31/1/01

THE NOKIAS HERE, And I am not :-) seeya tommorow

30/1/01

Livechat tonight 8.30pm Sydney time onwards in the chatroom, NOKIA TOMMOROW have paid the customs $183NZ as GST no other charges.

The hackers been reported to their ISP have to wait and see if they have another go at me when they come on later.

From my Emails & ICQ

Dear Sir,

There is a conference about telecommunication ( one or two papers in
satellite communication and related subjects ) to be sponsored by
Iranian government and to be held on Tehran for two weeks. ( end of
August - 10 September 2001 ). People with good knowledge or experience
in these fields are invited to submit their paper and attend.
For more information please contact:

goldis@xtra.co.nz

This one from Abdul

Hi how are you going. at home ive currently got a panamsat 2 sattelite and coship reciever.
i love my wcw wrestling, ive looked on your website to see if theres any feeds on wcw. there is but i couldnt figure out the frequency. i was wondering if you can give me some information on wrestling and other sports channels for the panamsat 2 satellite.


Craigs reply, Wrestling pay-perview type events are transmitted I think via the Intelsats usually unencrypted. Here are some other places to look for wrestling, I don't know if there is any via Panamsat 2. I hope you have a moveable dish. For better details check the programs link for these channels on the satellite pages. These ones from a "Sat-Sports" page that I started working on a few weeks ago but have yet to finish.

WWF Smackdown (RCTI, Palapa C2 Friday nights) also on Ekushey TV Friday nights (Asiasat 3)
WWF RAW and WWF Smackdown these 2 are on Starsports (Asiasat 3)
WCW is on Indosair (Palapa C2 Sunday afternoons)

From the Dish

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3695 H "Sky raceing Channels" here have all encrypted

Insat 2E 83E 3620 V VSNL-1 "AAJ Tak" Earthquake feeds here, Sr 3254 fec 3/4 (ZONE BEAM)

Asiasat 2 100.5E 3799 V "APTN Asia" is fta at the moment.

NEWS

Indonesia Satellite Venture Gets India License

From www.satnewsasia.com

ACeS International Ltd., operator of the first satellite based, geostationary handheld mobile telecommunications system designed for the Asian market, has received a license to provide its services in India.

ACeS is a joint venture among mainly Asian investors led by Indonesia's PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN). ACeS uses its ACeS Garuda 1 satellite to deliver mobile services to subscribers throughout Asia. A second satellite, ACeS Garuda 2, will be launched later this year.

The Indian government said that AceS International plans to invest US$30 million in Shyam Telecom Ltd. to enable its system by late 2001. ACeS International president Adi Rahman Adiwoso said his company would soon build an Indian gateway with Shyam, allowing Indian customers to make calls through ACeS Garuda 1.

AceS International has spent some US$675 million for its operations in Indonesia and the Philippines. The company also has licenses to launch in Taiwan and Thailand this year with services in India beginning later on.

The ACeS network supports a subscriber base of over two million users and 126 regional gateway stations but has only 5,000 customers at present. Adi, however, said this figure would rise to 80,000 this year as the company expands its coverage to India.

Adi described India as a good market as the country had only 13 million phone lines in a population of more than one billion people.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said India had 2.7 main telephone lines per 100 inhabitants in 1999. The number of main telephone lines grew 20 percent from 1995 to 1999.

ACeS is co-owned by PSN, Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and Jasmine International Overseas Company Ltd. of Thailand.

ACeS plans to obtain licenses in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos. In addition, the company has started to lobby China to open China to satellite phone services.

South Korea to Develop Stratospheric Telecommunications

From www.satnewsasia.com

South Korea will continue developing its own stratospheric telecommunications services and will invest over US$7.9 million to build this new telecom platform.

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MCIE) said it would develop the platform in partnership with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. It expects the system to become operational on or before 2010.

Stratospheric telecommunication services utilize unmanned 150-meter platforms orbiting 20 kilometers above the Earth that provide high resolution, long duration and constant time data and imagery over a specific area. MCIE said South Korea plans to orbit a number of these platforms, each of which will be able to process 200,000 lines.

Unlike ordinary GEO, MEO and LEO satellites, stratospheric platforms can be retrieved, repaired and returned to orbit, extending their life span. Satellites normally have an in-orbit life span ranging from 10 to less than 20 years.

The United States, Japan and the European Union are currently investing in stratospheric platforms. Japan has announced an investment of 100 billion yen to develop its platform, called Skynet, by 2007.

MCIE said Koreas stratospheric telecommunication project is part of the national effort to develop a national telecom network based on broadband technologies. Korea already has the most number of broadband subscribers in the world.

SingTel Aeradio Selects Norsat To Provide DVB Data Hub For New Broadband Services

From www.satnewsasia.com

SingTel Aeradio Pte Ltd. (SAPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of SingTel Group, will soon begin operating a DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) Data Hub for its SingTel Satellite DVB-IP High Speed Integrated Service System.

The data hub will be provided by Norsat International Inc. Called SpectraWorks DVB Data Hub, the system is fully redundant and easily installable. Delivery and installation are expected to be completed this February.

Norsat designs, engineers and markets products for use in the satellite wireless communications industry. It has two principal operating units: Norsat Broadband Networks (satellite broadband terminals and DVB Data Hubs for the broadband IP market) and Norsat Atlanta (VSAT components and after-market maintenance and repair services)..

SAPL is a leading IT service provider in Singapore and has extensive experience in providing consultancy and design services, systems integration and maintenance of enterprise network infrastructure in both the public and private sectors in Singapore. Its customers include government agencies, educational institutions, aviation and service industries and the property sectors.

Since the 1950s, SAPL has provided consultancy on airport projects and facilities management services to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), Meteorological Service, Marine Departments, RSAF and other airport operators and agencies in Singapore.

India's Satyam Infoway to Launch 4th Satellite Gateway

Satyam Infoway Ltd., a major Indian Internet and e-commerce provider, said it would soon launch its fourth international satellite gateway.

To be located at Pune, the gateway will enable faster Internet downloads and faster transmission on the backbone network. Satyams other satellite gateways are located at Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.

Thirteen more gateway are being built by Satyam in 13 cities: Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Cochin, Chandigarh, Jamshedpur, Lucknow and Bhopal.

The launch of the Pune gateway will make Satyam the only Indian Internet provider to have four operational satellite gateways.

Satyam said that international traffic is routed through these gateways and will not flow into the national long distance links of its Internet backbone network.

Satyams chief technology officer Rahul Swarup said that the company is partnering with Singtel, New Skies and Loral Cyberstar for these gateways.

Satyam is Indias largest integrated Internet and e-Commerce services company. It offers end-to-end solutions with a range of products delivered over a common Internet backbone infrastructure.

The Company derives a substantial portion of its revenue from corporate services (B2B) that include corporate connectivity, network and communications solutions and integrated e-Solutions, such as consulting, execution, management and hosting.

Tandberg Television Provides Digital Solutions to Launch TV Today's Uplink Facility in India

From www.satnewsasia.com

Tandberg Television, a leading supplier of open solutions for digital broadcasting, and Business Partner, Horizon Broadcast announced the installation of evolution 5000 encoders and modulators into TV Today's uplink facility, for the first 24 hour digital news channel to be uplinked from India.

TV Today, a privately owned broadcast production company, has built the new uplink facility to expand its content distribution network by utilizing the latest available technology to deliver satellite feeds. The project is the culmination of more than 2 and a half years of world wide research and planning, and the platform installed reflects a move to digital output in line with plans to provide increased news feed services with plans to expand to the neighboring countries.

The solution reduces transmission costs and provides a point of entry for future digital expansion with flexibility and expandability. TV Today operates a news production house, creating original national and regional current affairs programming for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The uplink facility is designed to build on its existing supply relationship with Doordarshan and add revenue by providing digitally compressed news feeds to new customers.

Anoop Varma, Manager, Network Distribution, at TV Today said, "this solution is not just one of the best available - we found it to be the most compatible with the state of the art technology we imported from all over the world to set up this world class facility." He went on to say, "the solution is simple and provides us with the technology to launch the new service now and the flexibility to expand easily as we upgrade."

"The Indian broadcasting market is very important to Tandberg Television and we are pleased to assist companies with entry-level digital transmission solutions," says Sue Gilks, Business Partner Development Manager for Asia at Tandberg Television. "We will continue to work closely with TV Today, ensuring that this solution provides the most effective cost of ownership and helps the company to achieve its plans for step-by-step expansion."

29/1/01

The internet problems I was having turned out to be someone trying to hack into my pc. My Blackice firewall stopped them easy enough so no harm done. On Thursday everything from January will be compiled and uploaded to the history page. Theres a survey type thing below I can't give any details of this planned channel yet. I could of set it up via one of those online interactive surveys but I didn't have the time to stuff around with it.

Something Different for today

There is a new FTA cband channel (in ENGLISH) hopefully comming soon via
Panamsat 2 now is your chance to have your suggestions passed on to those
involved.

Please type yes/no or whatever answer you thinks suitable
As a FTA satellite tv viewer are you interested in the following types of
programming.

Music (English)
Arts programming
Live Theatre
News
Cartoons
Sports
Comedy
Learn English type educational programs?
Sitcoms (U.K or U.S)
Drama
Documentrys
Movies
Childrens programming
Game Shows
Adults ONLY (Porn)

Replies to me or via the mailing list, no names will be usesd, just a straight count of votes. Results will go straight to those involved in the project along with any other comments people would like to add

From my Emails and ICQ

This question via the mailing list from S. Singh

Hello,

I sometime back asked a question here about Thaicom 3
but so far I seem to have gotten no response, so I'll
ask it again. If anyone can then please help.

Question:

Thaicom 3 3640 H sr. 28066.
When you download this frequency, it brings up
12 channels of which only "Mega Cosmos" actually shows
something. The other 11 like "MRTV", "TRT", etc. do not
show anything but they download with their names. They
don't even say if they are scrambled or something like
that. Any ideas??

S. Singh.

Craigs reply, anyone know about this one?

From Bill Richards

All on Pas 2 4058 V Sr 13382 Fec 3/4 All Encrypted

Panamsat 2 169E 4058 V "TVB8" Vpid 1160 Apid 1120 SID 1
Panamsat 2 169E 4058 V "TVBJ" Vpid 1260 Apid 1220 SID 2
Panamsat 2 169E 4058 V "Xing He" Vpid 1360 Apid 1320 SID 3
Panamsat 2 169E 4058 V "Utility" Vpid 1460 Apid 1420 SID 4
Panamsat 2 169E 4058 V "Xing Cantonese" Vpid 1360 Apid 1322 SID 301

Regards
Bill

This from Selwyn at TELSAT

Hi All,

There has been some discussion in this group about S Band hardware.

If you are looking to purchase a S Band feed horn or LNB you may like to consider the following options that we can offer you ex stock.

Seavy S Band Feed Horn, model ESR-20-4, a prime focus linear horn with a N output connector. these are priced at NZ$310.00ea plus GST and freight.

For a good LNB we can offer the Cal-Amp S Band LNB model 31203, noise figure is .7dB typical. It has a N male input connector and a F female output (IF) connector. The IF frequency is from 950mHz to 1150mHz., gain is 58dB. DC supply power is +15 to +28vDC. These LNBs are available at NZ$180.00ea plus GST and freight.

The S Band feed horns and LNBs have an input frequency range of 2500 to 2700mHz.

Note 12.5% GST only applies in NZ clients. Other Countries may be subject to different taxs.


