31/03/02
Sunday and Easter have a nice day! no update
30/03/02
Jcsat 8 (2-a) has Launched successfully! See reports in the News section. There should be a bit of Tarbs activity next week on Thaicom 3. They will also launch 2 PAS 10 transponders in the next month or two.
You can watch video of the JCsat 2-a launch here! http://www.iijnet.or.jp/JSAT/stage1/index.html
GMA on Agila 2 146E the Analog signal on 4161 anyone report a change there? I sent them an Email recently.With a bit of luck they will boost the power.
From my Emails & ICQ
From Mitch
SKY Racing Feed running FTA on B1 12316 H 6980 3/4 2:00pm sat
Mitch
From ME
3pm Syd
B1, 12428 V Sr 5630, Fec 3/4 "Video Australasia, news feed" Vpid 4194 Apid 4195 (Fine in NZ!)
From the Dish
Koreasat 3 116E 12370 H "PBC TV" has started, Fta, SID 10, PIDs 1002/1000.
Palapa C2 113E 4027 H "Mystery" no other details, Sr 5632 Fec 3/4
Palapa C2 113E 11150 V "TTV and CTV" have swapped SIDs
Palapa C2 113E 11150 V "CTS and TTV" have swapped SIDs and PIDs
Asiasat 3 105.5E 3700 V The test cards are now FTA.(HBO comming here soon)
Asiasat 3 105.5E 4000 H "Xing Kong TV" is FTA. ( This is the new Rupert Murdoch , Mandarin channel licensed to broadcast via cable to Southern China. You can watch Friends dubbed into Mandarin here.
Asiasat 3 105.5E 4140 V "Alpha TV Bangla and Alpha TV Marathi" have moved here from 3700 V, PIDs 161/84 and 163/92
Intelsat 904 60E Intelsat 904 has moved from 58.5 East to 60 East and replaced Intelsat 604.
Intelsat 904 60E Occasional feeds on 4173 R and 4193 R, SR 6110, FEC 3/4, global beam.
NEWS
Ariane 4 launches a pair of commercial satellites
From http://spaceflightnow.com/ariane/v149/
A pair of Japanese and European satellites, both built in the U.S. by Boeing, shared a ride into space Thursday night atop an Arianespace Ariane 4 rocket.
Liftoff occurred right on schedule at 8:29 p.m. EST (0129 GMT Friday) from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana on South America's northeast coastline.
The venerable launcher flew in its most powerful configuration -- the 44L version with four liquid-propellant strap-on boosters.
About 19 minutes into flight, the targeted geosynchronous transfer orbit was achieved, with a high point of 35,995 km, low point of 249.8 km and inclination of 4.0 degrees to the equator.
The JCSAT-8 spacecraft, built by Boeing Satellite Systems for JSAT Corp. of Tokyo, was released into space from the Ariane's upper stage 21 1/2 minutes after launch.
The satellite is also known as JCSAT-2A. It will become the successor to the aging JCSAT-2 spacecraft launched on December 31, 1989 aboard a commercial Titan 3 rocket from Cape Canaveral.
Over the coming weeks, controllers will maneuver JCSAT-8 into a circular geostationary orbit 36,000 km above the equator where it will be parked at 154 degrees East longitude.
At that vantage point, JSAT will use the satellite to provide television and other telecommunications services across the Asia-Pacific region.
JSAT is the leading satellite operator in Asia and has a fleet of orbiting craft that serve a wide span of the globe from Pakistan to Hawaii.
With JCSAT-8 deployed, the Ariane rocket ejected the dual payload adapter called Spelda. The structure enables two satellites to be stacked atop each other for launch aboard a single rocket.
Once the Spelda was released, the Astra 3A satellite was exposed and ready to separate from the launcher. Deployment occurred just over 27 minutes into the flight, concluding the 68th consecutive successful launch of the Ariane 4 dating back to 1995.
Astra 3A will also ascend into geostationary orbit, ultimately reaching a spot at 23.5 degrees East longitude.
Built by Boeing for Luxembourg-based SES Astra, the barrel-shaped satellite will be used to provide direct-to-home TV programming to subscribers of the Astra system.
The craft is destined to serve Germany, Austria and Switzerland, transmitting cable TV feeds and supporting broadband and Internet services. It will also provide follow-on capacity for Deutsche Telekom's Kopernikus satellite at the same orbital location.
At the end of 2001, 91.3 million European homes received Astra. Astra is owned and operated by SES Astra, a wholly owned subsidiary of SES GLOBAL, the world's premier satellite operator.
Arianespace said this was the 60th dual satellite launch it has performed in 149 flights. It was the first time in about six years that Boeing Satellite Systems, formerly Hughes Space and Communications, has flown two satellites together in this fashion.
"Our last dual launch was in early 1996," said Randy Brinkley, president of Boeing Satellite Systems. "Getting two different customers' satellites ready for the same launch can only happen as a result of a tremendous and highly coordinated effort by our factory, our customers and the launch provider."
Thursday's launch was Arianespace's fourth of 2002. Next up is the planned April 16 launch of an Ariane 4 carrying the Lockheed Martin-built NSS-7 telecommunications spacecraft for New Skies Satellites.
There are just six Ariane 4 rockets left to fly before the vehicle is retired in favor of the next-generation Ariane 5, which successfully returned to flight a month ago after suffering an upper stage failure last summer.
"After a very in-depth analysis of Ariane 5, this analysis has shown our Ariane 5 worked perfectly and we are definitely back in business with this launch vehicle," Jean-Yves Le Gall, Arianespace's chief operating officer, said Thursday night.
The next Ariane 5 launch is expected in a couple of months.
Pair of Boeing Satellites Orbited by Single Ariane 4 Rocket
From http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ariane4_launch_020328.html
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- It was another launch that touched nearly the entire planet.
A pair of satellites built in the United States were sent into space Thursday from South America, riding atop a European-built rocket for customers in Japan, East Asia, Oceania and Hawaii, as well as Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Everything worked as planned beginning with the 8:29 p.m. EST (0129 GMT) liftoff from the Guiana Space Center of an Ariane 4 rocket equipped with four liquid-fueled strap-on boosters.
Less than 27 minutes later both of the Boeing Satellite Systems-built spacecraft had separated from the rocket's third stage, with JCSAT 8 deploying first followed minutes later by ASTRA 3A.
"I can tell you how happy I am after seeing this picture-perfect sequence of events," said Jean-Yves LeGall, Arianespace's chief operating officer.
JCSAT 8 -- also known as JCSAT 2A in some company references -- will be operated by JSAT Corporation of Tokyo and provide a broad range of telecommunications services using 16 Ku-band and 16 C-band transponders. The spacecraft will replace JCSAT 2, which was launched by a Commercial Titan 3 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Jan. 1, 1990.
ASTRA 3A will be operated by SES ASTRA of Luxembourg and offer German-speaking customers high-power, direct-to-home broadcast services usings its 20 Ku-band transponders.
The satellite-delivery mission was the 110th for the Ariane 4 family of boosters and marked the first time in six years that a pair of spacecraft built by Boeing were orbited atop the same rocket.
"We look forward to coming here for more dual launches," said Arturo Rosales, a Boeing vice president. "I wish both our customers much success."
Six more Ariane 4 launches are planned by the European commercial launch firm before Arianespace retires the booster in favor of the more powerful and more modern Ariane 5.
Arianespace officials noted that it was four weeks to the day since the Ariane 5 returned to flight following a botched launch the previous July. Having analyzed all of the post-flight data, managers said the Ariane 5 was working fine once again.
"We are definitely back to business with this launch vehicle," LeGall said.
With the successful flight on Thursday, Arianespace has sent 198 satellites and 38 auxiliary payloads into orbit. And out of the 244 launch service contracts won by Arianespace since 1981, the company still has 37 satellites to launch, as well as nine supply missions to the International Space Station.
The next Arianespace shot is expected April 16 when an Ariane 4 is to launch the NSS-7 telecommunications satellite.
Ariane-4 launches communication sats
From http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=5292851
FRENCH GUIANA: A EUROPEAN Ariane rocket placed two communications satellites into orbit after a textbook launch from equatorial French Guiana late on Thursday, space officials said.
The Ariane 44L rocket equipped with four liquid strap-on boosters — the most powerful in the Ariane-4 family — blasted off at 10:29 pm (8:29 pm EST) from the European Space Agency launch center at Kourou, on the Northeast coast of South America.
The rocket was visible from the ground for less than a minute before disappearing behind a thick layer of clouds. Twenty-one minutes after lift-off, the JCSAT-8 satellite separated from the rocket.
The satellite will provide telecommunications services throughout the Asia-Pacific region for Japan’s JSAT Corporation. JCSAT weighed 2.6 tonnes at launch and was built in California by Boeing Space Systems.
Six minutes later, the rocket orbited ASTRA 3A for Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES-ASTRA. Also built by BSS, the 1.5-tonne satellite will service German-speaking areas of Europe with television and direct-to-home broadband services.
*STRA 3A will provide SES ASTRA with highly cost-effective additional transmission capacity for cable feeds and new, innovative broadband applications targeting the thriving German- speaking markets,” Ferdinand Kayser, SES ASTRA president, said in a statement after the launch.
Specialists estimated the combined cost of both satellites, launch and insurance at over $300m.
Thursday’s 149th Ariane launch was the 110th of an Ariane-4 rocket since 1988 and its 68th consecutive successful flight.
Despite its reliability, Ariane-4’s days are numbered as it will be taken out of service after six more launches and replaced by the more powerful Ariane-5 rocket.
Arianespace, the French company that launches and markets Ariane rockets, said it had firm orders to launch 37 satellites and nine automated transfer vehicles for the International Space Station.
The company will be in a position to gain a significant number of new contracts from the European Galileo global positioning satellite system that was approved this month by the European Union over US objections.
?Galileo is important for Arianespace,” the company’s director general Jean-Yves Le Gall said. “It represents 30 satellites to be launched and I can’t imagine they will be launched by other launchers than Ariane.”
Optus pulls plug on Seven
From http://finance.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,4042044%255E462,00.html
OPTUS has rejected the Seven Network's claim that the dumping of its C7 pay-TV sports channel was invalid.
Optus maintains it was able to end its C7 contract if the channel lost the AFL's pay-TV rights and pulled the channel off the air on Thursday night at the start of the first official AFL broadcast on the Nine Network.
"Under the terms of the contract, the legal arrangement was that we could terminate if they lost the rights to the AFL, which they did, so we terminated," an Optus spokesperson said.
Kerry Stokes's Seven Network is threatening legal action relating to the supply agreement between Optus and C7 and amendments to other agreements.
"We believe the termination has no validity and we are continuing to compile and distribute our channel in accordance with our existing agreements," a Seven spokesperson said.
In February, Optus sought to vary the cut-off date from Thursday to Sunday and to integrate C7's broadcast of sports whose seasons had not ended into its other channels.
Optus believed Seven agreed the terms but by Wednesday it had not received the documentation.
Optus' lawyers said their only opportunity to terminate the ten-year deal was when the AFL broadcasts officially began and that the notice must read "with immediate effect".
Optus executives say they called Seven to explain the letter would be sent but despite the wording they hoped to broadcast C7 until at least Sunday.
But on Thursday they received a letter from Seven saying the variation had not been accepted or executed and so did not have effect.
