26/5/01

Look for NRL tonight 2 games likely to be on 12363V one after the other. Super 12 Final on 12336 V?

I always wonderd why Lyngsat didn't list anything other than Mega Cosmos on Thaicom 3. So I got someone to check it out

Craig, you were right, there are quite some channels there!
My source at Unitel gave me the list of names and some of our collegues
from Lyngsat (Bo Wall from Sweden) found the PIDs.

Here's the list:

TV Channels:

ERT SAT
MEGA COSMOS
ATV
Kanal D Fun
Kanal 7
TGRT
TV Globo
MKTV Sat
NTV
NTV Plus
TV Polonia
Pink Plus

Radio Channels:

ATV SPORT
RADIO D
TGRT FM

Best regards,
G. Bregar, SD
webmaster@sat-address.com webmaster@uplinkstation.com


Craigs note, Warning I don't have furthur info on the services untill Lyngsat posts the details there is a chance that this stream can corrupt some receivers so try at your own risk They may even be all encrypted services. They are a feed for Tarb's on Pas 8 of course.

From my Emails & ICQ

Some B3 Mediasat reports

From "MJ12"

Good signal here (near Brisbane) on 90cm and Nokia

From "T.BO"

Receiving NRL on Ch-4. Test patten on 3 & 6.
Signal level 74db at N/E Victoria.

From John M

Rock solid X 6 services on 60cm North Coast NSW

From Sal

Here in Merimbula Far south coast of NSW
on my Echostar DSB 1000 2ci , 120 cm offset dish equiped with an universal
Sharp LNB.

B3 New Mediasat services are coming very strong.
regards.
Sal

From Victor Holubecki

New channel on Pas 8 3852 H Sr 13237 Fec 3/4. No sound though

Reported by me Friday Night via the mailing list

12363 V has ABC netball coverage
12336 V Mediasat has NRL

Both were at 7.30pm Syd time

From the Dish

Pas 8 166E 3852 H "New channel" Sr 13237 Fec 3/4, Need more info on this one

Palapa C2 113E 3760 H "Rainbow Channel" is now encrypted. (untill they change there minds again)

Asiasat 3 105.5E 4135 V "Zee Network mux" all channels have new pids
Asiasat 3 105.5E 4135 V "A test card has started" on Vpid 43 Apid 44

Insat 2E 83E 3979 V "DD 8 - Andhra Pradesh" has started, Sr 5000, Fec 3/4, Vpid 512 Apid 650, Zone Beam
Insat 2E 83E 3699 V "Kairali Channel" is still on , Sr 3184, Fec 3/4, Vpid 1160 Apid1120, wide beam.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3424 V "PTV 1 has replaced PTV 2" ,Sr 3333, Fec 3/4,Vpid 308 Apid 256, Asia Beam
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3420 V "PTV Channel 3" has a new Sr 3333.

Pas10 at 71.5-72.0E "PAS 10 is now geostationary at 71.5-72.0 East."

I suggest aiming your dish in that direction, freqs tested should possibly match with ones in use on Pas 4

NEWS

Alliance between Sony, Discovery, Aaj Tak likely

From http://www.economictimes.com/today/25tech01.htm

A GRAND alliance involving Sony, Discovery channel and Aaj Tak may be in the offing. If the alliance goes through, the combined penetration of these three channels could cover a whopping 25-30 million out of a total of 35 million cable & satellite homes in the country.

Sony’s CEO Kunal Daspupta confirmed Sony was interested in the alliance and such a tieup was in the making. "Now that we have taken the pay mode, we would like to extend our bouquet of channels. We would like that Discovery and Aaj Tak join this bouquet. It is up to them now," he said.

Dasgupta said while Sony was quite keen on the alliance, it was now left to Discovery and Aaj Tak for tying the knot. "Our position is clear. It is up to them (Discovery and Aaj Tak) to marry us," he said.

Discovery Channel also confirmed Sony had approached it for creating a bundled channel bouquet.

"It will be nice if we can work with a bundled channel platform. The penetration of a bouquet is definately the best. We are still exploring other options," Discovery’s Head of Distribution, Sanjay Khanna said.

He, however said such a tie-up had not been put into place as yet. "We are open for talks with all major channels. However, as of now there is no tie-up in place," he said.

Khanna said Discovery had held discussions with several prominent channels including Sony and is open to to talking to other channels for exploring options of a bundled bouquet.

If such a platform is put into place, in all likelihood the three channels may share atleast the content and distribution aspects with the other partner channels.

However, Amitabh Srivastav, head of distribution, Aaj Tak, neither confirmed nor denied such a develpoment.

"I am aware of this issue. However, I am not in a postion to either confirm or deny such a development," he said. G Krishnan, executive director, Aaj Tak was not available for comment as he is currently out of the country.

Meanwhile, industry observers and sources from the cable distribution business are terming the tieup plans as a sigificant development. Sources said that this alliance is a clear indicator that the stand-alone channels want a larger pie in the cable TV arena."

The tieup will get them better coverage and help them to negotiate their rates with us in a more effective way", an official from an MSO said.

According to a prominent industry observer, the tieup will enable the bouquet to pose a formidable challenge to the Star and Zee bouquets, which have till now had a relatively smooth ride into the C & S homes.

"The cross-synergies of Sony, Discovery and Aaj Tak could establish a third big platform. If the alliance goes through, we can expect a multi-polar competition in the cable television business," sources said.

Both Star and Zee have stakes in the cable business via the multi-service operators Hathaway and SitiCable. These MSOs have enabled a steady penetration for their respective channel bouquets in the last few years.

New satellite communication network

From http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/may25/n11.htm

A communication network utilising the INSAT satellites, which have been taken out of regular service due to their being in inclined orbit, has been set up by the Department of Space.

The new communication network, SPACENET, makes use of the defunct INSAT satellites to interconnect all Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) centres. It can operate even with a satellite that is in an inclined orbit of upto three degrees with respect to the equatorial plane.

SPACENET, which is implemented using Very Small Aperture Terminal Network (VSAT), is a multimedia network incorporating the latest digital technology to transmit audio, video and data simultaneously using the same network.

In its full configuration, SPACENET provides voice, fax, electronic mail, video conferencing, computer to computer networking, web page access, telnet and a host of other such facilities, a report in "Space India" said.

The central hub station of the network is located at ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking and Command (ISTRAC) Network Station, Bangalore and the remote terminals at 21 different centres of ISRO, the report said.The hub station of the SPACENET has a 6.3-metre diameter antenna and each remote station consists of a 3.8-metre VSAT antenna.The networking architecture provides easy expansion capability both in terms of adding new stations and incorporating additional facilities in the existing stations.

The viewer has not deserted us: Zee CEO

From http://www.economictimes.com/today/26tech06.htm

IN AN aim at regaining numero uno position, Zee’s newly-appointed group CEO for broadcasting, Sandeep Goyal, plans to build more synergy among Zee’s bouquet of channels.

Spelling out the network’s plan to revive viewer interest, Goyal said all programmes were being viewed under a microscope to improve quality of content. "Zee has always had a very strong on product portfolio. We are broadbasing our content, looking at different time bands across the day," he said.

Goyal has taken charge of Zee’s broadcast operations at a time when the network is on a comeback trail -– both on viewership stake and the stockmarket.

