
PAS 10 68.5E 4099 V "Radio Senegal International" has started, fta, APID 2307.



NEWS


(NZ) TV4 to be relaunched as youth music channel


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/

TV4 is to be relaunched as a solely music channel aimed at the country's youth market, owner CanWest New Zealand announced today.

CanWest, which also owns TV3 and popular radio stations The Edge and Channel Z, said the programming would be music shows for 15 to 19-year-olds and the station would remain free to air.

TV3/TV4 managing director Rick Friesen said the company had decided the youth music channel was "a niche opportunity in the market".

"New Zealand music will play a key role on the channel and discussions with New Zealand On Air about their support for it have been very positive," he said in a statement.

TVNZ recently dropped its late night music show M2, which helped CanWest push forward with its plans, he said.

The programming would broadcast from studios in Auckland from 4pm to midnight Monday to Thursday and 4pm to 1am on Friday and Saturday.

The rest of the time would be made up of infomercials and other commercials.

There was a possibility the hours of broadcast would increase if there was sufficient demand.

The relaunch is planned for October this year.


(Craigs comment, if they plan on support from NZ On air they better damn well run it FTA on the satellite. Not likely though with Sky having 2 music channels already. Perhaps they could hop onto Impactv's platform and broadcast FTA to NZ and Australia??)


SkyBet stirs TV punt pot


From http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,6317805%255E462,00.html

AS pundits prepare to debate whether Australia should introduce interactive TV gambling services, a local multimedia group has helped launch a similar service in New Zealand.

Australian company Holotype has spent the past two years developing an interactive betting application for New Zealand's largest pay-TV group, Sky Television.

The SkyBet service, provided on the Sky Sports One channel, was launched two weeks ago and enables subscribers to access their TAB New Zealand accounts and place bets on horse races and other sports.

In Australia, a similar service is not allowed under the federal Government's current interactive gambling legislation outlawing all interactive gambling through the internet or the TV. But submissions are due today for a statutory review of that legislation.

Holotype director Daniel Barton hopes the legislation will be changed so there is an impetus for interactive TV in Australia.


(Craigs comment, I thought NZ has laws against this as well? the service is also available on the Trackside race channel)


INSAT-3A transponders overbooked: Kasturirangan


From http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/02201409.htm

Bangalore, April. 20. (PTI): Private television broadcasters, V- SAT operators, the Department of Telecom and Prasar Bharati have booked all transponders in INSAT-3A, India's latest multi-purpose satellite, which is expected to be fully operational by May 12.

"As far as the satellite (INSAT-3A) is concerned..the booking is full and is overbooked," Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Kasturirangan said.

INSAT-3A carries 12 C-band, six Extended C-band, six Ku band transponders, besides a Search and Navigation rescue transponder.

"Nine of the 12 C-band transponders have a larger coverage from West Asia to South East Asia and are intended for television coverage and will help TV broadcasters target people of Indian origin in these regions," ISRO Satellite Centre Director P S Goel said.

This initiative has attracted TV broadcasters who had earlier leased transponder space from satellites of foreign operators.


(Craigs comment, fingers crossed for some coverage into Australia)


INSAT-3A cameras working well


From http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/04/20/stories/2003042000261100.htm

New Delhi April 19. The ISRO today said the two cameras on board the INSAT-3A, which was launched on April 10, are working fine and sending good pictures.

The meteorological instruments on board the INSAT-3A have been tested in the last two days and the pictures received indicated good performance of both the cameras, an ISRO release said here. The cameras include a three-channel Very High Resolution Radiometer (VHRR), with two km spatial resolution in visible spectral band and a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) camera which operates in the Visible Near Infrared and Shortwave Infrared bands providing a spatial resolution of one km.

The CCD camera was tested on April 17 and the VHRR on April 18. PTI


New Saudi TV Channel to Be Launched


From http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=25444

RIYADH, 21 April 2003 A new Saudi television channel the fourth in the Kingdom will be launched from Riyadh, it was announced here yesterday.

Information Minister Dr. Fouad Al-Farsy said it will be aimed at correcting misconceptions about Arabs and Islam in addition to covering local, regional and international events.

“Higher authorities has approved a TV news channel, the fourth in the Kingdom,” he said.

Preparations are under way to establish the channel, which will represent an “important addition to the Saudi media system ... and contribute to airing correct information,” the minister said.

“The new channel will also produce and present news programs and news analysis on a whole range of local and international subjects including political, economic, cultural and social matters,” he added.

Saudi Arabia has three TV channels, two in Arabic and another in English.


(Craigs comment, I don't have a channel name yet but this may turn up on Asiasat 2)




20-21/04/03

Easter break




19/04/03

Next site update Tuesday , Sunday and Monday are holidays of course.

Just a reminder about the new satellite message forum, link is on the left hand side. Hopefully it will attract a more mature group of posters than some of the other forums around. Please support it by joining in or creating new topics for discussion. It's for non piracy discussion please try and remember that. People can go elsewhere for that kind of thing.

According to http://www.arianespace.com/site/launchstatus/sub_main_status.html Optus C1 will launch Early June. Date Rumoured to be 9th of June? (my Birthday)

Formula 1 Race and others to be on Dordashan on Insat 2E at 83E??? please check and report.

Duna tv on B3 Globecast Fta test period has ended so they have encrypted.



From my Emails & ICQ


From John Harrison 18/04/03

All Telkom Vision channels on Telkom 1 @ 108.0e FTA

freq 3460/3500/3580H sr 28000 fec 3/4


From the Dish


Insat 3A Insat 3A is now geostationary around 90 East, moving east.

PAS 10 68.5E 4099 V "Telly Track and RTS 1" have started, Videoguard, SR 3255, FEC 7/8, SIDs 1-2, PIDs 512/650 and 2306/2307.


NEWS


Stokes tackled on pay-TV


From http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,6298337%255E462,00.html

TELSTRA, the half-owner of pay-TV group Foxtel, yesterday sought to strike out large parts of the $2 billion-plus legal action brought by Kerry Stokes' Seven Network against Foxtel.

Seven has alleged that Foxtel, Telstra and Foxtel's other owners, News Limited (publisher of NEWS.com.au) and Kerry Packer's Publishing & Broadcasting, sought to establish a pay-TV monopoly and damage Seven by committing multiple breaches of the Trade Practices Act.

Seven alleges those breaches led to the loss of the AFL pay-TV rights by its pay- TV channel C7, which subsequently closed.

The action began in the Federal Court in December, and yesterday Telstra led the charge on behalf of the other respondents to curtail Seven's statement of claim.

Alan Archibald QC, for Telstra, attempted to strike out Seven's arguments relating to Section 45 of the Trade Practices Act, which prohibits companies entering agreements with the purpose or effect of substantially reducing competition in a market.

Seven has argued Foxtel's owners entered a "Master Agreement" to ensure Foxtel secured AFL pay-TV rights.

It said News, as the consortium's manager, agreed to buy the AFL rights before selling the pay-TV rights to Foxtel and the free-to-air TV rights to the Nine and Ten Networks.

But Mr Archibald said Seven's claim failed to provide the "added ingredient" to prove a link between that agreement and a lessening of competition.

He argued that despite the existence of the agreement, there was no obligation on the parties to bid, nor any guarantee of success if they did.

"Independent of the Master Agreement, News Limited had its own capability of bidding for the AFL pay-TV rights," he said. Mr Archibald argued that the agreement only ensured a bid would be made, but it was still possible for C7 to make its own bid.

"All that happened was that C7 in its bid endeavours was unsuccessful and News and Foxtel were," he said.

And there was no link to prove this agreement led to reduced competition. "It's put that the loss of the AFL rights was (a reduction in competition) but one can't see how that loss can be referable to the Master Agreement," he said.

In response, Seven's counsel, Francis Douglas QC, argued the agreement led to reduced competition, as it led to Foxtel getting pay-TV rights.

"The effect of getting the AFL rights was to effectively make (Foxtel) the only player in the market," he said.

Justice Ron Sackville has reserved his decision.


DD to air FIA Formula 1 World Championship


From Indiantelevision.com

Good ole' Doordarshan is going vroomm....vroomm. With launch of weekly programme World of Motor Sports, the pubcaster seems to be gearing up for some action, literally.

The kick-starting the entire series is the 2003 FIA Formula 1 World Championship telecast live from the San Marino Grand Prix on 20 April at 5:30 pm, says an official release.

The action will continue till 12 October 2003, the Japanese Grand Prix- the last round of the 2003 F1 Championship. Besides the live telecast of the Grand Prix, the natinal broadcaster will also be airing Formula 3000 (F3) and the Porsche Super Cup as an interstitial - in between the laps. Also lined up is the British Formula 3 Championship telecast, where an Indian, a teenage sensation and championship leader Karun Chandhok showcased his talent. To make the live feed from ITV more racy-pacy , the ace comentator duo Martin Brundel and James Allen are roped in.

The sport is bought to the Indian masses by joint efforts of FMSCI President Vicky Chandhok and Chairman Vijay Mallya who bagged the deal from Formula One Management (FOM) owner Bernie Ecclestone. Ecclestone is of the opinion that with the teenage sensation Karun Chandhok making a mark in the British F3 championshi, besides Narain Karthikeyan - first Indian to test a Formula 1 two years ago the popular world sport is the next big ticket in the Indian sports arena.

The pubcaster, starting from this weekend, will be pushing this sporting event via promos on their channels. The telecast right of this event on Doordarshan are bagged by M/s Wallace Sports & Research Foundation (WSRF), the media sales company CuttingEdgeMedia's Rohinton Maloo will look after all ad sales. While leading sponsor entities are expected to support the event, there is a move to clinch a deal with three and five -star hotels chains in Mumbai and over 204 clubs, pubs & bars in India to air their F1 telecast .


(Craigs comment, have a look while its on? this may be a good replacement if Starsports on Asiasat3 is no longer running the english commentry hope they are not talking about it being on DDsports channel ,Pas10)


Sahara TV changes name


From http://www.hinduonnet.com/bline/stories/2003041900860600.htm

Now, it's known as Sahara Manoranjan

SAHARA TV is donning a new name. In a bid to differentiate itself from its 30 odd news channels, the Hindi general entertainment channel from the Sahara Media & Entertainment Network will now be called Sahara Manoranjan.

"We have changed the name of the entertainment channel to create a separate identity. We have also introduced a base line, `India is Watching'," said a company spokesperson.

Along with this, a new line-up of television shows including ones by superstar Amitabh Bachchan, Karisma Kapoor and Sridevi have been planned. "After game shows, Amitabh Bachchan has agreed to be part of a daily soap. We are in the process of finalising details about the show," he added.

Serials starring the Bollywood actresses Karisma Kapoor and Sridevi are expected to go on air in the next couple of months. In order to further beef up programming, the channel is also planning to air musicals and other live events. A Lata Mangeshkar-A R Rehman concert and a mega Bollywood show held in South Africa are in the pipeline. The channel also recently launched a serial - Mission Fateh - based on the Kargil martyrs.

"We want to position Sahara Manoranjan as an upmarket channel on the same lines as Star, Sony or Zee. Hence, the change in packaging and programming," the spokesperson said.

Sahara has also streamlined its airtime marketing operations. Earlier Buena Vista Television (BVTV) was selling spots for the channel. But now the entire marketing operations for the print as well as the television media have been brought under one roof. "We could be working out cross-deals for both our television channels as well as our publications," he added.

The in-house marketing effort seems to be paying off. The channel claims that most of the big spenders such as Hindustan Lever, Colgate-Palmolive and others are present on its channels.


T S I C H A N N E L N E W S - Number 16/2003 20 April 2003 -

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

Editor: Branislav Pekic

Edited Apsattv.com Edition

A S I A


BVN-TV TO EXPAND TO ASIA AND AUSTRALIA

From April 30, As of April 30th 2003 BVN-TV, the international TV service of the Dutch and Flemish public broadcasters, will broadcast to Asia, Australia and New Zealand. BVN-TV will be received free-to-air in many parts of Asia and Africa via the Thaicom 3-satellite, and in Australia and New Zealand via the Optus B3-satellite. BVN-TV is a cooperative venture of the Dutch Public Broadcasting System, Belgium's VRT and Radio Netherlands. BVN-TV allows Dutch speakers abroad to receive programmes from the Dutch and Flemish public broadcasters.

Internet - http://www.bvn.nl

CHINA - HONG KONG

MTV SEES NO PROFITS IN SHORT TERM

Media giant Viacom Inc, whose Chinese MTV music channel was allowed into south China earlier this month, acknowledged that reaping profits in the world's most populous nation is still years away. ``It would be too premature to talk about profitability for cable satellite channels operating in China,'' Charles Chau, MTV's managing director for North Asia, told Reuters in an interview. Chau's cautious stance reflects Viacom's low-key approach to the China market, whose 1.3 billion potential viewers have attracted most of the world's top media companies despite strict limitations imposed by wary Beijing officials. With the MTV China launch, Viacom joined AOL Time Warner and News Corp Ltd among media giants with cable channels in the southern province of Guangdong. Viacom quietly launched a made-for-China MTV channel to foreigner compounds and hotels in late 2001, and made an equally muted announcement for the public launch in Guangdong where it is available to an estimated one million households.

FIJI

FIJI COMMISSION REJECTS EXCLUSIVE LICENCE

The Commerce Commission rejected Fiji TV's application after holding consultation with the public and stakeholders. The report quoted Fiji’s Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase as saying special reasons need to be conferred for an exclusive licence to be granted. He supported the idea of competition in the television industry and said that the government will review the commission's decision again.

INDIA

NEWS MANIA HITS INDIA

Television in India is about to get a lot more topical, with five new 24-hour rolling news channels set to debut this month. Two news channels, in English and in Hindi, are being launched by New Delhi Television, previously news supplier to Star TV. The new channels are called NDTV 24x7 and NDTV India, respectively. A new Star News channel will also appear along with the debut of Aai Talk's English news channel. Sahara TV will also beam news, and also plans to start 36 more regional channels. More news channels are set to appear after this month from Videocon and Zee News, which has a business news channel in the pipeline.

DOORDARSHAN PLANS MOBILE DIGITAL PROJECT

DD’s digital terrestrial television (DTT) took off on a commercial basis a few months ago in the metros, after a series of hiccups. But, the public broadcaster has now decided to put the DTT project on hold for making it more attractive. According to DD director-general S Y Quraishi, talks are on with some Japanese and Taiwanese car TV manufacturers for introducing DTT in moving vehicles. Mr Quraishi refused to divulge details of the deals being struck for car TV. DD’s DTT is a Rs 24-crore project, which was conceived after inputs from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). When DTT’s pilot project was launched, officials saw a chicken and egg scenario in it. They pointed out that the price of the DTT set-top box (at Rs 6,000) could be reduced only when the volumes went up. And a higher volume was possible only if prices were cut. To get some business model clarity in DTT, DD plans to get into TV cars, for that extra edge. It makes sense with so many broadcasting technologies competing with each other now. Besides its negotiations with the Japanese and the Taiwanese companies for car radio, DD is also considering an option where a set-top box for the conditional access system (CAS) can be made DTT-enabled by inserting a gadget which costs around $10 in the global market.

DOORDARSHAN READY FOR DTH PROJECT

India's state-owned television network, Doordarshan (DDI), plans to seek a licence to launch a Direct-to-Home service, the Times of India reported. DDI was likely to place its US$105 million proposal before the government by the end of this month, the newspaper said, and would try to bring other channels on to its DTH platform. The newspaper quoted K S Sarma, Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) as saying that the infrastructure and engineering experts available in DDI could offer a better DTH service than any other station. Rupert Murdoch's Star TV and Agrani, controlled by Subhash Chandra, have already applied for DTH licences. Launched in 1959, Doordarshan has been a member of the ABU since 1976.

PRASAR BHARATI TO REVAMP STATE BROADCASTING

Prasar Bharati, the Broadcasting Corporation of India, has decided to revamp Indian state broadcasting with an investment of US$2.3 billion over a five-year period, the Hindustan Times has reported. The newspaper quoted Prasar Bharati's Chief Executive Officer KS Sarma as saying that the entire operations of All-India Radio (AIR) and state television, Doordarshan, would be modernised and digitalised as part of the five-year plan. The Prasar Bharati board had also recommended that the government start charging licence fees to make AIR and Doordarshan more viable financially, the newspaper said. It said the two incurred an expenditure of just over US$400 million each year, while their revenues stood at US$190.2 million, including a US$42.3 million grant from the government. The rest was raised through loans. The board laid out ideas to improve Doordarshan and bring it on a par with international channels. Its running costs would be cut by introducing automation at many stations.

FTV INCREASES LOCAL PRESENCE

Fashion TV has increased the amount of local programming its broadcasts in India as it seeks to increase customization in the markets it operates in. Indian programming has been increased to four hours a day from the previous two hours, although FTV is keen for the format and framework of the channel to remain international. FTV will also be extending its merchandising brands into India.

JAPAN

SKYPERFECTV SEEKS TO STEM LOSSES

SKY Perfect Communications said on April 17 that it will consider shifting to the Tokyo Stock Exchange's First Section after it takes measures to clear up its accumulated losses. The satellite broadcaster was encouraged by the relaxation last October of the criteria for listing on the TSE first section as well as a brighter earnings outlook, a company spokesman said. Sky Perfect also denied that it expected to post a group pretax profit of around Y2 billion for this fiscal year, as reported by the newspaper. However, the company said it hopes to turn a profit as the number of its individual subscribers are expected to top the 3 million break-even mark. At the end of March, it had 2.99 million subscribers. SkyPerfecTV last week added to its sports offering after signing an exclusive carriage deal for English football club Manchester United's television channel. Under the deal, MUTV will air in Japan on SkyPerfecTV and its sub-licensee, Sports iESPN. Sky Perfect Communications' major shareholders include such companies as Itochu and Sony group. Rival Wowow expects to have turned a profit in the year ended March 31 after suffering losses for the previous two years.

GOVERNMENT GRANTS PROVISION DIGITAL TV LICENSE

The government on April 18 issued a provisional license to 17 television stations planning to begin terrestrial digital broadcasting in December. Toranosuke Katayama, minister of public management, home affairs, posts and telecommunications, handed certificates of the licenses to representatives of 16 private companies and to Katsuji Ebisawa, president of the public Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK).

NEW ZEALAND

UPTAKE OF SKY E-MAIL SERVICE DISSAPOINTING

Leading pay-TV operator Sky Network Television said on April 15 the consumer response to an e-mail system linked to the company's satellite TV network has been disappointing. The e-mail service, known as Skymail and launched in November, allows digital satellite television subscribers to access e-mail through their television sets using a wireless keyboard. The e-mail service costs NZ$2 a month plus charges of 18 NZ cents for each minute or part minute of use. Those who use non Skymail e-mail addresses only pay the online charges. In a related development, Sky Network Television officially launched an interactive betting service SkyBet. Using the service, subscribers to Sky Television can place bets on horse racing and sports including rugby union, football and rugby league through their television by using the remote control. SkyBet has been operational for the past two weeks as a trial and had taken NZ$40,000 of sales through people finding the service on Sky or hearing about it through word of mouth, the companies said in a statement. SkyBet is accessed through the interactive function on the Sky remote control or through Sky channels 210 and 214. Sky subscribers need a TAB account to use the service. SkyBet works by information being transferred from the television set-top box to the TAB's central computer system.

THE PHILIPPINES

ABS-CBN EARNINGS DOWN

Leading broadcaster ABS-CBN has announced that 2002 net profit slumped by 88% to P166 million due to higher financing costs and lower ad revenues. ABS-CBN's revenues increased by 5.8% to reach P10.9 billion. However, the company revealed airtime revenues fell by 4% to P9.5 million, which it attributed to lack of the political advertising that had amounted to P589 million in 2001.

TAHITI

PRIVATE TV NETWORK CLOSES DOWN

Téléfenua, Tahiti's second private TV network, has ended eight years of broadcasting and gone into liquidation, Pacific Media Watch has reported. The network had been in receivership since October 28. Its management said there were no buyers so there was no other solution than putting it into liquidation. Téléfenua, which started broadcasting to homes on the island of Tahiti and its sister island of Moorea on March 6, 1995, had debts totalling US$21.3 million. The network had only 4,500 subscribers for its 18 channels. Tahiti still has two French state TV channels, the Canal + private network and Tahiti Nui Satellite (TNS), French Polynesia's only 100 per cent digital satellite TV service, which offers 23 TV and five radio channels.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

E-VISION ADDS TV LANKA

TV Lanka, the first ever Sri Lankan global digital satellite television channel, has joined the network of E-Vision, the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s only digital cable television provider. TV Lanka will be available as part of the Basic Packages that comprises over 80 channels available in 16 different channels. E-Vision digital cable TV platform in the UAE, comprises over 150 channels, which include movies, sports, news and eView pay per view service. It is currently available in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.




