Whats new

Sky NZ are now screening AFL Saturday afternoons 4pm NZ (2 pm Sydney) so it may come up on mediasat or they might use B1 12733

CNN India 3780H sr 24990 fec 3/4

Now tv started their service on Asiasat 3 check www.now.com and see if you can make any sense of it.

SUN TV Asiasat 3

Possible Feeds sources this weekend

Saturday 1st

12.55pm Syd Rugby Fiji vs U.S.A live from Apia (I701 probably encrypted via TVNZ)

2.00 pm Syd AFL (B1 12733V)

2.30 pm Syd NRL Raiders vs St George (mediasat)

3.00 pm Syd Rugby Sanzar under 21 (live from Auckland)

5.25 pm Syd Rugby NZ vs Scotland

7.30 pm Syd NRL Tigers vs Sharks (mediasat)

10.00pm Syd Tennis Wimbledon (Star sports Asiasat 3)

Sunday 2nd

5.00 am Syd Golf LPGA (check I701 and also Pas 2)

11.55am Syd Rugby Samoa vs Canada

2.00 pm Syd AFL

2.30 pm Syd NRL Eagles vs Bulldogs (mediasat)

If you see any feeds of these events or other let me know.

CNN to launch new South Asia channel

CNN is all set for the launch of its new South Asia channel on 3 July.

The launch will see a new region-specific schedule, featuring a five hour prime-time block comprising of international and regional news bulletins presented by Anand Naidoo and the two new presenters Shihab Rattansi and Zain Verjee.

CNN International will also reschedule some of the network's most popular programmes for daily prime-time television viewing in South Asia including Biz Asia, CNNdotCOM, Style with Elsa Klensch, CNN Hotspots, the art club, World Beat, Business Unusual, Science & Technology and Earth Matters.

CNN International will introduce locally produced programmes on the South Asian channel by the fourth quarter of 2000. The programmes will be produced by local production companies and will be a part of the new channel's regional news bulletins and CNN's popular shows at prime-time.

The network will fully upgrade its current signal to the advanced digital mode, which, the network claims, will significantly improve the signal for local audiences. The CNNI South Asia signal will be available via the PanAmSat-4 satellite.

GlobeCast has announced plans to launch a broadband platform over India using the Europe*Star-1 satellite.


Here is an extract from its press release:

"GlobeCast has reaffirmed its active expansion into India by announcing that it will be launching a broadband platform from the United Kingdom designed to meet the growing demand for IP-based services.

GlobeCast will offer application and content-driven value-added services to broadcasters and other content providers who are seeking to reach one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the world and take advantage of deregulation and convergence.


"This is a unique solution for our customers to enter the Indian market which is on the brink of a broadband revolution."

GlobeCast will also be targeting ISPs, cable operators, corporations and other companies that wish to take advantage of the platform's high-powered, high-speed, and multi-cast capabilities.

The platform will be delivered via Europe*Star-1, a Ku-band satellite due to be launched in the beginning of autumn 2000 at 45° East Longitude and uniquely positioned to provide the highest level of services to customers in India and Pakistan.


Customers within the footprint will be able to receive the signal using a small receive dish ranging from 1.2 to 1.8 meters.


Isabelle Lorin de Reure, Executive Vice-President Strategy and Development, says, "This is a unique solution for our customers to enter the Indian market which is on the brink of a broadband revolution. Currently only 100 cities and towns are connected to the Internet in India and satellite technology is ideal to deliver broadband Internet and e-commerce services to disparate areas with no infrastructure."

29/6/00

Not much to report at all today very slow news day usually on Thursdays I think everyone must be at the Show in Melbourne, Thanks to all who turned out for the livechat last night it seems to be becoming more and more popular each time.I will spend some time haveing a fixup on the site shift the Zee channels off and move the Zee Gallerys to the "gone but not forgotten page"

To the reports

M.H in Melbourne reports he is useing a 1.2M for his reception of Canal+

Murdoch and Packer in multi-billion dollar cricket tussle

AAP --
Australia's two biggest media tycoons, Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Packer, are reportedly locked in a billion-pound bidding battle for digital and internet rights to English cricket.

London's Evening Standard newspaper reported today that negotiations between representatives of the two global business empires and officials of the Test Match Grounds Consortium had been taking place in secret.

The paper said the deal could be worth up to STG1 billion ($A2.53 billion) over five years.

Both Packer and Murdoch have been credited with revolutionising sport through ground-breaking television deals.

Packer was first when he set up his rebel cricket 'circus' in the 1970s and Murdoch's Sky television network made the fortunes of Britain's top soccer clubs.

The Test Match Grounds Consortium - made up of the MCC (Lord's), Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Surrey Warwickshire and Yorkshire - are expected to make similar sums from the digital rights with spin-offs for the game worldwide.

The consortium retained the rights to digital coverage when they drew up a contract with the English Cricket Board for conventional TV and radio broadcasts.

The second plank of the talks concerns the internet with plans for an international "cyber-space cricket portal" linking all nine Test-playing nations.

Ominously, as efforts to clean up the game get underway, much of the profits forecast would be derived from gaming, with advertising and ticket sales the other main revenue-generators.

News International, the British arm of Murdoch's News Corporation had no immediate comment on the reports.

28/6/00

The regular live chat is tonight at 8.30pm Sydney time and 9.30pm NZ last Mondays was very popular.This Thursday ,Friday and Saturday the South Pacific region satellite and cable show is on in Melbourne. I am sure a few of you will be going (I wont) but Apsattv.com hopefully will have someone there reporting on the happenings over the next few days. Hopefully our reporter wont forget his digital camera. (P.S) My pc is not locking up anymore fingers crossed that problem is solved as it was driveing me nuts and preventing some updates to the site as it would of meant I had to save every 5 mins. Now I just need to sort out some more ram.

To the reports

B.Richards says Mediasat have changed the stream and pids Thai5 should work now on most receivers

12336 VERT SR 30000 FEC 2/3
Vpid 1560 Apid 1520 PCR 1560 Maharishi
Vpid 1260 Apid 1220 PCR 1260 Thai TV5
Vpid 1360 Apid 1320 PCR 1360 BTV (test card)
Vpid 1860 Apid 1820 PCR 1860 TRT Turkey
Vpid 1160 Apid 1120 PCR 1160 Spare CH8 (test card)
Apid 1323 PCR 1323 Thai TV5 Radio (test tone)
Apid 1822 PCR 1822 TRT FM Turkey
Apid 1830 PCR 1830 VOT Radio Turkey

M.H (Australia) has his Canal+ installed he writes

Hello Craig,


as promised here is a quick update.


Everything is installed and working correctly. I have very high quality
picures and stereo sound on most of my channels. Some are in dual language
some only in french but that's not really a problem. I'm still trying
settings on the receiver.

As for priceing "still being negotiated"

H.Spitaler emailed the following

I just compared Lyngmark and Satcodx charts for Pas8 and found huge discrepancies. Lyngmark seems to be spot on whereas Satcodx is fiction. Even the sat. position co-ordinates differ noticably.

I have to agree, anyone else given up on Satcodx? perhaps its time for our own Asia/Pacific only charts?

From Lyngsat

Sun TV is testing on Asiasat 3 (read yesterdays news for info about Sun TV)

"Sun TV tests" As3 4095 H sr 5554 fec 3/4 vpid 4130 apid 4131

27/6/00

Thanks to all those 30 or so people that turned out in the chatroom last night an excellent turnout! See you again Wednesday night same time!

The big news is of course Zee has finally encrypted on As3 3700 the only FTA remaining on there is Alpha Keveri, but some more bad news from Zee as well you can read below they have missed out on cricket broadcast rights which will make a serious hole in their plans for Zee Sports it could mean Zee Sports will be even furthur delayed untill next year.

Bill R reports new data signal on Thaicom3 3525 sr 20478 fec 3/4

New on at 108E Telkom 1 3583MHz sr 8000 fec 3/4 is "Turbo TV"

Sun TV to Invest US $ 40 million To Develop New Satellite Channel

from satnewsasia.com

Hong Kong/June 23, 2000/Satnews Asia/ -- Sun Television Cybernetworks Holdings plans to invest HK$300 million in the next five years to develop a satellite-television channel. The channel, Sun Satellite Television, is expected to be launched in August and transmitted through Asia Satellite 3S, according to Yang Lan, chairman of Sun Television.

The channel will provide infotainment programs such as history, biographical and documentary programs for all households in the region under Asia Satellite 3S' footprint, Ms Yang said. However, the channel has no direct access right to mainland households, said Tsui Siu-ming, chief executive at Sun Television, formerly known as construction company Leung Kee Holdings.

"None of the other foreign TV channels have the right to get access to mainland TV households," Mr Tsui said. He said the company has reached agreements with mainland's TV broadcasters to re-package and re-broadcast their programs. Sun Television said income for the soon-to-be-launched TV channel would be derived from TV advertising, TV programs productions and distribution.

The company expected to generate about HK$200 million advertising revenue from the TV channel in the first year of operation, Mr Tsui said. Sun Satellite Television is expected to break even after the first year of operation. Ms Yang said Sun Television already had about 800 hours of programs on hand, of which 260 hours had been sold.

