Apsattv.com History July 2000

Live Chat in the Chatroom tonight at 8.30pm Sydney time and also starting at 9.30pm for those in NZ so they don't have to stay up to late. News for today Zee is on air with some test cards expect them to be testing for a few days before they go CA. Site seemed to be down for some reason when checked last night no idea why.

PLEASE READ I notice from the logs that some people are entering via www.apsattv.com/satslist this means you have bookmarked the site incorectly and wont be able to get at the other pages. DO NOT bookmark the site by right clicking your mouse and adding to bookmarks otherwise you only get whats in the frame.Look above if it says www.apsattv.com/satslist then you have the site bookmarked wrong. Re-enter the site at www.apsattv.com then bookmark useing alt-A for explorer or Control-D for Netscape.

D.Holbrook reports via ICQ NRL feed that was on yesterday Optus B3 Pal/Analog 12450H did not screen live anywhere in Australia. It didn't screen here live either Sky was showing the Warriors and straight after there was another match, Sky didn't screen the game untill 7.30pm. Might be worth keeping an eye on that freq next weekend.

Six Zee TV channels have arrrived on Optus B3 156E Aurora 12532 V Sr 30.000, FEC 2/3

Thaicom 3 78.5E a new testcard has started on 3666 H, MPEG-2/clear, SR 4444, FEC 2/3, PIDs 308/256.

Deutsche Welle Extends AsiaSat Lease By Five Years

From www.satnewsasia.com

Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat) and Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany's international broadcaster, signed a lease extension agreement for one 36 MHz C-band transponder on AsiaSat 2 for a further five year period on 27 July 2000 in Hong Kong.

Chief Engineer Peter Senger that the German public broadcaster will pay AsiaSat US$2.5 million per year for the service under the new contract.

The agreement, which was signed by Peter Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of AsiaSat and Dieter Weirich, Director General of Deutsche Welle, means that Deutsche Welle television and radio programs will continue to be available in optimum quality to the entire Asia-Pacific region. Together with Deutsche Welle, programs from leading European international broadcasters will be transmitted in the European Bouquet.

The European Bouquet currently comprises five European TV broadcasters - Deutsche Welle tv (Germany), TV5 (French speaking), RAI International (Rome), TVE (Madrid) and MCM (Paris). In addition, 19 radio programs are also available on the bouquet including those from Deutsche Welle (with seven channels), RAI Radio International, Radio Exterior de España, Radio France Internationale, Radio Nederland Wereldomroep, Swiss Radio International, World Radio Network, YLE Radio Finland and Radio Canada International. It is expected that the current range of five TV programs will be extended to include three more channels in 2001.

Deutsche Welle has been broadcasting its German-language television and radio programs, as well as transmitting other European-language programs, to Asia through AsiaSat for the past five years.

"We are very pleased that Deutsche Welle has chosen to continue to use our service. I believe this reflects AsiaSat's exceptional service and the popularity of the satellite within the region. I also believe that the European Bouquet on AsiaSat 2 definitely strengthens the presence of European television and radio programs in Asia and Australia," said Jackson.

"Digital European Bouquet represents a successful strategy for penetrating the highly promising Asian market," added Deutsche Welle's Weirich. "Five years after starting our digital operations in the future-oriented Asia-Pacific market, we have successfully positioned ourselves as the only broadcaster offering authentic information from Germany in the heart of a Europe that is becoming increasingly united. Today, Deutsche Welle is counted among the most attractive suppliers of internationally available TV programs in this region."

The satellite AsiaSat 2 carries twenty 36 MHz and four 72 MHz C-band transponders, as well as nine 54 MHz Ku-band linearized transponders. The C-band transponders and Ku-band transponders had a utilization rate at 73 percent and 75 percent respectively at the end of 1999, said AsiaSat company officials.

AsiaSat is in talks with other potential partners and is particularly interested in penetrating the China and India markets, the company said.

AsiaSat 2, a Lockheed Martin Series 7000 model, carries twenty 36 MHz and four 72 MHz C-band, as well as nine 54 MHz Ku-band linearised transponders. Its C-band footprint covers 53 countries embracing Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Australasia and the C.I.S. AsiaSat 2 also has a high-power Ku beam serving the Greater China region, Korea and Japan.

AsiaSat, the leading provider of high-quality satellite transponder capacity in Asia, serves over two-thirds of the world's population with its satellites. The AsiaSat satellite system provides services to both the broadcast and telecommunications industries. Over 100 analogue and digital television channels and 90 radio channels are now delivered by the company's satellites, reaching over 80 million households, with more than 300 million viewers across the Asia Pacific region. Many telecommunications customers use AsiaSat for public telephone networks, private VSAT networks and high speed Internet and multimedia services.

AsiaSat is a wholly owned subsidiary of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings Limited, a company listed on both the Hong Kong (SEHK: 1135) and New York (NYSE: SAT) stock exchanges. AsiaSat's two major shareholders are China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) and Société Européenne des Satellites (SES), the operator of Europe's premier ASTRA satellite system.

Deutsche Welle is Germany's only external broadcasting service, which has been operating in various parts of the world for over forty-five years. Presently, they are transmitting television programs in German and English, and radio services in German and 29 other languages worldwide.

DW-tv reaches around seven million cable households in Asia. Principally in India and the Philippines, where Deutsche Welle programs are available on local cable networks. About 400 hotels receive Deutsche Welle television programs, and some 130 radio stations, predominantly in Indonesia and Australia, broadcast Deutsche Welle programs.

Star TV announced today that it acquired BMG's and Warner Music's respective stakes in Channel V Music Networks Limited Partnership (Channel [V]). After the acquisition, STAR TV holds 87.5% of Channel [V], with EMI remaining as a partner.

Star, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., had already bought Sony's 12.5 percent stake earlier this year. The transactions leave EMI as the only remaining minority partner in the satellite television service.

Star TV is Asia's leading media production and distribution company. Star's 30 distributed services, in seven languages, reach more than 300 million viewers across 53 Asia countries. Star distributes its services via cable and satellite and is committed to building the leading multi-platform, multi-service digital media business in Asia.

Services carried on the STAR TV network include STAR Chinese Channel, Phoenix Chinese Channel, STAR Plus, STAR World, Channel [V], ESPN, STAR Sports, STAR Movies, Phoenix Movies, VIVA Cinema, STAR News, Fox News, Sky News and National Geographic Channel.

No Sky NZ fta signals its been checked and although subscribers are getting the Sundance channel free it seems Sky just reactivated everyones card for the channel that weekend. Theres nothing to report for today except at 1.30pm Sydney time Holbrook reports via ICQ theres a league match starting on B1 12450 H Analogue. Sorry about the lack of news, hope theres some about tommorow!.

Telstra Reaches Agreement with European Broadcasting Union for Sydney Olympic Games Transmission via INTELSAT

INTELSAT and Telstra Corporation Limited announced today that they have concluded a major agreement with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for coverage of the upcoming Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. This new agreement brings to 40,000 the number of program hours that have been booked through Telstra on seven different INTELSAT satellites -- for broadcast to a global Olympic audience estimated at up to four billion people.
The EBU, the largest professional association of national broadcasters in the world, has signed eight short-term leases with Telstra on the INTELSAT 804 satellite at 64°E and on the INTELSAT 704 satellite at 66°E for the broadcasting of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The deal was announced at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention here this week.
The EBU transmissions will include more than 25 full-time program channels to over 30 broadcasters, and will be received at 42 locations. These broadcasters include the BBC, TVE of Spain, ZDF of Germany, and RAI of Italy. The channels will use a combination of MPEG-2 and ETSI digital transmission formats.
Telstra, the Official Telecommunications Supplier of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and Australian INTELSAT founding member and Signatory, coordinated these leases for the EBU on the Australian side, and will be supporting the EBU's local connections from each event venue to the International Broadcast Center (IBC) in Sydney. On the European side, the EBU will be receiving its feeds with help from Deutsche Telekom, BT, Telenor, and Telespazio. INTELSAT and its Signatory partners started working with the EBU to plan for the Sydney Olympic Games as far back as 1997.
Etienne Hertsens, Head of the EBU's Network Division, commented, "We are very confident that the Telstra-INTELSAT partnership will result in very successful coverage of the Sydney Olympic Games. The EBU traditionally has chosen INTELSAT because of its system reliability and superior customer service. INTELSAT has always regarded the EBU's major events with utmost importance, reserving capacity years in advance for Olympics and World Cup Football events, when no other satellite system would commit. We also use INTELSAT because of the expertise of its regional service partners, like Telstra. We have been most impressed by the organization and professionalism displayed by the Telstra team."
The EBU, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, serves 69 national broadcasters from 50 countries in the European area, and has 49 associate members further afield. Eurovision, a service of the EBU, provides ad-hoc transmissions to broadcast mainly sports, cultural and news programs to its members and customers. In 1999 alone, Eurovision transmitted more than 100,000 news reports and 8,000 hours of sporting and cultural events.
Telstra has also reached agreements with the broadcasters from the USA, Canada, Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Janette Woodward, Senior Sales and Marketing Manager of Olympic Media and Broadcast Solutions, Telstra, said, "We are delighted that Telstra was chosen by international broadcasters for an event of this significance. Managing the international transmission of the Games via the INTELSAT system for broadcasters throughout the world highlights Telstra's capabilities to deliver world-leading broadcasting and communications services."
Harry Mahon, INTELSAT's Group Director for Worldwide Video Services, said, "INTELSAT is very pleased to be working with Telstra to provide the EBU and our other broadcaster customers transmissions for the Sydney Olympic Games. INTELSAT's global system enables broadcasters to reach all five continents during this major event. For the EBU, we are able to offer an effective combination of C- and Ku-band connectivities to match specific reception needs. This agreement demonstrates INTELSAT's unique flexibility in connectivity options, as well as our high levels of customer service and reliability."
Telstra is responsible for building and managing the telecommunications infrastructure -- the Telstra Millennium Network? -- that will broadcast to up to four billion people around the world. Telstra Olympic Media and Broadcast Solutions Group, headed by Graham Hooson, provides a comprehensive range of broadcast services including domestic video, international cable and satellite, mobile and fixed earth stations, digital video transmission platforms as well as technical design, planning and service co-ordination. For more information, visit the Telstra web site at www.telstra.com.
INTELSAT owns and operates a global communications satellite system providing capacity for voice, video, corporate/private networks and Internet in more than 200 countries and territories.
For further information, please contact us at media.relations@intelsat.int or at +1 202-944-7500

Sky NZ no one has confirmed if some of the channels are fta yet! Have a look for it YES the Signal does make it to Australia if you can get the Epal Channel 10 Sky NZ is on the same Beam (Different Freq though and a LOT weaker) Lyngsat does not have all the Sky Channels available shown.

Austar "Snake Game" this only works on the new ADB boxes on the Radio channel 25 named TONE you can play SNAKE by pressing OK, which takes u to the game and you can move around by using the arrows on yourremote control. But u might want turn the sound off because there is annoying tone noise.

Hello Craig,

I use a Satcruiser 101.

Prior to Friday 28/7 all Sky NZ loaded but did list as CA programmes.
Since Friday no Sky programmes load despite signal strength showing as 87 - 91
ABC loads and shows as usual

Any reports as to why ?

