30/4/01
Fox News has returned to Pas 8. Hopefully it will stay FTA, maybe since CNN encrypted they saw a chance to gain viewers in our region? Fox Sports was there FTA as well but didn't hang around for long. Did anyone find a feed of the G.P last night? and if so details please? I saw the race here on FTA what an amazing finish!
Tokyo Rugby 7's is still on anyone seen it could be a feed in with NHK or Fuji tv on Pas 8?
Nobody has reported the very small I701 signal yet?
Page to be trimmed tommorow
From my Emails & ICQ
From: "siam global"
Subject: WORLDSTAR TV
THIS CO. CURRENTLY RUN AN MMDS SERVICE IN BKK. THE ADDRESS AND TEL NO. ON THEIR WEBSITE IS COMPLETELY OUT OF DATE . www.ws-tv.com. WAS MOST SURPRISED TO SEE THEIR APPEARANCE ON THAICOM AS THIS DOES NOT FIT INTO THEIR ANNOUNCED PLANS FOR A DIGITAL MMDS SYSTEM FOR BKK BY JUNE TO COMPETE WITH MONOPOLY UBC. NOTICED THAT THE FILMS THEY ARE SHOWING HAVE SUDDENLY CHANGED FROM ENGLISH TO THAI DUBBED DIALOGUE. (PROBABLY FOR COPYRIGHT REASONS NOW THEY ARE ON A SATELLITE AND SEEN IN MANY COUNTRIES.) WILL CONTACT THEM TOMORROW AT THEIR NEW ADDRESS AT ITALIAN TOWER NEW PETCHBURI RD, BKK AND FIND OUT FOR YOUR SITE READERS WHY THE SAT. SERVICE AND ITS FUTURE PLANS. SIAMGLOBAL BKK
Stu Mcleod supplys a screenshot of RFO off I701 for the Gallery
From the Dish
Pas 8 166E 3852 H "Taiwanese channel" Sr 13240, Fec 3/4 (Anybody have a name for this channel?)
Pas 8 166E 3940 H "Fox News" Sr 27690, Fec 7/8
(screenshot by Keith)
Pas 8 166E 3940 H "Fox Sports Net" Sr 27690, Fec 7/8 (reported here but left??)
(screenshot by Keith)
BSAT 2A 110E has replaced BSAT 1B at 110 East.(dosn't cover Australia)
Sinosat 1 110.5E 3730 V "Feeds" Sr 6000 Fec 3/4 ( not sure if any one gets this in Australia)
Telekom 1 108E 4195 V "Feeds" Sr 4960 Fec 7/8}
NEWS
SingTel Discussing Optus Satellites; SingTel May Split Assets
From www.satnewsasia.com
Singapore Telecoms (SingTel), new owners of Cable & Wireless Optus (Australia’s second largest telecoms firm) and Australia’s Department of Defense are in talks about the future of Optus Satellite Systems and its fleet of four satellites.
Sing Tel bought C&W Optus, Australia’s second largest telecoms company after government owned Telstra Corporation, for US$ 8.4 billion this month. The sale, however, is subject to recommendations from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB). Sing Tel is 78 percent owned by the Singaporean government.
The Australian Defense Force (ADF) is concerned about the fate of Optus Satellite Systems that operates the in-orbit Optus B1 and B3 telecommunications satellites. Optus Satellites will launch its Optus C1 satellite in 2002.
Optus C1 will carry a classified military telecoms payload to be used for highly sensitive Australian military communications. Some of Australia’s nearest neighbors are in turmoil. Indonesia is beset by deadly ethnic tensions and East Timor, although relatively quiet, requires Australian and other United Nations troops to keep the peace.
ADF raised concerns about military information carried by the Optus satellites, which SingTel would own if its bid for Optus receives approval from the Australian government.
The main issue is the Singapore government's controlling stake in SingTel. SingTel was reported to be considering establishing a separate company to operate the satellites. No word on the talks were revealed by the Australian government.
The ADF’s objective in the talks is to compartmentalize data on both operational and traffic levels. The ADF also wants operation of Optus C1 to be based in Australia. It also wants the satellite’s control facility and buildings to be certified as secure facilities.
Telekom Malaysia Launches Satellite Communication-based Services
From www.satnewsasia.com
Telekom Malaysia, the state-owned telecoms monopoly, has gone into satellite-based voice, data and Internet services
Called TM VSAT, the service is now available throughout Malaysia and can provide access speeds from 9.6 kbps up to 2 Mbps. The company announced the launch of a satellite-based network providing voice, fax, data and Internet services via very small aperture terminal (VSAT) earth stations linked to communications satellites.
The services will be available to Malaysia’s more remote and rural businesses after a trial in the town of Bario in northeastern Sarawak.
Satellite services will be provided via the Measat (Malaysia East Asia Satellite) constellation that now has two satellites in orbit. A third and fourth satellite are scheduled for launch in 2002.
Measat-1, an advanced hybrid satellite with 12 36 MHz C and five 54 MHz Ku-band payload, was launched successfully in January 1996 from Kourou in French Guiana, South America.
Situated at 91.5 degrees east, Measat 1 covers a major part of East Asia (including Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Kampuchea, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, parts of southern China, Northern Australia and Guam) via its C-band footprint.
Measat 2 was launched successfully in November 1996 and carries four 72 MHz C-band and nine 48 MHz Ku-band transponders. At its orbital location of 148 degrees east, Measat 2 provides reliable C-band broadcasting and communications in East Asia, Eastern Australia and United States via Hawaii.
The Measat constellation’s Ku-band capacity offers Direct-to-User (DTU) broadcasting services over Malaysia, India, Indonesia (Sumatra and Java), the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Eastern Australia.
29/4/01
Some interesting stuff for today, small signals and lots of sports.
There are a few sports events on on Sunday,
IRB World Rugby 7's from Tokyo (Try Pas 8)
Spanish G.P (Pas 2?)
V8 Supercars from NSW (B1 very likely)
World Superbikes from Japan (Pas 2 3901H, Confirmed)
Cricket Day 4 Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe (Ekushey tv? or channel i apstar 2r??)
From my Emails & ICQ
Victor Holubecki reports via the Mailing list, Sunday
I have Fox News and Fox sports net on Pas 8 3940 pol H SR 27690 FEC 7/8
This From Stu Mcleod (NZ)
Hi Craig ,
180 East LHC , 4030 Sr 0836 !!, Fec 2/3 !!
Yes only 836 for symbol rate .
Im picking its got to be the worlds smallest signal found by us so far ..
Also that I have no problems locking onto the
RFO service on 701 LHC 4086 , Sr 13334 , Fec 5/6
Stu
Craigs reply, Can anyone else manage to lock this, and if so state the IRD you used.
Logged by Me, Saturday night 28/4/01
B3, 7.30pm Syd 12336 V Super 12 Rugby "Reds vs Cats" from Brisbane
B1, 7.30pm Syd 12357 V "NRL Eagles vs Raiders" NOTE new freq, same pids 308 256
B1, 11.00pm Syd 12367 V "Super 12 from South Africa , Bulls vs Blues"
Sunday 29/4/01
B1, 2.00pm Syd 12367 V "NRL, Storm vs Penrith" 2.00pm Syd
Reported via the Mailing list
Sunday 29/04/01
Optus B1 160E 12675 H Analogue "Canberra v Perth , National Soccer League" 2pm Syd
From the Dish
Optus B1 160E 12675 H Analogue "Canberra v Perth , National Soccer League"
Asiasat 3 105.5E 4135 V "Zed TV, Asianet Bharathi, Zee News and Asianet Kaveri " THESE Still FTA, ignore Lyngsats incorect report.
Apstar 2R 76.5E 3846 H "MATV"new FTA here along with TVB Vpid 410 Apid 411.
NEWS
No news section today
28/4/01
Look for the usual Feeds tonight, NRL on B3 and on B1 11 pm Syd time, possibly Super 12 Bulls vs Blues from South Africa. As usual I will post any feeds I see into the mailing list. It would be nice if a few more did the same, especially sports events, I am sure there are a few sporting events up there people would be keen to view. I have people asking for NBA and Soccer feeds?
From my Emails & ICQ
From Stu
Hi craig ,
Not sure if this has been reported or not .
I havnt checked , but its new too me anyhow.
Pas 8 3852 H 13.237 3/4 5 channel FTA
1 = taiwanese
2 - 5 = colour bar test pattern
Stu
From Gino
is world star tv avaliabe in south australia adelaide
Craigs Reply, "World Star TV" looks to be a new service operating off Thaicom 3 KU band so that makes it unavailable in Australia, some checking reveals a planned internet and 12 channel paytv service for Thailand.
Hi Craig
Have you any idea (or do you know from any reports) if Pas2 can be seen
from Bali?
Thanks
Tony Anderson
Craigs Reply, Pas 2 is Strong in Bali, Pas 8 is Also, The Australia Pas 2 KU beam maybe also recievable there.