Sun Television expects to produce 800 hours to 1,000 hours of programs each year. The company also will acquire programs from other companies and plans to increase its TV archives to 10,000 hours within five years. It had no plans to close its construction business, Mr Tsui said.

Zee-TWI lose ICC cricket rights bidding slugfest to News Corp/World Sport Group

from indiantelevision.com.

The long-fraught-with-controversy ICC cricket telecast rights issue has finally been decided. And the winner is not Zee TV, rather it is its staunch rival News Corp which is supporting the World Sport Group (a front company for Murdoch's media conglomerate).

ICC Development (International) Ltd made the announcement yesterday in Paris. The World Sport Group will for the next seven years represent it for the sale of commercial rights for several major ICC cricket events. Among them figure:



* the 2003 World Cup in South Africa and the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

* the ICC Knock-Out tournament in Nairobi (3-15 October, 2000) and then on a two-year cycle.

* the Under 19 World Cups in 2002, 2004 and 2006.

* the two ICC Trophy tournaments in 2001 and 2005.

The winning bid of a minimum guarantee of $550 million by WSG/News Corp was much lower than the Zee Multimedia Worldwide-TWI combine's widely reported $625 million. The announcement was issued by David Richards Managing Director of ICC Development (International) Ltd in Paris yesterday.

The loss could come as a major blow to Zee TV which was banking heavily on the ICC rights to launch its sports channel. In the alternative it is quite likely that it will launch rebel parallel cricket tournaments just as Kerry Packer did in the late seventies-early eighties.

Now, new President for MTV Networks International

from indiantelevision.com

Corporate restructuring seems to be the name of the game at MTV these days.

Recently having appointed five new Vice Presidents for MTV India, this time, MTV Networks have announced a newly created position of President, MTV Networks International. And taking us this duty will be Bill Roedy who is currently President, MTV/VH1 International. Under his new title, Bill Roedy will be responsible for leading the international operations of Nickelodeon, MTV and VH1.

Mr Roedy will be based in London and will report directly to MTV Networks Chairman Tom Freston. Tom Freston said that a more close co-ordination of the business was required by putting all their brands under one executive mirroring the organization in the US and felt that Bill Roedy was uniquely qualified for the job having pioneered MTV and VH1's great international success.

Yellowave Corp., USA, has signed an agreement in principal to acquire iCom4U
Ltd., Israel, for stock. But that's not the interesting part of this story.
ICom4U claims to have found a way to reduce the bandwidth of video signals by
75 percent.


iCom4U is a technology research and development group specialising in product
solutions for the broadcast and reception of digital content delivered via the
Internet, satellite, cable, cellular and other methods. One of the group's
revolutionary technologies reduces by up to 75 percent the bandwidth required
to deliver a video signal. The same technology also reduces the cost of storing
video programming by up to 75%.
iCom4U utilises its bandwidth reduction technology to develop an end-to-end
solution for Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) systems, which can reduce
bandwidth costs for DBS system operators by up to 75%. The technology can also
be used in cellular, digital VCR, DSL, cable modem, digital TV, set-top box and
palm-held devices.
One of iCom4U's products is a satellite receiver system based on a "common
digital reception engine," which allows subscribers to receive digital
broadband data directly to their TV set or PC. The receiver system simplifies
integration of basic, tiered and pay-per-view services in a low-cost,
high-performance product designed for easy use in the home.
iCom4U technology utilises proprietary video enhancement and amplification
methods based on techniques originally used by intelligence agencies to enhance
satellite photographs.

26/6/00

Live chat tonight in the chatroom 8.30pm Sydney time and 9.30pm NZ.

B.Richards reports Pas2 Hongkong bouquet 4148 vert sr 24430 fec 2/3 vpid 1560 apid 1520 0720utc 26/6/00 "Horse Racing"

Microsoft, News talk TV alliance

Microsoft is talking with News Corp about a possible partnership offering Rupert Murdoch's television services around the world via the Internet.

Speaking after the launch of Microsoft's new Web-based software, chief executive Mr Steve Ballmer said: "We would love to have News as a partner for .Net TV."

Mr Ballmer's comments coincide nicely with News Corp's plan to spin off its satellite TV assets into a separate company, to be named Sky Global Networks.

Microsoft is one of a handful of companies understood to have approached the media group about a possible stake in the new company.

Mr Ballmer said there was "nothing in the offing" regarding an alliance but added that he had talked to News president Mr Peter Chernin "a number of times recently and we will continue to have good discussions".

Analysts believe that News may be less keen on Microsoft as a partner because of its rivalry in the TV market.

Mr Ballmer also made a passionate defence of Microsoft's decision to press ahead with its new ".Net" despite the break-up order hanging over the company.

"I am not going to say that we are going to restrict ourselves in trying very hard to build a platform for everybody," he said yesterday.

He became increasingly animated in defending Microsoft against the "mis-shapen and misdirected" US Government. The US Justice Department's court filings argued successfully that Microsoft used its dominance to force consumers to adopt its other features.


Microsoft believes the Government's position misunderstands the nature of the industry. "Name a successful software company and I will point to where it integrates," said Mr Ballmer. "Consumers want software companies to increase integration...It's a form of value added."



He said that while he would "love a settlement", there were "no current discussions" and Microsoft was confident it would win an appeal.

The Guardian

$100,000 offered for digitaltelevision.com.au
Roulla Yiacoumi, Newswire
An Adelaide entrepreneur says he has been offered $100,000 to sell the digitaltelevision.com.au domain he registered for $125 last November.


Ian Scarffe, who runs a mobile computer cleaning service, said he is considering the offer, but does not believe he will sell as the asking price is not high enough.

The value of the domain is worth more than the asking price, Scarffe told Newswire, as he could make more money by keeping it and using it for his business. "If digital televisions sell for $10,000 each, that's the value of 10 televisions we're talking about," he said of the amount being offered.

Scarffe said he cannot name the company that made the offer, as confidential negotiations are still taking place. However, he believes the offer is genuine "because of the people who made it". Scarffe would only say that it is not a telco, but declined to comment on whether it is a government entity. He expects to make a final decision about whether to sell or not by next week.

Although .com.au domains cannot be sold under the existing Australian domain name policy, the business to which it belongs can be sold; the domain name is simply considered to be one of the business's assets and is therefore transferable.

Scarffe came to the attention of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in December 1999 when he was ordered to pay a refund of almost $10,000 to a Melbourne man who bought one of his franchises. The ACCC found the buyer did not receive a disclosure agreement, which may have affected his decision to buy the franchise.

25/6/00

Lockups still happening, it may be power supply related its very frustrateing :(

500cc Motorbikes raceing feed possibly for Star Starsports via Pas2 3934V reported yesterday by B.Richards

SKY Golf feed reported also on Pas2 3992V sr 26470 fec 7/8 plus Boxing this morning (Might be a freq worth keeping an eye on)

From Lyngsat

Tara Bangla 4 has started on 3,554 V, MPEG-2/clear, PIDs 515/643.
Tara Bangla 2 and 3 have new PIDs: 513/641 and 514/642.

News

[V] runs into Zee

From indiantelevision.com

The Channel [V] saga continues. Already in the midst of a major controversy, there's been a new twist in the Channel [V] tale. Now it is accusing Zee of dirty pool.

The channel which ran into trouble with the airing of a particular episode of their show [V] Dares You which had two girls stripping to their underwear is desperately trying to find its way out of controversy. The Police have arrested six people from the channel for obscenity who have later been released on bail. The channel also faces protests from The Bharatiya Janata Party which held demonstrations outside the [V] office in Mumbai.

Channel [V] meanwhile has accused its rival Zee Television for trying to bring down its television ratings. Zee Television allegedly got hold of the tape containing the episode and ran it for 63 minutes. Zee also aired a part of this episode on its Zee News channel and aired comments from Shobha De and BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha on the incident.

Suresh Bala, General Manager, Channel [V] told Indian Express that this was a media war and Zee Television was taking far more interest in it than the others, and involving political parties to this issue and blowing it completely out of proportion.

Industry observers believe Zee TV is poking Star TV's management in the eye just as it goes on an all-out frontal attack against the former with its new Hindi language programmes on Star Plus. Additionally, it is quite likely that it is attacking Channel [V] which is looking weak and has been pushed back to the number three slot (possibly) by MTV and the highly charged B4U Music. The latter has made waves because of its clearer picture and better sound quality and the fact that it is free to air as compared to [V] which is part of the Star TV digital pay TV bouquet.

What's more is that Zee TV owns the music channel Music Asia which has been a struggler in the music channel sweepstakes. The management has been trying hard to carve out a place for the channel amongst Indian youth but has so far met with failure. Zee TV's creative honchos are keen to kickstart the channel once again and are to rename it as Zee Music. Hence, it is taking a chance to hurl muck at Channel [V], show it in bad light so that its own channel can steal the limelight.

Channel [V] has taken an apologetic stand to all this for offending public sensibility besides scrapping the show.

MTV gets advertising diarrhea

From indiantelevision.com

In the music channel segment, the belief is: the more the merrier. Yes, Channel [V] is in the thick of a storm with Zee TV taking potshots at it and the government also taking it to the cleaners for airing a show which had two girls stripping on a dare. Now MTV has thrown its mite into the fray by placing an ad which exploits the budding talents of the fart monster Gaseous Clay to tell the tale of how it is whipping the competition.