Despite falling out of the top-10 chart in recent months, Goyal said the viewer had never deserted the network. "In fact, we are already back in the top-10 with a bang. As per the latest Intam figures for cable and satellite homes (8 cities) with week ended May 13, Zee has five programmes in the top-10, as against four of STAR'S and one of Sony's," said Goyal.

Goyal, 38, joined the television industry after a 15-year-long stint as an advertising professional -– the first eight years with HTA, Trikaya Grey and Mudra and the last seven with Rediffusion-DY&R where he was at the helm of affairs for three years.

Barely a week in office, he has already set out give a fresh spin to Zee. "My priority is to build a synergy among the 14 channels," Goyal said.

Goyal does not want to dwell much on what went wrong for Zee, post-success of STAR’S gameshow Kaun Banega Crorepati. "The hype surrounding the success of Kaun Banega Crorepati created a negative spiral effect for Zee," is his explanation for it.

Goyal said Zee was planning to build on the diversity in content with 14 channels in its bouquet, including four regional language channels under the Alpha brand.

"We offer advertisers opportunity to reach out to viewers across a wider spectrum," he said, adding that syndication of content would be a major focus area for the network.

Goyal said Zee has a strong product portfolio and would continue to build upon it.

Zee has already announced plans to scout for an overseas strategic partner. The thrust would be to bring value in terms of syndication, distribution and content creation. The company is expected to appoint merchant banker for the purpose over the next one week.

Said a confident Goyal: "Give us some time and we'll be back to where we belong - at the top."

25/5/01

A good site update for today, plenty to read and new freqs to checkout. Don't forget if you do see something new to helpout the great guys at the Lyngsat website by providing details to webmaster@lyngsat.com

NEW Service ALERT 25/5/01 1pm Syd

B3 Mediasat 12336 V Sr 29990 or (30000) Fec 3/4 RELOAD 14 services there, same as were testing on B1 a few weeks ago. Lots of testing off tape on the "Occasional" channel, signal reports needed. Good and strong on my 60cm

NEW Service ALERT

New DVB 2000 Version 1.84.6 released, 1.84.7 (Test version is available) Note they discoverd a new version of the DSP chip 4920X so try it if you are still having audio problems.

From my Emails & ICQ

From C.Pickstock

I saw this morning that Mediasat had the test pattern on like they did on B1 a couple of weeks ago, so I did a quick reload to find the new ones coming through nice and clear here in South Aus on my 90cm.
Also the picture quality seems to have improved on what I was previously getting with Thai TV. (Not that I watch it) Have you noticed that, or is it just my imagination?

I was hoping we would get another feed channel, but it does not look like it.

Craigs reply, no you are not imagineing things I think the Power Vu+ format must give them more bandwith to play with, the resolution of the ethnic channels has gone up from 384x576 to 704x576. Now they just need to clean up the banding on Thai TV5. Also note the NIT info no longer loads 12363 V (though it still has a card up) As for Thai tv they do have some crazy gameshows that are a laugh to watch but I mostly watch it to check out the hot Thai girls

From the Dish

Pas 8 166E 3850 H "3 Test cards are here in with Power Tv and TZU CHI" Vpid 460-480.

Optus B3 156E 12336 V "New services testing here" reload transponder, reports needed

Palapa C2 113E 4000 H "Channel X 1" is now encrypted. Ocassionally FTA around the early hours Syd time

Asiasat 3 105.5E 3900 V "Alive Networks" has left, replaced by PCM test cards.

Insat 2E 83E 4070 V "DD 7 West Bengal" has left.
Insat 2E 83E 3699 V "Kairali Channel" has left, replaced by a test card.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3472 H "Gurjari Channel, Lashkara Channel and Anjuman TV" have been replaced by cards
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3554 V "Channel Guide" has started regular transmissions, Vpid 512 Apid 640, Asia Beam

NSS 703 57E 3888 R "Fortune Music" FTA, NEW, Sr 6113, Fec 3/4, East hemi beam.(Should be good to Western and Central Australia)

NEWS

Australian launch sites

From [sat-nd] 25.05.2001

Australia has signed an agreement with Russia which brings the
country a step closer to developing space launch facilities at
Christmas Island. In particular, Australia will have the
exclusive rights to commercial launches with the new Russian
Aurora rockets. Consequently, the entire project has also been
dubbed Aurora.

Under the agreement, Russia will launch its first commercial
satellite from Australian territory within three years. Russia
will supply the rockets and launch expertise and Australia will
offer infrastructure and commercial opportunities.

According to Itar-Tass news agency, it is planned that Russian
rockets such as Start and Soyuz will lift off from the new
cosmodrome. Specialists from the Russian Aerospace Agency
(Rosaviakosmos) were quoted as saying they believed that it will
be possible to carry out about 30 launches from Christmas Island
cosmodrome in several years' time.

Rosaviakosmos head Yuri Koptev said Australia would get an
exclusive right to use Aurora rockets, and Russia will not share
the technology with other countries. Russia itself will use the
Aurora only for government launches.

A private company by the name of Spacelift Australia said it
had already signed an agreement with Russia to develop a low-
Earth orbit satellite market from Woomera.

Australia's main competitor (as far as launches of Russian
rockets from other parts of the World is concerned) is Brazil.
Last March, the managing director of Asia Pacific Space Centre
Ltd, David Kwon, confirmed that his company was negotiating with
the Brazilian Government about investing in its Alcantara
spaceport.

Prime Television first Canberra station to go digital

From http://canberratimes.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=local&category=general%20news&story_id=49559

Prime Television will be the first of Canberra's television stations to broadcast in digital.

The Seven Network affiliate's digital signal will begin transmission on June 30 to the Canberra market, 3 years ahead of the Federal Government's schedule for regional television to begin digital broadcasting.

Prime's chief executive officer Brent Harman announced the decision yesterday at the opening of the regional network's digital broadcast centre by Prime Minister John Howard. As a result, Canberra is now the hub of the Prime Network, which covers all of Victoria, NSW, some areas of southern Queensland and through its subsidiary, the Golden West Network, all of regional Western Australia.

When the centre, which cost $2.5 million to build, becomes fully operational, 17 digital television signals will be broadcast from Canberra to the rest of the network.

The centre's construction doubled the size of the existing Prime station in Watson, which was built in 1989 for the beginning of aggregation. It also houses two studios, one of which is the permanent home of Prime Canberra. As a result, there is now more than 50km of cabling within the building.

Mr Harman said Canberra had been chosen as the site for the centre because it was the central point of Prime's east coast network; the ACT had a sizeable and skilled labor resource, especially in information technology; it was the nation's capital and it had received assistance from the ACT Government.

The chairman of Prime, Paul Ramsay, said Prime would be doubling its staff in Canberra as a result of the move to digital.

The centre will eventually house the network's entire traffic production and presentation departments. As each sector of the network transferred to the digital signal, their departments would be transferred to Canberra. The next Prime station to go digital will be Newcastle, in March 2002. Wollongong, Ballarat and the smaller regional stations of Wagga, Orange, Albury and Tamworth will follow.

Mr Howard praised Prime for its early move to digital in Canberra because it was important to the people of the ACT and its surrounding region.