Logged by Me Saturday 28/04/01
Optus B3 2pm Syd 12336 V "Afl West vs Hawthorne"
Optus B3 2pm Syd 12363 V "Sydney Club Rugby"
From the Dish
Intelsat 701 180E 11610 H "Canal promo" and "RFO Tele Nouvelle Caledonie" have started
Panamsat 8 166E 3852 H? "5 channels FTA here 1, Taiwanese 2-5 Colour Bars" Sr 13237, Fec 3/4Asiasat 3 105.5E 3860 V"ESPN Philippines has started" NDS Encrypted
NEWS
News of encryption bad news for Zee ad sales in Gulf
From indiantelevision.com
The Zee bouquet of 14 channels, which will be fully encrypted by 1 June, is likely to witness a drop in revenues in the Middle East markets, according to sources within the network.
There has been a drop in ad sales in the Gulf region for the channel following the news that the Zee bouquet is going fully pay. Advertisers have been pulling out because they see a massive fall in subscriber base once the channel is no longer free to air, the sources say. The Gulf market is very sensitive to price because expatriates from the Indian subcontinent who largely make up the viewership of channels like Zee have comparitively low purchasing power.
With conditional access systems well in place, subcontinental subscribers mostly access free to air channels which is why even Star Plus, which is doing phenomenally well in India, cannot really claim viewership relative to population in the region.
Though Zee officials have not given an exact date as to when the network will be encrypted other than saying it will happen sometime in May, sources say it will be from 1 June.
Alpha Gujarati way ahead in its language segment: INTAM data
From indiantelevision.com
Zee's year-old niche Gujarati regional language channel Alpha Gujarati is giving Doorsharshan's DD11 and Reminiscent Television India's Gurjari a serious run for their money leaving them far behind in the viewership ratings race, a company release states.
According to ORG-MARG's INTAM reports commissioned by Zee Network and taking Ahmedabad city as a base measure, Alpha Gujarati has captured a whopping 60 per cent of the viewership pie.
The data is for all cable and satellite homes for the period between 4 March 2001 and 1 April 2001. Alpha Gujarati's 60 per cent relative viewership is more than twice that of DD11 which stands at 28 per cent, followed by Gurjari's 12 per cent.
As for the prime time 7:30 pm to 11 pm slot, Alpha Gujarati has a relative channel share of 62 per cent followed by DD 11 with 21 per cent and Gurjari with 15 per cent, the release states.
27/4/01
I just ordered a few items from Telsat, a crimping tool, an angle finder and a satfinder all usefull tools to have.
From the Dish
Asiasat 3 105.5E 4135 V New Fec is 2/3
Thaicom 3 78.5E "Reminiscent TV Network" mux has started here as mentioned earlier this week
All Sr 13333, Fec 2/3 on Global Beam
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3472 H "Gurjari Channel" Vpid 512 Apid 640
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3472 H "Lashkara Channel" Vpid 513 Apid 641
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3472 H "Anjuman TV" Vpid 514 Apid 642
NEWS
Keating criticises digital TV policy
From http://australianit.news.com.au/common/storyPage/0,3811,1935080%5E442,00.html
FORMER prime minister Paul Keating has lambasted the Federal Government over its handling of digital television.
Mr Keating said the Government had botched the introduction of high definition and standard definition television by giving too much of the spectrum to the commercial free-to-air networks.
The Government's digital rules, announced in late 1999, protected the major networks by banning other media groups from broadcasting television style programs.
It also forced stations to transmit in both standard and high definition formats, leaving little room on the spectrum for datacasters.
Speaking at a consumer electronics convention in Sydney, Mr Keating said the rules restricted viewers' choice and offered little added benefits.
"In the information age decisions about spectrum are strategic decisions about the future of the economy," he said.
"But in this case a decision by the Government to buy off a couple of media friends has led to a terrible misallocation of spectrum.
"Seven megahertz has been given away at the expense of the Australian taxpayer.
"And for what? The capacity to watch the existing free-to-air dross more expensively in cinema style quality and perhaps order a take-away pizza at the push of a button."
Mr Keating said the market, not the Government, should have determined how the spectrum was divided.
Viewers were abandoning free-to-air television in droves and the Government was protecting a declining technology.
"The policy settings have got to be that these things can happen and that the market starts to sort out and choose the technology rather than the policy sorting out and choosing the technology," Mr Keating said.
"People are turning off free to air television in droves. They want something better."
Digital television began broadcasting in mainland state capitals on January 1, 2001. The existing analogue network will continue until 2008.
TV policy cops a lashing from Keating
From http://www.smh.com.au/news/0104/27/bizcom/bizcom1.html
Former prime minister Mr Paul Keating yesterday opened the Consumer Electronics Show - the TV industry's best opportunity to demonstrate digital television to the masses since transmission began nearly four months ago - by slamming the Government's decision to protect "free-to-air dross".
"We've seen what happens when the Government doesn't know what it is doing in the fiasco of HDTV," he said.
"Decisions about spectrum are strategic decisions about the future of the economy. But in this case a decision by the Government to buy off a couple of media friends has led to a terrible misallocation of spectrum," he said, referring to the allocation of 7MHz channels to each of the free-to-air channels at no cost.
"And for what?" he said. "The capacity to watch the existing free-to-air dross more expensively in cinema-style quality and to order takeaway pizza at the push of a button. We could and should be using it for other purposes."
While he hesitated to offer advice on what a Labor government could do later this year to recover lost opportunities, Mr Keating did recommend an approach of "technology neutral" policy setting.
On the show floor at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, crystal-clear large-screen digital TVs dominate, but there is less competition in the digital decoder set-top boxes that allow consumers to benefit from the flashy new TVs.
Thomson, the manufacturer of the $699 set-top box that was underwritten by the three commercial channels, claims about 4,500 units have gone into retail stores.
Panasonic, one of the vendors expected to follow Thomson in delivering a basic set-top box, says it is now "not interested in participating at this stage". Instead it is showing a prototype that could also support interactive TV. The unit would make its debut about March 2002 and cost about $1,000.
A similar set-top box, from Philips, is being used by Network Ten to demonstrate prototype interactive TV programming. Both units are based on the multimedia home platform that looks likely to be agreed on as the industry standard for interactivity.
Network 10 is also demonstrating high-definition digital TV (HDTV), driven by a set-top box manufactured by DGTEC, due to go on sale in July for $700 to $770.
Mr Steve Rubie, technology development manager for Network Ten, said it was positive that "a few months after Thomson released its set-top box underwritten by the networks, another company is offering one at the same price, not underwritten, and with HDTV". Mr Rubie predicted Ten would be showing 20 hours of HDTV by late 2002.
Exhibitors push for digital TV
From http://australianit.news.com.au/common/storyPage/0,3811,1935117%5E442,00.html
TELEVISION manufacturers and commercial networks are using Australia's first Consumer Electronics Show to spruik the wonders of digital television.
Companies such as Sony, Panasonic and Thomson Multi Media are among those demonstrating state-of-the-art digital television sets and set-top boxes at the inaugural show in Darling Harbour, Sydney.
On the content side, Network Ten and the Seven Network have both taken a display, while the Nine Network and the public broadcasters ABC and SBS are absent.
Ten's display dominates the centre aisle opposite the entrance and includes several curtained booths for private demonstrations of digital television's high reception quality and multi-viewing capacity.
Seven has even enlisted the help of the "colour bar people" - the rainbow-hued leotard-clad figures from its advertising campaign - for a public demonstration of the capabilities of digital television.
The Australian Communications Authority - the regulatory body behind the standards for most of the products at the show, including digital television - is also present.
Sony's product manager for television and home video, Alex Streeter, said it was hard to predict how consumers would react to the digital television products when the show opened to the public this weekend, but there had been a number of interested retailers.
Sony is using the show to publicise its high-definition and standard-definition widescreen televisions, which are slated for release later this year. Sony's HDTV set needs a set-top box to receive the digital signal, while the SDTV set is an integrated digital television.
Mr Streeter said there were no integrated digital television sets for sale in Australia at present. Viewers could receive the digital signal by using a set-top box from a manufacturer such as Thomson with any television set.
He recommended going for a set-top box rather than the integrated option because it allowed the set-top box to be upgraded for interactivity as the application programming interfaces (APIs) were determined.
Mr Streeter said specialised digital content was limited so far. The present benefits of digital television were improved reception, including the elimination of ghosting, and multi-viewing where available. Nine displayed an extra two channels for the cricket broadcast - one giving a bird's eye view of the pitch and one giving the view from the stump - while Seven did the same for the Melbourne Cup and the Bathurst car races.
Mr Streeter said the new television sets would let consumers who might be considering investing in a widescreen television to watch DVDs, to "future-proof" their purchase.
"This is the last television set you'll ever need," he said, pointing to the HDTV set.
But the high prices - $4999 for the Sony's SDTV integrated set, $7999 for Sony's HDTV set and an average $699 for the set-top box - coupled with the limited content, mean consumers would have to be very keen to adopt digital television now.
As one exhibitor said: "Everybody (at the show) is doing it, but I don't think they'll get very far - people can't afford it."
