31/10/00

I was out all day so update is late not that there much to report. Thanks to all that turned up in the chatroom I reckon there was about 30 people that popped in and out of the room dureing the whole chat.

Not much happening today I have been out thats why the site updates so late not much happening anyway

From my emails & ICQ

There is a 3M panel dish available in Sydney

Really it is quite old but in fair condition, Took it down last week and its killing the grass.

So, its first person with $50 and the means of transport has it.

Replaced it with a 3.6m 4 section solid, and used for monitoring digital radio feeds to pacific islands.


Bob

ozrob@lycos.com

Phone 0411 025 456

NEWS

Crown Media talks with Modi Entertainment on Kermit; merges service with Hallmark in Asia

From Indian.television.com

US-based Crown Media Holdings, parent of Crown Media International, is in talks with the Modi Entertainment Network (MEN) to set up an Indian joint venture for kid's channel, Kermit. Crown is exploring whether a relationship of this kind will help increase its distribution and advertising revenue.

Kermit has been distributed by MEN in India over the past year or so and more than 5,000 IRDs have been placed with cable operators to enable them to receive the encrypted service. The channel charges cable operators a carriage fee of around Re 1 per subscriber. Indian cable ops have also paid up advances for the IRDs.

Elsewhere in Asia, Crown has taken the decision to relaunch Kermit as a day part service on Hallmark, which is also being recast and reintroduced with a snazzier look and better packaging. Kermit will cease to be telecast as a separate 24 hour feed over Asia from 1 November.

DTH gets go-ahead; but final clearance still some time away

From Indian.television.com

The group of ministers on DTH - headed by home minister L.K. Advani - met once again on 30 October and said they had no reservations on giving it the go-ahead.

Since television comes under the purview of the information and broadcasting ministry, minister Sushma Swaraj and her team will prepare a note which is to be presented to the Union Cabinet for approval within a fortnight.

From current indications, it appears as if the GoM is in favour of a 49 per cent ownership cap, an open set top box regime, no specific need for broadcasters to go via the Prasar Bharati's service, and a licence fee.

The details will however become clearer over the next few days.

DTH looks set to get go-ahead from ministerial group; awaits Cabinet nod

The old bugbear is finally out of the way. Ku-band direct to home television (DTH) looks set to get the go-ahead finally after a three year ban on sale of Ku-band reception equipment. The group of ministers on DTH - headed by home minister L.K. Advani - met twice yeterday to flesh out the issue, but couldn't come up with a final set of recommendations, though in principle they agreed that it should be cleared and presented to the cabinet for its approval.

Among those participating in Sunday's meeting were Advani, finance minister Yashwant Sinha, information technology minister Pramod Mahajan, information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj, and the law minister Arun Jaitley.

The ministers were slated to be meeting at the time of writing and draw up a final set of recommendations. It is quite likely that they will recommend that DD be the main DTH operator in partnership with private companies. Additionally, it is expected to allow limited foreign pariticipation in DTH.

Both Star TV and Zee TV - along with Malaysian operator Measat, which has a two year old pact with the state-owned network - will be watching anxiously what the GoM will finally propose.

30/10/00

Live chat tonight 8.30pm Sydney time onwards, also I am in there from 9.30pm NZT for anyone else in NZ that wants to chat satellite stuff. I upgraded my link checker so all links should be %100 now a few pages needed fixing and have been uploaded, now I have that sorted I can start work on the Satellite Sports page. There dosn't seem to be much happening at the moment.

From my emails & ICQ

this from ADI, There is a change for this week Seri A match.
Below are the match that can be seen on RCTI in Palapa 2.
The Time are italian time. These matches also can be seen through RAI International on PAS 2 FTA

RAI INTERNATIONAL 1 E NORD AMERICA

Mercoledi 1 November - Ore 14.15

all'interno de "La grande Giostra del Gol"


Serie A: JUVENTUS - UDINESE

RAI INTERNATIONAL 1 E NORD AMERICA

Mercoledi 1 November - Ore 22.40


Serie A: INTER - ROMA

nb: as usual SCTV is for English Premiere League and transmitting on
Saturday and Sunday,

Ussually Saturday match at 9:00 pm Jakarta-Time and Sunday match at 11:00 pm Jakarta-Time.
RCTI - Seri A Italia, Sunday and Monday match Jakarta-Time or Saturday and Sunday match Italian Time.

The first match is usually on at Sunday Morning at 1:30 am Jakarta-Time, and then 8:00 pm Sunday and the last is 2:00 am Monday, all Jakarta-Time

regards,
Adi

From the Dish

Asiasat 3S 105.5E "Zee Music" on 3700 V is now unencrypted.

Intelsat 702 176E has completed its move from 177 East to 176 East.

NEWS

Hitachi and The Fantastic Corporation Announce Partnership to Develop Direct-to-Home Multimedia Broadcasting Service

From Satnewsasia.com

Hitachi, Ltd (TSE:6501/NYSE:HIT), one of the world's largest electronics companies and The Fantastic Corporation (Fantastic), a global leader in broadband multimedia, announced today that they have agreed to co-develop a Direct-to-Home Multimedia Broadcasting Service over satellite for Asia Pacific.

Under the terms of agreement, both companies will co-operate to study and develop new exciting media services for today's sophisticated and Internet-savvy consumers by first initiating a feasibility study. Fantastic will license its broadband content distribution and management software to Hitachi to enable the distribution of the content, and will also provide consultation and media expertise to determine the effective usage of broadband technologies and multimedia content. Hitachi will provide the hardware, facilities and will also engage in a range of initiatives in the media and entertainment industry for content aggregation and distribution.

This multimedia broadcasting service aims to deliver all categories of mass market digital multimedia content effectively and quickly to Internet enabled devices such as PCs, home appliances and set-top boxes. Using the push technology, Fantastic's software will enable consumers to receive an enhanced media experience that combines entertainment, interactivity, shopping, personalized content and fun. The content can be broadcast daily, weekly or on a needed basis through audio/video streaming, package delivery or cache delivery.

"We are very excited about this collaboration with Fantastic and its high quality broadband multimedia broadcasting technology. Hitachi will develop businesses such as the management of responses with interactive systems, efficient ways to provide content, TV-commerce including auctions and so on. Fantastic's management system for broadcasting is a very good fit as a basis for our services" said Kimitoshi Yamada, General Manager of e-Service & Business Development Hitachi, Ltd.

"The next evolution in the media scene is about to explode with new forms of interactive entertainment that tailors to individual consumer's lifestyles, convenience and interests -free from the limitations of bandwidth. Just like the Internet has fundamentally changed how we communicate globally, we are about to witness another mega communication wave with Broadband," said Mr. Tsuneo Sakai, President of Fantastic Japan. "We are pleased to be working with Hitachi to stimulate this new wave of innovation with media and e-commerce services that takes the best of television and Internet -- an enriched service that consumers can soon experience anytime, anywhere."

This announcement follows a series of successful broadband pilots that Fantastic has already conducted globally. One of these recent pilots is done with Telstra in Australia, where broadband channels containing games, news, advertisements and live video streaming were constantly broadcast via satellite to PCs at selected customer sites throughout Australia over a two-month period. Another pilot was conducted with mobile phone leader Nokia, showing handheld devices, successfully receiving multimedia content at speeds of 14.95 megabits per second -- enough to support several simultaneous TV quality video streams in the palm of the user's hand. These pilots were based on unidirectional broadband content delivery with dial back options.

The partners expect that the first services will be available to the consumers in the second half of 2001.

Hitachi, Ltd., based in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 1999 (ended March 31, 2000) consolidated sales of US$75.5 billion (8,001 billion yen). The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and industrial equipment.

The Fantastic Corporation (Zug, Switzerland) is the leading provider of software solutions for data broadcasting. This is an emerging communications technology which combines point-to-multipoint digital broadcasting with point-to-point Internet connectivity, in order to deliver rich interactive media content to PCs, digital set-top boxes or handheld devices (including 3G mobile phones) over any broadband IP network.

Additional information on The Fantastic Corporation may be obtained at www.fantastic.com.

By merging the inherent bandwidth and speed benefits of broadcasting technologies with the interactivity of the Internet, data broadcast provides superior content distribution and interaction in an increasingly IP-centric world. Fantastic's end-to-end software supports the rapid growth of the "data broadcast" industry.

Fantastic's global partners and customers include BT plc, Telecom Italia, Deutsche Telekom, Loral Space and Communications, Reuters, Lucent Technologies, Intel, Singapore Press Holdings and Inktomi. Fantastic is a public company, quoted on the Frankfurt Stock exchange using the symbol: FAN

The Fantastic Corporation is a registered trademark. Channel Management Center(TM)(CMC), Channel Editorial Center(TM)(CEC), MediaSurfer(TM) and Fantastic SmartCaster(TM) are trademarks of The Fantastic Corporation.

Arirang TV Appoints a New Head of International Marketing

From www.SatnewsAsia.com

Arirang TV, Korea’s best entertainment and information channel, has announced the appointment of Nicolas Hong as the head of international marketing.

As a director of international sales and marketing team, Hong stresses his prior marketing goal lies on securing more than doubled number of households around the world by the end of the year 2001 and develop strong ties with present partners in the region.

Prior to his new post, Hong was in charge of channel distribution for the European region in this company. Hong’s diverse experience in the field of television includes the head of acquisitions in Korea’s On-Media (HBO, OCN and Tooniverse) and Samsung Entertainmend Groul (SEG).

Headquartered in Seoul, Arirang TV brings Korea’s best entertainment and information programming ranged from drama and music to the latest news coverage and documentaries to the international audience.

Since the launch as the regional satellite broadcaster in the Asia-Pacific region in 1999 and its coverage extension to the whole world on September 2000, Arirang TV is now available in over 15 million homes across the world.

29/10/00

Very small update today (Well its Sunday, your lucky to see an update at all)

The 500cc Motorcycles from Australia are live on Anteve (Palapa C2) and Star Sports Asia (Asiasat 3) also the feed should be on Pas 2 same location as yesterdays report. Has anyone seen feeds of the Rugby League World Cup?

I am working on splitting up the feeds page, to individual satellites. Also I am working on a Satellite sports page, let me know where you always watch a particular sports program etc. WWF on RCTI etc, all I need is day and time and channel, like below. Or failing that just the channel it screens on. I especially need help with the football ones

From my emails & ICQ

R.Anthoney reports

9.30 a.m Syd Pas 8 3900 H Sr 27500 Fec 3/4 "College Football, Airforce Academy vs Notre Dame" in with CNBC Asia,

might be worth watching this location for other NFL feeds most probably for Japanese pay tv services.

28/10/00

Just a small update today, Cricket tonight via I701 is NZ vs South Africa ODI starting at 6.55pm Sydney time.

From my emails & ICQ

Via the Apsattv mailing list

Thaicom 3 3600 H Sr 26667 Fec 3/4

DD World (channel name on reciever is Dos when
downloaded/scanned) previously on VPid: 2435, APid: 2436, is now on VPid: 515, APid:680.

Anyone have an idea about what happened on Thaicom 3
between Wednesday and Thursday?? ALL the channels on
Thaicom 3 went Off - air for some time and when they
came back on DD WORLD had it's Pids changed


S. Singh

(Craigs note any other reports of odd Thaicom 3 problems?)

Bill Richards reports

0225 UTC 28/10/00 Pas2 3860 H Sr 10850 Fec 3/4 Vpid 308 Apid 256 "Qantas Australian GP motorbike race"

Click for fullsize.

From the Dish

Agila 2 146E "TWS Cinema has started on 3853 H, Sr 3600 Fec 3/4 Vpid 4130 Apid 4131

Optus B3 156E "CentreLink" has left 12407 V

Panamsat 2 169E "MBC (South Korea)" has started on 3981 H Sr 2982 Fec 3/4 Vpid 3601 Apid 3605.
They also have a web video stream which dosnt appear to be working at the moment

27/10/00 2nd update

Trouble uploading the page due to an Ihug outage has delayed things,latest update is Zee on As3 has encrypted again.