The Government's contribution through the Regional Equalisation Plan for regional television's transition to digital was $260 million over 13 years, of which $56 million had been allocated to Prime. Of this, $13 million would be going to the ACT.

"Television is absolutely indispensable to our daily lives. I've said it before and I'll say it again no-one can hold a candle to Australian free-to-air television," he said.

Prime viewers who want to receive the digital signal from June 30 will need to buy or rent a digital set-top box. This converts the digital signal for use in analog television sets. It will provide sharper, clearer pictures free of ghosting and will have CD-quality sound.

But the digital signal is best watched on digital television sets, which have the 16:9 wide-screen format.

The only problem with digital television at present is the cost. Set-top boxes cost at least $699 each. So far, only about 3000 have been sold in Australia.

KDB public offering

From [sat-nd] 25.05.2001

Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting Co. (KDB) said it will
offer a 24.7 per cent stake worth 81.6 billion won (US$63
million) to the public for three days, starting 29 May.

KDB was granted a license for commercial satellite
broadcasting last December and officially went into operation on
12 January 2001.

At the end of 2001, KDB plans to air 140 different programmes
as well as home banking and online game services. The company
aims to attract 2.7 million subscribers and have sales of 788.7
billion won (US$613 million).

Net pirates nab TV episodes from the sky

From http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6030033.html

The open deserts of Nevada are perfect for double-wide trailers, 10-foot satellite dishes--and getting tomorrow's TV shows today.

For years, a dwindling crowd of tech-savvy satellite TV subscribers has had the ability to tap freely into the satellite streams meant for affiliate TV stations, seeing shows such as "Star Trek: Voyager" or "The Simpsons" days before the rest of the country. The TV networks have done little to stop this because few people were affected.

But now these "pre-air" shows have started appearing on the Internet and are being traded like songs were in the early days of MP3 music--a practice known as TVRip.

A few high-profile shows have been released in the last few days, most notably Wednesday's last-ever episode of UPN's "Star Trek: Voyager" and the season finales of NBC's "Frasier" and Fox's "The Simpsons." CNET News.com was able to download "Frasier" on Tuesday several hours before it aired on television on the East Coast, for example.

The budding piracy scene is hardly likely to start a landslide on the scale of MP3 and file-swapping service Napster--the shows are hard to find without some knowledge of the underground trading scene and require a fast connection to download. But the issue marks another chink in the entertainment industry's armor as it tries to retain tight control of its content in the wilds of the Internet.

"The TVRip scene is in its infancy right now," said one trader of TV, who asked to remain anonymous. "But it's growing in both quality and quantity in terms of shows and viewers."

In the Net's underground of software, music and video trading, it's difficult to tell with certainty where a given file originated. Files are distributed by loosely affiliated groups with names like "Exodus," "iMATiON," and "FE," which provide rudimentary information about a given piece of copied software or video but not enough details to expose themselves or their own sources.

Groups such as these have been distributing games, music, software and movies for years, long before the advent of easy-to-use services such as Napster and Gnutella. Instead, they have used the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) network as a kind of digital swap meet, or have set up drop points across public and private FTP (File Transfer Protocol) networks around the Net.

Although these groups have distributed DVD movies and TV shows for some time, the pre-release of TV shows a day or two before their airdate is a fairly recent phenomenon.

Catch it if you can

According to some of those in the TVRip community, these pre-air shows are taken from the satellite feeds that networks use to distribute shows to their affiliates. This practice, in some cases known as "backhaul" feeds in the TV industry or "wild feeds" on the Net, has been going on for years, with a small online community dedicated to tracking them.

They're not easy to find. There is no permanent schedule or official instructions to track them, although it's not illegal to watch them if you can find them. But it takes an old-fashioned satellite dish, dubbed a "Big Ugly Dish" or BUD by online aficionados, and the technical knowledge to be able to point the dish at precisely the right place in the sky to receive the feed.

There aren't many left, at least in the United States, with the ability to do this. According to The Carmel Group, a research firm that tracks the satellite business, subscribers to these old-fashioned satellite services have fallen from 3.5 million people in 1994 to just 800,000 people today, their ranks decimated by defection to the simpler, pizza box-sized dishes used by services such as DirecTV or EchoStar Communications.

"These are the loyalists to satellite," said Sean Badding, a Carmel Group analyst. "These are the really big dishes and the people who have been around satellite for years."

The wild feeds, which are unscheduled satellite events, have sparked controversy before. In addition to scheduled shows such as "The Simpsons" or "Frasier," the satellites sometimes carry unedited footage of news programs before the show goes officially on-air. In 1996, NBC cracked down on one person who planned to show footage he had captured on a public-access TV station, including clips of Tom Brokaw criticizing rival anchor Dan Rather.

Under federal law today, it is illegal to retransmit satellite signals. And that's where the broadcasters say the TVRip scene is stepping into dangerous territory.

"We are aware of this, and are monitoring it," said a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters.

How illegal is it?

Even in the underground community, the distribution of TV shows is somewhat controversial. Most of these are shows that can be watched for free, as opposed to the DVDs or video games that are a more usual stock in trade. The file sizes are huge--a half-hour episode of "Frasier" took up 230MB and an hour to download over a DSL (digital subscriber line) connection. Some file-traders charge that they're not worth their weight in file size and bandwidth.

Defenders say that there is demand for the shows among college students and those without VCRs or the time to program them, however. And the pre-release shows in particular mark more of the same kind of challenge that has driven the copyright pirates since the Net's early days.

Watchers say they don't worry about any harm to the broadcast industry, since the shows are free in the first place and have such a short shelf life.

"The only negative effects this could have on the broadcasting industry that I can see is that those viewers wouldn't watch the episodes on TV and not get exposed to the commercials which power the episodes," said the anonymous trader. "And secondly, and probably the most important to the viewer, (plot) spoilers could be released."

Net TV firm set to guard Canadian border

From http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6006097.html?tag=rltdnws

A looming copyright battle in Canada could soon offer one of the first major tests of technology that promises to establish national borders on the Net.

At issue is a plan by Canada's JumpTV to offer live network TV over the Internet--a strategy that recalls an earlier venture by Toronto-based iCraveTV, which collapsed in a chaos of lawsuits last year.

JumpTV, which has yet to turn on the most controversial part of its service, says it will avoid the lawsuits by limiting its viewership to Canadians, with technology that purports to pinpoint Web surfers by country, region and even ZIP code.

If implemented, it would be the first time a high-profile Web entertainment service has set up a technological walled garden attempting to eliminate the international reach of the Web.

That has sweeping implications for the entertainment and broadcast industries, which have resisted putting some content online for fear of disrupting their local TV distribution systems.

JumpTV hopes to take advantage of Canadian broadcast laws that allow retransmission of local TV signals without permission--as long as appropriate royalty fees are paid. But broadcasters contend those rules do not apply to the Net. They are preparing for a legal showdown aimed at halting the service before it begins.

Among other things, broadcasters warn of a Napster-like catastrophe for the TV industry if JumpTV is allowed to proceed, kicking off a regulatory battle that could help shape the future of online TV in Canada and elsewhere in the world.

Allowing JumpTV and others to operate "could cause incalculable damage to local TV stations and put their basic economics in grave jeopardy," the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) wrote in a recent missive to Canadian regulators. "It is not an exaggeration to say that Internet transmissions of TV stations could cripple, if not destroy, the U.S. and Canadian successful system of free, local, over-the-air television."