Optus' lawyers maintained the start of the AFL was their only termination window, so the channel was pulled.
Optus says it has letters from Seven agreeing it had the right to terminate.
So while Seven may continue compiling C7, no one will be able to see it from Monday..
C7 was also on the Austar pay-TV system in regional Australia, but it is being replaced on its deluxe package by the Fox Footy Channel.
An Austar spokesman said they sought to negotiate with C7 on alternative arrangements without success.
"We haven't heard anything from them and they haven't put anything to us," he said.
Seven has offered Optus its soccer broadcasts (the season does not end until May 12) and Optus executives said they would consider that after Easter.
Seven is also seeking access for C7 on Foxtel and said the decision to continue compiling C7 was also, "part of our commercial endeavours in our negotiations for access on the Telstra cable and our position on the Foxtel pay-TV service".
Seven won the right to access Telstra's cable through the courts but has been unable to agree access terms with Foxtel.
Foxtel has made a third offer to carry C7 as an extra paid-for service (the same arrangement it had on Austar and Optus), and executives met this week for further discussions.
News Corp’s Star TV Switches On New China Channel
From http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=5619
The Asian satellite TV unit of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, Star TV, has begun transmitting a new channel made for China in the affluent southern province of Guangdong, a company official said on Friday.
News Corp spokesman Wang Yukui said the channel, called Xingkong Weishi, began transmission on Thursday, and is available via cable to about a million homes.
It is one of three foreign-owned channels that won permission late last year to be aired in ordinary Chinese homes in a series of deals showing China’s willingness to slowly open up its broadcast media.
While most foreign media giants looking for ways to profit from China’s fast-growing media market are likely remain confined to supplying programmes, Star and two other foreign channels will be able to tap potentially lucrative advertising revenues. AOL Time Warner Inc’s Hong Kong-based CETV channel and HongKong’s Phoenix Satellite TV -- 28 per cent owned by News Corp -- also won airing rights in Guangdong last year, making the province a test-bed for foreign programming.
Before they were given those rights, foreign broadcasters were allowed to broadcast only to hotels above three stars and to foreigner-approved residences.
Analysts say Beijing is loathe to yield its grip on the media in the sensitive run-up to a leadership reshuffle later this year and during China’s first year in the World Trade Organisation. Packed with game shows, a situation comedy and a dance show mostly produced in China, Xingkong Weishi will be shown in many homes in Guangdong hooked up to cable, Mr Wang of News Corp said in Beijing. "Of course we hope that more people can watch this channel. But that would require further agreements," he said. Mr James Murdoch, son of Mr Rupert Murdoch and chairman and chief executive of Hong Kong-based Star Group, attended a launch party for the new channel in Guangzhou on Thursday night, Mr Wang said.
NDTV to float TV channel from April 2003
From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=5198755
NEW DELHI: The speculation is over. The troubled relationship between Rupert Murdoch’s Star Network and content provider NDTV is finally coming to an end.
In an internal meeting with NDTV staffers on Wednesday evening, NDTV president Prannoy Roy said that the production house will float its own television channel from April 2003.
In the meeting, Roy is reported to have categorically told staffers that NDTV’s content contract with Star—which is set to expire in March 2003—will not be renewed. When contacted, NDTV officials refused to comment, saying that it is not ethical on their part to divulge what transpired in their closed-door internal meet on Wednesday.
It is not yet clear whether Prannoy Roy’s proposed channel would be infotainment-based or be a complete news channel. There is also speculation in the media and entertainment industry that NDTV may provide news content to public broadcaster Doordarshan if they cannot make the channel operational by April next year. TV Today is also expected to float an English channel next year.
Industry watchers expect at least half-a-dozen news channels—both English and regional languages—to be launched in the market in the next 12 to 16 months.
Star India, who denied that they are negotiating with buy Aaj Tak, is set to convert the existing Star News into a complete Hindi channel and float an English channel modelled on Fox format after doing diligent research on market acceptance.
Post September 11 media watchers said that habit of television viewing in the country has also changed. A large number of television homes switch on their televisions to a news channel rather than an entertainment or a movie channel.
"This is the biggest change that has happened in the news channel business in the last four to six months," said an industry captain.
One Alliance woos MTV India to join channel bouquet
From http://www.business-standard.com/today/corp13.asp?Menu=2
One Alliance, the recently formed joint venture between Sony Entertainment Television (SET) and Discovery Networks International, is wooing MTV to be a part of its bouquet.
One Alliance was formed to create a new platform of six premium niche channels, comprising Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, SET, SET MAX, AXN and CNBC.
Confirming the move, Kunal Dasgupta, chief executive officer, SET, said: “We are in talks with MTV to get them on to our bouquet. We have six niche channels in our bouquet and a music channel will be another niche channel.”
One Alliance is also in talks with a general news channel. However, Dasgupta declined to comment on the issue.
The MTV channel spokesperson said: “Given the power of the MTV brand, we have been approached by all major bouquets. However, we remain independent with a strong distribution presence.”
The addition of MTV will complete the bouquet as both the Star India and Zee-Turner bouquets have Channel V and ETC Music, respectively.
MTV currently reaches 23 million cable and satellite television homes in India. SET and Discovery reach 29 million and 21 million homes, respectively.
MTV is at present a free-to-air channel and is currently in the process of switching to a digital mode from an analogue mode. Sources within the channel said MTV is not looking at the possibility of going pay immediately.
Discovery not to launch new channels in India
From http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=5194794
MUMBAI: Discovery Networks has shelved plans to launch two niche channels — Discovery Travel and Discovery Health — for the Indian subcontinent.
In a lean economic environment, another two niche channels would mean fragmenting the market further, Deepak Shourie, CEO of Discovery Networks, told ET.
Discovery’s earlier business plans, drawn in September 2000, had aimed at launching the two niche channels sometime towards the end of 2001. The channel is also introducing a broader spectrum of programming to attract larger audiences. Adventure and wildlife, the earlier mainstay of the natural history channel, will as a programming genre go down from the earlier 62 per cent of programme time to just 15 to 20 per cent, Mr Shourie revealed.
Slots aimed at women’s audiences, travel and health and a variety of other information and entertainment shows will fill the space vacated by the wildlife and adventure programmes, he added.
?Our aim is to build an ‘alternative television’ genre to what is available on the mainstream entertainment channels,” Mr Shourie said.
In a new marketing and consumer penetration exercise, Discovery is branding its different time bands based on the genre of programming in the relevant slot.
29/03/02
Very little for today as well. Though in many places it's a holiday weekend So things quite quiet, hopefully there will be some good sports feeds on during the weekend. I know those nice people at Optus read the site so hello to them and be a little lazy with the encrypt button for us. That goes to the Panamsat guys as well!
B1, 12733 V "Animal Planet" is running FTA here! where the Soundtrack channel was testing the other week.. NZ beam service is labled 12733- 5.
From my Emails & ICQ
0550 UTC 28-03-02
Thaicom 3, 3520 H Sr 28062 Fec 2/3
No Pids transmitted.
Suspect a new TARBS transponder undergoing tests note the symbol rate is same as TARBS..
2250 UTC 29-03-02
Pas 2 4113 V Sr 21192 Fec 7/8
Internet Data Service has started here.
Regards
Bill
From Bob Welsh
Hi Craig
I noticed on the website that NBN is inc on Palapa C2. I am very interested as my wife is Filipina. I have a 12' Orbitron mesh dish but in it's present location I can only pick up weak signals off C2. Before I go to the trouble of moving the dish could you pls confirm or otherwise (if you can) that NBN is FTA and can probably by picked up in this location (Arrowtown) with the dish and receivers I have ( I have a Media Star D7 and a Hyundai sat receivers.
(Craigs comment, Nobody has confirmed receiving it in Australia. Lyngsat lists it as DigiCipher which I don't think mpg2 receivers can decode.It may be that its also on the dodgy beam which barely gets to Australia let alone NZ. So bascially your chances are stuff all of getting it.)
From the Dish
Palapa C2 113E 4000 H "Channel NewsAsia" has left , PIDs 1260/1220-1660/1620, replaced by occasional feeds.
Palapa C2 113E 11150 V TVBS Asia has started on , clear, SID 7, PIDs 46/45.TTV and CTS have swapped SIDs and PIDs.
Asiasat 2 100.5E 3660 V Christian Voice International (Radio) has left .
Asiasat 2 100.5E 3799 H "APTN Asia" is now encrypted.
NEWS
Stokes calls the lawyers as Optus gives C7 the boot
From http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/28/1017206136125.html
Seven Network chairman Kerry Stokes is shaping up for another legal stoush after Optus dumped his C7 sports pay TV service.
Metropolitan pay TV operator Optus terminated its agreement to broadcast C7 on Thursday afternoon, the last working day before the contract was due to expire on Sunday.
Seven is now considering a legal challenge to Optus.
"C7 doesn't accept the validity of the nature of the termination and is reserving its rights and will continue to compile the channel and deliver it to Optus," said a Seven spokesman.
When asked if that meant Seven would take Optus to court over the issue, the spokesman said: "There are a series of legal issues relating to the termination notice and the interpretation of the agreement."
C7's value to Optus has become negligible in the wake of the landmark deal Optus struck with its rival Foxtel earlier this month.
Under the terms of the agreement to share programming, Optus will broadcast Foxtel's successful Fox Sports channels to its subscribers from next month.
C7's sports programming line-up struggles to compete with Fox Sports, which owns the pay TV rights to both the prime winter sports, the AFL and NRL.
Seven is already embroiled in a bitter legal dispute with Foxtel over its C7 service.
Despite a four-year battle and three court decisions in its favour, Seven has failed to reach agreement with Foxtel on the cost of broadcasting C7 over the Telstra-owned Foxtel cables.
While negotiations with Foxtel are continuing, Seven has deferred its decision on the future of the C7 sports service.
Seven previously said it would decide whether to continue producing its pay TV channel before the end of this month.
"We are continuing to compile and distribute our channels in accordance with our existing agreements and as part of our commercial endeavours in our negotiations for access on the Telstra cable and our position in the Foxtel pay television service," said the Seven spokesman.
Foxtel has made two offers to C7 in the past month.
One relates to broadcasting the sports channel over Foxtel's analog cable and one relates to broadcasting a suite of C7-produced channels on its proposed digital service.
Foxtel chief Kim Williams and Seven pay TV chief Steve Wise met this week to discuss these offers.
(Craigs comment, I heard C7 is maybe now available via Tarbs)
Star, Aaj Tak scotch sale rumours
From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=5100518
NEW DELHI: TV Today Network said that its Hindi news channel Aaj Tak is not up for sale. Company officials stressed that TV Today was not negotiating with Star, or any other investor, to dilute its stake in Living Media’s television venture. A spokesperson for Star India also denied that the Murdoch-controlled broadcaster is planning to acquire a stake in Aaj Tak. They were reacting to recent reports that a deal was in the offing.
?‘It is absurd. We have never talked to Star to sell Aaj Tak,’’ said TV Today Network’s CEO G Krishnan. ‘‘We are the most successful TV news channel. We have cornered 60 per cent of the news audience and 64 per cent of the ad pie. Why should we sell Aaj Tak?,’’ affirmed Krishnan.