18/04/03

Next site update Saturday




17/04/03

Not sure if I will do a site update tommorow or not , just have to wait and see.


From my Emails & ICQ


From Jsat

Express 6A 80E 4125 R Test cards have started, Fta, PIDs 161/84 and 165/100. (Can anyone in Aus get signals from this bird?)

recieving the analog pic at 3675R..Telekanal Rossiya at P3

regards jeff..
lower south west WA


(Craigs comment, good to see some people still looking for the not so easy to recieve stuff)


From the Dish


Apstar 1A 134E 4180 V All channels in the CCTV mux are Fta.

ST 1 88E 3582 H "Phoenix Chinese has replaced TVB 8" on , Fta, PIDs 32/33.

Insat 2DT 55E "DD Oriya" has moved from 4049 R to 4014 R, PAL.


NEWS


Optus C1 satellite gets a ‘green light’ for launch


From Optus website

Optus today announced that it was on track to launch its A$500 million C1 satellite in June from French Guiana, following the successful launch of Arianespace’s Flight 160.

Managing Director Optus Wholesale, Warren Hardy, said that Optus and Arianespace would work closely together towards the upcoming launch of the C1 satellite.

“We are confident that a comprehensive review has been conducted for the C1 satellite launch vehicle and today we watched the successful launch of Ariane 5.

“Launching satellites is technically challenging, making it a complex business. Optus has taken this into consideration with C1 and we are looking forward to a successful launch of the satellite in June,” Mr Hardy said.

Optus would like to congratulate all parties involved in the Arianespace Flight 160.

C1 will be the largest hybrid communications and military satellite ever launched with Optus and the Australian Department of Defence equally sharing its cost. It will have a 15-year life span.

Background

Optus’ commercial payload is 50 per cent of the C1 satellite’s capacity and the Department of Defence makes up the remaining half of the payload. It provides Optus with greater capacity to deliver broadcast services, high-speed internet and voice and data communications across Australia and into Asia.

The launch of C1 will increase Optus’ satellite fleet to four.

The combined Optus and SingTel’s satellite resources can provide Optus customers and those of the wider SingTel Group, access to more than 25 satellites.

The C1 satellite will be launched into orbit at 156 degrees east longitude by Arianespace on an Ariane 5Generic rocket. The satellite has 24 Ku Band transponders that will provide coverage for Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, Taiwan, China (including Hong Kong), Korea, Japan and Hawaii.

The C1 satellite will be controlled from Optus’ Belrose earth station, which will also be used to manage the communications payload. The Department of Defence’s payload will be managed from its HMAS Harman control centre in Canberra.


Massive communications satellite achieves milestone


From LORAL NEWS RELEASE

Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications, has completed static loads testing of iPSTAR-1, the world's largest commercial communications satellite with a launch weight of 14,900 pounds (6775 kilograms). iPSTAR-1 is being built by SS/L at its Palo Alto, California facility for Shin Satellite, Plc of Thailand.

Static loads testing validates the spacecraft structure and its ability to carry the loads it will experience during the satellite's manufacturing, launch and operation in geosynchronous orbit.

Shin Satellite will use the spacecraft to provide broadband Internet services throughout a large portion of Asia, Australia and New Zealand. With eighty-four spot beams and a total throughput capability of approximately 40 gigabytes per second, iPSTAR-1 will support individual user data rates of up to eight megabytes per second forward link and four megabytes per second return link to as many as eight million users. Service prices will be comparable to ground-based broadband technologies, ushering in a new era in satellite delivered broadband services. Launch is planned for early 2004 into an orbital slot at 120 degrees East longitude.

Space Systems/Loral is a premier designer, manufacturer, and integrator of powerful satellites and satellite systems. SS/L also provides a range of related services that include mission control operations and procurement of launch services. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., the company has an international base of commercial and governmental customers whose applications include broadband digital communications, direct-to-home broadcast, defense communications, environmental monitoring, and air traffic control. SS/L is ISO 9001 certified.

Shin Satellite, a turnkey satellite operator, provides C-band and Ku-band transponder leasing, teleport and other value-added and engineering services to users in Asia, Africa, Europe and Australasia. Shin Satellite owns and operates Thaicom 1A, 2, and 3. Thaicom 1A is located at 120 degrees East, and Thaicom 2 and 3 are both located at 78.5 degrees East with a total capacity of 49 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders offering over 70 channels. Thaicom is a hotbird for Indochina and India, an emerging platform of choice for transcontinental Sat TV broadcasts from Europe to Australia. The company has spent years researching and developing new technology to make Internet via satellite more efficient, thus reducing costs and improving the service to end-users.

Loral Space & Communications is a satellite communications company. Through its Skynet subsidiary, it owns and operates a global fleet of telecommunications satellites used by television and cable networks to broadcast video entertainment programming, and by communication service providers, resellers, corporate and government customers for broadband data transmission, Internet services and other value-added communications services. Loral also is a world-class leader in the design and manufacture of satellites and satellite systems through its Space Systems/Loral subsidiary.


Space scientists complete deployment operations of INSAT-3A


From http://www.keralanext.com/news/index.asp?id=9756

New Delhi: India's space scientists have deployed multi-purpose satellite INSAT-3A's solar panels and the two antennas, as well as the solar sail and put the satellite in its final three-axis stabilised mode.

Indian Space Research Organisation said today that the solar array and antennas of INSAT-3A, launched by the European Ariane-5 rocket last week, were deployed by commands from the Master Control Facility at Hassan in Karnataka.

The city-headquartered ISRO said in a statement that the sun-tracking solar array of INSAT-3A has a area of 26.6 sq. M and it is designed to generate 3.1 KW of power in orbit.

The satellite has two deployable antennas and one fixed antenna to carry out various transmit and receive functions.

The three-axis stabilisation of INSAT-3A was carried out. In this configuration, the spacecraft would be locked to earth continuously through the optical sensors, and would maintain the correct attitude to look at the earth in a stable manner.

The momentum on board the satellite was switched on and stabilised to the nominal speed of 4500 revolutions per minute to provide gyroscopic stiffness and facilitate 3-axis stabilisation, the space agency said.

The deployment of the solar sail/boom on the North side of the satellite was carried shortly after 3-axis stabilisation of the spacecraft. With this, all the deployment operations had been completed, ISRO said.

The health of INSAT-3A is normal. It is now located at 87.4 degree East longitude and was moving towards its designated orbital slot of 93.5 degree East longitude, ISRO said.




16/04/03

Impactv website is updated copy of the info is also below in my emails section.

Asiasat 4 preliminary Footprint maps, They are full size

Cband is Here

KU Band is Here

Sky NZ / Saturn seem to be playing around on B1, 12456V has channels renamed Tv1 Wellington etc. 12483V and 12733V won't load here no PAT reported by the nokia. I can't see any changes on Skys transponders other than 12706V haveing a few name changes Service 1, Service 2 etc. Perhaps Sky's about to fully take over 12483V and 12733V from Saturn?


From my Emails & ICQ


From Impactv

ImpacTV News Update April 15th 2003

IMPACTV LTD

ImpacTV Update Since the initial announcement of 22nd of December that ImpacTV Ltd was proposing to launch a multichannel Satellite service on a footprint covering both New Zealand and Australia the response from all quarters has been overwhelming.

So overwhelming was the response, that the original concept and structures were inadequate to cater for what the industry and public demanded. It soon became apparent that ImpacTV needed to increase two major items; one was more transponder capacity the other was Capital.

Both these issues have now been addressed and we are pleased with the outcome todate. Without going into all the details, which are confidential, we had some very serious decisions to make. At one stage it was hoped that an Australian company with similar aspirations might had joined forces with us unfortunately that came to nothing.

As of today ImpacTV will not launch before the beginning to the middle of June due to transponder availability, although some test transmissions could take place if suitable capacity becomes available. It was decided to forfeit our original two transponders so that we could negotiate three and a half at a much better yearly rate.

While it is true that we have not kept Apsattv readers up to date as much as some would have liked. However there have been many legitimate reasons for this and there is much activity going on within our ranks, and we are as keen to see the services launched as everyone else.

Due to the many disturbing rumours we have heard over the last three months it was prudent to keep a lid on our exact plans including which satellite, and the exact channel line up. Other sensitive issues have also been embargoed.

ImpacTV is alive and well and the service has also undergone a name change that name will be released once all the formalities are completed.

Then the website will be overhauled and made operational with timely updates.

We would see that the service to New Zealand would be slightly different from Australia due to programme rights issues. However both services would share a common platform wherever possible. This would equate to one full transponder being used for New Zealand and another for Australia with the third being used for Free To Air and independent channels.

Due to specific programme rights issues expect specific customized channels for each territory. The free to air channels will consist of channels compiled by ImpacTV and independent channel providers.

The Channel line up has been formulated using the data derived from the responses from those who were interested enough to make their views known. This has been instrumental in the formulation of the new ImpacTV operational plan.

As previously stated ImpacTV intends to feature many channels not readily available to Australasian viewers and subscribers. These will originate from Europe, Asia and the United States of America and will complement the channels currently available to PayTV operators in the region.

The Auckland Uplink will provide the gateway for both Australian and New Zealand independent programmers and channel providers and as previously stated ten channels have been reserved for this purpose.

Clearly there are still many issues to be addressed; these will be addressed as the project progresses

ImpacTV Ltd.


(Craigs comment, this update also available at www.impactv.co.nz )


From Mitch

sky racing on thaicom 3 is fta at 2.58pm 3695H 5000 3/4 same as sky on austar

madagascar tv on LM1

Tvm Madagascar seems to be running in PAL now, instead of secam. i have seen it change during transmission. a pal test card then secam programs. 3980v analogue


From the Dish


Asiasat 3 105.5E 12513 H Sr 4340 fec ? "Shanxii reported here FTA" by Taiwanese site might be worth a look in W.A

Express 6A 80E 4125 R Test cards have started, Fta, PIDs 161/84 and 165/100. (Can anyone in Aus get signals from this bird?)

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3695 H "Sky Racing 1-2" now Fta.

Apstar 2R 76.5E 3780 V "TV Malagasy" has switched from SECAM to PAL.

LMI 1 75E 3980 V "TV Malagasy" has switched from SECAM to PAL.

Insat 2DT 55E DD Jaipur has moved from 4014 R to 3978 R, PAL.


NEWS


INL tipped to channel cash into Sky TV


From http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2406622a13,00.html

A full takeover of Sky Television by Independent Newspapers is the most likely outcome of the $1.2 billion sale of INL's stable of newspapers and magazines earlier this week, most analysts believe.

INL shares jumped 21 per cent yesterday on expectations the company would return to investors most of the $1.19 billion proceeds from the sale of its publishing unit.

But at least one brokerage said INL could yet surprise the market and wind itself down by distributing the cash and its existing 66 per cent stake in Sky to its shareholders.

"There is a tidying up process to be done," Macquarie Equities investment director Arthur Lim said. His firm expects a cash-and-share distribution. "Once they've sold the publishing assets all they have is cash and Sky TV. INL doesn't really have a useful life any more."

INL agreed to the sale on Monday after a surprise bid by Australia's second-biggest media company, John Fairfax Holdings, late last week. Analysts said the deal left INL 45 per cent owned by media magnate Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd, with about $830 million cash to spend or return to shareholders. The company was also considering offers for Victorian newspaper The Geelong Advertiser, which could fetch another $62 million, they said.

Most expected the money would be spent buying the 34 per cent of Sky not already owned, a view supported by investors who pushed Sky's share price up 10.8 per cent by Monday before it eased five cents to close at $4 yesterday. That could take the form of either a cash or scrip offer - a swap of INL shares for shares in Sky.

"I am backing an INL scrip bid for the minorities in Sky. There are issues over the distribution of cash: we estimate only $535 million could be distributed tax effectively out of $865 million post the transaction including Geelong," an analyst said. A cash-and-share distribution would dilute the News Ltd stake in Sky to less than 30 per cent, and a scrip bid offered the best control of dilution.

Forsyth Barr analyst Rob Mercer said a cash bid would be the most efficient option. Though a share bid would be preferable for INL shareholders, keeping the funds within the combined group to potentially repay debt, it was likely that Sky shareholders would prefer cash which could ensure the takeover went smoothly.

Most believed INL shareholders got a good price for the assets. A First NZ Capital analyst said on one valuation method Fairfax paid 10 times forecast earnings for 2003, a premium to a pre-bid implied value of 7½ times earnings.

That compared favourably with the value of Australian listed newspaper companies and the amount paid for the New Zealand Herald in an asset reshuffle two years ago. But Sky shares were still trading well below analysts' estimated fair value of about $4.45 to $4.50 a share, while INL shares closed at $4.08 each, at a discount to analysts' views of fair value between $4.20 and $4.50.

Though shares in both New Zealand companies had advanced strongly after the sale - INL shares gained 21 per cent yesterday after a two-day trading suspension was lifted - shares in John Fairfax Holdings fell more than 7 per cent. Analysts said they had come under pressure because Fairfax placed 350 million shares with investors at a 26 per cent discount to Thursday's close, as it arranged funding for the INL purchase.




15/04/03

Livechat 9pm NZ onwards tonight and 8.30pm Syd onwards in the chatroom tonight.

Sorry about the lack of stuff on the page today, i just sent my new 17 inch monitor back to the shop and have gone back to the old KTX 15 inch which is 6 years OLD. I didn't notice how bad it had gotten I should of dumped it a couple of years ago to save my poor eyes.

Asiasat 4 Detailed footprint maps to go up tommorow.

New Taiwanese stuff reported on Pas 8, any fta???


From my Emails & ICQ


From MRHumax

B1.12420 V 6111 3/4

Some feed with mobile phones on display and funny looking number "3"s on the
set


(Craigs comment, 3G phone launch)


From the Dish


PAS 8 166E A TAS mux has started on 4080 V, Digicipher 2/enc., SR 29270, FEC 5/6.VCs 700-711, line-up: Videoland Sports, Videoland Japan, Videoland ON-TV,Videoland Movie, SET Taiwan, Videoland Drama, SET City, Gala Variety,
Gala Comprehensive, Gala Drama, SET News and Pili.

AsiaSat 3 105.5E 12368 V "Occasional NHK feeds" on , SR 25330, East Asian beam.(That clears up those Freqs reported)

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3600 H "Herbalife Asia" is still on , Fta, PIDs 519/720, Mon 12-13 UTC.

Apstar 2R 76.5E 12589 V The Eastern DTH mux has left .

PAS 10 68.5E 3897 V "NDTV 24x7 and NDTV India" have started regular transmissions Fta on, PIDs 32/33 and 34/36.


NEWS


INL shares open up 20 percent


From http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2405525a13,00.html

Shares in Independent Newspapers Ltd opened 20 percent higher today after it agreed to sell its newspapers to Australia's Fairfax Holdings for $1.18 billion.

INL said yesterday it agreed on Sunday to sell its publishing interests, excluding the Geelong Advertiser in Australia, to Fairfax, while retaining its pay television asset Sky Network Television.

INL shares, which were in a trading halt since Thursday, soared 67c to $4.05 this morning. Analysts said the deal prices INL shares at $4.37.

The company will discuss by the end of the month what to do with its 66 percent holding in Sky, with one option to launch a takeover offer.

Wayne Hope, lecturer in communication at Auckland University of Technology, said full ownership of Sky would fit in with the global interests of INL's 45 percent owner, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

"Increasingly, News Corp is wanting to invest in digital television worldwide, and it's interesting to note that News Corp has for $US6.6 billion ($NZ12.4 billion) taken over Direct TV, which is a major pay TV satellite company in the United States," Mr Hope told National Radio today.

"What News Corp wants to do, and you'll see an example of this in Sky in New Zealand, is by controlling a lot of pay television networks and the set-top box that goes with each television, that controls the gateway to a whole range of news services, Internet services, data services, electronic games, and so on.

"That's potentially a pot of gold.

"It's quite expensive to set all that up, and what has happened in the past is INL profits were cross-subsidised into Sky TV.

"Now that Sky TV looks like it's going to enter profitability next year, it may be in the interests of News Corp to get a larger shareholding so they can get that direct profit," Mr Hope said.

Fairfax was unlikely to make big changes with its new newspapers.

"They earn stable profits but there's not a lot of room for further newspaper expansion in New Zealand, and the cost-cutting that's occurred with regards its effect on INL workers and also the closing down of a newspaper or two to maintain those margins, that's already occurred...." he said.

While the big money was in owning pay television, daily newspapers and magazines would always be an important component of a media empire.

"For major media empires like Murdoch, it's important to own a range of media delivery channels, whether they be television, radio, Internet or newspapers, and also to have the rights over a range of content...."

Fairfax said yesterday that it may raise advertising rates and newspaper cover prices, indicating it would be aggressive in its search for revenue and earnings growth and cost reductions.

Fairfax chief financial officer Mark Bayliss said advertising yields had not been pushed much in INL which had focused more on volumes.

INL had also not been as aggressive as Wilson and Horton, particularly in Auckland, in increasing cover prices, he said.

The two big earners were The Dominion Post in Wellington, with circulation around 101,000 a day, and The Press in Christchurch, with circulation around 90,000 a day.

The sale is subject to four conditions including Fairfax raising equity, Overseas Investment Commission approval, completion of due diligence and shareholder approval at a special meeting in June.

Fairfax expected to take over from July 1.

Fairfax chief executive Fred Hilmer said INL's three largest shareholders had endorsed the deal - News Ltd (45 percent), Todd Communications (14 percent) and Telecom (10 percent).

Fairfax went to domestic and overseas institutions today for equity funding through the issue of shares to raise $A393 million ($NZ440.23 million). The remaining $A703 million would be debt funded.

Sky shares opened unchanged at $4.05, and Telecom fell 3c to $4.70c


Taking war coverage into new orbit


From http://www.nzherald.co.nz

As the war in Iraq enters its final stage, satellite companies are rubbing their hands at the boosted demand for their services the conflict has generated - and the free publicity that has come with it.

Satellite company Inmarsat reconfigured a back-up satellite over the Indian Ocean just to deal with the war demand of journalists.

Inmarsat's president and chief executive, Michael Storey, said media accounted for only 5 per cent of the company's revenue. But satellite had revolutionised news coverage of the conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Television networks placed more importance on getting pictures out immediately, rather than worrying whether they were of broadcast quality - hence the jerky, pixelated, yet live images of the advance into Baghdad.

"That BBC ethos of having a universal standard of quality actually limited the ability of reporters to cover a story. CNN could not afford to embed its journalists using the existing broadcast technology," Storey said.

While 57 per cent of Inmarsat's business is marine communications, many of the journalists reporting in the Middle East are using its 64kbps mobile ISDN, which is accessed using a laptop-sized modem and antenna set-up.

Storey, who was in New Zealand last week to catch the World Rally Championship, which Inmarsat sponsors to the tune of $6 million a year, said the company did a relatively small amount of business in the South Pacific, mainly in the marine industry.

Auckland-based Simunovich Fisheries, which operates its fleet far out to sea is one large local customer.

Inmarsat, through its distribution partner Xantic - a joint venture between Telstra and KPN - had been evaluating the Probe satellite tender to see if it would be feasible to participate.

"The issue always comes back to cost. Usually Governments or the World Bank partly fund these things."

With the satellite terminals costing between US$15,000 and US$20,000 ($27,000-$36,000) and data charges in the region of US$11 per megabyte, rural users are unlikely to show interest without heavy subsidisation.

Storey defended the pricing, pointing out the costs of running a satellite network.

Building the satellite cost around US$100 million, buying a launch rocket, US$100 million, and launch insurance was a further US$40 million.

"That's a quarter of a billion dollars just to get it up there and if it doesn't work, it's space junk."

Inmarsat is "betting the shop" on its next investment - spending US$1.6 billion to launch three new satellites in 2005.

If all goes to plan, the satellites will have a data transfer rate of 432kbps to 85 per cent of the world's geography.

"Hopefully it will be a successful launch but when its 36,000km up you still have to hope that it talks to you," said Storey.

"They fly for you for at least 10 years and you're flying them every minute like a helicopter. No telecoms company thinks that far ahead. They're all worried about next year."

The new satellites will increase Inmarsat's data capacity ten-fold, bring prices down and allowing the size of terminals to be reduced to that of a handheld computer.

Previously owned by a syndicate of Government-owned telcos, Inmarsat's shareholders have largely been privatised.

The larger ones are Telenor, British Telecom, Comsat and KDDI. Telecom was also a shareholder at one stage.

The plan now was to list the company because many shareholders wanted to sell their stakes.

"I've prepared five initial public offerings and executed none, the market has retreated every time," Storey said.

With revenue of US$463 million last year and an operating profit of US$314 million, Inmarsat had emerged from the satellite operator meltdown of the last couple of years in reasonable shape.

Rivals Iridium and Globalstar invested billions only to go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, be bought and resurrected for meagre amounts.

Storey said he had looked at scooping up the assets of Iridium but "could never see a mass market for a handheld satellite phone".