Rolly Whitehead (New Zealand)

"You may want to try reloading the channels..there have not been any reports of Sky signal being fta yet, but then perhaps theres not many looking?"

108°E "TELKOM 1"C 3582H 8000 3/4 CNBC Analogue, reported at www.tvro.com.tw can Anyone in Australia/NZ pick this satellite up?

Telstra looks at "TV-like" channels for cable, ADSL
William Maher
27/07/2000 03:23 PM

www.newswire.com.au

Telstra is investigating the possibility of offering "TV-like" channels to its 40,000 cable Internet subscribers, it was revealed today.

Satellite Internet provider Access1 has revealed it is negotiating to provide its AccessTV service to Telstra's Big Pond Advance customers. If the deal goes ahead, the TV-style channels will be available via Telstra's cable Internet, satellite and the new ADSL copper-line Internet service.

Access1 already delivers its AccessTV service to Australians via satellite. The service includes Bloomberg finance news and Olympics and sports coverage from the Seven Network's pay TV arm C7. According to Access1, the service "operates in full screen mode at 25 frames per second giving TV quality vision on a PC screen".

Access1 chairperson David Spence describes the current situation as an "umbrella agreement", but there has been no announcement from Telstra. A Telstra spokesperson confirmed today that Telstra is negotiating to use Access1 content, but told Newswire that no deal has been signed.

The news follows last week's decision by the government not to subject media delivered over the Internet to the same strict regulations as data provided over digital TV. The Internet industry had strongly opposed any moves to regulate streaming video online, and said it would result in major damage to local Internet investments.

13:58 Thursday 27 July 2000
AAP
MULTIMEDIA provider Access1 has signed a broadband contract agreement with Telstra's Big Pond Internet service to provide the telco with its AccessTV content.
The service, branded "Access1 brought to you by Telstra Big Pond'', will be broadcast to Telstra's 40,000 broadband users, the largest Internet audience in Australia.

Access1 chairman David Spence said the service would be "TV-like", with various channels, but would also allow advertisers to target their ideal market.

"We are creating a new market for the delivery of full-motion interactive advertising, where advertising can be served to individual users or demographics,'' he said.

AccessTV will be available to all Big Pond Advance users as well as Telstra's new digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, which enables broadband usage without disconnecting the phone line.

The recent decision taken by the government to allow broadcasters to uplink directly from India seems to have caught the fancy of almost all the television channels and most of them might be thinking about uplinking form India.

Not to be left behind, officials at Star will be meeting through next week to decide about uplinking from India. According to a Star spokesperson, if the policy is there, they would definitely take a look at it. He also said that they might take some decision regarding this issue by next weekend.

Asked whether Star's content partner for Star News, NDTV, would be applying for an uplinking license, because it might be left behind in terms of live coverage of news by rival news channel Zee News, the spokesperson said that NDTV is using VSNL's uplinking facilities and the time difference between uplinking directly form India and from Hong Kong is hardly be 2 to 3 minutes.

It can be mentioned that Star has its own uplinking hub in Clearwater Bay - Hong Kong form where it uplinks all its channels. This gives the group economies of scale as it uplinks its entire bouquet from there.

Sorry about the delay updateing today. There not a lot of news about anyway! This weekends feed tip is Sunday afternoon 1pm??? Sydney time Live coverage from Oran Park, Sydney of round 9 in the V8 supercar Championship, look for it on B1 or B3 Let me know if you find it! Don't forget this weekend from Friday Night , I think Sky NZ fta the Sundance channel and possibly others check them out on a normal digital receiver July28th 3pm to July 31st trial running.

Optus B1 SKY NZ, 12608 VT sr 22500 fec 3/4 - 6TV, (1) Juice TV, (2) Trackside, (3) Discovery, (4) Prime TV, (5) Sundance, (6)

Dear Craig,

Thank you for your e-mail and thanks a lot for putting us on your web page!

Right now I don't know which transponder of Optus B3 we are on. However, we
are on Aurora platform, which covers Australia & New Zealand, both requiring
nominally 85-cm dishes. I believe, we are on the same transponder that
Lashkara & Gurjari are on.

(Craigs note, Transponder 5,12352 V by the sound of it)

Yes, we are aware of the radio signal carriage possibility on Aurora, but
this would be sometime in the future. First things first! Let's build a
subscriber base first, then we would plan to enhance services to our
subscribers.

Best regards and thank you for your interest in Zee.

Saba (Zee Television)

JCsat 3 128E "ETTV Movie" has replaced PTS on 3,960 V, MPEG-2/clear, PIDs 1168/1169. CTV, TTV and CTS remain FTA.

Thaicom 3 78.5E "DD 18 - Punjab" has replaced DD 1 - National on 3,800 V, PAL, Asian beam.

8.pm Syd Rugby Tri Nations Australia vs South Africa (Mediasat maybe????????????encrypted i bet)

Not much to report for today. A few of the new chatrooms I tested failed badly, I will see about contacting Xoom.com and see if they can relocate us on a faster server as the delay is it contacting them and downloading the java Classes if we could host these locally it would solve the speed problems. Since not much is happening today I will get onto adding some more 300k video streams to the Broadband tv page. (Please those that have high speed connections I need feedback on this). Also I have sent out an email to Measat hopefully to get some idea of whats happening with the KU beam.

Thaicom 3, "DD 1 - National" has started on 3,800 V, PAL, 5,50 MHz, Asian Beam according to Lyngsat, but I think they have made a mistake I think you will find its on Thaicom 2! Not that anyone in Australia should be able to see it.

The Union Cabinet Meeting chaired by the Prime Minister on Tuesday approved the Satellite Linking policy. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mr. Pramod Mahajan stated that the uplinking policy would be placed before the Parliament today by the Information and Broadcasting minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley. Under the existing policy, broadcasting companies with a foreign equity holding of more than 20 per cent are not allowed to uplink directly for broadcasting purposes. i.e. they are not allowed to bypass the state-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

While no details were given, it is expected that it will make India an uplinking hub in the Asian regions of Singapore and Hong Kong for television channels. It will make uplinking television signals from India easier and cheaper. The decision is also likely to raise the limit of foreign equity holding to 49 per cent. The decision is expected to benefit news agencies like ANI, which use uplinking facilities from India to send feeds to various customers, including broadcasters.

The proposal to allow non-broadcasting companies to set up uplinking hubs in the country and lease out the service to interested organisations was also approved.

The proposal for the establishment of a Broadband Telecom Multimedia Corporation of the Indian Companies act, 1956 was also passed in the meeting. This will be a Government owned company with the seed capital of Rs.150 million and an authorised capital of Rs.10 billion.

The Railways have an uninterrupted right of way over 62,800 kms of railway network and have already laid an optical fibre over 2,921 kms. The objective of the new Corporation, apart from improving train control and safety, will be to create a nationwide broadband telecom and multimedia network.

Both the decisions of the cabinet are considered the stepping stone towards the broadband and convergence. The Media as well as Telecom industry stand to gain by this decision. If passed on the floor of the house the proposal is going to have deep impact on the ICE sector.

Live chat tonight! at 8.30pm Sydney time and at 9.30pm NZ (We need more people from NZ in the chatroom) hopefully Pacific Satellite will make it there tonight (they are the ones offering the lnbf deal above)

D.Furrows sent me an email about Zee TV suggesting they buy the NZ/Australia rights to cricket matches not involving Australia/NZ as none of the Networks or Pay companys seem to be interested in screening these. I would even sub to Zee if they showed a large amount of international cricket. I have posted Zee's response below.

For those with a fast internet connection test the broadband tv page for me. Its nowhere near finished though looks best at 800x600 and Internet Explorer Fullscreen mode , Press F11 to get fullscreenmode in IE.. Many more 300+k streams to be added!

Hi Craig,

Thank you for your e-mail, and thank you for your feed into "Satfacts".
There seem to be some holes in the information that you have from us,
primarily because you had based your information on our "press release",
which was an extract of the "media launch" we had on 18th July, in which our
CEO, Mr R K Singh, had concentrated more on the "big picture" stuff than the
finer details of our service offering. For your information, I have attached
a copy of our detailed service offering, including pricing etc.

As for the matter of cricket coverage, your suggestion is a good one and we
will certainly take it on board an raise the issue with Foxtel. Please wish
us luck. Knowing Foxtel, we are going to need it and lots of it!

Thank you for your interest in Zee, and please do keep in touch.

Best regards

Saba

Zee Link Pty Ltd, a member of the Zee Network Group, is proud to announce the launch of Zee Pay Channels in Australia and New Zealand catering to your entertainment needs.

Channels Available

Zee TV (No. 1 Hindi family entertainment channel and the popular programs as per Australian standard time)
Zee Cinema (24-Hour Hindi movie channel)
Zee News (Round the clock News live from Asia)
Zee Music (Non-stop Hindi film and Indipop music)
Alpha Punjabi (24-hour Punjabi entertainment channel)
Alpha Gujarati (Gujarati entertainment channel with 12 hour transmission) + Alpha Bangla (Bangla entertainment channel with 12 hour transmission)

Service Requirements

This service of 6 channels is available as a DTH bouquet transmitted on the Optus B3 satellite for which you need a digital dish, digital receiver and a smart card. This equipment would be supplied and installed by us. The equipment and installation charges are $850 (including GST) for capital cities. For other cities there would be an additional cost of $45. You have the option of making the entire payment while subscribing towards this service or paying by easy finance scheme.

Easy Finance for Installation

We provide you with an easy finance scheme towards the payment of equipment and installation. In this you are required to pay $ 350 (for capital cities) and $395 (for other cities) when you subscribe to the services. The remaining amount $ 500 (including GST) can be paid in 24 monthly installments of around $ 26 per month. This finance facility is available only for subscriptions of 24 months and more.

Packages Available

Intelsat 701 at 180E: Tahiti Nui TV has started on 11,070 V, MPEG-2/clear, Tahitian beam.
Thai TV Global Network has left 4,086 L (MPEG-2).

Thanks to those that turned up in the chatroom even if it got a bit crowded at times. I am checking out a new chatroom later on today hopefully it will be more suitable and faster to get into. I did some checking into Measat on the net, it seems a few months back Microsoft invested quite a few dollars into Measat and there was mention of "interactive tv services" I don't know if its related to their beam in Australia/NZ though. Not much else to add unless I find something interesting later

A request, I need more pictures to add a bit of colour to the page, please email me anything suitable

Currently, our subscribers have to buy the dishes and IRD's from us as we
can only use Optus approved IRD's on the Aurora platform. At the moment only
UEC700 and ADB IRD's are approved for use on Aurora platform. We have
negotiated very attractive prices from UEC and are offering a "At Cost"
"turn-key" package of supply and installation of IRD, nominally 85-cm
dishes, LnB's, mounts, cabling and commissioning etc. The cost of this
package is around $900 for the regional towns and for the Capital cities is
$850. This is supplied to our subscribers at cost to Zee Link P/L, without
any mark-up and includes Smartcard for service activation. We do intend to
offer an easy finance package for this equipment, such that the regional
town subscribers pay $395 upfront, with the balance payable over 24 months.

We are looking into the issue of existing dishes and should we be able to
find a cost effective solution to this problem, we would be happy to offer
same to our subscribers.

Please do call our "call centre" on 133 036 for subscription registration.

I hope this answers your queries.

Thank you for your interest in the Zee Network bouquet.