Cheers,Selwyn (TELSAT)

This also from Telsat,

Intelsat reports the following changes that will effect the Pacific region (POR) users.
This configuration is based on a two degree configuration. Intelsat 702 is now been repositioned to 176 degrees East, which was moved from 177 degrees East. Intelsat 701 remains at 180 degrees East. Intelsat 802 remains at 174 degrees East.Intelsat 602 will be moved into the 178 degree slot and will be in an inclined orbit. This will occur in May 2001. The third phase will occur in 2003 when Intelsat 705 will replace Intelsat 602.

The two degree spacing will challenge domestic antenna manufacturers.
Beamwidths of the typical domestic mesh antennas will likely mean the two satellites will be received simultaneously.

Alex in Perth says I804 3651 R Sr 5730 Fec 3/4 NDTV is fta at the moment

Andrew Harrison in Vanuatu has provided a lot more details of his system, see his updated page in the user pages section.

If you want a user page where you can show off your dish and hardware (or even nudie pics of the wife) just send me the pictures (Do not re jpg them etc, I can take care of that) and the info of your setup and as much or little info as you want to supply on the page, e.g icq number yes/no email address yes/no etc and I will fix up a page for you. Just look at what others have put to get an idea.

From the Dish

Panamsat 2 169E Channels below started All on Pas 2 4058 V Sr 13382 Fec 3/4 All Encrypted

Panamsat 2 169E 4058 V "TVB8" Vpid 1160 Apid 1120 SID 1
Panamsat 2 169E 4058 V "TVBJ" Vpid 1260 Apid 1220 SID 2
Panamsat 2 169E 4058 V "Xing He" Vpid 1360 Apid 1320 SID 3
Panamsat 2 169E 4058 V "Utility" Vpid 1460 Apid 1420 SID 4
Panamsat 2 169E 4058 V "Xing Cantonese" Vpid 1360 Apid 1322 SID 301

NEWS

Seven pulls out its digit

From http://www.theage.com.au/business/2001/01/27/FFXPV7LQEIC.html

The Seven Network this week became the first commercial broadcaster to demonstrate multi-view digital technology, broadcasting four TV sub-channels during the final week of the Australian Open.

The Nine and Ten Networks are not far behind, with Ten planning a multi-view broadcast of the final round of the Canon Challenge at Sydney's Castle Hill course tomorrow.

Federal Government legislation does not permit commercial TV stations to show new channels on their digital signals.

But the stations can multi-view - the broadcasting on sub-channels of other camera angles or information from a sporting venue.

Although Seven's move was the first since digital TV launched on January 1, Ten has conducted extensive multi-view trials during last year's Melbourne Cup and FAI 1000.

Nine says it will be doing multi-views at the one-day cricket final in Sydney on February 7.

The new Seven channels, which could be seen only by the 500 or so people in Australia with the set-top boxes needed to pick up the signal, were on display to advertisers and advertising agencies at the tennis.

One channel featured IBM statistics on the players' progress. Another featured the tennis telecast boxed in the centre of the screen around which advertising logos flashed.

A third channel showed the tennis action from a camera in the roof directly behind the umpire. The fourth channel gave another cut of the TV broadcast seen by most people.

This meant that while home viewers might have been shown a player preparing to serve, those with a set-top box could see a crowd shot at the same time.

Seven head of sport Tony Sinclair said the multi-views were giving production staff a chance to experiment with different styles of broadcasting. "The hardest thing will be coming up with something people will want to watch as an alternative to the main telecast," he said.

Mr Sinclair said the British experience was that die-hard fans preferred to concentrate on the game.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TO ENTER CHINESE TV MARKET

From TSI CHANNEL NEWS - Number 04/2001 (18.01.2001)

National Geographic is set for a breakthrough into the potentially lucrative
Chinese TV market through a distribution deal with China Central Television,
the nations largest network. The science and nature program supplier will have
the potential to reach a large portion of Chinas population, which now exceeds
1.2 billion people. Central to the arrangement is EarthNetMedia, which has
inked an agreement with CCTV to distribute and broadcast National Geographic
programming throughout China. EarthNet is a Los Angeles-based production
company providing product for broadcast and the Internet.

JAPAN

CONSORTIUM LAUNCHES SATELLITE BROADCASTER

From TSI CHANNEL NEWS - Number 04/2001 (18.01.2001)

A consortium of Japanese companies, including Jupiter Satellite Broadcasting,
Jupiter Programming, Sony Broadcast Media, Nihon Keizai Shimbun and TV Tokyo,
has launched Interactive, a broadcaster that plans to operate six speciality
channels, including a movie channel, on the N-SAT-110 communications satellite
from March 2002. Jupiter Satellite Broadcasting will own 30 per cent of the
start-up while Sony Broadcast Media will hold 15 per cent, Jupiter Programming
12.5 per cent and TV Tokyo and Nihon Keizai Shimbun 12.25 per cent each.
Interactive will operate six speciality channels devoted to films, animation,
economic news, TV shopping, golf and entertainment aimed at women. It will also
offer various interactive services, including data broadcasts and home
shopping.

China plans to leapfrog western digital TV specs

From http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20010126S0032

In a blow to U.S. and European digital TV standards being heavily promoted in China, the country's foremost technology university has joined with a Chinese-owned U.S. technology partner in a closely held digital TV development effort.

Sources said the alliance is designed to forge a DTV transmission standard for China that combines spread-spectrum and orthogonal frequency-division multiplex technologies. With an eye to future mobile applications, the standard, if successful, could leapfrog dated U.S. and European specs, some observers said.

The digital transmission technology is being explored by researchers at Tsinghua University, based here, together with Legend Silicon (Fremont, Calif.). The goal of the group is to develop "a robust and yet very flexible, future-proof modulation scheme," said Lin Yang, Legend Silicon's chairman and president.

Borrowing heavily from telecommunications schemes, the new DTV transmission technology is designed to allow China to use its DTV spectrum not only for standard- and high-definition TV broadcasting but also for future data services and even cellular phone applications.

"If China wants to jump start its information industry, we need a DTV standard that uses its spectrum efficiently," Yang said. "We regard this as a serious natural-resource issue."

Seventy-five percent of China's available spectrum under 1 GHz is set aside for TV applications. Of the remainder, 10 to 15 percent is controlled by the military and the rest is available for existing cell phone applications. Hence, some engineering executives here said China needs a DTV standard that allows the sharing of spectrum reserved for broadcasting with emerging information delivery services.

Third way


As a result, Chinese government officials and industry executives, along with their U.S.-based partners, appear committed to developing a third way to launch digital TV broadcasts, based neither on U.S. nor European digital TV specs. Both U.S. and European camps have waged lobbying efforts to persuade the Chinese government to adopt their differing approaches to digital broadcasting. But beyond trials, neither has received a firm commitment from Beijing.

China has been carefully monitoring the slow deployment of digital TV in the United States and Europe. Persistent DTV transmission problems, particularly with the U.S. vestigial sideband (8-VSB) modulation scheme, have "worried us somewhat," Yang said, "but it also convinced us that there is an opportunity" for China to create its own DTV standard.

Observers here and in the United States agree that China will go its own way.

"Whatever they adopt will be called a Chinese standard," said Robert Graves, chairman of the U.S. Advanced Television Systems Committee. "They do seem quite intent on putting their own stamp on whatever standard they pick."

A Chinese DTV standard that incorporates a combination of broadcast and spread-spectrum technologies "is going to happen," asserted Ya-Qin Zhang, managing director of Microsoft Research China, here, and a former video engineer with U.S. HDTV Grand Alliance member Sarnoff Corp.

Responding to the Chinese government's plan to roll out digital TV broadcasts in 2003, three different groups are expected to submit unique terrestrial DTV transmission technologies to the Standards Institute of the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (Sarft). In May, lab testing, followed by field tests, is scheduled in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The tests will provide side-by-side comparisons of the homegrown systems with the U.S. Advanced Television Systems Committee spec, Europe's Digital Video Broadcast standard and Japan's Terrestrial Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting (ISDB-T). The deadline for submitting DTV technology proposals is April 30.

Technology teams


Besides the Tsinghua University group, the competing DTV technology development teams are the HDTV Technical Expert Executive Group (TEEG), headed by Wenjun Zhang, and the Academy of Broadcasting Science (ABS) team, led by Baichuan Du.

Zhang said his test system has a mobile telecommunications feature that uses coded orthogonal frequency-division modulation (COFDM). "We own the intellectual property rights of the technologies," he said. "They are based on QAM [quadrature amplitude modulation]."

TEEG, backed by China's Ministry of Science and Technology as well as China's State Planning and Development Committee, has already developed China's first two prototype DTV systems, based on 8-VSB and the COFDM multiplex scheme. Some observers said TEEG may be furthest along in implementing 8-VSB and COFDM.

Meanwhile, the Academy of Broadcasting Science group is working on the modified version of QAM technology for terrestrial DTV transmission. The group's goal is to use 64 QAM both for cable and terrestrial DTV modulation.

The ABS group is reportedly using a VSB/QAM chip supplied by Broadcom Corp. It is leveraging a large number of filter taps built into the Broadcom chip's equalizer, originally designed for better VSB reception, to minimize delays associated with QAM-based terrestrial DTV transmission.

"It is not so clear which technology will be China's final choice," said Du, vice president of ABS. "But it's obvious that China needs a technology of its own.

Up to now, the Tsinghua University group has been secretive about its DTV work. Of the three efforts, industry sources said, the Tsinghua team appears to have the most novel and perhaps the most ambitious solution.

The project is overseen by the State Key Lab for Microwave and Digital Communication and is led by Tsinghua professor Ke Gong.

Legend Silicon, cofounded by three Tsinghua University graduates transplanted to Silicon Valley, is a member of the National Key Lab's Digital TV Transmission Technology Development Center. Legend Silicon executives said they expect to receive transmitter and receiver chips based on the company's designs from an unnamed fab outside China by the end of March.

Responding to doubts about China's chip-design capabilities, Legend Silicon's Yang, also a Tsinghua professor, said, "We've done solid computer simulation designs and have a very good design flow." After completing the design work, "we got it working [last] July," Yang said. "We had no problems in signing off ASIC designs either."

The National Key Lab is also equipped with Cadence Design tools and serves as a design training center. Yang is a former director of the wireless group at Cadence's Design Services Group.

Leapfrog approach

If China succeeds in developing its own DTV standard, some experts said it might be able to leapfrog U.S. and European DTV standards. Political disputes dogging those standards have made technology upgrades difficult.

Whereas the underlying technologies of the U.S. standard were developed a decade ago, the Chinese DTV effort aims to respond to the future needs of the converging communication, TV and Internet industries. Indeed, when the U.S industry was developing its DTV spec, there was no requirement for either mobile or Internet applications.

"China today is working on a homework assignment" very different from the one given earlier to U.S. developers, Yang said.

The core DTV transmission technology, designed by Tsinghua's Key Lab, is called time-domain synchronous OFDM (TDS-OFDM). While maintaining data rates as high as 32 Mbits/second to cater to multimedia services, TDS-OFDM is designed for better synchronization of mobile and burst data broadcasting.

Using TDS-OFDM, transmission signals are separated into two parts: synchronization signals, used primarily for channel selection, and signals that carry actual programs. "We use spread-spectrum technology to send synchronization data, while we depend on OFDM to send continuous TV broadcast programs," Yang said. Spread spectrum is used for the synchronized signals, Yang said, because they need to remain "robust and easy to detect in a very noisy environment."