GSAT-1 satellite drifting 'out of sight'
From indiantelevision.com
India's dreams for its odyssey in space seem to be going askew somewhat after the GSAT-1 satellite, launched by the indigenous GSLV D-1 into orbit successfully, couldn't be placed in the correct geo-stationary orbit.
Scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have been watching helplessly as the GSAT-1 drifts at the rate of 13 degrees a day. It will probably go out of sight of ISRO's master control facility in Bangalore by the month-end, reports United News of India, quoting ISRO sources.
At the time of the last orbit raising event carried out on 23 April, the satellite was located at 53 degrees east.
Tests could be conducted only when the satellite became visible again, ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan had said on Tuesday.
At a press conference in Bangalore, capital of the southern state of Karnataka, Kasturirangam said a shortfall of 10 kg of propellant was the reason why orbital correction could not be made. It could only be placed in a 23 hour and two minute orbit instead of a 24 hour orbit.
He, however, added that the GSAT-1 was in excellent health. As the GSAT-1 was not meant to be an operational satellite, it would not affect any user, he claimed.
The next target would be to increase the GSAT payload to 1,750-1,800 kg. The target was to reach a two tonne payload by the third flight which will lead to changes in configuration.
The second GSLV launch will be held in the third or fourth quarter of 2002.
Meanwhile, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launch has been scheduled for August. It will carry a payload of two satellites - one from Poland (Probo) and another from Germany (Bird). ISRO has scheduled the launch of the Insat-3C satellite also in August.
The question remains how ISRO expects to get orders for its upcoming launches after this big setback to its space programme.
ZED TV screens Entrance Busters for students sitting for competitive exams
From indiantelevision.com
With the aim to spread knowledge and learning across the country, Zee Interactive Learning Systems has launched a comprehensive curriculum support programme for the benefit of students aspiring to compete for higher studies through competitive examinations like MH-CET, UPSC, MBA-CET, IIT- JEE. The programme is being delivered through ZED TV - a 24-hr learning channel, zeelearn.com - a learning portal and i-Cell an education broadband platform, all part of the Zee Group.
ZED TV's Entrance Busters was a preparatory programme for competitive examinations constructed around an innovative delivery method of integrating television, Internet & interactive platform.
From today, there will be programmes targeting MBA applicants. The programme, called MBA-CET, airs on Tuesday (today), Thursday and Saturday at 8 am to 10 am, 2 pm to 3 PM, 11 PM to 12 midnight. The MBA Entrance exam series has four segments of General Knowledge, English Comprehensive, and Word Power.
Entrance Busters began airing on ZED TV on 26 March and first covered MH-CET, aimed at preparing students for their medical entrance and covering Botany, Zoology, Chemistry, and Physics.
The UPSC series helped students revise General Studies papers and some optional papers. It had four segments comprising of General Studies, History, Economics, and General Knowledge.
The IIT-JEE series was meant for students seeking admission in the top engineering institutes of India and covered Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.
All these competitive exams are complimented on zeelearn.com and to register for these courses log on to www.entrancebusters.com.
Zed TV is available via Asiasat 3
26/4/01
Sorry about the chatrooms flakey behaviour on Tuesday night, perhaps it was all those Australians logging onto the Big Brother site slowwing down the Aussie ISP's. Perhaps its Big Brother watching the chatroom :-( We have someone looking out for the chat software so we can install it on the hosts machine and solve a lot of problems.
Bill (Sydney) added to the userpages, the images on his page will be improved as soon as he supplies replacements. Anyone who wants one can have a userpage showwing off their system. It takes no more than an hour or so for me to create a users page. Just send me an email with as much info or as little info as you want me to put up. You can even use an alias if you wish. No Mosc or hacking stuff will be posted though.
The mystery signal Ku signal at 176E has been confirmed as internet data on 12691 H or 12689 H depending on your gear.If Interested in satellite internet streams have a look here at the current table.
How about some sports via satellite Theres a table for that also underway, send additions to my email or via the mailing list. There is quite a few gaps in the list especially the Football one.
From the Dish
Panamsat 8 166E 4130 V "Feeds" Sr 2650 Fec 3/4
Panamsat 8 166E 4148 V "Feeds" Sr 5875 Fec 3/4
Panamsat 8 166E 4156 V "Feeds" Sr 3075 Fec 3/4
Measat 2 148E 11164 H "Hallmark" FTA, Sr 30000 Fec 7/8 CONFIRMED
Measat 2 148E 11164 H "RPN" FTA, Sr 30000 Fec 7/8 CONFIRMED
Asiasat 3 105.5E 3700 V "Zee TV Asia" is now encrypted, in fact all channels in Zee's Mux are encrypted now.
Asiasat 3 105.5E 4135 "Asianet Kaveri" ,Vpid 39 Apid 40, New FEC for this mux: 1/2.
Asiasat 2 100.5E 3640 H "TARBS mux" has encrypted again.(As expected)
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3424 V "PTV 2, Pakistan" is currently FTA, Asia beam
NEWS
Verestar's new antenna for Apstar 4
From [sat-nd] 26.04.2001
Verestar, Inc., a provider of integrated satellite and fibre
network access solutions world-wide, announced that it has
successfully installed a new 16.4 meter C-band antenna, Leuk-5,
at its satellite network access point (SNAP) in Leuk,
Switzerland. The antenna accesses the Apstar 4 spacecraft (also
known as Telstar 10 or Apstar IIR) at 76.5 degrees east.
The company said its Leuk-5 antenna offers U.S. and European
programmers a new vehicle to deliver programming to cable TV
markets in the Indian Ocean region and the Pacific Rim. The
antenna also provides Apstar 4 customers with turnaround
facilities for European, North American and South American
distribution of their programming.
For Internet and data applications, the coverage provided by
Leuk-5 and Apstar 4 enhances Verestar's capacity between two
major traffic routes--Europe and Africa, as well as linking the
U.S. to the Indian Ocean countries.
Measat Global plans reverse takeover of MTC
From http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2001/4/25/business/25b01max&sec=business
MEASAT Global Network Systems Sdn Bhd has proposed to inject its satellite arm, Binariang Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd, into Malaysian Tobacco Company Bhd (MTC) in a deal worth RM1.682bil.
The exercise will result in a reverse takeover of cash-rich shell company MTC by Measat Global. Binariang Satellite is the owner and operator of Measat-1 and Measat-2 satellites, which provide the transponders for Astro's services.
Measat Global Network and Measat Broadcast (which operates Astro) are companies linked to tycoon T. Ananda Krishnan.
In a two-pronged deal, MTC said Measat Global will buy British American Tobacco plc (BAT) unit Chelwood Trading & Investment Company's entire 54.7% stake in MTC for RM434.6mil cash or RM3.92 per share.
The price is based on MTC's net tangible assets as at June 30, 2002, after adding an agreed premium of RM20mil for the listing status of MTC.
At the same time, MTC will acquire the entire equity interest of Binariang Satellite from Measat Global for RM1.248bil which will be satisfied by RM574mil cash and 179.9 milion new MTC shares of RM1 each at an issue price of RM3.745 per share.
The two proposals are inter-conditional.
Pursuant to the proposed disposal, Measat Global will extend an unconditional mandatory general offer (GO) to acquire all the remaining shares of MTC at RM3.92 per share.
Subject to the outcome of the GO, Measat Global may offer for sale/placement of shares to the public and approved bumiputra investors at a price to be decided later. After the exercise, Measat Global will hold 76.02% stake in MTC, which will then have 100% of Binariang Satellite.
MTC said the deal, based on a willing-buyer willing-seller basis, is subject to approval from the relevant authorities. It will make a submission to the authorities and the Securities Commission within a 3-month period from the date of execution of the S&P agreement.
MTC has been cash rich since selling its tobacco business to BAT. It has been seeking a new business to be injected into it to retain its listing status. As at end Dec 31, 2000, it had a cash balance of RM758.31mil. Of this balance, RM574mil will be used to finance the purchase of Binariang Satellite, and the balance RM184.3mil as working capital for the new MTC group and estimated expenses for the exercise.
Last year, Tan Sri Hamid Pawanteh and his friend Datuk Lim Ah Bak proposed a reverse takeover of MTC via the injection of infrastructure and utilities assets. However, the deal fell through.
The MTC listing status expires on May 2. It has applied to the KLSE for a six-month extension to November to conclude this deal.
Binariang Satellite, a wholly owned subsidiary of Measat Global, has been in operation the last four years.
25/4/01
Sorry no update for today, back Thursday
24/4/01
Very little to report today, Live chat in the chatroom tonight from 8.30 pm Sydney time onwards. The Australian version of the Big Brother tv show starts tonight does anyone know if it will be live via satellite? In the U.K there version had its own channel on satellite! TVNZ is takeing the show and screening it the next day it could be off a satellite feed?
From my Emails & ICQ
Hi Craig.