The ad has Gaseous Clay, telling advertisers and their like to cut the crap and let's talk farts and figures. It goes on to say that MTV is beating the rest on several viewership parameters no matter which rating service is considered or which audience is. "MTV comes out smelling of roses", the ad says compared to all the rest. The ad ends with the line: "Music Television. No Shit" and urges marketers to come and place their ads on the channel.

Will advertisers buy the fart story or will they show it the finger? That's a loaded question which only time can answer. MTV, meanwhile, and marketers please go easy on the garlic. And on the verbal diarrhea. Cheers, wot!

24/6/00

Sorry about the late update for the site today, had my pc in pieces swapping over some cards tyring to track down the freeze up.

From Lyngsat

I701 180E CNN International has started on 11,168 V, MPEG-2/clear, Tahitian beam, new SR: 11850.

Pas 2 169E Adventist Global Communications has left 3,957 H (MPEG-2).

Thaicom3 78.5E 3ABN has started on 3,551 H, MPEG-2/clear, SID 8, PIDs 2049/2050.

B.Richards reports

23/6/00 Asiasat2 4086 V sr5632 fec3/4 Vpid 308 Apid 256 PCR 8190 "CCTV7.3 News feeds"
Thaicom3 3640 H sr28063 this week fec2/3 "Mega Greece"
Pas2 3934 V sr10850 fec3/4 Vpid 308 Apid 256 PCR 8190 "SPN_2069 TSA MADRID Motor Racing FEED assan circuit, Madrid? "

Pas2 3992 V sr26470 fec7/8
Vpid 1160 Apid 1120 PCR 1160 Channel 1 Encrypted Scientific Atlanta
Vpid 1260 Apid 1220 PCR 1260 Channel 2 Encrypted Scientific Atlanta
Vpid 1360 Apid 1320 PCR 1360 Channel 3 (FOX SPORTS) Free to Air
Vpid 1460 Apid 1420 PCR 1460 Channel 4 Encrypted Scientific Atlanta
Vpid 1560 Apid 1520 PCR 1560 Channel 5 (FOX NEWS) Free to Air
Vpid 1660 Apid 1620 PCR 1660 Channel 6 Encrypted Scientific Atlanta
Vpid 1760 Apid 1720 PCR 1760 MetroMux Channel 7 (BBC NEWS FEEDS/TOWER BROADCAST CENTRE) Free to Air.
This service was on 3989 VERT

23/6/00

An update to the EXTV email I posted yesterday it mentioned ST1 at 88E I forgot to mention its also in the Space tv package on Palapa C2..3.am Sydney time, Space tv tune to channel 12.

From my Emails.

Sungadi reports..

Indosiar will transmitting live Mike Tyson vs Lou Savarese in Sunday 25/06/2000 at 04:00 am Jakarta Time and it will replay at 11:00 am Jakarta Time.

Anteve will transmitting live GP 500 Assen Netherland in Saturday at 18:30 pm Jakarta time.
Also check on Star Sport (Asiasat 3S)

Star Sport (Asiasat 3S) will begining live coverage of Wimbledon Tennis Championship as of June 26, 2000, 21:00 pm Singapore Time. Please check on http://www.espnstar.com/

Lyngsat chart has listed the I701 new services for Tahiti

Telefenua on 11,168 V, MPEG-2/clear, SR 10100, FEC 3/4,
Tahitian beam, line-up: EuroSport, LCI, TF 1 and Cinestar 1.

TNS - Tahiti Nui Satellite on 11,070 V, MPEG-2/Viaccess, SR 30000, FEC 3/4, Tahitian beam,

TV line-up: LCI, InfoSport, M6 Music,TeleToon, M6, Escales, Cinestar 1, Cinefaz, plus the radio channels
Rire et Chansons, Radio Nostalgie and Europe 2.

Both services are useing a special Tahiti beam, Does it make it to Australia? NZ? Indonesia? or any of the other Islands?

Lets hear some reports from big dish owners, e.g where are you. dish size and any sign of a signal?

Gorizont 33 is up at 145E try these for test signals.

3675R, 3725R, 3775R, 3825R, 3925R

Aptn transmission on Asiasat 2 have encrypted (This will be missed by many!)

Possible sources of FEEDS this weekend

Saturday 24/6/00

12.25pm Syd All Blacks vs Scotland (not likely to be fta anywhere)

2pm Syd AFL (This one is always on (B1 12733V)

2.15pm Syd NRL Roosters vs Warriors (Mediasat)

3.30pm Syd Rugby Sanzar under 21 NZ vs England (Starsports As3)

5.30pm Syd Rugby Sanzar South Africa v Australia (Starsports As3)

7.30pm Syd NRL Bulldogs vs Broncos (Mediasat)

8.00pm Syd Rugby Australia vs Argentina (B1/B3 perhaps)

9.55pm Syd World 500cc Motorcycles

11.00pm Syd Rugby South Africa vs England

Sunday 25/6/00

1.30 am Syd Soccer Euro 2000 first quarter final (Palapa C2 /SCTV/RCTI)

4.00 am Syd Soccer Euro 2000 second quarter final (Palapa C2/SCTV/RCTI)

2.30 pm Syd NRL St George vs Knights (Mediasat)

7.55 pm Syd World Superbikes Race 1 (I701 channel 10 feed)

11.25 pm Syd World Superbikes Race 2 (I701 channel 10 feed)

22/6/00

Satfacts website has had an update some interesting news there...

Apstar 2R 76.5E Channel News Asia is new FTA on 4160H sr 4081 fec 3/4 vpid308 apid 256

Nowtv on Asiasat 3 to start on the 29th June?

Those looking for EXTV info heres some info on them,

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your mail. Please note that ExTv is the boldest Adult channel
in Asia and has started from 13th May, 2000, initially it is available from
10.00PM to 3.00AM Indian Time everyday but very soon it will be available
round the clock.

In Ex Tv you get to see all the movies without any cuts or censoring. The
uncut versions are very bold and show you everything that you have dreamed
off, right into the hardcore section. To get a feel of the programmes the
best is to see the channel. It is a total fun channel which brings you adult
movies, travels to sex destinations, counselling by reputed doctors,
Sexologists tackle sexual myths and problems, exclusive behind the scene of
glamour photoshoots and much more, the list is endless.

The subscription charges are USD 150 per Annum which is about USD 12.5 per
month. To receive the signals you need our smart card, which will cost you
USD 150 per annum.

You also need a Digital receiver compatible with Nagravision scrambling
system, if you have one then our smart card can be utilised in that
receiver.

If you require a new Receiver then the Digital Receiver will cost you USD
200 per piece.


From 10.00Pm to 11.00Pm Indian time everynight the signals are digitally
free to air, after 11.00pm you need to have our authorised decoder.

Please tune your dish and receive the signals as under.:
SATELLITE ST-1 ON 88 Degrees East
DOWNLINK FREQUENCY 3550 MHz
SYMBOL RATE 26,667 Kilo Symbol
SIGNAL TYPE Digital C Band
TRANSPONDER 4A [C Band Vertical]
ON THE ABOVE FREQUENCY TUNE TO CHANNEL 12.
Use any Digital receiver to receive the signals.

If you want to see any special type of programming then let us know and we
will include it in our future programming.

Should you require a brochure of ExTv then please let us have your complete
postal address so that it can be mailed to you.

If you require any further assistance or clarification then please feel free
to let us know since we are here to serve your goodself.

As a special favour can you please advise us the details of the distributors
of Foreign Tv Channels in your country since we are keen to appoint a
distributor in your area.

Look forward to your support of ExTv.

Best Regards
CRESCENT ENTERTAINMENT, Bangkok
EMAIL.: [email protected]

Sony to pick up 20% stake in CNBC

from indiantelevision.com

The off-screen battle between television channels for telecast rights, tie-ups, acquisitions is well and truly on with all the big league players looking to outdo each other.

Jumping on is Sony Entertainment Television (SET). Sony Corp's 24 hour hindi entertainment channel could well be paying a sum of $4.5 million to grab a 20 per cent stake in CNBC India. Television Eighteen India Ltd, a television software producer and broadcaster currently has a 49 per cent stake in a joint venture with CNBC in India. TV18 had earlier approved of a plan to divest 20 per cent of its stake in CNBC India to set. Now it confirmed that it had reached an agreement with SET to boost advertising revenue for CNBC India.

Under the agreement, SET will now be the advertising sales representative for TV18 in CNBC India's business news channel as well as its distribution representative. In return SET has the option of picking up the stake of 20 per cent by 31 October 2000. A press release said that the strong performance of the channel and a successful working relationship between the two parties has led to the signing of the pact.

21/6/00

Live Chat tonight in the chatroom 8.30pm Sydney Time..also 9.30pm NZ for those in NZ.

Gorizont 33 is now geostationary at 145E start looking for test signals from it.

Asiasat 3 feeds seen on 4,116 H, MPEG-2, SID 4, PIDs 1460/1420.

M.H In Australia reports "Dish and hardware being installed for Canal+ at his home this weekend"

Satfacts website will be back up and running properly after the Show in Australia.