But Inmarsat itself had been burned, having to make a US$150 million write-down on its investment in satellite company ICO, which was salvaged by communications mogul Craig McCaw.

While he counts author and early satellite visionary Arthur C. Clarke as a customer and friend, Storey does not quite buy the sci-fi writer's prediction of each village having its own satellite.

Instead, Storey's vision is of major space stations in geostationary orbit providing everything from broadcasting services to high-speed internet access.


INSAT-3A placed in geostationary orbit


From http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2003041504351200.htm

The latest Indian National Satellite launched from the French Guyanese spaceport Kourou on April 10 will reach its earmarked orbital slot by the end of the week.

In the third and final stages of orbit-raising operation conducted this morning from Master Control Facility (MCF), Hassan, INSAT-3A has been placed in its Geo Stationary Orbit (GSO).

The manoeuvre was completed by firing the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor onboard the satellite for 3 minutes 41 seconds. The satellite has achieved an orbital period of 23 hours and 48 minutes and is continuously visible to the MCF. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that INSAT-3A is now moving towards its geostationary orbital slot with the planned drift rate of 2 degree a day. It is expected to reach its orbital slot of 93.5 degree east Longitude in the next five days.

MCF is satisfied with the performance of the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM), which was used to conduct INSAT-3A orbit raising manoeuvres. The performance of the motor was crucial to `lifting' the satellite from its Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) (860 km perigee and 36,000 km apogee with an orbital inclination of 2 degree with respect to the equatorial plane) to its present 36,000 km circular orbit with zero degree inclination. The LAM was fired for a total duration of 130 minutes and 23 seconds in three phases on April 11, April 12 and April 14. A total velocity of 1.411 km per second was added by LAM at the Apogee point of the orbit to take the satellite from GTO to GSO.

INSAT-3A had 1,603 kg propellant at the time of its injection into GTO by Ariane-5 launch vehicle on April 10. After orbit raising operations, it has 505 kg of propellant remaining that is sufficient to arrest the drift and park it at its orbital slot as well as maintain the satellite in its orbit and controlling its orientation during its designed life of 12 years.

The deployment of the solar array and the antenna is planned for tomorrow. All subsystems on the satellite are working normally.

INSAT 4 series

The ISRO chairman, K. Kasturirangan, and the Arianespace CEO, Jean-Yves Le Gall, have announced the signing of launch contracts for two more payloads, the INSAT-4A and INSAT-4B. With this, in the past 22 years beginning with the launch of the APPLE experimental satellite, the European Space Consortium, Arianespace, would have launched 13 ISRO satellites.

Both INSAT 4A and 4B will weigh around 3200 kg and are dedicated telecom satellites with 12 ku band and 12 C band transponders.

The signature also signals the admission by ISRO that its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle would not be in a position to launch the 3000 kg class satellites, despite the fact that the GSLV would have completed its developmental flights and would — by the time the 4 series is launched — — be carrying commercial payloads.


Doordarshan plans to seek DTH licence


http://www.business-standard.com/today/story.asp?Menu=19&story=12347

State-owned Doordarshan is in the process of fine-tuning a Rs 500 crore direct-to-home (DTH) television satellite project and has got the Prasar Bharati board’s approval for this.

“The Prasar Bharati board has decided that Doordarshan should be a player in the DTH market and the Planning Commission has approved the project,” Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said on Monday.

Rs 500 crore will be invested in the DTH project over the next five years. Doordarshan will apply to the government for a licence by the end of this month.

K S Sarma, chief executive of Prasar Bharati, said: “Doordarshan will put its case before the government by the end of this month. We will also initiate talks with private players to join the Doordarshan platform.”

Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV and Agrani, controlled by Subhash Chandra, have already applied for DTH licences, making Doordarshan the third player in this field.

DTH is a capital-intensive venture. A DTH platform with 100-odd channels requires an investment of about $500 million.

In November 2000, the Union Cabinet had allowed the reception of Ku-band television signals direct to Indian homes, inserting several foreign investment-related and cross-media restrictions as safeguards against the creation of monopolies and cultural invasion.

According to the DTH guidelines, the total foreign investment, including foreign direct investment, investment by non-resident Indians and foreign corporates, and by foreign institutional investors should not exceed 49 per cent.

Also, a broadcasting or cable company cannot hold more than 20 per cent in a DTH venture. A prospective DTH company will have to pay an entry fee of Rs 10 crore at the time of applying for a licence, plus a bank guarantee of Rs 40 crore for the 10-year period of holding the licence


Indian TV competition heats up


From http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/south/04/14/india.news.channels.ap

NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- In swank new offices across India's capital, helicopters are being mobilized, wardrobes changed, reporters taught how to perform, and beards and mustaches shaved off.

In one of the world's most potentially lucrative media markets, five new 24-hour news channels are joining four other all-news broadcasters this month.

The stakes are big, so even more are promised.

For decades, the staid, state-run Doordarshan monopolized the news business. But Zee News, Aaj Tak and the Rupert Murdoch-owned Star News broke the monopoly over the last decade. Now, the media scene is exploding.

New Delhi Television, or NDTV, is starting Hindi and English channels. Aaj Tak, a hugely popular Hindi station, is beaming news in English, while there's a new Star News channel and a channel owned by Sahara TV, a company that plans to start 36 more regional channels.

Still to come: a channel planned by electronics manufacturer Videocon and a business news channel by Zee News.

The arrival of these new players is prompted by the market. News channel revenues are growing by 24 percent, according to industry estimates, which could take broadcasting revenue from $1 billion to $2.9 billion by 2007, according to a projection by the consulting firm KPMG.

Viewers in India, a country of more than 1 billion people, have access to about 100 channels in various languages, including 16 round-the-clock channels beaming in English, the national language Hindi, or several regional languages. And millions of expatriate South Asians worldwide watch Indian programming on satellite television and the Internet.

Zee News was an early channel to break the monopoly in India

Amid this boom, the government is cautious not to let foreign investment color the news. The Cabinet placed a 26 percent cap on foreign investment in channels with satellite uplinks from India.

"TV news has taken over the role completely from print, in a manner that was unimaginable even five or six years ago," said Rajdeep Sardesai, an anchorman and managing editor of New Delhi Television, a leading independent news channel.

"The impact is huge. People who earlier used to wait for newspapers each morning now get the news in their living rooms within minutes of it breaking," said Vinod Kapdi, head of news at Zee News, India's first private news channel.

'Brat-pack' look

"That immediacy can change opinions so quickly," said Kapdi, who anchors Zee News' prime-time news show.

Indians first saw live TV news in 1991 when thousands watched CNN on big screens in hotels and clubs. Since then, CNN and the BBC have become extremely popular alongside Indian channels.

But some say that doesn't always make for good journalism.

"Part of the problem of TV journalism in India is that we have tried to compress in five or 10 years what the BBC or others did in 30 to 40 years. The medium has a young, brat-pack look about it," said Sardesai.

The channels have transformed their technology and look. Hundreds of staffers have been hired. New equipment and satellite vans have been bought, studios revamped, logos changed.

In a first for India, NDTV will use helicopters for news coverage. NDTV also hired composer A.R. Rahman to create a signature tune.

Some channels have turned into finishing schools. Murdoch's Star News ordered reporters and anchors to shave off facial hair. Staffers were put through long grooming sessions.

Top fashion designers and hairstylists are creating new looks for anchors and reporters, some of whom have trained at broadcasting school.

Form over substance

Such attention to style has been criticized.

"News should be presented by anchors, not by people who look like models or movie actors," said Kapdi of Zee News.

Some channels bought sophisticated digital technology facilities and U.S. and British experts held weeks of classes.

"The whole transition ... was a mammoth task. Some of our staff had never used computers in the newsroom before," said R.S. Chauhan, a vice president at Sahara TV.

All the new technology feeds into viewers' growing demands for speed.

"The obsession with breaking news is one of the dramatic changes. News is more and more like fast food," said Sardesai. "Speed matters, but at times I fear it gets more attention than the context in which the story takes place."

He added: "We tend to shoot and scoot."




14/04/03

Nothing to say up here today other than the Fairfax / INL deal has gone through, perhaps an announcement about the Sky tomorow?


From my Emails & ICQ


hi Craig,

jeff from the lower south west of WA..
getting insat 2DT 55E..but getting signal 4014.. P4 reception on a 3m mesh with C/KU feed...channel name DD ORIYA.

this is the lowest i can get on my H/H mount..

regards jeff


From Zaparra W.A

Did a scan at 55deg E and also found DD Delhi at 3977 R 5.50mhz audio Pal.
I get it P3

I can go to 53deg and see Gorz 32 3675R Perviy kanal this sat is incl 4
2deg and peaks around 7pm WST I am getting it at P3 without threshold.

The actuator is really straining to go over this far, the mount is very
touchy movement wise.


From Bill Richards 13/04/03

2345 UTC

Pas2

4022 H Sr13238, FEC 2/3, Vpid 1160 Apid 1120 "NASPA TEST CARD" FTA.

0315 UTC

Pas2

3777 V Sr 6110, FEC 3/4, Vpid 3601 Apid 3604 "Indy car racing from Japan" (ABC U.S feed)
3800 V Sr 13232, FEC 3/4, Vpid 3601 Apid 3604 "Indy car racing from Japan" (Espn feed)
3897 V Sr 5632, FEC 3/4, Vpid 308 Apid 256 "Color Test Card FTA"

Regards
Bill


From SANCHARNET

SIR

A NEWFOOTBAL FEED HAS REPLACED ADHOC CHANNEL ON PAS-10 AT 68.5.

DETAILS:FREQ-3837(H),SR-19850,VID-2360,AUD-2320,PCR-2360. YESTERDAY IT WAS A CRICKET FEED.


From Mathew

Subject: Re: [Apsattv] NEW CHANNEL ON PAS-10 AT 68.5

This is not really a new channel, it has been there for a while with a BT
promo etc

The feeds have been on for a few weeks now. I have only seen Serie A
Football on this feed not cricket. Last night was the live feed of Empoli v
Chievo (9pm Perth time) and then a tape replay of Atalanta v Reggina at
11pm. Both feeds had Italian commentary

Cheers
Matthew


From the Dish


PAS 2 169E 12627 V "Abu Dhabi TV Europe" has started , Fta, SR 6010, FEC 7/8,PIDs 1160/1120 (N.E Asia beam)

Optus B3 156E "ABC TV National" has left 12527 V and 12595 V.

Apstar 1A 134E 3800 H The CCTV mux has left .

Telkom 1 108E 3580 H "The Soundtrack Channel Pacific has replaced Arirang TV World 1" ,Irdeto 2, PIDs 272/273.

AsiaSat 2 100.5E 3765 V "TVSN" has left .
AsiaSat 2 100.5E 4064 H "SpeedCast" has left .
AsiaSat 2 100.5E 4078 H New FEC for Speedcast : 3/4.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3551 H New APID for 3ABN Radio : 5121.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3640 H "Radio Nederland Wereldomroep Europa" has started, Fta, APID 649.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3665 H "Voice of Korea" has started , Fta, APID 257.

PAS 10 68.5E 3836 H Occasional British Telecom feeds on , PIDs 2360/2320.
PAS 10 68.5E 4034 V "DD Sports" is encrypted again.

Intelsat 902 62E 4180 LA British Telecom promo has started, fta, PIDs 513/660.



NEWS


Fairfax $1.19b offer for INL considered fair


From http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2403385a10,00.html

Independent Newspapers has received what analysts are calling a fair offer from John Fairfax Holdings for its New Zealand newspaper operations.

Fairfax has made an offer of $1.188 billion in cash that INL shareholders may not be able to refuse, as it is at the top of market valuations.

Some analysts had put the value as low as $600 million.

However, the end game may not have been played out yet, as the announcement today made little mention of what will become of INL's 66 percent-owned pay television asset, Sky Network Television, except that Fairfax did not want it.

Shares in INL, which is 45 percent-controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, are expected to rise 30 percent when they resume trading tomorrow. INL's shares last traded at $3.38.

The offer excludes Victorian newspaper, the Geelong Advertiser, although INL is considering offers for that paper which, if accepted, would value the combined Australasian publishing interests at $1.25 billion.

INL's publishing business includes The Dominion Post, The Press, The Sunday Star-Times, Sunday News, seven regional dailies and 61 community publications. It also includes 13 magazine titles and the Gordon & Gotch distribution business as well as the Stuff website business and the commercial printing business.

The INL board met yesterday and approved the agreement, INL chairman Ken Cowley said.

Forsyth Barr Frater Williams head of research Rob Mercer said the sale, if it included the Geelong Advertiser, would result in a $100 million premium.

"You could have expected it to be a little bit higher but that's really where the market thought it would be worth...," Mr Mercer said.

The offer values INL shares at about $4.20.

"(Fairfax) might push the cover prices a bit harder, advertising rates, try and lower costs - they're going to be like any other active investor in these assets and look to grow value to cover purchase costs."

The INL stable would be a "very material asset" for Fairfax, which has a market capitalisation of $A2.2 billion ($NZ2.46 billion).

Philip Hardie Boys of First NZ Capital said the deal priced INL shares at $4.37.

It valued INL's newspaper business about 10 times earnings which was in line with Fairfax's value.

"No one buys a business cheaply from Murdoch," he said.

"The last little bit is the important one and they haven't announced on that (Sky TV)," he said.

The market was pricing in some further activity in Sky but it is not taking it for granted that INL will make a full takeover.

Sky shares have soared since INL's trading halt, with some analysts speculating that INL will make a bid for the rest of Sky to add another piece to Mr Murdoch's global pay TV network.

Sky's price, which closed 27 cents higher on Friday, rose another 15c today to $4.10.

Mr Cowley said INL directors would keep shareholders informed of progress of the transaction in advance of a vote on the sale by shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting, possibly in June.

The sale is subject to Fairfax completing its equity funding for the acquisition by April 23 and Fairfax completing its due diligence review of the business and being satisfied that there are no material adverse circumstances by May 12.

Fairfax said it would pay for the deal through a combination of underwritten debt (65 percent) and an equity raising of $A393 million through a placement with institutions and share purchase plan.

Fairfax also needs to obtain Overseas Investment Commission (OIC) consent by June 25.

If the conditions are fulfilled, closing of the transaction and change of ownership is scheduled for July 1 with Fairfax assuming ownership on that day.

INL chief executive Peter Wylie said he would continue in the position until the sale was completed on July 1. He would then be returning to Australia.

Fairfax said Brian Evans, currently its group general manager, would be responsible for its New Zealand publishing business.

Fairfax's flagship mastheads include the Sydney Morning Herald, Melbourne Age and Australian Financial Review.

Telecom, which owns 12 percent of INL and 10 percent of Sky, rose 8 cents to $4.70 today. It is expected to fully support the direction change for INL as it is really only interested in the Sky operations.


Fairfax takes control of NZ's INL for $1b


From http://www.thewest.com.au/20030414/business/tw-business-home-sto94817.html

JOHN Fairfax Holdings Ltd has pulled off a $1.09 billion deal to buy the publishing business of New Zealand's Independent Newspapers from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Ltd.

The sale means Fairfax will add The Dominion Post, Sunday News, The Press and The Sunday Star-Times to its existing stable of Australian newspapers which includes The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

It also picks up 13 magazine titles from INL plus its Gordon & Gotch distribution business, a commercial printing business and INL's Stuff website.

However, the sale excludes the Geelong Advertiser newspaper in Victoria and Sky TV in New Zealand, which is two-thirds owned by INL.

Fairfax plans to launch a share purchase plan and institutional placement to raise $393 million to help fund the acquisition.

Fairfax chief executive Fred Hilmer said the acquisition was a major step for the Australian newspaper group, its first major expansion since it bought David Syme and The Age in 1983.

"The combination of Fairfax and INL publishing will enable the creation of Australasia's leading print media platform," he said.

"This is expected to create opportunities for further improvement and innovation, some of which are already identified.

"We believe this acquisition represents sound value for Fairfax shareholders.

INL chairman Ken Cowley said INL shareholders would have a chance to vote on the sale at an extraordinary general meeting, possibly in June.

"The price paid by Fairfax Holdings would provide shareholders with a premium," he said.

The acquisition, which is subject to several conditions and regulatory approval, is expected to be completed in June.

Once it is complete, about 30 per cent of Fairfax's revenues will come from across the Tasman.

Mr Hilmer said the acquisition would increase Fairfax's exposure to regional and community newspapers, lessening its reliance on the Australian advertising cycle.

"Over the last 10 years, the New Zealand market has experienced higher growth and less cyclicality that the Australian market," he said.

The deal is expected to be about 20 per cent earnings per share accretive (10 per cent prior to financing benefits) for the year ended June 30, 2004.

Once the deal is completed, Fairfax's New Zealand publishing business will be managed by Brian Evans, the current group general manager of its regional and community newspapers division.

Fairfax intends to fund the acquisition through a mix of equity (35 per cent) and debt (65 per cent).

The institutional part of the fund raising will be carried out later today, while the share purchase plan is subject to Australian Stock Exchange waivers.

After the acquisition is completed, Fairfax expects to receive a credit rating of BBB with a negative outlook from Standard & Poor's.

Fairfax intends to keep in place the current trading halt on its shares until the institutional offer is completed.

It is expected a further announcement will be made tomorrow and trading to commence later that day.

Fairfax's existing shareholders will be able to participate in the capital raising, which is expected to be completed before the acquisition is finalised, the company said.

Fairfax also intends to introduce an underwritten dividend reinvestment plan for a period of at least 12 months.

Some analysts expect the sale of INL's publishing business to Fairfax could trigger a takeover bid by INL for the one third stake in NZ's Sky TV that it doesn't already own as part of News Corp's plans to enhance it global satellite TV network.

Rupert Murdoch last week sealed a $6.6 billion deal to control America's biggest satellite TV company, DirecTV by buying a controlling stake in Hughes Electronics.

Today's sale agreement is also expected to help Fairfax fend off any potential takeover attempt by Irish media magnate Tony O'Reilly as he already controls New Zealand's other major newspaper group, Wilson & Horton.

INL owns 45 per cent of APN News & Media, which owns Wilson & Horton.


T S I C H A N N E L N E W S - Number 15/2003 13 April 2003 -

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

Editor: Branislav Pekic

Edited Apsattv.com Edition

AUSTRALIA

TEN BOOSTS PROFITS

Australian commercial broadcaster Ten Network has revenues of A$355.5 million for the six months to February 28, up 12% year-on-year. It had a net profit of A$32.8 million for the period, compared with a loss 12 months earlier.

NEW CONDITIONS FOR REGIONAL BROADCASTERS

The Australian Broadcasting Authority is to impose a new condition on commercial TV broadcasters in regional areas, aimed at increasing quality programming of particular significance to regional audiences. Regional TV broadcasters operate under a points system based on the amount of local material they screen. The new condition will allow them to earn points in each local area within their market when they broadcast material of local significance in more than one area. This will be capped at 50 per cent of the total points for any one local area. The ABA says it “considers this change will increase the likelihood that current affairs and other quality programming of particular significance to regional Australia will be produced”. The additional condition applies to each of the 13 commercial television broadcasting licences in four markets: Regional Queensland, Northern New South Wales, Southern New South Wales and Regional Victoria. All regional television licensees in these markets are required to broadcast material of local significance to meet a weekly average total of 120 points in each specified local area.

OPTUS TO CARRY SBS DIGITAL TV CHANNELS

Optus has won a E39 million contract to carry digital TV signals via satellite for SBS. Optus Wholesale MD Warren Hardy said the 10-year contract involved Optus managing the distribution by satellite of the national free-to-air broadcaster’s digital TV transmission. Hardy said SBS’s digital signal currently reached 75 per cent of Australia and its reach would increase with the digital rollout allowing more regional, rural and remote viewers to benefit from the service via Optus satellites. Services under the contract are planned to begin on June 1. Optus confirmed it was not expecting the launch of its new C1 satellite until the June quarter 2003. The satellite was initially scheduled for launch in the March quarter 2003 but has been delayed, as Optus works with Arianespace on issues that surfaced with a Ariane 5 rocket launch failure in December 2002. Optus, a major provider of satellite services to Australian regional and remote locations, is a unit of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.

CHINA - HONG KONG

CNBC ASIA AND SHANGAI MEDIA ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP

CNBC Asia Pacific and Shanghai Media Group (SMG), signed a partnership agreement on April 10, under which the two companies will initially repackage and broadcast a business news program to households in and around Shanghai. State-owned SMG, one of China's biggest media conglomerates, already has several agreements with various foreign media companies on a per-program basis. CNBC Asia, which is co-owned by General Electric Co.'s NBC and Dow Jones & Co. already has the right to broadcast to hotels rated three stars or higher and select residential compounds in China through cable television networks. Initially, CNBC and SMG will repackage and broadcast CNBC's "Managing Asia" on SMG's Business Channel, the only pure financial channel in China. The Business Channel is available on free-TV in Shanghai and neighboring cities. SMG also sells some of its programs to cable operators in Shanghai and other provinces. The two media companies will also co-produce live updates on China's business and financial developments to be aired twice every Monday through Friday on CNBC's global network. The updates will run for three to four minutes each.