Much of the dispute turns on subtleties of Canadian copyright law. But it could also have far-reaching consequences for online TV in general by offering a test of nascent technology for tracing the geographical location of Net users.

Such technology has been in the spotlight before, most notably during Yahoo's run-in with the French government over the auction of Nazi memorabilia on its site. The Web giant was ordered filter access to its auction service by region--something the company said it could not do. The conflict was resolved when Yahoo banned all sales of Nazi goods on its site, leaving the effectiveness of regional filters untested.

If Canadian regulators allow JumpTV to proceed with its broadcast plans, they could provide an opportunity to prove the effectiveness of regional filters and lay the groundwork for a dramatic reworking of the Internet landscape. Although regional access filters could create new business plans for companies such as JumpTV and advertisers, they also open the possibility for new local restrictions, blocking such content as pornography or even politically unpopular speech from certain countries or locales.

A cautious start

Unlike predecessor iCraveTV, JumpTV is working slowly. Although it already offers streams of television from around the world, it does not yet show major-network programming from the United States or Canada. But it plans to add this soon, citing support by Canadian law.

Under Canada's copyright law, networks such as satellite or cable TV can retransmit local TV stations without asking, as long as they pay appropriate fees for recompensing the original copyright owners. JumpTV CEO Farrel Miller says there's no reason why this shouldn't apply equally to Internet companies, which in some cases are even using the same cable TV wires to transmit their signals.

"All we're saying here is that retransmission laws in Canada have to be applied on a technology-neutral basis," Miller said. He's asking Canada's copyright office to set up a payment structure so he can ensure his company is operating legally. Miller filed his full case with copyright authorities late last week.

iCraveTV made the same argument in early 2000. But it launched its service with network TV programming that had been lifted from U.S. stations and was promptly sued. The company settled the case before it had a chance to take the issue to regulators.

JumpTV, however, says it has a way to stop Americans and other foreigners at the borders.

Giving the Web border patrols

Along with some technology developed internally, JumpTV is using filters developed by Silicon Valley's Quova, which uses Web surfers' network addresses to pinpoint their geographical location by country, region, and possibly even ZIP code.

The technology is designed for advertisers that want to offer Web deals relevant to their local customers. But it could also serve as a kind of online border guard, stopping anyone who displays a Web address belonging to another country.

This type of technology does have its limitations, particularly when trying to dig down to the local level. It looks at the Internet Protocol address of a given Web surfer, generally assigned to that individual's Internet service provider. That provider gives some indication of where the customer might be.

Geo-trackers can often be fooled by anonymity services or other Web privacy tools. The technology is further complicated by cases such as America Online, which uses proxy servers that make it appear as though all subscribers venturing onto the Net are coming from the company's headquarters in Virginia.

Nevertheless, services such as Quova's are fairly accurate when simply pinpointing what country a Web surfer is in, analysts say.

"They should be able to do that," said Van Baker, a Gartner analyst. "There might be a few fringe people who are dialing in from across the border or something. But that should be fairly minimal."

The TV stations, studios and broadcasters that sued iCraveTV remain skeptical, however. They want the service blocked to ensure the Internet won't provide competition to their over-the-air broadcasts.

"We question whether the (regional blocking) actually works," said Dennis Wheaton, a spokesman for the NAB. "With the Internet, it's difficult to control boundaries. The whole concept of U.S. broadcasting is based on serving local audiences."

JumpTV's Miller said he is waiting to decide whether to launch the network TV streams on the company's site until the copyright panel rules. That ruling is a long way off, he says, but Miller is confident he has the law on his side, even if history has so far ruled against him.

"If they have problems with the (copyright) laws in Canada, then that's the issue they have to address," Miller said.

Arabic news war hots up: CNN and CNBC

CNN and CNBC are both planning to shortly enter the highly competitive Arabic news market with localised services.

CNBC is currently understood to be in "advanced talks" with the leading Arab news channel Al Jazeera, and if these are successful the two parties will launch a business-related service - to compete directly with Dubai's Business News Channel, which transmits in English and Arabic - either in November or next January. Qatar-based Al Jazeera, which has itself been on air for four years, also plans to launch a DTH Arabic-language documentary channel in the near future.

Although a CNBC source in London admitted the company is close to making a decision on its Arab partner, no agreement has as yet been signed with Al Jazeera. Indeed, they stressed that there have also been talks with a number of other media groups in the region.

CNBC already produces an English-language weekly show out of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, for its CNBC Europe channel, which is also syndicated by Middle East Business News to other terrestrial broadcasters in the region.

In a separate though related development, industry sources suggest that CNN is in talks with various local organisations, in particular in Dubai, to establish a news bureau in the territory's "free media zone", which is part of Dubai's Media/Internet City. CNN already has local news bureaux in Cairo and Jerusalem, and the next stage of its regional strategy is likely to be the launch of an Arabic-language web-based news service ahead of a full broadcast news channel.

Moving to the Dubai Media/Internet City location, with its tax breaks and 100 per cent foreign ownership limits, appears to be a logical step for CNN. The London-based Arabic broadcaster Middle East Broadcasting (MBC) is already in the process of relocating to the site, and - as industry observers suggest - media organisations are also attracted to Dubai by the lack of political interference in the territory.

Yet while there being no political hurdles overcomes one potential problem, there is always the issue of making business plans work. CNBC - and to a certain extent CNN - faces a particular challenge given that it targets so-called 'upper echelon' viewers rather than the mass market. While few doubt Al Jazeera's ability to command impressive local ratings, it has yet to turn a profit.

Qatar does not enjoy good relations with its near-neighbour Saudi Arabia, and as a result Al Jazeera is on an informal black list as far as Saudi advertising - the most important market in the Arabian Gulf - is concerned. While advertising is generated from pan-regional advertisers in Beirut, Cairo and Dubai keen to reach as many Arab viewers as possible, the Saudi boycott is nevertheless biting. Indeed, it has held back Al Jazeera's annual income over the last two years to around $10-13 million - a long way short of its $25 million annual running costs.

Any new services will also face the prospect of having to operate in an increasingly fragmented market. With English being the international business language, CNBC, Bloomberg and Far East versions of the two channels (for viewers with steerable DTH dishes) can already be received in the region.

CNN's plans nevertheless appear be initially modest, with few expecting Dubai - important as it is - to rival Cairo and Jerusalem as its main news bureau in the region. Moreover, should its Dubai bureau in time be expanded to a full-service Arabic-language channel, the business model will be every bit as challenging as that facing CNBC. And yet Turkish and Spanish versions of CNN have proved to be technically workable, if not yet profitable, and the Arabic-speaking audience, estimated to number up to 200 million, is an attractive market for what is already a much-loved brand in the region.

Localisation is clearly the route forward for both channels. While CNN operates 24-hour services in both Spain (CNN+) and Turkey (CNN Turk), CNBC recently launched joint-venture channels in Italy, Australia and Turkey.

No interest in Indian DTH

From http://www.cabletoday.com/ic/990648089.html

According to Indian government sources, not a single application from would-be DTH operators has so far been received. This implies that DTH services in the country will not take off until at least middle of the next year.

