bbcid MORGAA01 @ BBC-BH Skyguide Issue 034 ---------------------------------- SKYGUIDE ---------------------------------- | | | Your digest of the latest news in the world of Satellite & Cable TV | | | --------------------- Week Ending Sun March 6th 1994 ------------------------- * HELLO, HELLO, IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK.. A new issue of Skyguide at last! Apologies for the long delay, but hopefully it was worth waiting for! * QVC SETS SIGHTS ON EUROPE Home shopping channel QVC, currently broadcasting to the UK and Ireland as part of the Sky Multi-Channels package, is said to be planning to expand into European markets. Clarification of the legal situation would, however, be required from the European Community. The current position is that teleshopping channels are prohibited unless they broadcast to one member state only. Meanwhile, German catalogue company Quelle has plans to launch its own home shopping channel on Astra, with a view to capturing the East European market. * SPORTS ON ONE, NOT TWO Sky has temporarily shelved plans for Sky Sports Two (again) by transferring football matches which clash with the current West Indies cricket coverage to Sky One. The move is partially for technical reasons, namely the difficulty in getting viewers to re-tune their receivers, but primarily for marketing reasons. The football matches on Sky One are achieving very respectable ratings, and is likely to bring an increased number of new subscribers to Sky Sports. While the football is screened on Sky One, all the Sky Multi-channels broadcast in soft videocrypt mode, so a viewing card is not required. Again, this is partially for technical reasons (there are some Sky Sports subscribers who do not take multichannels), but also with the marketing intention of capturing the die-hard viewers who have not taken up a subscription to multichannels. The first clear match, Wimbledon v Man United pulled in just under 1.5 million viewers - the second highest number of viewers ever achieved on Sky One. * NO NICK Unconfirmed reports suggest that Sky and Viacom have dropped plans to launch Nick At Nite, advertised as part of the Sky Multi-channels package. Earlier reports suggested that the channel had been delayed due to problems with programme rights and acquisitions. In the event that the channel is dropped, at least for 1994, it is likely that the Travel Channel, already broadcasting on Intelsat 601 (27.5'W) will be offered time on Astra and will join the multi-channels package to replace Nick at Nite. In this event, the only apparent spare time is the 6am-7pm time on Transponder 24, or the currently vacant (and Sky-owned) Transponder 47, which could be a more likely option. The Travel Channel currently broadcasts midday to midnight on Intelsat, so while there is enough time available on Transponder 24 to carry the channel in its entirety, the time-shift could be a problem for the channel. * AH, I SEE THE PROBLEM.. The failure of the Ariane 63 launch, carrying the Turksat 1 and Eutelsat 2F5 satellites, was due to cooling problems and a faulty bearing. Alterations to equipment are now underway to prevent the re-occurence of such a problem, but this will mean that this year's launch schedule will not resume until the beginning of June. This means that, much more importantly.. * ASTRA 1D DELAYED Astra 1D will not launch until December this year as a result of the Airane problems. The satellite was originally set for a September launch, but this will now not happen, putting a spanner in the works of a number of broadcasters who were counting on a successful launch on-time. It is reported that all available transponders on Astra 1D have already been booked, although further details are yet to emerge. * THE 'LE' EFFECT NBC Superchannel viewers will already be used to the nightly screenings of editions of the "Tonight with Jay Leno" show, under 24 hours after they are broadcast in the USA. Sky viewers will soon be able to enjoy the CBS equivalent "Late Night with David Letterman", which will broadcast five nights a week on Sky One, again less than 24 hours after their USA screening. The deal between CBS and Sky is understood to be worth some 650,000 pounds. Meanwhile, the German channel Premiere, which has been screening the series for the past few months, has decided to end its broadcasts of the programme. * AWAY WITH THE FROST Sky News does not intend to continue broadcasting repeats of "Frost On Sunday", it has been revealed. The channel currently has an option to broadcast the programme shortly after its screening on the BBC, under an agreement which allows Sir David Frost to sell the programme to another channel and keep the money from the repeats. The director of Sky news, Ian Frykberg, said that there was a conflict with the transmission of the same programme on BBC World Service Television. * THAT WORLD SERVICE TV CONFLICT IN FULL Rupert Murdoch said at a recent press conference