He did add that after strengthening the internal infrastructure, the company would look at launching an English news channel in the next 12-14 months, besides expanding into regional markets. Speculation has been mounting in anticipation of Star India’s troubled content contract with Prannoy Roy’s NDTV expiring in March 2003. Says a Star spokesperson, ‘‘This is speculation, and we are not talking to TV Today for buying a majority stake.’’
While India Today group’s Living Media holds 77 per cent in TV Today, ICICI and Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Enterprises control 10 per cent each. TV Today officials said that only 3.3 per cent stake is to be diluted. If so, the first preference would be existing shareholders.
Cricket to drive Sony bid for the top with World Cup rights officially in the bag
From indiantelevision.com
The World Cup Network is what it is now calling itself. Sony Entertainment made it official today that it has acquired the Indian television satellite broadcast rights for a six-year package of ICC (International Cricket Council) tournaments, including the World Cups in 2003 and 2007.
The declaration comes over a month after SET had made what was virtually an advance announcement that it had it all in the bag (on 15 February). SET had issued a release then that it was in advanced negotiations with Global Cricket Corporation (GCC) & World Sport Nimbus (WSN) for acquiring the same. The GCC is a joint venture between WSG and News Corp and is managing the commercial programme for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003.
Announcing the mega acquisition, Sony Entertainment Television (SET), Kunal Dasgupta, CEO, said: "We have bagged the rights to beam live all the matches of all three key ICC Cricket tournaments, namely, two ICC Cricket World Cups, three ICC Champions Trophies, and three Under-19 Cricket World Cups."
The terrestrial rights rest with national broadcaster Doordarshan and it will be telecasting all matches involving India, including the semi-finals and finals of all the ICC tournaments, Harish Thawani, co-chairman World Sports Nimbus, said.
At a reported $ 250 million, this is the "single largest broadcast licencing deal" in cricket history and has involved a long and meticulously managed bidding process. From six players during the initial bidding, the field was narrowed down to three players at the final stage.
According to the information available, left in the race at the end were SET, ESPN Star Sports and Sahara India. Though Sahara, which is also the official sponsor of the Indian cricket team, reportedly made a higher bid in value terms, SET was able to sell its pitch that it had the better credentials to showcase an event of this magnitude having already successfully telecast Sharjah cricket.
The deal was finally signed and delivered after some intense negotiations over the fine print only on Tuesday night, said Seamus O'Brian, co-chairman, World Sports Nimbus.
As far as the cricket is concerned, it works out to a total of over 300 international matches over the next six years. Next year's World Cup (February 2003) will have 54 matches covered. But before that in September, there is the ICC Champions Trophy tournament which will have all the cricketing nations participating. This will be followed by the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup to be played in New Zealand in January-February 2003.
World Sports Nimbus, which is also doing the television production for the events, will have a 350-strong crew and commentator team with 23 cameras covering every possible angle during the tournaments, Thawani said.
Rajat Jain, executive V-P and business head of sister channel MAX, which will be telecasting the matches, gave some indication of what was being lined up when he said the effort would be to build viewer interest for non-India cricket as well (India matches are a gauranteed draw). This would be done through innovative presentations as well as contests and promotions around the event. There are also plans to leverage the Youth World Cup into a major event. A whole slew of initiatives are planned the details of which will be announced in due course, Jain said.
(Craigs comment, this is a HUGE deal. Whoever controls cricket in India controls the pay tv market! its that important to the schedule.)
Digital satellite Telugu channel Maa TV launching soon
From indiantelevision.com
After a barren period, channel launches appear to be again happening. In the offing is a new digital Telugu regional language channel - Maa TV.
The channel is being launched by Maa Television Network Ltd, a Hyderabad-based broadcaster and entertainment company that plans to unveil the new channel very soon. Test transmission will commence from 11:42 am on Sunday.
Disclosing this D Rajendra Prasad, executive director and spokesperson for Maa TV, informed that the channel will be a combination of programming that ranges from dramas, serials, long plays, sitcoms, chat shows, music, current affairs, interactive programmes, documentaries, movies and live performances. The channel will telecast for 18 hours a day.
An initial investment of Rs 250 million is going into the launch of Maa TV which will be a pay service from Day 1 of operations.
The channel is promoted by Ramakrishna, the founder of Siti Cable in Andhra Pradesh, an official release says. The promoters expect to generate a total business of Rs 220 million in the first year of operations.
On the sales and distribution front, Maa TV hopes to reach 75 per cent of viewers in the state in the first three months of its launch. The promoters claim that their long experience in the cable industry will enable them to reach the targets that they have set themselves.
The channel will be beamed off APR -1 (Insat 2E) satellite and 3/3 (Zonal Beam) transponder.
Together with Maa TV, a cable channel - Maa Cinema - is also in the pipeline. The company claims it already has more than 2650 films in its kitty and is planning to procure rights of more films.
Whatever be the plans of the channel, it will be taking on two well established free-to-air channels in Gemini TV (part of Kalanithi Maran's Sun Network) and Ramoji Rao's Eenadu TV. And how subscribers are expected to take to a brand new pay channel when there are two free channels offering quality fare already in existence is anybody's guess.
(Craigs comment, one those readers in India and parts of Asia that get the Zone beam)
28/03/02
Things are very quiet today. Reading the latest Skywatch (Sky NZ) magazine I see they have had a big reshuffle with the channel numbers. Perhaps they will be adding some more channels soon. They are supposed to be getting space on Saturns transponders. Very sorry about the site today, my info sources have let me down for today.
From my Emails & ICQ
From Majeed
Hi
On Asia sat3 3960 H 26000 I am receiving english live translation of
Arab Conference and it is newsource DNEW. I like to know how I can get
picture as it is now only blank screen.
thanks Majeed
(Craigs comment, any help with this? it may just be video encrypted with Clear Audio)
From Dave Knight
Feed B1, 12522H, 6110 3/4 (9 Network)
Getting tone OK, but video is crap.
Must be 4:2:2 format.
From Chris Pickstock
Channel 7 on B1, 12397H use 3 different pids, and therefore I have 3 12397's
stored. They are V 49 + A 52, V 308 + A 256 and V 4194 + A 4195.
Chris
From the Dish
The Lyngsat update has not come in.
NEWS
Foxtel rights deal may give it control of pay TV
From http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/27/1017206120451.html
In a potential blow to competition, Foxtel could emerge with control of the rival Optus cable network under terms of the radical pay TV deal revealed yesterday.
According to an information paper circulated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to parties affected by the Foxtel/Optus deal, Foxtel has been granted first and last rights over a number of Optus assets in return for assuming Optus's $600 million worth of US programming contracts. These rights relate to assets including Optus's cable network and certain pay TV content.
As Telstra owns the only other cable network, Foxtel could emerge with control of all the metropolitan cable infrastructure should Optus decide to sell and Foxtel exercises its rights. This lends weight to criticism that the Foxtel/Optus deal will threaten competition in pay TV.
Optus flirted with the idea of selling its cable network two years ago and held talks with Publishing &Broadcasting and regional pay TV operator Austar.
Optus chief Chris Anderson has openly admitted that the Foxtel deal enables Optus to retreat from pay TV. However, Optus rates the likelihood of selling its cable network as "pretty low" in the wake of the agreement with Foxtel. Currently losing money on every pay TV subscriber, Optus expects its business to move into the black if the ACCC approves the deal.
"If you think we're going to take a profitable business and sell it to Foxtel you're absolutely dreaming," an Optus source said. "We're going to hang onto this business and compete."
Foxtel has sought the rights over Optus's assets to ensure its cable network remains operating. Given that 80 per cent of the Foxtel and Optus networks overlap each other, acquiring the Optus network would not substantially extend Foxtel's coverage. But Foxtel needs the Optus network running so it can sell its programming to 270,000 Optus subscribers and recoup its investment in Optus's programming contracts.
Meanwhile, ethnic pay TV program supplier Television &Radio Broadcasting Services threatened yesterday to abandon the market if the Foxtel deal goes ahead in its current form. "We'll leave the game to the moguls," TARBS chief Mike Boulos said.
TARBS is calling for the competition watchdog to impose a strict regulatory regime guaranteeing access to pay TV content and the cable network.
"It doesn't matter what [Communications Minister Richard] Alston says, it doesn't matter what [ACCC chairman Allan] Fels says. The reality and practicality of it is that if you have dealings with any of these people they will frustrate the process sufficiently until you're out of business," Mr Boulos said.
He claimed the Foxtel/Optus proposal was very similar to the mooted Foxtel/Galaxy deal which the ACCC blocked five years ago.
"If the ACCC were to be consistent, then this deal could not possibly go through," he said. "The only difference is one is contractual and one is purely an arrangement."
(Craigs comment, could it be Tarbs looking for an excuse to get out of an unprofitable Australian market?)
27/03/02
Sorry about the site delay. I am very busy today with other things. I got a reply from NZONAIR regarding programming screening on TV3 that is NZONAIR funded. I brought up the fact that Tv3 is only available as a pay channel in many parts of NZ and that they should consider witholding funding until they switch their service to a fta mode. See the reply in my Emails section. Should be some items today of interest in the news section.
Sky NZ seems to have dumped Fashion TV, TV4 and Trackside now listed on the tranponder as sharing with E! According to the new Sky Watch E! will be on channel 7 which is strange they were going to put it on 17. Sky Sports moves to channel 10.
From my Emails & ICQ
From: "Donnamaree Ryder" <Donnamaree@nzonair.govt.nz>
To: <suttonc@ihug.co.nz>
Hi Graig
Sorry about the delay in responding to your email but it has been fairly hectic around here.
Thank you for your comments regarding Radio and Transmission Coverage in New Zealand and your suggestions with respect to our website.
With respect to your comments about radio and tv coverage, yes, we are aware that there are a variety of options - independent of Sky's digital services that enable New Zealanders access to both free to air radio (Radio NZ and Concert FM) and television (TV One and TV2). We are also aware that TV3, TV4, Prime and Trackside still remain encrypted on Sky's platform and are therefore not available as a free to air signal as TVNZ has done.
It may be helpful to note, the Government are working towards identifying the best way to deal with free to air transmission now that transmission via satellite platform is an option, and how these channels (both radio and tv) may be accessed without the need to subscribe to a pay tv provider.
The government released a discussion paper about digital television in February 2002. We are in the process of replying to this, and we are also preparing our own paper (due to be completed Apr/May) with respect to non-commercial coverage and the options available to those areas now that satellite technology is available.
We will, therefore, not be making any public announcements until a number of final decisions have been made with respect to open access, transmission and receiving equipment and free to air accessibility.
Like you I hope we can fully inform people of their options as soon as possible.
Finally, with respect to your suggestions about our website, we have taken this on board and will make changes were required.
Thank you again for showing interest in digital transmission on behalf of your fellow New Zealanders. I will let you know if I need any more information.
Kind Regards
Donnamaree Ryder
(Craigs comment, I hope they are backing FTA standards I am sure they can see the benefits of all national tv and radio broadcasters being FTA as this would mean they don't have to spend as much money funding new transmitters for uneconomic viewing areas)
From Bassett H.Q
Re: Pas 8 12646 H Sr 28067 Fec 3/4
Craig, It loads a swag of radio channels starting with RA 100 through to
Ra112, then R140through to R152, Television channels as follows>TS60 through to
TS72,
Nothing plays, Would suspect they are TARBS channels..
For the Gent that asked TV5 is still FTA on the TARBs channels
From Salah
Dear Craig , Hi all..