A very strong KU signal at 176E 12691 H Sr 27694 3/4 it locks on my Dbox but will not load channels...
im in the lower south west of WA and signal is a boomer...
please check and report...
regards jeff bannister
Craigs reply, I couldn't find it at my location on my 60cm, but its very likely to be internet data. So run DVBIP2000 over it and see what it finds.
From the Dish
Nothing to report, Look for Anzac services / Dawn parade on B1 or B3 tommorow morning
NEWS
NHK HDTV on Intelsat
From [sat-nd] 24.04.2001
Intelsat, in co-operation with BT and Japan Telecom, announced
that Japanese broadcaster NHK has chosen Intelsat for
transmitting the first full-time satellite HDTV contribution
link from Europe to Japan.
The service, scheduled to start in October on the Intelsat 902
satellite at 62 degrees East, will initially include European
uplink sites in London and Paris, transmitting to Tokyo.
Intelsat 902 is scheduled for launch in August.
Nothing decided on DTH plans, says Star's Altaf Ali Mohammed
From indiantelevision.com
Altaf Ali Mohammed, in charge of Star's DTH and broadband operations in India, today rubbished reports in the press that Star had put together a $ 350 million war chest to vigorously pursue its DTH plans in India this year.
No decisions have been made regarding Star's DTH venture as there were still a number of issues to be clarified, Mohammed pointed out, while stating that he he had yet to get the full gist of the statement that information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj is reported to have made in parliament on Friday regarding uplinking from India.
Swaraj, in a written statement in Parliament, has been quoted as saying that since the convergence bill was still at the drafting stage, it was not possible to say whether it would have any provision for compulsory uplinking of foreign channels.
As per the DTH notification issued in March on the ground rules for companies wanting to enter DTH in India, any licensee will have to establish an uplink earth station in India within 12 months from the date of issue of license. All content provided by the DTH platform to the subscribers, irrespective of its source, will have to pass through the common encryption and conditional access system, located within the earth station, situated on Indian soil.
Asked for his reaction to strong rumours in the market that Star was the most likely partner in the DTH platform that government internet gateway provider Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) was planning to launch before the end of the year, Mohammed said he was in charge of the project and he was putting on record that nothing had been decided yet on the matter. "The fact that no one has applied for a DTH licence till now (the government notification was out in March) should indicate something," Mohammed stated.
There were still a number of issues which needed clarification before there could be any go-ahead on DTH, Mohammed said. An issue which needed further elaboration from the government was the one requiring a record of all that was aired for a period of 90 days after telecast, he said.
One of the clauses in the guidelines state: "The DTH operator will follow the advertising and programming code drawn up by the information and broadcasting ministry. And it should maintain a record of the advertising and programming for 90 days."
Mohammed also drew issue over the fixing of responsibility for the content of third party channels with the platform provider. He said that the same rules that applied to cable operators should apply here too because it was only the distribution methodology that was different in the two cases.
23/4/01
There are some Ku tests happening on Asiasat 3, Keep checking there maybe something will show up on the beams that cover Australia.
Some shots of yesterdays big upset in the Boxing, David Tua is next in line to fight Rahman, A guy he has demolished before, This could set up a Tyson vs Tua fight in December.
From my Emails & ICQ
Dear Mr Sutton,
I note you sometimes allow sat related questions to be posted on your site and ask to be allowed to post one myself.
I have a California Amplifier flat antenna which I use for MMDS reception beween 1450 and 1490 Mhz. It comes with a downconverter allowing UHF tv reception. I was recently in Singapore and saw and listened to the Worldspace radio service on Asiastar at 105 degrees East. I noticed this operates at an identical L band frequency . My question is : can I use my MMDS antenna and downconverter for Worldspace reception ? If so , how ? Do I just point my MMDS antenna upwards at Asiasat 3 on 105.5 degrees East ? I would appreciate some advice in this matter.
Sincerely Siamglobal , Bangkok
Craigs reply, good question I don't know much about the Digital radio service, but the antenna you have could be suitable for it. I am not sure though about the downconverter to your tv set, I think it will require a seperate Worldspace receiver the downconverter to uhf tv isn't likely to be compatible with the digital radio data format.
Here is a link for you to checkout
Optus B1 0215 UTC 22/04/01 12367 V Sr 5632, Fec 3/4 Vpid 308 Apid 256 "Boxing Feed"
Regards
Bill
From Me
Feeds logged on the weekend
22/4/01 B1, 1pm Syd 12367 V Sr 5630 fec 3/4 "Rahman vs Lewis" title fight
22/4/01 B3, 2pm Syd 12336 V "Geelong vs Kangaroos" Afl, a wet weather special :-)
23/4/01 B3, 2.30 Syd 12363 V "Horse raceing"
From Andrew Harrison
Saturday morning 8 a.m Sydney time, 2 feeds via I701, 3769 RHC
Also Sunday afternoon, SBK Race from Philips Island in same MUX
From the Dish
PAS 2 169E 3767 H "MBC (South Korea)" started Vpid 3601 Apid 3605.
Asiasat 3 105.5E 3700 V "Zee TV Asia" has replaced Asianet Kaveri, Vpid 167 Apid 108
Asiasat 3 105.5E 4135 V "Asianet Kaveri" has moved here
Asiasat 3 105.5E 12641 H "Test? MCPC" Sr 19540, Fec 3/4
Asiasat 3 105.5E 12446 H "Tests" Sr 19535, Fec 3/4, Vpid 1117 Apid 1118
ST 1 88E 3632 V "MusicCountry has replaced Bloomberg TV Asia"
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3472 H "New Mux Here" FTA, Sr 13333, Fec 2/3
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3472 H "Gurjari" Vpid 512 Apid 640
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3472 H "Lashkara" Vpid 513 Apid 641
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3472 H "Anjuman" vpid 514 Apid 642
NEWS
T S I C H A N N E L N E W S - Number 16/2001 - April 22 2001 -
A weekly roundup of global TV news sponsored by Tele Satellite International
Editor: Branislav Pekic
Edited Apsattv.com version
AUSTRALIA
BROADCASTERS SET UP DIGITAL TV STRATEGY GROUP
Australia’s public and commercial TV broadcasters are to team up and form a
Digital TV Strategy Group, to co-operate in developing a common strategy for
digital TV. The Strategy Group is made up of public broadcaster ABC, special
interest network SBS and members of the Federation of Australian Commercial
Television Stations. Its objectives include creating a standard operating
system, setting compliance rules for digital set-top boxes, and devising
protocols for the management of electronic programme guides.
CHINA - HONG KONG
TVB AND PCCW CONSIDER MERGER
Hong Kong’s new media sector looks set for a period of consolidation with two
of the biggest names in the territory, TVB and PCCW, rumoured to be in
partnership discussions. While TVB’s terrestrial stations dominant the Chinese
SAR, its Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting division is in trouble after failing to
agree carriage terms with Malaysian satellite operator, Measat. Richard Li’s
PCCW is equally up against the financial cosh having recently posted losses of
$886 million last year despite sharply higher revenues resulting from its
take-over of Cable & Wireless HKT. PCCW runs an iTV service in Hong Kong but
has so far signed up less than 100,000 subscribers and has scaled back plans
for its Network of the World (NOW) channel.
INDIA
VSNL TO LAUNCH DTH SATELLITE PLATFORM
The government-owned telecommunications firm Videsh Samchar Migam Ltd. (VSNL)
plans to launch a direct-to-home satellite-TV platform by December. “Our aim
will be to provide a platform on which any bouquet of channels can hop aboard.
It will not be specific to any broadcaster,” VSNL director of operations
Amitabh Kumar said. VSNL is optimistic about its chances in the DTH platform
arena, because it has most of the infrastructure in place already. “We
providing uplinking for 14 Indian channels. We also have an earth station and
video-uplinking facilities,” Kumar said. “These are a prerequisite, according
to government regulations, to set up a DTH service. Along with DTH, we will be
providing Internet broadband and expect to invest [$21.7 million] in setting up
this platform.” VSNL, Kumar said, isn’t worried about competition on the DTH
front from News Corp.’s Star TV, which is girding to launch its own service.
That’s primarily because, like other foreign-owned firms, Star TV must partner
with an Indian company that will front 70 per cent of the required investment.
Kumar added that he is confident VSNL will be able to meet any foreign
challenge.
SINGAPORE
SPH PLANS TO LAUNCH TWO CHANNELS
Publishing group Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has confirmed reports that it
is working with the Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) on a licence for its
broadcasting unit SPH Media Works. SPH applied for a licence after the
government decided to deregulate the domestic media industry last year. In the
meantime it will continue to ready for the launch of two channels once Media
Works gets the licence.
SOUTH KOREA
SONY PLANS CABLE TV SERVICE
Sony Pictures Television Japan (SPTJ), a unit of digital appliance giant Sony
Corp, said on April 16 it is in talks with a South Korean firm to start cable
television services there. A spokeswoman for the Sony unit said it aims to
start the service, which will distribute Japanese-made animation movies, in
early 2002 in response the popularity of Japanese animation in South Korea. The
Sony unit and the local South Korea broadcasting firm may form a joint venture
in South Korea to start cable television and satellite broadcasting services,
she said without other details.
