This news is provided free of charge to on-line users by TELE Satellit magazine and TS News Service GB. IT IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. It may not be reproduced for commercial reasons by any means what so ever. If you wish to reproduce this news or redistribute it for non commercial use please contact the email address below. Der TS Nachrichtendienst ist ein Service fuer die Freunde von TELE Satellit und TS-TV und ist nur fuer persoenliche infromation freigegeben. TELE SATELLIT European Satellite News - English Version Number 16, Week ending 11 September 1994 By Martyn Williams CompuServe 100025,1637 Internet martyn@euro.demon.co.uk (c) TELE Satellit Magazine TOP NEWS : TELSTAR 402 LOST Telstar 402, the second of AT&T's newest generation of Telstar 4 broadcast video- and data-communications satellites and "one of the biggest, most powerful, most capable communications satellites ever built" in the words of operators AT&T, has been lost. The AT&T Skynet control centre lost communications with the satellite just 10 minutes after separation from Europe's Ariane rocket on Friday morning. The launch took place at 0029 UTC Friday and separation occurred 20 minutes after launch. The launch went well prompting both AT&T and Ariane to release statements that commented on the success of the mission. AT&T said : "The launch went exactly as planned," said Karl Savatiel, vice president and general manager (acting) of AT&T SKYNET (R) Satellite Services, the group that manages AT&T's domestic satellite business. "It is extremely gratifying to watch many years of work come together in this flawless performance. My congratulations go out to everyone who contributed to the success of this operation." Arianespace, also pleased at the launch commented that "Arianespace today successfully launched the Telstar 402 telecommunications satellite for a new customer, AT&T." Unaware of any problems, Arianespace Chairman and CEO Charles Bigot said: "We would like to express our sincere thanks to AT&T for their confidence in Arianespace. It is indeed a great honor for us to add the name of one of the world's most prestigious satellite operators to our customer list. Furthermore, this is the fourth launch we have performed in three months, which means that we have placed six satellites into orbit this summer. We now expect to sustain a high launch rate, while ensuring the continued high quality and reliability of our launch services." Immediately on learning of the problems AT&T Skynet began contingency planning to ensure uninterrupted coverage for customers scheduled to use the new satellite and also planning the launch of an existing spare satellite, to become known as Telstar 402R. In Paris, Arianespace officials went immediately into conference emerging to announce that the loss of the satellite was a problem for AT&T and not Arianespace as the fault occurred after separation from the launcher. Details of the problem haven't been released yet although soon after launch AT&T said that it was clear the satellite would be unusable. Arianespace later added that the satellite appeared to start spinning as it passed over Mauritius. Technicians confirmed that the satellite never made it into the correct orbit apparently as a result of a loss of helium pressure due to a fault in a valve. Customers would have been ABC; FOX Broadcasting Company; PBS; Keystone Communications; Starcom; IDB Communications Group, Inc.; the states of Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina and AT&T Tridom. New Financial channel for Europe London's Financial Times newspaper has reported that Europe is to get a new financial TV channel. According to the newspaper Flextech and Dow Jones will launch European Business News via Eutelsat in the first quarter of 1995. EBN will initially transmit in English for 18 hours a day with a full 24 hours service and additional languages being added as EBN grows. Alongside the latest European business news EBN will also source US business news from the Wall Street Journal TV and Asian news from Singapore based Asian Business News. An innovative feature of the service would be an additional MPEG 2 digital service transmitted alongside the conventional analogue channel. The digital channel will be sold to financial specialists and dealers who will be able to install hardware to view the channel on their PC's and office computers. Flextech will hold a 30% stake