Spoke to Zee on their 13 number and they quoted $850 for install of dish and
receiver etc. but they were not interested in discussing a discount to this
fee if I supplied my own dish and did my own install (or in my case if I had
all of that ready to go and just needed a decoder and card so I could plug
it in and go).

They insisted that Zee was a "digital system and I needed a digital dish and
I would not already have such a dish" They claimed that the $850 fee was a
big discount anyway and the proper price is $1200 which they will start
charging after the soft launch.

I am very disappointed that they would not discuss a discount for supplying
my own dish etc. I know that there are many potential customers who have
already invested in satellite systems and at most all they need is a decoder
and maybe a KU band LNB. Additionally anyone with Austar Satellite only
needs to plug the Zee decoder into their wall socket and they are away. Zee
should recognise that their set up fee (not to mention monthly fee) is very
high and offer the appropriate discounts to people who only need a decoder.

M.B.

By JASON KOUTSOUKIS
CANBERRA
Tuesday 25 July 2000

Xena: Despite her popularity the New Zeland-made Warrior Princess has had no impact on local content.

A predicted flood of New Zealand-made programs on Australian television after the relaxation of local content rules has not materialised.

The Australian Broadcasting Authority reported yesterday that, contrary to some predictions, the nation's commercial networks did not broadcast any NZ programs in 1999.

The predictions followed a 1998 High Court ruling that Australia's Closer Economic Relations agreement with NZ provided grounds for allowing NZ television programming access to Australian content quotas.

The ABA subsequently confirmed that NZ programs could count towards Australian content quotas, prompting protests from Australian screen industry groups, which predicted that local television would be flooded by cheap NZ productions.

Industry representatives said the content changes could cripple local production. Australian Children's Television Foundation director Patricia Edgar said: "New Zealand product is much cheaper for the networks to buy ... the networks can fulfil their required quota for a fraction of the cost of buying Australian programs. And they'll jump at it."

But so far they haven't.

ABA chairman David Flint said: "Despite concerns about changes to the rules, the results for 1999 show no New Zealand programming was broadcast by the networks."

Dr Edgar was unavailable for comment yesterday. But Australian Writers Guild executive director Sue McCreedie said it was too early to tell whether Australian networks would start importing NZ programs.

"We always said it wouldn't happen overnight and it's going to be some time before we see the full impact of those changes," Ms McCreedie said.

"And we still maintain that there should be a clause in the CER agreement with New Zealand which excludes cultural and audio-visual material," she said.

A spokesman for Communications Minister Richard Alston said the government was pleased with the latest figures.

"These figures clearly demonstrate that the concerns by the industry at the time, which the government tried to allay, we now see were without foundation," he said.

"But it is the approach taken by the government that ensures that local content is delivered."

24/07/2000 09:12 AM

Despite Friday's partial victory on the question of streaming multimedia, the Australian IT industry is calling for a major overhaul of broadcasting laws to make them more relevant to the Internet age.

As reported by Newswire, IT minister Senator Richard Alston last week announced that streaming multimedia would not be considered to be broadcasting if it is being transmitted as part of ordinary Net access. Industry figures have welcomed the decision, pointing to negative economic consequences if such a move had been made.

"This is a victory for common sense", said Rob Durie, executive director of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA). "Had the Government decided to apply the overly rigorous datacasting definitions to material 'streamed' over the Internet, this would have had significant adverse implications for the development of the Internet and related technologies in Australia, and deterred investment in the Australian IT&T industry."

However, Durie believes that the decision doesn't go far enough. "The Internet streaming issue highlights the increasing inadequacies of existing legislation in regard to the rapid converging of Internet, broadcasting and telecommunications technologies. AIIA will continue to lobby the Government to address these shortcomings", Durie said.

The Internet Industry Association (IIA), which played a critical role in defeating the streamed multimedia proposal, also wants to see a revision of local broadcasting regulations. "Our next step will be to push for a full and complete overhaul of this hopelessly antiquated [Broadcasting Services] Act," IIA executive director Peter Coroneos said. "In an era of convergent technologies, it is unbelievable that we have to operate under a regulatory regime that pretends that you can draw lines to separate one form of content from another, based purely on mode of delivery."

There seems little immediate hope for change. A spokesperson for Alston told Newswire on Friday that no changes to broadcasting laws were expected as a result of the multimedia decision, since broadcasting is a separate issue to Internet access. "That's in a completely different area," the spokesperson said.

The decision also offers little immediate hope for datacasters, which are blocked from showing streamed video under the complex genre rules which apply to all use of digital TV spectrum other than by incumbent broadcasters. Alston's spokesperson said the policy is designed to encourage the development of datacasting as a distinct and innovative service, rather than a copy of existing models. The current system has seen several players, including Fairfax, News Ltd and Telstra, withdraw from proposed datacasting trials.

Live chat tonight in the chatroom 8.30pm Sydney time, plenty to chat about see you there!

A man from Sky tv turned up at the door before so I got some info off them, The install is $99NZ and priceing for the basic channels is $8.29 NZ a week which gets you the basic channel package, add Sky1 (sports) and Sky 2 takes you up to $9.99 NZ a week. If you want the basic channels + movies it goes up to $12.59 a week. For $14.29 you can get all the basic channels + Sky Sport 1+2 and Sky Movies

The guide (onscreen program guide), Mosaic (multiple screen shows whats on) FTV, Espn International, Tab Trackside (horse raceing a fta channel here!) Sky 1 (general entertainment) Prime TV (FTA channel, but not available in most parts of NZ) U.K TV, cartoon network, Juice Music tv (locally produced music channel) Animal Planet, Sky News, Cnbc Asia (yawn) TCM, hallmark,Discovery, MCM (yawn another free one) TV3 (http://www.tv3.co.nz/flashentry.htm) http://www.tv3.co.nz/lite/listings/index.cfm TV4 (http://www.tv4.co.nz/) CNN, National Geographic, Weather, Nickleodeon

There is an extra couple of channels Sky Movies Max (reruns at different times of Sky Movies) this channels free if you get Sky Movies, other extra channel is an arty type Films channel called Sundance which cost about and extra $1.50 per week

Theres one other deal you can get the $3.99 NZ a week Broadcast package which gives you the channels that are FTA in most parts of NZ, TV3, TV4, Mosaic (sky preview channel) The Guide (Onscreen tv Guide) Prime TV,(http://www.primetv.co.nz) and TAB Trackside (Fta raceing channel)

Why am I telling you all this, because I have had a few emails from people in Australia who are considering getting friends in NZ to install Sky and sending the box over as an alternative to the screwed up Aussie pay tv service. If your wanting to watch the All Blacks, TV3 has the games on straight after the games finished live on (Sky Sports), just a 90 minute delay..

Anyone else useing the site www.indiantelevision.com who is haveing trouble with it acceptiing your password?

Also Note news items are found via various sites on the net where possible a link to the original article is posted!

Hi there
i am receiving the test signals on measat 2 using a 65 cm dish signal is not very strong i suspect a bigger dish will be ok
location Adelaide South Australia

David

From Stew in Rockhampton MeasatKU on 65cm dish and borrowed .7dB LNB is ~80% on my Phoenix 222. Significantly higher than Panamsat 8 which is 60%.

This from Hans Spitaler, I have done a bit of research and come up with some great links.

Polar mount alignment sites http://www.sbe24.org/techdocs/Geosat/decset.htm & http://www.arrowe.com/index.htm also
http://www.orbitsat.com/4DTV/P_mount.htm

This one is a 5 part series, extremely comprehensive on dish theory and installation http://www.ctiinfo.com/satgeom1.htm

With this you can find the latitude and longitude for any place in the world http://www.astro.com/atlas/atlquest-eng.html
You will then need an AZ/EL calculator from http://www.sciteq.com.au/azel/index.html

An interesting tool for setting up a dish http://www.gourmet-ent.com/products/arc_ext.html

Here is an article about mesh versus solid dishes http://www.drdish.com/features/mesh.html

I bet you havn't seen one of these dishes http://www.deskin.net/Isohex3_0.htm

21/07/2000 06:10 PM

The Federal Government has determined that streaming multimedia on the Internet should not be considered to be broadcasting, but the hastily announced decision has done little to clarify its confusing policy on the matter.

After coming under heavy pressure earlier this week to abandon a proposed review of streaming multimedia online which had been introduced into digital TV law at the behest of the Opposition, IT minister Senator Richard Alston this afternoon announced that streaming audio and video would not be considered as broadcasting when transmitted using normal Internet services. That decision has been welcomed by the Internet Industry Association (IIA), which has voiced industry concerns that classifying such content as broadcasting could jeopardise millions of dollars of local investment in content development.

However, the announcement contradicts many of Alston's earlier pronouncements on the issue. It also remains unclear whether the announced review meets the requirements of the government's digital TV legislation, and where it leaves aspirant datacasting companies.

Industry still cautious

The IIA was cautiously positive about the announcement. "The review has concluded within the timeframe that we considered appropriate in the circumstances," executive director Peter Coroneos said. "However, until the decision has been given legal effect, the position of our members will remain uncertain. We urge the Minister to take all necessary legal steps to exempt Internet streaming from the definition of 'broadcasting services' as he appears empowered to do under the existing legislation."

Alston's statement on the issue made it clear that he's not willing to go quite that far. The exemption has one key caveat: it does not extend to Internet access via digital television. "The decision to make it absolutely clear that Internet video and audio streaming will not be regarded as broadcasting will apply to all Internet video and audio streaming other than the broadcasting services bands which will be regulated under the recent digital television legislation," his statement noted. That content is controlled by a convoluted set of rules which dictate the length, format and genre under which any video broadcast on a datacasting service can be transmitted.

Alston's own earlier Parliamentary pronouncements on the possible scope of the streaming review did not seek to make such a distinction, but treated digital television as only part of a much broader issue. "This is a generic issue relating to the convergence of broadcasting with other services and it is therefore proposed to refer the matter to the ABA for its detailed consideration," he told the Senate on June 28. Alston also specifically commented that the matter did "not specifically relate to digital television" and said that it should not be carried out in haste.

How broad?

Other contradictions have emerged. On the same day in June, Alston told the Senate: "We need to allow a wide range of possibilities to be examined in relation to the regulation of these industries, not just the issue of whether they should be regarded as a broadcasting service." However, today Alston said: "The purpose of the government's proposed non-statutory review was merely to clarify these existing legal uncertainties, not to embark on any new policy exercises about the desirability or otherwise of defining streaming as broadcasting."

It also remains unclear whether Alston's announcement meets the requirements for a review which were contained in the original Labor amendment. Section 216E of the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Digital Television and Datacasting) Bill requires that a full report of the review be issued and laid before Parliament within 15 days of completion. Parliament is currently in recess. Alston did not return calls from Newswire seeking comment.

The entire digital television policy has been driven by the government's desire to maintain a clear distinction between online services and existing television broadcasters. The Bill as it stands was pushed through Parliament to provide a six-month interval between its enactment and the launch of digital television next year. Despite this, Alston said that further amendments to the Act may be required to clarifying the legal position of streaming content.

Industry observers believe that a more thorough overhaul is needed. "Our next step will be to push for a full and complete overhaul of this hopelessly antiquated [Broadcasting Services] Act," the IIA's Coroneos said. "In an era of convergent technologies, it is unbelievable that we have to operate under a regulatory regime that pretends that you can draw lines to separate one form of content from another -- based purely on mode of delivery." However, a politically fraught move such as redefining broadcasting -- which would place the Howard government squarely against the main media moguls in the country -- seems unlikely.