SARFT RESTORES SUN RIGHTS

China's State Administration of Radio Film and Television has restored landing rights for Sun Media, according to local press reports. The move comes after Sun Media agreed to adjust its television broadcast content. SARFT suspended landing rights for Sun Media's Sun TV and Jet TV in selected hotels and residential compounds after the channels signed an alliance with Taiwanese broadcaster Eastern Broadcasting.

STAR GROUP TAKES OVER CHANNEL V

Pan-Asian satellite broadcaster Star Group has bought the remaining 12.5% stake in the Channel [V] music station that it did not already own from music label EMI.

INDIA

TV TODAY LAUNCHES NEWS CHANNEL

India's TV Today Network has launched a 24 hour free-to-air English-language news channel, marking the first such service to uplink from the country. The channel will be targeted mainly at Indian southern states and is part of TV Today's plans to offer a raft of information channels covering a variety of subject matter.

ZEE TELEFILMS ANNOUNCES CAS CHARGES

Indian multichannel provider Zee Telefilms has announced its will levy a Rs55 ($1.16) a month fee for access to its 14 channel bouquet when India's conditional access system launches on July 14. The Zee CA pricing represents no change from its current charges to cable operators and is likely to encourage rivals such as Star and the Sony-Discovery alliance to adopt a similar low-cost strategy. Flagship channel's Zee TV and Zee News will be available separately for Rs30 and Rs20 a month respectively.

IRAQ

NEW TV CHANNEL LAUNCHES

America and Britain launched a new TV service called Nahwa Al-Hurrieh or "Toward Freedom" on April 10 with special messages from George W. Bush and Tony Blair. The station is currently broadcasting for one hour a day and provides news and "coalition public service announcements." The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s public diplomacy department commissioned and runs Towards Freedom, while the Ministry of Defence’s Permanent Joint Head Headquarters (PJHQ) at Northwood is meeting the television programming costs. The programming is outsourced to World Television, the company which also produces British Satellite News. The production team was set up, and the first programme produced, in just eight days. The United States of America’s Department of Defence assets are delivering the broadcasts in Iraq. The programme will be broadcast primarily from a US aircraft called Commando Solo, a highly modified C-130 (Hercules-type) aircraft that has flying radio and television transmission capability. World Television sends the completed programme daily by satellite in the late evening to the US base of 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. From Fort Bragg, it is rebroadcast by military satellite to Qatar, recorded on to videotape and loaded into a video player on board Commando Solo. Fort Bragg can also send the programme to mobile US radio and television broadcasting systems called SOMS-B (Special Operations Media System-B) which allow it to be rebroadcast from different locations in Iraq. The TV signal is broadcast from the aircraft and SOMS-B systems to ordinary television sets on frequencies that were used by the regime’s domestic television services. In due course the programmes will also be broadcast by US Special Operations Command mobile radio and television stations.


NEW ZEALAND

TVNZ REPORTS HALF YEAR RESULTS

Public broadcaster Television New Zealand has posted improved net profit for the six months ending December 31, the company said on April 7. After-tax profit in the period was NZ$22.9 million, a 58% jump from the year-earlier NZ$14.5 million. Its television and media business contributed a net profit of NZ$18.5 million, an 80% gain from NZ$10.3 million, while the net profit for its transmission business was $4.4 million, down 56% from the previous year. Television advertising revenue for the period climbed 4.3% to NZ$164.2 million. The pubcaster also declared an interim dividend of NZ$3.079 million.

THAILAND

UBC HOPES TO RETURN TO PROFIT

Pay-TV operator UBC says it expects to return to profit for the first time in nearly 10 years. In an interview with “Reuters”, Deputy CFO Vasili Sgourdos said that higher fees and subscriber growth will drive UBC to a profit of about Baht100 million. The company made a loss of Baht248 million in 2002. Sgourdos said that UBC needs 470,000 subscribers to breakeven. It has 438,000 and expects to add 30-50,000 this year.




13/04/03

Sunday no update




12/04/03

Asiasat 4 up ! WAHOOO now lets hope they can find some KU customers for Aus/NZ

Go here to view the replay of the launch http://streamvox.smc.net/gems/ils/index_ie.html

A very professional presentation, you don't have to watch the whole thing though you can skip to the end part.

Someone on the mailing list is offering a DVD copy of the event, send me an email or join the mailing list to find out more.


From my Emails & ICQ


From Andrew Rajcher

Hi again folks!!

At about 10.50am Saturday (Aust EST) the rocket carrying Asiasat-4 was
launched successfully from Cape Canaveral Florida!!

Boeing, who constructed the satellite, will now spend the next two weeks
testing the satellite to ensure that everything is functioning correctly
and survived the rocket launch. After that, Boeing will take about another
two weeks or so to manouvre Asiasat-4 into it's final geo-stationary position.

The satellite is due to be handed over from Boeing to Asiasat in the first
week of June.

As soon as my Asiasat contacts advise me of the first test signals from its
position at 122oE, I'll pass it onto to all!

Until then - let joy be unbounded! Let there be dancing in the streets,
drinking in the taverns and deflowering of virgins (that is, if you can
find one!)!!

Andrew (aragorn)


From Servicom

ASIASAT-4 LAUNCH

The Live broadcast was also on I701 C band 3769 RHC for those with a serious dish.
Channel 4.


From the Dish


Optus B3 12595V "Abc National " has left? EPG says "this service has been discontinued"

PAS 10 68.5E 3897 V The NDTV promos are now Fta.
PAS 10 68.5E 4034 V "DD Sports" is now Fta.
PAS 10 68.5E 4064 H "Paris Premiere" has left again, replaced by a test card.
PAS 10 68.5E 4064 V Cem Radyo has left .

Insat 2DT 55E 4144 L "Occasional DD feeds" , PAL.(Anyone in W.A check this bird?)


NEWS


Atlas III Launch of AsiaSat 4 Successful in 1st ILS Mission of 2003; 64th Consecutive Successful Launch


From Press Release

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 11, 2003--An Atlas III rocket lifted off at 8:47 p.m. EDT today and successfully delivered its AsiaSat 4 satellite payload into space, kicking off a busy year for International Launch Services (ILS).

The Lockheed Martin-built rocket carried the high-power, multimedia satellite for 31 minutes before releasing it into geosynchronous transfer orbit. AsiaSat, which is the dominant satellite operator in the region, will use the spacecraft to provide communications, direct-to-home and broadband services to customers in Asia and Australia. The final operating position for the Boeing Satellite Systems-built 601 model spacecraft is 122 degrees East longitude.

"We're off to a great start, with another perfect launch for Atlas," said ILS President Mark Albrecht. "This makes 64 successful launches in a row for Atlas over a decade, a tribute to the dedication to the team. We know our customers value reliability, and we're proud to have delivered that reliability to AsiaSat."

Albrecht added that ILS could conduct as many as 10 launches this year on its full range of Atlas and Proton vehicles, depending on deliveries of the satellites. ILS is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) and two Russian companies, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia. ILS markets and manages the missions for the Atlas IIAS, Atlas III and Atlas V families and the Russian Proton launch vehicles.

This mission marks ILS' third launch for AsiaSat and the 13th launch of a satellite for a member of the SES GLOBAL family of companies - AsiaSat, SES ASTRA and SES AMERICOM (or its predecessor GE AMERICOM). In addition, ILS is scheduled to launch four more satellites for SES AMERICOM in the next few years. SES ASTRA was the first commercial customer on Proton, and has used Proton six times.

ILS offers the broadest range of launch services in the world along with products with the highest reliability in the industry. ILS' Atlas rockets and their Centaur upper stages are built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. - Space & Strategic Missiles Operations, at facilities in Denver, Colo.; Harlingen, Texas; and San Diego, Calif.

For more information, visit www.ilslaunch.com.


AsiaSat 4 Successfully Lifts Off


From http://www.asiasat.com/eng/01_company/news_20030412.html

Hong Kong - 12th April, 2003¡K¡KAsiaSat 4, the new pan-Asian satellite of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat), was launched at US Eastern Time 8:47 p.m. on 11th April (Hong Kong Time 8:47 a.m. on 12th April) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S.A. aboard an Atlas IIIB launch vehicle.

Approximately 31 minutes after lift off, the spacecraft successfully separated from the launch vehicle. AsiaSat has acquired the first signals from the satellite in Hong Kong. Over the next few days, AsiaSat 4 will be moved into the geostationary orbit, some 36,000 km above the Equator. AsiaSat 4 will reach its operating orbital slot of 122 degrees East and will have its solar panels and communications antennas fully deployed within the next two weeks.

"We are extremely pleased that AsiaSat 4 has successfully completed this stage of the launch. We thank our partners, Boeing Satellite Systems and International Launch Services, for their excellent work and effort in making today's launch a success," said Peter Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of AsiaSat after the spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle.

"AsiaSat 4, along with our two other in-orbit satellites, AsiaSat 2 and AsiaSat 3S, will enable our customers to enjoy wider choices and greater flexibility for regional coverage as well as unbeatable back up across the entire fleet."

AsiaSat 4, a Boeing 601HP satellite, will be the most powerful member of AsiaSat's satellite fleet carrying 28 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders with a 15-year design life. AsiaSat 4's pan-Asian C-band footprint will cover more than 40 countries and regions spanning from New Zealand to the Middle East. Its Ku-band coverage will consist of two high-power focused beams for East Asia and Australasia, as well as a new BSS (Broadcast Satellite Service) beam for Direct-to-Home (DTH) services in Hong Kong and the adjacent South China region.

AsiaSat 4 is designed to provide advanced satellite services including DTH television, broadband and IP solutions, and telecommunications services such as private networks for business and rural telephony.


Fairfax moves on NZ media


From http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6271898%255E462,00.html

NEWSPAPER publisher John Fairfax Holdings is poised to dominate the New Zealand media market, after revealing it's negotiating to buy the $NZ1.3 billion ($1.2 billion) newspaper and magazine assets of Independent Newspapers Limited.

The move would enable INL -- 45 per cent-owned by rival publisher News Limited -- to swallow pay-TV channel Sky Television New Zealand.

INL already owns 66 per cent of Sky Television. Analysts predict the sale of INL's newspaper assets will help bring News Corp chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch one step closer to dominating the global satellite TV market.

Mr Murdoch this week finalised a $US6.6 billion ($10.9 billion) deal to take control of US satellite TV company DirecTV.

A sale to Fairfax would enable INL to buy the rest of Sky TV, analysts said yesterday. News of the talks drove Sky shares up 8.7 per cent to $NZ4.

"This is a logical step for News Corp," Macquarie Equities New Zealand investment director Arthur Lim said. "News's focus and ambition is very much in global satellite TV. Owning 100 per cent of Sky TV is in tune with News's vision."

Buying the outstanding third of Sky TV would cost INL about $NZ570 million, he said.

"INL is a historical investment for News Corporation," Mr Lim said. "It's very much a peripheral asset -- except that INL's 66 per cent shareholding in Sky TV is a very integral part of the global satellite TV set-up."

But other analysts questioned the strategy, saying News could simply buy Sky directly if that was its intention, and INL could return the dividends of any Fairfax sale to shareholders.

In an email to staff, INL chief executive Peter Wylie yesterday revealed that Fairfax had already failed once to buy INL's newspaper assets. The INL owners include Telecom New Zealand, with 15 per cent, and NZ's biggest private company, Todd Corporation, with 9.2 per cent. Mr Wylie said the owners hadn't planned to get out of NZ publishing.

"This development is a result of an approach from Fairfax," he said. "An approach from Fairfax was rejected last year."

Fairfax wants INL's 11 major NZ newspapers -- including the Wellington Dominion Post, Christchurch Press and Sunday Star-Times -- as well as its magazines and Gordon and Gotch distribution business.

Analysts estimate the assets are worth about $NZ1.3 billion. That includes about $NZ450 million debt, so Fairfax would need to raise about $NZ850 million.

But analysts said they expected Fairfax, which has debt of about $580 million, to go into more debt to fund the purchase. Ratings agency Standard and Poor's yesterday cut Fairfax's debt to a "negative" outlook.

Sky TV has a current market capitalisation of $NZ1.4 billion, and is forecast by most analysts to turn a profit this year.

INL has a market capitalisation of $NZ1.27 billion, and would need to raise about $NZ550 million to buy the outstanding third of Sky TV.

Fairfax chief executive Fred Hilmer told staff in an email that INL had reported operating revenues of $NZ520 million in the 2002 financial year.

"Potentially, this is a very positive development for Fairfax," he said. "We will be working to see if we can reach an agreement with INL."

Trading in INL stock has been suspended until Tuesday.


Insat-3A placed in intermediate orbit


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k3/apr/apr94.htm

MUMBAI: Insat-3A, which was launched by Ariane-5 of Arianespace yesterday from Kourou, French Guiana is now orbiting at 11,500 km above the earth's surface.

Isro's Master Control Facility (MCF) in Hassan, Karnataka, directed the satellite's first critical orbit raising manoeuvre at 7 am (IST) this morning. Insat 3-A's 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) was fired for 73 minutes 42 seconds, raising the satellite's perigee (closest point to the earth) 860 km at the time of launch to 11,500 km at present. The apogee remains at 36,000 km and the inclination of the orbit with respect to the equatorial plane has been reduced from 2 deg. at the time of launch to the present 0.9 deg. The orbital period is 14 hours 30 minutes.

The Ariane5 lifts off from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana early Thursday (IST), 10 April 2003.

Insat-3A, which was launched by Ariane-5 of Arianespace yesterday from Kourou, French Guiana, had gone out of visibility of MCF, Hassan, at 3.20 pm yesterday and came within its visibility at 2.16 am IST this morning.

According to Isro, all systems on board the satellite were functioning normally. The satellite was scheduled to go out of MCF visibility again at about 1.44 pm IST this afternoon and come within its visibility at 7 am tomorrow. The second orbit manoeuvre is planned around 1 pm tomorrow.

Insat-3A is being tracked, monitored and controlled from MCF. During the initial phase of Insat-3A operations, MCF also utilises Inmarsat's ground stations at Beijing (China), Fucino (Italy) and Lake Cowichan (Canada). The satellite's orbit is being precisely determined by continuous ranging from the participating Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TTC) ground stations.

MCF is responsible for initial and in-orbit operation of all Isro's geo-stationary satellites.

President, PM hail succesful Insat-3A launch

Indian President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and minister of state (space) SB Mookherjee, have congratulated Isro on the successful launch of Insat-3A.

They conveyed their messages to Isro chairman Dr K Kasturirangan at the launch site in Kourou French Guiana, over the phone.

Minister of state (space) SB Mookherjee made a statement regarding Insat-3A's successful launch in both the houses of Parliament yesterday. The Parliament joined him in wishing the Isro team the best in the complex mission that is to be carried out in the next few days from the MCF at Hassan.

As Ariane-5 carried out its mission, ISRO Chairman Dr K Kasturirangan and other top space scientists, including project director RK Rajangam, who were present at Kourou, expressed their joy over the successful launch. Describing the Ariane-5 launch as "a wonderful achievement" in his post-launch comment, a beaming Kasturirangan said it was a "very eventful flight, spectacular and more importantly, technologically precise".

Final geostationary orbit about 36,000 km above equator

In the coming days, orbit raising operations of Insat-3A will be carried out by firing its LAM in stages till the satellite attains its final geostationary orbit, which is about 36,000 km above the equator.

When the satellite reaches near-geostationary orbit, deployment of its solar panels and the two antennas as well as the solar sail will be carried out and the satellite put in its final 3-axis stabilised mode. This will be followed by trim manoeuvres to take the satellite to its designated orbital slot. The payloads will be subsequently checked out before the commissioning of the satellite.

Insat-3A will be positioned at 93.5 deg East longitude in the geostationary orbit. Other Insat satellite locations are: Insat-2DT at 55 deg East longitude, Insat-2E and Insat-3B at 83 deg East longitude, Insat-3C and Kalpana-1 (formerly it was named Metsat-1) at 74 deg East longitude.

Insat-3A has the main body in the shape of a cuboid of 2.0 x 1.77 x 2.8 m. When its solar panel and solar sail are fully deployed in orbit, the satellite will measure 24.4 m in length. Inast-3A's Sun tracking solar panels generate 3.1 kW of power. Two 70 Ah nickel-hydrogen batteries support full payload operations even during eclipses. Insat-3A, like all its predecessors in the Insat series, is a 3-axis body-stabilised spacecraft using earth sensors, sun sensors, inertial reference unit, momentum/reaction wheels and magnetic torquers. It is equipped with bi-propellant thrusters. The satellite has two deployable antennas and one fixed antenna that carry out various transmit and receive functions.

Insat-3A will provide telecommunication, television broadcasting, meteorology and satellite-aided search and rescue services. The satellite is expected to contine operational services for 12 years.

Insat-3A communication payloads comprise:

*12 C-band transponders, nine of which have expanded coverage providing an Edge-of-Coverage (EoC) Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) of 38 dBW and other three having India coverage beam providing an EoC-EIRP of 37 dBW.

*Six upper extended C-band transponders having India beam coverage providing an EoC-EIRP of 37 dBW.

*Six Ku-band transponders having India coverage beam providing an EoC-EIRP of 47.5 dBW and

*A Satellite Aided Search & Rescue (SAS&R) transponder.

The Meteorological Payloads include:

*Very High Resolution Radiometer (VHRR) with 2 km resolution in the visible spectral band and 8 km resolution in infrared and water vapour bands.

*Charge Coupled Device (CCD) camera operating in visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared bands with 1 km resolution.

*Data Relay Transponder (DRT)


Raj TV to launch Telugu channel on May 23 — Music, news channels on cards


From http://www.hinduonnet.com/bline/stories/2003041201231700.htm

RAJ TV, among the four news and entertainment channels in Tamil Nadu, has announced that it would launch round-the-clock music and news channels, in addition to the general entertainment Telugu channel, Visa, on May 23, all of which would "initially" be free-to-air channels.

The group's flagship, Raj TV, and Raj Digital Plus would go pay in May (Rs 12 for the bouquet), it said in Chennai today.

The new channels would be funded mainly through "internal resources", in addition to the revenue accrued by going pay. Raj has also tied up with the State Bank of India in this regard.

The CEO of Raj TV, Mr Rajeev Nambiar, told mediapersons that the turnover from the channels has been Rs 45 crore this fiscal, 10-15 per cent of which was contributed by Raj Digital Plus.

He said the programming budget for the flagship channel this year would be Rs 30-32 crore. It has also procured an outdoor broadcasting van for Rs 5 crore, which is expected to help the channel in its news offerings.

As regards the new channels, Raj has until now invested about Rs 5-10 crore in Visa, and expects to put in another Rs 10 crore in the run-up to the launch. It has also acquired rights to telecast nearly 400 Telugu films.

For the music and news channels, Raj hopes to utilise its current capabilities and software to a large extent. The news channel from Raj's stable would have bulletins in Tamil, English and Hindi.

To a question on how Raj hopes to make a mark in the Hindi news space — which has biggies such as Aaj Tak, Star and Zee — Mr Nambiar said the channel would focus on regional news. Mr Nambiar said he expected "Tamil Nadu politics to play a greater role in national politics," which would bring in more viewership.

The content for the music channel would be in South Indian languages, in addition to Hindi and English.

The group has also decided to allot a three-hour slot on Fridays in Raj TV for airing the "latest films".


(Craigs comment, Most likely to be Thaicom 3 Asia beam)




11/04/03

Asiasat 4 didn't launch, perhaps things will go better tommorow? The launch of Asiasat-4 has now been rescheduled for 10.08am (Aust EST) which is the beginning of the launch opportunity window.

Seems Rupert Murdoch found a pile of cash down the back of his couch this week. It appears he will now go after %66 of Sky NZ. Expect plenty of channel changes to Sky NZ if he does, perhaps say goodbye to CNN, TCM, Animal Planet, Nat Geo etc... and say hello to Fox News...


From my Emails & ICQ


From Andrew Rajcher

ASIASAT-4 LAUNCH - Latest News

Hi folks!!

The launching of Asiasat-4 has been scrubbed for today due to a change in
the wind patterns and not enough time within the launch window in order
to make the necessary adjustments.

It is possible that the launch may now take place at the same time tomorrow
but this has not yet been confirmed.

I'll post a message here as soon as i know a definite new launch time.
If it is tomorrow at the same time, the telecast launch will commence
at 9.40am (Aust EST) on

Asiasat-2 3700 MHz Vertical , Symb: 6111 FEC 3/4.