in EBN with Dow Jones holding the remaining 70% share. Poland, Ukraine may launch new Eutelsat Reports from Poland on Tuesday said that Poland and Ukraine were discussing the possibility of jointly developing and launching a communications satellite that would cover Europe centred on East Europe. The satellite, initially aiming for a 1997 launch, would become part of the Eutelsat system. EU clears Murdoch VOX stake News Corporation's 49.9% stake in German channel VOX was cleared by the European Commission on Wednesday. A statement from the commission noted "The concentration will not strengthen or create a dominant position in the European Economic Area or in a substantial part of it," Meanwhile, in an interview in Handelsblatt, Bertlesmann has revealed that they have an option to buy the 25.2% stake held by US brokerage firm Goldman Sachs. Bertlesmann, who holds the remaining 24.9% share in VOX, said that the option would probably be exercised in future when German media laws change. Coming soon to a sky near you .... London's Evening Standard on Wednesday revealed astonishing plans by Sky TV to launch a low earth orbiting satellite that would project the Sky TV logo into the skies above the UK and Northern Europe. The satellite project is still in a very early stage according to Sky but would be launched some time next year and last for around 5 days. The full cost of the project is still being investigated but is believed to be around £15 million. According to Sky, the logo would appear about the same size and intensity of the moon and would, of course, be weather dependant. Cloudy skies would make this one of the most costly mistakes in history but clear skies would guarantee Sky TV a huge amount of worldwide media coverage taking the name and logo into almost every home on the planet. The Evening Standard followed up the article with a commentary from the Media section editor laying out the future and writing "The sky is full of advertising messages -- for hi-fis, cameras, breakfast cereals, hamburgers, porn channels..." Australis announces pay TV channel name At a press conference earlier this week the new Australian pay TV channel owners, Australis, announced the channel would be called "Galaxy". Referring to Rupert Murdoch's current TV operations the network commented "We though Galaxy would certainly be more than one Star and it is bigger than the Sky," The Galaxy service will offer 24 hour news, movies, sports and entertainment. Satellite reception in Serbia Belgrade based Satelitv Video conducted a survey of viewers in Serbia and came up with the following results, in order : Satellites available : Astra 98 % Eutelsat 51 % Intelsat 17 % Kopernikus 14 % Gorizont 4 % Telecom 1 % Other sats 4 % Favourite languages were : English, German, Italian, Russian and French Favourite teletext services : RTS Text (Serbia), MTV Text, Eurosport Text, RTL Text (German) and Sky Text Favourite radio stations : Sky Radio, Virgin 1215, BBC One FM, Radio 538, Starsat Radio, RTL Oldiesender, N-Joy Radio, Super Gold, VoA Europe und RTL Rock Radio. Favourite TV channels : Serbian TV, Montenegrian TV, Macedonian TV, Eurosport, MTV Europe, RTL TV, DSF, PRO 7, SAT.1, RTL 2, TNT, RAI Uno, RTL V, VOX, Sky News, RAI Due, NBC Super Channel, Italia Uno, ARD, Cartoon Network, VIVA, Canale 5 und CNN. Satellite receiver make : Telemax 19 % Amstrad 11 % Radix 11 % La Sat 6 % Fuba 5 % Teletronic 4 % Pace 4 % Protek 4 % Arcon 3 % Vector 2 % LNB manufacturer : Sharp 32 % Cambridge 28 % SPC 9 % Marconi 6 % Fuba 3 % Dish size : 1.2m 42 % 1.3m 11 % 90cm 9 % 1.4m 6 % Dolby surround TV What TV shows can you watch in Dolby surround ? Here's the list of current US series that are being made using surround sound : ABC : NYPD Blue CBS : Christy, David Copperfield’s 15 Years of Magic, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Late Show with David Letterman, Northern Exposure FAM : Rin Tin Tin, K-9 Cop, Zorro FOX : Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, The Simpsons HBO : Dream On, Tales from the Crypt NBC : The Conan O’Brien Show, Law and Order, Mad About You, seaQuest DSV PBS : Austin City Limits, Nature TNN : Grand Ole Opry Live, Music City Tonight, Opry Backstage, The Statler Brothers, Texas Connection SYNDICATED : The Arsenio Hall Show, Babylon 5, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Untouchables Across the belt ... - TV Norge will end it's use of Intelsat 515 on 