23jul00

ABOUT 40 Victorian councils are expected to apply for Federal Government grants to eradicate television blackspot areas where TV reception is poor.

The $35 million project is being funded from part of the sale of Telstra.
A Department of Communications spokeswoman said communities of more than 100 households with poor reception could be eligible for $25,000 grants.

A community of 500 could receive $125,000.

Applications will be assessed by local councils or community organisations registered with the Federal Government.

Poor TV reception will be judged on an international picture quality rating adopted by the Government.

Broadcast engineers and antenna and electronics technicians will have to determine if communities applying under the scheme have average TV picture quality ratings that fall within three levels.

These are: Scale 3 -- a fair picture which is "slightly annoying"; scale 2 -- poor picture which is "annoying"; and scale 1 -- a bad picture which is "very annoying".

But the highest priority will be given to areas which receive no TV services, or which receive only one channel.

The grants will go to councils or community organisations to help establish analog re-transmission sites or replace obsolete re-transmission equipment.

The spokeswoman said the scheme covered all TV channels.

The project aims to eradicate between 200 and 250 blackspot TV areas across Australia.

The Department of Communications has received complaints about poor TV reception from about 250 areas in Victoria.

The worst-affected area in the state is Healesville, but other rural areas that have made complaints include: Bemm River, Beulah, Broadford, Buxton, Corio, Hopetoun, Merrijig, Newcombe, Bendoc, Anglesea, Euroa and Mansfield.

Complaints about poor reception have also come from viewers in Melbourne CBD, Port Melbourne, South Melbourne, West Melbourne, Werribee, Berwick, Caulfield, Cheltenham, Hawthorn, Rosanna and North Dandenong.

Municipal Association of Victoria president Cr Brad Matheson said the blackspot scheme was "a very strong opportunity for regional and remote councils to apply for assistance".

"Regional and remote councils are the only administrative bodies that can deal with this sort of thing," Cr Matheson said.

"I would expect up to 35 regional and remote councils across the state to apply.

"Remote areas across the state have reception problems, notably in the high country, Gippsland and the southwest.

"There are blackspots in the inner city as well. There is room for improvement in metropolitan Melbourne."

Healesville artist Jane Hogan said she received channels 7, 9, 10 and 2, "but 10 is not good, and I can not get SBS at all".

"Channel 2 is the best, but Channel 10 is very shadowy."

Lisa Colaneri, the proprietor of the Yarra Valley pasta shop, said her TV reception had been poor until a nine-metre aerial was installed.

"It was hopeless before that. There were double lines on some channels and Channel 10 was always blurry," she said.

News makes wish upon a falling Star

Another day, another deal. Star TV's president and chief operating officer, Bruce Churchill, stands up on a podium. Cameras roll and flash and the biggest money-loser among Asia's regional television broadcasters signs away another $US45 million.

The deal, for the exclusive pay TV rights to 100 new films by one of Hong Kong's hottest movie studios, is both good news and bad news for Rupert Murdoch's Star TV, which is stuck in a vicious cycle it has spent years trying to escape: to stop losing money, it must attract viewers, but to attract viewers, it has to keep spending.

But with an estimated $US1 billion in losses and a global share offering ahead, Star TV has precious little to show for its efforts. And the outlook is grim: Star TV may never make money unless it makes fundamental changes in its business model.

News Corp bought a majority stake in Star TV from Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li in 1993 for $US525 million, buying the rest two years later for another $US300 million. At that time, the company had just five channels and broadcast mainly in English.

Seven years later, Star TV has 27 channels and broadcasts in seven languages. In the past four years, the company has lost about $US500 million ($862 million) - more if you include its money-losing joint ventures.

Now Murdoch is cashing out by injecting Star TV into newly created Sky Global Networks, a $US30 billion global satellite company that groups Star TV with other News Corp satellite properties such as Britain's sometimes-profitable BSkyB. Sky Global Networks is expected to float later this year, but so far investors have been cool.

One reason is Star TV. To turn a profit, the company will have to get viewers to pay for its programming. Just a few markets in Asia - such as India and Taiwan - account for the bulk of Star TV's subscription revenues. But those are just a small fraction, roughly 25 per cent, of the 300 million people Star TV claims it reaches. In India, the company collects about $US10 million from subscribers, but is prohibited from taking its money out of the country.

And in the mega market of China there is no sign that any pay TV broadcaster will be given access in the near future. Reckoned conservatively, Star TV gives away tens of millions of dollars of programming for free each year.

Like almost all other regional broadcasters, it has to rely on advertising for revenue, but that's not enough. Says Simon Twiston Davies, executive director at the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia: "You need to have subscriber revenues."

Take America. In the Golden Age of US television in the '50s and '60s, free broadcasts by CBS, NBC and ABC reached almost every household. The three networks accomplished this through a web of alliances among local station affiliates. The networks paid the affiliates for airing their programs, and shared some of the advertising with them. It was a finely balanced system - the affiliates got cash and programming, the networks got a countrywide reach for advertisers.

But the evolution of cable television has changed all that. Subscriptions, not advertising, drive the industry, leaving the traditional networks high and dry. Over the past five years, the networks have all seen operating profits shrink and have started to ask for money back from affiliates.

Overall, Star TV earns about 30 per cent of its revenue from subscriptions and 70 per cent from advertising. Churchill says advertising revenue still matters, but in Asia, the advertising market for television is tiny: $US13.5 billion spent on 3 billion people and 300 million television households, compared with America's $US50 billion-plus spent on just 250 million people and 100 million households.

China remains a little red book

Hong Kong: Even the greatest ambitions can be thwarted by a monumental task. And for media baron Rupert Murdoch, Asia is proving insuperable.

Murdoch's $US13 billion-a-year ($22 billion) media group, News Corp, spans the globe. But the two great aims of his recent business career - to break into China and to make money from satellite television in Asia - remain largely unfulfilled. News Corp makes no overall profit in Asia despite a decade in the region.

The troubles of News Corp's chairman tell a story of naivete and bad timing. Murdoch made his name in the West by taking over established firms in developed markets. But he pushed aggressively into unproved businesses in Asia with little understanding of the region. Now, the very things that could have been a boon to his struggling operations - the Internet and deregulation - will open Asia further to News Corp's competitors.

No-one expects News Corp to go bust over its unrealised Asia ambitions. "If you look at the scale of the investments with respect to the size of our company and the size of the opportunity I don't think it's out of line," says Bruce Churchill, chief executive of News' Asia satellite broadcaster, Star TV.

But a region that the company once billed as a major driver of its future growth looks set to remain a drag on its bottom line for several years to come, say analysts. For Murdoch, 69, it means he has made little headway in a part of the globe where he thought he could lead the information revolution.

"As an investor in News Corp, you are forever in the dilemma of being invested in a project where there is a lot of spending but you are waiting to reap the rewards," says Marcus Fanning, head of domestic equities at AMP Asset Management in Australia, which holds about 2.5 per cent of News Corp. "Asia is one of those areas that remains only a matter of potential for them."

In satellite television, News Corp has been thwarted by an overdependence on unprofitable free-to-air television and a late realisation that television, like politics, is all about local programming.

In China, by contrast, News Corp remains stifled by regulatory roadblocks thrown up by Beijing's wariness of getting too close to any Western media group. Although Murdoch's seven-year effort to gain Beijing's favour has paid off politically, his company has yet to achieve a major breakthrough in selling films or television programming.

Phoenix Satellite Television, set up in 1996 by the Hong Kong-based Star TV to focus on China, has since lost $US53 million and forecasts more losses in coming years. Its biggest advertiser, state-owned Bank of China, is a minority owner of the company, while most of its viewers - 42 million by its count, 6 million according to ratings agency CVSC-Sofres Media - don't have official approval to watch foreign satellite television.

Even indirect methods of cracking the market have failed. News Corp's 80 per cent-owned, UK-based unit, News Digital Systems Group, landed a deal in June to provide the central government's cable TV authorities with broadcast encryption software that could be rolled out to all 80 million cable TV subscribers nationwide. But despite being so close to the mother lode, News Corp's content will remain banned from those networks.

As for the Internet, News Corp's $US100 million splurge on stakes in mainland portals to sell content is fraught with risks due to Beijing's ambivalent attitude toward the Internet and particularly foreign ownership in Internet companies.

"It's just another example of how they are not getting ahead in China despite all their concessions," says an investment-bank media analyst in Hong Kong.

Murdoch first caught the China business bug with a deal to sell a handful of Twentieth Century Fox movies to the country in 1985. That led to his 1993 purchase of Star TV for $US825 million - clearly with an eye to the potential of a billion couch potatoes.

Murdoch appeared to think that media would be a cinch in places like China. In 1993 he marvelled at how modern telecommunications "have proved an unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere". Satellite television in particular, he said, "makes it possible for information-hungry residents of many closed societies to bypass State-controlled television".

Beijing responded to those unfriendly words by enforcing a ban on the reception of foreign-satellite television - a move clearly aimed at Star TV.

Murdoch then adopted a corporate strategy designed to return to Beijing's good graces. He pulled Britain's BBC news from Star TV, sold Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper to a pro-Beijing Chinese tycoon, and tore up a book contract with the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten.

The strategy worked in getting Murdoch rehabilitated in Beijing. News Corp was allowed to open a representative office in the Chinese capital last year - the only major foreign media company with that privilege - after President Jiang Zemin praised Murdoch for "presenting China objectively and cooperating with the Chinese press".

Despite this, Murdoch's business in China remains sidelined. Not only is it still largely locked out of the domestic entertainment market but it is stuck with an array of unprofitable projects. These include a joint venture in the port city of Tianjin that produces TV programs. Originally set up to broadcast an international table-tennis tournament in 1995, its operations remain "small and limited" according to Wang Yukui, a News Corp spokesman in Beijing.

The pressure on Murdoch to show a profit in China appears to be getting more intense. In February, he fired Chinese-American Gareth Chang as his comprador for China over what insiders say was Murdoch's frustration at the progress of his China interests.

Yet that has left News Corp without a top-notch manager for China. Contenders are Murdoch's youngest son and apparent successor, James, who is handling the company's satellite-television and Internet interests in other parts of Asia from Hong Kong, and the company's chief Beijing representative, Laurie Smith.

The dark horse in the succession is Murdoch's new mainland-Chinese wife, Wendi Deng, a Yale business-school graduate and former Star TV executive. While Murdoch has insisted that Deng, 33, won't be involved in News Corp, she recently told W Magazine in New York that she works on "special projects" for the company in China.

Whoever is going to take over News Corp's China business, he or she had better do it fast. With China's imminent entry into the World Trade Organisation, the scramble for its market is expected to intensify. Other major media groups such as Time Warner - which recently teamed up with Hong Kong-based China Entertainment Television to challenge Phoenix TV in China - Sony, and the family interests of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, are moving into China aggressively.

Dow Jones

I hope to have the pictures and details of the universal LNBF posted soon, you will need one if you want to see whatever pops up on Measat2 KU in a few weeks (running now testcards etc) send me an email if interested ( address up top), $75 is pretty cheap and if something good goes up on Measat2 in a few weeks you will be kicking yourself if you can't get hold of a lnbf!