Let's hope!!
Andrew (aragorn)


From Servicom

Subject: [Apsattv] Live From the Pads

This looks usefull for launches

http://www.orbireport.com/Webcams.html


From the Dish


Asiasat 2 100.5E 3880 H "Radio Farda" has started, Fta, APID 7422. RFE/RL Persian Service has left this mux.
Asiasat 2 100.5E 4078 H New SR for SpeedCast : 8750.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3600 H "Herbalife Asia" has left , replaced by a test card.
Thaicom 3 78.5E Punjab Today has moved from 3471 V to 3626 V, Fta, PIDs 2097/2098.

PAS 7 68.5E 3521 V "Jain TV" has started, Fta, SR 3300, FEC 2/3, PIDs 4448/4195. (Any signal in Western Aus from this one?)

PAS 10 68.5E 4064 H "Paris Premiere" has started, Fta, PIDs 1360/1320.

NSS 703 57E 4055 R Several radio channel updates in the WorldNet mux on .
NSS 703 57E 3980 R Suryan FM has started, Fta, APID 56.

Satellite Launches: http://www.lyngsat.com/launches/

BSAT 2C & Optus C1 are scheduled to launch with Ariane early in June.

Yamal 201 and Yamal 202 with Proton are delayed from April to July-September.

Insat 4A is scheduled to launch with Ariane in January-June 2004.



NEWS


( BW)(FL-ILS) ILS Atlas III Launch Postponed Due to High Winds


From Press Release

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 10, 2003--Tonight's launch of the AsiaSat 4 satellite aboard an Atlas III rocket has been postponed due to high winds aloft.

The launch has been rescheduled for Friday, April 11. The launch window opens at 8:08 p.m. EDT (00:08 Saturday GMT, 8:08 a.m. Saturday in Hong Kong) and extends 72 minutes. International Launch Services (ILS), of McLean, Va., is providing the launch to AsiaSat, of Hong Kong, on a Lockheed Martin-built Atlas III rocket.

Please check the ILS hotline at 1-800-852-4980, or the ILS website, www.ilslaunch.com, for updates.

-30--KB/ny*
CONTACT: ILS
Fran Slimmer
McLean: 571/633-7462
mobile: 646/229-4801
Cape Canaveral: 321/476-5283
[email protected]


INL in talks with Fairfax on sale of NZ publishing


From http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2396419a13,00.html

Independent Newspapers, controlled 45 per cent by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, said today it was in talks with John Fairfax Holdings on the sale of its New Zealand publishing operations.

INL has asked for its shares to be suspended on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. It closed yesterday at $3.38.

In a very short statement, INL said it expected to make a further statement before the opening of trading on Tuesday, and that trading would resume on that day.

Fairfax's flagship mastheads include the Sydney Morning Herald, Melbourne Age and Australian Financial Review.

INL owns nine daily papers in New Zealand, including Wellington's Dominion Post and Christchurch Press; one Australian daily; New Zealand's two Sunday papers; the Stuff website; the TV Guide; and a range of national magazines including New Zealand House and Garden.

It also owns 66 per cent of pay-TV operator Sky Network Television.

Mr Murdoch is in the midst of building a global satellite TV empire. After years of unsuccessful attempts, he finally struck a deal this week for the final piece of his global satellite TV empire.

News Corp has agreed to pay $US6.6 billion ($NZ12.2 billion) for the purchase of 34 per cent of Hughes Electronics from General Motors, filling a huge hole in Murdoch's satellite TV empire.

Hughes owns DirecTV, America's leading satellite pay-TV broadcaster with 11 million subscribers.

If today's deal is passed by US regulators, Mr Murdoch will have DirecTV covering the US market, British Sky Broadcasting in the UK (6.1 million subscribers), Star (300 million subscribers in Asia and the Middle-East), Foxtel in Australia (790,000 subscribers), Sky Brasil (700,000 subscribers in Brazil), Sky Mexico (690,000 subscribers in Mexico) and a controlling stake in Sky TV in New Zealand.

A spokeswoman for INL said the company would not be commenting further until Sunday, or more probably on Monday.

She said the board had yet to meet to consider the proposal.

Fairfax has long been tipped as tying up with Wilson & Horton, publisher of the New Zealand Herald and nine provinical dailies. However, brokers said it was an equally good fit with INL.

Sky TV shares shot up 32 cents today to $4 in expectation that the residual INL company would make a full takeover bid for Sky.

One analyst, who did not wish to be identified, said it was clear Mr Murdoch was progressively getting out of the print business and concentrating on satellite TV.

He needed to free money from what has become a peripheral investment.

"It's too small for News Corp to worry about," he said.

But Sky TV was integral to the News Corp satellite TV empire.

He said the original deal was going to be News selling INL to Fairfax, with Fairfax agreeing to sell the 65 per cent stake in Sky to News, which would simultaneously also launch a full takeover for Sky.

There was still a chance that News makes a full takeover bid for INL prior to selling the newspaper operation, although the analyst doubted that scenario.

He said that without a full takeover of INL, News could have some trouble with minority shareholders.

One that is likely to be fully behind News is Telecom, which owns 12 per cent of INL, and is really only interested in the Sky operations. It also owns 10 per cent of Sky.

Fairfax has wanted to expand in New Zealand and would be able to bring huge expertise to the INL newspaper group, the analyst said.

He said his firm put a $4.10/share valuation on INL which would value the company at $1.7 billion.

He valued Sky at $4.40/share which would value it at around the same price as INL. That would mean INL's newspaper operations would be valued at around $600 million.

Independent News & Media plc boss Sir Tony O'Reilly has long eyed the Fairfax group, most recently in conjunction with international financier George Soros.

In October, London's Sunday Times speculated that Mr Soros was considering an investment in Independent and the pair had discussed bidding for Fairfax.

Independent owns 45 per cent of APN News & Media, which in turns owns Wilson & Horton, owner of The New Zealand Herald and other New Zealand provincial papers.

Mr O'Reilly has been thwarted in his desire to control Fairfax by Australia's limits on foreign ownership of media, something the government there is considering relaxing. However, it is believed he also considered the Fairfax price too high.


SingTel to launch Optus C1 satellite as planned in Apr-Jun quarter


From http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/37117/1/.html

Singapore Telecom says the launch of its Optus C1 satellite will proceed as planned, between April and June.

The announcement came after European aerospace consortium Arianespace successfully launched two satellites on Wednesday that were originally scheduled for the end of last year and early this year.

Failures relating to Arianespace's new satellite rockets last year had delayed SingTel's plans, originally targeted for the quarter ended March 31.

C1 is owned by SingTel's wholly owned Australian telecom unit, Optus.

C1, which has presold capacity to Australia's defence forces, will allow SingTel to book about A$270 million or S$288 million in revenue from the satellite in the quarter in which it is launched


Isro chooses Arianespace for two more launches


From http://indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k3/apr/apr81.htm

MUMBAI: Indian space agency ISRO has chosen Arianespace again to launch its INSAT 4A and INSAT 4B communications satellites.

After today's successful Ariane 5 mission that placed INSAT 3A into orbit from Kourou, ISRO chairman Dr. Kasturirangan and Arianespace CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall announced the signing of launch contracts for two more payloads - the INSAT 4A and 4B spacecraft.

These are the 12th and 13th Isro satellites to be booked on the European launcher. Since the launch of the Apple experimental satellite in 1981 on Flight L03, Arianespace has orbited ten Indian satellites. Arianespace is slated to launch another ISRO payload, the INSAT 3E satellite, later this year.

Designed, built and integrated by Isro, the INSAT 4A and INSAT 4B satellites each weigh about 3,200 kg at liftoff. INSAT 4A and INSAT 4B are dedicated to telecommunications, with 12 Ku band and 12 C-band transponders each. Their coverage zone is the Indian sub-continent.

Meanwhile, the 160th flight of Ariane, carrying Isro's 2,950 kg INSAT-3A and GALAXI-XII of US, lifted off at 4.22 am IST from Kourou, French Guyana. INSAT-3A was injected into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), 30 minutes after the lift-off in 3-axis stabilized mode, with a perigee (nearest point to earth) of 859 km and an apogee (farthest point to earth) of 36,055 km and an inclination of 1.99 deg. with respect to the equator. The satellite is at present going round the earth with an orbital period of about 10 hours 47 minutes, according to the agency.

The Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka acquired the telemetry signal from INSAT-3A at 04.52 am IST. The initial health checks on the satellite indicate that the performance of the satellite is normal. First operations on the satellite were carried out by issuing commands from the MCF. The outermost panel of the stowed solar array of INSAT-3A was oriented towards the Sun to start generating the electrical power required by the satellite. Subsequently, the earth viewing face was oriented towards the earth and calibration of the gyros on board the satellite was carried out.

INSAT-3A is being tracked, monitored and controlled from MCF. During the initial phase of INSAT-3A operations, MCF also utilises INMARSAT Organisation's ground stations at Beijing (China), Fucino (Italy) and Lake Cowichan (Canada). The satellite's orbit is being precisely determined by continuous ranging from the participating Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TTC) ground stations.

In the coming days, orbit raising operations of INSAT-3A will be carried out by firing its 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) in stages till the satellite attains its final geostationary orbit, which is about 36,000 km above the equator. The satellite has about 1.6 tonne of propellant (Mono-Methyl Hydrazine - MMH fuel and Mixed Oxides of Nitrogen - MON-3 oxidiser) for orbit raising operations as well as for station keeping and in-orbit attitude control. The on-orbit propellant availability will enable maintaining the satellite for operational services for a period of 12 years.

When the satellite reaches near-geostationary orbit, deployment of its solar panels and the two antennas as well as the solar sail will be carried out and the satellite put in its final 3-axis stabilised mode. This will be followed by trim manoeuvres to take the satellite to its designated orbital slot. The payloads will be subsequently checked out before the commissioning of the satellite.

INSAT-3A will be positioned at 93.5 deg East longitude in the geostationary orbit.


CAS Delays Entry Of Foreign Channels


From http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=31969

Mumbai: With conditional access system (CAS) about to make its debut, foreign channels planning to enter India are finding it difficult to get into a distribution bouquet.

E! Entertainment Tele-vision, a 24-hour network devoted entirely to celebrities, news, gossip, fashion and style, has been caught in the uncertainty and has not been able to find a distribution partner. “We had planned a launch last year in December as a pay channel. But distribution bouquets were concerned about CAS and were uncertain about the implications. We have not been able to sign up with any of them for distribution of our channel in India,” said Christine Fellowes, managing director, Asia, E! Networks.

The company is in talks with Sony-Discovery and Zee-Turner for joining their bouquets. E! Entertainment Television does not want to enter the market as a standalone pay channel, handling its own distribution. “We are in talks with Sony-Discovery and Zee-Turner,” she said. “We are not in discussions with Star India.” E! is owned by a joint venture between subsidiaries of Comcast Communications and The Walt Disney Company. The joint venture holds 79.2 per cent stake in E!

A few other foreign channels have also deferred their launches as they wait for CAS to take off. They admit it is a difficult time for a launch.

No distribution company is willing to sign for a minimum guarantee to any fresh entrant at this stage. “We can’t assess what the pay-TV scenario will be after CAS comes into place. How can we settle on a minimum guaranteed amount to a new channel which wants to be under the pay system? We will have to wait for the pricing and the response of customers to CAS before we decide on anything,” said the head of distribution of a leading network.

E! Networks hopes to launch its channel in India this year. “We are in talks with some production houses. We would be localising some of our content,” said Ms Fellowes.




10/04/03

Good news Insat 3a launched with no furthur problems, next launch scheduled is the BIG ONE Optus C1 in June

Aus vs Windies cricket Feed most likely via Pas 2 (encrypted) maybe B1 12525 H ??

Asiasat 4 launch tommorow watch it live here http://streamvox.smc.net/gems/ils/index_ie.html

Also Live Broadcast will also be available at the same time on AsiaSat 2 C-band.
Transponder: 2A, Frequency: 3700 MHz, Polarisation: Vertical, Modulation:
QPSK, Symbol Rate: 6.1113 Msym/sec, FEC: ¾


From my Emails & ICQ


From John Harrison

The insat2a and galaxy XII launch was shown on pas 8 3945 h sr 27682 7/8 (adhoc 20)earlier this morning.


From Kotak

Dear Sir

Satellite Channel Name FREQ POL SR FEC
NSS 703(57 E) Sindhu Darshan 3886 H 16277 3/4

Gujari channel sharing sindhi language program for 2hrs 3pm To 4pm & 10pm To 11pm IST(Indian Standared Time).

Mukesh Kotak


From the Dish


Asiasat 3 105.5E 12437 V "feed?" Sr 14600 Fec ? some of these feeds might be on an asian beam but worth a look if in W.A?

Insat 2E 83E 3573 V "Red 93.5 FM" has started, Fta, APID 2306.


NEWS


Arianespace Flight 160:A successful boost for two loyal customers



From Press Release

Kourou, French Guiana, April 9, 2003 - Arianespace today orbited two communications satellites: Insat 3A for ISRO, the Indian space agency; and Galaxy XII for PanAmSat, the premier provider of global video and data broadcasting services via satellite.

Eleventh successful launch

With its 11th successful mission, the Ariane 5 "Generic" launcher confirms its technical and operational maturity. Four more Ariane 5 missions are planned in 2003.

Arianespace has ordered additional standard Ariane 5 launchers from European industry to meet customer needs and ensure service continuity.

Two long-standing customers

Insat 3A is the 10th Indian satellite orbited by an Ariane launcher. Arianespace has teamed up with ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) since the launch of the organization's first satellite, Apple, in June 1981.

Galaxy XII is the 18th satellite launched by Arianespace for PanAmSat, one of its longest-standing customers. The relations of mutual confidence between Arianespace and the world's leading private satellite operator reach back to the maiden Ariane 4 launch in June 1988.

Flight 160 at a glance

Flight 160 was carried out by an Ariane 5 Generic launcher from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Liftoff was on Wednesday, April 9, 2003 at 7:52 p.m. local time in Kourou, 22H52 GMT, 6:52 p.m. in Washington, D.C., and on Thursday, April 10 at 12:52 a.m. in Paris.

Provisional parameters at injection of the storable propellant upper stage were:
Perigee: 859.3 km. for a target of 860 km. (±3 km)
Apogee: 36,055 km. for a target of 36,057 km. (±160 km)
Inclination: 1.99 degrees for a target of 2.00 degrees (±0.05º)

Insat 3A was designed, produced and integrated by ISRO in Bangalore, southern India. To be positioned at 93.5 degrees East, it is fitted with 18 C-band and extended C-band transponders and 6 Ku-band transponders. The satellite will provide telecommunications and TV transmission services for the Indian sub-continent, while also carrying out a meteorological observation mission (VHRR). In addition, it has an SAR (search and rescue) payload.

Galaxy XII was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles, Virginia, on a Star-2 platform. Weighing 1,760 kg. at launch, Galaxy XII will be positioned at 74 degrees West, and has a design life of 15 years. It will provide C-band links between the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii. The Galaxy XI and Galaxy IVR satellites were orbited on Arianespace Flights 125 and 129, respectively.

Community of Ariane Cities

The launcher's fairing bears the inscriptions "Bordeaux Métropole" and "Comune di Collefero" as part of the Community of Ariane Cities promotional initiative. The French city of Bordeaux and the Italian city of Collefero are both founding members of the Community.

For more information on the Community of Ariane Cities, see the organization's website: www.villes-ariane.org


INSAT-3A successfully launched into space


From http://www.ptinews.com/nextstory.asp?main=Indian&ID=1078&rec=none

Bangalore,Thursday, April 10, 2003: In another significant milestone in India's space programme, multi-purpose satellite INSAT-3A was successfully launched on board the European Ariane-5 rocket from the French Guyanese spaceport of Kourou in South America in the early hours today.

The launch, delayed by a day after a minor anomaly was noticed in the satellite on Wednesday, went on with clockwork precision as the European consortium rocket lifted off according to launch window schedule, carrying INSAT-3A and an American satellite and injecting them into space, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sources said here.

As Ariane-5 carried out its mission, ISRO Chairman Dr K Kasturirangan and other top space scientists, including Project Director R K Rajangam, who were present at Kourou, expressed their joy over the successful launch.

Describing the Ariane-5 launch as "a wonderful achievement" in his post-launch comment, a beaming Kasturirangan said it was a "very eventful flight, spectacular and more importantly, technologically precise".

The launch of INSAT-3A was called off for the day on Wednesday after it was observed that the signal strength from one of the two telemetry transmitters was "less than nominal" during the final checks midway through the 11 and a half hours countdown.

Indigenously built ISRO's biggest satellite, INSAT-3A, the third satellite in the INSAT-3 series, would provide telecommunication, television broadcasting, meteorology and satellite-aided search and rescue services.


Initial health checks indicate INSAT-3A is normal: ISRO


From http://www.ptinews.com/nextstory.asp?main=Indian&ID=1079&rec=none

Bangalore,Thursday, April 10, 2003: Initial health checks on India's multi-purpose satellite INSAT-3A indicate that its performance is normal, the Indian Space Research Organisation announced soon after it was shot into space by European rocket Ariane-5.

First operations on the satellite were carried out by issuing commands from the Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan in Karnataka, which acquired the telemetry signal from INSAT-3A at 04.52 am, ISRO said. ISRO said the outermost panel of the stowed solar array of the satellite was oriented towards the Sun to start generating electrical power required by the satellite. Subsequently, the earth viewing face was oriented towards the earth and calibration of the gyros on board the satellite was carried out, the space agency said in a statement. INSAT-3A, launched from Kourou, French Guyana, in the early hours today, is being tracked, monitored and controlled from MCF. During the initial phase of INSAT-3A operations, MCF also utilises IMMARSAT Organisations ground stations at Beijing, Fucino in Italy and Lake Cowichan in Canada, it said. The satellite's orbit is being precisely determined by the continuous ranging from the participating telemetry, tracking and command (ITC) ground stations. In the coming days, orbit raising operations of INSAT-3A would be carried out by firing its 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) in stages till the satellite attains its final geostationary orbit, about 36,000 kms above the equator.


News Corp. to Acquire Hughes Electronics


From http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2003/04/10/ap/Business/apnews62117-01.txt

LOS ANGELES - News Corp. agreed Wednesday to acquire control of Hughes Electronics Corp. and its DirecTV service, the nation's largest satellite television provider, in a $6.6 billion cash and stock deal.

The proposed deal would give News Corp. access to DirecTV's more than 11 million subscribers and conclude media titan Rupert Murdoch's three-year effort to gain a U.S. outlet for his global satellite television network.

News Corp. will acquire 34 percent of DirecTV parent Hughes Electronics, a subsidiary of General Motors Corp., by purchasing 19.9 percent of Hughes shares owned by GM. News Corp. also will offer to buy 14.1 percent of Hughes shares owned by the public.

News Corp. will pay about $14 per share, making the deal worth about $6.6 billion. The company will then transfer its interest in Hughes to its Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary, which includes the Fox News Channel.

Murdoch, whose News Corp. also owns other media entities and the Los Angeles Dodgers, said the deal will increase competition in the cable markets and provide better services to U.S. viewers.

"With Fox taking a significant interest in Hughes, we are forging what we believe will be the premier diversified entertainment company in America today, with leading assets in film, television broadcasting and production, cable programming, and now pay-TV distribution," Murdoch said.

GM president and chief executive Rick Wagoner said his company "is pleased to have reached an agreement with News Corp. that provides substantial value to our stockholders."

In addition to DirecTV, Hughes also owns 81 percent equity of satellite operator PanAmSat and Hughes Network Systems, a broadband satellite network provider.

Murdoch unsuccessfully wooed DirecTV in 2001. EchoStar Communications, a rival satellite broadcaster, tried to buy Hughes for $18.8 billion, but that deal was blocked late last year by federal regulators who felt it would harm competition.

The News Corp. deal is also subject to regulatory approval.

The new company will provide "completely open access to our platform to all suppliers" and will not be exclusive to Fox or News Corp. products, Murdoch said in a conference call.

At their convention in Las Vegas, members of the National Association of Broadcasters gave the acquisition a generally positive response, saying it likely would prod satellite operators to carry local stations more quickly. The trade group had opposed the Hughes-EchoStar merger because it would have reduced competition and pressure to carry local stations in smaller markets.

Under the agreement, Murdoch would become chairman of Hughes and Chase Carey, who currently serves as an adviser to News Corp., would become president and chief executive officer of Hughes. The company would continue to be based in the Los Angeles suburb of El Segundo.

Hughes shares, which trade separately from those of General Motors, fell 2 cents to $11.48 in regular trading before the deal was announced, but gained 36 cents in extended trading. News Corp. shares fell 66 cents in regular trading to $27.22 each but rose 50 cents in the after-hours session.


News Corp plunges on DirecTV deal


From http://www.thewest.com.au/20030410/business/tw-business-home-sto94459.html

SHARES in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Ltd dropped by more than 4 cent in early trade after it sealed a $US6.6 billion ($A11 billion) deal to control United States satellite TV giant DirecTV.