Sorry for last night , I could not continue the chat due to a power failure
in our district and a very active electric storm.
Pas 8. Transponder Freq 12646 h SR 28067 Fec 3/4 ( 13 TV Ch + 13 Radio.) All scrambled signals.
Ch Name: TS60 TS61 TS62 TS63 TS64 TS65 TS66 TS67 TS68 TS69 TS70 T71 TS72
VPID: 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524
Apid: 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652
Best regards.
Salah.
Ps: Any news about Measat 2 New Transponder 11602 h?
From the Dish
Gorizont 33 145E 3675 R Vashye Radio has started on: 8.50 MHz.
Gorizont 25 140E 3675 R It's Vashye Radio on : 8.50 MHz.
Palapa C2 113E 3473 H "RCTI" has New PIDs 1160/1120
Palapa C2 113E 3880 H "Metro TV" have left , PIDs 514/652, replaced by a test card.
Palapa C2 113E 11150 V "SBN" has left .
Telkom 1 108E 4095 H "CITI TV 7" has started, Fta , Sr 6000, Fec 3/4, PIDs 308/256.
Asiasat 2 100.5E 3756 V "mystery?" Sr 3617 other details unknown
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3430 H "Alpha TV and Alpha News 98.7" have left .(Unconfirmed but this one expected! due to financial reasons, this means Greek Viewers have no FTA services left on Cband. Tarb's will like that..)
NEWS
TARBS says could be pushed offshore by Foxtel-Optus merger
From http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/2002/03/27/FFX1XIP0AZC.html
A major Australian multicultural pay TV operator has expressed concern over the proposed Foxtel-Optus merger, signalling it could squeeze it out of the country.
Mike Boulos, chairman of Sydney-based Television Radio Broadcasting Services Australia Pty Ltd (TARBS), warned the controversial merger would drive up content provision charges and force TARBS to focus on more profitable markets offshore.
"If we feel that the Australian government is unable to control decisions through the likes of (Foxtel owners) News (Corp Ltd), Telstra (Corp Ltd) and (PBL boss Kerry) Packer, we'll just concentrate on other areas that are more profitable for us and leave the game to the moguls," Mr Boulos told journalists at a briefing today.
TARBS chief executive Regina Boulos said the company had met yesterday with competition watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to voice its concerns over the merger.
"What we would like to see is that it does go through, but there will be a very, very strong regulatory regime to control access to programming and access to the delivery to secure larger audiences," Ms Boulos said.
She said TARBS was considering taking legal action against the merger on the possible grounds of contravention of the Trade Practices Act.
"I think there's a basis for an issue that is a violation (of) the Trade Practices Act," she said.
"We will pursue whatever avenue there is...to make sure that, if this deal pushes through, that it will be fair for everyone."
Mr Boulos said the proposed Foxtel-Optus merger was virtually identical to a similar deal between Foxtel and now-defunct pay TV operator Australis Media Ltd blocked by the ACCC five years ago.
"If the ACCC were to be consistent, then this deal could not possibly go through," Mr Boulos said.
"The only difference is one is contractual and this one is purely an arrangement."
TARBS, which currently offers a suite of 52 multicultural channels, today outlined plans for global expansion later this year with a possible listing in 2004.
The company said it had "several hundreds of millions of dollars" of funding in place to enhance its offerings to the Australian market and set up channels to broadcast in Asia, Europe, the US, and the Middle East.
The expansion would see the company broadcasting content from more than 30 countries, in more than 20 languages, across 65 channels.
TARBS, which charges subscribers $62.95 per month, would not disclose how many subscribers it currently had.
However, the company planned on becoming profitable, with more than one million subscribers worldwide, before listing.
(Craigs comment looks like Tarbs is throwing a hissy fit and I like this last line, "TARBS, which charges subscribers $62.95 per month, would not disclose how many subscribers it currently had" I don't think they have as many viewers as they would like to publically admit to and of course its commercially sensitive info...)
Fairfax eyes Foxtel slice
From http://finance.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,4027081%255E462,00.html
NEWSPAPER group John Fairfax Holdings has added its weight to the fight by the Seven Network's C7 pay-TV channel for access to Foxtel's infrastructure, saying Fairfax should also have a guaranteed right of access.
Fairfax, which owns newspapers including The Australian Financial Review, said that was one of three areas of concern it had with the proposed Foxtel-Optus content restructuring which would see the companies share channels.
The channels will then be wholesaled to Telstra and Optus which will bundle them with other telephony services.
In a letter to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Fairfax said approval of the pay tv deal should be contingent on guaranteed access for third parties, such as Fairfax, "at marginal or incremental cost".
It said Fairfax should also have access to Foxtel's customer management systems and set-top boxes.
Foxtel last week made its third access offer to C7, which included a revenue-share arrangement and free access to the customer management system. But C7 wanted to be part of Foxtel's basic package, while Foxtel said it must go on a tier to prevent the basic package price rising.
Fairfax said it also wanted access to the basic package and it wanted access to Foxtel and Optus' content as it may "wish to bundle subscriptions to our newspapers, or other services, with pay-TV subscriptions".
"In order to promote competition in pay-TV offerings, third parties should have access to Foxtel/Optus programming bundles."
Fairfax also believed Telstra and Optus should be required to provide "non-discriminatory" access to unaffiliated internet service providers and network services such as the internet sites in Fairfax's online business, f2.
"Similar conditions were imposed by the US Federal Communications Commission last year in its approval of the merger of AOL and Time Warner, and are expected to be imposed with respect to the pending acquisition of AT&T Broadband by Comcast," Fairfax wrote.
Foxtel chief executive officer Kim Williams labelled the proposal "madness."
"It's a proposition that demonstrates a breathtaking misunderstanding of the nature of how pay-TV works.
"It's yet another group out there clamouring for a free lunch at Foxtel's expense.
"Will they say, 'by all means, have a page in The Age and SMH each day and we (Foxtel) can run any advertising we want and just pay a fraction of the news print'.
"This is not a serious commercial proposition -- it's madness," Mr Williams said.
Lawsuit Levels Extraordinary Charges
From http://www.cabletoday.com/ic/1016718619.html
Filed before the US District Court in the Northern District of California on March 11, the lawsuit claims “unfair competition, copyright infringement, violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, tortious interference, conspiracy and violation of the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act, and demands the case should be heard in front of a jury.
The allegations are explosive: First, that NDS obtained MediaGuard smartcards and sent them to an NDS lab in Israel for analysis, where expensive, specialised equipment, including electron microscopes, had been acquired to crack the codes held in the chips embedded on the cards. According to the Canal+ complaint, NDS successfully extracted the software stored on the chips by the end of 1998, and downloaded the “UserROM” element within it, this being the portion which controls access to the digital TV data-stream. NDS then allegedly created a “zip” file containing this pirated code, and transmitted it to NDS Americas in California, with instructions that it be published on the Internet. Canal+ claims that NDS Americas subsequently sent this file to Al Menart, the operator of a Web site known as DR7.com (www.dr7.com), and that on March 26, 1999, DR7 published this code on its website. Counterfeit MediaGuard smartcards began appearing on the market later that year. By September 2000, the Italian market (where Mediaguard is used by Canal+ affiliate Tele+), was flooded with cheap counterfeit cards, contends Canal+.
The result was to “drive a wedge between Canal+ and its customers to adversely impact Canal+’s business and promote NDS’s own competitive position.” Allegedly, Canal+ pay-TV platforms subsequently lost subscribers, and the company now faces claims from client operators for financial compensation due to the losses they incurred through programme theft. All in all, Canal+ claims that NDS’s illegal conduct has damaged its business to the tune of $1 billion [1.1 billion euros].
New Zealand’s TVNZ Satellite Services doubles capacity on New Skies’ global satellite system
From http://www.newskies.com/PBNews/NewsTemplate.asp?cont_id=1317
PRESS RELEASE
The Hague, The Netherlands, March 26, 2002 --New Skies Satellites N.V. (AEX, NYSE: NSK), the global satellite communications company, has announced that TVNZ Satellite Services, a New Zealand-based broadcaster and award-winning global satellite carriage provider, has doubled its capacity on New Skies’ global satellite network.
TVNZ Satellite Services, a customer on New Skies’ NSS-703 satellite (57 degrees East longitude) since 1994, will expand its network to include increased capacity on NSS-703 as well as two additional New Skies spacecraft. The multi-transponder, multi-satellite agreement gives the TVNZ Satellite Services network and its clients a combination of C- and Ku-band global coverage for the delivery of television news and sports events around the world.
Sam Fairhall, managing director of TVNZ Satellite Services, said, "This deal will facilitate our continued global distribution of international sports, news and events. Doubling the New Skies capacity we use and adding two New Skies satellites to our network shows the high level of confidence we have in New Skies’ system reliability and demonstrates our satisfaction with their customer service.”
?Our distribution of coverage of the Winter Olympics was highly successful and once again showed us just how strong our audiences can be for international sporting events. Bringing our broadcasting of these and other events under one globally capable system will greatly increase the effectiveness of our operations,” continued Fairhall.
New Skies’ vice president of North American sales, Steve Wilson said: "With our roots in the broadcast community, New Skies is well aware of the exacting demand for engineering excellence and quality of service that broadcasters place on their suppliers. New Skies values its relationship with TVNZ Satellite Services, a company that has proven time and again that they can deliver high-quality, innovative turnkey production and distribution solutions to the broadcast community.”
TVNZ Satellite Services is an occasional use satellite carriage provider operating worldwide. Designed and owned by a television broadcast company, its delivery network and service portfolio is tailored to meet the requirements of the international television broadcast community.
TVNZ has an established reputation as a multi-channel carrier of high profile international sporting events. It has concentrated on building a private network that uses primary routes adding additional points-of-presence as customer demand determines and market conditions permit. Headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, its international activity is supported by representation in Sydney, Bangkok, Shanghai and London.
TVNZ Satellite Services is a member of the Television New Zealand Limited group of companies. Refer to www.tvsat.net for additional information.
New Skies Satellites (AEX, NYSE: NSK) is one of only four fixed satellite communications companies with truly global satellite coverage, offering video, voice, data and Internet communications services to a range of telecommunications carriers, broadcasters, large corporations and Internet service providers around the world. New Skies has five satellites in geosynchronous orbit and ground facilities around the world. The company also has three new spacecraft under construction, which are planned to serve the Atlantic Ocean Region, Asia and the Americas. In line with its growth strategy, the company has secured certain rights to make use of four additional orbital positions. New Skies is headquartered in The Hague, The Netherlands, and has offices in London, Johannesburg, New Delhi, São Paulo, Singapore, Sydney and Washington, D.C. Additional information is available at www.newskies.com .
Additional information is available at http://www.newskies.com
or please contact:
Jeff Bothwell, New Skies Satellites
Tel: +31 70 306 4239
jbothwell@newskies.com
FTV connectivity higher than HBO, AXN, CNBC, says MEN CEO
From indiantelevision.com
It may be fashion consciousness, it may be something else. But French fashion channel FTV is expanding its reach at a fast clip, or so it is claimed.
According to Modi Entertainment Network CEO, distribution, Rajan Kaaicker, FTV's declared connectivity has crossed three million across India. That is higher than better known channels like movie channel HBO, action channel AXN and business news channel CNBC India, asserts Kaaicker. For good measure, Kaaicker adds that this figure compares well with Hindi entertainment channel Sony Entertainment Television, which has a declared reach of around 3.5 million.