Speaking of KU band get your dish polished and peaked up. For those in Australia nows the chance to see if you can pick up a watchable signal from Sky NZ (That might lead to other things such as subbing via a friend in NZ) I received an email telling me that next weekend Sky NZ will be running the Sundance channel FTA last time they had free trial on sky you could watch on normal digital receiver also unlocked 4 other channels that must be in same group july28th 3pm to july 31st trial running.

Optus B1 SKY NZ, 12608 VT sr 22500 fec 3/4 - 6TV, (1) Juice TV, (2) Trackside, (3) Discovery, (4) Prime TV, (5) Sundance, (6)

This from Raj via ICQ "Called the ZEE TV number you had on your site. They said the initial setup would cost $900 and then $40/month for the basic bouquet of channels. Starting 1st week August. They are posting me out some information, i'll let you know what I get." He also mentions UEC receiver so I guess for that price its dish and receiver ownership.

Broadcast&Broadband Asia Pacific replaces Broadcast Asia Journal

Hello - this is Gerry Brown in Hong Kong -

I am pleased to announce that from this month, Broadcast Asia Journal, the 13-year-old Singaporean-based, broadcasting publication has been renamed
"Broadcast & Broadband Asia-Pacific" with a new tabloid size and a fresh image.

The editorial is to reflect the growing impact of Internet and Broadband on broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific region.

Our magazine distribution is being refined to include more multimedia and broadband companies and the dedicated "i" and "e" departments in broadcast organisations. The 8,000+ circulation spans 40 countries and territories across Asia-Pacific. Readership at 24,000.

The coming edition, the July/August edition, the first under the Broadcast&Broadband Asia Pacific banner, focuses on:

Broadcast:
- Sydney Olympic Games coverage
- transmitters
- linear/non-linear editing
- color correction/telecine
- to preview IBC Exhibition, Amsterdam

Broadband:
- Broadcasting applications on the Internet
- a multi-page Goldman Sachs indepth review of Broadband

Editorial deadline : 28 July (Email press releases only)
Advertising booking: 28 July

Regards.........Gerry Brown

Please amend your records now to read!

Gerry Brown/Jeremy Chiu
Broadcast&Broadband Asia Pacific
(incorporating Broadcast Asia Journal)
GPO Box 10729
Hong Kong

Telephone +852-2982-0610
Mobile +852-9181-3990
efax USA +1-425-984-9874
efax UK +44-870-122-7840
email mgbhk@hkstar.com
http://www.broadcastasiajournal.com
http://www.broadcast-broadband.com - under construction
http://www.broadcastbroadband.co.uk - under construction

"Broadcast"
is still at the heart of radio and TV technology,
whether it is internet, cable, satellite or terrestrial driven!

Zee press release is below, So far comments I have heard seem to indicate the price is ok, but this part of the release is causing some concern "The marque Zee TV channel will come to our viewers as per Australia and New Zealand prime time zone for the first time programming in their own prime time". So it sounds like Zee will be time shifted, to suit Australia / New Zealand time zones rather than a straight feed off Asiasat 3. Zee news, Cinema and Music should be straight feeds. A source of Universal LNBF's have been located if your interested in buying one at $75Aus register you interest by emailing me.

Measat 2 KU Band
11478 HORZ 30000 7/8

Channel 500 Vpid 160 Apid 80 Enc Astro Promos
A C Feed C 161 84 Enc
A C Feed B 162 88 Enc
Test 1 163 92 FTA Vertical test Pattern
Test 2 164 96 " "
Test 3 165 100 " "
Test 4 166 104 " "
Test 5 167 108 " "

11540 HORZ 30800 3/4
MPEG Test Service 4096 4097 Test Card

11664 HORZ 30000 7/8
Same line-up as 11478

Star movies lashes out at Zee movies

Star movies has lashed out at Zee Cinema in what seems to be a swipe in typical 'Cola war' fashion.

A commercial by Star movies starts by showing a hoarding on an office building similar in all respects to the logo used by Zee Cinema except for a small change which shows it as 'Bee Cinema'. An executive in the office of 'Bee Cinema' is shown throwing darts at a dartboard blindfolded. A voiceover tells the viewer that unlike other channels (Bee Cinema), Star Movies does not show its viewers movies they would not like to see. This is followed by the actual promo of their new website 'Your pick of the week.com' which allows Star Movies viewers to click on their favourite movies and vote them according to their preference. Star will then show these movies according to the viewer's preference in order of their popularity.

While the introduction of this scheme is commendable, Star's swipe at Zee at this juncture seems surprising. According to some inside sources Star's move stems from a desire by the Star Network to get back at Zee for what many insiders believe was Zee's hand in the controversial Channel (V) obscenity case. It is to be seen how Zee will react and whether we will be in for another war between two industry rivals.

ZEE PRESS RELEASE

Zee Network to launch services in Australia and New Zealand
World's leading Satellite Network for South Asians

Zee Network, the foremost satellite TV network for South Asians in the world, announced its plans to bring home away from home for South Asians in Australia and New Zealand, by soft launch of its bouquet of satellite channels from August 1st, 2000. Announcing this at a press conference held in Sydney, the CEO of Zee Telefilms Ltd. Mr. R K Singh said, "Zee Network has always endeavoured to bring entertainment, information and happenings in the sub-continent for the South Asian viewers across the globe. Digital technology enables a wider choice and Zee is happy to invest substantially in serving South Asians in Australia and New Zealand with its bouquet of channels that deliver Hindi entertainment, Bollywood, South Asian music, news and rich cultural fare and entertainment from Punjab, Gujarat and Bengal. It is for the first time that Zee Network is delivering such a large bouquet of channels in an overseas market. Truly this is a compliment to the multi cultural ethos of Australia and New Zealand. With the launch of these services the South Asian communities will get linked to South Asians across the globe."

Present at a distinguished gathering on the occasion of the launch press conference were, His Excellency The Indian High Commissioner, The Consul General of Pakistan in Sydney and the Consul General of India in Sydney were also kind enough to grace the occasion. Present on the occasion were also the representatives of various community organisations. Mr. Of C & W Optus, the satellite platform provider were also present.

His Excellency, Mr. C P Ravidranathan inaugurated the media launch of the Zee Network services by lighting the auspicious lamp in a traditional ceremony. Mr. Ravindranathan said that the Indian community in Australia and New Zealand is increasingly becoming an important facet of the rich cultural mix of this great country. The rich traditions, values of India and the Sub Continent will, with the launch of Zee Network satellite services, bring home closer to community as well as help augment the cultural mix of this multi-racial and dynamic society.

The Zee bouquet of channels will have its soft launch on the 1st of August 2000, with formal launch on the eve of Independence of India and Pakistan. The bouquet comprises

Basic Package

Zee TV:General Entertainment channel
Zee Cinema:Hindi movie channel
Zee Music:Hindi Music channel (Formerly Music Asia)
Zee News:News and current affairs channel

Add-on channels

Alpha Punjabi:Punjabi language general entertainment channel.
Alpha Gujarati:Gujarati language general entertainment channel.
(12 hr. transmission )
Alpha Bangla:Bangla language general entertainment channel.
(12 hr. transmission )

These channels will be available on the Aurora platform, on the hotbird of Oceania Optus B3 satellite. The marque Zee TV channel will come to our viewers as per Australia and New Zealand prime time zone for the first time programming in their own prime time.

The subscribers to the service would be able to receive the programs of this bouquet through a small size dish (nominally 85cm) and an Integrated Receiver Decoder capable of conditional access interface with the Aurora platform conditional access and subscriber management systems.

Zee Link, the marketing subsidiary of Zee Network will arrange distribution through its authorised contractors a complete package for the installation of the equipment including cabling with option of easy financing.

The subscription marketing will be through a central call centre number 133 036. The subscribers to the service will have the option for signing up the contract to receive the services for a period of 12 months to 24 months. The subscription fees for the basic package will be A$35 + GST per month, while for the add-on channels the subscription fee for 24 hr transmission channel will be A$5 + GST and for the 12 hr transmission channel will be A$3 + GST.

Not a lot around today, No sign of Zee's announcment.I am beginning to think they might of postponed it as I have seen nothing about it.

12.30pm Rugby NZ vs South Africa (live on Sky NZ, not likely to be fta anywhere)

Austar defends remote connection quote
15:28 Thursday 20 July 2000
AAP
PAY television provider Austar today defended a quote of $27,000 to install a satellite dish in northern Queensland, saying pay TV was not a community service.
Richmond locals are outraged at the connection cost and state Mines and Energy Minister Tony McGrady called for an inquiry, saying many country towns would face similar costs.

"Twenty-seven thousand for a rural community to get cable television is an outrage,'' he told ABC radio.

"I just feel that the federal authorities should move in immediately and question whether these people are fit and proper to hold the licence which they do.''

Austar corporate affairs manager Bruce Meagher said customers also had a choice of paying $800 for a lower-quality dish but the options were not properly explained to the Richmond residents.

"Now that's a mistake and we accept that that's a mistake, but it doesn't mean that people have to spend $27,000 for the service, they don't. It's just a mistake at the call centre,'' he said.

Meagher said the standard 65cm satellite dish only worked in coastal areas with broadband network access and the company had to cover its costs.

But a 3.5m dish like the one suggested for Richmond would cover the whole town, and Austar would fund the infrastructure if enough people were interested in signing up.

"In some places where the towns are large enough to economically support the service and our microwave tower, which itself costs $500,000 to construct, we use that,'' he said.

"If a community isn't perhaps large enough to justify that from our point of view we would certainly talk to them about other ways of dealing with it ... remembering pay TV is not a lifeline service, it's still a bit of discretionary entertainment and luxury service.''

Meagher said communities did not have a right to pay television services the way they did for telephone connections.

"Pay TV is not part of the universal service obligation and if it was, people would be outraged ... there are a whole lot of things that you would want to be subsidising before you are subsidising pay TV,'' he said.

Not much news around, except theres quite a rush on for Universal KU LNBs it seems not many people have them other than those with Canal+. If your a dealer with a good price on them I will publish your advert FREE. Send me the details! reports on Measat 2 KU are still needed!

Thanks to those that sent the updated site for Kristals website its now been updated on the links page

Asiasat 2 A new EBU channel has appeared (Encrypted) on 3945 V, SR 6110, FEC 3/4.this will be in preperaton for the Games feeds. Also Australian KU reception of Asiasat has been seen according to Satfacts check 12456H for CCTV4 Analog NTSC, got a 5M solid? start checking those other KU freqs , send in your reports of failures or success

20jul00

CALL it a backdown or call it backtracking
but Communications Minister Richard Alston
yesterday signalled he did not want to ban
the internet industry from "streaming" video
into Australian homes.

After a fortnight of intense pressure from
internet heavyweights who said $2 billion of
investment was threatened by
heavy-handed regulation, Senator Alston
told The Australian he wanted the issue
dealt with "in a matter of weeks rather than
months".

"So I certainly want to get on with it,"
Senator Alston said. "Certainly the last thing
we want to do is cramp the style of the
internet. We want to see as much as
possible made available as widely as
possible."

It was the first time Senator Alston has
acknowledged that any moves to restrict
video or audio streaming may limit development of the internet. And it indicated
the minister does not want an Australian Broadcasting Authority review of the
issue to stretch, as was feared by the industry, over one or even two years.