Signals saved

Illustrating the importance of synchronization, Yang said the biggest DTV problem is the so-called cliff effect, wherein a digital receiver goes dark if signal reception is poor. By integrating control signals in the synchronized data, sent separately with digital broadcasts using spread-spectrum technology, consumers could, for example, use such signals to adjust an antenna to receive pictures.

Tsinghua University has also developed a DTV protocol, Digital Multimedia Broadcast-Terrestrial (DMB-T), that could allow an 8-MHz DTV channel to be reused for cellular network applications.

"We have 10 million people living in Beijing alone," Yang said. "If all these people wanted data services and video-on-demand services at the same time, we'd have a problem. We need a technology that supports multiple RF, signal RF and cellular networks."

Developing its own intellectual property is another goal of China's DTV effort. Yang described Tsinghua's DMB-T approach as "a lot of public domain technologies combined together." But Key Lab has filed for a patent covering the entire system. Seven others have been filed for individual transmission technologies.

To drive standards, Key Lab also plans to submit its technology to the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva.

28/1/01

Sorry no update today, got lots of internet related problems..back tommorow

27/1/01

Not much for today, I won't be able to pick up the Nokia untill Tuesday. Egroups has been taken over by Yahoo so now any messages sent to the mailing list can go via apsattv@egroups.com or apsattv@yahoogroups.com if you log in to egroups to read the mailing list messages then you will have to convert to a Yahoo i.d.

Andrew Harrison added to user pages

Page to be trimmed tommorow

From my Emails and ICQ

This from Bill Richards,

2100 UTC

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3685 H "Mediasat-SYD test card" Sr 5000 Fec 3/4

Regards
Bill

From the Dish

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3682 H "Mediasat Syd is testing" Sr 4998 Fec 3/4 Vpid 4096 Apid 4097

Asiasat 3S 105.5E 4180 V "Testcard that was here has left"

Optus B3 156E "C7 sports feed seen of womans cricket via Mediasat"

NEWS

Charlton enters Asian TV

From http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,1643405%255E462,00.html

BUSINESS magazine publisher and events organiser First Charlton Communications is set to launch a new Asian satellite television service in February with Bloomberg Television.

A weekend political and business program is being crafted as Bloomberg TV looks for more content on its weekend platform, usually a quiet time for the service given the dominance of its financial programming.

"Australia is major news in Asia and will be increasingly so," Charlton Communications chairman Peter Charlton said.

"And the political and social unrest in parts of Asia also makes our role more important."
He declined to comment on the level of investment the two companies were putting into the venture.
The move comes ahead of a decision by the federal Government on a new subsidised Asian TV service.
The Australian reported yesterday that Kerry Stokes' Seven Network could be set to win the five-year $50 million contract.
Charlton Communications also bid for Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade contract.

Mr Charlton said he had not heard if the winning bidder for the Asian TV service had been decided.
But in what could be manoeuvring ahead of the Government's decision, Mr Charlton said the Bloomberg TV venture was going ahead regardless of the outcome.
"I believe in it and if Foreign Affairs want to subsidise Kerry Stokes that's their choice."
But he said it would be an extraordinary decision to award the contract to Seven after what he said some regarded as a patchy record broadcasting to Asia via Australia TV, a platform it acquired from the ABC three years ago.

Under Seven the service has been criticised as failing to meet Australia's national interest objectives and being too commercial.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade tender for the Asian service said it would back an Asian TV service which supported "Australia's national interests in the Asia-Pacific region".

Digital TV to a PC near you

From http://australianit.news.com.au/common/storyPage/0,3811,1640942%5E442,00.html

DIGITAL television was supposed to deliver new services to TV viewers, but new datacasting applications are more likely to be accessed via personal computers, a government sales brochure revealed yesterday.

The promotional document for datacasting licences also states that new media players might be able to convert their datacasting investment to a full broadcasting service in 2006, but will not know their future until 2005.

The brochure for Australia's new digital TV regime, prepared by Deutsche Bank on behalf of the Australian Communications Authority for media groups in Australia and overseas, has emphasised the technology's slow start in Australia.

The ACA yesterday formally called for applications for the datacasting auction, scheduled for March or April.

The document says the possibility of becoming a full broadcaster in six years is one of the biggest attractions of a datacasting licence, but also points out that virtually no one in Australia is yet able to see a datacasting transmission because of the low number of digital TV sets and set-top boxes. It also says datacasting services will be available through personal computers capable of terrestrial reception.

Broadcasters started transmitting digital TV signals on January 1, but almost no Australian viewers yet have access to the digital TV spectrum.

Datacasting is an Australian-only definition of media services designed to ensure new services on digital TV do not compete with, or look like, traditional television.

Free-to-air broadcasters, including Kerry Packer's Nine Network, last year won the legislative protection from new competition for at least six years.

John Fairfax, Telstra and News Limited publisher of The Australian had wanted to use digital TV to offer new services. But last week both Fairfax and News repeated that they would not bid for a datacasting licence, saying the Government's rules were "too restrictive".

Datacasters are allowed to offer internet carriage services; limited excerpts of news, weather and other programs; electronic TV program guides; and interactive services such as home banking, shopping, games and email.

With the key Australian media players unlikely to take part, there is now uncertainty about how much money the datacasting auction will raise.

The sale of licences could still raise some cash towards the $2.6 billion spectrum sale target, set by Treasurer Peter Costello last year. But that target will only be met if overseas media groups decide datacasting is a multi-million dollar industry; and if Australia's 3G mobile phone spectrum sale, also due to start in the next few weeks, attracts bids worth at least $2 billion.

Interactive TV? Yes, but not yet

From http://australianit.news.com.au/common/storyPage/0,3811,1635356%255E442,00.html

A NEW interactive television venture is expected to begin commercial operations by May.

Total Television, launched locally last year, will focus on video on demand. It is a joint venture of Yes Television, a UK i-TV company, and CableandTelecoms, a local telco.

YesTV would supply the project with content, software and management services, chairman and chief executives Thomas Kressner said.

Customers can view the service on their existing television equipped with a set-top box and infra-red keyboard supplied by Total TV.

They also need broadband access to their home, which Australian telcos have been slow to roll out.
Mr Kressner said the roll-out would become faster as services such as Total TV became available.

Total TV differentiated itself from existing pay-TV and video-on-demand services by providing more varied content, including internet access and flexible programming, Mr Kressner said.

Viewers could watch what they wanted when they wanted, he said.

YesTV's platform was IP-based, making it "network-agnostic", Mr Kressner said.

The service relied on Total TV forming partnerships with ISPs, e-commerce providers and other online businesses to supply interactive services, Mr Kressner said.

It was in discussions with three ISPs and expected to make an announcement within two months, he said.

The first commercial service would be installed in a Melbourne apartment building in May.

YesTV was launching similar services in Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Hong Kong and Manila, he said.

The company had not finalised costing, but it would be "very competitive", Mr Kessner said.

www.yestelevision.com

Zee readies launch of five new serials

From indiantelevision.com

Come February and the question of whether the Zee empire can strike back after the disaster that was 2000 should become clear. Five new serials are ready for launch and there is a lot riding on them as chairman Subhash Chandra takes his channel back to the future with its core competence of making great programmes.

The five new serials are 'Samander', 'Aanchal Ke Chaon Mein', 'Gardish', 'Anokhee' and 'Kaise Kahoon', Zee Telefilms' Vinod Menon said.

Menon was, however, unable to provide much details other than revealing that two of the serials would be aired at prime time. "Two of these serials will be aired in the prime time slot while two are likely to be slotted at noon," Menon said.

According to press reports, 'Gardish', produced by Ravi Rai, will be telecast every Tuesday while 'Aanchal' will be aired every Wednesday. These are the days when Zee's television rating points (TRPs) are the lowest.

The latest Intam data for the three-week period starting December 18, 2000, indicates that Zee's TRPs have seen a sharp fall in the 9:30 pm to 10 pm slot for Tuesday and Wednesday while, on Monday, Thursday and Friday, the ratings were comparatively better.

26/1/01

No Nokia yet. Will have to wait untill Tuesday now, as Mondays a holiday. Theres an interesting news article in the news section on how Directtv in the U.S is fighting back against the card hackers. Theres a magazine out in the shops called "Satellite Tests 2001" which has some interesting writeups, on receivers such as the Humax 5400, Benjamin 6600CI, Hyundai HSS 800Ci, Various Strong models etc I brought it for the review of the Manhattan DSR 2500- APCI which I am considering.

From my emails and ICQ

Mike of Melbourne writes (Via the mailing list)

Hello group

I am having a problem that is getting worse by the month.

I live in Melbourne and I am looking at Thaicom 3 with a 3.7M Dish
Lately i have been losing service from this bird (all transponders) at
around 5 am in the morning lasting most of the day (usually back by 5 or 6 pm).

Can someone tell me what the hell is wrong?????
It used to play all day, with no problems.
all help will be welcome


mike

mixo66@hotmail.com

Bill Richards supplies the following

0425UTC

Optus B1 160E 12425 H "Golf PGA Tour" Sr 6610 Fec 3/4 Vpid 308 Apid 256

0507UTC

Thaicom3 78.5E 3685 H "Unknown Live Camera looking at yacht racing? "Sr 5000 Fec 3/4 Vpid 4096 Apid 4097

0513UTC

Optus B3 12359 V "Live Cricket Feed" Sr 6110 Fec 3/4 Vpid 1120 Apid 1160

From Pete Patel in Portland, Oregon

My friend has just seen an analog signal on Spacenet 4 172E 3920 V

(Craigs reply waiting on an email from Pete with more details, someone in Northern Australia might like to try for it will need a big dish as the beams not supposed to go South)

From the Dish

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3682 H "Live Test shot card" Sr 4998 Fec 3/4 Vpid 4096 Apid 4097 (Global Beam)

ST 1 88E 3550 V "Open TV" FTA currently
ST 1 88E 3632 V "HKTV" FTA curren

Spacenet 4 172E 3920 V Analog seen here?

NEWS

Subhash Chandra revives satellite project

MEDIA MOGUL Subhash Chandra is reviving his ambitious Agrani project by promoting a new company -- Agrani Satellite Services -- for the purpose.

Chandra and his associates, who comprise the Essel Group, have promoted Agrani Satellite Services which plans to set up a regional geo-stationery orbit satellite-based infrastructure for proving bandwidth to various television broadcasting and distribution companies, internet service providers and other telecom service providers.

The total project cost has been estimated at a whopping Rs 1,150 crore. The company has sought financial assistance from the Industrial Development Bank of India, and the matter will be taken up at the financial institution's executive committee meeting, scheduled for January 29.

The original cost of the Agrani project was pegged at Rs 3,000 crore. However, the project got derailed following the US state department's refusal to grant an export licence for the satellite.

The satellite was to be provided by US-based aviation major, Lockheed Martin. The financial closure of this project was never achieved and the lead institution -- the Industrial Finance Corporation of India -- backed out of the deal.

This time, ASSL proposes to acquire an existing satellite from French major Alcatel Space Industries. The satellite was built in 1997 for use by Shinawatra Satellite, Thailand. It was, however, never used and was lying in storage for three years.

The satellite, now known as Thaicom-4, will be re-christened as Agrani-2. It will have 12 C-band transponders for India coverage, 12 widebeam C-band transponders for Asia coverage and 14 Ku-band transponders.

Of the Ku-band transponders, seven would have a fixed India coverage, three would have a steerable coverage over Europe, Middle East and South East Asia and the remaining four transponders will be switchable between fixed and steerable. These transponders have a total bandwidth of 1,404 MHz.