Uplinking from India may not be made mandatory
From Indiantelevision.com
In a move that should provide a boost for serious players in the direct-to-home (DTH) telecast arena like Star, the government yesterday indicated that it might not press for making it mandatory for foreign television channels to uplink from India.
Information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj, in a written statement in Parliament on Friday, said since the convergence bill was still at the drafting stage, it was not possible to say whether it would have any provision for compulsory uplinking of foreign channels.
As per the DTH notification issued in March on the ground rules for companies wanting to enter DTH in India, any licensee will have to establish an uplink earth station in India within 12 months from the date of issue of license. All content provided by the DTH platform to the subscribers, irrespective of its source, will have to pass through the common encryption and conditional access system, located within the Earth Station, situated on Indian soil, the notification states.
PAS-10 Prepares For Launch From Baikonur Cosmodrome
From www.satnewsasia.com
PanAmSat Corporation’s new PAS-10 Indian Ocean Region satellite is now being prepped for a late April launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The satellite, built by Boeing Satellite Systems, will be launched into geosynchronous orbit by a Proton launch vehicle. PAS-10 will provide digital video, data and Internet services throughout a 30-million square mile footprint.
It will deliver broadcast, high-speed data and Internet services across Europe, Africa and Asia for PanAmSat, which has 20 in orbit geosynchronous satellites, the world’s largest number. It will succeed the PAS-4 Indian Ocean Region satellite at 68.5 degrees east longitude.
PAS-10 will carry 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders. Its Ku-band payload, which offers 60 percent more Ku-band transmission power than that of the PAS-4 satellite, contains multiple high- powered beams focused on Africa, Europe, India, the Middle East, Central and Western Asia as well as Northeast Asia and Australia. It has a useful life of 15 years.
Many of these beams can be switched between the various regions, offering greater versatility and flexible service options for the creation of new platforms for the delivery of data and IP-based services.
It will broadcast some of the world's top international programming to audiences throughout its footprint, including the BBC, CNN, CCTV, Discovery, Doordarshan, ESPN, MTV, NHK, Nickelodeon, Sony and TNT.
PanAmSat will expand its global fleet to 24 spacecraft by the end of this year. The company is 81 percent owned by Hughes Electronics Corporation, a provider of digital TV entertainment, broadband services, satellite-based private business networks, and global video and data broadcasting. It is a unit of General Motors Corporation.
Additional information on PanAmSat is available at www.panamsat.com
PT Telkom to launch Telkom 2
From [sat-nd] 23.04.2000
Indonesian state telecom operator PT Telkom plans to launch
its Telkom 2 satellite at the end of 2003 to accompany Telkom 1,
which is co-positioned with Palapa B4. Telkom2 is to be launched
in anticipation of Palapa B4's end of design life in 2004.
Telkom recently signed a contract for the leasing of Telkom 1
and Palapa B4 transponders with VSAT operators Radio Republic of
Indonesia, PT Indonusa Telemedia, PT Pratakom, PT Telesindo
Mulia, PT Infokom Elektrindo and PT Rintis Sejahtera. The
companies will rent a total of 6.6 transponders (3.6 C-band
standard transponders and 3 C-band extended transponders.)
Telkom plans to continue developing its satellite services
business after it was taken over by PT Satelindo some time ago.
PT. Telekomunikasi Selular rents 1.25 PSN transponders
From [sat-nd] 23.04.2000
PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara and PT. Telekomunikasi Selular,
one of Indonesian wireless operators, announced the signing of a
Link Transmission Lease Agreement. The aggregate value of the
contract is approximately US$4.9 million.
The total link transmission usage of PSN transponder capacity
will be equal to 1.25 transponders with leased capacity being
used from the Palapa C1 and Agila II satellites. PSN controls 6
extended C-band transponders on the Palapa C1 satellite and 2
standard C-band transponders on the Agila II satellite. With the
deal, PSN will be utilising five of its eight transponders.
22/4/01
Back Tommorow
21/4/01
The big Boxxing match, I think will be on MBC Korea as well as SCTV. I think they also have the GP on as well.
Pas 2 Koreans added to Pas 2 page.
Try useing http://world.altavista.com/tr to convert the Korean Program guide into English
From my Emails & ICQ
From Bill Richards
Pas 2 3769 H "MBC Korea", FTA Full time service, Sr 8320, Fec 3/4, Vpid 3601 Apid 3605 SID 1
Pas 2 3769 H "KBS Korea", FTA Full time service, Vpid 33 Apid 36 SID 2
Pas 2 3769 H "YTN Korea", FTA Full time service, Vpid 49 Apid 52 SID 3
Regards
Bill
From me
8.30 pm 20/4/01 Syd B3, 12363v "Netball Sand vs Kest" I saw this game again on ABC Saturday afternoon!
From Danial@startvclub.com
Feeds
Can anyone confirm which satellite used to beam the soccer league?
Don't care either English League, Spain League or Italian League.
I don't want to depend on Indonesian, Guangdong and Thailand Tv to watch it.
Soccer Fever
Watch on Thai Tv 7 , SCTV and RCTI for fabulous football game
Monday, 22 April 2001, 10.00 Indo time SCTV,Palapa C2
NEWS
Networks join forces on digital TV
From http://australianit.news.com.au/common/storyPage/0,3811,1912393%5E442,00.html
THE free-to-air TV stations have put aside individual differences to form a joint digital TV strategy group to drive the introduction of interactive TV.
National broadcasters ABC and SBS have joined members of the Federation of Australian Commercial TV Stations to jointly overcome the hurdles facing the new media.
They include development of a common operating system for the set-top boxes initially needed to receive digital signals, management of the channel sending requested information back to viewers, set-top box compliance and management of the electronic program guides.
FACTS will employ a project manager to oversee the progress of the Digital TV Strategy Group. FACTS chairman Judi Stack said the group's members had agreed they should work towards the adoption of Multimedia Home Platform as the common operating system for the boxes.
"While all of the commercial stations and the national broadcasters have separate strategies for digital TV, there is strong support across the industry for progressing management issues," she said. "That includes developing a common platform that will allow viewers to access different services regardless of which set-top box or integrated TV receiver they have purchased."
She said the group would work closely with manufacturers and retailers to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the rollout of next-generation TVs and set-top boxes.
Pay-TV plea: we want more sport
From http://australianit.news.com.au/common/storyPage/0,3811,1912393%5E442,00.html
ALMOST all overseas cricket tours and up to five AFL matches a week could be shown on pay-TV under a proposal tabled yesterday.
Pay-TV network Fox Sports wants access to a range of sporting events currently offered to free-to-air stations first. It has called for many of these events to lose their protected status in a submission to a Federal Government review of the anti-siphoning list.
Along with football and cricket, Fox Sports wants access to:
ALL soccer matches except the World Cup final.
THE first three rounds of the golf majors, as well as the Australian Open and Masters.
ALL grand slam tennis matches bar the finals and semi-finals.
ALL Formula One grand prix, bar the Australian race.
Cable stations believe many of the sports on the protected list are not being shown by conventional broadcasters and should be available to them.
They also want both pay-TV and free-to-air TV to have the chance to simulcast events shown on each other's networks.
But free-to-air stations say the list ensures adequate sporting coverage for the 80 per cent of viewers without pay-TV. They want the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games and the National Swimming Championships added to the list.
The current list, which expires in 2004, is being reviewed by the Australian Broadcasting Authority on behalf of Communications Minister Richard Alston.
Lack of interest from conventional broadcasters has seen several cricket fixtures temporarily deleted from the list.
Free-to-air broadcasters have sometimes been reluctant to disrupt programming schedules for sporting events resulting in many "protected" events ending up on pay-TV. But the list has stopped Australia emulating Britain or New Zealand, where most major fixtures appear exclusively on pay-TV.
In its call for change, Fox Sports said the list should be scrapped if "sensible" reforms cannot be achieved.
"It is clearly exploited by the free-to-air networks as a protective measure against fair competition rather than a mechanism to ensure listed events are broadcast live and in full," its submission says.
But the Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations warned of rising costs for sports fans if the list is altered.
"Reduction of the list would result in Australians being forced to pay significant amounts to watch events which they have been previously allowed to see free," its submission says.
Although sporting rights are often offered exclusively to either pay-TV or free-to-air TV, there have been joint broadcasts.
Under next season's AFL rights package, fans will see five games on free-to-air TV with the remainder shown on cable.
Both the government and the Opposition have said they do not want to see any reduction in the amount of AFL shown on free-to-air TV.
20/4/01
As well as the usual feeds of various sporting events this weekend be on the lookout for Lennox Lewis vs Hasim Rahman this fight is being fought in South Africa and heres the strange part its at 5 a.m there time! not sure which satellite it will go via. Possibly via Pas 4 one of the Indo channels on Pal C2 might show it.