It is a marked difference from the federal Government's heavy regulation of the
broadcast spectrum to protect the existing free-to-air television broadcasters, led
by Kerry Packer's Nine Network.

Unlike the broadcasters, the new breed of "datacasters" will be banned from
delivering moving pictures in a wide range of genres, including news, sport, drama
and comedy over the digital television from January next year.

In December, Senator Alston raised the prospect of similarly regulating the
internet, pointing to "some uncertainty" whether streamed audio and video were
broadcasting services in legal terms.

It is now understood the Government does not intend to apply the same
restrictions to the internet as Parliament has to datacasting.

Yesterday, Senator Alston blamed the Labor Party for forcing the ABA review into
the datacasting legislation on to the Government.

"I must say I think a lot of these fears are essentially based on something that
was imposed on the Government, that it didn't want and that it's got to try and
resolve as quickly as possible," he said.

Senator Alston was speaking after the launch of Dubsat, a new satellite-based
internet system for delivering television commercials to the country's 43
commercial television stations.

Several industry executives pointed out yesterday that Dubsat's service, which is
set to revolutionise digital advertising, could, theoretically, fall under any
restrictions applied to streaming video.

The change of heart, however, appears to have happened on Tuesday night after
Senator Alston met with the Internet Industry Association, which numbers
Microsoft and Telstra among its members.

Executive director Peter Coroneos said yesterday the minister should now be
under no "misapprehension about the confidence destroying nature this whole
issue has caused" and had "agreed to accelerate the review".

Mr Coroneos said if the Government decides that streaming on the internet should
be subject to the Broadcasting Services Act, the IIA wanted to make sure that
those laws were waived.

"The consequences will be movement offshore and winding back of investment,"he said.

Live chat tonight at 8.30pm Sydney time and chat will also start at 9.30pm if anyone from NZ turns up. Still no sign of Zee's media release Reports are needed of Measats KU band reception please send to my email address and make a cc: to Skyking@clear.net.nz. You will need a Universal LNB for Measats KU band, Don't have one? you should be able to buy one for around $100 Aus. The big question, who is going to be useing this new beam? Something to do with the games perhaps? added my Fax number please no voice calls to this line. Dealers / Media feel free to fax your info to me. P.O Box address to be added later. Does anyone know the address of Kristals website?

Dealers contact me if you want to put an advert on the page 150+ hits a day to your target market..

I have archived some of the older news. You can find it on the History page (see above)

"Siam Global" reports FINALLY TRIED VH1(Pas 4) LAST NIGHT ALSO. STILL FTA BUT.... AND A BIG BUT..... ALL THE AUDIO CHANNELS ON ALL THE FREQUENCIES REPLACED BY A SIMPLE ANNOUNCEMENT SO NO MUSIC. HAVEN'T CHECKED THE AUDIO TODAY.

"Pitts" is looking for a some circuit schematics for his dead Echostar SR8700 if you can help email him pittas@bigpond.com

Reception should be possible in most parts of Australia and the Pacific includeing NZ. Viewers in NSW are in luck reception there may be even possible on dishs smaller than 45cm! (Yes the old LNB to garbage can lid may even manage it)

Look for programming there on 11540 H with Mediasats Optus B3 bouqet, use the following settings

Beam-me-down ads around the corner

By JANE SCHULZE
Tuesday 18 July 2000

Ted Gregory: about $10 million had been spent in television stations throughout Australia developing Dubsat, a potential business-to-business Internet company that has emerged from an idea to deliver advertising to television stations via satellite.

A potential business-to-business Internet company has emerged from an idea to deliver advertising to television stations via satellite.

The company, DubSat, was created by its owners, the post-production houses AAV Australia, OmniLab (partly owned by the publicly listed Television & Media Services) and ComCopy (part of the listed Isis Communications group).

DubSat chairman and AAV managing director Ted Gregory said about $10 million had been spent developing the software and installing video servers in television stations throughout Australia.

The business was spawned from an idea to replace the current system of sending commercials to stations via couriers or through expensive fibre optic cables with a satellite delivery system.

Mr Gregory said other business-to-business applications were now developing.

"DubSat has the potential to provide a lot of other services beyond its launch product," he said.

"We have had some chats with people who may want to have video material delivered from point to multi-point locations, and that's something DubSat will no doubt move into over time."

When television started in 1956, advertisements were sent on film prints to TV stations, and from the early '70s, they were distributed on analogue video tapes.

"They were distributed around Australia by air and road freight, which could take up to 16 hours to get to every TV station," he said.

Under the DubSat system, post-production houses send the commercial to DubSat's bureaus in Sydney or Melbourne where it is digitally encoded and sent to the stations via satellite within an hour.

Unlike the current system, DubSat has created an intranet communications system so TV stations know which commercials are due and when they have arrived. "The advertising agency has to know when a commercial has arrived as they are booking air time," Mr Gregory said.

He said the new system would be more cost-efficient over time, but to send one commercial via satellite would initially cost $35 per advertisement, versus between $20 and $25 for freighting. He said use of fibre optic cable would make DubSat more cost-effective.

He said similar satellite systems operated in the United States, but without the communications backbone.

When hefty cable and satellite penetration numbers were reported about the Indian cable and satellite market as little as five years ago, there was a mad scramble to enter what was then considered a potential goldmine. But wannabe broadcasters discovered that they were actually digging for fools' gold. There was lots of hype, little substance.

Five years, on the hype has once again starting gathering pace. The cable and satellite television industry has been consolidating. International television channels are once again making a beeline for it, existing channels are digitising and encrypting, while analysts have turned euphoric about its potential. Existing numbers however still don't offer substantial support.

In terms of critical mass, India's cable industry is second only to China in the Asia-Pacific. Indiantelevision.com estimates that India has around 28 million cable homes. And the numbers are rising by the day as more homes buy new TVs or a second one.

However, encryption is only up to the cable TV headend. Cable ops descramble the digitised signals and pass them on in a wholesale manner to all their subscribers. This is thanks to the last mile problem and the absence of a return path in more than 70 per cent of Indian cable TV networks. Additionally, addressable boxes have yet to make their way into subscriber homes.

Some stray efforts have been made to bring cable TV networks up to scratch. Some systems have gone up to 750 MHz bandwidth. But mostly cable TV MSOs have shouted from the rooftops that they are upgrading their networks to a fibre optic backbone. The shouting has been just that: shouting with little action.

In 1999, subscription revenue from encrypted channels was estimated between Rs 1,500 million- Rs 2,000 million ($23 million-$46 million), shared by a host of channels including Star Movies, Star Plus, ESPN, Star Sports, Star World, Discovery, Cartoon Network, HBO, Hallmark, Kermit, National Geographic, Animal Planet, and Zee Cinema.

As against this, the average per home cable TV subscription charge is on the upper side at Rs 100, giving a total of about Rs 2,000 million (for 20 million paying homes) a month, totting up to about Rs 2,400 million per annum for the entire industry. "Three years ago pay TV was a bad and untouchable word," says ESPN-Star Sports managing director Manu Sawhney, "Then there was a grudging acceptance, today it is a reality ...everyone accepts it as a concept."

He, however, says there is a major problem plaguing the industry in that all the players have done little to expand the subscription channel pie. "We have all tried to retain our shares rather than increase the size of the pie. We have not spoken in one voice." In recent times however Star TV has started an ad campaign exhorting cable operators and consumers on the need for subscription television. "We are building the background for pay TV. In the next stage we will start advertising a maximum retail price like most other consumer industries do," says Star TV executive vice-president Arun Mohan.

The Star TV exercise will help, but it seems more like a rearguard action to help protect the hike in basic subscription levies that the network levied on cable operators when it priced its channel packages at between Rs 17.50 and Rs 22 recently. Star TV is likely to
have a bouquet of some 16 channels and has recently inked agreements with production house UTV to provide content for its health and education channel.

Ranged against it is the leader in the Indian market Zee Telefilms which has just started its digital package rollout and has priced its bouquet at a cut throat price of Rs 11. It is undercutting Star TV on the sticker price of the digital set top box too by pricing it at Rs 2,000 as against the Rs 5,000 or so levied by Star TV.

The strategy has led to a major duel in the market with some cable operators hurt by Star TV's aggressiveness in the past even dropping some Star channels. "It's a very strong play by Zee TV," says an observer. "And in the short term it is going to hurt Star." Zee is keen on cobbling together an 18 channel bouquet in the medium term.

The third player in the digital pay TV sweepstakes is Sony Entertainment Television which is cobbling together its channel package. AXN, Set Max, CNBC India (it has just got TV 18 board clearance to take a 20 per cent stake in the channel) , and of course SET. It is believed to be in the running to get in Disney into India (as is Star). Talks are on with a gaggle of other channels including Discovery, Animal Planet, The History Channel.

The fourth player which is showing signs of aggression is B4U which is cobbling together a bouquet of channels consisting of B4U, MCM, Fashion TV, and B4U Movies. Distribution will be outsourced to the Satellite Management Group, which is a distribution company set up specifically for that purpose.

DD's channels which the government is likely to mandate carriage goes to make up the fifth bouquet. The final bouquet is likely to be the channels which chose to be not associated with any of the other bouquets and could include channels such as BBC World, CNN, Cartoon Network, HBO (these three channels are being distributed by Turner International India), Deutschewelle TV, TV5, Arirang TV, Hallmark, Kermit, Prabhat, Sahara TV, among several others. The fact that there are independent channels has led to the increasing importance of distribution companies such as Modi Entertainment Network (the pioneers), CAT Vision, the Satellite Management Group. Each of these firms will have a group of independent channels which it will bundle together for a package. "There's place for just three -four digital bouquets in the Indian market" says Sony Entertainment COO Rajesh Pant. "We intend to be at the forefront."

Sawhney says the move towards pay TV will not be easy because of the disparity in the infrastructure nationally from region to region. "You have to have a different way of managing pay TV in the rural market, which consists of around 8.4 million homes," he points out. "The market is too price sensitive there. So while you can totally encrypt and charge a high price for urban areas how will you cope with disgruntlement for the remainder of the populace in semi-urban and rural areas."

IndusInd Entertainment COO Ashok Mansukhani says the government should find a way to regulate pay channels through the consumer set top box regime. "It's a crisis situation for the MSOs," he says. "We are today giving away more than Rs 60 of the Rs 100 we collect from subscribers for various pay TV services."

Pant believes mandating or regulation will prove detrimental to the cable TV industry. "Cable TV has grown in the absence of regulation. Let India follow the Taiwan model and leave it to market forces," he says. He sees a scenario where pay TV revenues will end up being equal to advertising revenues. "This has to happen as the ad market is not growing rapidly enough," he says. "However," says Sawhney "there are no easy solutions to get us there. The pay TV industry like water in a glass will take shape as it has to."

There was some very important information added late last night info on a Legislation that threatens the FTA satellite industry (Australia). It gets worse not only are they trying to legislate satellite receivers with CI they are attempting also to legislate streaming media in Australia so companies like www.network33.com will not be able to start up in Australia offering Pay TV channels over the Internet. No sign of the Zee announcement at this time.It will go up as soon as I find it.