in Delhi that he may drop BBC World Service TV on the Asian Star TV satellite service, and replace it with an international version of Sky News. Murdoch was speaking about allegations of bias that had been made against WSTV by China and India. WSTV recently caused controversy in India when it screened footage of a local race-related incident that the state networks did not consider suitable for broadcast. It is claimed that rioting broke out in the country as a result. China recently banned the sale of satellite dishes, since it does not relish the possibility of its residents having access to any version of the truth other than that which is written by the state and broadcast on state-owned television. Sadly it seems that Rupert Murdoch, keen to forge links into the lucrative markets that India and China have to offer, intends to take sides against the BBC, and unless they address the allegations of bias (i.e. truth), that WSTV will be replaced. A BBC spokesman said that allegations of bias were "unsubstantiated and nebulous", and added that the corporation had not recorded any complaints from the Chinese or Indian governments. * KISS AND MAKE UP The BBC and Sky are, however, expected to join forces next year to bid for the rights to cover the Five Nations Rugby Tournament next year. Commercial broadcaster ITV is also said to be very interested obtaining exclusive coverage of the event, viewing it as a high priority for acquisition. * THE CLARY EXPERIENCE UK performer Julian Clary is to join TNT from April to host its new Sunday evening "Movie Experience" slot. * MORE CABLE Cable had its best rate of installations ever in the last quarter of 1993, with 91,000 new people hooked up to the service. In the same period, some 220,000 satellite dishes were sold. It brings the total number of cabled homes to just over 610,000, and the total number of dished homes to still well over three million. * MORE MURDOCH The offices of American television stations KSBW and KSBY in California had a visit from Rupert Murdoch recently. Apparently he is considering buying the stations for his daughter, Elizabeth. * MORE VIEWERS Satellite viewing jumped dramatically in February, up some 5% on the previous month. Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and The Children's Channel all saw a healthy increase, largely due to the half-term break. Sky Sports also saw a large rise, picking up over 5% of the audience compared to under 3% previously. * LESS TO SEE United Artists, provider of a number of television channels for the cable television industry in the UK, has announced that it will cease its conventional PAL broadcasts of Wire TV and The Parliamentary Channel in May, in favour of a digitally compressed service. The channels will share just one transponder on Intelsat 601, thus saving UA some 1.2 million pounds a year in transponder and uplink rental. While cable operators will have no trouble obtaining suitable digital decompression equipment, (UA would be able to afford to give it away since it is saving so much money on transponder rental) home viewers are likely to be very much left out in the cold. * AN AMAZING DISCOVERY Viewers in Singapore are to get their first taste of "Commercial Presentation" features soon. The Singapore Broadcasting Corporation has signed a deal with Quantum Marketing International to broadcast selected Quantum informercials daily on Channel 5. * AND SPEAKING OF CHANNEL 5... (I don't just throw this together, you know!) A consortium hoping to run a new terrestrial network in the UK, Channel 5, have revealed that they have had informal talks with Sky Television. Sky is apparently interested in making inroads into terrestrial broadcasting, and would be interested in taking a stake in the new consortium. The consortium is backed by Pearson [itself part-owners of Sky], Time Warner, and Media Acquisitions International (MAI), owner of the current terrestrial ITV contractors Meridian and Anglia. * LIVE SKY Viewers who don't have access to the current cricket coverage on Sky Sports could console themselves by getting down to Cromwell Road in London, where Sky has converted an advertising hoarding into an electronic scoreboard to continually read out the latest score. The board is operated by a cricket enthusiast, recently recruited by Sky, who will watch the matches on Sky Sports and update the scores when they change. While he said that he would have done the job for free just to watch the cricket, he is being paid an impressive 500 pounds per week for his duties. * T C C The Chinese Channel has announced that it will launch its European service on Astra on March 18, although it helpfully refuses to tell anyone which transponder it will launch on. * THE ASTRA DEMO IS BACK! Astra viewers will doubtless remember with fond memories the entertaining promotional video that used to air continuously on the spare transponders of Astra 1A, and later Astra 1B. The promo was displaced a