Page has been trimmed
Some shots of my 60cm dish. Looking at B3
Sophisticated Positioning device
A few Photos, (note the bad image is from the TV being stuffed, and digital cameras don't take good photos of tv's due to the scanrate) Channels are ABC Northern (B1), and Mediasat (B3) and Mediasat Feed (B3)
Few Shots from in the lounge image on screen is B3 Feed, horse raceing seen Thrusday
From my Emails & ICQ
Hi Craig,
TARBS have updated their channels and they have added a wide vareity of channels starting from today. These channels are
1- Sky Racing/nightmoves
2- ESPN
3- CNN
4- MCM Asia (heard is not free to air anymore???)
5- Cartoon Network/TMC
7- ESC 1 - Arabic
8- Nile Drama - Arabic
9- Future TV - Arabic
10- NTV - Russia
11- NTV PLUS - Russia
12- KDTV - Turkish
13- ATV - Turkish
14- TGRT - Turkish
15- TRT Int - Turkish
16- MKTV - Macedonian
18- TV Poland - Polish
19- ESC 2 (On may 1st it will be Tele liban) - Arabic
20- TV Chile - Spanish
21- TV Espania - Spanish
22- TI - Italian
24- TV Globo - Portugese
29- KOTV - Korean
31- Phoenix - Chinese
32- BTV - Chinese
33- The Filipino Channel - Filipino
34- Pinoy Blockbuster Channel - Filipino
35- Syrian Satellite Channel - Arabic
36- Pink Plus - Greek
37- Mega Cosmos - Greek
38- ERT - Greek
39- ALPHA - Greek
They are all the TV channels, However Channel 6,17,23,25,26,27,28 and 30 are going to broadcasted in the coming days. I will inform you of these channels when they arrive. They are also introducing an ample amount of Radio Channels as well.
Regards
Mike
Craigs reply, hmm I wonder just where they get the feeds for some of those channels. Perhaps some are off tape or via fibre.
From Tarek via the mailing list
Asiasat 2 3640H channels are free to air since this afternoon and Syria tv has been added
regard tarek
Craigs reply, Don't expect it to last long.
From the Dish
Asiasat 2 100.5E 3640 H "reported FTA, new channel added Syria TV" Sr 27850 Fec 3/4
NEWS
Nothing to report
19/4/01
There is an interesting item in the new section about Tarbs, They are a big threat to home FTA satellite tv if you ask me. because as they grab each ethnic channel they will arrange for the current FTA satellite signal from each service to be switched off or encrypted. Just look at what happend with the Russian channels. I have borrowed a fairly useless digital camera and have taken some new pics of my setup. As usual to prevent the page taking a week to load just the thumbnails are on the mail page click on them for the fullsize images, they will take a while to load as I don't like to compress them furthur as they are already rather poor as the camera is a low quality one. Some pictures of the 60cm tommorow
From my Emails & ICQ
From A reader
the lyngmark link from your insat2b page is wrong - it takes you to optusb?
Craigs reply oops fixxed now. Anyone else finds some glitches let me know.
From Robert Anthony
Noticed that Panamsat has newer C and Ku coverage maps with detailed EIRP data. Take a look at:
http://www.panamsat.com/sat/beam/p2kuband.pdf
http://www.panamsat.com/sat/beam/p2cband.pdf
http://www.panamsat.com/sat/beam/p8kuband.pdf
http://www.panamsat.com/sat/beam/p8cband.pdf
I also note that there are four Ku transponders dedicated to Australia/New Zealand on PAS-2 which can not be switched to other regions (lack of flexibility there) so there could be some additional transponders here that are not identified by Lyngsat. Anyone with a Nokia up to the challenge?
From Thomas 'bacco007' Baxter
Australian Pay Television has a new address and a new look!
Currently there are some pages missing, but they will be added ASAP.
Please update bookmarks and links on your respective webpages with
Australian Pay Television
http://hosted.barrysworld.net/australianpaytv
Please note that the new address is -
http://hosted.barrysworld.net/australianpaytv
Thanks
Thomas 'bacco007' Baxter
webmaster@australianpaytelevision.cjb.net
ICQ: 33807875
From the Dish
Nothing to report
NEWS
Bold place to initiate ethnic pay TV
From http://www.theaustralian.com.au/extras/media/columns/day1904.html
THERE'S an old yarn about a lost tourist in Ireland asking how to get to Dublin, and the farmer scratching his head and saying: "Ooh, if you'd be wantin' to get to Dublin, you wouldn't want to be startin' from here."
I feel a bit that way about Mike Boulos's plans to take on the world as the ultimate niche-meister of subscription television and radio services. Australia is an odd place to start. So far, he says, he's sunk $250 million into his grand plan, but for most of us, and the rest of the world, it is a well-kept secret.
That should change locally in a couple of months when Boulos hits the marketing button for what he calls his "emotional TV" services. "We are offering migrants a way to keep in touch with the countries of their birth," he told me. "It's not just a foreign language service – it is an emotional attachment, for just $60 a month."
Boulos's company, Television and Radio Broadcasting Services Australia Pty Ltd (TARBS), has been a peripheral player in the pay TV business in Australia since the saga began amid political and regulatory turmoil in the early 1990s.
He made his first pile of money from the Computerland chain of stores, which he developed in Australia in the early 80s. He sold out within the decade, but became diverted from his road to retirement by helping build the studios and operational platforms of pay TV's first player, Australis Media.
When Australis went to the wall Boulos picked up the hardware for a song, and paid $60 million for Australis's suite of multi-point distribution system (MDS) microwave licences in Australia's capital cities. Last year, regional pay TV operator Austar paid $140 million for the licences to be used for its now-stalled broadband wireless internet service. For Boulos, it was a nice little earn, as they say.
While the pay TV participants have been slugging it out trying to build a viable mainstream business, Boulos has played the niche game. He reasons that there are 1.5 million homes in Australia where the occupants come from a non-English-speaking background, and he is confident he can attract 350,000 subscribers from this market in the next three years.
That sounds very optimistic, given that the three Pay TV operators, Foxtel (750,000) Optus (200,000) and Austar (400,000) have managed to capture just 1.3 million of Australia's 6.5 million homes in four years.
And it may be doubly difficult because most of Boulos's services require a separate, dedicated direct-to-home satellite dish, rather than being offered as an add-on to existing services, such as Foxtel. This means he needs his own subscriber call centre and subscriber management systems, two of the most expensive elements of any pay TV service.
But Boulos is confident. He already has 26 ethnic and English language video channels and 60 radio services in 14 languages broadcasting across Australia. That number of video channels will rise to 39 shortly, on its way to Boulos's target of 52 channels in 20 languages.
TARBS's initial services, which began in 1999, covered Cantonese, Mandarin, Italian, Filipino, Arabic and Spanish languages. Since then Korean, German, Turkish, Russian and Macedonian have been added, and a new satellite deal recently completed will give capacity for three new channels from the Balkans, two Greek, a new Russian and Portuguese, and South Asian channels.
Boulos says he has 25,000 subscribers, paying $60 a month, and needs 70,000 to break even. That implies current revenues of $18 million a year and costs of $50 million a year.
It also implies super profits if he can reach his goal of 350,000 subscribers, which would yield subscription incomes of $250 million per annum.
And then there is the rest of the world. Boulos says he has agreements with program suppliers in all major languages, and accesses three satellites – PanAmSat, Thaicom 3 and AsiaSat 2 – via uplink and downlink portals in Greece and Egypt. This gives him the potential to deliver his pro gramming to all of Asia, Africa and the US west coast.
Which brings us back to the question: Why start here? The Australian market is tiny by comparison with Asia, or the US. The mainstream pay TV operators are still under water by billions of dollars, and if they can't make it work with all their marketing muscle, how can a niche operator expect to hit paydirt? Especially when every new subscriber costs TARBS $1200 to connect.
Boulos admits there's a time lag before he gets a return from each subscriber. The 60cm dish and set-top box required to access his services costs an average $1200 to supply and install, which means returns are in the red until the third year of connection.
The "churn" factor – people subscribing, then cancelling or changing supplier – has cost the mainstream pay TV players dearly but Boulos says his churn is a mere 1 per cent because of the emotional attachment people have to his services.
"They can have the radio on, listening live to the news, weather and traffic in their home towns," he says. "I know of some who have even taken part in radio talkback on the other side of the world."
Boulos believes his services will do a job in multicultural Australia that SBS was set up to do, but can't. He says SBS, being free-to-air, must try to be all things to all its ethnic groups, while his channels can specifically target large numbers of small groups.
If he is right, and he manages to sign up a fair proportion of non-English speaking homes, Boulos believes SBS will become more like Britain's Channel 4, a specialty broadcaster with a strong leaning towards educational services.
But he won't have the ethnic field to himself. Greek and Italian services are already provided as an add-on to Foxtel's services, and Boulos will soon be joining them with, he hopes, four "superstation" ethnic channels.
Boulos joined with the Seven network in a Federal Court challenge to Foxtel's refusal to allow access to the Telstra cable. They won, and in a Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ruling last week, a fee of $2.3 million per annum per channel has been set for access to the cable and Foxtel set-top boxes.