Today is the day that Zee said they would do a news release.
I note that today, on Optus B3 @ 09.30AM NSW Australia, that channel BTV1 on
Aurora platform is displaying an Optus BOC testcard, with the words Zee
Network Australia on the information panel. May be something coming on there
today re their product.
Regards
John

17/07/2000 01:40 PM

The Internet Industry Association (IIA) has launched a bitter attack on government plans to legislate streaming multimedia.

"The review is ill-conceived, unnecessary and highly damaging to business confidence," IIA executive director Peter Coroneos said in a statement today. "As such, it should not proceed. We will be urging the Minister to introduce legislation in the next session of parliament to kill this off before the damage to industry confidence and investment becomes irreparable. This is not just an issue of timing. While bringing the review forward might reduce the damage, it is only a half measure. The review which should not have occurred in the first place. There is only one acceptable outcome here and that is to get rid of it now."

The Federal Government fast-tracked plans for a review of streaming multimedia by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) in late June. Given the government's determination to block any competition to existing pay TV broadcasters, it is widely feared that restrictions will be placed on streaming content within Australia. The IIA will present its concerns to IT minister Richard Alston at a meeting in Canberra tomorrow.

Like previous government plans to block adult material and gambling sites, any streaming restrictions would be limited in their effect to local operators, as the government has no control over international site operators. "In international terms, what is happening now in Australia is unprecedented," Coroneos commented. "In domestic terms, it is insanity," he said.

"If video and audio streaming will be found to be broadcasting only the free to air broadcasters will be able to deliver the most compelling broadband content over the Net -- given the government's moratorium on broadcasting licences they will be handed free of charge a statutory monopoly for six more years. What an extremely valuable asset a broadcasting licence would be then. It's almost 'buy one, get one free'."

"Our members are deeply cynical and suspicious of the government's motives," Coroneos added. "Everyone knows that the Internet is not broadcasting, it is point-to-point. So why would a government hold an inquiry to prove what is common knowledge, unless it had other plans?"

India to Allow Direct Uplinks

/Satnews Asia/ -- The Satellite TV fever has caught on India and spreading very fast in this region. India?s government has decided to allow satellite broadcasters to uplink directly from the country. Permission will be granted to Indian television companies and news agencies which are 100 percent Indian-owned, along with foreign television companies which have an Indian, or a non-resident Indian, owning at least 60 percent of the shares in the company. Private satellite channels have been demanding direct uplinking from India for the last few months.

The high-level Group of Ministers (GOM) committee will allow Indian news agencies with Indian management control to uplink directly to a satellite bypassing facilities offered by state-owned gatekeeper Videsh Sanchar Nigam. Recently, the GOM allowed non-broadcast companies to set up uplink hubs in India, and lease the service to broadcasters and others.

In India, Doordharshan is the only organization offering satellite TV services with local uplinking. Prior to the announcement, no private companies were uplinking from India. Due to policy restrictions, a number of services had to operate their bases at neighboring countries. DTH (Direct to Home) services are also not available in India. The recent announcement of the new broadcasting policy by the Indian government is expected to open new opportunities for companies to uplink from the country.
While Doordharsan (Government owned) offers an International channel (DD3) and a number of regional language channels, private broadcasters are providing a number of channels in Hindi (national language) as well as regional languages. International companies like Star TV, BBC and CNN are providing their satellite services tuned to India. Though these channels are basically English channels, they have started provided local contents and language programs.

Piracy of Satellite Signals on the Rise in Asia

Satnews Asia/ -- According to CASBAA (Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia), piracy of satellite signals is escalating in The Philippines, Thailand and India.

The association identified the countries, together with member Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the major Hollywood studios. To tackle the problem, CASBAA has already de-activated the decoders of illegal cable systems in the Philippines and the channels withdrawn from pirate cable systems include AXN, Discovery Asia, Animal Planet, Hallmark and Nickelodeon.

CASBAA is taking a serious view of satellite piracy and it has set aside funds to ?undertake prosecutions to the fullest extent permissible in several market?. International channels such as HBO face increasing problems with piracy. According to the movie channel, a growing number of satellite decoders, reportedly from countries with direct-to-home systems, were smuggled and sold in the Philippines. These decoders are said to be capable of receiving, across international borders, satellite signals of pay-TV channels such as HBO, Cinemax, Discovery, ESPN and MTV. These satellite signal decoders operated by illegal cable systems in the Philippines have been deactivated as part of a "fingerprinting" exercise.

Among cable operators suffering from disabled and de-authorized channels were the Fil Products systems in Dumaguete and Butuan. Among the channels withdrawn from distribution to the pirate cable systems were AXN, Discovery Asia, Animal Planet, Hallmark and Nickelodeon.

"Fingerprinting" enables a channel supplier to identify a "rogue" domestic set-top box that has strayed outside of its licensed market and for the channel supplier to subsequently disconnect the set top.

"This is just the start of a long-term CASBAA campaign to bring home to pay-TV operators and others the damage that intellectual property theft can do to all parties concerned with the legal distribution of multichannel television and datacast services," said Simon Twiston Davies, the Executive Director of CASBAA.

"In some markets the problem is reaching crisis proportions, not only having a significant impact on the channel suppliers but also on legally licensed and operated cable systems, equipment suppliers and conditional access suppliers."

The CASBAA Legal Committee, working with CASBAA member the Motion Picture Association of America -- which in turn represents the major Hollywood Studios -- has identified three Asian markets where signal piracy is escalating: The Philippines, Thailand and its neighbouring countries, and India.

"The Association will undertake and support new initiatives to protect member company intellectual property rights wherever possible," said Mr Twiston Davies. "As part of our anti-piracy activities significant funding has been set aside to undertake prosecutions to the fullest extent permissible in several markets."

Skystream Gets China CETV Contract

Satnews Asia/ -- SkyStream Networks announced that China Education Television (CETV) has selected its networking equipment as the primary broadcast networking technology for a nationwide infrastructure that will deliver multimedia-rich Internet content and video to students and teachers throughout the People's Republic of China.

Using SkyStream's DBN-26 Source Media Routers (SMRs) integrated with Lucent Technologies' WaveStar DVS MPEG-2 Digital Video System, IBM's storage and media management system, and France Telecom's ViAccess conditional access system, CETV will offer integrated Internet and television programming to improve training for teachers and ensure that students from primary schools to universities -- in even the most remote regions of the country -- access high-quality education.

The content encoded includes university courses, business training and skills training for teachers. Within the next three years, students will be able to access CETV content at one of the 800,000 schools that will be equipped with a satellite receiving system. In addition, the Chinese Ministry of Education plans to use SkyStream equipment to provide CETV content to local cable systems in major cities through digital cable services.

As a result of the deal, CETV is positioned to expand its offerings in the future to offer an interactive approach to learning for populations in metropolitan cities or rural areas. The broadcast network will offer educational content ranging from streaming video of educational lectures to agriculture and environment protection training.

"SkyStream's technology enables the government's distance-learning infrastructure to transmit multimedia-rich educational content by multicasting it to millions of students around the country," said Zhang Tian Lin, vice president and chief engineer of CETV. "SkyStream's SMRs make it possible for us to create an efficient broadcast network infrastructure for delivering educational streaming video, audio and Internet Web pages to remote classrooms across China."

Sino-i.com to Spend US$51m, Hire 800 for pay TV Service

Satnews Asia/ -- Sino-i.com Ltd will spend HK$400 million (US$51.3 million) to HK$500 million and hire 800 people to set up a Hong Kong pay TV service for which it won a license last week, the South China Morning Post reported.

Sino-i's pay service, Hong Kong Network Television Ltd, intends to provide 40 channels this year, increasing to 65 channels in the second year, according to the report, citing Sino-i.com chief operating officer John Shum Kin-fun.

While the broadcaster will use Hutchison Global Crossing Ltd.'s broadband fiber optic network for most of its distribution, it will use other networks if they're available, the paper said. Its agreement with the telecommunications company is not exclusive.

The government awarded five pay TV licenses on Tuesday to companies that promised to operate 149 channels. Apart from Sino-i, units of Television Broadcasts Ltd and News Corp's Satellite Television Asian Region Ltd won licenses.

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ the following article reposted from Satfacts website with permission

SatFACTS Page Two Last Update: July 17, 2000

SatFACTS and SPACE Pacific EXTRA:
Legislation that threatens the FTA satellite industry (Australia)

The present Australian Government has obtained initial House approval for new legislation which on the surface is a significant threat to the free to air satellite television industry. "Copyright Amendment - 1999 / digital agenda" contains language which could be interpreted to prohibit the sale of digital IRDs which have the in-built capability to accept a separately provided smart card for authorisation of pay-TV.