News Corp's shares were down 51 cents at $11.22 by 1020 AEST after earlier hitting a low of $11.12.

Its preferred script also lost 50 cents to $9.20, having hit $9.07 earlier.

Early this morning News Corp made its much anticipated announcement that it had reached a deal with General Motors (GM) to acquire its 19.9 per cent stake in DirecTV's owner Hughes Electronics Ltd.

News Corp will also buy a further 14.1 per cent of Hughes from its public shareholders and GM's pension and other benefit plans.

As part of the deal, News Corp will issue 34.2 million preferred limited voting ordinary ADRs worth $US22.40 each to GM and 122.2 million preferred ADRs to the public shareholders and the GM pension and other benefit plans.

EL&C Baillieu media analyst Ivor Ries said News Corp's shares may have fallen because of the concern it was issuing more ADRs and diluting its share base.

"(The share price fall) is probably just in response to the number of ADRs he is issuing and Wall Street was also down last night," he said.

"(US media company) Knight Ridder also put out a profit warning so there's probably a bit of nervousness about media stocks generally."

Mr Ries added that the deal had made News Corp the media company with the world's largest base of TV subscribers at about 30 million, overtaking AOL Time Warner and AT&T in the United States.

"I see this as a company transforming event," he said.

"It makes Rupert king of the kids in the TV business."

Mr Ries described the $US6.6 billion price tag paid by News Corp as reasonable.

"He was always going to pay over the market but given his potential to work the asset harder I think it's a reasonable price.

"It certainly will not add to earnings for a couple of years but if anyone can make this thing really work, it's Rupert."

The deal marks the end of a two-decade long ambition of Mr Murdoch to enter the US satellite TV market and add such a business to his existing subscription TV services in Europe, Asia, Australia and Britain.




9/04/03

Not a good start for today Insat 3a launch was postponed. Still pretty quiet today

Telkom 1 at 108E reported in Perth, Telkomvision pay tv service transponders being received on a 12ft dish

There is a New online satellite magazine www.satmagazine.com


From my Emails & ICQ


From A7mad

Hi craig it was reported that Sport 927AM has left from 12564MHz Horizontal SR 29473 3/4 now though the uploaders have named the station R04 and in the info bar its called 'Radio 2' CHID 13404 APID 3843 its a music channel as I am listening to it atm. Just to add just before I sent this an announcer just called the Station 'Radio 2'

Sport 927AM is still on 12595MHz Vertical SR 30000 2/3
CHID 525 APID 1873 listenting to the horse race results.


Waiting patiently for ImpacTV news...


From Kotak

Dear sir

that channel has started

Satellite Channal Name Freq: Pol: SR: Fec:
Inset 2B,2E Headlines News 3.573 V 4340 3/4

Mukesh Kotak


From the Dish


Optus B3 156E 12564 H "Radio 2 (Australia)" has started , enc., SID 4304, APID 3843.

Asiasat 3 105.5E 12368 V "Feed??" Sr 25330 Fec ?? (can someone check this?)

Yamal 102 90E 3489 L "TeleShkola" is back , Fta, PIDs 111/112.New PIDs for SGU TV: 33/34.

Thaicom 2 78.5E 3970 H Occasional TVT Channel 11 feeds , PAL.

Intelsat 704 66E 4055 R "Iraq Satellite Channel" has left , replaced by a test card.

Satellite Launches: http://www.lyngsat.com/launches/

Insat 3A & Galaxy 12 with Ariane is delayed to 22:49-23:30 UTC on 9 April.
Launch date for Yamal 201 and Yamal 202 with Proton: 24 April.

(Those 2 going to 90E at 49E)


NEWS


INSAT-3A launch postponed following technical snag


From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=42824282

BANGALORE: The launch of India's multipurpose satellite INSAT-3A by European Space agency's Ariane-5 rocket was postponed early Wednesday following a "less than nominal signal strength from one of the telemetry transmitters," Indian Space Research Organisation said.

The anomaly could not be resolved before the close of launch window and it was called off for the day, an ISRO announcement said here.

The launch was due to take place between 0419 IST and 0500 IST from the European Space Agency centre in Kourou, French Guiana.

The revised date of the launch would be announced soon, ISRO said.

According to an Ariancespace announcement, the lift-off of Arianespace flight-160 was delayed after one of the missions's two clients (ISRO) requested additional verifications on its satellite payload.

The Ariane-5G launcher and its dual payload -- INSAT-3A and Galaxy XII for the US telecoms operator PanAmsat -- are in a "safe mode" on the launch pad, it said.

Additional information on the mission's rescheduling would be provided during the morning hours of April nine (Kourou time), it added.

Arianespace was notified of the client's need for additional satellite verifications prior to the start-up of fuelling activity with Ariane-5's cryogenic core stage, the announcement of the European space agency said.

As a result, it said, the countdown activity was stopped before any of the stage's liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen propellant had been loaded.

A top ISRO team in Kourou was analysing the problem, a spokesman of the Bangalore-headquartered space agency told PTI. ISRO Chairman Dr K Kasturirangan, Satellite Centre Director Dr S P Goel and INSAT-3A Project Director R K Rajangam were in Kourou for the launch.

The 2,958 kg spacecraft is equipped with 12 C-band, six upper extended C-band, six Ku-band and one search and rescue transponder for providing telecommunication, television broadcasting, meteorology and satellite-aided search and rescue services.

INSAT-3A was originally scheduled to be launched in mid-February but it was delayed because of a mishap on December 11 when a souped-up version of Ariane-5 veered off course shortly after lift-off and had to be destroyed by ground control.


INSAT-3A launch postponed


From http://web.mid-day.com/news/nation/2003/april/49533.htm

Bangalore: A less than nominal signal strength from one of the telemetry transmitters in India's multi-purpose satellite, INSAT-3A, during the final checks was cited by the Indian space agency as the reason for postponing the launch of the satellite.

The anomaly could not be resolved before the close of launch window and the launch was called off for the day, an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announcement here said today.

The revised date of launch would be announced soon, it said.

According to an Arianespace announcement, the lift-off of Ariane space flight-160 was delayed after one of the mission's two clients (ISRO) requested additional verifications on its satellite payload.

The Ariane-5G launcher and its dual payload -- INSAT-3A and Galaxy XII for the US telecoms operator PanAmsat-- are in a "safe mode" on the launch pad, it said.

Additional information on the mission's rescheduling would be provided during the morning hours of April nine (Kourou time).

Arianespace was notified of the client's need for additional satellite verifications prior to the start-up of fuelling activity with Ariane-5's cryogenic core stage, the announcement said.

As a result, it said, the countdown activity was stopped before any of the stage's liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen propellant had been loaded.




8/04/03

Live chat 9pm NZ and 8.30pm Syd time onwards tonight in the chatroom. Hopefully Impactv will be in wth some news?...


From my Emails & ICQ


From Andrew Rajcher

Hi folks....

I'e just received the following from my Yum Cha lunch pals at Asiasat:_

.... Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat) announces
that the Company’s new pan-Asian satellite, AsiaSat 4, is scheduled for
launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S.A. at US Eastern Time 8:09 p.m. on
10th April (Hong Kong Time 8:09 a.m. on 11th April) aboard an Atlas IIIB
rocket.

AsiaSat 4, a Boeing 601HP satellite, will be deployed at the orbital
location of 122 degrees East longitude. The new satellite will be the most
powerful member of AsiaSat's satellite fleet, carrying 28 C-band and 20
Ku-band transponders with a 15-year design life.

AsiaSat 4's pan-Asian C-band footprint will cover more than 40 countries
and regions spanning from New Zealand to the Middle East. Its Ku-band
coverage will consist of two high-power focused beams for East Asia and
Australasia, as well as a new BSS (Broadcast Satellite Service) payload for
Direct-to-Home (DTH) services in Hong Kong and the adjacent South China
region.

AsiaSat 4 is designed to provide advanced satellite services including DTH
television, broadband and IP solutions, and telecommunications services
such as private networks for business and rural telephony in the Asia Pacific.

In addition, AsiaSat 4 will complement the company’s two existing
satellites, AsiaSat 2 and AsiaSat 3S, allowing customers to enjoy greater
flexibility for regional coverage and comprehensive back up options.

###
Notes:
Live Webcast of the launch will be available at www.asiasat.com and
www.ilslaunch.com on 10th April from 7:40 p.m. US Eastern Time (Hong Kong
Time from 7:40 a.m. on 11th April)

Live Broadcast will also be available at the same time on AsiaSat 2 C-band.
Transponder: 2A, Frequency: 3700 MHz, Polarisation: Vertical, Modulation:
QPSK, Symbol Rate: 6.1113 Msym/sec, FEC: ¾

Looks like all systems go!!


Andrew (aragorn)


From MR Humax

Pas8 NBA basketball

for anybody who is still up,
PAS8 3940 H 27690 7/8 , adhoc channel

Basketball starting in approx 1 hour, (1:30am Bris)


I saw this on a U.S satellite message forum and thought it was interesting its about the U.S startup of TARBS

From: Dk531 (DJK) Apr-02 10:39am
To: ALL (1 of 4)
2657.1

I have some good news or bad news on TARBS on G10R , the way things are looking they are going to delay the DTH serves on till the deal is complied with Direct tv with (Rubert M..news corp ) the resend is that the equipment that they want to use is a receiver that will do both systems (Tarbs and Direct tv) with a elliptical dish 2 LNBS that Hughes systems make ,now we talking about 5 to 6 months delay.

DJK


From the Dish


PAS 2 169E Fox News Channel and some occasional Fox feeds have moved from 4040 V to 3992 V, PowerVu, SR 26470, FEC 7/8, SID 5, PIDs 1560/1520.
PAS 2 169E 3744 V "BBC World" has left , PIDs 1160/1120-1122, replaced by a test card.

Optus B3 156E 12564 H "Sport 927" has left .

Gorizont 33 145E 3875 R "Telekanal Rossiya and Radio Rossii" have left (SECAM).

Yamal 102 90E 3489 L "SGU TV" has replaced TeleShkola , Fta, PIDs 111/112.


NEWS


Intelsat and SmartJog Team Up to Provide Digital Video Solutions to Media Companies


From Press Release

Date: 7 April 2003

Release Number: 2003 -16

Washington, D.C., 7 April 2003 - Intelsat today announced that it is working with SmartJog, a global content distribution service provider, to provide digital store-and-forward delivery of video content over satellite to customers. Broadcasters and content owners in North America and Asia are able to use this service to distribute content to broadcasters and pay-TV platforms in the Asia-Pacific Region. This initiative builds on Intelsat's strategic push into video solutions.

By combining SmartJog's digitized content with capacity on the Intelsat 701 satellite located at 180ºE, the companies will offer a solution capable of replacing manual content delivery, saving broadcasters and distributors a significant amount of time and money by eliminating the need to ship video tapes through the mail.

"Teaming with SmartJog is just another creative way in which Intelsat is working to extend the value of our global reach to our customers," stated Jon Romm, President, Intelsat Video Business Unit. "More and more frequently, media companies need to transfer important information across the world quickly, securely and reliably -- Intelsat is providing the capacity on our global satellite fleet to enable them to do just that."

Additionally, this "click and deliver" solution utilizes a secure network to preclude tape piracy while ensuring file integrity and allowing customers to track the digital delivery of their content in real time. Sending the content digitally also allows broadcasters and distributors to access rights availability and meta-data (electronic tags that specify and identify content), significantly reducing time spent on content searches and editing.

David Berman, Chairman, SmartJog, said, "This service is a genuine innovation for the content distribution market and is becoming such an efficient tool that broadcasters will soon forget the time they were receiving tapes. This service will be an important development for media companies as they access the Asian market."

SmartJog's expansion into the Asian market via the Intelsat 701 follows its commercial success in the European marketplace. SmartJog's existing customer base includes leading European television stations, including 90 percent of French and UK channels, and many of the major video content distributors in the U.S. and Europe. Intelsat has been providing video solutions to customers worldwide for almost 40 years.

About Intelsat

Intelsat, Ltd. offers telephony, corporate network, video and Internet solutions around the globe via capacity on 26 geosynchronous satellites in prime orbital locations. Customers in approximately 200 countries rely on Intelsat satellites and ground resources for quality connections, global reach and reliability. For more information, visit www.intelsat.com.

Contact:

Jodi Katz
[email protected]
+1 202 944 8223

Susan Gordon
[email protected]
+1 202 944 6890


Europe readies next space launch after December disaster


From http://www.spacedaily.com/2003/030407145534.02om9s8d.html

PARIS (AFP) Apr 07, 2003

Engineers at Europe's space base in South America were putting the final touches on Monday to the first launch of an Ariane 5 since a disastrous failure on December 12 cast a shadow over the rocket's reliability, officials said.

The launcher is carrying two telecommunications satellites, the 2.95-tonne INSAT 3A for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the 1.76-tonne Galaxy XII for the US telecoms operator PanAmSat, which are to be placed in geostationary orbit.

"The rocket has been rolled out onto the launch pad and everything is going as scheduled," Claude Sanchez, spokesman for Arianespace, the company which makes and markets the European Space Agency (ESA) rocket, told AFP.

Liftoff at Kourou, in French Guiana, is scheduled to take place late on Tuesday, with a launch window from 2249 to 2330 GMT.

It will be the first launch of an Ariane 5 since December 12, when a beefed-up version of the rocket, an Ariane 5-ECA, suddenly veered off course on its maiden flight.

Mission controllers had to blow up the launcher along with two satellites, in a failure reckoned to have cost half a billion dollars.

The problem was traced to the coolant system designed to radiate heat away from the rocket's nozzle. The system's failure meant that the nozzle overheated and deformed, thus deflecting the rocket's flight.

Further flights of the Ariane 5-ECA, which has a 10-tonne launch capacity, have been suspended until the problem is fixed and an even larger launcher, the Ariane 5-ECB, has been shelved indefinitely.

The standard Ariane 5 -- which will be used for Tuesday's flight -- uses different components and thus has been given a clean bill of health.

Even so, investigators demanded a thorough review of Ariane 5's systems.

That led to the scrapping of a launch in January of an ambitious comet-chasing spacecraft, Rosetta.

Arianespace is eager to get the programme up and running again.

It is locked in a fierce battle with US rivals for the satellite launch market, a business that has been badly hit by the downturn in the telecommunications business.

Arianespace now depends totally on the Ariane 5, whose standard version has a 5.9-tonne launch capacity. The smaller Ariane 4, a workhorse of space with an excellent record for reliability, was phased out of service after its last launch on February 15.

Arianespace posted an operating loss last year of between 50 and 60 million euros (dollars) last year, its chief operating officer, Jean-Yves Le Gall, said in February.


Much is riding on Ariane rocket


From http://www.msnbc.com/news/896840.asp

PARIS, April 7 — Jean-Yves Le Gall does not beat about the bush. The managing director of Arianespace, the loss-making European satellite launching consortium, says the fate of the European space industry is likely to be decided before the end of May.

“TWO EVENTS WILL determine our future,” he says.

The first will occur as soon as Tuesday night when an Ariane 5 rocket carrying two satellites will lift off, weather permitting, from the Kourou launch site in French Guiana. This will be the first launch since the embarrassing failure of the new 10-ton version of Ariane 5 on its maiden flight on December 11.

The so-called “return to flight” programme of the Ariane 5 rockets will hinge on Tuesday’s launch of the lighter S-version of the rocket. A successful launch will revive confidence in the Ariane system and ensure reliable launch services for the next two years until the 10-ton rocket is again ready for blast-off in 2005.

The second critical determinant of the industry’s future involves the ministerial meeting of the European Space Agency (ESA) at the end of next month. Governments will have to decide whether to finance both Ariane 5’s “return to flight” programme as well as ensure a steady flow of more significant annual funding to guarantee Europe’s continuing autonomous access to space.

“Put bluntly, we need 550 million euros [$590 million] to revive the Ariane 5 10-ton programme plus an additional 200 million euros a year to provide Europe with a guaranteed access to space,” says Mr. Le Gall.

The stakes are high for the entire European space effort. “The issue is whether Europe wants to maintain an independent space industry at a time when its U.S. competitors are being heavily subsidised as well as benefiting from both the current fall in the value of the U.S. dollar and the current U.S. war economy,” says Mr. Le Gall.

“The situation in the European space industry is very serious, we are in crisis,” says Antonio Rodota, ESA’s director general. “Europe has been hit much harder than the U.S. because of its higher exposure to the commercial sector, which has been in crisis since the bursting of the telecommunications bubble.”

The commercial and technical success of Ariane during the past 15 years provided Europe with the essential first step in achieving an autonomous presence in the space business. It has also enabled Europe to challenge the dominance of other U.S. technology — such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) — by developing its own rival Galileo communications system.


“I doubt whether the Galileo European satellite communications programme would happen if Ariane did not exist to provide a European transport vehicle for the 30 Galileo satellites, since the Americans would be reluctant to launch a rival programme,” says one French space industry official. Last week, European governments finally agreed a work share programme for the Galileo project, which is due to become operational in 2008.

Over the past 15 years, the old, reliable Ariane 4 rockets placed 182 satellites into orbit, providing Europe with a “launch ramp” that captured 50 per cent of the global market. But Ariane 4 was overtaken by progress. Its limited payload capacity of 4.9 tons made it unsuitable for launching heavier satellites at acceptable costs.

The Ariane 5 10-ton rocket was designed to respond to the changing market with a cost-efficient system capable of launching into orbit two large satellites at a time. “Before the failure, we had a very clear strategy,” says Mr. Le Gall. “Ariane 5 could only become profitable if it was equipped to perform double payload launches. This is still our strategy, and our current difficulty is that this strategy will now take longer to put together,” he explains.

The programme originally aimed to return the Arianespace consortium to profit this year after losses of 242 million euros in 2000 and 193 million euros in 2001. Before the December failure, the consortium expected to reduce its losses to about 27 million euros last year. “We now expect to lose about 45 million euros because of the December failure and the provisions we will have to make,” says Mr. Le Gall.

The extent of the provisions will depend largely on the funding decisions the ESA ministers will take at the end of next month. They will also have to take into account the increasingly tough competition in the commercial satellite launch market.

Both Boeing and Lockheed Martin, Ariane’s two U.S. rivals, use low-cost Russian rockets to launch commercial satellites, putting strong downward pressure on prices. And although Ariane took 11 of the 15 commercial satellite contracts tendered last year, European governments have awarded it only two or three scientific or defence contracts a year. By comparison, Boeing can rely on about 20 contracts a year from the Pentagon.

Ariane, like the rest of the European space industry, is now in the throes of extensive restructuring to rationalise its unwieldy structure of multiple shareholders and their respective production work shares. But for all these efforts, Europe’s managers warn that the industry alone cannot bear the entire cost of sustaining Europe in space.

They say it will ultimately be up to Europe’s politicians to decide whether they want to maintain an independent industry. “Reliance on the private sector was once seen as a matter of pride for Europe: now it is a weakness. Space has such a strategic value and it has to be defended as such, not left exposed to the commercial crisis,” insists Mr. Rodota of the ESA.





7/04/03

Big news today Foxtel signing up with NDS!

Other news is 2 satellite launches this week!! Insat 3A and Asiasat 4, fingers crossed especially for Asiasat 4 launch details below for it. Not sure about Video coverage of the Insat Launch. I think Dordashan covered the last Insat launch?

Satellite Launches:

Live coverage of Asiasat 4 with Atlas on 11 April UTC will be on Galaxy 3C: 3720 H and Asiasat 2: 3700 V, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, starting at 23:15 UTC on 11 April.


From my Emails & ICQ


From Bill Richards 6/04/03

0510 UTC

Pas 2 3785V SR 5700, FEC 3/4, Vpid 3601Apid 3604 "Yonex Open Tennis Japan Sports Feed"

Regards
Bill


From Steve in Saddams backyard

Hi all,

I know a lot of you guys are watching feeds from over here, so I thought I'd drop a line and give you some back ground on the link point I'm at.

I'm at the Sheraton in Kuwait. 90% of the news market is here. It was all but distroyed in Gulf War 1, and there is pictures in the foyor that show how wrecked it was.The entire roof top is littered with standup positions. The most impressive is NBC. They have a huge "studio" live position, for want of a better discription.

Theres APTN, EBU, BBC, ..... the list goes on. There would be, at a guess, 20+ dishes on the roof, most putting up multipul paths. Eg: BBC, EBU and APTN have 3 paths each. They are pointing anywhere from up, to west. Not many facing east, which is a pitty for us.

I can understand why there was so much panic when the storms came through here. The side of the building no one uses as a shot, is out to sea. The wind on a
nice day is stiff. All the live positions are now steel framed. Some were before, but all are now. Guys were telling me that the sandstorm was that bad, it was
lifting Live Positions that had huge slabs of concrete weighing them down, up as high as the rope tie-offs.