While Subash Chandra-owned Zee Telefilms has already announced its withdrawal from the DTH sector on what Chandra described as stifling restrictions and high cost, Rupert Murdoch-owned Star India has adopted a cautious wait and see attitude. Star India already has a DTH division on stand-by should conditions improve and is known to have sought clarification from the broadcasting authorities on the DTH guidelines issued in March.

Most of the broadcasting and cable TV companies keen on launching DTH services have found the high entry fee of Rs100million (E2.43 million), and a cap of 20 per cent equity stake for a broadcasting company in a DTH venture, to be major stumbling blocks.

24/5/01

I have a new news source for news items, hopefully that will make things easier for me in finding news each day. I know a lot of the news is about Indian networks etc but Zee is available here and many others, I don't think it will be long before Sony is available in Australia as well. I will try and keep the "local news" near the top.

I got an email from Panamsat, they said

"We don't have a date/time for traffic transition from PAS4 to PAS10
set yet, since we just launched PAS10. It looks like the transition will
happen in late-July to early-August. With the launch, PAS10 is not
operating yet at 68.5 since we are in the middle of on-orbit test at another
orbital location. When it does arrive, here are the beacon frequencies,
both are Ku-band.

12.7495 GHz, horizontal pol
11.699 GHz, vertical pol

From my Emails & ICQ

Dear Apssattv'ers

Can anyone confirm is ART-Al Jazzer in the BBC and Bloomberg MUX on PAS-2
3901 H SR 30800 is a feed or going to start with regular programming?

Thanks.
George
THAILAND

Craigs reply, I don't know yet it may be just a feed to the U.S market, elsewhere around the world I think that channel is FTA

NEWS

Sky heads for interactivity

Sky is yet to decide who will manufacture its set-top-boxes

Sky Television is moving closer to introducing interactive TV along with adbusting personal video recorder technology, following talks with conditional access systems company NDS.

The head of NDS Australia, Peter Iles, met Sky last week, in discussions he describes as "very positive".

NDS, which supplies set-top-box software to Sky's parent company BSkyB in the UK, is expected to be at the forefront of digital pay-TV in New Zealand, where Sky hopes to head off TVNZ's alliance with Telstra Saturn.

"Sky will be in a position to set itself up in opposition to TVNZ," Iles says.

However, Sky is yet to decide who will manufacture its set-top-boxes, with both Pace and Motorola likely contenders. NDS will supply the in-house software behind the 20-to-30GB hard drives used to screen digital TV signals.

Iles is sceptical about the status of TVNZ's claim that it will offer a free-to-air service, noting that the SOE will scramble their signal so it cannot be picked up by Sky's boxes.

"How is that free-to-air?"

The initial introduction of Sky's interactive set-top-boxes could see email access, news and information services, as well as detailed programme information. That might include statistics of sports players, or information about albums show-cased by promotional music videos.

NDS does not anticipate digital television to fully blossom until the arrival of MPEG layer-4 video data compression, and believes that until it does, DSL-line transmission is unlikely.

Personal video recorders, which allow consumers to record only the programmes they want to watch, and not attendant advertisements, are also promoted by NDS.

Sky's initial approach will likely be a more passive one than TVNZ's, since Sky's service here, as in the UK, will focus primarily on "enhanced entertainment", says Peter Iles.

However, Iles agrees that TVNZ's incorporation of Nzoom into its operations could pressure Sky into sourcing more web-based content, perhaps from Xtra, owned by Telecom – which owns 10% of Sky – or from newspaper publisher INL, controlled, like Sky, by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.

Wegener awarded Aussie DBS contract

From http://www.digitalbroadcasting.com/content/news/article.asp?DocID=%7B995CD6B5-4E02-11D5-A772-00D0B7694F32%7D&Bucket=Latest+Headlines

Wegener Corporation, a leading provider of transmission solutions to broadcast television and cable network operators worldwide, announced today that a major provider of digital satellite television has placed an order for Wegener UNITY4422 IRDs to support its direct broadcast-by-satellite (DBS) service. The order is expected to be delivered during Wegener's third fiscal quarter.

Keith Smith, president of Wegener Communications, stated, "Wegener products are integral components in the delivery of digital television services worldwide. The DBS industry continues to advance the sophistication of its infrastructure technology to meet the exacting broadcast standards demanded by the market. As the DBS industry continues to expand and transmits more programming, Wegener will be there to provide enabling technology."

The UNITY4422 satellite receiver is designed for professional digital video applications worldwide. In addition to decoding MPEG-2 4:2:0 or 4:2:2 video in PAL or NTSC formats, the UNITY4422 supports VBI and closed captioning on line 21. Video can be output on either serial digital or composite outputs. Using UNITY Option Modules, the UNITY4422 can be enhanced to support DVB-ASI output up to 6 stereo pairs of balanced audio, synchronous data and/or 4 L-band inputs. A UNITY Option Module is also available with DVB-ASI input to support local monitoring or terrestrial back-haul applications.

Tandberg selected to build digital terrestrial network for Australia’s Prime Television

From http://www.digitalbroadcasting.com/content/news/article.asp?DocID=%7B995CD6C8-4E02-11D5-A772-00D0B7694F32%7D&Bucket=Latest+Headlines

TANDBERG Television Inc., a leading provider of open solutions for digital broadcasting, and its business partner Comsyst, a leading supplier of broadcast systems in Australia, today announced that they have signed an agreement with Australian regional TV company, Prime Television, to build a digital terrestrial TV (DTTV) network across New South Wales and Victoria.

Comsyst, will provide systems integration, installation, testing and commissioning of the network, based on TANDBERG Television's market proven evolution 5000 digital terrestrial compression, multiplexing and multiplex management systems. The project will see Comsyst, Prime and TANDBERG Television engineers working closely together to build a state-of-the-art digital terrestrial TV network.

"This is a challenging and exciting DTTV network and by bringing together Comsyst's systems integration and network deployment know-how and TANDBERG Television's proven expertise and innovation in digital terrestrial TV solutions, we are able to provide Prime with the systems and know-how required to make its move to digital a success,' says Darren Kirsop-Frearson, VP of Sales for Comsyst.

TANDBERG Television has already experienced a large of amount of success in the Australian digital terrestrial TV market, having secured contracts valued in total at over £15 million from Australian capital city broadcasters ABC, Network Nine, Network Ten and SBS. TANDBERG Television's experience of DTTV is built on over a decade of pioneering research and development work, and the company employs engineers credited with having invented digital terrestrial TV. Moreover, TANDBERG Television has gained a significant share of the UK DTTV transmission market, has secured key contracts in Finland and Spain and is involved in a number of trials across Asia and Europe. It has also deployed its highly successful high definition encoding systems to the USA ATSC DTTV market.

"We are proud to have been chosen by Prime Television for this important digital terrestrial TV system,' says Ian Fellows, Regional Sales Manager for TANDBERG Television in Australia. "We look forward to building on this major win, and on the current DTTV networks and trials we are operating in many other Asian and European countries, to continue as the first choice in DTTV technology and solutions.'

Pan-Asian Media company, Alive Networks, dies in Hong Kong

Alive Networks, a pan-Asian media company dedicated to travel information and services distributed via TV, the Web, mobile devices and printed travel guides, has gone into liquidation following failure to secure new financing.