27/10/00

Sorry, I didn't get the page finished before I had to go into town. The usual fairly large Friday update, A VTV4 (Vietnam) website and program guide link added to Thaicom 3 page.

From my emails & ICQ

Bill Richards notes the following

2230 UTC Pas2 3981 H Sr 2982 Fec 3/4 Vpid 3601 Apid 3605 "MBC South Korea 24hour service"

Via Apsattv mailing list , Zor reports

7.42pm 26/10/00 All Zee channels are unencrypted as I write this email. They're also advertising the new Zee MGM
channel starting November 1

also via the mailing list P.Eade reports

5.44pm NZT 27/10/00

"NBA Basketball" I701 4194 RHC, S/R 5632, Fec 3/4,A 650, V512, P8190 ,Freq swapped to 4186R later

10:52: NZT 26/10/00

American "World Series" (what a joke!) Baseball live FTA on I701

"10 Australia" MCPC transponder 3765RHC S/R 29900 FEC 7/8
Ident "Channel 4" A1420 V&PCR1460

Cheers
Peter Eade

Also from Peter this interesting email,

Hi Craig


I See your'e looking for NZ/SA cricket feeds again.
Yes, it's on I701, last couple of one day matches FTA on 4194R ,S/R 5632, FEC 3/4, A650, V512, PCR8190.
Idents as "TVNZ HBH E198 M792"

Same Ident on signal on 4162 but encrypted!

For the benefit of your Perth viewer this signal is coming from SA
via New Skies 703 @ 57 East on one of 4161, 4169, 4179, 4187, or 4195 all RHC.

Also listed at Lyngsat are 3709 and 3718 LHC.

Refer http://www.lyngsat.com/nss703.shtml

These are all TVNZ transponders,SCPC with a S/R of 5632 and FEC 3/4.

For a "Network Overview" chart Refer http://www.tvsat.net.nz/

If he can see I701 @ 180 then take a look for the "TVNZ_PERTH_25"
signal @ 4052 or thereabouts and he will see a Spec. Analyser
display of the receive levels in Perth of the RHC signals from NSS703.
Not all of these are retransmitted to I701 but some will appear on
4044, 4052, 4060, 4162, 4170, 4178, 4186, or 4194 all RHC.

Note that most are encrypted but still several FTA (including cricket).

These transponders are also used by "TVC": I haven't identified this.
All these signals are SCPC at a S/R of 5632, a FEC 3/4 and all have the same
PCR PID 8190 (1FFEh)
Common Audio PIDs 256(0100h), 640(0280h), or 650(028Ah).
Common Video PIDs 308(0134h), or512(0200h).

Peter Eade

Friday Feeds Bit

Starting this Friday 27/10/00 Look for Live NBA, on I701 and probably Pas 2 maybe in with Fox feeds, Also the Senior PGA might be there with the Fox Feeds.

Saturday 28/10/00

9.00 a.m Syd "ESPN Sportcentre" this feed has been seen in with the Fox news Boquet on Pas 2
10.30 a.m Syd Baseball Major League World Series game 6 (I701 see above for details)
6.55 p.m Cricket South Africa vs NZ ODI again check I701 see above for details

Sunday 29/10/00

2.55 p.m Syd World 500cc motorcycles (this one live from Australia, feeds should be on Pas 2, Optus B1 and Optus B3 maybe I701 as well)

From the Dish

Apstar 2R 76.5E "AXN promo" on 3920 H is now encrypted.
Apstar 2R 76.5E "AXN Thailand" has started on SID 2, Vpid 1260 Apid 1220 Encrypted.
Apstar 2R 76.5E "The Disney Channel Asia" has started on 3880 H Encrypted Vpid 2360 Apid 2320.

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3551 H "Serena" Sr 13333 Fec 3/4 Vpid 2065 Apid 2066 has left

Asiasat 3 105.5E 4135 V "Zed TV 2" Sr 15000 Fec 3/4 Vpid 35 Apid36
Asiasat 3 105.5E 3700 V "All Zee Channels here reported to be FTA currently"

Agila 2 146E "KSBN Movie" on 3853 H has been replaced by a test card.

NEWS

Digital TV nightmare stirs

From http://news.com.au

By Mark Westfield

THE Howard Government's digital television strategy is in disarray just two months before the service is due to start.

The three commercial networks face a delay of at least a year because technical problems have postponed the introduction of their chosen technology.

Also, the world's big set-top box makers are insensitive to the pleas of the Australian industry to produce the units in time for the January 1 digital start demanded by the Government because the production run would be relatively short.

UK-based Pace, the world's largest set-top box maker, normally deals in production runs of 500,000 to 1 million and has not been tempted to tender for the Australian industry which would require less than one-tenth that number initially.

Seven, Nine and Ten took out advertisements in national and metropolitan newspapers last week calling for expressions of interest to supply up to 40,000 digital set-top boxes.

This is a last-ditch bid to find another technology which would allow some Australian households to receive digital transmissions through their analogue television sets by New Year's Day.

Communications Minister Richard Alston has told senior network executives that the Government wants the January 1 starting date for digital transmissions to be kept. Last week's advertisements were the industry's response to the pressure from a government facing considerable embarrassment in an election year.

Senator Alston and Prime Minister John Howard backed the networks strongly by giving them free spectrum for digital transmission and extended the ban on new networks to January 2007. The Government also has severely restricted the type of service that datacasters can offer to ensure that they do not in any way compete with the networks.

As a result, the main potential players in datacasting, John Fairfax, News Ltd (publisher of The Australian) and Telstra have decided not to proceed with their plans.

The set-top units would cost the networks about $200 each, or $8 million all up, to sell them on a subsidised basis to a small fraction of the six million households with TV.

However, the technology will be inferior to the standards promised by the networks and the Government.

The boxes will need to be upgradeable to MHP when it becomes available. MHP, or media highway platform, will be the highest standard digital technology allowing high definition as well as multi-channel coverage.

General manager of the Federation of Australian Television Stations, Mr Tony Branigan, confirmed yesterday that there would be a delay in the introduction of MHP, but believed it could be available by the middle of next year.

"It's a question of timing," he said. "The regulatory timetable set by the Government is out of step with the availability of the units."

He said the call for tenders could attract set-top producers from Europe, North America or Asia. Other industry participants believed the delay would be at least 12 months and as much as 18 months.

Whichever interim system the networks take, the industry believes it will not be able to deliver high-definition television or interactivity between viewer and advertiser, two selling points the commercial networks used to persuade the Howard Government to give them exclusive use of the technology and the spectrum on which to broadcast it.

The spectrum given to the networks is conservatively estimated to be worth $5 billion. Other spectrum users, telephone companies in particular, have to pay for it.

The set-top box technology is crucial to the success or otherwise of digital because dedicated digital sets are estimated to cost at least $10,000. Australia's weak dollar will only make the imported sets more expensive. Because the networks were able to persuade the Howard Government to mandate not just high definition, but a standard unique to Australia called 1080i, the sets will also have to made especially for Australia.

One industry participant described the networks insistence on this standard, which has been rejected in every other industrialised country, as a "spectrum grab" which will enable them to use spare spectrum for other commercial uses.

Telstra ready for next steps of Asia adventure

From

By Andrew White

FRESH from rejigging the terms of its venture with Richard Li's Pacific Century CyberWorks, Telstra has signalled it may dilute its 60 per cent shareholding in the Hong Kong wireless operation to help build a pan-Asian business.

Telstra is also looking to unify some wireless businesses in the region under a franchising model, with the Hong Kong and Australian operations forming the foundation.

Telstra chief executive Ziggy Switkowski said "quite a few global telcos" had approached Telstra about swapping or sharing assets in the region.

But Dr Switkowski said he was puzzled by reports that US giant AT&T was in talks about joining another leg of the PCCW deal, a joint venture operating Asia-Pacific undersea cables carrying internet and telephony traffic.

A week ago, Telstra unveiled revised terms of the PCCW deal which included reducing its cash commitment by $1 billion, to $3 billion, and increasing its stake in Hong Kong's No.2 mobile phone company from 40 per cent to 60 per cent.

PCCW head Richard Li has since flagged a sale of some of PCCW's shares in HKT to reduce its $US9 billion ($17 billion) debt burden and Dr Switkowski yesterday confirmed plans to float the business next year.

But Dr Switkowski said floating the HKT business alone was not the most attractive proposition as the partners seek to build a regional mobile business.

Telstra could "at a minimum" lose 9 per cent of its 60 per cent holding in HKT to trade for reciprocal equity in another company.

"Once that model is established and those assets are identified and some cash is actually put in place, then I think we have a structure, a very credible structure, to take to the public market -- and that's pretty much the game plan and we'll see how that plays out over the next 12 months," Dr Switkowski told Nine Network's Business Sunday program.

The joint cable assets, known as Internet Protocol Backbone Co, could be floated within the next nine months, with Dr Switkowski labelling a $US6 billion estimated value as "within the range".

Dr Switkowski said Telstra was insulated from PCCW's debt worries because its investments were in the assets and businesses, rather than the parent company.

Optus puts all cable bets on 'strategic' hold

From http://news.com.au

By GEOFF ELLIOTT

CABLE & Wireless Optus cable network has been placed on care and maintenance until it can find a buyer as the company attempted to contain the fallout from relevations in The Australian yesterday of huge losses on the company's cable business.

Australia's No. 2 carrier labelled the documents published yesterday as outdated and said the scenarios outlined "are no longer under consideration".

The documents, which C & W Optus said were "some months old", included big capital expenditure plans to take C & W Optus's cable business into a "market-leading" and profitable position.

But the company yesterday said it had reversed its thinking on the capital expenditure initiative under the planned NewCMM spin-off outlined in yesterday's report.

That comes after the company has failed to find a buyer for the business, and as the parent company, Cable & Wireless, appears unwilling to stump up more capital for the loss-making network.

Analysts said C & W Optus was now telling the market the spending cuts could mean the company posts a trading profit on the network this financial year.

But the big losses forecast in the documents published yesterday, and its revelations that to make the network a big profit centre would require another $3.1 billion in capital expenditure over the next five years, unsettled investors.

C & W Optus's shares fell about 13c, or 3 per cent, to $4.10. The company's stock now stands down about 47 per cent from its peak – worse than other big telcos Telstra and Telecom Corp of New Zealand.

C & W Optus chief executive Chris Anderson said the document, compiled by Goldman Sachs and based on C & W Optus internal forecasts, was based on the company attaining a "market leadership" role over its chief rival Foxtel.

But now that the company was cutting capital expenditure the documents were irrelevant, and any decisions made on the cable were now in the context of the company's "strategic review".

One of the architects behind that is Stephen Pettit, a board member on both C & W Optus and its parent company Cable & Wireless.

Mr Pettit admitted the capital-intensive nature of telecommunications was changing the business case of telcos, but denied this meant he was foreshadowing a break-up and sell-off of C & W Optus.

He said reports that there was a split between the parent company, which has five directors on the board, and the five independent directors, were incorrect.

However, sources say there has been concern among the independent directors about the parent company's role in the review of C & W Optus's business.

Mr Pettit said the strategic review was driven by Mr Anderson, who also sits on a senior executive committee at the parent company.

26/10/00

Lots of news items today, I can't seem to find news of the Indonesion stations does anyone have a tip as to a good site that has tv related info and news from the channels there?

From my emails & ICQ

Bill Richards reports the following feed

0850 UTC Panamsat 2 169E 3855 H Sr 6110 Fec 3/4 Vpid 1160 Apid 1120 "Paralympics feed Aust vs Japan Basketball"

I'm not sure this is the right forum for this question, if not somebody please point me in the right direction.