Kaaicker gave the numbers while claiming that most big MSOs in the major metros were carrying FTV, with some of them carrying the channel on the prime band (RPG in Kolkata was one such, Kaaicker says). Questioned as to why FTV was not being carried on west Mumbai-based MSO Seven Star Cable Network, Kaaicker said a deal had been signed and FTV would be available on the network from 1 April.
FTV is also in the process of expanding its Indian fashion band from the current one hour to two hours with top designers like Rohit Bal and Tarun Tahilani seeing in the channel a chance to showcase their offerings, says Kaaicker.
FTV is beaming off PanamSat-10 with uplink from Singapore. The channel is being bundled with DD Sports and Hallmark with a combined package pricing of Rs 13.25 per subscriber per month.
(Craigs comment does anyone really believe this that Indians are paying to get FTV? looks like a media release to promote the channel. I guess its the nearest thing to an "Adult" channel that they are able to carry. Meanwhile Sky NZ appear to have dumped FTV. Really FTV is bottom of the barrel "entertainment")
26/03/02
Livechat tonight 9pm NZ, and 8.30pm Syd time onwards I will be in there early as I think Australia hasn't switched to daylight savings time yet. One announcement for today is TAJ (TEN) sports channel launching FTA on Pas 10. You are in luck if you are a Cricket or WWF fan. The channel will run FTA for quite sometime before turning pay maybe 6 months or so! The channel will also have English football, Golf, Tennis and other sports. Hopefully it will be Cband.
Tarbs has started their 5th Pas 8 KU transponder and I hear talk of a 6th coming soon. I wonder when they will start useing Pas 2 Ku. They could even use a dual feed setup and run services off both quite easily. Sky NZ 12608 V tranponder FTA signals have switched off as expected.
From my Emails & ICQ
Nothing to report
From the Dish
PAS 8 166E 12646 H New Tarbs mux with 12 test cards started, Fta, SR 28067, Fec 3/4, PIDs 512/640-524/652.
Gorizont 25 140E 3675 R "Radio Rossii is back 8.00 MHz. Radio Vostok Russii has moved to 8.50 MHz.
Koreasat 2 113E 12530 H "National Geographic Channel Asia and Uga TV" are now encrypted.
Koreasat 2 113E 12290 H "C3TV, the test cards and Wow Sat" are now encrypted.
N-Sat 110 110E 12331 R "Sky PerfecTV 2" promo has started on , FTA.
N-Sat 110 110E 12291 R "The Plat One package has started"
N-Sat 110 110E 12411 R "The Plat One package has started"
N-Sat 110 110E 12451 R "The Plat One package has started"
Asiasat 2 100.5E 3966 V "Occasional feeds", Sr 6250, Fec 3/4.
NEWS
Ten Sports launching 1 April
From indiantelevision.com
Based in the UAE but built specifically for India. Launching 1 April is Taj Entertainment Network (Ten) Sports, a channel that has the subcontinent as its target of coverage.
Announcing this today, television services and content provider Taj Television Ltd CEO Chris McDonald said the channel, the brainchild of the man who made Sharjah cricket what it is today - Abdulrahman Bukhatir - would reach audiences in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives to begin with.
The channel is being unveiled just ahead of the start of the next tri-nation Sharjah cricket tourney involving Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand that kicks off on 8 April.
DISTRIBUTION UNDER MODI ENTERTAINMENT-PROMOTED FIRM: Distributing Ten Sports in India is HMA Udyog Ltd. McDonald admitted that one of the promoters of HMA Udyog Modi Entertainment Network, the company the industry grapevine has said had won the right to be the distribution platform for Ten Sports ahead of the Zee Network and Sony Entertainment.
Ten Sport's cricket programme line up includes The Sharjah Cup, Cricket Triangulars from Morocco, Classic India and Sharjah Cricket, The Sharjah Champions Trophy, Australia's tour of Zimbabwe in April/May as well as all international cricket from Sri Lanka.
Taj picked up the Sri Lanka cricket rights for a guarantee fee of $13.9 million. The rights, which were earlier with World Sports Group-Nimbus (WSG-Nimbus), reportedly runs till 2003 (the period for which WSG Nimbus had the rights when it originally signed a three-year deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka in 2000).
Ten Sports will also broadcast other popular sporting events like the World Wrestling Federation, The English FA Cup, Manchester United FootbaIl, the WTA - the best of women's tennis from all over the world, the ATP Dubai Tennis Open, The Ryder Cup, Champions Trophy Hockey and Champions Challenge Hockey, an official release states.
The channel has signed up two well-known names from the world of entertainment & sports in Raageshwari and former test cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar as channel ambassadors. While Manjrekar will be hosting regular sports shows, Raageshwari gets behind the personal side of sporting personalities on One on One With Raageshwari.
Taj Television operates out of a 55,000 square-feet state-of-the-art facility at Dubai Media City. It will beam off the Panamsat 10 satellite initially as a digital free-to-air channel but will be going pay at a date that is still to be decided, McDonald says.
Commenting on the programming that Ten Sports was offering, Peter Hutton, vice-president, programming and events, said ten Sports started with an immediate advantage in that it held the broadcast rights to four cricket tourneys in virtual perpetuity - two Sharjah tourneys as well as a new offshore cricket venue in Morocco, which will showcase its first tournament in August.
Outside of cricket, one sporting property that is exclusive to Ten Sports is WWF events. Ten Sports will be showcasing eight hours of WWF programming every week and plans to push this in a big way, Hutton says.
Bukhatir’s Ten Sports To Go On Air From April 1
From http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=5354
Mumbai: Taj Television Ltd, a UAE-based television services and content provider promoted by Abdulrahman Bukhatir, is launching Ten Sports on April 1 for the Indian subcontinent, just before the Sharjah Cup.
The sports channel will have, besides cricket from Sharjah, the rights to exclusively World Wrestling Federation (WWF) telecasts, with which it hopes to tap the youth audience. The other cricket property with Ten Sports is cricket triangulars from a new venue in Morocco organised by Taj TV, international cricket from Sri Lanka, Classic matches involving India and Australia’s tour of Zimbabwe.
?We have 140 days of live and exclusive cricket,” said Taj Television chief executive officer Chris McDonald.
Ten Sports will also broadcast other sporting events like The English FA Cup, Manchester United Football, the WTA (Women’s tennis from all over the world), ATP Dubai Tennis Open, The Ryder Cup, Champions Trophy Hockey and Champions Challenge Hockey. “Apart from cricket, we will also cover other sports that are popular in the country like hockey, tennis, football, wrestling and golf,” said Mr McDonald.
The channel will start as a free-to-air service and will go pay later. “We have started supplying the decoder boxes,” said Mr McDonald. The channel will be distributed by HMA Udyog Ltd, a Modi Group company.
Taj has a space segment on the PAS 10 satellite, whose footprint stretches from the UK to Australia.
Ten Sports will also have a show called ‘Robot Wars’, designed for Indian kids who can fight with international robots.
?We have a secured lineup of programmes including Sharjah and Morocco cricket is our own created property. We do not have a mega live event, particularly in cricket. But some of the rights will be up for grabs during the course of the year,” said Peter Hutton, vice-president, programming and events, Taj Television.
The channel has signed up prominent names from the world of entertainment and sports like Raageshwari and Sanjay Manjrekar. Taj Television’s portfolio consists of Ten Sports, TV production, broadcasting solutions, remote TV production and event management.
(Craigs comment, looks good for Pas 10 viewers what a pity its not on Asiasat 3!!! unless they make it KU. They could use the KU India beam....)
Austar, Optus talks shift
From http://finance.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,4023821%255E462,00.html
THE nature of discussions Austar United Communications was holding with Optus had changed in light of a proposed agreement between Optus and Foxtel, Austar said.
"If the Optus-Foxtel agreement proceeds Austar does not expect any subsequent discussions would encompass a merger of the two (Austar and Optus) businesses as has been speculated," Austar said in a statement.
However, Austar said it and Optus continued to have discussions with each other on a range of commercial and strategic issues.
These issues include, for example, matters relating to the parties' satellite joint venture.
Austar noted the comments attributed to Optus chief executive Chris Anderson in The Australian today.
It said it had provided comment regarding the changed nature of discussions between it and Optus, in order to ensure the market was accurately informed.
The Australian newspaper today said Optus was "no longer interested in regional pay TV group Austar, a company with which it had been having discussions".
Yesterday Mr Anderson told journalists at a media briefing Optus would have talks with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to help the recently announced Foxtel-Optus pay-TV deal to proceed.
The deal will essentially see Optus showing Foxtel content, reducing costs and increasing telephony-pay TV bundling opportunities.
Mr Anderson said the company was moving away from a pay-TV operation in terms of production and negotiations within the wider industry for product, which would be passed to Foxtel.
"We don't see ourselves as a pay TV company - in fact this whole deal is to get us out of pay TV," he said yesterday.
"We see ourselves as a reticulating and distributing video product, produced by somebody else, which we can wrap (bundle) with our telephony-data business - it's not in our core competency or core business," he said.
Pay TV succeeds where free to air is weak
From http://www.bandt.com.au/articles/1c/0c00bd1c.asp
PAY TV has only made money in markets where free-to-air TV quality is much poorer than it is in Australia—the US market excepted, Bruce Gordon, who owns Nine-affiliated regional network Win TV, told B&T Weekly on a recent visit from Bermuda.
+SkyB makes money in England because normal British TV is dreadful,” Gordon said. “In France, Canal Plus makes money only because French network TV is bad and the government lets it screen only one imported movie a week in prime time. If you get Canal Plus, you can get 40.
?In Germany, pay TV is losing its arse. In Italy, it has never made a lira. The only other place it makes money is South Africa.
*ustralian pay TV has a hell of a lot of debt. I wouldn’t want to be in it even now Foxtel and Optus plan to merge their programs. When it arrived, I advised Kerry Packer not to be in it.” (Packer bought 25% of Foxtel).
Gordon agreed his common touch has helped Win succeed.
?You must make sure all the time that you are broadcasting programs people want to see,” he said. “Nine months ago, when I arrived here on a visit I watched Win at 4am when jetlag woke me up. I saw a bloke trying to sell exercise machines for an hour. The same day I told my programming people to take that crap off because all it’s doing is forcing people to watch pay TV. I hear Nine has also decided to take off long infomercials.”
Gordon plans to visit more often until incoming CEO David Sturgiss finds his feet.
BBC World unveils weekend specials for the summer
From indiantelevision.com
BBC World does not plan to be content with a barrage of India specific programmes this summer, it would seem.
The channel has announced a range of fresh weekend programming, split into three seasons for the coming three months targeted at the avid traveller and aviation aficionado.
April on BBC will be heralded with Voyager, in which various intrepid travellers follow in the footsteps of famous men before them in the legendary journeys they undertook. Michael Palin will trace the road taken by Ernest Hemingway through many exotic locations the author visited and wrote about in his novels, in the first episode, to be aired at 2.40 pm, Saturdays. Among others, archeologist Michael Wood takes a unique expedition from Greece to India, tracking the Footsteps of Alexander the Great, in June.