The satellite will be ready for delivery in about 19 months. The company has already identified Ariane 5 Launch Vehicle of Arianespace, France, for launching the satellite.

ASSL has signed a deal with Alcatel on January 12, 2000, which will ensure that the project will be implemented within the stipulated time and at the fixed price. About 18 per cent of the satellite's capacity is proposed to be utilised by companies of the Essel Group.

Of the total project cost of Rs 1,150 crore, the equity component is Rs 460 crore, while the rupee term loan is Rs 690 crore. While IDBI has been approached for a loan of Rs 350 crore, the balance is proposed to be tied up from other financial institutions and banks.

The equity capital of Rs 460 crore is proposed to be subscribed to by the promoters which include Subhash Chandra and his associates, and other strategic investors such as Alcatel and Arianespace.

However, pending finalisation of the terms of the subscription by the strategic investors, the entire equity is proposed to be subscribed by the Zee-Essel Group for the time being.

DirecTV's Secret War On Hackers

From http://slashdot.org/articles/01/01/25/1343218.shtml

Belch writes "4 or more years ago DirecTV launched its service. DirecTV was one of the very first large distributors of smart card technology in their product. So much so, that Hughes corp. (the primary owner of DirecTV) decided to create their own smart cards. Each receiver has a smart card located inside that is keyed to the subscriber, and actively participates in the decryption of the digital satellite video stream. However, considering Hughes decided on this technology when it was virtually in its infancy, they made several mistakes. The hacker community caught onto these mistakes, and there has been a war between DirecTV and the hacking community ever since. For the past two or more years, it was apparent the hacking community would win this war, completely opening the DirecTV signal. However, over the last 6 months, DirecTV has fought back with a vengeance, displaying the most extensive technical campaign against the hacking of their product..." Click through for the rest of the story.

"Allow me to give you some background.

"One of the original smart cards, entitled 'H' cards for Hughes, had design flaws which were discovered by the hacking community. These flaws enabled the extremely bright hacking community to reverse engineer their design, and to create smart card writers. The writers enabled the hackers to read and write to the smart card, and allowed them to change their subscription model to receive all the channels. Since the technology of satellite television is broadcast only, meaning you cannot send information TO the satellite, the system requires a phone line to communicate with DirecTV. The hackers could re-write their smart cards and receive all the channels, and unplug their phone lines leaving no way for DirecTV to track the abuse. DirecTV had built a mechanism into their system that allowed the updating of these smart cards through the satellite stream. Every receiver was designed to 'apply' these updates when it received them to the cards. DirecTV applied updates that looked for hacked cards, and then attempted to destroy the cards by writing updates that disabled them. The hacking community replied with yet another piece of hardware, an 'unlooper,' that repaired the damage. The hacker community then designed software that trojanized the card, and removed the capability of the receivers to update the card. DirecTV could only send updates to the cards, and then require the updates be present in order to receive video. Each month or so, DirecTV would send an update. 10 or 15 minutes later, the hacking community would update the software to work around the latest fixes. This was the status quo for almost two years. 'H' cards regularly sold on eBay for over $400.00. It was apparent that DirecTV had lost this battle, relegating DirecTV to hunting down Web sites that discussed their product and using their legal team to sue and intimidate them into submission.

"Four months ago, however, DirecTV began sending several updates at a time, breaking their pattern. While the hacking community was able to bypass these batches, they did not understand the reasoning behind them. Never before had DirecTV sent 4 and 5 updates at a time, yet alone send these batches every week. Many postulated they were simply trying to annoy the community into submission. The updates contained useless pieces of computer code that were then required to be present on the card in order to receive the transmission. The hacking community accommodated this in their software, applying these updates in their hacking software. Not until the final batch of updates were sent through the stream did the hacking community understand DirecTV. Like a final piece of a puzzle allowing the entire picture, the final updates made all the useless bits of computer code join into a dynamic program, existing on the card itself. This dynamic program changed the entire way the older technology worked. In a masterful, planned, and orchestrated manner, DirecTV had updated the old and ailing technology. The hacking community responded, but cautiously, understanding that this new ability for DirecTV to apply more advanced logic in the receiver was a dangerous new weapon. It was still possible to bypass the protections and receive the programming, but DirecTV had not pulled the trigger of this new weapon.

"Last Sunday night, at 8:30 pm est, DirecTV fired their new gun. One week before the Super Bowl, DirecTV launched a series of attacks against the hackers of their product. DirecTV sent programmatic code in the stream, using their new dynamic code ally, that hunted down hacked smart cards and destroyed them. The IRC DirecTV channels overflowed with thousands of people who had lost the ability to watch their stolen TV. The hacking community by and large lost not only their ability to watch TV, but the cards themselves were likely permanently destroyed. Some estimate that in one evening, 100,000 smart cards were destroyed, removing 98% of the hacking communities' ability to steal their signal. To add a little pizzazz to the operation, DirecTV personally "signed" the anti-hacker attack. The first 8 computer bytes of all hacked cards were rewritten to read "GAME OVER".

* Australian launch sites, Part 4,402

From [sat-nd] 26.01.2001

"Australia's fifth attempt at establishing a satellite launching station may
be saved from the scrap heap after a breakthrough in negotiations over the site
off Western Australia's north-west coast," reports the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation. The problem: the land on Christmas Island needed for the A$800
million facility is owned by a mining company. Now, Phosphate Resources Limited
(PRL) seems prepared to sell.

An agreement with Asia Pacific Space Station (APSS) is subject only to the
approval of PRL's directors and shareholders, PRL stated. The board of
directors is to decide next week. Territories Minister Ian Macdonald facilitated
a meeting between the proponents earlier this month in an effort to move
negotiations forward.

25/1/01

No Nokia yet hope it gets here Friday as we have a 3 day weekend with Monday being a holiday :-( Not much news or anything else today.

From my Emails & ICQ

RE: Subject: S band LNBF

Hi Craig
I can source those S Band LNBF. Just pass along my email address to whoever want's one.

Regards Dave Ross (Australia)

Craigs reply, those interested send me an email and I will pass Daves email address on to you.

RE: Cakrawarta 1 Reception

Indovision alive and well on 2.4 Solid.
Port Vila Vanuatu.
locks on 1.8m Jonsa as well

Andrew Harrison

Here a couple more shots taken with a digital camera

Perhaps a few shots of the receiver next?

G'day Craig
Just wondering what happened to your sat trader page. A google search led me
there (I'm after a rack-mounted IRD) but I just got a 404 error.


Alice

Craigs reply, The Sattrader page has been removed to be replaced by a more friendly message board based buy/sell swap forum. (Eventually) In the meantime anyone can send me adverts and I will put the up on the front page.

From the Dish

Nothing to report!

NEWS

B4U denies partners finalised for DTH project

From Indiantelevision.com

B4U Entertainment on Wednesday confirmed that it was exploring various avenues of entering direct-to-home (DTH) television but denied reports that the international partners had already been finalised.

"We are working towards it (DTH) but nothing has been decided as of now," B4U Entertainment CEO Ravi Gupta said. "We are only in the initial stages of talks with a possible parter," he added. He was referring to a press report that EuropeStar (a satellite company) and Mindport (provider of conditional access technology) were each to take 20 per cent stakes along with B4U for the project. The report also said talks were on to rope in a leading set top box manufacturer for the project as the fourth partner could provide finance if not technology.

Queried about the possibility of teaming up with Doordarshan for an alliance, Gupta said: "Everybody is talking to possible partners and DD is just one of them."

NZ Dollar and Olympics Hits Canwest Profits

From http://www.spectrum.net.nz

A weak New Zealand Dollar and viewers switching channels to watch the Olympics lead to a down turn in profits for TV3 and TV4 in the last three months.

A report released by parent company CanWest Global Communications said TV3 and TV4's net profit was down $C345,000 ($NZ510,000) from $4.7 million for the same period last year.

CanWest said its New Zealand operation was hit by an 18 per cent fall in the value of the New Zealand dollar over the period. The fall in the currency reduced earnings by $C5 million. TV3 and TV4's combined revenue for the quarter fell from $C22.6 million to $C16.9 million.

The network was also hit by the flight of viewers watching the Sydney Olympics broadcast by state-owned rival, Television New Zealand.

However, Spectrum understands CanWest made a profit from its recently purchased local radio interests. Profits from the More FM and RadioWorks networks were up from $C1.5 million to $C3.9 million.

Brent Impey, the head of CanWest's New Zealand operations, said that although the next quarterly result would also be soft, he expected a pick up in TV3's earnings during the March-to-May quarter.

CanWest reported a total operating profit for the quarter of $C108 million, up from $C99 million.

24/1/01

Several people are looking for a cheap source of Sband feeds and LNBF'S, Note CHEAP not the expensive ADL ones. If you can help send me details. Just a reminder there is no Chat tonight, its every Tuesday night 8.30pm Sydney time dureing Summer. Very small edition today not much happening!

I saw this in the satellite newsgroup anyone seen these tests?

"This message was spotted on the 9 network news feed channel on Optus B1".

------------------------------------

From my Emails & ICQ

A. Harrison in Vanuatu supplies a couple of digital camera screenshots, 2 channels off of Cakrawarta FTA on 2536

Swara and Quick channel off Cakrawarta 1 107.7E

Dear Sir,

I have a 1.2m solid, Ku band dish with a proper receiver. Is any program
watchable from either B1, B3, Pas2, Pas8, Palapa, AS3 or 701 in Auckland
with this equipment?

Regards
Eddie

Craigs reply, If you only have the KU lnb then that rules out reception from, Pas 2,Pas 8, Palapa, As3 and 710
There is not much to see as these Satellites are full with pay tv encrypted channels. On Optus B3 you should be able to get

12336V
Thai TV Global Network
Maharishi Open University Asia
TRT International
FEEDS

12407V (all channels here encrypted)
12532V (all channels here encrypted)
12657V (all channels here encrypted)

Optus B1

You will of course receive Sky NZ but encrypted, also there are feeds on this satellite see the Lyngmark site and my page for details

From the Dish

Nothing to report

NEWS

Satellite dish toughs it out in Australia

From http://it.fairfax.com.au/breaking/20010123/A15844-2001Jan23.html

A satellite dish, claimed to be the first designed specifically for the range of harsh Australian conditions, has been developed in Hobart.

SDT Australia general manager Paul Tapping said today his company's SATCOM 2.4 mesh dish combined strength with high transmission performance in demanding weather.

He said it would perform in 180kmh winds, temperatures of more than 60 degrees Celsius, and torrential rain.

Tapping said the key to the dish, which is 2.4 metres in diameter, was its rigid skeletal frame that would not flex whatever the conditions.

It would wholesale for about $1400, which Tapping said was several hundred dollars more than comparablysized imported products.

The dish will be unveiled to the industry at Broadcast World 2001 in Sydney on February 26.

23/1/01

Live chat tonight (Tuesday) 8.30pm Sydney time in the chatroom. Chinastar at 87.5E has been active the last few days nothing reported on Cband (covers most of Australia) perhaps someone with a Nokia should give it a scan see if anything is found. The beams from this satellite listed in the From the Dish section. I saw the end of advert on TV Sunday night for Telstra Saturn seems they are starting the advertising for their new TV/Phone/Internet services.

From my Emails & ICQ

Latest Soccer, schedule from our Indonesian Reporter

Italian Cup Soccer Semi-Final:(Coppa Italia Semi-Final)

24/01/01 - Udinese vs. Parma - 20:55 - Italian Time -
25/01/01 - AC. MIlan vs. Fiorentina - 20:55 - Italian Time

All in Rai International - in PAS 2 169 deg. East.