I already have an installation c/w 3.8 m dish and FTA digital and analogue recievers, however I am also in a "black spot' for receiving SBS. I know that by buying an irdeto receiver and enabling it with a smartcard I will receive SBS via Aurora. My problem is that my existing dish seems to go out of whack quite often causing picture breakup and lost signals, the reason for which I am not sure ( excess play in the dish linkage?). Is it possible ( and practical) for me to add a 80 cm fixed dish capable of receiving Aurora on the house wall and cable it into the existing installation. Would I be able to utilise the dual polarity LNBFon my existing dish installation although it would be remote from the smaller dish.

Is this all too hard? All feedback appreciated.

Doug

(Craigs note, its hard to guess but your dish sounds like it suffering from some localised interfearance, either that or its not quite aligned properly? for Aurora I would go with a second small dish that way your big dish is free if someone wants to watch Aurora. If you buy a new all in 1 receiver with dig/ana/positioner and card slots it will will be probably take 2 seperate dishs off it easy enough.especially if the receiver has two inputs, but you can always use splitters and 22khz switch or diseq (not sure what the acronym is) for the new digital receivers)

I was just watching BIZ Asia on CNN. They had a story regarding Pacific

Century Cyber Works (PCCW) deciding to slash funding to the NOW project.

This announcement seems to have assisted the PCCW shares to increase in
value in the last 24 hours.

The story said that NOW was intending to rapidly roll out to Australian and
Indian viewers in the near future (NOW is already on cable in Hong Kong).
The slashing of funding may affect this roll out.

Mark

From the Dish

Apstar 1A 134E 4045 V "SCTV - Sichuan TV" Sr 6620 fec 3/4

Agila 2 146E 3835 H"CN TV" Fec 3/4

Asiasat 2 100.5E "Sky Racing Channel 3 on 4020 V is encrypted again.

NEWS

US studios eye Foxtel investment

From http://www.afr.com.au/investment/20001025/A8077-2000Oct25.html

By Luke Collins

On December 2 the company will launch a number of new channels, including a music service targeting older listeners. (See text below for more details)

The fragile ownership structure of Foxtel could be set for a shake-up as the four Hollywood studios that supply product to the pay-television group consider whether to take an economic stake in the company.

The studios - Paramount, Universal, Sony Columbia TriStar and Twentieth Century Fox - have requested access to Foxtel's financial records to determine whether to invest.

Under the terms of the agreement that created Foxtel five years ago, the studios have the option to buy non-voting stock to gain an economic interest in the company.

Foxtel's voting shares will remain in the hands of its 50 per cent owner, Telstra, and its 25 per cent investors, Mr Kerry Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting and Mr Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

Each voting shareholder has the right to veto decisions, meaning progress can be made only when all three agree. That system has, for six months, kept Telstra at loggerheads with PBL and News Corp about Foxtel's transition to digital services, which is tentatively scheduled to be completed by July 1, 2001.

The dynamic would be altered by the introduction of the studios, which own The Premium Movie Partnership, the firm that supplies Foxtel's Showtime and Encore channels. News Corp owns Twentieth Century Fox. All the studios are regarded as supporters of Mr Murdoch and Mr Packer over Telstra.

The size of the economic interest the studios can acquire is unknown. Executives familiar with the agreement dismissed suggestions it could be as much as 8 per cent of Foxtel's fully diluted equity. "Much, much, much less," one said, although the financial outlay for the studios was described as "significant".

Analysts conservatively value Foxtel at $2billion and potentially much more if it can successfully enter the interactive services market. Its time frame for expanding services is being narrowed by the sale process of the rival Cable & Wireless Optus' broadband cable network and the announcement on Monday that the regional pay-TV group Austar United Communications had bought microwave spectrum, potentially allowing it to enter capital city markets.

Foxtel's core pay-TV operation remains buoyant, this month signing a record 13,000 subscribers in one week to take its customer base to 675,000.

On December 2 the company will launch a number of new channels, including a music service targeting older listeners. It has not completed its pay-per-view movie plans but will offer a second channel screening its Showtime premium movie service with a two-hour delay, allowing viewers who miss movies on Showtime to watch them later on the alternative channel.

Austar acquires additional spectrum in Melbourne and Sydney

From http://203.62.157.235/press.asp?action=show&record=1

Austar United Communications today confirmed that it had acquired 35 Mhz and 31.5 Mhz of spectrum in the 3.4 Ghz bands in Melbourne and Sydney respectively.

The spectrum was acquired for $14 million in the auction conducted by the Australian Communications Authority.

John Porter, Chief Executive of Austar said, "This spectrum complements the 2.3 -2.4 Ghz capacity we have acquired from TARBS. It has the same characteristics and uses, so it gives us more bandwidth and therefore greater flexibility in the two largest markets.

"We will use this spectrum to provide high speed data services initially to small and medium business customers. The spectrum can also be used for video, including interactive television, and telephony services using voice over IP technology. Spectrum in the 3.4 Ghz bands will not become available until April 2002, however, this will not be an issue for Austar as we will be able to launch services with our 2.3 Ghz spectrum.

"One of the benefits of this additional spectrum is that it will reduce the need to build additional towers to increase useable bandwidth as customer demand grows. This is because we will be able to operate the different frequencies from the same towers," said Mr Porter.

Austar will launch trials of its two way high speed data service with its partners ADC and Cisco in November and plans to offer services in the capital cities before the end of 2001.

Zee TV gets organic with Chakra TV

From www.indiantelevision.com

Zee Telefilms Ltd's organic channel, in planning for the past couple of years, has finally been given a name-Chakra and is being readied for a lauch.

The niche, "alternative lifestyle" channel's concept stems from the wealth of knowledge available in India of the country's past - scriptures, herbal medicine, organic farming, spiritualism, etc. Because of the increasing demand in the Western markets for ancient Indian values and products, the channel will initially target the US and UK markets. But very little film or TV content on ancient Indian knowledge is available. "Freshly produced programming in English" is being specially commissioned for the channel, says the head of Chakra, Alok Dutta.

The proposed channel will launch with a four hour band, after acquiring a three month bank of programming. Depending on the success of the English programming , and the demand, the programs could be dubbed in European and other languages. Although Dutta refused committing a firm launch date, because of competitive reasons, he hopes to launch soon. However, ZTL had committed at it's Annual General Meeting to launch at the end third quarter-early fourth quarter 2000.

As part of the business plan, the channel will transcend from sampling visual " knowledge to experience", by marketing a range of Ayurvedic, herbal and other products via e-commerce and alliances. Chakra is open to all kinds of alliances - content, carriage, distribution, sourcing and marketing. Dutta expects the channel to be "unique and sustainable."

Chakra's business model is pay subscription revenues from the UK and US markets , and e-commerce from products, and consultancy. Dutta said that ZTL will invest Rs 2000 million over three years and expects break even in five years.

Zee launches 5 new programming initiatives

From Zeetelevision.com

Zee TV has always been the pioneer in providing its viewers innovative, trailblazing and ground-breaking programmes. It has always symbolizedand served diverse demographics to provide the basic framework to give vent and shape to the aspirations of millions of South Asians, handling a vast treasure trove of family entertainment.

Thus, on this entertainment landscape, Zee TV has tempered to encapsulate its past 8 years of pathbreaking talk shows, rip roaring sitcoms, enthralling soaps and outrageous game shows, to take viewers into a total new-world of real life theatre experience, flights of fantasy, enthralling mega-buck game-show tickets and a star-spangled entharalling sitcom.

Thus, this October, Zee TV will provide a richly creative and pioneering programming mix with `RANGSHALA`, that will enrich the viewers experience into the world of theatre for the 1st time on Satellite Television, on the last Saturday of every month. In order to create an ambience of real life theatre experience, special sets have been created to give the show an authentic and rich cultural look.

Antakshri in a new format with prize money upto Rs. 1.28 crore each episode

Antakshri, every Friday at 20.30 hrs will have not only have a new format but winners can walk away with a prize winning booty of nothing less than Rs. 1.28 crores on each and every episode.

Continuously endeavouring to telecast new and innovative programming for its viewers, Zee TV will present 2 brand-new programmes. These are dramas which have the Zee trademark of strong story lines and emotions.

`ITTEFAQ`, to be telecast every Friday at 8.00pm, launches Rajesh Khanna on the small screen, is a story of people who are strong-willed but at the same time vulnerable and emotional. A story on inter-personal relationships with emotional experiences and their crises in life.

`BABUL KI DUWAYEN LETI JAA` on air every Mon-Fri at 10.15pm is an engrossing soap that revolves around 5 girls, their lives and invisible bonds between them. A tale of true friendship, of the trials and tribulations in life and how all 5 of them got what they wished....only to realise their dreams were based on wrong assumptions.

From Game Shows and Drama to the first fantasy on satellite TV...

And if that`s not enough, starting 18th October, magical feats, flying horses, magical palaces, jinnies and fairies will abound TV sets as a love story between a thief, Ahmed, and a fairy princess, Yasmin, in the form of `Thief of Baghdad` based on the Arabian Nights will be telecast on Zee TV every Wednesday at 8.30 pm

Thus, Zee TV boasts of a judicious mix of programmes which focuses entirely on value based entertainment, as it revolutionises, television viewing by setting benchmarks of wholsesale entertainment, high production value and interactive shows.
Zee TV has also extended its prime time fare from 6pm to 11:30 pm alongwith the above programme introductions.

Regulation of Streaming Media

From http://www.aba.gov.au/about/public_relations/newrel_2000/69nr2000.htm

What is the status of streamed Internet services in the regulatory scheme administered by the Australian Broadcasting Authority? Where do they fit in the three main kinds of services regulated by the ABA - broadcasting services, datacasting services and online services?

This was the main issued addressed by the Chairman of the ABA, Professor David Flint in an address to the Streaming Video World conference in Sydney today.

"Until last month it was a moot point whether streamed Internet services fell within the definition of broadcasting. However, with effect from 24 September 2000, the Minister for Communications Information Technology and the Arts determined that Internet services do not fall within the definition," Professor Flint said.

"So, even if an Internet service passes the 'look and feel' test of broadcasting, as far as the ABA is concerned it is definitely not broadcasting - unless the service uses the broadcasting services bands. These bands are the parts of the radiofrequency spectrum that are used by free-to-air radio and television in Australia."

"Datacasting via the broadcasting services bands is a potential new medium for delivery of streamed services. It is a potential competitor to the Internet. Alternatively it may be a means for delivering the Internet."

"There has been some confusion about the scope of the rules governing datacasting, with a concern in the industry that these same limitations are intended to apply more generally to Internet services. This is not the case."

"'Datacasting' refers to any digital data transmission using the broadcasting services bands, other than those converting television services are required or permitted to transmit. Datacasting does not refer to any other kind of streamed media. For example, if a television receiver is able to access streamed media the special rules governing 'datacasting' would only apply where the material is delivered via the broadcasting services bands."

"As you can see most streaming will fall outside of broadcasting and datacasting regulation."

"It is likely that streaming will fall under the content regulation of online services. This is directed to community concerns about illegal and offensive material, for example child pornography. It is unlikely that any civilised society would tolerate such material. The fact that this material emanates from a foreign source may not and probably will not ensure that this can be perpetrated with impunity."

"In addition, other aspects of content regulation may be, and in some way already are being addressed by international co-operation."

"For example, the Asia-Pacific Regulatory Roundtable considered a paper, Principles for Transborder Satellite Television Broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific Region, in September 1999."

"These principles are now being considered by various governments in the region. They set out appropriate standards, for example that children be protected, and that news and current affairs should aim to be accurate, fair and balanced, and respectful of the privacy of individuals. Also, the principles provide that advertisements, including those for products such as tobacco, alcohol and medicines should comply with the domestic rules of the transmitting country."

"It is likely that there will be more international co-operation in ensuring that children are protected, and a broad consensus is observed on such matters as sex, violence, criminal activity and drug abuse."