Frontiers in Flight also takes off this April on BBC World, with a focus on the evolution of modern day aviation, renowned fighter pilots who served in the two World Wars and historic flights that changed the face of the field. The shows will air at 7:40 pm Saturdays with repeat telecasts on Sundays.
The Women at the Top season on the channel is being programmed to coincide with the 2002 Business Woman of the Year award in June and will train the spotlight on women who have advanced to the pinnacle in their chosen fields. It includes a three part series Boss Women featuring some of the best women achievers the world has seen in recent times, to air Saturdays 7:40 pm. This season will be complemented with women specific Hardtalk Specials and World Business Report which will highlight contributions from women in business.
For those with a yen for wheels, lifestyle programme Top Gear takes off this summer on the channel on Thursday evenings. The Car's the Star and Clarkson's Car Years are the episodes that target the car lover with a critique on the state of the global car industry as well as a look at modern models.
Among its other programming initiatives are The Future Just Happened, a four part series on how the Internet and the new economy are forming the backbone of a new social order that revolves around high technology. Designing Our Lives, another four part series this summer, takes a look at how people are being compelled to improve their tools and surroundings to fit changing needs and wants. The channel's flagship science documentary series, Horizon, continues with an in-depth look at the lost city of Atlantis, in mid-April.
Sony May Take 74 Per Cent Stake In Distribution Joint Venture With Discovery
From http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=5348
Mumbai: Sony Entertainment Television India will have majority control with a likely 74 per cent stake in the distribution joint venture company with Discovery Communications formed to offer the television channels of the two companies as a bundle to cable operators.
When contacted, SET India chief executive officer Kunal Dasgupta said he would not like to comment at this stage on the equity holding of the joint venture company for distribution.
Sources said Shantonu Aditya from Sony will head the joint venture company while Anuj Gandhi of Discovery Communications will be next in the hierarchy. Gurjeev Singh, also from Discovery, will be below Mr Gandhi.
The pricing of the Sony-Discovery bouquet will be Rs 40 a subscriber per month. “The market is being sent a signal to price the channels at around Rs 40 a subscriber per month,” the source said. The combined channels are currently priced just below Rs 30, depending on the multi system operator who has signed for the service. While Star is priced at Rs 40.50 a subscriber per month, the Zee-Turner bouquet costs around Rs 42.
The new pricing for the Sony-Discovery channels is likely to come into effect from April. An announcement on the pricing will be made soon. Mr Aditya was unavailable for comment.
The joint venture, which will be based in Mumbai, is currently working out ways on how to restructure the operations which will involve cutting down on distributors. “As Sony and Discovery have their own network of distributors, some of them will be made redundant,” the source said.
The distribution partnership is expected to benefit Sony in the southern region while Discovery may gain in other marketplaces. Sony will have access to Discovery’s quality nonfiction brands, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, in addition to its own bouquet of Sony Entertainment Television, SET MAX, AXN and CNBC. Multi system operators view the upward revision in pricing as an additional burden and will be meeting soon to decide on what future course of action they can take jointly to fight against the steep hike in pay-TV rates.
25/03/02
Of interest today Sky NZ some services FTA on 12608 V, I have seen this happen a few other times, they must be doing some tests. Being Monday there are a few news items.
JC-SAT 8 (Could be listed as JC-SAT 2A, to be located at 154E) to be launched March 29th! Coverage area shows Cband footprint
From my Emails & ICQ
From Ross
B1, Prime TV is FTA at present along with Sundance and Sky box office pay per view channels.NHK is there also
Ross.
(Craigs comment, this one goes FTA every few months for a while for some reason)
From STU
Some Screenshots of the B3 Aurora services that were FTA and available to NZ viewers on the weekend
Zee, Zee Cinema and Sony
SBS S.E, SBS W.A and Zee Racing
From the Dish
PAS 8 166E 12394 H "The OSB mux has left" .
PAS 8 166E 12401 H "Sky Shopping" has left .
PAS 8 166E 12404 H "The IBS tests have left" .
Agila 2 146E 3933 V Occasional feeds, Sr 17360, Fec 7/8.
Gorizont 25 140E 3675 R "Radio Vostok Russii", 8.00 MHz.
Apstar 1A 134E 3840 H Two test cards has started, fta, SIDs 306-307, PIDs 517/700- 518/710. New SIDS for the CCTV channels in this mux: 301-305.
Koreasat 3 116E 12370 H "HCB" has started on , FTA, SID 9, PIDs 902/900.
Koreasat 3 116E 12530 H "CNN International Asia and all Satio radio channels" are now encrypted.
Koreasat 2 113E 12370 H A new mux has started , FTA, Sr 26865, Fec 3/4, SIDs 2-9,PIDs 1260/1220-1960/1920, line-up: Shopping S, Withus Movie, Withus Shopping, Movie A, FTV (South Korea) and a test card.
Koreasat 2 113E 12290 H "ABS, UBS, CNS and CCN have replaced Health Sat TV, I Bank 2, SE Jong Sat and Wow Sat" on , clear, PIDs 300/301 and 800/801-1000/1001.
Koreasat 2 113E 12731 H "Living TV and Medi TV" are now encrypted.
Asiastar 3 105.5E 3760 H "PCM test card" has started on , Fta, SID 4, PIDs 1040/1041.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3520 H "ITV (Thailand)" has left
NEWS
Stokes plays for time with Foxtel
From http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,4012038%5E15309%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html
AS the stand-off between Kerry Stokes' pay-TV channel, C7, and Foxtel continues, it is interesting to ponder what the executive chairman of Seven really wants out of the impasse.
After gaining through the courts access to the Foxtel cable and its set-top boxes, Stokes and Foxtel continue to disagree on commercial access terms for the C7 sports channel.
That is despite Foxtel having made three offers and, in the final offer, making available to Seven its subscriber management system and marketing prowess.
Foxtel believes Stokes is using the debate to try to convince Canberra to allow him to multi-channel on his digital TV spectrum.
But maybe there's another reason.
If history is any guide, it could be that Stokes actually wants equity in Foxtel.
The idea would be anathema to Foxtel's existing shareholders, including News Ltd, publisher of The Australian, who have constantly said they will not pay him off.
But the provision of equity in Australian pay-TV companies has long been the solution in resolving an impasse.
Stokes was the fortunate beneficiary of one such settlement five years ago, and that resolution handed him a slice of Optus. He had sued the Optus Vision pay-TV consortium, of which he was a member, on the basis he had not been consulted on a decision to commit $160 million over five years to the Australian Rugby League.
Stokes claimed the shareholders' agreement had been breached and that gave him the option to buy Optus's pay-TV business for 85 per cent of the $1.6 billion cost of the network or 85 per cent of the mean of the valuation prepared by either side.
The move meant Optus's $2.3 billion listing was delayed and was only fast-forwarded after the settlement with Seven and others was reached.
Similarly, Publishing & Broadcasting once supported the aspirations of the failed pay-TV company Australis.
PBL had also been a member of the Optus Vision consortium and, when the Foxtel-Australis merger was knocked back by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, it helped organise a joint venture between Australis and Optus Vision.
Foxtel (then equally 50 per cent owned by News and Telstra) successfully sued the companies, saying the joint venture breached Australis's program supply deal with Foxtel.
Soon after, News and PBL announced they intended to work together towards the rationalisation of the pay-TV industry and that they would "equalise" their interests in pay-TV. That deal, which saw PBL buy half of News's 50 per cent stake, was the last time ownership of Australia's major pay-TV companies changed.
So it would probably be unsurprising to expect Stokes to use his existing leverage to seek a similar outcome.
Deutsche Bank media analyst Mike Mangan notes that Stokes has said he wants to ensure a commercial arrangement is found on access.
"I'm sure he would settle for a share of Foxtel," he says.
The theory is made even more interesting when it's remembered that much of the News-PBL settlement was negotiated by PBL's former chief executive Nick Falloon.
He is now the Ten Network's executive chairman, and the idea of trying to gain a pay-TV presence has probably crossed his mind. Falloon is said to be ready to side with Seven in opposition to the Foxtel-Optus programming restructure, although that is unlikely to give him enough leverage to seek equity.
But Stokes arguably does have that power.
The impasse on access is an issue which will pave the way for every other company seeking access on Foxtel.
The lack of resolution may affect the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's deliberations on the Foxtel-Optus restructure.
And if the deal is knocked back, Foxtel says it won't digitise its network, and that means a listing of Foxtel is even further away.
What's that you say? Stokes is delaying a listing? Haven't I heard that somewhere before?
Foxtel 'plans $500m upgrade'
From http://finance.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,4014813%255E462,00.html
THE Federal Government could receive plans for a $500 million upgrade of Telstra's broadband cable network as early as this week, according to a report.
Foxtel's shareholders, including media giant The News Corporation Ltd, are believed to be ready to present the blueprint to Communications Minister Richard Alston after their previous plan was knocked back earlier this year.
It is understood the new offer proposes a price of access to the digital network based on the cost structures of the business, a financial newspaper reports today.
The proposed price structure for third parties will divide the cost of a digital set-top box by the number of channels on the service, the newspaper says.
There would be about 150 channels on the network before its analogue service closes.
"The partners are keen to recover their costs on a pro-rata basis," one unnamed source was quoted as telling the newspaper.
Austar refinancing set
From http://finance.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,4015131%255E462,00.html
AUSTAR United Communications Ltd had finalised all agreements related to the refinancing of its $400 million debt facility, the company said.
The company has been working to finalise the syndicated loan since the beginning of the year.
Austar has been renegotiating the debt facility with a 15-member banking consortium, after it technically breached one of the banking covenants by failing to secure a deal by 2001 year-end.
Canada's Toronto Dominion, and US finance majors, JP Morgan and Citibank, are lead members of the syndicate.
The terms of the facility include a repayment date of 2006 and a payment schedule which matches Austar's business plan.
An additional element of the refinancing was the provision of a $30 million contingency account to be provided by UnitedGlobalCom (UGC), Austar's majority shareholder.
Share holder approval of conversion rights relating to the contingent cash account will be sought at the company's annual general meeting to be held on or around May 15, 2002.
Austar said an independent expert's report, prepared by Grant Samuel, will be sent to share holders with the notice of that meeting.
At 1140 AEDT Austar shares were trading 1.5 cents or 6.25 per cent stronger at 25.5 cents.
Broadcasters fear monolithic Telstra
From http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/03/24/1016843089153.html
The expansion of Telstra's presence in the media sector is a key concern of industry players meeting the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to discuss the Foxtel/Optus deal this week.
The competition watchdog is meeting representatives of companies including Seven Network, Hutchison Telecommunications, Vodafone and Austar to establish the implications of the radical pay TV deal struck three weeks ago. The ACCC also expects this week to get a formal submission from Foxtel and Optus detailing their agreement.
In a bid to make the local pay TV industry profitable, rival metropolitan operators Foxtel and Optus have agreed to share programming. Telstra, a 50 per cent-owner of Foxtel, has also been granted the right by the other Foxtel shareholders, News Ltd and Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd, to sell cheap packages of pay TV, telephony and Internet services.
Competitors are worried this could serve to extend Telstra's market dominance beyond telecommunications. There are concerns it could, through its Foxtel links, monopolise content for future services, including interactive TV and 3G mobile.