Regards.
Adi

From Mike Re: Cakrawarta reception

A 3 metre dish doesn't work in NZ on Cakrawarta .Its good in Fiji on a 3.7metre and some channels on a 2 metre (marginal)

(Craigs Note, it should be receiveable in Queensland then has anyone up there tryed it? the 2 Cakrawarta channels mentiond yesterday on the site are FTA currently.)

From the Dish

NSS 703 57E 4187 R "Sky News" has been replaced by TVNZ feeds

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3682 H "ETC and ETC Channel Punjabi" has left, many reported problems receiveing this transmission even though its on the global beam perhaps they will be back when they fix their problems.

Insat 2E 83E 3430 V "Kairali Channel" has left (Zone beam) (Still received on wide beam 3692V in Australia)

Chinastar 1 87.5E 12291 H "Koreatel" currently active here fec 5/6 other details unknown, also try 12474 H (reports needed, should be visable to some of our readers in Asia)

Chinastar KU beam here http://www.chinastar.com.cn/english/sate/ku1.html not likely to be visable in Australia
Chinastar C Band beam here http://www.chinastar.com.cn/english/sate/c1.html visable in Australia (not usesd often though)

Asiasat 2 100.5E 4020 V "Sky Racing Channels 1 and 2 have left , moved to Thaicom 3.

Cakrawarta 1 107.7E 2535 H "Quick Channel and Swara" are FTA at the moment (Sband 2.5GHZ)

NEWS

Shin Sat Goes Ahead with iPSTAR Project

From www.satnewsasia.com

Shin Satellite has awarded to Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) the contract for the design and construction of iPSTAR-1.

Shin Satellite Plc, Thailand's only satellite operator, said it would definitely launch iPSTAR, its new broadband satellite, in 2003 but would first establish a gateway in Australia to broaden the satellite's coverage of that continent.

The gateway would enable iPSTAR, which will cost over US$350 million, to cover all of Australia. A senior Shin Satellite executive said the company foresees a heavy demand for iPSTAR services in Australia, which has one of the most advanced telecom infrastructures in Asia.

Shin Satellite said it plans to establish another gateway in Australia and was looking for frequency allocations with other Asian countries to establish more gateways for iPSTAR..

iPSTAR is a low cost, high capacity satellite system designed to serve Asia's broadband Internet bandwidth requirement. The satellite will provide revolutionary satellite-based last mile broadband Internet services, serving all kinds of multimedia contents, applications and services

To support the simultaneous use by millions of users in Asia and Australia, iPSTAR is designed to provide combinations of multiple spot beams, shaped beams and wide beams for one-way and two-way communications and broadcasting.

iPSTAR is the fourth satellite in the Shin constellation. The other three satellites, all in orbit, are Thaicom (launched on December 17, 1993), Thaicom-2 (October 7, 1994) and Thaicom-3 (April 16, 1997).

The new satellite is the first specifically designed by the company to deliver broadband communications and interactive broadcasting services.

Export financing will finance 50 percent of the iPSTAR project with the balance of system cost met by selling advanced capacity to national service operators (NSOs) who will in turn sell it to their customers.

Deutsche Welle Plans New "European Bouquet" On AsiaSat 2

From www.satnewsasia.com

Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcast service, said it will launch what it described as a new "European Bouquet" in its Asian programming on January 22.

The new European Bouquet will be launched with TV feeds in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese and German broadcasts of Deutsche Welle. There will also be radio broadcasts from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Finland, Canada and Germany.

It will supply viewers and re-broadcasting organizations such as cable TV operators and hotels with a package of programs from top European TV and radio broadcasters.

The bouquet will be launched on the Asiasat 2 satellite with five TV stations and nine radio stations. Its share transponder 10B on Asiasat 2, a satellite of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings Ltd., which is based in Hong Kong, and is owned by the Chinese government and other Asian investors. There are currently three AsiaSat satellites in orbit: AsiaSat 1, AsiaSat 2 and AsiaSat 3S.

22/1/01

Chat night is NOT tonight, It has changed to Tuesday nights one night a week dureing Summer. This avoids clashing with that "other chatroom". Very little else to report hopefully something better tommorow.

From my Emails and ICQ

Robert Anthoney supplies this very interesting website with a range of MPG decoder pc cards that do 4.2.0 and 4.2.2 mpg decodeing.

http://www.stradis.com/decoder.html

From the Dish

Does anyone in NZ or Australia receive Cakrawarta? Indovision ? though I think all the channels are encrypted of course the S band feeds difficult to get hold of as well

NSS 703 57E "TMG Enter TV" has left 4135 L (PAL), moved to Thaicom 3. (Asia beam, not receivable in Australia)

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3551 H "123 Sat and 69 X TV"are no longer transmitting here.

Asiasat 2 100.5E "TVSN - TV Shopping Network" has moved from 4033 V to 3845 V PowerVu Encrypted!
Sr 4300, Fec 3/4, Vpid 1160 Apid 1120

Cakrawarta 1 107.7E 2535 H "Swara" new encrypted, Sr 20000, Fec 7/8, Vpid 2305 Apid 2306
Cakrawarta 1 107.7E 2535 H "Quick Channel" new encrypted, Sr 20000, Fec 7/8, Vpid 2561 Apid 2562

Optus B1 160E "ABC TV Northern" formally on 12258 V moved to12331 V, Sr 5026 Fec 3/4

NEWS

VSNL targets DTH platform by July; alliance with Star on the cards?

From Indiantelevision.com

The Big Daddy is putting together its plans for direct-to-home (DTH) television and other aspirants can either try to beat them or join them.

The Hindustan Times reported on Saturday that Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) intends to be the first company in India to enter this segment with an investment in excess of Rs 2.5 billion. The proposal will be put up before the company board on 22 January for in-principle approval and VSNL hopes to be ready with a platform by July this year, the report says. VSNL's plans are very significant as a number of players like the C. Sivasankaran-run Sterling group in partnership with Zee TV, Jain TV, DD, Modi Entertainment Network and B4U have all announced that they would either invest in or set up DTH platforms themselves.

If VSNL achieves first to market advantage, it will be in a position to offer services to these companies. VSNL chairman and managing director SK Gupta did not comment on whether any tie-ups were in the offing, but hinted that he had an open mind on the issue.

A real possibility though would be an alliance with Star TV. It appears to be the only private player seriously putting together any plans to start DTH operations. According to published reports Star is willing to put in up to $ 500 million in its DTH project taking on as many as three to four partners. And the president of Star's Digital Group (responsible for all things connected to broadband, DTH and new media), Altaf Ali Mohammed, has been quoted as saying that Star is even ready to form some sort of association with VSNL if it makes business sense.

So will there be an alliance or not? Indiantelevision.com will put its neck out a bit on this and say quite likely.

21/1/01

Just a very small update today.

From my Emails and ICQ

From Bill Richards

Saturday night

Optus B3 12369 V "C7 Sports feed Paramatta Speedway Raceing" Sr 6610 Fec 3/4 Vpid 4096 Apid 4097

0030UTC
Thaicom 3 3551 H "123-Sat is gone no longer transmitting" Sr 13330 Fec 3/4 Vpid 2081 Apid 2082

This from our Indonesion reporter

Indonesian Channel Soccer transmission.


Premiere League (England)

SCTV

- Leeds vs New Castle - Saturday 20/1/01 - 22:00 - Jakarta Time
- Sunderland vs. Bradford - Sunday 21/1/01 - 23:00 - Jakarta Time

Seri A - Italian League

RCTI

- Lazio vs. Inter Milan - Sunday (morning) 21/1/01 - 02:15 - Jakarta Time
- Perugia vs. Juventus - Sunday 21/1/01 - 20:50 - Jakarta Time
- AC Milan vs. Roma - Monday (morning) 22/1/01 - 02:15 - Jakarta Time

All of those are in Palapa 2C

Also you can watch Guang Zou channel on Asiasat 2 - usually they also are
transmitting England Soccer on Saturday and Sunday night including the FA
Matches. SCTV only transmitting the league only not the cup matches.


Star Sport - analog on Asiasat 3S - every Monday (morning) alway
transmitting the Spanyol League.

regards.
Adi

NEWS

T S I C H A N N E L N E W S - Number 03/2001 - January 21 2001 -

A weekly roundup of global TV news sponsored by Tele Satellite International

Editor: Branislav Pekic

Edited Apsattv.com Edition

STAR TV ARRIVES IN THE UK

News Corp's Asian satellite platform Star TV, which this week launched two
channels in the UK, is also planning to introduce a British pay-per-view (PPV)
service for Hindi movies. The first two channels, Star News and general
entertainment programmer Star Plus, were launched at the beginning of this week
and initially will only be available on the BSkyB digital platform. James
Murdoch, Star's chairman and chief executive, said that while Star Plus and
Star News will initially only be broadcast to the UK, via spot beam satellite,
he said that the group is currently in discussions concerning carriage on
several cable networks in continental Europe. Arun Mohan, executive vice
president of News Television (India), said that the group is aiming to have 10
per cent of the UK's half million Indian households as subscribers within a
year. The package will be free until mid-March and then be charged for at £16
per month.

A S I A

DW LAUNCHES EUROPEAN BOUQUET

Germany's Deutsche Welle has launched a new European Bouquet on the AsiaSat 2
satellite. Dr. Burkhard Nowotny, DW's director of international distribution,
announced that agreements with 4 TV stations and 8 radio stations had been
finalised. The European Bouquet includes DW-TV stations as well as the French
language TV5 Asie; Italian RAI International; Spanish TVE Internacional, and
Portuguese RTP Internacional.

CHINA

YES TO LAUNCH PAY-TV TRIALS

On January 18, U.K.-based Yes Television announced it will launch trials for
its pay-TV services in Hong Kong by end-March, adding that a full launch will
take place mid-summer. Yes Television Asia hopes the service will cover 70 per
cent of Hong Kong's population and aims to sign up 200,000 subscribers by 2004.
Yes TV will charge a basic monthly subscription fee of HK$180 and will offer
2,000 hours of VOD programs every month, of which 65 per cent would be in
Chinese, plus 10 channels of news, sports and family-oriented programs.

INDIA

TITG TO SELL TODAY NETWORK STAKE

IT company The India Today Group (TITG) plans to sell up to 20 per cent of its
TV venture Today Network, according to India's Economic Times. Today Network
CEO, G. Krishnan, said his company was talking to various financial
institutions and strategic partners regarding the planned divestment. He added
that 10 per cent of the company had already been taken by (banking company)
ICICI, with negotiations for the other 10 per cent still ongoing.

NEW RELIGIOUS SERVICES PLANNED

Several religious and political groups are planning to launch new cable TV
services targeting India's southern audiences. A Christian group led by Asian
Bishops Synod and Catholic Bishops Council of India plans Jeevan TV in March.
The others are Vikasvani TV, promoted by Father Cyriac Thundiyil; Kairali TV,
with patronage from the ruling left government in Kerala; Indiavision, promoted
by India Muslim League's M K Muneer; Nila TV, promoted by ex-Federal broadcast
minister, C M Ibrahim; and Drishya TV, from Padmajya, the daughter of former
state chief minister K Karunakaran.

ZEE TV PLANS TO CHARGE FOR CHANNELS

Zee Network plans to begin charging for its three free-TV satellite services
(Zee TV, Zee News and Zee Music) this year. Zee currently charges Rs12.5 for
Zee MGM, Zee Cinema and Zee English, but the amount of new charges has not been
disclosed. The target date for Zee News is February 1.