Pay TV drama repeats itself

From http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,1347504%255E462,00.html

By FINOLA BURKE and GEOFF ELLIOTT

IT was dubbed NewCMM. A Cable & Wireless Optus offshoot offering pay TV and interactive internet services.

It had a senior management team in place led by chairman and Optus director Sean Howard and former C&W plc executive Adrian Chamberlain as chief executive officer.

It was to float on the Australian Stock Exchange within 12 months.

A separate Optus pay TV offshoot? If it sounds familiar, it is.

Only a few years ago Optus absorbed pay TV offshoot Optus Vision, buying out minority investors like Kerry Packer and Kerry Stokes, aiming to cut costs and turn it into a profitable operation.

But it remains a deadweight on Optus's profitability. Forecast documents obtained by The Australian indicate the company would have posted trading losses of $208.8 million this financial year ended June 30.

After deferring capital costs, the operating loss before depreciation and amortisation comes back to $110.8 million.

But this result was predicated on spending $682 million this financial year building a satellite TV service and almost doubling last year's capital expenditure on the broadband cable.

The sale document prepared by Goldman Sachs charts a bullish future for NewCMM, predicting that by 2005 the company could have 972,854 broadband customers – which includes telephony customers; 503,539 satellite TV subscribers; and just under 900,000 dial-up internet customers.

It was also to build on its long distance and local call reselling business, predicting 1.7 million residential customers and 234,614 small business by 2005.

But the business case was not enough to convince Austar to take on the challenge and become a strategic partner with Optus. Austar valued NewCMM at about $1.5 billion after taking into account the significant capital requirements for the company to reach these targets.

The Goldman Sachs documents – based entirely on C&W Optus's internal forecasts – outlines a five-year capital expenditure program approaching $3.1 billion.

Now Optus's plan is to bundle NewCMM in with its mobile phone operations in any asset sale, creating a $15 billion consumer-oriented business.

This is exactly what Kerry Packer was after earlier this year when his Publishing and Broadcasting weighed into negotiations with Optus about buying the broadband cable.

At the time, Optus baulked at the move.

25/10/00

Livechat tonight 8.30pm Sydney time onwards. Not much else happening, NZ vs South Africa Cricket ODI is tonight 11.30pm Sydney time. Reports from a user in Perth says he couldn't find it last match with a 3M dish and scanning 57E to 100E, other cricket tonight is Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe ODI from Sharjah. If anyone sees feeds of these games please let me know.

I found some interesting dishs at this site http://www.satellitedish.com/face.htm

From my emails & ICQ

The following from Telsat,

Greetings,

Hope you are well and business is brisk..

We have a client who urgently requires 1,000 CI IRDETO CAMS version 2.06.
Please quote your best price for 1,000 pieces, also please advise delivery time frame.

Thank you very much for your time and support and look forward to hearing from you very soon.

In the mean time best regards from "Down Under".

Selwyn Cathcart

If you can help, email them satellitetv@telsat.co.nz

From the Dish

Intelsat 702 is moving from 177 East to 176 East, with 0.2 degrees/day.

Agila 2 146E "CN TV" has started on 3835 H Sr 3600 Vpid 4130 Apid 4131

Steve Cosser goes against Telstra

From http://www.smh.com.au

By JANE SCHULZE and KEVIN MORRISON

Why didn't he call...a pay TV winner is back for a slice of the spectrum cake.
Mr Steve Cosser, one of the few to make money from the pay TV company he founded, Australis Media, yesterday revealed plans to re-enter the Australian market with a telecom company geared to compete against Telstra.

Mr Cosser, who has lived in London since selling his remaining stake in Australis in 1995, was yesterday revealed as a director of Akal, the company that won the bulk of 3.4GHz spectrum auctioned by the Federal Government.

Akal paid $95.5 million for spectrum licences across regional and metropolitan Australia. It now plans to launch a telecom company offering a full-range of services through a broadband wireless network.

"Telecommunications is the world's fastest growing business and we plan to shake up the local market by offering the first real facilities-based competition to Telstra in the local loop," Mr Cosser said.

Another Akal co-founder, consultant Mr Chris North, said the company had a range of local and international investors and would spend a "significant" sum.

"We think we got it very cheaply," he said. "We had a lot more money in the bank to spend on it, but we were lucky that Austar made a few mistakes in the bidding, so we got off cheaply." Austar paid $14.1 million for 3.4GHz spectrum, just a day after spending $140 million on acquiring spectrum in the 2.2GHz band from ethnic pay TV operator TARBS. Austar claims, however, that it gained greater capacity than was available on the 3.4GHz band.

Mr North said Credit Suisse First Boston was advising Akal on its funding. Asked if Akal now intended to sell on the spectrum, he said: "Christ, no. It has taken us four years to get this far. We are not about to give it up."

Mr North, a lobbyist for Seven Network, said the television company was not an investor in Akal.

"We are here to be a telephone company. We will concentrate on wireless local loop but, to be a telephone company, you have to be able to offer interstate and overseas calls and a range of data speeds for Internet access."

He said new wireless technology would soon enable it to offer video-on-demand services.

Mr North praised the Government's decision to disallow Telstra from competing for the spectrum. "We wouldn't have played [in the auction] if Telstra had played. They would have put a dead hand on the technology," he said, noting that Telstra had eight ways to access homes.

He said he and Mr Cosser had worked on Akal's business plan for four years and paid less for the spectrum than expected.
The company would launch, "sooner than expected" and customers would be able to use their existing telephones

Austar plays its ace

From http://www.australianit.com.au

Mark Westfield, - Insider

JOHN Porter's decision to take regional pay TV operator Austar United into the capital cities is shaping as a masterstroke.
Although the market is still mulling the significance of Austar's purchase of metropolitan spectrum from Mike Boulos's Television and Radio Broadcasting Service for just $140 million, Porter is poised to outmanoeuvre the established broadband players, Foxtel and Cable & Wireless Optus, both hobbled by internal problems. For Foxtel, Porter's imminent appearance on its metropolitan turf, where 70 per cent of the Australian population resides, is a timely alarm call to snap the partnership out of the strategic slumber into which it has fallen.

Austar will soon be offering telephony, data, and voice-over IP services of the type Foxtel should be marketing. Unless it resolves its internal disagreements, it will be in danger of losing the edge it has achieved as the dominant pay TV provider.

Porter's decision to buy the TARBS spectrum is far more ominous for C&W Optus and its chief executive, Chris Anderson, however.

Not only is Porter about to bang on Anderson's doorstep looking to snatch large chunks of C&W Optus's subscriber base, but the Austar boss has also skewered C&W Optus's longed-for sale of its hybrid fibre-optic coaxial cable network. Austar was the only realistic buyer, offering a large component of cash and a digestible portion of shares in a liquid stock, Austar's US parent UnitedGlobalComm.

Anderson's asking price was too high. He wanted at least $1.5 billion for a cable passing 2.1 million homes. Porter has bought a capital city wireless network with similar capacity which, with fill-in from his satellite access, reaches all 4 million metropolitan homes.

Anderson has been left high and dry and is scrambling now to excite new interest in his assets. He is presiding over an arranged liquidation, with his parent Cable & Wireless Plc considering exchanging its stake for the inter-city and metropolitan loop backbone fibre network for its chosen corporate and data services.

Talk that UK production house Granada was putting together a consortium is probably coming out of C&W Optus and should be treated with caution.

The squabbling between the Foxtel partners over ownership share and branding seems trifling in comparison with Anderson's problems.

It has held up development of the sort of services Porter will soon be offering, however. The three partners, News Limited (publisher of The Australian), Publishing & Broadcasting and Telstra, are all pointing fingers of blame at each other and News and PBL have threatened in the past to walk completely.

A recent research paper by Macquarie Bank's Alex Pollak reveals, correctly, that the Foxtel partners have loosely agreed to a July 1, 2001, date by which the service will have switched to digital. Once that happens, Foxtel can then offer interactive services which should confirm the TV set as the gateway to the home rather than the personal computer. As Pollak points out, television penetration in Australia is 100 per cent and for PCs it is about 50 per cent.

Not only can Foxtel use Telstra's cable, which passes 2.5 million homes, to offer interactive services (if Telstra can be dragged to the table to agree), the partnership also has the use of satellite to fill in those metropolitan areas not passed by the cable.

It has the same potential market as Austar, but with the huge run-up of 670,000 subscribers.

Foxtel will be looking to Britain's BSkyB as the model for its expansion of services, and the subsequent increase in value that this would bring. BSkyB increased its subscriber base by 30 per cent in 1999, its first year of digitalisation.

Digital services such as home shopping, banking and travel along with a simple email, will be higher margin than the loss-making pay TV package. Macquarie estimates digitalisation will allow Foxtel to increase its monthly charge per subscriber by at least $5 on average.

Now Austar has crashed the cosy city duopoly, timing will be all-important to the three players.
The left-of-field event which could cause some distress to this pair would be a sale by C&W Optus of its cable to a well-funded operator.

Prime NZ Two Years From Profit.

By: Abe Orchard
From www.spectrum.net.nz

Prime TV Australia is says that it is still 2 years away from profit in New Zealand after almost 18 months into an expected three year path to financial returns outlined in its previous two annual reports.

In its annual report released today the company, headed by New Zealander Brent Harman, is reported to be heading back to the black after the sale of its 50 percent stake in Argentina's Azul Television in March.

Chairman of Prime Australia Paul Ramsay, who is also chair of Paul Ramsay Holdings which owns 38% of Prime said in the annual report that the company the company had overcome most of the immediate challenges facing it after selling the stake in Azul. ``The 1999/2000 results are the last that will be negatively impacted by the losses of Azul Television, with consolidation of those losses having been discontinued from January 1, 2000,''

Mr Ramsay said in the report ``Now that Argentina is out of the way, the focus properly returns to the group's core operations in Australia and the recent start-up in New Zealand.” Prime TV New Zealand lost $A8.8 million before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in 1999/2000

Pakistan Television to launch news channel by November 3rd

ISLAMABAD (October 24) : Pakistan Television (PTV) will launch its news channel by November 3, Managing Director PTV Yousuf Beg Mirza said here on Monday.

Addressing a press conference he said, the transmission will remain on air round the clock.
The news show will be telecast daily from 7 am to 9 am. The news bulletin will be aired after every hour.
He denied the reports appeared in a section of press that the news channel was being shelved. He said 135 persons had been recruited for the news channel and none of them had been fired.
He said, Rs 15.6 million had been spent on the news channel and, "the people will see revolutionary changes with the launch of this channel," he added.

"The government has given us free hand as it believes in freedom of press and expression,," he said and added "we appreciate and commend this policy of the government."
He said the Prime Television had been given the contract through open tender.
He said new tenders would be invited at the expiry of this contract.
He said Prime TV was to buy programmes worth Rs 210 million over a period of three years. He said so far it has bought programmes worth Rs 80 million.

Responding to a question, he said, the decision with regard to award of contract was given by the Board of Directors and not by a single person.

He said PTV would launch its transmission for North America according to its plans. "The transmission will be started in the next 15 days," he added.
In response to a question, Mirza said PTV has done business worth Rs 910 million till 1996 while it various companies owed Rs 550 million to it.
"Now our business has reached Rs 2 billion mark."
He said PTV has given contract for its licence fee for Rs 630 million.-APP

Web audio, video receive low quality scores

By Reuters

From http://news.cnet.com

Special to CNET News.com

Think the video clip you downloaded from that Web site is grainy, jerky, and in a word, unwatchable? A new study confirms it.

San Mateo-based Keynote Systems, a consultant group specializing in performance on the Internet, has created an index measuring the quality of live audio and video streaming at 20 popular Web sites. The average score: a dismal 1.87 out of 10, with 10 denoting near-DVD, broadcast quality.

That means listening to music as if being underwater, or watching a video clip as nausea-inducing as the shaking camera shots used in the movie "The Blair Witch Project."