The law seeks to clarify the marketing of "pay TV broadcast decoding devices" as well as "computer programs designed to be adapted to enable a person to gain access to an encoded broadcast without the authorisation of the subscription broadcaster." The intent is to stop trafficking in piracy cards and computer software which emulates authorised cards (see SatFACTS for July 15, p. 20).
What is not clear is the intent of the law crafters as the law might apply to the importation and sale of CI version digital receivers. The language defines the sale of a decoding device by referencing "facilitating the circumvention" (of authorised pay TV reception). "Facilitating" is defined by The Concise Oxford Dictionary as, "make easy or less difficult or more easily achieved."
What is worrying here is that this could be interpreted to include anyone who (imports and) sells a digital IRD which has the built-in capability of accepting a smart card. If, for example, all CI capable receivers were "banned" (except those imported for the exclusive use of the pay-TV programmers), would it not follow that the "law has worked" simply because without a CI capable receiver, a smart card (whether authorised or not) could not be employed to gain access to the pay-TV programming?
Actually, no. As SatFACTS for July 15th reports (p. 20), the latest "piracy trick" involves a receiver with no smart card, and, the CAM disabled. In other words, as SatFACTS tells us, by using the RS232 port on a receiver and disabling the CAM slot, adding a PC with software which emulates the decryption routine, the hacker gains access to services through the RS232 receiver port..
Leon Senior of Satech points out that the real problem here is that pay-TV programmers have failed to create a hack-proof conditional access system. He suggests the law now being considered is for the benefit of the programmers who simply will not or have not adopted a hack-proof system. He further spoofs that if Hoyt Cinema built a theatre building with glass walls and then found people lined up outside with their noses pressed to the glass panes watching the movie without paying, that rather than closing off the glass walls, Hoyts went to Government and asked for additional police protection to arrest those people who have their noses pressed to the window. Amusing but perhaps not on point.
The reality is that we have built a free to air satellite television industry against all odds in Australia (and New Zealand, the Pacific). It is a small industry, it is not well organised, and we are often painted with the same brush that paints pirates simply because the pay-TV firms would rather we did not exist. We are called something most of us are not (pirates) simply because we offer commercial alternatives to mandatory pay-TV services.
But because we are small, with most distributors seldom selling more than 200 of a single model of digital receiver per month, the receivers we purchase from Korea, Taiwan and elsewhere are NOT designed for OUR purposes - they are designed for the much larger European and Asian markets. We have no input as to the design of these receivers ( well, very little input) and as any distributor/importer will tell you, the models we receive are for someplace else - not designed for "here."
This creates a unique situation. Virtually all receiver manufacturers are now reserving their best features for the CI version receivers. Yes, there are still non-CI digital receivers but the trend is away from such models except at very low price entry levels. In other words, if "facilitating the circumvention" of pay-TV conditional access is held to include the importation and sale of receivers with CI (CAM imbedded/ Common Interface) capabilities, the choice and selection of receivers available for Australia will become significantly smaller. This would in a short period of time eliminate Australia as a desirable market for the Asian receiver suppliers, and very directly injure the struggling FTA (free to air) industry here.
Does a shop that sells hunting rifles and pistols "facilitate" the commission of a crime if a gun sold is ultimately used for a hold up? Does an automobile dealer selling a 200 km/h capable vehicle "facilitate" the breaking of the speed laws? Does a kitchen shop selling a 10 inch butcher knife "facilitate" the murder of a husband by an irate wife? More to the point, whereas every part one needs to build their own PIC-device piracy CAM to bust pay-TV is available from hundreds of electronic parts houses, including better equipped Dick Smith Electronics, are they "facilitating" the crime of breaking into pay-TV without paying???
Does this mean that Nationwide, when selling a UEC receiver for Aurora, can be held for "facilitating" the use of that receiver for unauthorised reception from Foxtel or Austar if the buyer elects to insert a piracy card, CAM or connect his or her PC to the receiver for card-less viewing? In other words, if CI or CAM equipped receivers are to be illegal because they "MIGHT facilitate" piracy viewing, is the seller of the CI or CAM receiver - even for Aurora - to be held responsible? If Satech is held responsible for selling a Strong CI equipped receiver, should not Nationwide also be held responsible for selling a UEC CAM equipped receiver?
SPACE Pacific took these questions and more to Ms Annabelle Herd, an attorney attached to the office of Senator Allston (tel 03-9650-0233) who's Ministry is responsible for this legislation. Ms Herd told us that the law attempts to differentiate between "primary purpose" of a device and "secondary uses." "A computer, for example, is not sold for the sole purpose of breaking a pay-TV firm's encryption system. It has other uses, and if a computer buyer decides to use his PC for breaking pay-TV, that is not a reason to go back on the seller of the PC." We asked her whether someone selling parts, through Dick Smith Electronics or another electronic supplier, that allows the construction of a PIC-type device which in turn becomes a pay-TV piracy item, should be included in the dragnet for "facilitating the circumvention" of pay TV? "No, and for the same reason. Parts sold can be used for a wide variety of purposes, and it is unreasonable to expect the seller to know what the buyer intends to do with them."
"How, then" we asked "can a digital satellite receiver which is designed for free to air AND pay-TV purposes be deemed a 'facilitator' of pay TV piracy?" Her response - "perhaps this needs to be looked at, more closely, but at this point I cannot give you my assurance that it would not be deemed to be a facilitator. It may turn on whether free to air or pay TV is the PRIMARY purpose for the receiver."
Meanwhile, a group called "The Australian Film and Video Security Office" has been visiting dish dealers. A man identified as Bill Taylor, by his business card, claiming to represent the
audio and video anti piracy board, told a dealer visited on July 17th, "We know you are selling receivers here which are being used for piracy purposes." The receivers he so identified come from Skyvision and Benjamin according to Taylor's comments. "Receivers capable of accepting a (pay TV) smart card are likely to end up in the hands of a pirate" Taylor lectured the dealer. "These receivers (mentioning brand names) are not approved for Australian pay TV and we consider them to be illegal." The dealer asked why he was being visited. "Because your name appears here" he was told, as Taylor pulled out pages of transcripts dating back to the Rolf Deubel (Mad Max) case. "We have proof here you had correspondence with this man so we know you have an interest in piracy." Yes - the laptop PC hard drive Deubel lost to the Thailand authorities, as reported in SatFACTS last November and December, has now been transcribed and pages of e-mails are in the hands of Taylor and his assistants.
This encounter coming as it does so close to the proposed adoption of new legislation identifying "facilitators" of piracy is hardly a coincidence. Even if Annabelle Herd is not sure whether a "facilitator" would include a CI/CAM receiver, the Australia Film and Video Security Office has apparently already made up their mind - or been told what to think by the pay-TV operators.
Here is how we interpret events up to this point:
1) The pay-TV folks want all sale of receivers which have the ability to be used by pirates stopped; they do not care whom they hurt in this process.
2) The Australian Film and Video Security Office is gathering evidence from the field, they appear to have already made up their minds, doubtless for the purpose of selecting some "examples" for prosecution as soon as this pending legislation becomes law.
Status:
This law was drafted in 1999, has been through initial reading and approval by the House. When Parliament reconvenes in mid-August, it is likely at this time the bill will get fast track treatment for passage in the Senate. The legislation has the backing of both major political parties and at this point is unlikely to encounter resistance in the Senate.
Ms Annabelle Herd on the time remaining. "If there are valid concerns and real arguments concerning aspects of this legislation which may have been overlooked, there is at most two weeks to get changes made. We were very careful in crafting the legislation and we believe the words chosen would ensure that no innocent business man or individual would be hurt. If, in fact, we are wrong, the reasons why we are wrong need to be filed immediately."

There are very few days remaining to have an impact on this legislation. You can check the status yourself by the following:
1) Enter http://www.aph.gov.au/legis.htm
2) Click on Current Bills
3) Click on Copyright Amendment (digital agenda)
4) Click on text bill
5) Click on PDF and check out pages 30 to 35, or Acrobat pages 34 - 39
Also click on and read the various statements made by members of the House which appear on the same page as "text bill."
Because the House bill (now adopted) had the support of Government and Labour, it is likely the Senate version will have the same broad support. This means it does not matter who your Senator sits with - if you can catch his or her ear on this matter, regardless of where he or she is in Government, there is an opportunity to have the bill modified to clarify the "facilitator" question.
If you wish to discuss the matter further, we believe you will find Ms Annabelle Herd very receptive to at least hear your concerns. Further, she will accept written comments as well. If you file written comments with your own Senator, also send a copy to Ms Herd. Her numbers are (tel) 03-9650 0233 and (fax) 03-9650 0220.

Task force:
The following distributors are battling on behalf of the industry to have this legislation modified to protect us from disaster:
1) Jacob Keness, MediaStar as Opac@bigpond.com
2) Leon Senior, Satech as satellite@satech.com.au
We will post other distributors and dealers here as supporters of change - to be listed, send us via fax (64-9-406-1083) a copy of any comments you file with Annabelle Herd or send us an e-mail reporting in detail on contacts you have with Senators or their staffs on this issue. If your distributor is not working on this, make them aware of what is happening and urge them to join the battle.
(Posted July 17, 2000)

Live chat tonight in the chatroom 8.30pm Sydney time. A new edition of CSAT online satellite magazine is out (Volume 13) click on the Csat logo up the top of the page to load it up although its contents are rather disapointing and out of date. Hopefully tommorow afternoon when I do the site update there should be some news of Zee's services to Australia/NZ. URL for Handan/Pheonix has been corrected.

PAS 4, "Zee News" has started testing on 3,743 H, MPEG-2/clear, SID 103, PIDs 2360/2320.
PAS 4, "Channel J" has started on 4,034 H, MPEG-2/clear, PIDs 1460/1420.

Have you noticed a new FTA channel in the CNBC Bouquet on PAS 8 ?
It is called Nikkei CNBC and has different programming to the other regional
CNBCs.

Dear Customer

You may be aware that Austar has announced its intention to make a takeover
offer for eisa Limited, the provider of your internet service. I would like
to take this opportunity to introduce Austar to you and to assure you that
if the takeover offer is successful, we are committed to maintaining and
improving the high standard of service you currently receive.

Austar is one of Australia's leading pay television operators. We have
invested hundreds of millions of dollars building a business in regional
Australia which serves over 400,000 customers and employs more than 1,100
people.

Austar has recently launched an internet service, austar.net. We aim to be
a major player in the internet industry. Acquiring eisa is an important
step in our expansion plans.

At Austar we pride ourselves on the quality of service we provide our
customers and we make the same commitment to you. We will maintain the
service you receive, support will be just a phone call away and we aim to
improve your access to the best quality content on the internet.

One of the most exciting things about joining Austar is the opportunity to
upgrade your service to broadband, with chello. The chello service is super
fast, super quality internet which lets you do things you only dream about
today. We will tell you more about chello over the coming months.

We expect the takeover process to take about eight weeks.

We look forward to serving you in the future.

Regards

Dana Strong
Managing Director
Austar United Broadband

Status change for Indonesian state-television network TVRI Indonesian state-run television network TVRI is now a "state company" (Perjan) under the Finance Ministry. It previously held the status of "foundation" under the now defunct Information Ministry. A striking point of difference between the two, ruled under a presidential decree dated June 7, 2000, is the new TVRI is protected from interference by other ministries. Although it continues to be financed by the government, the new TVRI will be independent in its programming, TVRI director Chairul Zen said.

RCTI to join News Corp empire News Corp is believed to be close to securing an equity stake in Indonesian free-to-air station RCTI, according to local sources. It is thought that a shareholder meeting will be called early this month to vote on the proposal and sources suggest that the shareholders will support the deal. Despite falling behind Indosiar in recent months, RCTI remains one the country¹s leading commercial terrestrial stations. Sources say that either Bambang Trihatmojo, son of ex-president Sharyo and the holder of a majority 70 per cent stake in RCTI, or the Rajawali Group, which holds the remaining 30 per cent, would be willing to sell. News Corp is also to take a 15 per cent stake in a leading Indian technology portal ITspace.com while subsidiary Star TV is reportedly launching a bid for a 20 per cent stake in Indian cable operator Hathaway Cable & Diatom. Meanwhile, chairman Rupert Murdoch told Maharashtra chief minister Velars Desmukh, during the latter¹s recent trip to Los Angeles, that News Corp will open a film studio in Mamba and will release details in September. News Corp also announced last week that in partnership with World Sport Group it has won the bid for telecast rights, sponsorship rights and Internet rights for all the cricket events organised and owned by the International Cricket Council for the next seven years.

TVRI and RCTI break away from Olympic consortium Indonesian terrestrial stations TVRI and RCTI have broken away from the six-station consortium that refused to meet the Asian Broadcasting Union¹s initial asking price for the rights to 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and are believed to have secured the terrestrial rights independently for around US$1.2 million. The consortium of TVRI, RCTI, SCTV, TPI, ANTEVE and IVM initially shied away from the Abu's first offer set at US$1.8 million. TVRI and RCTI, however, are believed to have moved independently in a bid to secure the rights and will pay around US$200,000 for a satellite feed. They are said to be sharing both the fee and the feed. Cable operator Kabelvision has secured the pay-TV rights. An industry source said the pay-TV deal would provide Kabelvision with six simultaneous feeds of the games, although he could not disclose financial details. Meanwhile, Kabelvision no longer has the monopoly on Channel [V], following an agreement signed last month securing the music and youth channel carriage on the Indovision system.

No	Options	Channels	Monthly Fees
1	Basic	Zee TV + Zee Cinema + Zee News + Zee Music	$ 38.50
2	Basic + Alpha 1	Zee TV + Zee Cinema + Zee News + Zee Music + Alpha Punjabi	$ 44.00
3	Basic + Alpha 2	Zee TV + Zee Cinema + Zee News + Zee Music + Alpha Gujarati (12 hours) + Alpha Bangla (12 hours)	$ 41.80
4	All Channels	Zee TV + Zee Cinema + Zee News + Zee Music + Alpha Punjabi+ Alpha Gujarati (12 + Alpha Bangla	$ 47.30