Theres a new edition of Csat satellite magazine online. click the link up top to load it.

20/6/00

A late update for today I had my pc in pieces, trying to see if pulling out all components and putting them back in would get my new ram working...but no it insists on crashing before the desktop loads up so the rams going back I think i will just get another 64megs pc100 rather than the 128megs of pc 133 I was going to install.

Nothing much new to report other than, a whisper last night in the live chatroom of HARDCORE U.S style porn being broadcast FTA at 3.am Sydney time. Its not the usual tame /Hot Channel/Spice Channel thats ocasionally fta on Palapa C2.Its called EXTV and I will be emailing them shortly for more details..maybe I will put up some screenshots ;-).Come into the chatroom on Wednesday night for more details.

Not mentioned yesterday was Zee Cinema turning off its other Asiasat 3 signal its now available only inside Zees Package on 3700V.

Stripped on [V], stripped off TV!

Newly positioned as the only youth channel on TV, Channel [V] got into some real hot water recently. Two girls stripped down to their under wear on one of the shows, caught the eyeball of a Government official and landed into police trouble.

The show in question '[V] Dares you', a desi version of AXN's popular 'Who Dares Wins' has constantly been under fire from viewers for its rather (over)bold approach and this incident was really the trip from the frying pan into the fire. The show is based upon people carrying out (supposedly) daring acts for sums of money. The act in question this time was for a couple of girls to go strip-happy which they did gladly removing it all and posing in their underwear. A Government of Maharashtra health director cast his eyes on this and immediately contacted the police who wasted no time in getting to the channel.

Channel [V] spokesperson Malti Puranik claimed that the channel aired the programme by mistake and the Government official had been apologised to by the channel.

The show meanwhile, has been instantly scrapped off the air and its chances of coming back on looking wafer-thin.

Channel [V] said that the show had been taken off because ever since its repositioning as a youth channel, it had been doing really well and wanted to stay away from controversies. But isn't that like shutting the door after the horse has bolted?

19/06/00

Livechat tonight at 8.30pm Syd and 9.30pm NZ

Site update was delayed I had to reinstall windows..

New on Thaicom 3 3600 H is CMM Network?

ICRAVETV Closed down

The Canadian Web site iCraveTV.com has given into pressure from American and Canadian broadcasters, agreeing to an out-of-court settlement that shuts down the iCraveTV Web site. iCraveTV, which was rebroadcasting 17 TV channels locally available in Toronto, Canada, agreed to "never again engage in the illegal streaming of television signals into the U.S. via the Internet," the Motion Picture Association of America announced.

A lawsuit filed by 10 movie companies and three TV networks, and another one filed by the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, accused iCraveTV of violating broadcasters' copyrights. iCraveTV had insisted that Canadian law allowed it to broadcast TV signals, in much the same way that cable stations and satellite TV companies retransmit local stations.

RecordTV.com Sued

Hollywood cracks down on Web VCR site
By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
June 15, 2000, 5:10 p.m. PT
The motion picture industry and a dozen TV and movie studios sued start-up RecordTV.com today, charging that the Web VCR service has violated their copyrights.

The lawsuit is in many ways a replay of a similar legal fight earlier this year over Canadian company iCraveTV.com, which offered online access to TV broadcasts before being closed by an onslaught of lawsuits.
RecordTV, created by Los Angeles resident David Simon, acts as a kind of VCR on the Web, recording TV shows for later playback.

The site, which Simon launched late last year as a service to his children, has skyrocketed to attracting nearly 2 million hits a day in recent months, Simon said. That was enough to put it squarely on the radar screen of the big movie and TV studios.

The industry is charging that Simon has committed massive copyright infringement by recording TV shows online and is asking for up to $150,000 per work copied and distributed.

"Simon, willingly and knowingly, has built a business based on offering its customers access to valuable stolen property," Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, said in a statement today. "One hundred percent of the profits are made from offering popular television programs and movies that RecordTV has obtained no right to copy or display or have any part in distributing."

The lawsuit marks the latest move in the film industry's mounting efforts to block online business models that it believes take distribution of TV or movies out of studios' or broadcasters' hands.

Along with the legal artillery leveled at iCraveTV earlier this year, the industry has lobbied hard in Washington to keep Web companies from being given the right to rebroadcast TV programs. Companies such as Yahoo and America Online have kept lawmakers from blocking them entirely from this right, but the battle on Capitol Hill is still raging.

Simon said he had hoped to avoid a lawsuit with his service, as he had tailored it to have no more features than an ordinary VCR. He's now studying the lawsuit to determine what to do, he said.

"Right now we have exactly zero funding," he said. "I don't want to have to fight anything with them."

The industry has been unsympathetic toward anything other than complete blackouts in the past, however. iCraveTV was forced to pull the plug on its service altogether unless it could prove it was not serving U.S. visitors, a difficult fact to establish on the Internet.

In its lawsuit against RecordTV, the industry cites dozens of films and shows that have been copied, from James Bond movies to TV shows "Cheers" and "Frasier."

"RecordTV.com and Mr. Simon have taken what is not theirs, duplicated it, and distributed it for their own commercial gain to millions of Internet users around the world," the suit charges.

The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles federal court.

ABC to lose Asian Presence

The ABC is about to lose its television presence in Asia after Australia Television, the satellite service it once owned, told the national broadcaster it no longer wanted its news and current affairs line-up.

As a result, the ABC nightly news, Four Corners, Australian Story and Foreign Correspondent, will disappear from the Asia-Pacific region.

The decision comes just weeks after the Federal Government announced it had sold the ABC's former shortwave radio transmitters at Cox Peninsula near Darwin to a Christian group.

The sale of the radio facilities, the result of a 1997 decision by the Government and the ABC to wind back Radio Australia on cost grounds, has left the ABC struggling to ensure that its service can be heard in East Timor and Indonesia.

The Minister for Communications, Senator Alston, defended the Government's decision to sell Cox Peninsula, saying technologies such as satellite were overtaking shortwave radio.

Now the ABC is losing its television presence as well.

Australia Television, a satellite service reaching from India to Beijing to Western Samoa, was the idea of former managing director, Mr David Hill.

He had a vision of the ABC becoming the pre-eminent service in the region, rivalling the BBC World Service.

But the service soon ran into financial problems, racking up $7.3 million in losses in the three years it was operated by the ABC. After a Government inquiry, Australia Television was sold to the Seven Network.

As part of the condition of the sale, Seven promised to continue to carry the ABC's core program line-up for 4 years, but it also added its own programs including soaps and some lifestyle programs.

"The acquisition of Australia Television makes sound business sense," Seven's chairman, Mr Stokes, said at the time.

"Australia Television will provide the platform for Seven's plans for development in the world's fastest-growing economic region."

But in the 1999 annual report, Seven reported that the Asian downturn had made business conditions difficult.

The advertising operations were overhauled and the programming was made more international. Seven is now in the throes of negotiating deals with a number of international broadcasters to participate in Australia Television and distribute the service.

A spokesperson for Seven confirmed the agreement to carry the ABC's package of programs was ending, but said it was still negotiating about buying some programs from the ABC.

ABC sources said Seven seemed more interested in lifestyle programs and documentaries, and had complained the news and current affairs programs did not draw revenue.

Urdu channel to start on Thaicom 3


Neibal Group International of Abu Dhabi has signed a contract with Shin
Satellite, Thailand, to transmit the first Urdu digital television channel to
broadcast family entertainment. The channel, a joint venture with Media Assets
of the UK, is called Asian Multimedia Network (AMN) and will broadcast free to
air, 24 hours a day, on both the global and regional C-band transponders of
Thaicom 3 commencing 15 October.

Asianet Launches New Channel (Part of the Zee package on Asiasat 3)

From Satnewsasia.com

Bangalore, India/June 16, 2000/Satnews Asia/ -- Asianet, 51 per cent-owned by Zee Network, has launched a new Kannada-language channel in India. Targeted at the whole family, Asianet Kaveri will include entertainment, serials, movies, premier telefilms, film-based programming, interactive shows, chat shows and thrillers, produced by top Kannada film personalities.

At the launching of the new channel, Asianet COO Mohan Nair said the programming will be available to the viewers in three phases. The first Phase of this twenty four hour channel consists of exclusive original programs for more than four hours daily, including two half hour daily serials on week days and for the first time ever a one hour daily serial on all week days.

He said, there will also be five weekly half-hour serials, film based program songs, reruns of popular serials and movies and telefilms on Saturdays and Sundays. The second phase will have New Bulletins four times a day in the morning, afternoon and evening and the third phase will have an increase in original programming to over eight hours daily with more serials and film based programming in the afternoon. There will also be some exclusive premieres of movies and telefilms.

Dr. Raji Menon is the promoter of Asianet with Subhash Chandra's Zee, recently taking a 51% stake in the company. Apart from Zee`s regional channels known as Alpha in the north, all the South Indian channels of Zee will be promoted as Asianet Channels. Asianet Kaveri is the second regional channel after the Asianet Malayalam channel with two more channels in Tamil and Telegu coming shortly.

Channel
ASIANET KAVERI

Satellite
ASIASAT3S

Transponder
2V

Polarity
Vertical

Downlink Frequency
3700 MHz

Alston trains sights on net broadcasting

By Nicole Lindsay


High-speed video and audio streaming channelled through the internet looks set to be the next target of the Howard Government's troubled digital television policy.