"You'll notice the jaggies; people want to watch their entertainment without jagged edges," said Martin Marshall, analyst at Silicon Valley technology research firm Zona Research.

The top broadcaster in the study, MTV Interactive, scored a 3.46 out of 10. Other high-rated sites were Barnesandnoble.com for audio e-commerce, WUSL-FM 99 in Philadelphia for broadcast radio, and CNBC.com for financial audio.

Keynote admits the scale is a bit stacked against the Webcasters because the highest possible score a Webcaster could get is around 6.0, which is about the same quality as a home video. One video clip, however, would only fill about a quarter of a computer screen and unlike a videotape, it would tend to pause and start again without pressing a key.

"That annoys the hell out of people," said Matt Parks, a product manager at Keynote. "The scores are relatively low because Web surfers are used to flipping on the TV or listening to audio CDs. By setting a very high bar, it gives the industry something to drive forward to."

Webcasters are taking measures to make watching the Net as pleasurable as watching television. Internet service providers (ISPs) are laying fiber-optic cable for broadband networks to the home, which will speed the delivery of pictures and make them appear less jerky. Broadband connections are widely expected to be commonplace by 2004.

RealNetworks, for instance, unveiled an improved software player on Monday that would allow surfers to download CD-quality music at only 64 kbps.

Most modems can send and receive at 56 kbps; broadband connections such as digital subscriber line (DSL) or cable modems transmit around 300 kbps.

Still, another problem exists: Video streams can get bogged down not just at the "last mile" to the home PC user, where faster modems and digital lines speed streaming, but they also can bottleneck at many other locations on the Internet and at the broadcaster's own server.

For instance, people downloading high-resolution video and finding the picture still appears grainy are probably experiencing "packet loss," which is usually because of overloaded networking equipment at ISPs, Parks said.

Another common problem--waiting a long time for a song to start playing--can be compounded if Webcasters send their streams from a few, powerful computers, rather than have the song sent from a large number of less powerful server computers located near customers, Parks said.

Keynote estimates that one in 10 businesses already stream video or audio from their sites. For them, Keynote offers a service that lets companies track the quality of the music and video when it arrives at the consumer. This data can be used by companies to negotiate so-called Service Level Agreements with Web hosting companies or by ISPs to ensure that video-quality is as good as promised--or their money back.

Still, the Web is improving in responsiveness. Two years ago, it took an average of 7 seconds to download a single Web page from a popular American Web site. Today, it takes about 3 seconds, according to Keynote.

24/10/00

Not a lot happening today. I fixxed the programming link to Rai on Asiasat 2. There is cricket tonight England vs Pakistan ODI from Pakistan (maybe on Ptv) keep an eye out for a feed of it at 0930 GMT.

From the Dish

Nothing to report!

NEWS

Austar puts heat on city pay TV

From http://www.theage.com.au

By JANE SCHULZE

Australia's major metropolitan pay television companies may soon face their biggest threat after the regional pay TV and Internet group, Austar, yesterday paid $140 million for Television & Radio Broadcasting Services' city-based spectrum.

Austar will initially use the spectrum to provide high-speed Internet access to the small business and residential market from the fourth quarter of next year. But eventually it may offer interactive pay TV services to metropolitan residents.

Austar spokesman Bruce Meagher said the company now had the opportunity to offer pay TV services in the city, but it would be a soft launch.

"If we are selling a broadband data service aimed at small to medium enterprises, we might package a video offering with some business or news channels and datacasting-type services," he said.

"We are not looking immediately at addressing the broad consumer pay TV market."

However, Austar has an advantage over the other metropolitan pay TV companies, Foxtel and Optus Television - it has begun offering pay TV interactivity.

"We would assume a lot of channels would be interactive by that stage (when the system is launched)," Mr Meagher said.

Austar will begin trialling two-way high-speed Internet access on its microwave spectrum with partners ADC Inc and Cisco Systems in December.

Austar chief executive John Porter said the microwave spectrum purchase meant the company would provide the same receiving equipment in cities as it does in regional areas.

"Another advantage is the fact that a microwave network is scalable in line with demand," he said. "Unlike a cable network, there is no need to build out the network except where there is a customer to service."

Austar has been considering the purchase of Cable & Wireless, Optus' cable-based consumer and multimedia business.

Mr Meagher yesterday said the spectrum purchase meant that deal was now less likely. "But there are still reasons why you would do it, and we believe we are one of the few companies in Australia interested in the residential broadband and video market," he said.

"It's a question of whether there are other buyers and how much they want to sell it."

But Austar has withdrawn from bidding for the 3.4GHz spectrum. It had bid up to $86 million for that spectrum, which gave buyers access to 65 MHz of spectrum. The spectrum bought from TARBS has a greater capacity, with 98MHz.

Foxtel chief executive Jim Blomfield said he was unconcerned about Austar's move because it would have limited city programming.

"Pay TV is all about providing the best programming to subscribers and Foxtel has always welcomed competition on that front," he said.

Mr Meagher agreed Austar only had the right to broadcast the Showtime or Encore movie channels in regional areas.

The same applies to Fox Sports and the pay TV channels produced by its 50 per cent-owned production company, XYZ Entertainment.

But he said the company would explore the possibility of broadcasting TARBS ethnic channels in the city, and could package the Seven Network's sports channel, C7, and international sports network ESPN into a special offer.

TARBS chairman Mike Boulos said the transaction was not the way the company first imagined. Initially it wanted a joint venture with an equity partner, but was "delighted" with the outcome. He said TARBS had already converted its subscribers from the microwave system to satellite.

Ethnic TV has world plans

From http://www.theage.com.au

By JANE SCHULZE

Mike Boulos, the chairman of ethnic pay TV company Television & Radio Broadcasting Services, has flagged a possible stock exchange listing to help fund the company's international ambitions.

The move follows yesterday's sale of TARBS' microwave spectrum to pay TV group Austar for $140 million, after paying $60 million for the initial spectrum licences and the cost of converting the licences for uses other than pay TV.

Mr Boulos said most of the proceeds would be reinvested in the business, which he hopes will eventually provide multicultural pay TV services worldwide.

Mr Boulos said he expected the company's capital expenditure requirements would be $100 million over the next 12 months and between $50 million and $100 million the following year.

But that was only if the company continued to concentrate on its existing ethnic markets and "doesn't cover other ambitions we might have", Mr Boulos said.

He said the company would appoint Macquarie Bank as its adviser to raise the capital it needed from the equity market.

"We haven't ruled that (a listing) out," he said.

TARBS, which Mr Boulos said would break even in 12 months, wanted to "build a real business before it goes to the market".

TARBS provides 26 ethnic pay TV channels across Australia - increasing to 39 in December - and 72 ethnic radio stations.

As part of the licence sale, Austar has agreed to consider launching TARBS' channels on its services operated around the world by its parent company, UnitedGlobalCom.

"Austar will, over time, enable us to bring to the rest of the world the ability to deliver certain ethnic channels wherever appropriate to complete with what we would call World TV," he said. "We see no reason why you can't see channels from all over the world no matter where you are in the world."

Mr Boulos said TARBS had more than 152,000 viewers for its services in Australia, although he would not reveal subscription numbers.

He said the company hoped to have 250,000 viewers within a year.

Its ambitions include providing specialised telephony services to migrants' home countries and one-way video on demand services through the A-band spectrum TARBS continues to own.

Mr Boulos said TARBS had exclusive global rights to 90 per cent of its programming and expected to on-sell its channels to overseas markets.

He expected the Australian market would eventually represent only 30 per cent of TARBS' total business.

CNN announces new anchor line up

From www.Indiantelevision.com

CNN International's prime time news programmes Biz Asia and Asia Tonight and Asia Tonight will have new anchors as of 23 October. Dalton Tanonaka will anchor the network's financial news programme Biz Asia. Karuna Shinsho will anchor the evening news shows Asia Tongith and Asian Edition.

"CNN is committed to excellence in journalism and the highest standards of presentation. Dalton and Karuna represent experience, credibility and professionalism. They are unquestionably the strongest evening anchor lineup in Asia," says Bill Baggitt, vice president and managing editor for CNN International Asia Pacific.

23/10/00

Live chat tonight in the chatroom 8.30pm Sydney time onwards, site update is a little late its a holiday here. I saw in one of the newsgroups that I702 will move from 177E-176E tonight. It may be worth monitoring 4166RHC and 4188RHC for analog cards these channels were usesd a lot by the Koreans dureing the Olympics. There should be some analog cards go up before and after it shifts to aid in dish realignment.

From my emails & ICQ

A new channel on Thaicom 3, 3551H, Sr13333, Fec3/4, Vpid 2065, Apid 2066.

However the channel goes off-air at times.
Sorry could not get the name.

S.S.

(Craigs note, this was reported earlier as Serena?)

Bill Richards has supplied more of his top quality screenshots.

Panamsat 2 169E 3855 H Sr 5632 Fec 3/4 Vpid 308 Apid 256 "RTL Feeds"

From the Dish

Panamsat 8 166E "Lakbay TV" is back on 3813 V Sr 5044, Fec 3/4, Vpid 4096 Apid 4097

Asiasat 3S 105.5E 4135V "Zed TV 2" Sr 15000 Fec 3/4 Vpid 35 Apid 36

NEWS

Austar to acquire TARBS spectrum

From http://203.62.157.235/press.asp?action=show&record=1

Austar United Communications Limited and Television and Radio Broadcasting Services Pty Limited today announced that they had agreed on the sale of TARBS's 2.3-2.4 GHZ (MMDS) spectrum to Austar.

This spectrum will give Austar up to 98 MHz of bandwidth in each of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth, suitable for high speed, broadband data, video, including interactive television, and ultimately voice telephony using Voice over IP technology.

Under the sale terms, TARBS maintains its suite of A Band apparatus licences in the 2.0-2.1 GHz range and also its transmitter sites and customer equipment.

In consideration for the MMDS spectrum, Austar has agreed to pay TARBS $140 million in cash and to also explore opportunities to distribute TARBS's pay television content over networks in which Austar or its parent, UnitedGlobalCom, Inc. (UGC), have an interest. Of the cash consideration, $110 million will be paid on completion with the remaining amount plus interest to be paid on or before 31 August 2001.

"For some time Austar has seen an opportunity in the capital city markets, especially for high speed data services directed at the small to medium enterprise, SOHO and high user residential markets," said John Porter, Chief Executive of Austar United Communications.

"The acquisition of this spectrum gives us a low cost means of entering those markets, using technology with which we are very familiar and in a manner which complements our regional strategy."

Mike Boulos, Chairman of TARBS, noted that "Austar has chosen to acquire its preferred spectrum, giving it a common platform in metropolitan and regional Australia. This deal positions Austar with a very valuable, cost effective transport stream which will allow it to deliver wireless broadband services Australia-wide."

"The agreement to sell only the MMDS spectrum delivers to us the necessary funding to allow TARBS to become the dominant and most comprehensive multicultural network in Australia", said Regina Boulos, Chief Executive Officer of TARBS. "Importantly, this deal also paves the way for closer co-operation with Austar and its parent UGC for the distribution of selected TARBS pay television content in New Zealand, Europe, South America and the United States".

Austar currently offers one way high speed internet access, together with chello broadband, throughout regional Australia. In December, with its partners ADC Inc. and Cisco Systems, Austar will begin a trial of two way high speed data over the MMDS network. Two way data systems are already deployed on commercial and trial bases in the USA and Europe.

"The MMDS spectrum gives us the capacity to do everything we plan to do in the cities. It is available for use today. It will use the same equipment as we are deploying in the regions and thus bring economies of scale," said Mr Porter.

"Another advantage is the fact that an MMDS network is scalable in line with demand. Unlike a cable network there is no need to build out the network except where there is a customer to service.