12 September with TV 2 Norge ending a week later on September 17. The two now use Intelsat 702 at 1 degree west. - Channel Videodat, the German PC info service, will be transmitted by VOX from 12 September. This should improve speed on PRO 7's Express TV service considerably. - Sky will drop the 6.50 MHz audio channel on all services by the end of the year to make way for digital radio channels. - We welcome your reports and news ! Send them to the email address at the top of the news. TS TV moves again ! On the move again ! TS TV will now be using DFS Kopernikus 2 at 28.5 degrees East after RTL took our old position on Eutelsat 2F1. The next edition will come from the IBC in Amsterdam with show news plus more ! - DFS Kopernikus 2, 28.5 degrees East - 11.625 GHz, Horizontal, 6.60 MHz audio. - 30 September at 2100 CET, repeat 2 October at 2100 CET SAT NET expands The SAT NET satellite BBS network has increased. The full list of member systems is : BBS Place Number Rate Times vidi (Zentrale) D-Muenchen +49-89-133247 28.800 0-24 Softwareschup. D-Delbrueck +49-5250-53709 14.400 0-24 Satellite Info D-Bad Homb. +49-6172-305224 28.800 0-24 BL-Box D-Balingen +49-7433-15908 28.800 0-24 SAT-BOX D-Landsberg +49-8191-39747 14.400 0-24 Telepoint BBS D-Bad Wörish. +49-8247-31828 14.400 0-24 Tele-Box D-Rammingen +49-8245-3739 14.400 21-03 Cyberspace D-Muenchen +49-89-3611110 28.800 0-24 Fiffi's Inn D-Muenchen +49-89-54710940 128.000 0-24 Fiffi's Inn D-Muenchen +49-89-5701353 28.800 0-24 First Aid D-Muenchen +49-89-6732410 14.400 23-04 TELE Satellit Magazine This news is from the English language news service of TELE Satellit, a monthly satellite magazine edited in Munich, Germany. It consists of 164 pages, full colour with tables, charts and news with many off-screen photos of the satellite channels plus an informative technical section. Part of the magazine is written in English. Subscriptions are available for DM 120, Europe surface mail; DM 144, Europe airmail and DM 192, ROW airmail. Orders for subscriptions and more information should be sent to : TELE-satellit Customer Service, Silheimer Str. 6a, D-89278 Nersingen, Germany, Fax +49-7308-5296 Where to find satellite news : TELE Satellit News, English : CompuServe UK Forum (UKFORUM) - Windows Write / ASCII version, library 19 CompuServe European Forum (EURFORUM) - Windows Write version, library 5 CompuServe Deutschland on line (GERLINE) - Windows Write version, library 15 Fax polling Netherlands +31-45-273615 *2*9 Fax polling Germany +49-89-496287 *9 ISDN Mailbox IDTRANS (128 kBps), User Gast, Password SAT, +49-89-45001424 alt.satellite.tv.europe newsgroup on Usenet World Wide Web : http://xan.esrin.esa.it:2602/satellite.html Fidonet SAT.028 newsgroup Anonymous FTP to : ftp.funet.fi /pub/dx/text/satellite/telesatellit SAT NET BBS network in München, Landsberg, Balingen and Bad Wörishofen TELE Satellit News, German : CompuServe Deutschland on line (GERLINE) - ASCII version, library 15 Fax polling Germany +49-89-496287 *8 Fax polling Netherlands +31-45-273615 *2*8 SAT NET BBS network in München, Landsberg, Balingen and Bad Wörishofen ISDN Mailbox IDTRANS (128 kBps), User Gast, Password SAT, +49-89-45001424 TELE Satellit Hotline +49-90-6350613 Zeiten: Do 15-20 Uhr, Sa 14-20 Uhr TELE Satellit TV ! Last Friday of every month, repeated following Sunday . DFS Kopernikus 2, 28.5 degrees east. 11.625 GHz, Horizontal polarisation. Audio 6.60 MHz. 20:00 UK, 21:00 CET Other reliable sources of satellite news : - Satellite Journal International provides worldwide satellite news and can be found in UKFORUM, EURFORUM, TELECOM, BPFORUM and CEFORUM on CompuServe plus other networks worldwide including Internet, Nifty Serve Japan and Fidonet. - *44022999# ,menu option 30 on BTX / Datex J - 3615 SATPHONE on Minitel - Phone 3670-8192 in France - SAT 1 Text, page 550 with fresh news every 3-4 days plus frequency charts. - BAYERNTEXT page 575 / 576 - Radio Sweden Mediascan. 1st and 3rd Tuesday, 20 minutes into the English programme via Astra, Shortwave, Mediumwave 1197 kHz and the World Radio Network. - Sat News on the Internet - Skyguide on the Internet - Radio Netherlands Media Network, Thursday, 23 minutes into the English programme via shorwave and The World Radio Network - World Wide Web users can access TS News and the electronic journals above and more information via the European satellite home page, URL http://xan.esrin.esa.it:2602/satellite.html