while ago when broadcasters began queuing up for space on the satellites. Now the video has returned, revised and updated, and airing from 6am to 7pm on the vacant time on Transponder 24. * SKY FOR FREE Sky's promised preview weekend for non-movie subscribers, delayed from its original date in February, has now been announced for the weekend of April 9 and 10. The previous attempt had to be cancelled due to the objections of several major movie distributors. Presumably these difficulties have been ironed out, since Sky intends to "give away" a number of major movies in the April weekend, including Wayne's World, Cape Fear, Lethal Weapon 3, Alien 3, Edward Scissorhands and Star Trek 6. Sky Movies Gold will apparently not be included in the promotion. * PIRATE WATCH Canal Plus recently altered its coding system to knock out the recent batch of pirate cards circulating around Europe for its service. Sky also implemented a similar measure recently to again invalidate the pirate cards for its service. An interesting case of double standards arose recently on the pages of NBC Superchannel's teletext service, and specifically the satellite news pages 'In Orbit', provided by the European Satellite User Group. In response to a viewers letter, it made a statement completely denouncing pirate cards, making the point that if everyone had such cards no broadcasters would be able to stay in business. For this reason, it said, it would not supply information on such pirate cards. The statement was particularly interesting in view of the fact that just four days ago it published an article giving some vital publicity to pirate card manufacturers 'Keycard' in Ireland. The statement is especially astonishing in view of the fact that for several months the only advertising pages that 'In Orbit' carried were for a company selling pirate cards and decoders for a large number of satellite channels. Curiously, the advertisment disappeared on the day that the anti-pirate rantings were broadcast. TESUG has never been particularly in favour of scrambling, citing it as a reason why everyone should turn their Astra dishes to point at the much more interesting Eutelsat birds, but this recent turnaround in opinion does seem to have occured with lightning speed. There may be two reasons, primarily that now that the 'In Orbit' pages are also carried on UK Gold's teletext service, that it would be seen as "incompatible" to promote pirate activity on a channel which is, itself, scrambled. It is also likely that NBC Superchannel would rather not have anything on their teletext service which could cause a potential problem with Sky, whose co-operation it is likely to need in the future now that it is desperate for an Astra transponder. * HARD TARGET Filmnet has recently announced that it has made an agreement with a number of major movie distributors to screen movies at the same time as they are released in the cinema. If this proves to be the case, it will make the channel an even hotter target for pirates than it is already. * AND SPEAKING OF MOVIES Cinevision, a new Swiss Channel, has announced that it will launch on one of the Eutelsat satellites, possibly the craft at 13 degrees East. The channel plans to show movies 24 hours a day, in English, French, Italian, Spanish and German. It is understood that the channel will be scrambled with Videocrypt 2. * TELE-ON British Telecom is testing its proposed Video On Demand system in the homes of 70 of its employees. The service, as reported in previous editions of Skyguide, would transmit TV programmes and films down the customer's existing telephone line. A key feature of the service is the interactivity it can offer. The UK cable industry is unhappy about the idea, viewing BT's plans as quite comprehensively treading on their toes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Skyguide Issue 34 Edited by Ant Purvis Skyguide is usually published fortnightly, but can be erratic at times, depending on news availability. You can find it on London's CIX system in the Skyguide conference, Fidonet's Satelite TV echo, the Packet Radio Network, on internet in the alt.satellite.tv.europe newsgroup, and now in the French language on Minitel in the 3615 SURPIN area. Skyguide is not a commercial publication, nor is it a cut-down version of a printed journal. It may not be distributed for profit and is copyright. Nevertheless, free distribution (via BBSs, FTP sites, etc.) is encouraged, provided that permission is asked first. Errors and Omissions expected. If we get something wrong, let us know and we'll put it right! Back issues can be mailed to internet mailboxes on request. Comments, suggestions, and stories are always appreciated! You can contact Skyguide in the following ways: CIX : mail to bignoise, or use the Skyguide/comments conference. Fidonet : Leave a message in the Satellite TV echo Internet: bignoise@cix.compulink.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------