SINGAPORE

SPH MEDIAWORKS TO LAUNCH TWO CHANNELS

Singapore Press Holdings television arm, SPH MediaWorks, has announced plans
to launch two of its new channels in May. The new services the
Mandarin-language Channel U and the English-language TV Works herald the end
of MediaCorp's monopoly of the local broadcast television environment. In the
first of two deals announced last week, MediaWorks snapped up a guaranteed 400
hours of drama programming a year from Hong Kong's Television Broadcasts Ltd
(TVB). The second strategic alliance, with Taiwanese terrestrial broadcaster
China Television Company (CTV), is for 156 episodes of the latest variety
programming from Taiwan. In yet another deal, MediaWorks acquired nearly 200
hours of celebrity and life-style-themed programming a year from the US-based
E! Networks. The shows will be aired on the English-language TV Works channel
from mid-2001.

The first family

From http://www.smh.com.au/news/0101/21/national/national11.html

Terry and Sylvia Stephens made history yesterday when they turned on their new digital wide-screen television.

They are the first family in Australia to have one of the new generation TVs which receive a digital signal.
The digital wide-screen format is the first major change to television since colour broadcasts began in 1975.
"It really is amazing," said Mr Stephens as his 21-year-old daughter Nicole tried to figure out the controls.
"The picture is so clear and looks like the old CinemaScope movies," he said.
"I was one of the first to get a colour TV when they started in Britain and I was keen to get the new type of television.
"I think once you have seen one of these it is very hard to go back to the old standard type of TV."
TV networks will soon start broadcasting sport with multiple camera angles in wide-screen format which can be picked only up with the digital set-top box.

Since digital broadcasts began on January 1 only a handful of Australians have had the converters, mostly people in the broadcast industry.

The converter box costs around $700 to buy and the Orion wide-screen TV about $3,398.
But the Stephens family of Balmain did what overseas experience shows many people will be doing, and rented the new system.

They were first to get the digital box and 76cm wide-screen TV through Australia's largest rental outfit, Radio Rentals. It will cost them $24.90 a week for 12 months.

Scott Lorson, general manager of Thorn, which owns Radio Rentals, said 30 per cent of wide-screen TVs were rented when the broadcasts began in Britain in 1998.
"They are too expensive to buy for most people so this gives them a chance to try it out before they decide," Mr Lorson said.
"With this digital package you can choose the camera angle you want and freeze the picture as it broadcasts with absolute clarity. And the signal gives you information about programs on other channels."

The set-top box will have to be upgraded in about 12 months when the interactive TV signals come on line.

Ordinary TVs will continue to receive their normal signal as the digital broadcast is carried on extra channels which can be decoded only through the set-top box.

The much larger flat screen TVs that hang on walls cost about $20,000 and only a few are available in Australia.

By the second half of the year, high-definition, wide-screen digital TV sets will be on the market, bringing in even sharper pictures than the new set the Stephens family got yesterday. They will cost around $8,000.

20/1/01 2nd update

Minor update slight error in Bill Richards logging "wedding feed" was on B3 not B1 currently Speedway car raceing there. Also receiveable in NZ on a 60CM dish! Pictures tommorow

The following page have been updated

NSS 703, Screenshot Gallery added
Insat 2E, Screenshot Gallery added
Palapa C2, Additions made to screenshot Gallery
Palapa C2, Feeds Page, added Australian Open details
Thaicom 3 page, ETC and ETC Punjabi added with programming links (Both will stay FTA here)
Asiasat 3 page, Ekushey TV website seems to be overhauled, programming link added, live stream to come soon!
Page trimmed and added to History

FEED ALERT

This from Dave R. Saturday afternoon,

Palapa C2 113E 3936 H "TVNZ-TVC4 Australian Open feed" Sr 5630 Fec 3/4

Regards Dave

FEED ALERT

From my Emails and ICQ

This From Andrew Rajcher

If you tune into the ABS-CBN mux on PAS-8 now ( saturday Afternoon) , Studio 23 (FTA) is covering
live the upheaval going on right now in the Phillipines. By the time the
sun sets, that thug Estrada will gone (hopefully)!!

(Craigs note, also try Channel News Asia, and Metro News)

Bill Richards supplies

Optus B3 156E 12369 V "Australian wedding feed seen here!" Sr 6110 Fec 3/4 Vpid 4096 Apid 4097

From the Dish

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3682 H There is a new FEC for the ETC mux here 2/3

Optus B3 156E 12359 V "Australian Soccer Feed" seen Friday Night, Sr 6610 Fec 3/4 Vpid 1160 Apid 1120

Optus B1 160E 12369 V "Australian wedding seen here! Sr 66610 Fec 3/4 Vpid 4096 Apid 4097

19/1/01

I went to the bank this afternoon and transferred quite a sum of money for my new/used Nokia 9500-S that should encourage me to get the big dish up. Quite a few have been asking where the Tennis feed is for the Australian Open. Email me if you see it anywhere I expect it would be on a TVNZ transponder on I701. Or Pas 2 perhaps.

NSS 57E Page Updated Screenshots all added (Gallery to be added later tonight)

Pas 8 missing images added to Gallery (just 1 left if anyone can help)

Insat 2E and 2B Stuff up with these satellites pages fixxed and images added

Asiasat 2 page Hubei and Guangdong images added, also added to gallery

From my Emails & ICQ

Raj informs me via ICQ that he saw a movie on the Thaicom 3 "X69" channel (11.am Syd) programming is softcore porn. There was no audio.

(oh well Raj as long as you have the pictures  :-)

ADVERT

I have for sale a paraclipse 2.6M polar mount mesh dish im in Adelaide south Australia I have just put up a 3.8 M .

Regards
Martin & Tracy Mills

kryyten@ihug.com.au

icq85955254

Friday Feeds Bit

Feedback and any sightings of sports feeds to the mailing list or my email , anon if necessary

Saturday 20th

6.00 a.m Syd Golf Senior PGA Mastercard Championship from Hawai (check Espn Pas 2 feeds)
10.00 a.m Syd Golf ,Telstra Saturn NZ Open, not sure where this one might show up keep an eye out for it.
10.45 a.m Syd Tennis Australian Open. ?????where is this one we need feedback if its around fta anywhere

Sunday 21st

10.00 a.m Syd Golf ,Telstra Saturn NZ Open, not sure where this one might show up keep an eye out for it.
10.45 a.m Syd Tennis Australian Open. ?????where is this one we need feedback if its around fta anywhere

2.20 p.m Syd Cricket Australia VS Zimbabwe World Series, (Optus B3 ,12359 V SR 6110 FEC 3/4 VPID 1120 APID 1160)

From the Dish

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3551 H "123 Sat (05-21 UTC)" and "69 X TV (21-05 UTC)" Sr 13333 Fec 3/4 Vpid 2081 Apid 2082 as reported yesterday, on Global Beam, porn on in the morning Aus time- 4pm Syd

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3682 H "ETC - Entertainment TV Channel" New FTA, Sr 6665 Fec 1/2 Vpid 100 Apid 104
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3682 H "ETC Channel Punjabi" New FTA, Sr 6665 Fec 1/2 Vpid 200 Apid 102 ,

All Above Thaicom 3 channels on Global Beams

Insat 2E 83E 3989 V "ETV Kannada test card" Started Sr 3000 Fec 3/4 Vpid 1110 Vpid 1211 (WIDE BEAM)

NEWS

Slow birth for world of digital TV

From http://www.it.fairfax.com.au/breaking/20010116/A13961-2001Jan16.html

Nine's digital TV channel is up and running, the promotional ads have started, and its guide to digital TV is out.

Still, Nine's director of digital services, Kim Anderson, is the first to admit there is much work to be done before digital TV becomes a mainstream medium.

The TV networks must agree on the style of their joint electronic program guide, the operating system that will drive TV interactivity (known as the application protocol interface) must still be chosen, and applications related to TV programs must then be developed.

In terms of return on investment, I suspect that will be a little way off, but in terms of investment in the industry and securing a viable future for freetoair broadcasters, it (the move to digital) has been a valuable investment, Anderson said.

It is also clear that although the media world continues to converge, Nine remains steadfast in its belief that the Internet and TV will remain separate, despite the likelihood of people soon gaining Internet services through the TV.

I'm a great believer in convergence, and that will definitely happen, but convergence of devices may not, said Anderson.

?I think if you are really clever you will provide the context for the viewer, so you will repurpose your website so it can be used elsewhere.

The objective behind the two services Channel Nine and its Internet sibling ninemsn also differed, Anderson said.

?ninemsn is very much a productivity and communication tool, whereas TV is the entertainment mechanism, she said.

I will want to do things over my TV, like purchasing and checking the weather, but I'm not going to sit there for hours typing emails.

While much is still to be decided on the digital front, Anderson has a clear view of the first important steps.

Initially, she believes the focus should be on educating consumers about the digital possibilities and likely changes to receiving equipment. She also wants to synchronise Nine's digital system with that of ninemsn.

If I'm a consumer, I don't want a different email account for my mobile phone, PC or any other device I may choose to use, she said. It's really important the (ninemsn) services the consumer currently uses are acceptable over the TV.

That means enabling users to access both ninemsn and Nine Digital's services with the same password, and further integrating Nine's programs with ninemsn and its various services, such as Ticketek.

As for the lure of interactive advertising, Anderson seems keen to play down its future effectiveness, saying some of the demonstrations at recent conferences were not really achieving the objective of the client.

We are not into technology for technology's sake, so I can't see myself wanting to click on a Kellogg's interactive button to read the cereal packet, she said.

And Nine does not intend experimenting on the consumer with whizbangery.

I'm not in favor of interrupting the viewer for the sake of technology, she said.

But what she does see eventuating is the ability to bookmark ads as people now bookmark Internet sites, and to provide clients with profiles of the people who have interacted with their ad (if users have given permission for the information to be used).

That requires the customer relationship management (CRM) backend system that Nine does not yet have. However, Anderson expects it to be operational by the time a common API has been chosen for the settop boxes.

While another of Nine's related companies, Acxiom, has CRM expertise, it is not guaranteed a position in the Nine Digital arena.

iom is not involved at this stage, but they have built a great deal of expertise in this area and we would no doubt talk to them about that, she said.

Anderson said Nine was already developing a number of (CRM) tools and relationships, but was initially concentrating on developing a privacy policy.

And while Nine has yet to begin testing the interactive preferences of viewers, she said ninemsn provided a large information source.

We know exactly what consumers want from (travel infotainment program) Getaway in the interactive area, based on what they do on the Getaway site on the Internet, she said.

Another necessity for successful interactive TV is the back channel that sends a viewer's instructions to the service provider through either a telephone line, cable or satellite connection.

Anderson does not have a preference for the back channel, saying that should be left up to consumers according to their individual circumstances.

As for becoming involved with an Internet service provider, Anderson said the idea had been put to Nine, but was rejected.

?That's not our core business, which is creating really good programming and giving people something else over their TV they presently can't get, she said.

Nine is also working on user interface issues so that emails and other information shown on a PC looks equally good on the television set.

As for program enhancements, the first one planned is multiple camera angles of the cricket.

Strung out over digital TV changeover

From http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,1608947%255E462,00.html

If America's experience is any guide -- and Australia does tend to mirror its take-up of gadgetry -- digital TV won't be an overnight success Downunder.

AS SALES of digital TV sets continue at a sluggish pace, the US Federal Communications Commission will consider new rules this week aimed at spurring broadcasters' switch to the new technology that provides crystal-clear, high-resolution pictures and CD-like sound.