These fears have been heightened by Telstra chief Dr Ziggy Switkowski's public comments it was considering a media acquisition to add to its Foxtel interest. Not restricted by cross-media or foreign ownership laws, Telstra would be most likely to buy a free-to-air TV network.
"There are some long term structural competition issues with where Telstra sits in the whole game," one industry player said. "The danger with the Foxtel deal is where does Telstra end up? Do they become so big and powerful they can squash whatever they want to?"
Telecommunications carriers are specifically concerned that they will be unable to match the telephony and Internet prices offered by Telstra as part of its pay TV bundles. The ACCC last week denounced as anti-competitive the length of time it took to set the price of its wholesale broadband service.
Media and telecommunications players are expected to seek guarantees from the ACCC that the Foxtel/Optus deal will not restrict access to content and infrastructure.
Seven Network has been the most vocal critic. Chairman Kerry Stokes has warned the Foxtel/Optus alliance could create a "monolith" which would control the media. Embroiled in a four-year battle to get access to the Foxtel cable to broadcast its fledgling C7 pay TV service, Seven is also worried about the potential concentration of sports and entertainment rights.
Foxtel shareholders and Optus are to decide on the deal by the end of May.
NDS Accused of Giving Pirates Canal Plus Code
From http://www.inside.com
The bitter legal war that broke out last week between interactive television rivals Canal Plus and Rupert Murdoch-owned NDS may end up hurting both companies and damaging the public's impression of ITV.
Canal Plus, owned by Vivendi Universal, filed a federal racketeering civil suit in Northern California accusing NDS of breaking Canal Plus security for its digital smart cards used in set-top boxes and distributing the technology to pirates.
This was more than business as usual, insists Francois Carayol, EVP of Canal Plus Group and chairman and CEO of Canal Plus Technologies.
"NDS illegally attacked Canal Plus Technologies' previously unbroken security system that had been developed to ensure that only authorized customers had access to digital television signals," Carayol says. "NDS spent large amounts of money and resources to extract the code from Canal Plus digital television smart cards, then provided the code to a website frequented by counterfeiters."
Carayol says the code had been extracted in a laboratory NDS had specially equipped for that purpose.
The French company is claiming damages in excess of $1 billion in lost business and extra expenses.
Although Canal Plus says it has now made the technology secure, the company is about to launch its next generation of ITV middleware, and Carayol says one of the suit's aims is to block NDS from doing the same with the new technology.
NDS dismisses the legal action as baseless and vowed to file a countersuit of its own.
"That problem is due solely to the inferior nature of Canal Plus's conditional access technology, the failure of its business plan to contain measures to protect against piracy and its failure to deal with piracy once it began," responded NDS president and CEO Abe Peled in a statement. "The clear evidence is that the pirate community targeted Canal Plus early in 1998 and succeeded without any help from anyone, particularly NDS."
He also accuses Canal Plus of trying to hire away from NDS the very employee they blamed for the code-breaking.
Both sides could eventually come to regret any lawsuits filed over the matter, warns Josh Bernoff, principal ITV analyst for Forrester Research.
"This sort of shooting war is not healthy for the industry," Bernoff says. "The subtle message goes out to the community that ITV isn't secure and can easily be counterfeited."
The code-breaking, he adds, is indeed business as usual. In NDS's case, the company had suffered wholesale piracy of its own technology, Bernoff says. NDS needs to show customers that its rivals' security is no better, and Bernoff calls the breaking of another company's code a legitimate business tactic.
But he adds that if NDS had distributed Canal Plus's code on the Internet, then it would have crossed the line into improper and possibly criminal activity.
Canal Plus's lawsuit covers only European operations. NDS is the industry leader in Europe, with about 35% of the market, compared to no more than 15% for Canal Plus.
Both companies say they intend to go ahead with the planned merger of their Italian operations despite the flare-up.
Outsmarting the digital TV pirates
From http://www.e4engineering.com/item.asp?id=45084&type=news
A UK university is set to work alongside major electronics companies to develop a new smart card technology that could help protect digital TV and other media from pirates.
The launch of the EU-backed Full Speed project - which includes the University of Surrey, Philips and Schlumberger - comes as the digital TV industry grapples with the implications of legal action currently under way in the US.
Allegations denied
Pay-TV provider Canal Plus is alleging that NDS, a subsidiary of rival television giant News Corporation, helped disseminate codes that allowed hackers to create false smart cards. NDS has denied the allegations.
Whatever the outcome of the dispute, Dr Peter Sweeney of Surrey University's Centre for Communications Systems Research said current smart card technology is fundamentally inadequate for protecting digital TV data from determined pirates.ITV Digital, the UK digital TV service, has been plagued by bogus smart cards, with an estimated 100,000 in circulation at one stage.
Sweeney said the Surrey team and the other partners in the European Union project would look for a new generation of smart cards capable of dealing with the special demands presented by advanced multimedia.
He said the solution lies in creating a smart card system with sufficient computing power to cope with the calculations needed to create a unique 'key' for each card user that cannot be copied or passed on to anyone else.
'The current generation of smart cards is not up to these computations,' he said.The Full Speed project will look to create a new system based on 32-bit computer processing and the Java operating system to support multimedia applications needing high cryptographic calculation capacities.
Sweeney said the issues facing broadcasters were similar to those attempting to combat piracy in other areas, but complicated by the commercial demands of operating a pay-TV service.
Constantly changing
'The point about pay digital TV is that it is constantly changing, with people dropping in and out and adding new packages. You don't want to have to change your keys every time.'
The fact that services such as ITV Digital operate over the airwaves, rather than via a fixed link to a set-top box, as in the case of cable TV, also increases the technical challenges.
The Surrey University team is also investigating ways to counter the huge problem of piracy of digital audio and video material, including 'watermarking' systems that make copying films impossible.
News Corp's Murdoch Plans More China Deals; Says Patience Needed for Global Media Goals
From satnewsasia.com
News Corporation will continue efforts to expand in China's tightly-regulated media market after it launches its new Chinese channel later this month.
News Corp said it hopes Xingkong Weishi, its Mandarin language channel that will broadcast in Cantonese-speaking Guangdong province, would gain nationwide distribution. Mandarin is spoken in most of China. News Corp quoted minister of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television Xu Guangchun as hinting at the possibility “expanding our collaboration into other areas,” which the company said was an encouraging sign. News Corp founder and chairman Rupert Murdoch said he expected the new channel “to be the first in a series of many successful projects we can achieve here”.
Xingkong Weishi will initially broadcast a Cantonese dubbed version of the American situation comedy, Friends, and will later broadcast dance shows and a nightly talk show. It will begin broadcasting to one million homes by the end of this month, according to News Corp. The channel plans to produce 60 percent of its programming in China.
China gave Star TV, News Corp’s broadcasting unit, permission to broadcast in Guangdong last year, along with AOL Time Warner and Phoenix Satellite TV (which is 38 percent-owned by News Corp). In exchange, Star TV will distribute an English channel under national broadcaster China Central TV (CCTV) through its sister firm Fox TV in two U.S. cities. Previous to these deals, foreign networks in China were limited to broadcasting in certain hotels and foreigner compounds.
China's fast growing media market is being opened up in controlled phases by that country’s communist government. China's media market is expected to grow faster than the economy for several years.
Analysts, however, cautioned that growth in China would take plenty of money, patience and time, and that any business development would take some five to 10 years. Despite this scenario, AOL Time Warner, the world's largest media and Internet company, said it expects half its total revenues to come from abroad, including China, in the next 10 years, compared to 16 percent last year. Its total revenues for 2001 were US$38 billion.
India's Space Dept Renews Thai Shin Satellite Contract; Shin Shares Gain
From satnewsasia.com
India's Department of Space has renewed for six months a contract leasing seven C-band transponders on the Thaicom 3 satellite owned by Thailand's Shin Satellite Plc. The contract renewal means that India will continue leasing a total of 10 transponders on Thaicom 3.
India is the largest single foreign market for Shin Sat, which operates three in-orbit satellites and is due to launch a new satellite—the iPSTAR broadband Internet satellite—in 2003. Analysts said revenues from India accounted for some 20 percent of ShinSat's transponder rental revenues. Transponder rentals represented about 80 percent of the company’s total revenues. ShinSat had a net profit of US$35 million in 2001, up 120 percent year-on-year, on revenues of US$120 million.
ShinSat said the new contract has made it confident about maintaining its market share in India. Media reports earlier speculated that ShinSat could lose its Indian contracts as the government was looking to other satellite service providers. ShinSat said it expects to lease additional transponders to Indian companies due to the huge demand for TV, Internet and phone services. More than 30 Indian channels broadcast via Thaicom 3.
ShinSat’s shares closed up 2.9% at 26.75 baht while the overall market lost 0.7% to 374.73 points. ShinSat is 51 percent owned by Shin Corporation belonging to the family of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
BBC, Discovery sign 'deal of the decade'
From indiantelevision.com
The BBC, BBC Worldwide and Discovery Communications have announced that an agreement on "the deal of the decade" has been reached. This is a ten-year extension to the global partnership which originally commenced in July 1997 and was signed in March 1998. The partnership was to conclude at the end of the year.
An official release informs that the new agreement extends the deal to 2012. The BBC/DCI relationship claims to be unique in terms of scale and longevity within world broadcasting.
When the original agreement was signed the parties anticipated only a five year renewal. The alliance between the broadcasters had been formed to develop television channels and factual programming for the global marketplace, the release states.
The joint venture has three main elements: the co-production of high quality factual programming; the development of jointly-owned television channels around the world, and developing and distributing BBC America. It claims distribution in more than 26 million homes.
The BBC Sales Company licenses, co-produces and distributes factual programming in the United States and Canada on behalf of the BBC and DCI the release states. The BBC/DCI joint venture further monetises these award-winning programmes, through publishing and merchandising, creating multi-million dollar properties that allow for greater investment in high quality programming.
Speaking on this DG BBC Greg Dyke said: "When this partnership was formed, the BBC aimed to be part of the greatest creative force in factual broadcasting globally. Our alliance with DCI means that outstanding programmes such as The Blue Planet and Walking With Dinosaurs have been shared and enjoyed by individuals, families and communities in countries right around the world. This is a powerful service we will continue to build over the next ten years."
Chief executive, BBC Worldwide, Rupert Gavin said: "The partnership with Discovery is a clear indication of how a global partnership such as this builds value and allows for significant re-investment in programming, to the benefit of the UK licence payer."
President and COO DCI Judith A. McHale said: "Strategic partnerships like the BBC/DCI joint venture are a central element of Discovery's growth strategy in the years to come. The complementary expertise of the two organisations allows for cost sharing, creative balance and increased distribution, which gives Discovery a significant competitive advantage in the domestic and international marketplace."
24/03/02
Sunday so back Monday
23/03/02
A bit of action today. No not feeds, Aurora on B3 is FTA all services. I have not seen that happen before. All services on 12407 V, 12595 V and 12532 V are FTA I hope to have screenshots for all of them Monday.
Only a small update today, back Monday
From my Emails & ICQ
From Salah
Dear Craig.
At the moment on B3 12532 V Sr 30000 fec 3/4 all Zee Links are FTA. Also 12407 V and 12595 V
Also Measat 2 .
On 11602 H I have a signal but it seems that SR 41500 is not correct, if someone has another SR
I can try again. My Echostar needs the correct SR to load.
Regards,
Salah.