This means Boulos will now be able to distribute his programming via a variety of platforms. It is a bold strategy which will work only if you believe the ethnic niche audiences will behave differently to those in the mainstream. If not, it will be a very costly experiment.
GSLV relaunch successful
From indiantelevision.com
The relaunch of the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle D1(GSLVD1) went off successfully today from the SHAR Centre, Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The GSLV was carried the G-Sat 1 communications satellite into orbit.
The countdown began at Sriharikota yesterday. The GSLV, using a cryogenic engine, blasted off at 3:43 pm with all systems go.
As the rocket lifted majestically into the clear blue skies, the scientists, engineers and technicians, led by Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Kasturirangan, who had been working on the project for several months, clapped for joy and shook hands with one another.
Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, in a televised address to the nation on national broadcaster Doordarshan, congratulated the team behind the effort and said it was an endorsement of India's efforts at self reliance in its space programme.
The first GSLV launch attempt was aborted one second before the lift-off on March 28 by the Automatic Launch Processing System (ALS) after it detected that one of the strap-on boosters did not develop the required thrust.
ISRO scientists say the reason for the strap-on booster not developing the required thrust was due to a defective plumbing in the oxidiser flow line of the engine, which had escaped detection during testing.
As a precautionary measure this time round additional flame protection for the insulation pads was provided.
Isro has been developing the GSLV for the past 10 years and has poured in some Rs 14 billion as investment.
The heaviest-ever spacecraft developed indigenously is powered by a Russian cryogenic engine in the third and final stage. The GSLV will be inducted into the country's regular satellite launch system after two more developmental flights.
The ambitious project launches India into the elite club of five space-faring nations - US, Russia, Japan, China and the European Union - that have already crossed the geostationary milestone.
The GSLV series are meant to carry payloads of 2000 kg and above into geosynchronous orbits. The success of the GSLV mission opens up immense commercial possibilities for the country in the lucrative multi-billion global satellite launch business.
18/4/01
Its good to see the good turnouts in the chatroom lately. I have added a lot more Avaters (picture images) you can use on your message forum posts. If you want to use an image of your own, email it to me and I will resize it etc and put it in the Avaters folder.
User "Bassett" added to the userpages
Feeds added to feed pages
From my Emails & ICQ
These Feeds details passed on to me by "DVB" in the chatroom last night
Some feeds logged by "Dvb"
Pas 8 166E 4171 H "Napa 3" Golf, Abc Sports seen here 11 a.m Syd 16/04/01
Pas 8 166E 4194 H "Napa 2" NHL, ESPN's NHL playoff coverage, 14/04/01
Optus B1 160E 12665 H "NRL" 15/04/01
From the Dish
Nothing to report, someone please check Measat 2 KU, the Astro service may be back there.
NEWS
Foreign language channels win access to pay cables
From http://www.smh.com.au/news/0104/18/business/business4.html
Foxtel viewers may have a wider choice of ethnic programs later this year with emerging media player Mr Mike Boulos expected to gain access to four channels on the Telstra cable network, which carries the Foxtel pay TV service.
Mr Boulos's media group Television & Radio Broadcasting Services (TARBS) has 150,000 satellite TV customers for which it provides 39 channels in 20 languages and the adult channel, Nightmoves.
TARBS won conditional access to the four channels via an interim ruling by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which opened the Telstra cable to other pay TV content providers.
This is in addition to the two channels awarded to Seven Network's C7 service.
Seven has accepted the terms and conditions set out by the ACCC, and is looking to launch its service next month. Mr Boulos has until Monday to accept the ACCC's terms.
Mr Boulos said no decision had been made yet, but TARBS was discussing the details of a programming arrangement with Foxtel and Telstra lawyers.
"We did not spend the last three years fighting to then turn it down," he said.
Under the interim ruling, TARBS has access to the Telstra cable as well as the Foxtel set-top box - the device that sends the pay TV signal to the TV set. But TARBS will have to market its service separately because Foxtel has no obligation to market the TV services of TARBS or C7.
If no satisfactory agreement can be reached, Mr Boulos said he would consider legal action against Telstra and Foxtel for the cost of lost business.
But Mr Boulos said he had a good relationship with Foxtel chief executive Mr Jim Blomfield, and was keen for TARBS and Foxtel to work together.
TARBS has made no decision on the content for the channels.
Foxtel already provides the foreign language movie channel through the World Movies service together with 24-hour Greek and Italian language programming. Mr Boulos said TARBS and Seven could work together on marketing their new channels to Foxtel's 460,000 cable TV customers. Neither will have access to Foxtel's 260,000 satellite TV customers.
"We will look to work closely with Seven, as we have our own established network and customer service centre. So they could flick a switch tomorrow and we would be able to market and support our service on Foxtel," Mr Boulos said.
However, it is understood Seven will use the call centres of its B Digital mobile phone subsidiary to provide marketing and customer support for its pay TV service.
Tarbs on Foxtel too
From http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,1905385%255E462,00.html
MIKE Boulos's Television & Radio Broadcasting Services has become the second company to gain access to Foxtel's cable network, following on the heels of Channel Seven.
Mr Boulos received an interim determination on access charges for the cable from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission last Wednesday.
The ACCC gave Tarbs access to four channels after providing Seven access to an initial two channels the previous week. But while Tarbs' main satellite business is focused on ethnic broadcasting, Mr Boulos said his cable-specific services might be styled as more general entertainment services.
That was because the determination, like Seven's, set a flat access fee per channel rather than per subscriber.
"I can't be definite (on the programming) given what the determination has been. It (ethnic programs) might make it financially suicidal," he said.
"Given the sort of dollars to be paid for access, it requires us to look closely at how we can most penetrate the existing subscribers on that network, so we are looking closely at all options."
They include a strong multicultural channel based on Tarbs' existing services and other English-based channels, such as ESPN.
But Mr Boulos maintained the channels would not be similar to Foxtel's, but would instead "enhance the existing Foxtel line-up".
He hoped the channels would be available through the Telstra cable in two to three months.
TSI CHANNEL NEWS - Number 15/2001 (15.04.2001)
Edited Apsattv edition
A S I A
CHINA - HONG KONG
BROADCASTERS ASK FOR DIGITAL TV POSTPONEMENT
Hong Kong’s free television operators - Television Broadcasts and Asia Television - have linked to ask the Government to hold back on a plan to develop Digital Terrestrial Television until the mainland decides on a system for its digital TV. In a 17-page supplementary response filed to the Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau on the consultation of digital TV, the SAR’s two free TV operators said both Hong Kong’s audience and its economy would benefit if the Government waited ‘for a few months to see what the improved system being developed by the mainland has to offer.’ If Hong Kong operators adopted the same standard, it would make cross border frequency interference more manageable and enable a smoother transition to digital TV in Hong Kong. The mainland has set the end of the month as the deadline for digital TV systems proposals, and is expected to decide on national standards by the end of this year - meaning the SAR would postpone its digital TV plans till then. Consumers would also be able to enjoy a more cost-efficient and better variety of services, the two operators claimed. The local IT industry would also benefit as the China market would provide an incentive for development of multimedia services and software applications, the operators said. The operators warned that if Hong Kong went ahead and used a different standard it would make co-ordination with mainland authorities difficult and create problems in managing cross-border interference.
JAPAN
FOUR COMPANIES IN DIGITAL SATELLITE JOINT VENTURE
Four Japanese companies, including Asahi National Broadcasting Co Ltd, said on April 10 they had formed a joint venture to start providing satellite-based digital broadcasting services. The joint venture, tentatively named CS110 Co is owned 28 per cent by Hitachi Ltd, 18 per cent by TV Asahi, 14 per cent by Toppan Printing Co Ltd and 10 per cent by Asahi Shimbun. Toyota Motor Corp, Japan’s top carmaker, is expected to take a 10 per cent stake in the new company by the end of April, a spokesman for TV Asahi said. The company, capitalised at Y2 billion, will provide various television programmes, including news from TV Asahi, Cable News Network (CNN) and the British Broadcasting Corp (BBC) from the spring of 2002. The company also plans to provide interactive and on-demand services.
17/4/01
Livechat tonight in the chatroom at least I have some stuff to post today not like the last few days. There is a firm advertising "Ethnic Pay TV (Australia and New Zealand) multiple Top Rung Opportunities" in the NZ Herald they are looking for a CRO, Broadcast and programming Controller and Finance Manager, with Fluency in Hindi.
A piece of the advert
"Our clients are a start-up company, shortly launching Indian language pay tv channels over DTH service. They intend setting up a highly professional technically competent team at their operational headquarters in Sydney, to begin with and offer very attractive carerr opportunities fo Senior Management positions"
They have an email address listed hkp@penneypatel.co.nz
From my Emails & ICQ
hi craig,
im after some advice. when scanning with a nokia i dont have any trouble with KU band but when on Cband i dont seem to get very much...what aquisition bandwidth do you set it on and what freq increasements do you use, i hope some one can assist...
regards jsat
Craigs reply, I am unable to try cband yet (getting there eventually) but on Ku I was told use 10 mhz and aquisition 40. Make sure before you start go into the Nokias tuner menu and set Freq to 0, Sr to 0 and everything else to auto. Perhaps someone could explain it better in our new Nokia message forum?