A spokesman for the Communications Minister, Senator Richard Alston, said the Australian Broadcasting Authority will look at video and audio streaming over the internet to ensure that it did not constitute "backdoor broadcasting."

The Government's attempts to regulate access to digital television came unstuck last week when Fairfax, News Corporation and Telstra pulled out of impending digital trials, citing stringent and "unprofitable" datacasting definitions.

But the Government will also apply the definition to material streamed over the internet via broadband spectrum and digital subscriber line cable.

Two national telecommunications carriers, Telstra and Optus, are installing more than $500million worth of DSL over the existing copper wiring to enable more powerful internet access. The regional carrier, Austar, is also providing broadband access through rural and regional Australia.

"The legislation says there can't be a fourth broadcaster," Senator Alston's spokesman said. "We are not saying no streaming can happen but it's unclear as to what broadcasting is over the internet."

"We've left it up to the ABA to determine whether it constitutes broadcasting; we want them to clear it up," he said.

But he rejected claims that the Government was looking after the existing free-to-air television networks by clamping down on internet streaming.

The Australian Consumers' Association's spokesman on digital television, Mr Charles Britton, said a ban on video and audio streaming could turn the internet into a wasteland where consumers can only send e-mail and shop.

"It will turn the internet into another version of catalogue selling and that's just a tiny niche market," Mr Britton said.

It also potentially undermined the move towards faster internet connections, he added.

"Protecting the free-to-air broadcasters is not the way to go," Mr Britton asserted.

18/06/00

Site update is a little late today as I had to install 128megs pc133 ram...It did not go well..after installing it my pc would not get to the desktop without a crash...the old 64megs pc100 is back in untill i can sort it out. Adobe Golive 4 really is a ram hog so i need that extra ram working.

I installed a new program last night "Linkbot" It checks all the links on the site for problems and it found plenty..mostly to do with missing gallery images it also found a number of bad urls for some sites. Thanks to B.Richards we now have some of the missing Thaicom 3 screenshots. Hopefully we can get the Asiasat 2 ones next and get the gallerys fixed up for both.

Lakbay TV off Pas 2 has moved new location is Pas 8 3813V sr 5044 fec 3/4 vpid 4096 apid 4097

From my email box.

"Hi, has anyone picked up USA west satellites on the East coast of Aus?
Satcom C4, C1, C5 and Galaxy 1R are within Look angles from Qld. Given that
we get Apstar 2R here with the same look angle it should be possible. About
20+ years ago when installing large 8metre+ units in Northern Australia for
R.A.T.S. off Intelsat 4 we used to get leakage off the west US sats. I think
that this was mainly to do with the Hawai sidelobe. Given that we now have
very cold ~15deg K LNB's a 4.5m+ should do it. Has anyone out there tried
this at all, interested to hear as that is where you get a good range of
programming.
Cheers
Stew

I don't think its possible perhaps the tv stations might be able to useing something in the 15m+ range but I would suggest in the 80's the U.S satellites had a far more "global beam" with high power there can't of been that many satellites in use then.

National Geographic's thirst for expansion continues

from Indiantelevision.com

After taking a block on the Star Plus channel for airing its programme and after starting a seven hour daily Hindi feed on its own channel, the National Geographic Channel will now be looking other ways to increase its reach in the country.

To begin with, the channel is in talks with several regional channels to carry a one hour regional language block on the regional channels. It can be noted that the channel has already started a few India specific programmes on its. But these programmes won't exceed 20% of the total content on the channel.

Also the channel is in talks with its parent company, National Geographic Society to get in its merchandising in India. The merchandising includes the hugely popular National Geographic Society magazines, which the group is considering to re-print in India. But all this will take at least two years.

The channel is also embarking on a aggressive promotional campaign, both on air and and off air.

It can be noted that the channel has always been proactive in increasing its reach and penetration in the country. Even when the channel was launched, it had sold the digital receivers costing Rs 31,000 at Rs 12,000 to the cable operators. An estimated 1,000 receivers were given away at the subsidised rates. But once the channel reached a sizable penetration, the subsidies were done away with

17/06/00 2nd update

FEED ALERT, P.EADE (NZ) reports Alpha Sport coverage of Sri Lanka v Pakistan cricket test (third day, first
of I think three tests) FTA I701
4161R 5632 3/4 TVNZ Transponder
A256, V308, PCR8190
Three audio channels, commentary, sound FX and O/B video director!

17/06/00

B. Richards reports ESPN Golf Feed at 17/06/2000 22:30UTC
3836 VERT S/R 6620 FEC 2/3 vpid 1160 apid 1120 pcr 1160 ESPN Golf Feed

TVBS on Pas 2 4044V sr 6919 fec 3/4 2 channels TVBS N and TVBS Asia (expect them to go powervu ENC very shortly)

Other reports

Zor says Tonight there is plenty of Rugby on Star Sports, The Aus,Argentina match then the South Africa match straight after, but he reports "no sign of the All Blacks game last night"

ETTV Shopping on Space TV Palapa C2 ahs now encrypted All Space TV channels on 4,000 H and 11,130 V (MPEG-2) are now encrypted, except Tzu Chi TV and Global TV.

Alpha Kaveri on Asiasat 3 is in fact named Asianet Kaveri

Sungadi reports

Indonesian Channel this week

RCTI Monday June 19, 2000 - 01:30 am F1 Canadian GP - live
Tuesday June 20, 2000 - NBA Final (Game V) 08:00 am - live

Indosiar Sunday June 18, 2000 - 10:00 am - Boxing Oscar de La Hoya vs Shane Mosley

All are Jakarta Time (GMT +7:00)
source: GO sport news paper

He also notes SCTV on Palapa C2 is down..for the last 2 days..

16/06/00

Friday and the usual large end of the week update.A tip for this weekend Mediasat channels could be very busy with feeds Saturday night.

Reports

From www.tvro.com.tw

169E Pas 2 4044 sr 6620 fec 3/4 TVBS Asia (Perhaps a feed?? as I think Lakbay is on this freq?)

166E Pas 8 3810H sr 10850 fec 3/4 CNN (feed also i think)

108E Telkom1? 3582H sr 8000 3/4 IBM

100.5E Asiasat 2 3938V sr 6110 3/4 EBU

H Spitalar emailed me the following

Sky Channel dish clearance is on .Available Australia wide. Contact customer relations department on 1800 251 710.
Some prices I was quoted are:
Andrews A & B Series segmented 3m $250 to $350
Scientific Atlanta segmented 4.5m available Qld only
SRS solid spun aluminium 2.1 and 2.7m $350 to $450, 2.7m and 3m $500to $550
SCI solid fibreglass skin 2.5m and 2.7m $150

Let me know if you purchase one of these dishs as to what sort of condition they are in.

Events this weekend and possible feed sources

Friday 16th

6pm SYD Rugby All Blacks vs Tonga (PLEASE theres hundreds interested in this one, let me know straight away if you see it)

7.30pm SYD NRL Eels vs Roosters (Mediasat)

Saturday 17th

5.am SYD US Open Golf (I701 try channel 10 feeds)

12pm SYD NBA Finals (Try Pas 2 check feeds page for frequencys in use by ESPN)

2pm SYD AFL (B1 12733V)

2.30pm SYD NRL Knights vs Norths (Mediasat)

7.30pm SYD NRL Bulldogs vs Raiders

8.pm SYD Rugby Australia vs Argentina (Mediasat ?, going to Sky nz anyway)

Sunday 18th

1.am SYD Rugby South Africa vs England (Look for this one on Pas4, A feed may also go to Sky NZ on Mediasat)

2.am SYD Euro 2000 Soccer Romania vs Portugal (on Palapa C2 SCTV)

3.30am SYD US Open Golf

4.30am SYD Euro 2000 Soccer England vs Germany (Live on RCTI Palapa C2)

2.15am SYD NRL Storm vs Warriors (Mediasat)

9.55pm SYD World Superbikes Race 1 (I701 channel 10 feeds usually)

Monday 18th

12.am SYD World Superbikes Race 2 (I701 channel 10 feed)

Zee English to scrap its Indian programming

From Indiantelevision.com

Zee English is making a few changes in its programming and seems to be going the Star World way. It has decided to scrap its Indian programming and will now focus exclusively on foreign content. This move seems to be the channel's effort to become more focused on the upper crust audience.

The channel had some four Indian English shows on air. The shows were The Life Style Show, Tonight with Feroze, Spice and You Got It. The channel will get in some additional foreign programmes to fill in these spots.

It can be noted that Zee English has not achieved the kind of popularity amongst its target elite English-speaking audience that its rival channel Star World has achieved. The move to improve or revamp its programming might also attract additional advertising revenue.

MTV goes vice

From Indiantelevision.com

MTV India has introduced a new post in its management. That of Vice-President. This has been a result of MTV India's continuing success as the number one youth music channel in the country. And there are rewards in it for those who have made it so. Cyrus Oshidar, Natasha Malhotra, Sanjay Puthli and Sanjev Hiremath have been promoted to the position of Vice-President. This is the first time anyone has occupied the post of Vice President in MTV India.