"Our own funding, as well as our ability to raise additional funds, has been crippled by the current worldwide market downturn and lack of investor appetite for new and innovative businesses," said Chairman-CEO Ian Henry and co-founder of chinadot corporation, in a statement.

Founded last November in Hong Kong by Mr. Henry, an Asian Internet veteran, Alive Networks focused on Asian travel and leisure including holidays and special activity options, destinations, food, adventure, shopping, fashion and style throughout Asia--a region rich with travel-related opportunities.

Just weeks ago, Alive completed its first major distribution deal with the broadband satellite service Pacific Century Matrix, a TV and telecom convergence joint venture between Pacific Century Group and European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company.

Mr. Henry also recruited an experienced management, including COO Doug Gaultier, a veteran of the Hong Kong Tourism Association with broadcasting experience; Richard Gocher, director-ad sales, an advertising industry veteran; Michelle Ching, deputy director, advertising sales who was previously group account director-regional sales, MTV Networks Asia; and Anthony Dobson, marketing services director, advertising sales, who joined Alive from Turner International, where he was VP, research & strategic planning in Hong Kong.

DD to unleash New Age broadcasting soon

From http://www.economictimes.com/today/23tech06.htm

SATELLITE channels have a new nemesis now. Stodgy old Doordarshan is all set to unleash a new era in Indian broadcasting by combining its awesome terrestrial presence with New Age broadcasting services, like interactive TV, entertainment content in digital for mat and even Internet access.

DD will kick off its digital terrestrial broadcasting services on a pilot basis in Delhi by July end. DD CEO Anil Baijal did not confirm the exact date of launch, however, he said that things are moving at a swift pace.

"By mid-June, we will take a firm decision on the launch of digital terrestrial services," he said. He added that in the next six months at least four metros will be covered by these services and bulk of the transmitting equipment is being imported.

He added the policy on the procurement of settop-boxes to be used for decrypting the digital signal on the users’ end will be finalised soon.

While initially DD may go it alone down the digital path, sources said that the national broadcaster may eventually rope in prominent private players like Zee and Discovery to create a bouquet of around 24 channels. Baijal said DD will be looking to air 8 channels from Delhi soon.

The terrestrial digital broadcasting project will, however, be an expensive proposition. The total project cost is estimated at around Rs 3,400 crore, when fully operational.

According to DD sources, "The first objective of DD is to ensure that there is a quick offtake of the digital terrestrial services once they are introduced in the country and that will be possible only if its a viable alternative to the existing analog broadcasting system."

To ensure the offtake of digital terrestrial broadcasting, DD is planning to offer a phalanx of New Age services, like interactive TV and also Internet access on TV.

The broadcasting major will also be making a clean break with the past, since it insists that the channels on the digital terrestrial broadcasting platform have to be a mix of pay and free-to-air channels.

Baijal confirmed that certain private channels have approached DD for hosting their channels on the digital terrestrial platform. He, however, did not name the private channels which want take channel space.

Says an industry source, "It wouldn’t make sense for DD to go it alone in the digital terrestrial platform. Since it will be possible to beam as many as four channels from one transmission site, it would obviously be tying up with a number of private channels to offer an attractive bouquet of channels to the viewers."

According to Discovery Channel sources, the company is keen to hitch a ride with DD in availing of the digital terrestrial platform. They added that Discovery had initiated talks with DD in this regard. Sources also said that Zee is also keen to join the digital terrestrial platform.

The technology that will be used by Dd to implement the digital terrestrial broadcasting in India is called DVB-T. According to DD sources, a DD core group went into competing standards like ATSC and ISDB-T, before plumping for DVB-T.

Cable stitch: Zee turns aggressive with 3 packages for pay channels

From http://www.financialexpress.com/fe20010524/con2.html

ZEE Network has worked out three packages for its pay channel bouquet to cable operators.

While the entire 15-channel package including the Alpha language channels will cost Rs 30 per subscriber, the four-channel combination of Zee TV, Zee News and any other two channels will be priced at Rs 22. This will, however, include the complimentary channels Zee Music, Asianet Bharati, Urdu Television Network and ZedTV. Asianet Kaveri will be a pay channel.

Cable operators will also have the option of paying Rs 25 for all the channels and only one Alpha regional channel. Zee has four regional language channels, Alpha Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi and Bangla. “While in metro cities cable operators are likely to take the entire group of Alpha channels, in smaller towns they may prefer to have only the language channel of the state,” said a Zee Network official.

Zee Network has currently fed the cable networks with 4,500 decoder boxes. The initial focus will be in urban areas where the target is to reach a distribution of 5,500 decoders. Zee has the ambitious aim to seed the market with 10,000 boxes over a period of six months, which media analysts feel is too high a figure for such a short time. “We will first feed the urban areas. We will start supplying the boxes to the existing cable networks who have already taken our pay TV service,” said a source in Zee Network.

The boxes are priced at Rs 14,000. Cable operators can pay in two instalments of Rs 7,000 each within six months. Zee is using the Philips decoder boxes.

Zee TV as a standalone channel will cost Rs 16 per subscriber. The decision to price it so high has been taken with the aim to position Zee TV as a channel which will move the entire pay-TV bouquet. Incidentally, Zee TV will cost higher than ESPN and Star Sports. “They are channels with seasonal demands, depending on the live events they telecast. Zee TV, on the other hand, will provide round-the-clock entertainment,” said a Zee Network official.

Zee plans to increase its bouquet of channels. The Telugu channel will be launched within two months. The company plans to get in a couple of more channels soon.

Small cable operators who have not been carrying Zee Network’s existing group of pay channels may initially drop out Zee TV and follow a wait and watch policy. If there is a consumer pull, they will carry Zee TV which has so far been running on their cable networks as a free-to-air channel. But those operators who are already carrying Zee’s pay channels are likely to migrate to the new bouquet, though they are sure to bargain on the rates.

SET to come with a price now

From http://www.economictimes.com/today/24tech01.htm

SONY has finally decided to shun it’s free-to-air mode. Come July, Sony is becoming a pay channel. The channel subscription rate is being pegged at Rs 8 per subcriber on a per month basis.

This is being seen as a swift move in the cable distribution circuit as Sony is keen to boost the overall subscription revenues of it’s driver channel.

Additionally, the channel is also digitising it’s operations. AXN and SET Max are the two channels in the Sony bouquet which are already being beamed into the cable and satellite households as pay channels. Sony is also distributing the stock market news channel-CNBC in the country.

The prevailing subscription rates for AXN and SET Max are Rs 5 and Rs 5.75, whereas, CNBC is being distributed at Rs 4 per subscriber per month.

The Sony bouquet package rate will now hover around Rs 23 after Sony is finally launched as a digital-pay channel in July.

According to sources, Sony has already approached the major MSO’s for negotiating the subscription rate for the pay channel. Among other negotiations, the distribution of Sony decoder receivers to the cable operators is also being discussed.

Expectedly, the independent cable networks and the major MSOs like Siticable, Wincable and Incable are not exactly thrilled with yet another major entertainment channel taking the pay route.

According to a senior official at Wincable, while most prominent channels like Star, Sony, Zee, Discovery and Turner International channels now in the pay domain, subcription revenue collections become more difficult.