From Gavin
Hello there,
I have been visiting your site for some time now, and find it very interesting.
So what do I have to do to get started into satellite tv.
I'm from Melbourne........It seems to me that if I get a dish, I can get all these channels.
Maybe you could point me in the right direction.
Thank you,
Gavin.
Craigs reply,
A common system for where you are would be a 2.4M or larger mesh dish with a analog/digital receiver (or digital only) with positioner.
Always start with the biggest dish you can afford! you can't make up for lack of dish size anywhere in the system!.
For Ku band a seperate dish is the best option a 1.2M should get you most signals off Optus B1, B3 Pas 8 and Pas 2.
In Melbourne should be able to get get from Thaicom 3 (78.5E) to Intelsat 701 (180E) providing you have a good clear view of the sky. Look in your phone book for local satellite dealers or the links page
Also for more info and help checkout the Chatroom at www.apsattv.com every tuesday night 8.30pm Sydney time onwards.
From Me, reported via the mailing list last night
Optus B3 12363 V "Mundine Fight" usual settings
The first fight checkout that Beer Gut!
The one they all came to see.
From the Dish
Measat 2 148E 11164 H "Hallmark" FTA, Sr 30000 Fec 7/8
Measat 2 148E 11164 H "RPN" FTA, Sr 30000 Fec 7/8
Reports needed? Anyone else see them? Are these on the beam that covers Australia? also check 11044, 11104
Pas 2 169E 12355 V "Global Vision upgrade Testcard" Sr 6620 Fec 2/3, I don't know which beam this is off
Pas 8 166E 4171 H "ESPN Ice Hockey" Sr 13200, Fec 2/3
Might be NHL Conference playoffs?
NEWS
Pacific Century Matrix Brings TechTV, World's Leading Technology Channel, to the Asia Pacific Region
Pacific Century Matrix (PCM) today announced the signing of an agreement with TechTV to broadcast its technology news, information and entertainment programming via PCM’s broadband satellite DVB platform.
TechTV channel joins a number of other television and data services being transmitted from Hong Kong by PCM, via its leased C-Band transponders on AsiaSat 3S satellite. Currently four transponders are used to support PCM’s services in analogue, digital DVB, free to air and encrypted formats servicing television broadcasters, Internet Services Providers, multinational corporations and content providers, across the Asia-Pacific region from the Russian Federation to Australia and from the Pacific Ocean to the Middle East.
Based on TechTV’s specific needs, PCM was able to provide a solution meeting its turn around and processing needs delivering its technology based programming to an audience of millions across Asia via powerful DVB/IP satellite platform reliably and quickly.
?TechTV is one of the most popular cable networks in the USA. We are very pleased to be helping to bring more technology news and information to people in Asia.” said Wendy Lui, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales. “Our end to end solution combines turnaround services, network operations and utilization of Asia’s most popular satellite platform. This unique combination provides tremendous benefits for TV broadcasters and content providers.”
Pacific Century Matrix Limited (PCM) was founded in April 1999 as a service provider for end-to-end broadband connectivity and network services. PCM is a joint venture between Pacific Century Group (PCG) and European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). PCM is a facility-based telecommunications service provider offering DVB/IP broadcasting services for TV broadcasters, plus a range of one-way and interactive broadband services for multimedia businesses, major corporations and content providers. In February, 2000 PCM was granted the satellite-based External Fixed Telecommunications Network Services Licence in Hong Kong and in February, 2001, the PNETS licence for providing international value added services (IVANS) and ISP services.
Check out Pacific Century Matrix Limited website at www.pc-matrix.com
TechTV, the leading television channel covering technology news, information and entertainment from a consumer, industry and market perspective 24 hours a day. Offering everything from industry news to product reviews, updates on tech stocks to tech support, TechTV’s original programming keeps the wired world informed and entertained. TechTV is one of the fastest growing cable networks, currently available in more than 23.5 million US households and distributing content to 70 countries around the world. With nearly a million unique visitors per month, techtv.com is a community destination that encourages viewer interaction through e-mail, live chat and video mail. TechTV, formerly ZDTV, is owned by Vulcan Ventures, Inc., a Washington-based investment organization.
CyberWorks in Talks with TVB on Pay TV Service
From Satnewasia.com
Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd (PCCW) is on the march once again and, this time, is considering a pay TV joint venture with a subsidiary of Television Broadcasts Ltd (TVB), Hong Kong's dominant free-to-air broadcaster.
The subsidiary in question is Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting of which TVB owns about 70 percent. PCCW executive vice president Rebecca Leung confirmed the company was taking to TVB but gave no other details.
PCCW is Hong Kong’s largest telecoms provider and is headed by Richard Li. son of billionaire Li Ka- shing. TVB is controlled by filmmaker Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Ltd.
The proposed joint venture is expected to benefit both PCCW and TVB. For 2000, TVB's profit is expected to rise to US$86 million from US$65 million a year earlier, according to analysts. The company is expected to release its operating results within the month.
Its profit for 2000 was due largely to aUS$12.8 million one-time profit from the sale of 30 percent of Web unit, TVB.com Ltd, to Measat Broadcast Network Systems Bhd of Malaysia in November 1999. TVB's advertising sales are expected to increase by less than 10 percent this year and the joint proposed joint venture with PCCW may improve that number.
TVB sells more hours of programming to China’s government-owned stations than any other broadcaster. Its brand is one of the best known in the mainland and TVB enjoys a special relationship with China’s national regulator and with CCTV, China’s single network operator.
Indonesia's Telkom to Launch New Satellite Late 2003
From satnewsasia.com
Indonesia’s state-owned telecoms monopoly, PT Telkom, plans to launch its second satellite to replace Palapa B4 which has almost reached the end of its useful life.
The Telkom 2 satellite will be launched by the end of 2003 from the Kourou launch facility in French Guyana. Telkom 2 is expected to meet increasing demand for the Telkom satellite services throughout the Indonesian archipelago.
Telkom has just leased transponders on Telkom-1 and Palapa B-4 to six Indonesian VSAT operators. Rented out were 6.6 transponders consisting of 3.6 C-band standard transponders and three C-band extended transponders that can be used for Internet delivery and satellite broadcasting.
The six operators are Radio Republic of Indonesia, PT Indonusa Telemedia, PT Pratakom, PT Telesindo Mulia, PT Infokom Elektrindo and PT Rintis Sejahtera.
The Telkom 1 satellite, launched in 1999, replaced Palapa B2R which was retired that year. Telkom 1 supports a variety of telecommunication applications, including high-speed digital traffic compatible with Very Small Aperture Terminal applications.
The satellite's payload was built at the Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems and is configured with 24 C-Band and 12 extended C-Band transponders.
Telkom 1 is positioned at 108 degrees East longitude, providing coverage to all of Indonesia, and potentially to parts of Southeast Asia and northern Australia. The satellite is optimized to provide a 15-year life span.
Meanwhile, following the MOU dated February 15, 2001 involving PT (Persero) Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk. ("Telkom") and PT (Persero) Indonesian Satellite Corporation Tbk. ("Indosat"), the companies announced that they have signed sale and purchase agreements relating to a series of transactions that would eliminate the cross-shareholdings of Telkom and Indosat in the following companies: PT Telekomunikasi Selular ("Telkomsel"), PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia ("Satelindo") and PT Aplikanusa Lintasarta ("Lintasarta"). In addition, under the agreements, Telkom has agreed to sell to Indosat all the Telkom assets used in the joint operating scheme for the KSO Region IV (Central Java and DI Yogyakarta) ("KSO IV") with PT Mitra Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia ("MGTI") and to assign its rights and obligations under the KSO agreement with MGTI to Indosat.
The agreements call for the following transactions to occur between Indosat and Telkom:
1. Telkom will acquire Indosat's 35% interest in Telkomsel for a value equal to US$945 million.
2. Indosat will acquire the following from Telkom:
Telkom's 22.5% interest in Satelindo for a value equal to US$186 million.
Telkom's current 37.66% interest in Lintasarta for a value equal to US$38 million plus shares converted as at closing from the convertible bonds of Lintasarta owned by Telkom at their principal amount plus unpaid accrued interest (together 37.21% of the diluted share capital).
Telkom's assets in KSO IV for a value equal to US$375 million.
In addition, following the MOU dated March 15, 2001, Telkom also announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 90.32% of PT DayaMitra Telekomunikasi ("DayaMitra") which is Telkom's partner in the joint operating scheme ("KSO") for the KSO Region VI (Kalimantan) ("KSO VI").
The closing of each of the transactions, however, is still subject to certain conditions, including regulatory and corporate approvals. It is currently anticipated that Telkom will seek shareholder approval on May 10, 2001.