"As a result of this transaction Austar will withdraw from the current 3.4GHZ spectrum auction. We anticipate acquiring a small amount of spectrum through the auction process in Sydney and Melbourne. We believe that we will be able to use that spectrum to complement our MMDS network," Mr Porter concluded.

The sale is subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval.

TARBS was advised by the Corporate Finance Group of Macquarie Bank Limited.
Austar was advised by Salomon Smith Barney.

Austar quits 3.4GHz spectrum auction

From http://www.it.fairfax.com.au

AAP

Austar United Communications today announced it will withdraw from the Australian Federal Government's 3.4GHz spectrum auction.

The company said it would "anticipate acquiring a small amount of spectrum through the auction process in Sydney and Melbourne" after revealing details that it will acquire Television and Radio Broadcasting Services' 2324GHz MMDS spectrum to Austar.

This spectrum will give Austar up to 98MHz of bandwidth in each of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth, suitable for highspeed broadband data, video, including interactive television, and ultimately voice telephony using voice over IP technology.

Under the deal, TARBS maintains its suite of A band apparatus licences in the 2021 GHz range and also its transmitter sites and customer equipment.

Austar will pay $140 million in cash for the multipoint microwave distribution system (MMDS) spectrum, $110 million on completion of the deal, and the balance plus interest by August 31, 2001.

It also agrees to explore opportunities to distribute TARBS' pay television content over networks in which Austar or its parent, UnitedGlobalCom (UGC) have an interest.

Austar chief executive John Porter said his company sees opportunities for high speed data services in capital city markets, particularly for small to medium enterprises, small office and home office users and high user residential markets.

The acquisition of this spectrum gives us low cost means of entering those markets using technology with which we are very familiar and in a manner which complements our regional strategy,” Porter said in a statement.

TARBS chief executive Regina Boulos said the sale of the MMDS spectrum gives the multilingual network the necessary funding to become the dominant and most comprehensive operator of its type in Australia.

Importantly, this deal also paves the way for closer cooperation with Austar and its parent, UGC, for the distribution of selected TARBS pay television content in New Zealand, Europe, South America and the United States,” Ms Boulos said.

As a result of this transaction, Austar will withdraw from the current 3.4GHz spectrum auction, Porter said.

Austar has bid $26,364,940 to date in the auction. Bidding in the auction at the end of round 44 has closed at more than $110 million.

Digital TV nightmare stirs

From http://news.com.au

By Mark Westfield

THE Howard Government's digital television strategy is in disarray just two months before the service is due to start.

The three commercial networks face a delay of at least a year because technical problems have postponed the introduction of their chosen technology.

Also, the world's big set-top box makers are insensitive to the pleas of the Australian industry to produce the units in time for the January 1 digital start demanded by the Government because the production run would be relatively short.

UK-based Pace, the world's largest set-top box maker, normally deals in production runs of 500,000 to 1 million and has not been tempted to tender for the Australian industry which would require less than one-tenth that number initially.

Seven, Nine and Ten took out advertisements in national and metropolitan newspapers last week calling for expressions of interest to supply up to 40,000 digital set-top boxes.

This is a last-ditch bid to find another technology which would allow some Australian households to receive digital transmissions through their analogue television sets by New Year's Day.

Communications Minister Richard Alston has told senior network executives that the Government wants the January 1 starting date for digital transmissions to be kept. Last week's advertisements were the industry's response to the pressure from a government facing considerable embarrassment in an election year.

Senator Alston and Prime Minister John Howard backed the networks strongly by giving them free spectrum for digital transmission and extended the ban on new networks to January 2007. The Government also has severely restricted the type of service that datacasters can offer to ensure that they do not in any way compete with the networks.

As a result, the main potential players in datacasting, John Fairfax, News Ltd (publisher of The Australian) and Telstra have decided not to proceed with their plans.

The set-top units would cost the networks about $200 each, or $8 million all up, to sell them on a subsidised basis to a small fraction of the six million households with TV.

However, the technology will be inferior to the standards promised by the networks and the Government.

The boxes will need to be upgradeable to MHP when it becomes available. MHP, or media highway platform, will be the highest standard digital technology allowing high definition as well as multi-channel coverage.

General manager of the Federation of Australian Television Stations, Mr Tony Branigan, confirmed yesterday that there would be a delay in the introduction of MHP, but believed it could be available by the middle of next year.

"It's a question of timing," he said. "The regulatory timetable set by the Government is out of step with the availability of the units."

He said the call for tenders could attract set-top producers from Europe, North America or Asia. Other industry participants believed the delay would be at least 12 months and as much as 18 months.

Whichever interim system the networks take, the industry believes it will not be able to deliver high-definition television or interactivity between viewer and advertiser, two selling points the commercial networks used to persuade the Howard Government to give them exclusive use of the technology and the spectrum on which to broadcast it.

The spectrum given to the networks is conservatively estimated to be worth $5 billion. Other spectrum users, telephone companies in particular, have to pay for it.

The set-top box technology is crucial to the success or otherwise of digital because dedicated digital sets are estimated to cost at least $10,000. Australia's weak dollar will only make the imported sets more expensive. Because the networks were able to persuade the Howard Government to mandate not just high definition, but a standard unique to Australia called 1080i, the sets will also have to made especially for Australia.

One industry participant described the networks insistence on this standard, which has been rejected in every other industrialised country, as a "spectrum grab" which will enable them to use spare spectrum for other commercial uses.

Zee TV lets go of MD Vijay Jindal by partnering him; promotes new team

From www.indiantelevision.com

When ZTL chairman Subhash Chandra brought in R.K. Singh as chief executive and created a caucus of senior executives like Deepak Shourie, Dev Naganand, Uma Ganesh, everyone said that managing director Vijay Jindal had fallen out of favour with the mediapreneur and his days were numbered with ZTL. However, Jindal stayed put and the wags stopped wagging their tongues.

Today, it become clear that it was only a matter of time. The company sent out a press release saying that "it has now been decided between the Company and Mr.Vijay Jindal that in order to harness his entrepreneurial capabilities the Company will support him to set up his own media investment company."

Jindal is slated to hold 60 per cent of the Rs 100 million equity capital of the new company with 40 per cent being held by ZTL. The press release additionally states that "following this Mr.Vijay Jindal will be relieved from the executive responsibilities of the company and would be Advisor to the promoter shareholder for a period of next three years."

The release quotes Chandra as saying "that the Group encouraged executives to graduate and become entrepreneurs. We are with them in their pursuit to realise their dreams."

The press release quotes Jindal as saying that he was "looking forward to getting into film production and various media related activities which will not be in conflict with the business interest of ZTL."

The decision was taken at the board meeting held yesterday to decide on the company's Q2 results. Following the acceptance of the new order, the board abolised the post of managing director with Deepak Shourie, R.K.Singh and Dev Naganand being appointed as wholetime Directors.

22/10/00

Well as usual the Boxing was a sham, be thankfull you didn't pay out $49.95 U.S to watch it on a pay per view like some unfortunate Americans did. At least Tua vs Lennox Lewis will be a real fight. Speaking of sports there cricket on tonight NZ vs South Africa, it could be at 57E and at I701 game starts 11.30pm Sydney time. Some signals have appeared on Ge1a at 108.2E this isn't expected to cover Australia but may be worth a look you never know the printed beams may not be %100 correct. The Malaysia Grand Prix feeds are running see below for details. Spacenet 4 as mentioned Friday is on its way to 172E who knows what it will be usesd for there?

From my emails & ICQ

FEED ALERT! Reported 22/10/00 1.41pm Syd via apsattv mailing list

Panamsat 2 169E 4027H Sr 20000 Fec 3/4 Vpid 33 Apid 34 "MAIN FEED
Panamsat 2 169E 4027H Sr 20000 Fec 3/4 Vpid 36 Apid 37 "PIT CAM"

RTL feeds of the on-air and pit cam have started already on PAS2 (same freq
as warm-ups reported in the last few days). The race starts at 2PM Kuala
Lumpur time which is 5PM Sydney time.


Mark

The following Feeds spotted by Bill Richards last night

0615 UTC Thaicom 3 78.5E 3670 H Sr 2169 Fec 3/4 Vpid 4610 No other PIDS being transmitted !Broken jerky video suspect MRTV

Maybe testing a new format ???

(Craigs note, this image as received weird maybe some kind of widescreen test?)

0820 UTC Asiasat 2 100.5E 4095 V Sr 5632 Fec 3/4 Vpid 308 Apid 256 "Malaysian GP Racing Feed"

From the Dish

Intelsat 604 60E 4166 R "News Feed" PAL_Analog Audio 6.60
Intelsat 604 60E 4188 R "Feed" PAL_Analog Audio 6.60

GE 1A 108.2 12451 V "Test Card" Sr 6000 Fec 3/4
GE 1A 108.2 12471 H "ESM TV" Sr 19510 Fec 3/4

Agila 2 146E 3822 V "Occassional Feed" Sr 5725 Fec 7/8
Agila 2 146E 3835 H "ESC" Ntsc _Analog Audio 5.35
Agila 2 146E 3853 H "HKSBN Movie" Sr 3650 Fec 3/4 Vpid 4144 Apid 4145, Movies have started here!
Agila 2 146E 3890 H "Occassional Feed" Sr 14075 Fec 5/6

21/10/00

Nothing to report up the top, Have a nice day :-) Don't forget the boxing on RCTI

From my Emails & ICQ

Live transmission of sports from Indonesia.
PALAPA C2, ALL ARE JAKARTA TIME:

SCTV -

Saturday Oct. 21, 21:00 - Soccer - Liverpool vs. Leicester City
Sunday Oct 22, 22:00 - Aston Villa vs.Sunderland

RCTI -

Sunday Oct 22, 01:30 - AC Milan vs. Juventus (big match)
Sunday Oct 22, 20:00 - Verona vs. Lazio
Monday Oct 23, 01:30 - Perugia vs. Parma

also check The European Champion League on next Tueday or Wednesday RCTI also transmitting live.

Indosiar -

Saturday Oct 21, 10:00 - BOXING - Mike Tyson vs.Andrew Golota

ASIASAT 3S Analog -

Starsport - Live - Sepang F1 Grand Prix - Check the time through

Reported by Sungadi via apsattv mailing list

A few feeds reported Friday night via the mailing list

Friday 0950 UTC,

Panamsat 2 169E 4027H Sr 20000 Fec 3/4 Vpid 33 Apid 34 "total world sports" test card then motor car racing interviews Nokia reports as MAIN FEED (Maybe in preparation for Malaysian Grand Prix)

Checkout the image above very very nice quality!

Panamsat 2 169E 4027H Sr 20000 Fec 3/4Vpid 36 Apid 37 "RTL MALAYSIA" test card " " PIT CAM

Friday 1000 UTC,
Panamsat 2 169E 3854H Sr 6200 Fec 2/3 Vpid 32 Apid 33 "Tennis Feed" Nokia reports as SSTV-DBS-1

Friday 1006 UTC,
Panamsat 2 169E 3868H Sr 10998 Fec 2/3 Vpid 32 Apid 33 "Asian Feeds, boardgame?"

Thanks to Bill Richards for these


Friday 1230 UTC Presidents Cup 2000 Golf is on
Panamsat 2 169E 3992V Sr 26470 fec 7/8

Reported by Robert Anthony

From the Dish

Panamsat 8 166E "Knowledge Channel" has left 3706 V
Panamsat 8 166E "Lakbay TV" has left 3813 V .

20/10/00

Does anyone know where Spacenet 4 is moveing to? its shown on Lyngsat as at 165W? Also just gone up is N-Sat 110 at 110E. I have been playing with "Snappy" a video digitizer that works via the printer port. It was top of the line for its time.Its very good as I can plug it into the laptop it does very high quality grabs, see the sample below. Screenshots below taken directly of my Tv (NZ , channel 1)

Sorry about such a small update today not much is happening, The Crickets on late tonight so hopefully I will get into some updateing of the other pages.