The agency will consider requiring all new TV sets to include a digital TV tuner, which will let consumers watch the over-the-air digital broadcast stations even if they don't buy an expensive new digital set.

The FCC also will reaffirm the existing technical standard used to broadcast digital stations, in a move to give greater certainty to consumers concerned that changes could make today's digital sets obsolete.

Three years into the digital TV transition, fewer than 800,000 sets have been sold. While the pace of sales picked up five-fold last year, consumers aren't embracing the new technology as fast as industry groups, Congress and the FCC would like.

Reasons include a price of $US2500 ($4800) and up, lack of digital programming and uncertainty over technical issues.

The proposal to include digital tuners in all sets is embraced by the broadcasters, who say it'll help ensure stations meet a 2006 target to complete the change.

Congress four years ago gave the 1600 TV stations in the US a new chunk of spectrum to begin digital broadcasting. While they make the switch, stations will air programming on both the analog and digital channels.

A smooth transition to digital TV affects other communications companies that want extra spectrum to offer a range of new services, including e-mail and news alerts to mobile phones and personal digital assistants.

Congress requires the FCC to auction the spectrum now being used for analog TV in 2002, even though they won't get the licenses until broadcasters complete the transition. Few will be interested in buying the spectrum if it won't be available for several years.

Consumer electronics companies are fighting a requirement to include a digital tuner in all sets, which they say could increase the cost of sets anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $US1000.

Most digital sets sold today don't have tuners and can't receive over-the-air broadcast signals. Consumers who buy them often subscribe to satellite TV service, which offers the most digital programming available.

Broadcasters say there's no point in spending millions of dollars for original digital programming because few consumers even see it. One reason is 80 per cent of TV households have cable, yet cable systems have agreed to carry just a handful of local digital stations nationwide.

CNN beefs up Asia operations

From indiantelevision.com

Asia is looming large on CNN's screens as it puts into place plans to boost its international operations.

Two integrated newsgathering and production centres are being set up in Hong Kong and London as part of a review of its global operations. Hong Kong, alongside CNN's other regional headquarters in London, will become a fully integrated regional newsgathering and production hub for the bureaus operating within the region.

The introduction of a new Asia focused CNN web site, to be launched in February, means that CNN's ability to report from the region will be significantly enhanced.

The changes taking place internationally are part of the major review of newsgathering, production facilities and operations worldwide, and at CNN's headquarters in Atlanta. Part of which involves the integration of the television and web newsgathering operation and the creation of a newsgathering 'super desk' manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week and providing the focal newsgathering point for CNN's 34 different services.

"The new 'super desk' and newsgathering operation will provide faster, smarter editorial decision making, enhanced cross platform communications, better prioritisation and collaboration across all platforms," said Eason Jordan, chief news executive and newsgathering president for CNN News Group.

Regulators thwart Packer's India push

From http://www.smh.com.au/news/0101/15/business/business1.html

Australian media magnate Mr Kerry Packer's push into India has received a setback with broadcasting regulators blocking his bold expansion plans in the lucrative new market.

Officials at Mr Packer's Indian joint venture, HFCL-Nine Broadcasting India, accused the authorities of restrictive trade practices after they blocked them from bidding for program slots on the country's national Metro network.

The Packer subsidiary has already paid $50 million for a nightly three-hour prime time slot on the network and wanted to expand into late-night television. Branded as "Nine Gold", its formula of locally-made Hindi language potboilers has been a big success, accounting for 26 of the country's top 50 entertainment programs since its launch in September.

The national broadcaster, Doordarshan, received a badly needed cash injection and Nine provided technical assistance to boost broadcast quality.

In return, the joint venture company got sole rights to sell advertising time to an audience of 33 million people.

However, it appears that sensitivities about the amount of public broadcasting time rented out to private interests has caused a rethink at Prasar Bharati, the authority which regulates the national broadcaster. "The authority has been getting flak for allowing private interests in and it understands the threat of allowing one such operator to monopolise the channel," media analyst Mr Sunil Kalra told the Herald.

The notification issued by the authority specifies that producers who already provide more than seven hours of programming a week need not apply for the five 30-minute late-night windows. The notice was issued last month but on Thursday the Indian Express newspaper quoted HFCL-Nine officials as saying they had sought clarification of the move to block the company from bidding.

"We are surprised at our exclusion. It is a restrictive trade practice and the grounds specified can't be justifiable," said a company official, Ms Ravina Kohli.

A spokesman for Mr Packer's Australian flagship, Publishing & Broadcasting, could not be contacted last night for comment on the Indian setback.

Nine's tie-up with Door- darshan is seen as a marriage of convenience by two powerful media players whose interests may not converge for long. The tie-up with Mr Packer is initially for one year.

Mr Packer's entry to the potentially lucrative Indian market came in March last year, when he visited the country to announce investments of $640 million in media and information technology ventures.

The belated entry meant he found cable TV virtually locked up by rivals, including Mr Rupert Murdoch's STAR TV.

Although expensive, the unrivalled reach of the national broadcaster is crucial to Mr Packer's efforts to gain brand recognition for his product.

Nine Gold's programming, which comes heavily branded with the distinctive Nine logo, is also being heavily promoted in magazines and newspapers across the country.

The decision, if upheld, would allow Packer rivals to piggy-back off the big audience HFCL-Nine has established in prime time.

"We see ourselves as the best partners for Doordarshan to make Metro an entertainment powerhouse and to fully realise the channel's potential. We had spent huge money on promotions. By excluding us from bidding, the identity of Metro as a brand will become unclear," Mr Kohli told the Express.

But it is identity which appears to be of most concern to the broadcasting authorities. Giving Mr Packer seven hours a night on the public broadcaster is too much even for Doordarshan's cash-hungry management to consider. "They want to jazz up their image but they've already had their fingers burnt. The Discovery channel established a name for itself in India by airing its programs on Doordarshan, then set up its own satellite channel."

Whoever controls the airtime, the chase for funding is inevitably driving India's national broadcaster downmarket.

Sentiment expected to remain negative on Zee scrip

From indiantelevision.com

Down, down, down with no end in sight at least in the near term is the verdict that media sector investment analysts have given regarding the beleaguered Zee scrip.

The Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) stock has taken a continuous beating over the past few months with the last week being particularly painful. The share has dropped to it touch 52 week lows thrice at Rs 240, Rs 235 and Rs 216. It is currently trading at Rs 228.

A foreign securities firm has put a 'sell' recommendation on ZTL. Market sentiments are working against the scrip. To get a handle on the mood in the the market we talked with a couple of analysts and took their perspective.

The weakness in the scrip, they revealed, is attributed to many reasons. The principle contributor being "not so good programming."

"The Television business is becoming more and more visible in the sense everybody watches TV and knows fairly well as to which are the channels providing good entertainment," said a senior analyst in a multinational securities firm. "High TRP ultimately converts into revenues for channels. Zee doesn't have any good shows, not a single blockbuster and more than that for their prime time (9:30pm) slot what they are showing are reruns of earlier shows which is bound to affect advertising revenues."

In the coming months there seems to be no special programming in the pipeline which could draw viewers back to the channel. The onslaught on Zee TV's revenue, the bread and butter for the network, by Star and Sony has had a negative impact on the scrip said an analyst with another foreign securities consultant based in Mumbai. "Further highlighting this is the debacle that was Sawaal Das Crore Ka which showed programming incompetence. The third quarter results will show how much the channel has spent on that front which will further hit the share price," he said.

"Repeated announcements of plans which were finally not implemented has affected Zee's credibility and also raised questions about the cash flow situation of the company. This was apparent in its failed FM bid, the cancellation of the Zee Sports channel and Siti Cable's failure to go through with its Net on cable plans," opined an analyst attached to a leading merchant banker.

Predictions for the company's third quarter results, which will be out in a few days, are negative and they will take a further toll of the share price. Some discounting for the weak results is already taking place. Analysts believe that the price will remain weak for at least the coming two months as nothing positive is in the pipeline.

"The company should really put its act together and has to come out with concrete solutions. Only then can it arrest the downward slide as competition in the television industry is really heating up and better and better options are available for viewers as well as advertisers," said one analyst. "We really can't predict where the price will reach, but definitely the movement will be in negative territory."

The first analyst we spoke to believes that the price may touch Rs 200 in the coming month or two depending on the company's results. As ZTL Chairman Subhash Chandra is taking a serious review of his programming as well as overall business the recommendation is to wait and watch.

At the Rs 200 level it is a good buy for the medium term. At the present level of Rs 225 the P/E is around 35 which most analysts are comfortable with but it is the future earning expectation that is affecting the price. The volumes on the BSE as well as the NSE are high enough given the high liquidity of the scrip even though it is much lower compared to its earlier trading volume.

The AT Kerney recommendations on restructuring are apparently being implemented by Zee but to what extent and whether it will actually improve the functioning of the company is the Sawaal Dus Crore Ka (100 million rupee question).

Star Plus, Star News launched in UK, Europe; KBC not part of package

From indiantelevision.com

The Star TV network is having a grand party in London on Thursday to celebrate the launch of the Star Plus and Star News channels in the United Kingdom and Europe. The channels began airing on 14 January on Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB platform.

Star Plus viewers will, however, have to do without India's daily fix, Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). Star has failed to reach a licencing agreement to screen it from Celador, which holds the rights to the original which spawned KBC - "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire".

This hasn't deterred Star from flying out Amitabh Bachchan - Bollywood superstar and celebrity host of KBC - for the bash. His, after all, is the face that reflects Star's present pole position in India's channel wars.

Star News newscaster and New Delhi Television boss, Pranoy Roy, Hindustan Times editor Vir Sanghvi, and society presenter Simi Garewal are among the other prominent personalities who will be there.

The strong south Asian community in Britain in particular is what Star hopes to hook with the launch of these two channels, says News Television India Ltd's corporate communications head Yash Khanna. While the Star News feed in Britain will be exactly the same as that in India, Star Plus will be slightly different. KBC will obviously be a hard act to cover for but Star hopes that its other hit soaps and serials, as well as programmes from Channel V bunged in for good measure, will hook the viewer.

18/1/01

Sorry about the late update been busy, The chat did not go well last night so I think we will shift it to once a week on Tuesday nights to avoid clashing with the Mosc chatroom. Thanks to Alex and Bill R supplying various screenshots today. Question ? who is looking for a music channel ?? Hitchannel102 was also seen on 3551H a few months ago

From my Emails and ICQ

Raj reports via ICQ XTV69 on Thaicom 3 3551 H Sr 13333 Fec 3/4 Vpid 2081 Apid 2082

They share with "Sat-123" music channel hours for Sat-123 are (UK 9-21) for 69 XTV (UK 21-9)

NOTE "XTV 69" changed to "Sat 123" at 4pm Sydney time

XTV69 also has a live video stream which dosnt work very well

http://www.69xtv.com/Media/69XTVLive.asx

Sat 123 music channel (Click for fullsize) screenshots off Thaicom 3 3551H

69 XTV Screenshots (Click for fullsize)

Alex supplies many missing screenshots! A couple shown below

Guangdong and Hubei off Asiasat 2

Hi Craig,

My name is "Jamal" and living in Melbourne, I find your site very helpful, please Craig I need some help I am new in satellite reception I want to install system to receive arabic and french channels, the satellite guy are going to install me a "Coship CDVB2000BA" digital receiver and 2 meters Motorised dish+positioner and C band LNB for 2200 AU $.

can you help me to know if that is good or not ?

many thanks Jamal

-------------------

You can get these Arabic channels FTA these are all DIGITAL signals

(There usesd to be a lot on Asiasat 2 but they all encrypted)

Asiasat 2 "Saudia Channel 1
Panamsat 2 "LBC"
Panamsat 2 "ART"

You can get these French channels FTA in DIGITAL

Asiasat 2 "Fashion channel"
Asiasat 2 "TV5-Asie"

Palapa C2 "TV5-Asie" this one analog! but the same as on Asiasat 2

There are some other French RFO channels on Intelsat I701 but they need a much bigger dish, although there are some on Ku band you could get with a 1.2M KU dish. The system the satellite guy is going to install sounds fine if it includes installation but the dish seems a bit small a 2.3M or 2.4M mesh dish could be a better option. Sorry I do not know much about that receiver you mention. The channels you want to watch are all digital so it should be fine.