"With so many channels going the pay route and frequent hikes in the subscription rates, collections at the consumer-end is a tall task for all of us," an official said.

The MSO’s have been insisting with the channels to educate the subscribers about such hikes and persuade them to cough up the suscription fees.

Incidentally, the suscription rate hikes and instances of channels going pay for the first time have been opposed by the independent cable operators and MSO’s via arm twisting tactics leading to virtual black-out of the channel from their network of C&S homes.

STAR and Discovery have faced such black-outs at the hands of the MSOs in the past when they increased their subscription rates.

23/5/01

Thanks to those that turned up in the chatroom seems the colder weather is bringing in more people. Everything else is very quiet nothing much happening.

No new version of DVB 2000 1.84.6 (in progress)

I managed to play and get the 16:9 working but no success with letterbox mode yet.

From my Emails & ICQ

From Mike

New sky music channel up and running on trackside channel when horse racing not on and tv4 when infomercials are on terrrestial tv.

Craigs note, Hardly qualifys as a new channel just better use of what they have, they were doing plenty of testing yesterday but havn't seen any today.

From the Dish

Intelsat I701 180E 3769 RHC "Opening the terraces on Mount Carmel" Sr 20000, Fec 7/8, Feed

Asiasat 2 100.5E 3926 V "Opening the terraces on Mount Carmel" Sr 5632, Fec 3/4, Feed

Optus B3 156E 12363 V "Rove Live report", Feed 22/5/01
Optus B3 156E 12336 V "Rove Live Show", Feed 22/5/01

NEWS

CNBC India looks to beef up evening band, launches 'Storyboard'

From Indiantelevision.com

As part of continuing efforts to expand its viewership base in the critical 8 pm to 11 pm evening band, CNBC India today announced the launch of Storyboard - aimed at the advertising community.

The first episode of Storyboard airs tomorrow at 8 pm with a repeat telecast at 11 pm. The episode will be screened again on Sunday at 11:30 am and 8 pm.

Haresh Chawla, CEO CNBC India, says: "There was a felt need to spice up our programming in the evening. So, we introduced the evening Executive Suite band for senior and middle management executives with a slew of new shows. Storyboard is the latest in the line-up and there are more such interesting shows in the pipeline."

According to Chawla, Storyboard’s primary focus is to explore what goes on in the advertising world - the latest campaigns, advertising pitches, wins and losses, analyse strategies, delve into issues that concern and influence consumers.

With the launch of Storyboard, the number of India-centric programmes on the channel goes up to 21.

Chawla said at present CNBC India had 10 hours of India-centric programmes on air which would go up to an optimum of 10-and-a-half-hours, not more.

PanAmSat signal quality

From [sat-nd] 23.05.2001

Transcendent Technologies, Inc. announced the successful
completion of System Acceptance Testing (SAT) for its 2010
Carrier Monitoring System (2010 CMS) for PanAmSat Corporation.
The globally-distributed 2010 CMS is now continuously monitoring
the downlink spectrum for PanAmSat's international fleet of
satellites.

The 2010 CMS replaced PanAmSat's original carrier monitoring
system, which relied exclusively on spectrum analysers to
measure downlinks. The core of Transcendent's approach is its DSP
monitoring unit, which allows for unprecedented analysis
capability. Installed at each remote site, these units provide
automated background monitoring and alarm generation, and also
support user-defined analysis tasks.

In related news, Transcendent Technologies received a Phase II
contract from PanAmSat Corporation for a second set of satellite
downlink quality monitoring units plus system engineering support.

The new digital signal monitoring units will be used to
augment and expand the 2010 Carrier Monitoring System (CMS).

Transcendent provides advanced signal processing systems for
wireless networks. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Applied
Signal Technology, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif.

22/5/01

Livechat tonight in the chatroom. Not much at all happening today

A new version of DVB2000, I hope they spend more time on fixing the bugs and less time on the new "volume graphic"

DVB2000 new version Released 1.84.5
"Menus visible in 16:9 letterbox mode"

From my Emails & ICQ

From Les Phillips

hi

I live in Broome Western Australia could you please inform me of any satellites / channels im able to receive. If there is any what size dish would i need to receive them.

regards

Craigs reply, if you have a clear view of the horizon in Perth you can see satellites from 50E to 180E, See our satellite pages for the channels and satellites you should be able to recieve. A good dish for useing in Western Australia would be a 3M. Go for the biggest dish you can afford / get your hands on / fit in your yard.

From the Dish

Apstar 2R 3824 H "Hong Kong Telecom Feeds" Sr 2859 Fec 2/3 (might be worth checking)

NEWS

No news today

21/5/01

Monday afternoon, I note more NZ Sky TV testing, the Snell Willcox card was up before but now something encrypted the EPG info button on my remote says "CA Test 4a, IPPV non purchaseable" with Telstra Saturn due to start testing anyday seems they need to get a hurry on with FTA testing so they have a true fta package of channels as competition.

Has anyone checked Pas 10 for any testing yet? There should be a beacon signal on it somewhere?

New version of DVB2000 1.84.3 probably even a newer version available by the time you read this. I just updated mine last night I note a few glitches with it.

From my Emails & ICQ

Bill Richards report Palapa C2 Rainbow and Channelx-1 FTA at 2100UTC

From the Dish

Nothing to report

NEWS

Optus to say yes to SingTel

From http://finance.news.com.au/newspulse/pulseframe/0,4711,2021192^462^^nbv,00.html

MORE than 90,000 shareholders in Cable & Wireless Optus will be told today by their independent directors to accept Singapore Telecommunications' $17.2 billion offer for their shares.

It is set to be Australia's second largest corporate transaction, just three days after shareholders accepted Australia's largest, the $57 billion BHP-Billiton merger.

However, The Australian has learnt that Optus's independent board members, John Morschel, Gavin Campbell, John Cloney, Greg Haustorfer and Sean Howard, have given a less than enthusiastic approval to the bid, largely because of the way SingTel's offer is comprised. It includes cash and shares in SingTel which have fallen heavily since the bid was announced in late March.

In what is described as a finely balanced decision, the independents say they will accept and sell their own Optus shares to SingTel.

Sources said the decision to accept was a close call, given the independent expert's report from financial house Grant Samuel said the offer was reasonable but not fair.

SingTel's shares have fallen from $S2.42 when the bid was launched to $S1.75 on Friday.

Grant Samuel's report indicates that SingTel's trading range of $S1.75 to $S1.90 meant the offer was not fair. However, it stressed SingTel's shares were only just below a trading range which would have given the SingTel offer the recommendation of fair.

And the report gives some solace to Optus shareholders, saying SingTel is undervalued and predicting a lift in SingTel's share price after the transaction, with a forecast range from Grant Samuel of $S1.80 to $S2.

The offer has three options but analysts are recommending Option B, which is 0.8 of a SingTel share and $2.25 in cash for each Optus share.

Domestic institutional investors and foreign fund managers have told SingTel they will accept the offer.

At a press conference this morning in Sydney, Optus chief executive Chris Anderson and SingTel chief Lee Hsien Yang will release SingTel's bidder statements, the independent expert's report and the "yes" recommendation from independent directors.