Click Above for Fullsize

Friday Feeds Bit

Please report any feeds via apsattv@egroups.com, so they are shared when they are happening and not the next day..

Friday 20th

10.00 GMT India vs Sri Lanka Champions Trophy ODI (Live on the encrypted Sony MAX channel) This may be fed to the U.S via I701 TVNZ.

11.30 pm Syd , "NZ vs South Africa 1st ODI" Check I701 4052R and Pas 2 3961 freqs where ICC Cricket was seen last time. This will be double hop via 57E I think Check feeds page for other locations crickets been seen on

Saturday 21st

??? not sure what time (check your pay tv guide) but look for Boxing Tyson vs Golota on I701 and Pas 2 also encrypted on Star Movies, usually these are on the Indonesion channels also.

Sunday 22nd

Malaysian Grand Prix, unsure of time should be same timezone as Australia. Coverage in Malaysia is via TV3, Should be on I701 and Pas 2/8, try 3803V(pas2) also live on Star Sports Asia

From the Dish

Thaicom 3 78.5E 3551 H " Serena Lottery News" Sr 13333 Fec 3/4 Vpid 2065 Apid 2066
Thaicom 3 78.5E 3583 V "Raaj Plus has been replaced by an info card"

N-Sat 110 is new at 110E I don't think this will offer any beams towards Australia and NZ, may be worth checking if they start doing testing.

NEWS

Alston tunes in to an ugly picture

From http://www.smh.com.au

By ANNE DAVIES

Digital TV: just how prepared are you?

Tick, tick, tick, tick. In 75 days Australia is due to begin digital television broadcasts. But does anyone out there own a digital TV yet?

It's a problem that's been haunting Communications Minister, Senator Richard Alston, who has pinned his political future on a plan for digital TV which owes much to the superb lobbying efforts of the commercial television networks.

When it comes to digital TV, Alston and Prime Minister John Howard have backed the commercial television networks at almost every policy turn.

They gave the networks a free digital TV channel each, and they embraced the networks' vision for High Definition Televion rather than use the spectrum for more services or for multichannelling. They agreed to keep competition out till 2007 while the networks digested the $800 million cost of upgrading their studios. And they agreed to hog-tie the only new services permitted - datacasting - with all manner of rules limiting their profitability.

Which is why, when Alston discovered three months ago that there was little prospect of a single piece of consumer equipment being on the market in Australia before June, he was deeply unhappy.

Alston had discovered the problem when he was trying to sort out another brawl on the sound standard for digital TV. The television equipment companies told him this was the least of his worries, because they couldn't get any agreement on what sort of digital equipment the networks needed. The digital TV set-top boxes are, in effect, computers. And just like any customer, the manufacturers needed to know what the networks wanted to do with digital TV. The networks replied that they needed to know what the boxes could do. It was going round in circles.

Alston was so alarmed he called a high level meeting in Sydney of all the network heads: Kerry Stokes, James Packer, John McAlpine, Jonathan Shier and Nigel Milan. Perhaps he reminded the networks of his generosity to date. After all, the free spectrum is probably worth at least $3 billion.

The result was a press release last week in which the networks offered to underwrite the manufacture of the first set-top boxes to the tune of $6 million. Chickenfeed, really.

In practical terms, the person who buys one of these boxes will be able to get a clearer picture but not High Definition Television. It will allow them to receive multiple camera angles and the additional channels offered by the ABC. And it will allow a small amount of interactivity, but you'll need a modem.

The initiative will at least allow Alston to point to some working digital equipment by the time the election is called later next year, if not by January.

But the broader question is whether the entire policy is misguided. A quick review of digital TV internationally must be making Alston nervous.

In the UK, where the additional capacity has been made available for new subscriber services, almost 25 per cent of households have converted. In large part, it's because the pay-TV companies are giving the boxes away, but it's also because of choice.

In the US, where HDTV is supposed to be the driver, uptake is woeful. The networks are winding back on the amount of HDTV they broadcast, with ABC cancelling its HD broadcast of Monday night football after Panasonic withdrew its backing.

NBC's line-up is The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the occasional movie, while CBS is leading the pack with its prime time line-up in HD.

The US regulator is certainly worried. Federal Communications Commission chairman, Mr William Kennard, warned two weeks ago that it might take until 2025, instead of 2006, to reach 85 per cent digital take-up, the trigger point for the networks to hand back their old analog channels. "Basically, the broadcast networks were the beneficiaries of the biggest government giveaway since Peter Stuyvesant bought Manhattan from the Indians for $24. You can barely buy lunch in Manhattan for that now," he said in New York.

"To compound the public damage of this protectionism, the broadcasters have decided to sit on these two highly valuable properties - licensed to them for free by Congress - for as long as they can."

Kennard said it was time for Congress to get tough with the networks. He wants the 85 per cent trigger dropped because it's an incentive to go slow; he wants rules about capabilities of new TV sets after 2003; and he wants the networks to pay an escalating "spectrum squatting fee" for each year they occupy two frequencies beyond 2006. The proceeds from the "squatter's fee" could be used to help fund the digital conversion of public television, especially in rural areas, he suggests.

There's nothing like a financial incentive to hasten progress. And it might prove a winner in rural electorates in the next election, perhaps?

Favourites emerge in Optus bid

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0010/20/business/business5.html

By KEVIN MORRISON

Telecom Corp of New Zealand and Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo have emerged as favourites to buy the mobile and broadband cable assets put up for sale by Cable & Wireless Optus.

With Wednesday's closing of expressions of interest in the Optus assets, it is understood that Telecom NZ and DoCoMo lodged a joint submission outlining their interest in acquiring the Optus businesses.

If the Telecom NZ-led proposal fails, it is believed that DoCoMo would be prepared to make a tilt at gaining control of the Optus assets either alone or with partners.

However, DoCoMo's partner in other markets, Hutchison Telecom, which is controlled by Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, will not participate in any bid for Optus assets due to its controlling stake in the local mobile operator Hutchison Telecommunications Australia.

Sources said Singapore Telecom may have lodged a bid for the assets, although it was not believed that there was much interest from Europe or US carriers, since groups such as Deutsche Telekom have enough on their agenda such as financing bids for third generation (3G) mobile phone spectrum and for its $US45 billion ($86 billion) takeover for US mobile operator VoiceStream.

Another potential acquirer, Vodafone Pacific, also is believed not to have bid for the Optus assets, since this would raise regulatory issues with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). A combined Vodafone-Optus would have about 51 per cent of the mobile market of around nine million customers.

Regional pay TV and Internet group Austar told Optus that it remained interested in the broadband cable business, but the terms of its offer have not changed from earlier discussions.

Sources said the sale of the mobile and broadband businesses could be completed before Christmas or early in the new year, just before the local 3G auction, which is scheduled to start late January.

"Optus do not want to be in a situation where it has to fork out another $500 million on 3G, so I think they want to wrap it up before then," said a telecom analyst.

Telecom NZ would be relying on DoCoMo to fund any bid, as the NZ carrier's balance sheet will be fully stretched once it completes the buyout of AAPT, where it now owns about 92 per cent.

A joint bid by Telecom NZ and DoCoMo for the two Optus businesses would see the NZ carrier merge its existing mobile business of about one million customers with the Optus mobile business of around three million customers to create a carrier with the same number of subscribers as Telstra

TVSN Shareholders vote to approve Austar deal

http://203.62.157.235/press.asp?action=show&record=1

An Extraordinary General Meeting of the shareholders of TVSN Limited voted today to accept the proposed alliance between TVSN and Austar United Communications.

The deal will see Austar issued with 50% of the shares in TVSN, on a fully diluted basis. In return Austar will guarantee long term carriage of TVSN's pay TV channel and TVSN will become a key part of Austar's push into t-commerce on its interactive television platform and e-commerce through Austar's internet offerings.

"This decision marks a major turning point for TVSN," said Peter Walker, Chairman of TVSN Limited. "The shareholders have indicated that they want to be part of the tremendous growth opportunity offered by Austar's aggressive interactive commerce strategy.

"TVSN has proved its capabilities in the television home shopping environment. Now we can use our technology, merchandising skills and fulfillment capabilities across a much broader platform to reach new audiences and to sell different merchandise associated with content created by Austar and its associates."

"We are delighted that the shareholders of TVSN have endorsed our strategy," said John Porter, Chief Executive of Austar United Communications. "Austar is a market leader in interactive television and plans to establish a strong position in all forms of electronic commerce.

"We have always recognised that one of the greatest challenges in the interactive commerce environment is to match the technological possibilities with the practicalities of retailing. These include managing inventory and delivering goods to meet customers' requirements.

"TVSN has those capabilities in abundance. When you combine this with TVSN's state of the art digital broadcast facility you can see that this company is a great fit for Austar."

Following the shareholders meeting the Board of TVSN Limited will be reconstituted with 4 directors appointed by Austar and 3 directors representing the interests of other shareholders, including Peter Walker who will remain the Chairman of the company.

GoM may opt for free-for-all in Ku band DTH services

From http://www.hindustantimes.com

HT Correspondent

(New Delhi, October 17)

The information and broadcasting ministry has narrowed down on two alternative models — free-for-all and restricted competition for the introduction of direct-to-home (DTH) television broadcasting in the country.

Earlier, in July 1999, the Election Commission of India had prevented the government from taking a decision to grant an exclusive licence to the state-owned Doordarshan for DTH services.

In a fresh note to the Group of Ministers (GoM) on DTH, headed by Home Minister L.K. Advani, the ministry has now suggested that the government may allow unlimited number of service providers to offer DTH services.

Contending that a laissez-faire system will lead to free, fair competition and add value to consumers, the ministry has said that it would facilitate the convergence of existing broadcasting, telecom and Internet services.

In addition, the ministry believes that this model will minimise red tape and abolish the complex and controversial process for selection of licences. However, some conditions pertaining to technical parameters, content, security, monoply, ownership and uplinking will be imposed on operators.

On the other hand, the ministry has also recommended a restricted competition model, under which DTH licences will be awarded to Doodarshan along with a limited number of private service providers.

It has argued that since the number of private operators would be limited, the selection should be done through an "open auction" process.

The logic behind this suggestion is to derive maximum advantage from the DTH technology which is primarily a distribution platform for television (TV) channels and in a literal sense means any TV service which is directly received by the viewers without intermediaries like cable operators.

In the context of broadcasting regulations, DTH refers to the distribution of multi-channel TV programmes in Ku or higher band (11.7 to 14.55 gigahertz - Ghz) by using a satellite system that transmits direct to subscriber premises.

Presently, all satellite broadcasts in India take place in the lower C-band in the frequency range of 3.4 to 6.65 Ghz. The basic difference between Ku-band and C-band transmission lies in the fact that Ku-band signals require a very small dish antenna of 12 to 18 inch diameter while lower C-band requires a large dish antenna of 8 to 16 feet diameter.

DTH also requires a set top box (integrated receiver decoder) at the subscribers end for decoding and accessing the programmes and services.

These set top boxes are programmable and remote controlled by a centralized subscriber management system

19/10/00

Not much happening today a bit of a light update, this months Csatt online satellite magazine is up. It usually has a bit more of local interest than just the Indian stuff the Scatindia magazine has.

From my emails & ICQ

Hi Craig

I wrote to austv to find out about their new, poor quality digital signal on Palapa C2.
Their reply was as follows!!!!!???

Dear Hans

Thank you for your enquiry.

Australia Television does not have a digital signal on PALAPA C2
we are an analogue satellite channel and we don't have any plans
to convert to digital.

Kind regards
Silvana Cricri

Publicity Manager

Australia Television International

It's obviously so bad even they won't own up to it. The signal is still there by the way.