Cyrus Oshidar, Vice President, Creative, MTV India is known as the creative guru at MTV and is behind all the wacky, zany and entertaining MTV promos, tune in spots and VJ profiles on view on the channel. Right from the MTV Liftman to the new Gaseous Clay promo, Cyrus has done it all and along with his team has won several awards for MTV India including the A&M Youth Marketer of the year.

Natasha Malhotra, Vice President, Executive Producer, MTV India is a part of the strong, bold and vibrant team that makes MTV the No.1 music channel. Natasha is the one behind all the programming and vignettes on MTV besides handling the recruitment of VJs.

Sanjay Puthli, Vice President, Advertising Sales handles all the sales aspects for MTV India and has led to MTV's sales increasing by 100% in 1999 and starting of well in 2000 too. Sanjay and his team have ensured that more than 250 brands, both conventional youth brands and non-conventional youth marketers have used MTV as a successful medium to connect with the youth.

Sanjev Hiremath, Vice President, Network Development, Licensing & Merchandising is the man responsible for MTV being connected in over 13.4 million cable and satellite homes in India and other neighbouring countries. He is also the man behind MTV's latest business venture - Licensing and Merchandising including the new launch of the clothes and accessories line - MTV Style.

Both Alex Kuruvilla, Managing Director, MTV India & Senior Vice President, MTV Network Asia and Frank Brown, President, MTV Networks Asia have acknowledged the contributions of the four key members and expressed pleasure at their promotions.

Shin Sat selects Nera to Provide Gateway Networking for iPSTAR
Gateway installation set for 2000-2001

from http://www.nera.no
Bergen/Norway – Shin Satellite has entered into an agreement with Norwegian equipment supplier Nera under which Nera will provide core gateway technology for the iPSTAR system at a cost of approximately US$ 4.9 million. The iPSTAR system is expected to provide low-cost broadband services throughout the Asia Pacific Region. The first generation technology will be rolled out in 2000 and 2001, while the second generation will support the further expansion of the terrestrial infrastructure as satellite coverage is extended further over Asia and Australia and the satellite capabilities are greatly enhanced. The iPSTAR system has the potential to be expanded into a global system by deploying additional satellites.
The iPSTAR system will deliver high speed broadband Internet via satellite services at download speeds of up to 10 Mbps to customers, and upload speeds to 4 Mbps. The system features a fully digital system offering the highest efficiency of any planned system by competing companies. The gateway will utilize turbo product code technology along with advanced air interface technology to offer unprecedented performance.

The second-generation system will consist of 92 Ku band spot beams, not including video beams, bringing service throughout Asia and Australia. With a data capacity of over 35 Gbps, millions of users can be supported allowing for low cost consumer and commercial terminals. As Asia currently has the highest growth rate of new Internet users, satellites will be key to the expansion of services in the region due to the limited terrestrial infrastructure and population distribution.

Shin Satellite Executive Chairman Dr. Dumrong Kasemset is pleased that one of the first steps to making iPSTAR a reality has now been taken. "We have been planning iPSTAR since 1996 and have taken a new look at satellite design that is remarkable in its effectiveness," he says. "This agreement will implement the first stage of the project from the ground-based perspective and will be an indicator of the expected success of the whole system."

Nera ASA?s President and CEO, Bjørn Ove Skjeie, says that Nera is very satisfied being a part of the iPSTAR project. "We strongly believe in satellite communications being an integral part of future broadband communications," he states.

About Shin Satellite Plc
Shin Satellite Plc, a turnkey satellite operator, provides a 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°E, and Thaicom 2 and 3 are both located at 78.5°E 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.

Shin Satellite is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Visit their website: www.thaicom.net. Please note that the expectations, plans and forecasts of the company are subject to change due to external and internal factors that occur from time to time in the course of normal business practice. Shin Satellite does not endorse or advise anyone to base any investment or business activity on any expectation, plan or forecast of the company.

About Nera
Nera is a Norwegian company specializing in the design, development, manufacturing, and marketing of wireless telecommunications equipment and systems and the provision of related services. Nera supplies mobile satellite terminals, land earth stations and airtime billing services, principally for the Inmarsat global satellite communications network, and microwave radio relay systems and telecommunications management networks. Nera is listed on NASDAQ in New York (ticker: NERAY) and on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Nera ASA has an associated company, Nera Telecommunications Ltd., listed in the Singapore Exchange Ltd. (ticker: Nera Tel).

Contact person: Mr. Helge Skaar, Manager Corporate Communications, Nera ASA
Phone: +47 55 22 58 20, e-mail: [email protected]

16/6 Bangkok, Thailand

From http://www.tvnewsweb.com

A Thai television news director has been stripped of his position and moved to a less hands-on post amid a storm of controversy, alarming some industry observers.

According to the Bangkok Post, Thepchai Yong, news director for iTV, was assigned to work as an adviser to the company president after he led a staff campaign to protest against telecom giant Shin Corp's aggressive acquisition of the station.
The Nation newspaper reported that Yong had made claims that Shin Corp's connections with billionaire media mogul and politician Thaksin Shiniwatra would compromise the station's hard-won and highly respected independent status.
Yong told The Nation "Obviously I am being removed because of the Shin Corp issue," and added, "it infringes on my right to express my opinion".
Speaking to the Bangkok Post, Sarantorn Chutima, Managing Director of station operator Siam Infotainment, denied any such connection. "The transfer has nothing to do with Shin Corp which has not even entered the company yet. It is a matter of incompatibility in operating the system," he said.
Bangkok newspapers have also reported rumours that Yong's opposition to the takeover was prompted by Nation Multimedia Group, which controlled a 10 percent stake in the company.
This was an allegation Yong rejected. "I have opposed the Shin Corp deal because it is not right," he told The Nation, "No one told me or the staff to go against it

TARBS to expand in world markets

from http://www.theage.com.au/bus/20000613/A62709-2000Jun12.html

By JANE SCHULZE
Tuesday 13 June 2000


Privately owned ethnic pay TV company Television and Radio Broadcasting Services has unveiled international expansion plans after signing new program deals and extending its satellite footprint across Asia and Africa.

The company plans to launch pay TV and pay radio channels into the Philippines and New Zealand in the next two months before moving into other markets.

TARBS director Stan Gunn said the long-term program deals, mostly with government-owned broadcasters, varied between payments per subscriber and straight distribution fees.

The deals with broadcasters such as Brazil's TV Globo International, Poland's TV Polonia, Russia's NTV and Greek channel Mega TV were also mixed between exclusive and non-exclusive status, depending on the country into which the channel will be broadcast.

Mr Gunn said TARBS would independently establish itself in some countries. But in those with established pay TV infrastructures, it would enter a distribution agreement with a local operator.

He said there was a gap in the international ethnic pay TV market after the recent collapse of the United States company Skyview Media, which went into liquidation after breaching contracts held with parent company Bell Canada.

"That leaves TARBS as the only ethnic pay TV broadcaster in the world, so we want to fill the niche as quickly as we can before someone else gets up and running," he said.

The news comes as TARBS prepares to expand its Australian pay TV business from 19 to 39 channels and launch a high-speed Internet access business called DataCo.

TARBS is seeking a partner to develop the 2.3 to 2.4 Ghz spectrum it picked up in the liquidation of the former pay TV business Australis Media.

"We are now at the stage where we can take our pay TV service forward and consolidate our position as a major player in the world market," said TARBS chairman Mike Boulos. "On the domestic scene, we plan to rapidly grow our business."

Mr Gunn said the funds likely to be realised from the Internet deal would not be needed to pay for the international expansion.

"The pay TV business is totally separate and we have enough cash to take us through to cashflow break-even for pay TV," he said.

TARBS has not revealed how many people subscribe to its ethnic channels and adult channel.

Mr Gunn said TARBS would be launching the extra channels locally in the next two weeks. After then, TARBS would concentrate on international expansion.

He said TARBS had yet to determine how many countries it might enter, but would initially target those that speak languages of the channels offered, such as Indonesia and Vietnam.

The signals will be distributed on three satellites after TARBS recently signed agreements with Greek telecommunications company Unitel Hellas and the Egyptian Radio and Television Union.

Unitel will provide TARBS with digital satellite uplink and downlink services on the Thaicom 3 satellite, while ERTU will provide similar services on the AsiaSat 2 satellite.

TARBS already uses PanAmSat to bring foreign programs into Australia and will also use this satellite company to transmit signals to most of Asia and the US west coast.

Satellite platform for global link

from http://finance.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,799958%255E462,00.html

AAP
13jun00

TELEVISION and Radio Broadcasting Services Australia has created a pan-Asian and African satellite platform as part of its plan to create a worldwide pay TV and pay radio operation.

TARBS said agreements with a Middle Eastern media group and a European telecommunications group would enable it to complete its Australian digital satellite distribution platform channel line-up of 39 English language and foreign language pay TV channels and radio Australia-wide.
The pan-Asian and African satellite platforms will work in tandem with TARBS' existing contract with PanAmSat in the US.

It said the platforms were an important part of its plans to offer multicultural pay TV and pay radio channels throughout Asia, Africa and the west coast of the US.