The reports are expected to make much of the merged SingTel-Optus entity as a regional powerhouse with more than 7 million mobile phone subscribers, more than $10 billion in revenues and a market capitalisation of more than $33 billion, which puts it in the top 10 of Australian listed companies.

The combined group also challenges Telstra's ambitions in the Asia-Pacific, with SingTel-Optus having a stake in the number one or two mobile phone player in Singapore, Australia, Thailand and the Philippines. Of the listed telecommunications companies outside Japan in the Asia-Pacific, the SingTel-Optus group will be one of the top five companies, with interests in 79 submarine cables, four regional satellites and domestic terrestrial networks.

Under the offer, SingTel's shares will be listed on the ASX, but some weakness is expected as Australian fund managers with a mandate to invest only in Australia sell.

The bid also still requires Foreign Investment Review Board approval, though sources indicate the conditions required by the Australian Defence Department regarding Optus's satellites have been met.

Russia's Proton Successfully Places PAS 10 in Orbit

From satnewsasia.com

Russia’s heavy lift Proton-K rocket successfully placed PanAmSat’s PAS 10 satellite into geosynchronous orbit in the first mission of the year for International Launch Services (ILS).

The Proton lifted off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and placed PAS10 into orbit 10 minutes later. The satellite's first signals were received about six-and-a-half hours later at Hartebeesthoek in South Africa, confirming that systems are operating normally.

PAS 10, built for PanAmSat Corporation by Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS), a unit of The Boeing Company, is the sixth Boeing satellite delivered to PanAmSat in 17 months.

Users of the satellite include CNN, BBC, ESPN and entertainment channels Nickelodeon and MTV. PAS 10 will provide international services to Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe from 68.5 degrees East longitude. PAS-10 operates with a total of 48 active transponders, 24 in C-band and 24 in Ku-band.

By mid-year, PanAmSat will have more than 900 transponders providing satellite-based video and data broadcasting services.

ILS President Mark Albrecht said the launch was excellent and continued Proton’s “winning streak” of failure-free launches. The launch came a month after the successful flight of the new Proton M/Briz M vehicles.

In 2000 the Proton flew 14 times, all successfully. Eight of those were commercial missions for ILS and six were Russian government launches.

This was the first mission of 2001 for ILS, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. in the United States and Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia in Russia. ILS manages all tasks associated with providing launch services on both the American Atlas and the Russian-built Proton vehicle families, including technical, management and marketing expertise.

ILS has launched four other satellites that are part of PanAmSat's fleet since 1995. Proton vehicles launched PAS 8 in November 1998 and PAS 5 in August 1997. Atlas launched Galaxy VIII-I in December 1997 and Galaxy III-R in December 1995.

The three-stage Proton rocket is produced by Khrunichev. The Block DM fourth stage used in the PAS 10 mission was built by Energia. An alternative fourth stage, the Briz M, is also built by Khrunichev. ILS' Atlas rockets and their Centaur upper stages are built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company-Astronautics Operations.

PanAmSat is a provider of global video and data broadcasting services via satellite. Operating a global network of 21 in-orbit spacecraft and seven technical facilities, the company delivers entertainment and information to cable television systems, TV broadcast affiliates, direct-to-home TV operators, Internet service providers, telecommunications companies and corporations worldwide. PanAmSat will expand its global fleet to 22 spacecraft by year-end 2001.

Hong Kong's Phoenix Q3 in Red Although Net Up 3.44 Times

From satnewsasia.com

Chinese-language broadcaster Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings reported a loss of HK$9.73 million for the third quarter ending March 31 that it said was caused mainly by the addition of two new channels.

The loss contrasts starkly with a profit of HK$21.69 million for the same period a year ago.

Phoenix on January 1 launched two 24-hour news channels: the Phoenix InfoNews Channel and the North America Chinese channel.

The new channels have pushed operating costs higher while their contributions to revenue was marginal, the company said.

Phoneix's operating costs in the third quarter rose 51 percent to HK$186.38 million from HK$123.05 million a year earlier.

The loss in the third quarter cut its net profit for the nine months ended March 31 to HK$87.84 million from an interim net profit of HK$97.57 million in 2000/01.

But the nine-month profit ending March 31 was about 344 percent higher than the previous year's profit of HK$19.78 million caused by higher advertising income.

Revenue grew by some 47 percent in the nine month period to HK$542.81 million while operating costs rose 42 percent to about HK$501.94 million as a result of start-up expenditures for its two new channels.

Near term growth prospects are, however, being dampened by the downturn in the U.S. economy and a new Chinese law that imposes a limit of two percent of turnover as tax-deductible for advertising expenditures.

Phoenix said improvements in operating efficiency in the long term should help mitigate these negative forces.

Launched in March 1996, Phoenix currently operates five channels and publishes a magazine Phoenix Weekly.

T S I C H A N N E L N E W S - Number 20/2001 - May 20 2001 -

A weekly roundup of global TV news sponsored by Tele Satellite
International
Editor: Branislav Pekic
(Edited Apsattv.com Edition)

AUSTRALIA

AUSTAR REPORTS FIRST QUARTER RESULTS

Austar United Communications Ltd.'s operating loss widened to Aus$95
million in the three months to end-March from a loss of $54 million for
the same period a year earlier. However the regional Australian pay-TV
operator maintained that a focus on cost control and profitable growth
has started to deliver results. Austar said total revenue for the
quarter came in at $85 million, a 28 per cent increase on the first
quarter last year. Austar's earnings before interest, taxation,
depreciation and amortisation for the first quarter was a loss of $28
million compared with a loss of $2.2 million for the same time last
year. However, Austar said that the latest figures showed a narrowing
from the company's fourth-quarter earnings before interest, tax,
depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) loss of $35.5 million and
operating loss of $117.6 million. Comparing the first-quarter figures
with those of the fourth quarter last year, Austar said its pay-TV
operation achieved a 75.6 per cent improvement in EBITDA and a 79.1 per
cent reduction in capital expenditure.

NEW ZEALAND

include the privatisation of certain areas of programming.

TVNZ TO LOSE TRANSMISSION ARM

Television New Zealand is poised to lose its profitable transmission
arm, Broadcast Communications Ltd., as part of a radical restructuring
expected to make it more dependent on government funding. The likelihood
has heightened tensions over the introduction of a TVNZ charter in July
2002 and fed fears that the state-owned broadcaster’s political
independence is being jeopardised. Finance Minister Michael Cullen has
confirmed plans to split Broadcast Communications Ltd., and possibly two
other moneymaking units, and set them up as profit-driven state-owned
enterprises.

GOVERNMENT TO FINANCE MAORI TV CHANNEL

The Government will pay for a state-owned Maori television channel to be
set up this year. The channel will have initial funding of $29 million a
year, and it is likely more would be made available if that is not
enough. Programming will be in Maori and in English and the operation
will be overseen by a board of seven, three appointed by the Government
and four by an electoral college of Maori broadcasters. The board will
oversee the direction of the channel and appoint others for day-to-day
management.

Zee clear No. 2 in channel race: INTAM data

From indiantelevision.com

Zee TV is now the confirmed No. 2 channel on Indian television in prime time, more so among women, figures released by the company indicate.

The statistics are derived from market research firm ORG-MARG's INTAM data calculated for a three month weighted average beginning 22 January through till 23 April.

While