-------------------

From the Dish

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3551H "Sat-123" music channel was seen here Sr 13333 Fec 3/4 Vpid 2081 Apid 2082
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3551H "69XTV" Porno FTA shareing with "SAT-123" Channel same pids also there on Audio pid 2065 is Italian Classic Rock radio station.

NEWS

Nothing to report today sorry

17/1/01

Live Chat tonight 8.30pm Sydney time onwards in the chatroom. Nice to see lots of reader contributions! Not much in the news section today though.

From my Emails & ICQ

From Stew RE: Telkom 1 108E

This is receiveable on the east coast Qld clearly. Using 3.0m mesh, 17deg LNB
with 2 CNBC Channels on 3580 H and 3620 H

From Bill via the mailing list

Does anyone know if you can use a radio scanner through a satellite dish??
And if so which satellite

Bill

From Bill Richards

Yes I can confirm Optus B1 ABC Northern is on 12331 Vert. on the Nokia

Others report its on 12330 or 12334 V Sr 5026 Fec 3/4

ADVERT

I am selling a 3.6 m mesh dish with 2 actuactors, a positioner, C band LNB, and a digital receiver
(C and Ku bands) for 2000 dollars (Aust). In perfect conditions I can
watch channels from PAs 2 and Pas 8, A huge tree does not let me receive
asiasat etc. Regards Art. I am in Wollongong

Email artie@shoalhaven.net.au

From "Siam Global"

ATER READING YOUR (AND LYNGSAT'S ) REPORT THAT THE STI CHANNELS ALL NOW ENCRYTED I THOUGHT I WOULD CHECK MEGA MOVIES AND THE PROMO CHANNEL ON 3509H. BOTH STILL FREE TO AIR AT 1300HOURS ON 16 JAN.

BEST WISHES AND HAPPY VIEWING

UPPER CASE BANGKOK

(Thanks St1 Page changed again)

From the Dish

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3551 H "123 Sat" Sr 13333 Fec 3/4 (any reports on this one??)

Telkom 1 108E 3580 H "CNBC Asia" FTA here Sr 20000 Fec 3/4 Vpid 33 Apid 32.
Telkom 1 108E 3620 H "CNBC Asia" FTA here Sr 20000 Fec 3/4 Vpid 33 Apid 32.

Palapa C2 113E 4089 H "Metro Business" started here Vpid 515 Apid 652

Panamsat 2 169E 3981 H "MBC" is currently FTA

NEWS

Australian journalist appointed CNN International's first US based correspondent

From indiantelevision.com

CNN International has named Australian journalist John Darren Vause the network's first US based correspondent, it was announced on Tuesday. Vause will report from the United States and file special reports for CNN's international viewers in 212 countries and territories worldwide.

His first assignment is to cover the inauguration of the new US President, George W Bush on 20 January.

Vause joins CNN International from Seven Network Australia, where he was bureau chief for their only US office.

16/1/01

Thank you to the those that turned up for the un announced chat it went ok considering it was a spur of the moment decision to hold it. We will be on for the chatroom Wednesday night. Perhaps we will hold the chat each Wednesday night untill the weather cools down a bit? Not much in the news section today. A bit of Indian news and a bit about Ihugs planned 2 way satellite service. Which they will launch in NZ and Australia

From my Emails & ICQ

Hi Craig,

Your comments were:

Agila 2 146E 3712 H "ESC 1 has started" Sr 3000, Fec 3/4, Vpid 1110 Apid 1211 (this sat difficult to receive in Australia)

I thought it is impossible to receive it in Australia, but you gave my some hope by saying it is difficult. Did you really mean difficult? If it is not possible - what dish size is required to get it?


Regards,
Mahmoud

(Try for the Analog signal of GMA on 3890 H (This frequency is a new one for this service) I don't know if this freq has improved the signal to Australia its usually very weak as the signal dosn't cover Australia properly it should be ok the furthur north you are. As for digital well if you can't get an excellent picture on the analog then it will need a very large good quality dish 5M+ Probably 7.5M or so for digital preferably 10M but like I said the signals better the furthur North you are as the beam dosn't officially cover Australia and NZ)

This also from Mahmoud

Folks,

I can see that all the TARBS bouquet (all channels in the mux.) in AsiaSat2 Tuesday Afternoon, (3640, H, Symbol Rate 27850) is FTA.

Can someone please re-confirm that.

Regards,
Mahmoud Hashish

Someone else says its not?? perhaps on then off for a short time.

From the Dish

St1 88E The MMBN package here has changed from Nagravision to Viaaccess encryption the channel lineup has changed also. No channels here are currently FTA. (See ST1 page for details)

Telkom 1 108E 3580H "TURBO TV" Sr 2000 Fec 3/4 (Reports wanted of this one, receiveable in NT and Alice Springs)

(reported as TVRBO probably misspelled Turbo TV thats been seen here before)

Panamsat 2 169E 4148 V "Hong Kong Jockey Club" seen here, Sr 24430 Fec 3/4 with raceing feeds

NEWS

Ihug hoping to loosen Telecom grip

From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=168536&thesection=technology&thesubsection=general

Ihug plans to beef up its satellite-based Ultra broadband internet connection to a two-way wireless service, removing the need for a Telecom telephone line.

The Ultra service now has high speed wireless downloads, but uploads go through a phone line.

If the plan succeeds, the company believes the service will help close the rural "digital divide" and will loosen Telecom's grip on "local loop" telephone lines to New Zealand homes.

"We believe it's the Holy Grail that we've been searching for ever since we started our satellite service four years ago," said managing director Nick Wood.

Details of the new service are sketchy, but the new two-way Ultra service will offer an upstream speed of up to 512 kilobits per second. This alone will be a big improvement on both the terrestrial and satellite-based versions of Ultra, which rely on slow dial-up connections delivering 56 kbps at best for the uplink.

Ihug has also yet to select its main equipment manufacturer - it is negotiating with three possible suppliers - but the two-way service will be available to users of the existing satellite and terrestrial-based services, who will not have to replace their respective 90cm or 45cm dishes.

Mr Wood said the service would be delivered by a standalone "black box" which will contain an amplifier to transmit the upstream signal.

Ihug is also planning to offer internet protocol telephony, but Mr Wood admits further testing is necessary to be sure this will work on the satellite service.

"We are 100 per cent sure we can offer this on the terrestrial service and we are pretty sure we can do it via satellite."

The problem is latency or transmission delays.

On the terrestrial service, the latency of less than 100 milliseconds is well within acceptable limits, but the half second delay caused by the round trip to a satellite in geo-stationary orbit above the earth may not be acceptable.

With a unified messaging system, which will enable voice mail messages to be stored in a similar format to emails and allow advanced functions such as sending voice mail as email.

"It will offer everything you would expect and more - 2001 is going to be the year that the internet will become much more useful."

Ihug is a long way from deciding on the price it will charge for the new service, but it would be launched in three to five months at "an affordable price in the usual ihug style," said Mr Wood.

Sky dips out of rugby battle

From http://www.stuff.co.nz/inl/index/0,1008,593781a10,FF.html

(This is Interesting Telstra Saturn grabbing Rugby their 1st step in gaining some popular programming)

Fans may still get to see all the All Blacks' rugby matches this year - albeit delayed - despite a scrum over broadcasting rights between Telstra Saturn, Sky TV and TVNZ.

Rival pay television operator Sky believes Telstra Saturn has won the rights to broadcast the team's tour to Argentina, Ireland and Scotland at the end of the year, but today Telstra Saturn refused to deny or confirm it.

Sky confirmed yesterday it had pulled out of bidding once the tag rose to $US1.3 million ($NZ2.93m), saying the price was too high.

The package included the All Black tour, the Six Nations competition and the European rugby club championship.

TVNZ was adamant today it had not bought the rights, which leaves Telstra Saturn and makes earlier reports of a satellite hook-up between it and TVNZ the most likely.

Telstra Saturn has about 24,000 subscribers to its pay TV service - all in the Wellington region.

Spokesman Quentin Bright said Telstra Saturn was building networks in Auckland and Christchurch.

That meant people living in those centres would also be able to subscribe to its pay TV service before the end of the year.

"We are in discussions with a number of service providers at this stage. We are a diverse company."

TVNZ spokesman Liam Jeory said he believed Telstra Saturn had secured the rights to broadcast the matches live. Telstra Saturn has plans to launch a satellite-based national pay TV operation with TVNZ. Mr Jeory said TVNZ hoped to gain the rights to broadcast delayed coverage of the matches.

"We would do a deal with them for the free-to-air rights," he said.

Broadcast Worldwide denies defaulting on payments to Thaicom

From Indiantelevision.com

Broadcast Worldwide, which runs the Tara group of regional language channels (Thaicom 3), has denied reports that it had defaulted on payments to Thaicom, the satellite beaming the channel over India.

A report published on Friday had said that Broadcast Worldwide had six months dues outstanding.

There has been no default, Sonali Shroff, vice-president, corporate communications Broadcast International, said on Saturday. "Payments are made on a mutually agreed schedule. In fact, it is Thaicom's policy to discontinue service to any channel in arrears of more than a month," Shroff said.

Padmashree PS joins Nine Gold as programming director

From indiantelevision.com

In a bid to strengthen its programming content, HFCL-Nine Broadcasting India Ltd. has appointed Padmashree PS as director-programming for Nine Gold.

Padmashree will be responsible for conceptualizing new programming and running the current shows of Nine Gold on DD Metro.

Padmashree comes to Nine Gold after stints in Zee and Sony TV. She will be working in consort with creative consultant Anuradha Tandon and CEO Ravina Raj Kohli in developing new programmes for Nine Gold.

15/1/01

Livechat tonight in the chatroom 8.30pm Sydney time onwards, let catchup on all the happenings!

I have been doing some testing with a friend who has Saturn cable and Sky Digital Satellite streaming video lots of fun and good testing for a future streaming project. If you're online this evening I may page you to see if you want to connect to the streaming server to help "load test" it. Site updates a bit late as I had the pc open to install a thermistor cable (measures CPU temp) my p3-450 is 43C and system temp 49C hope thats not to hot.

From my Email & ICQ

Alex Confirms the Following via ICQ 4.00pm Syd

Optus B3 12720 V "ABC TV SA" FTA Vpid 816 Apid 817
Optus B3 12595 V "ABC TV WA" FTA Vpid 800 Apid 801
Optus B3 12595 V "ABC TV NT." FTA Vpid 832 Apid 833

Alex reports Optus B1 12334 V "ABC Northern" FTA Sr 5026 Fec 3/4

Alex Confirms, Optus B1 12258 V "ABC Northern" has gone from here

From the Dish

Note these are on the Zone Beam so not receivable in Australia, odd thing 2 freqs for the same c