TARBS concluded an agreement with telecommunications company Unitel Hellas of Greece to provide multi-transponder digital satellite link, uplink and downlink services via the Thaicom 3 satellite.

The second agreement, with the Middle East's largest TV and radio producer and broadcaster, the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, will provide multiple digital channel services via AsiaSat 2.

TARBS said that under the agreements, Unitel and ERTU would provide transmission services enabling TARBS to distribute the international TV and radio signals of private and government broadcasters in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Chairman Mike Boulos said the agreements complement similar arrangements already in place with PamAmSat, the world's leading private satellite operator and allowed TARBS to create a global, digital Pay TV and pay radio platform.

Mr Boulos said TARBS planned to split its business into two parts, separating its pay TV and radio business from Data Co, its enhanced data and telecommunications service business.

Telstra link to Thai satellite

From http://finance.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,804724%255E462,00.html

RON CORBEN in Bangkok
14jun00

TELSTRA has signed a letter of intent with Thailand's Shin Satellite, as a step towards an equity holding in the Thai company's broadband satellite service.

The satellite, Ipstar, is due to be launched in 2002.
The signing represents a second recent initiative into Thailand by Telstra after the company's failure to successfully gain an equity holding in mobile operator Total Access Communication.

Ipstar will be the fourth in the series of satellites overseen by the Thai company, previously known as Shinawatra Satellite, but will offer services including internet, video on demand and interactive TV.

Shin said yesterday an undisclosed "manufacturer" for Ipstar would be signed later this month.

Shin executive chairman Dumrong Kasemset confirmed the company had been in talks with an Australian "universal access" carrier but refrained from disclosing the company's name.

Thai communications industry sources said Shin appeared reluctant to disclose Telstra's identity until after the signing of the satellite's manufacturer, expected later this month.

At present, Shin carries TV links into Australia's Greek and Turkish communities from Greek broadcaster SKAI and Turkish Radio Television (TRT).

Mr Dumrong said the Ipstar satellite would take the satellite industry into a technology of "first resort" for telecom services, "because the cost factor will be decreased by a factor of 10".

"Ten years from now the TV we watch today will be delivered in the broadband medium, whether it is terrestrial satellite or something else or wireless. Viewers will be able to get whatever they want."

The move by Shin Satellite to seek out strategic partners has been a key part of shifting from a domestic satellite provider to a regional service provider.

ING Barings telecom analyst Andy Shan said Shin had redefined its business model.

"They want to get closer to the end consumer and the delivery of services. This is the higher value and growth end of the market," Mr Shan said.

15/06/00

Latest Sr for Mega Cosmos is 28056 fec has changed to 2/3!!

A test version of the broadband tv page may be online later. (requires cable, adsl or satellite connection, dotn know if isdn will be fast enough for it)

Lyngsat latest updates

All space tv channels on Palapa C2 10970V and 3760H have encrypted except for Mega Movies and ETTV Shopping. All channels on 4,000 H and 11,130V are now in the clear also .SET International has started on 4,000 H and 11,130 V, MPEG-2/clear,SID 7, PIDs 80/81.

Asiasat 2, Occasional feeds reported on 3,954 V, MPEG-2, SR 6110, FEC 3/4.

FTA Satellite Services reports "Here are some pics I took a couple of days ago from outside the fence of Neighbourhood Network in Mildura.Very impressive. Never seen so many Orbitrons set up in the one place! Good on them."

Television channel for information technology launched

from Indiantelevision.com

Banglore-based Technology Media Group (TMG) has launched a 24-hour information technology oriented television channel. The channel targeted at the burgeoning IT community aims to provide real-time information on the dynamic IT market in the country.

Presently the channel is on air in the analog, free-to-air mode and is uplinked from India. According to company officials, the channel will go digital at the appropriate time. The channel has been on air since its trial run started in April this year and already has a viewership base of three million homes. It expects to increase its reach to six million home by the end of next year.

As far as the programming of the channel is concerned, the Chairman of the TMG Group, Mr Subhanjan Sarkar, says that they already have 1500 hours of archival back up, and a daily production of five hours should enable it to provide the impetus.

The programming will consist of educational programmes, updates on venture funding process, news bulletins related to e-comm and dotcom happenings. For technology and content, the group has tied up with Mindtree Consulting, Santa Cruz Operation and Ma Foi Consultants.

TMG Group has also tied up with RCTC (an IFCI subsidiary), Canbank Venture Capital Funds Ltd and Gujarat Venture Finance for financial support.

14/06/00

Live Chat tonight at 8.30pm Sydney time in the chatroom. Maybe we can compare results on Mega Cosmos settings.

D.Holbrook reports on his Satcruiser DSR 101CI (software version 2.97RCAU) sr 27047 was working now changed to 28350. Older Satcruisers will work on 25517. Those with Strong receivers should try 24577. Anyone else have a working receiver and settings email me. Satfacts website has been updated some interesting details there on some very cheap e.x Sky Channel dishs. A good chance to get a nice big KU rated dish..

Most of the Space TV channel on Palapa C2 have encrypted again.

M.H reports he is awaiting delivery of his Canal+ decoder and card from New Caledonia, he is in Melbourne (I think..)

13/06/00

Not a lot of news for today, Problems continue for some users on Mega Cosmos (Thaicom 3) reports indicate Prosats and Kmen brands haveing the most trouble..Useing a Satcruiser? try Sr 25517 or 27047. Some news trimmed, I am quite busy at the moment prepareing the Broadband page ( for those with fast internet a lot of 300k video streams with a nice frontend html interface) If you know of a good fast video stream let me know about it..

B. Richards reports signal on Thaicom 3 3522 sr 5632 fec 3/4 is data (as reported the other day a number of internet feeds use this satellite)

Asiasat 2 EBU feeds on 3,686 V and 3,704 V (MPEG-2) have stopped.

12/06/00

Live chat tonight in the chatroom 8.30pm Sydney and 9.30pm NZT

J. Murton reports no response yet as to Subscribeing to Zee TV in Australaian

12 June 2000. TELEVISION FROM ASIA ON WAY TO NZ
By: NZPA

Auckland, June 9 - A slice of Asia will beam into New Zealand households from Monday -- but viewers will find the pay television service does not come cheap.
Six channels will be broadcast on Sky TV's digital platform in a deal between the pay channel and local company World Television (WTV).

WTV says it has already signed up ``a few thousand'' subscribers for the channels -- NHK from Japan; Korean entertainment channel Ariang TV; Hong Kong's CTV live news; Taiwan's 24 hour news service, Eastern Television; Taiwan's SETN providing documentaries, variety shows and news; and Phoenix TV from China.

CTV will also screen drama and variety shows and 3 News with Chinese subtitles.

One bicultural Auckland family is eagerly awaiting the first major injection of Asian television on to local screens.

Compton Tothill, his wife Long-Ping Janet and their 19-year-old daughter Vivian speak both English and Mandarin.

Mr Tothill, who spent 23 years in Taiwan and still has business interests in the country, said WTV would be like ``home away from home''.

``It satisfies a need to keep in touch with Asia and the programmes back home and the culture,'' he said.

Migrants and their visiting family members would also benefit.

``Parents often come over here a few years after the original migrants and the older folk probably don't speak English.''

The cheapest of three packages available is $54.95 a month for the six channels and the free-to-air channels on the digital platform, including TV3, TV4, Prime and Trackside.

The basic Sky package, costing $35.92, goes up to $69.95 a month with WTV added.

The most expensive is the full digital package of 25 channels with WTV, costs $95.95.

Mr Tothill said his family would pay the top rate.

``I think it's special enough [and] there's no other choice.''

Henry Ho, executive director of WTV, said the price might appear high for the number of channels compared to Sky, but it was a niche audience.

WTV had a potential audience of about 300,000 people compared to Sky's three million.

Mr Ho said WTV would insert its own commercials into the overseas programmes, and in a few months would include local content such as news and talk shows.

He hoped mainstream advertisers would take advantage of the service to reach the Asian market.

But the real motivation was to keep alive the cultures and languages of Asian people living in New Zealand.

``We hope our next generation can know the language and the most easy way for them to do that is to have something like television to watch.''

Singapore/June 9, 2000/Satnews Asia/ -- The phenomenal growth of the Internet has reached the Asia-Pacific Region where the rising demand for Internet-based data communications is predicted to increase by 60 per cent in 2000, boosting orders for Internet-based equipment in the region.

This was one of the emerging trend noted at CommunicAsia 2000 as major equipment suppliers noted the strong growth in the demand for broadband and Internet satellite access systems.

Ron Spithill, Alcatel's Asia-Pacific president, said his company registered more than 100 per cent growth in orders in the Asia-Pacific in the first quarter of 2000 compared to the same period in 1999. He said Alcatel is exploited the explosive demand for data and will achieve total revenues of over US$500 million in the Asia-Pacific data market this year.

Satish Bangara, Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications' vice-president for ventures and global satellite sales said only a few years ago, satellites were earning a mere US$2 million per year in the region. Quoting from CIT Researcy, Bangara said "the satellite carriage revenue at the end of 1998 was in excess of US$1.78 billion in the Asia Pacific Region," rising further to US$2.5 billion in 2002.

Bangara also noted that an "overwhelming majority of the Internet traffic from this region is carried over satellite."