Cheers
Hans

(Craigs note, it must be someone useing their analog signal as a source for some testing)

From the Dish

Panamsat 2 169E 3872 H Sr 6002 Vpid 1160 Apid 1120 "Paralympics"
Panamsat 2 169E 3864 H Sr 6669 Vpid 2160 Apid 2120 "Paralympics"

NEWS

News Corp's Murdoch says Foxtel can become BskyB of Australia

From http://www.afr.com.au/

AAP.

News Corp Ltd chief executive and chairman Rupert Murdoch says Foxtel can become the British Sky Broadcasting of Australia.

He also told shareholders that negotiations with Telstra Corp on Foxtel are taking a long time but he's hopeful of a breakthrough soon.

Telstra owns 50 per cent of Foxtel, while News Corp and Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd each have 25 per cent.
News Corp has previously called on Telstra to reduce its holding in the Foxtel pay tv joint venture.
Reports surfaced earlier this month that there were rumblings of discontent between the Foxtel partners.
PBL and News Corp were reportedly unhappy that they were unable to agree with Telstra on strategies for the future, particularly regarding interactive services.

Some newspaper reports had suggested that News Corp and PBL were considering pulling out of their investments in Foxtel.

MurdochFox news channel to make profit next quarter

From http://www.it.fairfax.com.au

AAP

News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch today said the company's Fox news channel business was expected to make a profit in the next quarter.
The Fox news channel will be in profit in the next quarter or at the very worst breakeven,” Murdoch told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in Adelaide.
Murdoch said also that the company's cable channels in America will make a lot of money in the coming year.
Successful cable channels in America with their dual flow of revenue from advertisers and subscribers are making a lot of money and we expect a lot of success there in the coming year.”

Seven jockeys for place in digital future

From http://www.it.fairfax.com.au

AAP

Seven Network executive chairman Kerry Stokes today said the broadcaster was well placed for the introduction of digital television.
In the company's annual report released today, Stokes said Seven had completed the most significant year in its history “and today is well placed for the forthcoming introduction of digital television and other new communications technologies”.
&lea the Games of the XXVIIth Olympiad in Sydney represented a defining and memorable chapter in the history of the Seven Network,” he added.

.While the Olympic Games were a major project for us over the past 12 months, we also focused on our future as a company, and put in place the platforms for our development in a challenging and changing communications landscape.”
Stokes said Seven had restructured its broadcast and nonbroadcast businesses to improve cost management and operating efficiencies while continuing to improve the level and quality of program production and enhancing the network's audience delivery and sales performance.
Stokes said Seven's subscription television business C7 planned to broadcast the Australian Football League and other major sports on Telstra's multimedia cable, building on the success of its Olympic Games coverage.
Longer term, we are planning a portfolio of new channels for subscription television, available on all delivery platforms.”
Seven's broadcast of the AFL on C7 follows a protracted court battle between the broadcaster, pay TV company Foxtel and Telstra.
Earlier this month, Seven said the full bench of the Federal Court had ruled against Foxtel's claim it had a protected contractural right to a guaranteed number of channels on the broadband cable.

Stokes said the reengineering of Seven's television business over the past 12 months had created the model for the company's future in digital TV with the forthcoming commissioning of new digital broadcasting centres in Melbourne and Sydney.
These centres, based on videoserver technology, will be the only centres of their type in Australia placing Seven at the forefront of the creation of content from the same servers for application in broadcast and subscription television, online, wireless and broadband.

Stokes said the new centres were a physical representation of the future for Seven”.
We will continue to focus on television, and develop new opportunities in a digital landscape.
and, in the coming 12 months, our knowledge and understanding of consumers, our expertise in content creation, and through our new broadcast centres, an ability to create and deliver content across a number of different communication mechanisms, will allow us to build a significant presence in all forms of communications leveraging the strength of our broadcast television business.”
In the annual report, Seven said it remained committed to the growth of its mobile telephony business B Digital. Seven held 80.3 per cent of B Digital's outstanding stock at the end of the financial year.
Seven also said B Digital expected its Australian operation to see its first profitable trading month by the end of the current financial year.
In addition to its i7 internet business, Seven said it has been pursuing investments in a number of online businesses and further developing its own content as part of a longterm strategy to become a leading aggregator of content.
Importantly, the development of a strong and significant presence in subscription television also forms part of the strategy for the growth and development of i7 as an online and broadband business not just a company focused on online.
With C7's sports channels as our cornerstone, we are also planning the introduction of additional channels focusing on news, entertainment, information and movie programming.”

Tenth Broadcast India exhibit - Digital is the Key

From indiantelevision.com

India's most comprehensive TV exhibit, Broadcast 2000, launches into its 10th year at the World Trade Centre in Mumbai from 19-21 October. Broadcast India this year is slated to feature 250 exhibitors from all over the world spread over 60,000 sq ft of exhibit space. It will encompass TV acquisition, edit, special effects, broadcast, satellite cable, film, FM, etc.

The show is expected to top last year's 30,000 professional attendees from South Asia and adjoining countries. The focus this year is on digital technology. Organizer Ramesh Meer says that this year the attendees will be "exposed to everything they need for work- from a screw to high end equipment."

On show will be acquisition equipment from world leaders JVC, SONY, Panasonic and Thompson Broadcast's Studio & ENG/EFP Digital & Analog Cameras. Camera lenses will be showcased by Canon, Fuji and Cooke Optics.

Film camera and equipment on display will include ARRIFLEX Film Cameras 65, 35, and 16mm. Lighting for Film and Television. Portable Film projection and Video Transfer System. Locpro 35 X-ray and Instrumentation Camera. ARRI TECHNO 35, Medical Analysis System-ARRI QANSAD. Cine Analyser ARRIPRO 35. ARRILASER Recorder. COOKE OPTICS LIMITED will feature Cooke S4 prime lenses, claimed to be the world's preferred 35mm motion picture lenses.

The edit suites will include - Sony, Panasonic's DVC Pro range, and Thompson Broadcast VTR suites, among others. The Associated Press' Electronic News Production System will also be showcased at the exhibit. Its features include scripting, programme rundowns, planning, contacts, messaging, third party device control, external publishing, news wire management, full text searching, tightly integrated resilience capabilities and the ability for journalists to work in almost any language.

The special effects platforms will be provided by Matrox's Digi Suite LX, Silicon Graphics 's UNIX and recently launched NT platform solutions. Discreet Logic in the largest stand in the exhibit, will showcase solutions on the UNIX and NT platforms including 3D Max and Edit. Besides International special effects heavyweights AVID/SOFTIMAGE, Combustion, US Animation, 2D CEL Animation S/W from Toonboom Technologies, Video Raid RT/SCSI from Medea Corporation, and DPS's latest version of Velocity and Reality engines.

Studer, Soundteam , Tascam and Tannoy will display the latest in audio equipment. Studer's range will include DigiMedia radio automation and the On-air flexible mixing system.

Orad Hi Tech Systems Ltd, which was recently acquired by Real Image Technologies, will display it's Virtual Systems, Real Time Live Graphics and animation systems, Virtual advertising system for live events. Seagate Technology International will display its full range of storage solutions for the broadcast, film and the multimedia industry. Distributor Compuaid Enterprises will show the Oxberry and latest LCD projector of laser graphics, Internet video solutions, Scientific Atlanta will offer solutions including video compression to deliver content to cable operators, the fiber optic and coaxial cable-based broadband access systems.

Broadcast India 2000's huge exhibition gives an opportunity for programme providers, broadcasters, film producers, technicians, FM aspirants and other professionals to sample the latest in digital technology.

18/10/00

Live chat tonight in the chatroom 8.30pm Sydney time onwards. Sorry about the site update today its been rushed as I didn't have a lot of time spare to do it.

From my emails & ICQ

Pas2 0920 UTC 3864 H Sr 6620 Fec 2/3 Vpid 1160 Apid 1120 "Panamsat NAPA test card"

Regards
Bill

(Craigs note sports feeds seen there before "3867H" with same settings, according to the feeds page log)

Hi,

I'm a regular visitor to your satellite Tv news site. I've been quite impressed by the daily updates on your site.
I was wondering if you would be able to answer my question with regards to some channels on PAS-8.

My location is in Perth WA, and I am using a Phoenix 333 receiver with a 2.3M mesh dish. The signal strength of CNN on 3780 MHz is about 30% which gives a fairly reliable reception. But I am unable to receive the EWTN channel on 3940MHz and the ABS-CBN channels on 3880MHz. Are these channels of a much weaker signal strength CNN or does it sound like there is a problem with my system setup ?

Regards
Site Visitor

Craigs note, I am not sure about Pas 8 in Perth, %30 sounds very low.

Looking at the coverage chart Pas8 should be strong in Perth even with a 2.3m mesh dish

http://www.satcodx-op.com/PAN/eng/coverage.cgi?PAN008CH

1st check all connections and cables
2nd then the ird for drift
3rd then the lnbf if you have one or the feedhorn.(if it is skew control you should try this first)
4th If this dosnt help your dish may be out of alignment
5th Send more info!

From The Dish

Panamsat 2 169E Occasional feeds on 3864 H, Dig, Sr 6620, Fec 2/3.

NEWS

9 Gold offers film makers a platform

From www.indiantelevision.com

Starting 4 November, Channel Nine Broadcasting will flag off the launch of Director's Cut on DD2 under which exclusively-produced films for television by well known Indian directors. Pankaj Prashar, Tanuja Chandra and Saeed Mirza will be telecast on the channel.

The once a week two hour feature film band will air on Saturdays between 8pm to 10 pm each month. The channel will own the copyright, and telecast the films only on DD Metro's prime time band Nine Gold.

Although channel managers refused to divulge production cost details, industry sources said that the estimated budget planned by the channel is Rs 1.4 million. The director will be paid separately as further incentive, added the sources. This is the first private channel based in India to contract well-known Indian directors to exclusively make movies for television.

Discovery, ESPN in talks with DD

From http://www.economictimes.com

Sudipto Dey

DISCOVERY Channel and ESPN are in talks with Doordarshan to air programmes on the DD Metro channel.

To be aired five days a week, Discovery is expected to have a one-hour slot in the afternoon. To begin with, Discovery’s programmes will be in English, though the channel has plans to introduce programmes dubbed in Hindi at a later date.

The royalty for the one-hour programming block is pegged at Rs 5 lakh per hour, officials said.

ESPN is slated to offer software for the sports band on DD Metro which will be aired between 6 pm and 7 pm every weekday.

DD Metro is also in the process of developing a two-hour programming block for kids between 4 pm and 6 pm every weekday. Plans are afoot to source software relating to children from serveral porduction houses including Bueno Vista and Crest Communications.

The new programmes are expected to hit the small screen over the next month, officials said. Kerry Packer-HFCL promoted Nine Broadcasting currently airs programmes on DD Metro from 7 pm to 10 pm every day.

These programmes are repeated in the morning between 9 am and 12 pm. Doordarshan has already tied up with B4U channel for block-buster movies to be aired both on DD National and DD Metro.

The national broadcaster is currently in the process of re-positioning DD Metro channel. Plans are afoot to have integrated metro programming for all cities. "The regional programmes on the metro channel may find space in the national channel", senior Doordarshan officials indicated.

Currently, DD Metro is available both in terrestrial mode and as a free-to-air satellite channel in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta.

Cable system will end up the winner

From http://www.economictimes.com

Rajiv Handa

HOMESPUN content and distribution companies like Zee, Jain TV, Crest Communications and Sri Adhikari Brothers turned out to be the multi-baggers of ‘99. One year later, they are a pale shadow of their glorious selves. Analysts routinely used to tom-tom these companies as the convergence plays of the new century.

The idea of blurring lines between different products is perfectly reasonable, but arguments that "suddenly" consumers will adopt starkly different features, like both voice and product functionality, in the form of a single gadget are wildly overstated.

So it does not come as a surprise that new initiatives announced by the technology guys every week do not hold much mettle.

If "convergence" does not gel, bring another ploy. Thi