The hotel is full of police and Militry. Concrete baracades all around the outside of the building.

The plan for our kit is to go into Iraq, with the kit mounted on the back of a 5ton truck, but stripped down. This is for BBC, who are getting us to go up on Ku band
on Europestar. We will be following the next wave of yanks in.

Well guys, thought you might want a little insight into the setup. Due to heading into Iraq, I did not bring a laptop, but am using the free internet off the TV
in the room. I have heaps of photos, which I'm put up on my web page when I get back to Oz.

If anything exciting happens, other than the cute chick at the pool today,

I'll drop
you another.

Cheers...

Steve - NEWS24x7


(Craigs comments, I am sure we all wish Steve the best of luck and a safe return once he has finished it's not often we get a first hand report of the behind the scenes guys who risk their life to provide the feeds for the various broadcasters.)


From the Dish


PAS 2 169E 3744 V "BBC World" has left , PIDs 1560/1520-1522, replaced by a test card.(Unconfirmed)

Optus B3 156E 12336 V "RNW 3" has started , Fta, SID 18, APID 562.

Insat 2E 83E 3573 V "Headlines Today" has started, Fta, SR 4340, FEC 3/4, PIDs 512/650, zone beam.
Insat 2E 83E 3910 V "DD Saptagiri has replaced DD Telugu" Fta, SR 5000, FEC 3/4,PIDs 308/256.
Insat 2E 83E 3929 V "DD Saptagiri has replaced DD Telugu" , PAL.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3480 H The TARBS World TV mux has left .

PAS 10 68.5E 3744 V New PIDs for SABC Africa on : 1624/1623.
PAS 10 68.5E 3808 V It's occasional Ten Sports feeds on , PIDs 50/52, NOT Ten Sports Middle East.
PAS 10 68.5E 3863 V New PIDs for Reality TV on : 2050/2049.
PAS 10 68.5E 3863 V "Channel Islam International" has started , Irdeto 2, SID 6128, APID 1625.
PAS 10 68.5E 3897 V The NDTV promos are encrypted again.
PAS 10 68.5E 3940 V "Al-Arabiyah" has started, Fta, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, PIDs 33/36.
PAS 10 68.5E 4064 V "TGRT and ATV have replaced Video Italia and TV Moda", MDS, PIDs 512/640 and 514/642.



NEWS


NDS wins Foxtel's first digital deal


From http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,6247815^15306^^nbv^,00.html

PAY-TV group Foxtel has begun laying the foundations of its $600 million digital pay-TV service by awarding a far-reaching multi-million-dollar contract for its digital technology systems to NDS.

The contract is believed to be the second largest on offer for the digital rollout, coming only behind the tender for digital set-top boxes (STBs). The contract with NDS, which is 80 per cent owned by News Corporation, names it the prime systems integrator for the digitised Foxtel.

That means NDS must pull together all information technology, communications and TV systems needed to create a seamless interactive pay-TV platform.

Industry sources estimate this part of the contract alone to be worth tens of millions of dollars.

News owns The Australian but also has 25 per cent of Foxtel and manages the pay-TV business.

NDS will also work with Foxtel to create its digital electronic program guide, and NDS's VideoGuard conditional access system will be introduced across Foxtel to prevent pay-TV piracy.

Unlike some other interactive TV systems, the NDS software will ensure interactive applications are synchronised with the TV program on air at the time.

NDS will also have full responsibility for managing the "return path" needed to ensure two-way interactive TV.

Foxtel has also agreed to introduce NDS's XTV personal video recorder, which enables subscribers to record live TV to later skip ads or to bookmark TV programs. That service is scheduled to be rolled out 12 months after Foxtel's digital launch.

Although Foxtel slated October as the date for its digital conversion, the failed launch of Optus's C1 satellite has pushed the date back to January 2004.

That date also depends on final scrutiny by the competition regulator of Foxtel's content-sharing deal with rival Optus, a decision on which is due later this year.

NDS also provides similar services to News's other pay-TV businesses in the UK and New Zealand, but Foxtel sources said this tender was open to competition.

Foxtel chief executive Kim Williams said NDS offered the best solutions for Foxtel.

"Foxtel is leading the development of digital TV in Australia and our alliance with NDS will enable us to deliver innovative new services reliably and securely," he said.

NDS general manager for Australia and New Zealand Peter Iles said its technology would be included in the Foxtel digital broadcast centre now being built in North Sydney and in its STBs.

The technology in the STBs enables the boxes to receive the information from Foxtel, unscramble it and play it out on TVs. NDS already provides similar systems to Foxtel's cable analogue service.

Mr Iles said regional pay-TV group Austar would still be able to take Foxtel's programs via satellite even though it used a different encryption system.

NDS would "simulcrypt" the satellite feed, he said.


Optus in $70m SBS satellite win


From http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,6248926%5E15320%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

AUSTRALIAN telco Optus has won a $70 million plus contract to carry digital television signals via satellite for the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS).

The Singapore Telecommunications unit said the deal was expected to be worth more than $70 million over its 10-year term.

Optus noted satellite technology was well suited to meet Australia's regional and remote location needs.

In January, Optus said it was not expecting the launch of its new C1 satellite until the June quarter 2003.

The satellite was initially scheduled for launch in the March quarter 2003 but has been delayed, with the launch revenues also delayed until the June quarter.

Optus has been working with Arianespace on issues such as a rocket launch failure in late 2002.


ILS Readies Launch of AsiaSat 4 Bird


From Satellite today

International Launch Services is getting ready to launch the AsiaSat 4 communications satellite April 10 aboard an Atlas III rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The AsiaSat 4, a 8,911 pound Boeing 601HP satellite, is set to be delivered into geostationary orbit at 122 degrees East Longitude. Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. will use the satellite, with its 28 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders, to provide satellite services across Asia and Australia, including direct-to- home TV and broadband services.


All set for launch of INSAT-3A on April 8


From http://www.indiaexpress.com/news/technology/20030406-2.html

With the European space consortium Arianespace giving the green signal, the stage is set for the launch of India’s multi-purpose satellite INSAT-3A later this week.

The go-ahead followed the launch readiness review held at the spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana in South America.

Ariane-5 rocket will roll out from the final assembly building to the launch zone on Monday, reports quoting Arianespace sources said on Sunday.

This would be followed by the final countdown on April 8.

Lift-off of the Ariane-5 with its dual satellite payload of INSAT-3A and Galaxy XII is set for the evening of April 8 during a launch window beginning at 7.49 pm and closes at 8.30 pm local time in Kourou (Around 4.30 am on April 9 in India).

Sources in Indian Space Research Organization, (ISRO), which designed and built the spacecraft, said the launch may be telecast live by Doordarshan.

They said the 2,958 kg spacecraft is equipped with 12 C-band, six upper extended C-band, six Ku-band and one search and rescue transponder for providing telecommunication, television broadcasting, meteorology and satellite-aided search and rescue services.

A top ISRO team, including Director of ISRO Satellite Centre Dr P S Goel and INSAT-3A Project Director R K Rajangam, are already in Kourou for the launch. ISRO Chairman Dr K Kasturirangan is reaching there on Sunday.


TVNZ profit up on ad gain


From http://onebusiness.nzoom.com/onebusiness_detail/0,1245,181186-3-166,00.html

Television New Zealand has reported a profit of $22.9 million for the six months to the end of December 2002, up $8.4 million on the same period the previous year.

The government as its shareholder will get a dividend of $3.079 million.

TVNZ says its TV and media business contributed $18.5 million, up $10.3 million, while its transmission arm was down $1.8 million at $4.4 million, on the same time the previous year.

The result also includes a final $5 million payment to get out of a 1993 agreement with the former Clear Communications that prevented TVNZ Group's subsidiary BCL making inroads to the telecommunications Business.

The state owned broadcaster will have paid $30 million to quit the agreement.

Described in the interim report tabled on Monday as "purchase for intangibles and licences", a total $7.285 million also included $2.285 million for spectrum purchase by BCL.

The report is the last time the TV side of the business will be reported with the transmission side. After July 1, the two are being split to form separate businesses, with theTV side becoming a crown owned company and the transmission a state owned enterprise.

TVNZ reported advertising revenue was $164.2 million, up $6.8 million on the comparable period. The company also received charter funding of $5.3 million.

TVNZ says those revenues helped offset a $11.2 million decrease in other external revenues, which fell due to a substantial reduction in Satellite Services occasional use business as substantial price reductions from international satellite and telecommunications companies took effect.

Acting chairman Craig Boyce says while total operating revenues declined during the six months, that had been more than compensated for by the reduction in costs through the restructuring of the TV and transmission businesses the previous year.

TVNZ, which will become a crown owned company on July 1, says the transmission business suffered from an investment lag in securing new business in the telecoms sector.

BCL's would receive revenues from its contract with Telecom New Zealand to deliver broadband services in regional and provincial New Zealand next financial year.


DTH could take 6 months to become reality


From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=42555353

NEW DELHI: Even after the government has given a go-ahead to Subhash Chandra’s ASC for providing Direct-to-Home (DTH) television, it may take up to six months for the service to become operational.

“We have been asked to go ahead with DTH application. Now we have to firm up satellite space and forge tie-ups for niche channels we want to broadcast through DTH, all this may take another five-six months,” Essel Group co-promoter Jawahar Goel said.

The government's nod to ASC Enterprises is good news for consumers, who will now have a choice between DTH and Conditional Access System for pay channels, being enforced from July 14 this year.

Besides the Essel Group company ASC, Star’s Space TV was the only other applicant for DTH services. When contacted, a Star spokesperson said from Mumbai that the company has not received any communication from the government on its DTH application so far.

Goel said ASC has already invested upwards of Rs. 200 crore in infrastructure for DTH and is now in talks with ISRO for hiring seven transponders for the purpose.

“We are talking to ISRO for hiring seven transponders and this is expected to cost us about Rs. 20 crore per annum. Talks are also on for niche channels”.

Goel said ASC will initially provide 55-60 niche channels on its service. These include channels on education, women, gardening, a variety of sports and some alpha channels including alpha Bangla.

Asked about the foreign investment cap in the sector, he said "ASC is an Essel Group company and Zee Telefilms has no role to play in the DTH services. ASC's shareholding is in accordance with all government guidelines and stipulations".

As per the DTH guidelines issued by the government earlier, ASC will have to now pay a Rs 40-crore bank guarantee, Rs 10 crore as entry fee as well as 10 per cent of its DTH revenue every year to the government.

While allowing Indian companies to offer DTH services, the government had clarified that while total foreign investment in the licensee company, including FDI/NRI/OCB/FII investment, shall not exceed 49 per cent, broadcasters can together hold no more than 20 per cent stake in the licensee company.


T S I C H A N N E L N E W S - Number 14/2003 6 April 2003 -

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

Editor: Branislav Pekic

Edited Apsattv.com Edition

A S I A


CHINA - HONG KONG

AOL TIME WARNER CHINA CHANNEL TO GET IMPROVED DISTRIBUTION

China Entertainment TV Broadcast, the 24-hour Mandarin-language entertainment channel owned by AOL Time Warner, has been given a license to extend its reach nationally across mainland China, effective immediately. Previously the channel, which was acquired in 2000 by AOL Time Warner and relaunched last year by Turner Broadcasting System, had cable distribution rights only in southern China. Under the license, China's State Administration of Radio, Film and TV has allowed CETV to be broadcast via China's central satellite platform, Sinosat, to hotels and other authorized recipients across the country. CETV also recently extended its cable TV carriage to additional cable systems in the southern provinces of Guanghzhou and Shenzhen, doubling its penetration in those markets to more than 2 million homes.

HORIZON CHANNEL GETS CHINA LANDING RIGHTS

Hong Kong pay-TV operator i-Cable Communications said it has obtained regulatory approval to broadcast a satellite channel to selected areas in China effective from April 1. i-Cable said the Horizon Channel, a 24-hour satellite service offering social, cultural, technology and entertainment programs, can now be broadcast to hotels in China with a three-star or higher rating, as well as in foreign compounds. The channel targets Chinese communities in the Asia Pacific region.

SARFT SUSPENDS BROADCAST RIGHTS FOR SUN MEDIA

China's State Administration for Radio, Film and Television has suspended national broadcast rights for Sun Media-owned Sun TV and Jet TV. The decision comes after Sun Media, which owns 60% of Jet TV and 100% of Sun TV, signed a programming joint venture with Taiwan broadcaster ETTV, which SARFT sees as the latter's attempts to enter the Chinese mainland by the back door. However, Sun chairman Bruno Wu Zheng said the suspension would be "temporary".

INDIA

STAR TV CHOSES PARTNERS FOR NEWS CHANNEL

News Corp.-backed Star TV has chosen two potential partners for its planned Hindi-language news channel. Star was forced to postpone its local launch plans after government regulations prevented it from taking more than 26% of the venture if it is to uplink from India. Star hopes that with one or both of the local partners it can resubmit it license application within three months. The channel launched earlier this month, but is uplinked from Hong Kong.

ZEE LAUNCHES BUSINESS CHANNEL

Indian broadcaster Zee Telefilms is to launch a "Hinglish" 24-hour business news channel. Zee Business will come under the Zee News banner with programming focussed on corporate news, industry and agriculture, as opposed to stock market tracking. Zee Business will be based in New Delhi.

THE PHILIPPINES

GMA-7 TO FLOAT PART OF STOCK

Philippine broadcaster GMA-7 is preparing a float of about 10% of its stock this year or early next, according to local reports. The country's second-biggest commercial broadcaster had planned an IPO last year but postponed it in unfavorable market conditions.

SINGAPORE

CNBC SIGNS CONTRACT WITH STARHUB

Singapore's StarHub, announced that it has sealed a substantial contract worth millions (S'pore dollars) with CNBC Asia Pacific to provide 'live' video feeds from London, Hong Kong and Japan to Singapore via fibre/cable. Managed globally through Arcstar Global ATM Service, CNBC Asia Pacific will transmit from its regional bureaus to its production centre in Singapore. Traditionally, broadcasters receive "live" video content, reports and news via satellite services. With this implementation, CNBC Asia Pacific is one of the first broadcasters in the region to receive broadcast-quality footage from around the world to Asia-Pacific on ATM circuits. In Asia, CNBC Asia Pacific, which is headquartered in Singapore, beams news daily via its seven channels, CNBC Asia, CNBC Australia, CNBC India, Nikkei-CNBC (Japan), MBN-CNBC (Korea), CNBC Singapore and CNBC Hong Kong, to 26 million homes across the region. StarHub is the exclusive provider of Arcstar services in Singapore - Arcstar being the brand name of NTT Communications (NTTCom) suite of global managed services.

TAIWAN

NEWS AGENCY LAUNCHES SATELLITE TV CHANNEL

Macroview TV, a satellite TV channel operated by the Cabinet-level Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (OCAC), began March 31 to broadcast news in Chinese produced by the Central News Agency (CNA). The channel features news events in overseas Chinese communities around the world. The new Macroview TV news programme will be aired daily first at 20:00 and re-run at 05:00 and 11:00 the following day, all Taiwan times.

Internet - http://www.ocac.gov.tw

THAILAND

NATION CHANNEL TERMINATES UBC CONTRACT

The Nation Channel has decided to terminate its contract with United Broadcasting Corp (UBC). In March 2000 Nation Mulitmedia Group made an agreement with UBC to broadcast its news programmes on UBC for ten years. The contract called for a review of the conditions every three years. After the two parties met to discuss the contract this past month, they decided to terminate the contract because of difficulties in the government regulations that restrict UBC's business. As of 1 May the Nation Channel will no longer be broadcast on UBC. UBC has bought the rights to the History Channel International's programmes to replace the Nation Channel. The CEO of UBC expressed regret that the new government body to regulate the TV business had not yet been formed, so UBC cannot ask permission to broadcast advertisements. Nation Multimedia Group is considering selling its news programmes to a free TV channel or another pay TV network.

NATION AND TVT TO LAUNCH NEWS CHANNEL

Nation Multimedia Group will form a joint venture with TVT Television Co to operate a news channel after exiting UBC pay-TV on May 1 because of losses. TVT holds a 10-year concession from the Public Relations Department but has attracted only about 1,000 customers to date because the antennas required for the direct-to-home service are costly. However, the parties involved are preparing to give free antennas to selected viewers and eventually make cheaper antennas available to build the audience base. The Nation Channel is currently available to 400,000 UBC subscribers. Nation Multimedia and UBC said earlier this week that the prohibition of commercials on UBC meant the channel could never be financially viable. A source close to the Nation-TVT deal declined to reveal the investment cost of the venture, but but said that Nation Channel would broadcast on TVT Channel 1 on a 24-hour basis, and also would be allowed to air commercials. Nation Channel would be the third channel on the TVT service. Currently, TVT antennas cost 1,800 baht or more. Nation Channel and TVT have been in talks with Samart Corporation to mass-produce the antennas to make the prices more affordable. The source noted that when independent broadcaster iTV began operations six years ago, antennas to receive the service cost 700 baht each, but the price gradually declined to 100 baht as production volume rose.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

ABU DHABI TV WINING WAR OF THE NEWS NETWORKS

If it was Al Jazeera which stole the limelight during the Afghan crises, it is Abu Dhabi Television (ADTV) which is emerging as the frontliner in feeding 'crucial' footage on the Iraq war to international networks. ADTV has stepped up it's news coverage to 24 hours. It claims that more than 120 broadcasting networks and media organisations including APTN, AFP, Reuters, CNN and others are subscribing or 'picking up' their exclusive live footage of the war. The main reason for ADTV's edge over their international and regional competitors, according to “Gulf News” is the strategic location of their bureau which in the centre of Baghdad, near the Tigris river. They also boast an intensive three month preparation, professional staff and technical expertise. ADTV's Baghdad bureau, with three correspondents, supported by a technical crew, also sports two satellite trucks. The station, which has reporters and technical crew - comprising engineers, technicians, cameramen and producers - positioned in the north, west, south and east of Iraq, has around 40 reporters in the field covering the war. They have also deployed reporters in Baghdad, northern Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Jordan with a maximum presence in Kuwai.

PIRATE TV DEALER FINISHES IN JAIL

A satellite TV dealer convicted of selling unauthorised MultiChoice Africa smart cards has received a one year jail sentence from the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance. “This judgement by the Dubai Courts sets a clear precedent for the Middle East.” says Scott Butler, chief executive of the Arabian Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAA) whose work helped to secure the conviction. “Any individual found in possession of a MultiChoice Africa smart card can now expect to face a sentence, a fine, imprisonment and deportation.” Investigators identified the satellite TV dealer as one of the primary distributors of MultiChoice Africa smart cards into the UAE market. Frikkie Jonker, MultiChoice Africa’s anti-piracy enforcement expert, liased with the Dubai Police and the AAA to assist in verifying the unauthorised smart cards. “MultiChoice Africa will forensically track the details of any MultiChoice Africa smart cards in the Middle East, including the UAE, and systematically cut off viewer authorisation,” he says. The conviction tops off an impressive year for the AAA, which saw the alliance, with assistance from the Dubai Police and the Ministry of Information, successfully raid a pirate cable operator distributing pay-TV channels to more than 3,000 homes in Karama, Dubai. The association also aided the Ministry of Information to raid 12 hotels, bars and coffee shops in Dubai who were flouting broadcast regulations by showing television channels, and particularly sporting events, without the proper public broadcast licenses from the television networks.

NEW INDIAN TV NEWS CHANNELS TO LAUNCH SOON

Several new Indian TV news channels will soon be available in the Gulf. Industry sources said either seven or eight news channels will be available in the next few days. Major satellite TV networks are working out last-minute distribution deals to reach the more than four million Indian viewers in the Middle East. Star News changed completely on March 31, after New Delhi TV (NDTV) ended its contract producing the news package for Rupert Murdoch's company. The Sahara Group itself plans seven news channels, of which the first, Sahara Samay, is already broadcasting. News becomes an all-Hindi channel run by Star, which started broadcasting on March 31. Meanwhile, NDTV plans to launch two news channels, in Hindi and in English. NDTV used to produce news packages for Star News, which was available in the Pehla bouquet for the UAE viewers. Both NDTV and Star channels have hyped up their entry into the all-news Hindi TV. Star, meanwhile, hopes to woo viewers with its Hindi programming and with cross-channel promotion on the hugely popular - and financially viable - Star Plus. NDTV's English channel, which promises to "take news to a different level", will be called "24x7" while its Hindi channel will be called "NDTV Samachar". Aaj Tak English will likely begin with a headline news format and hopes to replicate the tremendous success of Aaj Tak Hindi, India's top news channel, but using the same editorial team.


A F R I C A


SOUTH AFRICA

SABC DROPS CNN

The South African Broadcasting Corporation will not be renewing its international news service contract with 24-hour news channel CNN. SABC, one of Africa's biggest broadcasters, said it wanted to vary its late-night schedule to meet viewers' changing tastes. CNN said its service would still be distributed in South Africa on the Multichoice DSTV satellite broadcaster.