At the Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Specialist Conference, Elias Zaccack of Americom Asia-Pacific presented a paper on broadband IP services via satellite. He concluded that transponder bandwidth in the Ku-band will be used increasingly in the Asia-Pacific region to establish extremely large customer base broadband multimedia networks.

France-based Alcatel, which operates in over 130 countries worldwide, is one of the world's leading vendors to service providers of wired and wireless multi-service broadband access products, which enable the multimedia-ready next-generation networks. Alcatel has invested US$17 billion in acquisitions over the last three years to build data capability for next-generation networks in the industry, Spithill said.

Spithill also noted that deregulation of the markets in Asia-Pacific is driving growth for telecoms infrastructure development, particularly in the areas of Internet access, optical networking and mobile Internet.

Asia has 40 million Internet users, and that this number is expected to reach 375 million by 2005.

More than a thousand telecommunications and IT companies took up 68,400 square meters of floor space at the Singapore Expo for CommunicAsia 2000 from June 6-9, which has been billed as the biggest in its six-year history.

The biggest focus at this year's show was wireless technology. According to market research firm IDC, the total number of installed mobile phones will exceed a billion by year 2004 and many experts are expecting mobile phones to be the most used Internet access device in the world.

INTELSAT to Lease Six Transponders on SINOSAT-1

Singapore/June 6, 2000/Satnews Asia/ -- INTELSAT and SINO Satellite Communications Company Limited (SINOSAT) have reached agreement to give INTELSAT an option to lease capacity on the SINOSAT-1 satellite located at 110.5 degrees E. SINOSAT will provide up to six 36 MHz C-band transponders to INTELSAT to meet increasing customer demand in the Asia Pacific Region.

SINOSAT-1 has linear C-band landmass coverage, which is very attractive for Internet backbone connections or ISP access, regional business voice/data networks, regional backbone networks, multimedia, VSAT/virtual private networks, and video contribution and distribution networks.

Announcing the agreement today, SINOSAT's President, Guangren Cheng, said, "We are pleased to offer this space capacity to INTELSAT – this transaction will assist in the economic growth of both our companies. We believe that this lease will help INTELSAT stay competitive to meet greater demand of its customers, and this agreement gives our organization greater exposure to the satellite communications industry at large."

The INTELSAT/SINOSAT agreement was announced at the CommunicAsia conference being held here this week. Conny Kullman, INTELSAT's Director General and CEO stated, "With our Internet backbone connectivity traffic having tripled in 1999, and demand continuing to grow, we are extremely pleased that we have been able to reach this agreement with SINOSAT. We have already received many requests and indications of interest from potential customers in the region for this capacity. In addition, INTELSAT is looking forward to providing additional space segment capacity after it launches the nine new high-powered INTELSAT IX and INTELSAT X series satellites that we have on order. These satellites will bring an increase of 386 new 36 MHz units into our system to meet customer demand."

SINO Satellite Communications (SINOSAT) serves satellite telecommunications network users from various domestic organizations, and also extends its services to customers in the Asia Pacific Region. The primary business range of SINOSAT includes development, operation and maintenance of satellite telecommunications systems.

INTELSAT owns and operates a global communications satellite system providing capacity for voice, video, corporate/private networks and Internet in more than 200 countries and territories.

Star TV Doubtful Over Multimedia Venture

Hong Kong/Satnews Asia/ -- A multimedia joint venture between Cable & Wireless HKT, Hong Kong's dominant phone company, and Star TV, a unit of Australia's News Corp., appears to be on the verge of collapse, after Star TV questioned the viability of the business.

The venture was launched in November last year in a bid to deliver Internet television in Hong Kong and throughout Asia. The venture would have challenged Hong Kong's Cable TV and Pacific Century's planned Internet TV service, and leverage Star TV's rich content and pan-Asian satellite coverage and C&W HKT's broadband network and operating interactive televisions service, iTV.

Both companies announced in November the new services provide access to an extensive choice of interactive home entertainment, including 50 television channels, video-on-demand, broadband Internet access, online shopping, and various other e-commerce applications and information services.

The companies originally planned to roll out the new services initially in Hong Kong this year, subject to the granting of a pay television license by the Hong Kong Government.

But according to a report in the South China Morning Post, however, the venture will lapse if it or either of the two parties fails to obtain a Hong Kong pay-TV license by June 30, which is barely two weeks away.

Star TV is blaming high operating costs and lack of subscriber growth for C&W HKT's Internet and pay TV businesses for the collapse of the venture. One major sticking point was the tariff rate C&W HKT wanted to charge Star TV for the use of its infrastructure, the Post reported. But there has also been much speculation that the deal would not proceed, since C&W HKT announced it would merge with Internet start-up firm Pacific Century CyberWorks in February.

Linus Cheung, Chief Executive of Cable & Wireless HKT, said in November they were confident of getting a license. "We believe the Hong Kong SAR Government will recognize the benefits to consumers of our world leading development of entertainment and information services and also welcome the introduction of real competition to the pay television market in Hong Kong," Cheng said shortly after the announcement of the deal.

According to C&W HKT, the telecom has 389,000 dial-up subscibers, 22,000 broadband Internet access customers, and 89,000 iTV customers in Hong Kong. The company claims that its consumer portal, Nevigator.com, receives nearly 5 million page views daily."

GlobeCast to Launch Broadband Platform Over India Over Innovative IP Services to the Fast-growing Market Europe*Star-1 Satellite

Singapore/June 8, 2000/Satnews Asia/ -- GlobeCast, the world leader in broadcast services, has reaffirmed its active expansion into India by announcing that it will be launching a broadband platform from the United Kingdom designed to meet the growing demand for IP-based services.

GlobeCast will offer application and content-driven valued added services to the broadcasters and other content providers who are seeking to reach one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the world and take advantage of deregulation and convergence.

GlobeCast will also be targeting ISPs, cable operators, corporations, and other companies that wish to take advantage of the platform?s high-powered, high-speed and multi cast capabilities.

The platform will be delivered via Europe*Star-1, a Ku-band satellite due to be launched in the beginning of autumn 2000 at 45 degrees East Longitude and uniquely positioned to provide the highest level of services to customers in India and Pakistan. Customers within the footprint will be able to receive the signal using a small receive dish ranging from 1.2 to 1.8 meters.

?This is a unique solution for our customers to enter the Indian market which is on the brink of a broadband revolution. Currently, only 100 cities and towns are connected to the Internet in India and satellite technology is ideal to deliver broadband Internet and e-commerce services to disparate areas with no infrastructure. GlobeCast if prepared to offer the best value add solutions and advice the market can offer,? says Isabelle Lorin de Reure, Executive Vice-President Strategy and Development, GlobeCast Corporate.

?We are pleased to be part of the launch of GlobeCast?s new IP broadband platform. This demonstrates Europe*Star?s unique configuration is ideally designed to deliver these new types of value-added applications to the Indian Sub-continent, and Europe*Star?s other coverage regions: Europe, Southern Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia. This is precisely in-line with our strategy of delivering the preferred solution for next generation satellite-based IP/multimedia platforms,? says David Chégnion, Head of Sales, Europe*Star.

The launch of the platform is in-line with GlobeCast?s commitment to IP services and follows the recent announcement of GlobeCast America?s launch of a platform over North America in April. GlobeCast also operates broadband services over Europe from its teleports in France and the UK.

With offices in Singapore, Tokyo, Vientiane, the Philippines, and Taipei (opening June 2000), GlobeCast Asia is already well established among the Continental leaders in satellite transmission and Internet delivery. GlobeCast has an office in Delhi, India through France Telecom India?s office and plans to increase its presence there as a result of this announcement. GlobeCast Asia?s customer base increased four-fold last year and the new Booking and Coordination Center has already attracted high profile broadcaster such as ESPN Star Sports, Sportscity, two of the region?s largest all-sports broadcasters. GlobeCast Asia offers a wide range of products and services, including contribution (for news and sports) and global distribution.

GlobeCast Northern Europe is part of GlobeCast, the world?s first and leading global communications provider for local, regional and worldwide broadcasting. It specializes in the management and distribution of audio, video and data via satellite to broadcasters, businesses, and communication companies worldwide. Its global resources are lent further support by parent company – France Telecom.

For broadcasters, GlobeCast Northern Europe has a dedicated broadcast services division for the distribution of sports, entertainment, news-gathered programs and TV channels. TV channel distribution includes the provision of uplinking/downlinking services for digital and analog channels including digital multiplexing technology.

For businesses, the company offers a portfolio of secure satellite Internet services, including web caching, e-commerce, Internet and data broadcasting solutions via satellite including the provision of television networks and services on a full-time and one-off basis.

11/06/00

Not much news about today..

Mega Cosmos is still on Thaicom 3, try sr 25517 (working on Satcruiser) or 27047

Signal reported on As2 3949V "Cyasai" sr 13478 fec 7/8

IPDVB users might want to have look at Thaicom 3, used by some isp's for transmissions to Iran/China/Thailand/Pakistan/Bangladesh

5 new channels on Indovision (Cakrawarta 1 107.7E) Sband all encrypted

2,565 H: 9 Star Movies International
29 Star Sports
2,625 H: 28 ESPN
2,655 H: 16 National Geographic Channel
46 Star World