From Chris Pickstock
4.40 pm SA time
All Aurora channels are FTA at the moment. This includes all 6 Sky
Channels, BTV 1 - 3, Centrelink, Zee, the WA stations etc.
Chris
From Peter Clark
Re: Global Vision Mux, Palapa C2, 3760 H, S/R 26100, FEC 3/4
At present nine channels are coming up with a bulletin message indicating a new
'information and entertainment service comprising of 11 channels'. This may be
the forerunner of an encrypted service which may offer FTA to start with. I
have a problem in that these load okay into my Humax 5400 but won't load into my
cheapie Emtech 100 (FTA receiver without CI slots). Can anybody explain please.
The humax is looped through IF from the Emtech.
From the Dish
B3 156E 12407 V All services are FTA
B3 156E 12532 V All services are FTA
B3 156E 12595 V All services are FTA
NEWS
Murdoch Jnr threatens to pull out of Australian pay TV
From http://media.guardian.co.uk/city/story/0,7497,672250,00.html
Lachlan Murdoch, the son of Rupert Murdoch and heir to the News Corporation throne, has threatened to pull his father's media empire out of the Australian pay TV market if competition regulators block a proposed deal.
Mr Murdoch, the deputy chief operating officer of News Corp, said the group might withdraw from pay TV down under if the Foxtel network is barred from forming a content alliance with rival Optus.
News Corp owns 25% of Foxtel, a cable operator producing under-par revenues, and Mr Murdoch told the Australian Financial Review the group would dump its stake if the deal was blocked.
"In any business in any market we operate in, where you have a struggling business, a business that is losing money, when either regulators or governments protect one industry at the expense of another, I think that's a very bad thing," he said.
He made his comments during a whirlwind visit to Australia just as a court case over the A$1bn collapse of One.Tel got under way.
The company - ambitious telecoms venture founded by Mr Murdoch and his friend James Packer - son of Kerry - collapsed last summer, costing News Corp £211m.
In the court case, Brad Keeling, the managing director of One.Tel, described as "almost comical" Mr Packer's address to a critical board meeting revealing the full extent of the company's problems.
Mr Keeling told the court he told Mr Packer and Mr Murdoch about the company's cash levels months before Mr Packer told the board he had just found out.
Both Mr Packer and Mr Murdoch, who have yet to give evidence, claim they were "profoundly misled" about One.Tel's true financial position.
Confidence in the business competence of Lachlan - seen as the heir apparent to his father's media empire - was severely dented by the One.Tel deal.
But Australian brokers said they were impressed by the 30-year-old's handling of the Foxtel deal. One broker tells the Australian Financial Review today that he was now more self assured
"He appeared relaxed and responded to questions both confidently and candidly. We suspect presenting away from his father provides the opportunity to fully demonstrate his knowledge of the company and the issues at hand," says one broker.
But another said he "doesn't really know the detail that well", even though he had improved since his promotion 18 months ago.
And Lachlan Murdoch refused to break the silence from Murdoch's heirs on the succession issue, a source of much speculation within the global media industry.
"We don't spend a lot of time thinking about succession issues. It will be up to the board ultimately," he said.
"I focus on the businesses. I've now got the extra responsibility of the stations. So running Australia and new Zealand still takes up a lot of my time, running the other print businesses still take up a lot of my time... that's what I'm focusing on at the moment."
The other Murdoch children are James, who also holds a senior position at News Corp, Prudence McLeod, Elisabeth Freud and newly-born Grace.
Zee in talks with SABe TV to offer bouquet
From http://www.agencyfaqs.com/www1/news/stories/2002/03/23/4111.html
Television wars will never be the same again.
agencyfaqs! has learnt that one of Hindi television’s major free-to-air channels SABe TV could combine with pay network Zee Television Limited (ZTL) to offer a joint bouquet of pay channels. The Sri Adhikari Brothers Television Network (SABTNL) will distribute its Hindi entertainment channel SABe TV along with Zee. According to sources, this is part of a broader move to offer a bouquet that can rival the STAR Plus package.
Analysts say that this could be the beginning of a consolidation of channels that rival STAR Plus, with a few of the other standalone channels coming together to offer a combined package. agencyfaqs! spoke to all the four top channel networks as well as a couple of niche channels for a confirmation on this development. Though SABe TV was willing to confirm that negotiations were on currently, senior Zee officials refused to comment on the issue. But as Raj Nayak, executive vice-president, sales and marketing, STAR India, puts it, “The way the industry is moving, and the way every network wants to make their bouquet stronger, alliances will be the norm.”
If successful, the Zee-SABe combine will be a powerful rival to the STAR bouquet. It would also mean that the current tussle between cable operators and pay channels would be put to rest quite conclusively. However, right now, some of the major issues that have to be thrashed out in the talks are generic to the pay-for-all bouquet system that is the norm in India, unlike the pay-for-the-channel-you-watch system that is the norm in many other parts of the world.
From an industry viewpoint, the bouquet system has high potential for future conflict. Among the potential flashpoints: the break up of subscriber fees and what must be done if one or the other channel sees a sudden rise in the popularity of its programmmes but remains the lesser partner in the agreement. While agreements are signed on the existing ranking, the Indian television industry is so dynamic that channels that seemed dug in for a long time, can suddenly be toppled, and lesser channels zoom up to the top. In this likely scenario, the break up of subscription revenue as drawn up in the agreement, becomes a point of friction.
For cable operators, the implication of such a tie-up is enormous. The sudden dearth of free-to-air quality programming will mean that their major weapon in the current war –their ability to boycott pay television channels – will vanish as consumers demand better programming.
To put things in perspective, cable operators have been bitterly contesting the move by television channels to go pay, claiming that the increased rates charged by pay television companies will make their business unprofitable. Cable operator tactics in the war, which include blacking out signals of pay TV channels, have crucially depended on alternative free-to-air programming. Thus, if even the quality free-to-air channels become pay, then the cable operators will come under enormous pressure to accept pay television. For them, the war will end.
In the long run, this would mean that the current system of small-scale cable operators will give way to a professionally managed consolidated system of cable operations with a few major players. For the consumer, this could mean subscription fees in tune with international standards, or at least substantially higher than the Rs 125 to Rs 200 per month charged now.
Ironically, the talks are on even as a task force appointed by India’s Information & Broadcasting Ministry has recommended that the government make it mandatory for consumers to pay only for the television channels they watch, and not for a catch-all bouquet of several channels as is the system now. The I&B task force on the cable and broadcasting industry was set up in September last year after bitter complaints of the various industry players against each other.
According to the estimates of the I&B Ministry, cable networks currently reach 35 million households (IRS 2001 Round 1), and at an average of Rs 125 per month per subscriber, this industry is estimated to generate close to Rs 5,500 crore annually. Many free-to-air channels, especially the ones that have been doing very well like the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak are also expected to turn pay soon.
If the tie-up goes through, the television industry in India would change forever
22/03/02
Not much happening today, not much news either. Hopefully there should be some decent sports feeds on the Optus birds this weekend.
Not long to go until the launch of Jcsat 8 (29th)!
Hong Kong 7's rugby feed should be up there all weekend somewhere
From my Emails & ICQ
Nothing to report
From the Dish
PAS 2 169E 12577 V The test cards have left .
Optus B3 156E 12336 V A test card has started, Fta SID 1, PIDs 1160/1120.
Apstar 1A 134E 4140 V "CCTV 2" has started on , PAL, 6.60 MHz.
Apstar 1A 134E 3886 V "I-Cable "has left.
JCSAT 3 128E 3960 V "FTV, CTS, CTV and TTV"are encrypted.(But for how long this ones on and off)
Palapa C2 113E 4000 H The five Channel NewsAsia are still/back on , Fta, Sr 26085, Fec 3/4, PIDs 1160/1120-1660/1620.
Palapa C2 113E 3760 H The eight Global Vision test cards are still/back on , Fta , Sr 26100, Fec 3/4, PIDs 102/103 138/139.
Asiasat 2 100.5E 3660 V "Jame-Jam TV Network 3" has started Fta, SID 14, PIDs 2688/2689.
ST 1 88E 12647 V "PTS and occasional PTS feeds" have moved here from 12633 V Fta, Sr 5926, Fec 3/4, PIDs 33/34 and 41/42.
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3520 H "ITV (Thailand)" is back on , Fta, Sr 26660, Fec 3/4, PIDs 512/640, global beam.
NEWS
Murdoch won't 'buy off' Stokes
From http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/21/murdoch22m.htm
News Corp deputy chief operating officer Lachlan Murdoch has refused to "buy off" pay TV aspirant Kerry Stokes just to win regulatory approval for his radical proposal to share programming with rival Optus.
But he said it would be a "tremendous shame" if the Foxtel/Optus pay TV deal did not proceed.
Visiting Australia for three days this week, Mr Murdoch said yesterday that the deal should go ahead. The Foxtel shareholders and Optus have given themselves until the end of May to decide whether to proceed with the deal.
Describing the pay TV industry as "over-regulated", Mr Murdoch said it would be a "tremendous shame" if the Australian Competition and Consumer blocked the deal.
"Clearly digital is going to be questioned. Why would anyone continue to invest in this industry if, at every step along the way, they're blocked from making the business even marginally [profitable] by regulators or Canberra?"
Foxtel is losing $100 million a year.
Foxtel delayed upgrading its analog service to digital until it received a commitment from the Federal Government that its $500 million investment would be protected. Communications minister Richard Alston has told Foxtel it must first resolve its dispute with Seven Network's C7 pay TV arm. Foxtel and Seven have been haggling for four years about the price Foxtel will charge Seven to broadcast a pay TV service over its cable.
On Wednesday, Foxtel offered to carry four pay TV channels developed by C7 on its planned digital service.
But while C7 wants its channels to be included in the basic service Foxtel subscribers receive, Foxtel maintains that the C7 channels would have to be a separate tier, which costs extra for C7.
Mr Murdoch said yesterday that was "non-negotiable".
"We'll offer [Mr Stokes] even more than what he deserves on a tier but it's very important that it's got to be on a tier. We will not go back to our subscribers and say they have to pay more money for Stokes to be bought off and let the deal go through. It's an outrage."
Foxtel chief Kim Williams and Seven pay TV chief Steve Wise have agreed to meet next week to discuss the issue. Mr Murdoch said he had a "great deal of confidence" that the Foxtel/Optus deal would be approved.
Mr Murdoch said there were no signs yet of a turnaround in the advertising market here but noted that there were early signs of an improvement in the US.
"There are positive signs but they're not strong enough to break out the champagne yet."
Mr Murdoch reiterated that News expected to record earnings before interest and tax growth of 23 to 28 per cent in the current half. News Corp's full-year EBIT growth should be in the "mid-single digits".
"It's been a really tough year," said Mr Murdoch. "We've been pretty focused on driving revenue in a pretty tough economic climate and we think the year ahead is going to be more of the same."
News's primary growth strategy now revolves around buying up more TV stations in the US and establishing duopolies in more markets there.
"That is clearly going to be a huge growth driver for News Corporation," said Mr Murdoch, who was recently given responsibility for News Corp's 33 US TV stations.
Mr Murdoch said News Corp's "greatest concern" was fixing its Fox TV network, which has suffered falling audience ratings. "The network's had a bad year."
News wary on pay-TV block
From http://finance.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,3999074%255E462,00.html
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