6/04/03

Sunday Zzzzzzzzzzz




5/04/03

No update this weekend back Monday




4/04/03

Nothing to say up here today.


From my Emails & ICQ


From Zaparra

Pas 10 68E 3940V "MBC Al Arabiyah" Sr 6110 Fec 3/4 Vid 33 Aud 36PCR 40Sid 1 PMT 1

MPEG FTA looks like 24 hours news

http://www.sat-address.com/ln/MBC-Al-Arabiyah.shtml


(Craigs comment, A nice 8 Mbitt broadcast quality feed!)


From the Dish


Apstar 1A 134E 4140 V "CCTV 2" has left (PAL).

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3432 V "Occasional feeds" on , SR 5786, FEC 3/4, Asian beam.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3545 V "Occasional feeds" on , SR 26663, FEC 3/4, Asian beam.

PAS 10 68.5E 3744 V "Africa 2 Africa" has left .
PAS 10 68.5E 3808 V "Ten Sports Middle East" has started, Fta, PIDs 50/52.
PAS 10 68.5E 3897 V "Two NDTV promos" have started, enc, SR 8678, FEC 3/4, PIDs 32/33 and 34/36.



NEWS


Ariane 5 program looks for successful return to flight


From http://www.spaceflightnow.com/ariane/v160/030403preview.html

The 15th flight of Ariane 5 is scheduled for April 8.

Arianespace is setting up for a crucial flight next week of the Ariane 5 rocket that promises to be widely watched throughout the aerospace industry after the last mission of the heavy-lift booster ended in failure and prompted a program-wide review.

The launch provider and its engineering team have worked over the past few months checking hardware and designs of the Ariane 5G basic version of the rocket after an upgraded configuration -- capable of carrying 10 metric tons into geosynchronous transfer orbit -- failed to deliver two payloads in December.

The Ariane 5 ECA that experienced the malfunction has been grounded indefinitely and will likely carry a dummy cargo next time around instead of a paying customer. Arianespace acknowledges one or possibly two test flights may be needed before the 10-ton Ariane 5 version can enter commercial service.

Engineers traced the cause of the botched Dec. 11 launch to a cooling system issue on the first stage's Vulcain 2 main engine. Cooling loops lining the nozzle sprouted a leak, which led to overheating of the engine bell and a loss of integrity. The rocket then flew out of control and impacted in the Atlantic Ocean offshore of the South American launch site.

Investigators ordered officials to not only look into the Ariane 5 ECA Vulcain 2, but also to examine the predecessor Vulcain 1 of the Ariane 5G, even though no faults or problems were located in that design.

This review delayed a number of missions slated for the Ariane 5, most notably ESA's Rosetta comet probe that was due for launch in a specific science window in January. Rosetta is now scheduled to leave Earth no sooner than early 2004. Europe's SMART-1 lunar explorer and a number of commercial spacecraft were also pushed back as a result of the investigation and testing than ran into late winter and early spring.

The last time an Ariane 5G had a launch accident was in July 2001 when an early shutdown of the upper stage left two satellites in the wrong orbit. In all, the basic version of Ariane 5 has suffered two complete failures and another that reached a lower-than-planned altitude during a qualification flight.

That said, Arianespace has shown confidence in the Ariane 5G by ordering additional rockets while the issues with the Ariane 5 ECA are worked out.

"Ariane 5 Generic will handle the lion's share of missions for the near- and medium-term," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, the Arianespace chief executive officer. "Our board of directors has decided to order more of these vehicles. This year, we should launch eight satellites with five standard Ariane 5s. In 2004, we will maintain the pace with four standard Ariane 5s, plus one or two qualification launches of the 10-ton Ariane 5 version."

The Ariane 5 ECA is considered Arianespace's future since it will be needed to loft heavier cargos. In addition to the changes made to the Vulcain main engine, the Ariane 5 ECA features a powerful new cryogenic upper stage that increases the amount of payload that can be hurled into space.

Waiting for the ride to space next week are two communications spacecraft that are to be injected into a highly elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit before each maneuver into their respective operational positions.

Riding in the lower position within the confines of the Sylda 5 dual payload adapter is the Galaxy 12 spacecraft for American satellite operator PanAmSat.

Once in its geostationary orbit slot at 74 degrees West over the nation of Colombia, Galaxy 12 will use its 24 C-band transponders to relay telecommunications traffic ranging from multimedia and data networking to direct-to-home programming.

Galaxy 12 will reach customers across the continental United States as well as Alaska and Hawaii throughout its 15-year design life. The 3,872-pound satellite was build by the Orbital Sciences Corporation of Virginia.

Positioned atop the Sylda 5 is the Insat 3A communications satellite to be operated by the Indian Space Research Organization.

With 18 C-band and 6 Ku-band transponders, Insat 3A will beam broadcasts and communications services to users across the Indian subcontinent from its perch above the Bengal Gulf at 93.5 degrees East longitude.

Weighing 6,490 pounds at liftoff, Insat 3A also features instruments to aid in meteorology studies and weather forecasting in India. Another transponder is added for search and rescue applications.

Liftoff of the Ariane 5 is slated for the opening of a 41-minute launch window at 2249 GMT (6:49 p.m. EDT) from the ELA-3 launch pad at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.

This mission will mark the 159th Ariane launch dating back to 1979, the 15th flight of the Ariane 5 rocket and the second Ariane launch of 2003. It will be the first Ariane 5 voyage since the workhorse Ariane 4 retired in February.


Ariane 5 ready for launch


From http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG3_sub.asp?ccode=ENG3&newscode=2752

Bangalore, Apr 3 (UNI) The stage is set for the Arianespace flight 160 of Ariane five that will put into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) Indian Multipurpose Satellite INSAT 3A along with Galaxy XII of Panamsat in the early hours of April 9 from the European Spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana.

Arianespace announced today that the Ariane five (generic vehicle) was now complete following the integration of INSAT 3A satellite atop the launcher. Ariane five was expected to blast off between 0400 and 0430 hrs (IST).

The ''topping off'' activity was completed in the Spaceport's final assembly building on April 1. The launcher's upper section -composed of INSAT 3A, the SYLDA 5 multiple payload deployment system and the payload fairing - were installed atop Ariane 5. The upper section was positioned over the GALAXY XII spacecraft, which was integrated on the launcher March 31.

During the April 9 flight, the payload fairing would be separated first, followed by deployment of INSAT 3A. The final step would be the release of GALAXY XII.

INSAT 3A was the 10th Indian satellite to be flown by an Ariane launcher during the last 22 years ever since the launch of Apple in June 1981. The satellite would be finally pushed to its space home of 93.5 deg east by Spacecraft controllers of ISRO at the Master Control Facility in Hassan once it was injected into the GTO.




3/04/03

Things still fairly quiet today. Very Light on news as well


From my Emails & ICQ


From Alex

(Optus B3) RNW radio should be up and running in the next 24 hours

It's a Dutch and Flemish radio channel and that is all I know


From Bill Richards

BVN and Duna TV screenshots off Optus B3


From the Dish


Optus B1 160E 12608 V "Knowledge Wave" has left . (months ago)

Optus B3 156E 12336 V "Med TV" is now encrypted.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3626 V "Sadhana TV" has started testing, Fta, PIDs 1057/1058.


NEWS


Private TV network Telefenua ends 8 years of broadcasting


From http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/Weekly2003/04.01.2003/PacificIslands3.htm

PAPE'ETE: (Tahiti-Presse/Pacific Media Watch): Téléfenua, Tahiti¹s second private television network and the first to offer CNN, has ended eight years of broadcasting following a ruling by the Papeete Commercial Tribunal, Tahiti-Presse reports.

There were no buyers, so there was no other solution than putting it into liquidation, Téléfenua¹s management said following the court¹s decision on March 31.

The network had been in receivership since October 28.

Téléfenua, which started broadcasting to homes on the island of Tahiti and its sister island of Moorea on March 6, 1995, had debts totalling 2.3 billion French Pacific francs (about 19.3m euros, or US$21.3m). And 30 million F CFP (250,000 euros/US$278,000) of that debt was local.

It's always too bad to watch disappear a media that still counted 20,000 television viewers, a statement by the Téléfenua management said.

However, the network only had some 4500 subscribers for its bouquet of 18 channels that were watched by anestimated average of 4.5 people living in each household in French Polynesia.

Of Téléfenua¹s 30 employees, some have already found new work. The others will receive compensation equal to three months of salary plus severance pay.

That leaves Tahiti¹s television audience the French State¹s two public RFO channels; Canal +, Tahiti¹s first private TV network; and Tahiti Nui Satellite (TNS), French Polynesia¹s only 100% digital satellite TV service.

Canal +, a French network, started broadcasting on Dec. 22, 1994. TNS, an affiliate of the French Polynesia Postal and Telecommunications Department (OPT), began broadcasting on June 29, 2000.

TNS now offers 23 TV channels, including CNN, and five radio channels.




2/04/03

First up Thank you to Satworld for sending me a nice new Nokia remote, I seem to have worn out the last one.

A new interactive service, Skybet Trackside is now listed on one of Skys transponder. It has FTA Teletext on it.


From my Emails & ICQ


From Zapara

Pas 10 3898 Vert Sr 8678 3/4

NDTV India has started

24_7 NDTV
VID 32
AUD 33
PCR 32
SID 1
PMT 81

NDTV INDIA
VID 34
AUD 36
PCR 34
SID 1
PMT 82

NDTV REGIONAL
VID 37
AUD 38
PCR 38
SID 1
PMT 83

all chs are mpeg fta


From the Dish


PAS 2 169E 12335 V Occasional ABC feeds on , SR 3977, FEC 3/4.(Asian beam)

PAS 8 166E 12305 H "Occasional feeds", SR 6620, FEC 3/4. (Asian beam)

Optus B1 160E 12671 V "Apna FM" has started, Fta, SID 1109, APID 661.

Asiasat 3 105.5E 4110 H "TVB Xing He Channel" is now encrypted.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3551 H "TCT" has started fta, SID 2, PIDs 513/514.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3626 V New PIDs for Nepal 1 : 33/34.

Satellite Launches

Launch window for Insat 3A & Galaxy 12 with Ariane on 8 April:22:49-23:30 UTC.


NEWS


Dish out of water


From http://www.hillsnews.com.au/read.asp?article=news3000935.txt&s=news

THOSE big, round, black, steel-mesh satellite dishes have been popping up all over The Hills recently.

Both Baulkham Hills and Hornsby councils have to deal with these unauthorised constructions.

And yet another dish will come before Hornsby Council tomorrow night (Wednesday, April 2) to learn its fate will it stay on air or be cancelled?

Council officers are recommending the removal of a dish from Rochford Way, Cherrybrook.

This one is 5.5m high and 2.2m in diameter and used to receive television signals from the Asia-Pacific region.

But a precedent was set last year when a nearby dish was allowed to remain, although it had not been authorised.

Council officers recommended its removal but there were objection letters from Rochford Way Neighbourhood Association and 20 residents.

On December 18, councillors voted to allow the 2.27m wide dish on a 5m high metal pole to stay.

Ian Latter of the Rochford Way Neighbourhood Association said this set a precedent which could have an impact on all Hornsby Shire.

Hornsby Council is now displaying its development control plan to set out guidelines for larger satellite dishes. The plan says that satellite dishes must be a maximum of 2.5m above ground level, dark and recessive in colour, not above the ridge of the roof, a compatible colour with the roof, and a minimum of 900mm from the property boundary.

Residents don't need to get consent from council when the dish is roof mounted and not greater than 700mm in diameter.

Meanwhile, Baulkham Hills Council decided last week to inspect a home in Lockhart Avenue, Castle Hill to decide whether an unauthorised dish would be allowed to stay.

The dish, which is mounted on a metal pole, complies with the local environment plan but was installed without an approved development application.

Council officers will inspect the dish at 10.30am on Saturday, April 5. Baulkham Hills Council's local environment plan states that residential satellite dishes must be mounted on the ground at a maximum height of 2.4m, a maximum diameter of 1m, a minimum of 900mm from a property boundary and not be closer to the street than the home it is part of.


CETV secures limited China broadcast rights


From http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/Weekly2003/04.01.2003/China5.htm

United States media giant AOL Time Warner said yesterday its Mandarin-language China Entertainment Television Broadcast (CETV) channel had won a limited nationwide broadcast licence.

The announcement coincided with reports that the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (Sarft) was considering suspending similar broadcasting rights enjoyed by the rival Sun Media channel because the shareholder structure of Sun Media had changed substantially since it applied for the landing right.

"It is being resolved, as we speak now," said Sun Media chairman Bruno Wu Zheng, declining to give further details.

CETV is joining 30 other foreign channels that have won approval to broadcast to three-star or higher-rated hotels, foreign compounds and other select areas in the mainland.

It is one of the four channels that have both landing rights in southern China and hotels and other specified venues. The others are Xingkong Weishi, Phoenix Chinese and the Movie channels, all directly or indirectly controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

AOL subsidiary Turner Broadcasting System official Grace Wong said CETV would be distributed from China's central satellite platform via Sino Satellite with immediate effect.

CETV, limited to about one million households in southern China, will now also be available on additional cable TV systems in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, doubling its penetration in those two cities to more than two million homes.

"The advertising revenue that could be brought in by the nationwide distribution is hard to estimate at this stage," Ms Wong said. "However, CETV perceives this as a valuable opportunity for brand exposure and to increase viewing of our programmes."

AOL said CETV's advertising revenues had increased 470 per cent year on year from the fourth quarter of 2001.

"We anticipate that advertising sales will increase sharply with the increased distribution of CETV," Ms Wong said.

Meanwhile, AOL said it was still in the early stages of discussions with Tom.com regarding a strategic partnership in CETV.

"This is not in any way connected to the expanded distribution rights," Ms Wong said.


Intelsat Carries HDTV Programming from Antarctica to Japan


From Release Number: 2003 - 15

London, U.K. 1 April 2003 - Japanese television viewers who have wondered about the scenery and environment of Antarctica can now see it in high-definition TV (HDTV). Using Intelsat's capacity and Japan Telecom's antenna facilities, NHK, a pioneer in HDTV, is broadcasting environmentally focused programming from the Showa base in Antarctica back to viewing households in Japan.

NHK has set up their HDTV "Hi-Vision" Broadcasting Center in the Antarctic, and is using the Intelsat 904 satellite located at 60ºE to carry a variety of environmentally-themed programs aimed at increasing public awareness of the global environment. The first HD feed from the Showa base in Antarctica occurred at 2:00 p.m. on 1 February to commemorate the exact time when Japanese TV broadcasting was launched 50 years earlier on NHK, and in conjunction with the launch of Intelsat's Occasional Video Services network.

Japan Telecom is utilizing a series of short-term video leases from Intelsat, receiving the content at their Kamiyamaguchi earth station in Japan and forwarding it to NHK's studios in Tokyo. They consulted with Intelsat engineers extensively and conducted over 30 hours of testing on the satellite to ensure a high-quality signal. Additionally, they supplied a flyaway antenna suitable for operation in harsh environments and secured over 100 hours of transmission time on the 904 satellite.

"It was very important for us to secure a provider that offers a consistently reliable and high-quality signal," said Masaru Ikeo, Executive Producer Science and Environment Programs at NHK. "We are very pleased that Japan Telecom chose the Intelsat system to carry our programming, as we feel it is imperative in HDTV broadcasts to have guaranteed broadcast quality and reach, both of which Intelsat offers."

NHK's Hi-Vision Broadcasting Center at the Showa base will be operational for one year. Programming will include various live and timed broadcasts about Earth and the environment, including live coverage of auroras from both the Arctic and Antarctic, the total eclipse of the sun and simultaneous HD live feeds, including from the "Subaru" Telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, Okavango Delta in Botswana and the abyss of Monterey Bay in California.

Jon Romm, Intelsat President, Video Business Unit, added, "We are pleased that NHK, as the forerunner in HDTV, recognized Intelsat's capability to serve as the appropriate transmission provider on this project. Television distributors need to be aware that Intelsat has the know-how to support HDTV broadcasting and most other video services worldwide by relying on our complete worldwide network and talented staff."


Contact:
Jodi Katz
[email protected]

+1 202 944 822

Susan Gordon
[email protected]
+1 202 944 6890


(Craigs comment, hmmm April 1st eh)


INSAT-3A to be launched from French Guyana on April 9


From http://www.keralanext.com/news/index.asp?id=9146

India's latest satellite, INSAT-3A, will be launched by Ariane-5 vehicle of European Space Consortium Arianespace in the early hours of April 9 from Kourou in French Guyana, South America.

The spacecraft, which weighs 2958-kg, is a multipurpose one for providing telecommunication, television broadcasting, meteorology and satellite aided search and rescue services, an ISRO statement said in Bangalore on Tuesday.

It carries 12 C-band, six upper extended C-band, six Ku-band and one search and rescue transponder.

The meteorological instruments consist of a Very High Resolution Radiometer, a Charge Coupled Device camera and a data relay transponder, it said.




1/04/03

Livechat tonight 9pmNZ onward and from 8.30 Syd time onwards. Prime TV on UHF here in Nelson has gone off-air I got an email from them, yes they are putting in a bigger dish.

Not much to report today.


From my Emails & ICQ


From Siam Global

This is to inform Apsatters who wish to see both sides of the war, that Iraq TV is currently going strong 24 hours a day FTA on Intelsat 704 at 66 degrees East in the French bouquet. It is showing footage that the BBC and U.S networks refuse to show. Three times bombed by the U.S up to now, it is quite amazing how quickly they get back on air ( usually within 24 hours )

each time they are hit.

May we also point out an error on Lyngsat. Madagascar TV is in fact on LMI at

75 degrees East ( where it has always been ) and not on Apstar 2R at 76.5 East as erroniously reported. In this case Satcodx gives the correct satellite on their website.

Siam Global, Bangkok.


From the Dish


PAS 8 166E 12366 H "NASA TV" has started, Viaccess 2, PIDs 1281/1282. (N.E Asia beam)
PAS 8 166E 12526 H All radio channels on are now encrypted, except TGRT FM and Voice of Turkey.

JCSAT 3 128E 3960 V "Rainbow Channel 2" has started, Viaccess 1, PIDs 1216/1217, 01-06 HKT.

Telkom 1 108E 3580 H "ABC Asia-Pacific has replaced Star Movies International" Irdeto 2, PIDs 153/154.The Sahara Madhiya Pradesh tests have left, replaced by a test card.

Asiasat 3 100.5E 4020 V "Sahara National and Sahara Uttar Pradesh" have started regular transmissions, Fta, PIDs 513/660 and 516/690.

Apstar 2R 76.5E 3848 H The TVB mux has left . (Now on Asiasat 3)


NEWS


Sprechman Named CEO of GlobeCast America


From satellite today

David Sprechman has been appointed CEO of GlobeCast America, the U.S. arm of French satellite service provider GlobeCast. Sprechman will be responsible for overall direction and management of GlobeCast's North American and Latin American operations, based at GlobeCast America headquarters in Miami. He joined GlobeCast in 1998 as the company's COO and CFO, responsible for managing nationwide operations, capital expenditures and financial management. GlobeCast America's former CEO, Robert Behar, will remain as president of the unit.

Separately, GlobeCast announced that Hungarian network Duna TV is available via GlobeCast's proprietary digital direct-to-home (DTH) platform Optus B3 across Australia and New Zealand. GlobeCast, a unit of France Telecom [NYSE: FTE], is providing Duna TV with end-to-end signal backhaul from Europe to GlobeCast's Optus B3 gateway in Australia. In addition to DTH transmission, GlobeCast Australia provides subscriber management services (SMS) for the broadcaster including a call center, reception installation and activation, installer referrals and technical support.


Work on for Zee Biz news channel; mid-year launch targeted


From http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k3/mar/mar179.htm

NEW DELHI: The business news channel that the Zee Group has been talking about is taking shape. Zee Biz is expected to be launched around June or July.

Speaking to indiantelevision.com, Zee Network director news group Laxmi Goel says: "After giving a new look to Zee News, we have started work on the business channel. The proposed business channel which we have named Zee Biz would be having programmes both in Hindi and English. Goel clarified that, "The channel would not focus so much on stocks and the capital market as done by some other business channels (like CNBC India). But would strive to cover other aspects of business like home loans, personal finance, the business of tourism and other such related subjects."

Goel explained that the business channel would be more mass viewer friendly. He, however, refused to give any details about the investments being made in the business channel. However, Goel in earlier interactions with the media has said that all it required to launch a business channel was an extra investment of around Rs 150 million.

He also did not specify whether Zee Biz would be free-to-air or a pay channel. Says Goel, "We haven't decided what mode of delivery would be taken for the would be taken for the delivery of the channel (whether free or pay).