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Sat-UK-News #260 07.06.98: 28.2 East

Sat-UK-News Report #260:
- Update for 28.2° East
- Jamahirya on Nilesat 101
Sunday 07.06.98
=======================================================================
Email: dsedghi@TELE-Satellite.com OR dominic@bigrp.demon.co.uk
Sat-UK-Web: http://www.sat-uk.com/
UK Satellite Control: http://www.sat-net.com/uk-satellite/
And now the news:


---------- Update for 28.2° East
 I may be unavailable during the next few days, so while I have time,
here is a brief résumé of the situation at 28.2° East, Astra 1D.

BBC DIGITAL
===========
 BBC have put both of their transponders into full use now and look
almost ready to begin their package. On 11.720 H, you can find BBC One
England, BBC Two, News 24, BBC One Northern Ireland and two test cards,
one unencrypted. On 11.798 H there are BBC One Scotland, BBC One Wales
and three test cards, one unencrypted. The majority of the channels are
encrypted in Videoguard, the same CAM as is to be used for Sky Digital.
BBC will keep their channels encrypted but will provide free smartcards
for anyone who wants them. Four smartcards will be made available,
depending on whether you live in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or
Wales. Upcoming channels, in addition to One, Two and News 24, including
One Widescreen, Two Widescreen, BBC Choice and BBC Learning Zone. This
should be up and running shortly.

SKY DIGITAL
===========
 Sky Digital are now hard at work plugging in all the station names for
their 200-channel bonanza. Of course, we have to remember that of these
200 channels, 50 will be pay music channels and 50 will be pay-per-view
channels. We'll also have NVOD versions of Sky Movies Screen 1 & 2, Sky
Movies Gold and Sky One. That doesn't leave much room for new channels.
The following channels names have been input by Sky and will therefore
be broadcast in the package; some are broadcasting at the moment,
encrypted, but I can't tell how many and which ones, because I can't
decode it! :-)

11.758 H: The Box (currently on Astra 1A with G. Plus and Men/Motors)
11.778 V: 50 Music Choice Europe channels (most now operative!!!)
11.837 H: Sky Box Office (5 channels), Sky Movies Screen 1 & 2, Sky One,
Sky Sports 1
11.856 V: National Geographic, Sky Box Office (5 channels), Sky Sports
2, Sky Novies Screen 1A & 2A (NVOD channels)
11.876 H: Sky News, Sky Movies Gold
11.895 V: Sci-Fi Channel, Sky Movies Gold A (NVOD), Nickelodeon,
Paramount
11.914 H: Sky Box Office (5 channels), Sky Sports 3, Sky Novies Screen
1B & 2B
11.954 H: Granada Plus, Bloomberg, Men / Motors
11.973 V: Sky Soap, Tara, Fox Kids
12.032 H: History Channel. [.tv], Good Life, The Racing Channel
12.051 V: Previews 1 & 2, MTV, VH-1

11.992 H is still showing a PAL test card, and 11.934 V, although active
and transmitting, has no channels at the moment. 12.012 V has not yet
been activated by Sky; I presume they will activate it, as this would be
their fourteenth and last transponder for now. Notice that the channel
Good Life will pretty certainly be Granada Breeze; also, it's
interesting to see that the Racing Channel has decided to offer itself
through Sky Digital; finally, as you can see, the ONLY new channel so
far is Tara, which is an Irish cable channel broadcast throughout
Britain.

THE OTHER PLAYERS
=================
 Astra 1D only has 18 transponders active, whereas we know Astra 2A will
have over 20 transponders to be used by various companies. As well as
Flextech, which has two transponders on Astra 1D at the moment (11.740 V
and 11.817 V), other users will be TBS (Turner Broadcast Service -
bringing you CNNI, Cartoon Network, TNT and possibly Travel) and
Discovery, which will launch a transponder containing the Discovery
Channel, Home & Leisure and Animal Planet. ½ transponder will be used
for data and stuff, so ignore that. That still leaves plenty of
transponders for other companies, such as WOW-TVi, which has promised 8
dedicated shopping channels... Astra 2A will be launch in August this
year.

---------- Jamahirya on Nilesat 101
 Anyone daring enough to go for Nilesat 101 will find the Jamahirya
Satellite Channel, currently also on Eutelsat II-F3, in PAL/Clear on two
frequencies: 11.862 V and 11.977 V. I have checked out 11.977 V and I
can get a scratchy picture - 11.862 V is also operative, according to
SATCO DX.


All contents (C) 1998 Dominic Sedghi, except where indicated. All
rights reserved. Contents may be reproduced providing the following
is included: "Provided by Sat-UK - www.sat-uk.com/".
Information is subject to change and/or may be incorrect.

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