Playboy TV launched on PrimeStar March 1, 1995, and has been available on a pay-per-view basis only, but beginning April 20, Playboy TV will be offered to PrimeStar viewers on a 24 hour per-day basis. On May 1 the DTH satellite service will begin delivering the adult-oriented network as a monthly subscription option for about $11.99 per month. The expanded Playboy offering will launch along with an expanded, 160-channel lineup PrimeStar plans to roll out next month.
In addition to the PrimeStar agreement, Playboy entered into an agreement with Tele-Communications Inc. calling for the launch of Playboy's pay-per-view service AdulTVision on the operator's systems. AdulTVision broadcasts adult-themed movies to consumers in 90-minute pay-per-view blocks. The service, currently available to cable DTH satellite homes, offers a minimum of 50 different movies each month with weekend premieres Friday, Saturday and Sunday..
PrimeStar Partners and DirecTv are offering the seasonal Major League Baseball "Extra Innings" package for the 1997 season at a price of $139. Initially it was offered at a discounted price of $119 until March 31.
The PrimeStar version of the package follows the company's announcement that it will add eight regional SportsChannel networks to its lineup on April 20. The additions will create an enhanced "Extra Innings" offering with games from teams in several different states including California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
DirecTV also carries a selected number of regional sports channels with its lineup, as well as superstations WGN in Chicago and TBS from Atlanta, both of which carry baseball games from those cities. PrimeStar also carries the two superstations.
DirecTv will add 14 new channels to its 175-channel-strong programming lineup beginning April 10. Total Choice - the most popular DirecTV programming package - will receive six new channels: TV Food Network, WGN, Animal Planet, QVC, Trinity Broadcasting Network and Channel Earth. Total Choice is available for $29.99 a month. All DirecTV customers received a free preview of the new Total Choice programming services from March 28 through April 9.
Total Choice Plus Encore subscribers will continue to receive the Encore channel and the Westerns, Mystery, Action, and True Stories channels. Subscribers also will receive an additional Encore channel, WAM! and Love Stories channels will become available 24 hours a day. Total Choice Plus Encore will be available for $33.99 per month.
Romance Classics and two additional STARZ! premium movie channels will be added to Total Choice Silver which will feature 14 premium movie channels and all of the services in the new Total Choice package for $39.99 per month.
Total Choice Gold, geared towards sports enthusiasts, will receive four new regional sports networks: Fox Sports Midwest, Sports Channel Florida, Fox Sports West 2 and Fox Sports Arizona. Sports Choice, which features out-of-market regional sports networks and niche sports channels, will be integrated into Total Choice Gold and no longer sold as a separate package. The Encore thematic multiplex service will be removed from Total Choice Gold. Total Choice Gold, which will include all of the services in the new Total Choice, will be available for $39.99 per month..
The French government recently relaunched the privatization of Thomson-CSF and consumer electronics subsidiary Thomson Multimedia, appointing key executives to oversee the sale.
Marcel Roulet, chairman of Thomson-CSF and its parent Thomson SA, was recruited by French government to oversee sale of the unit on a full-time basis. He will remain chairman of Thomson-CSF, but he will leave Thomson SA.
An attempt to sell the Thomson's assets last year collapsed when the commission rejected the sale of Thomson SA to the Lagardere Groupe for a symbolic one franc. Lagardere wanted to merge the Thomson-CSF unit into its Matra Defense Espace unit and then sell Thomson Multimedia to South Korea's Daewoo Electronics..
Sony, taking advantage of the growing digital TV wave, introduced a line of broadcast equipment for high-definition video programming and production recently.
According to company officials, this equipment is the first set of systems unveiled in the US since industry wide standards for digital broadcasts were approved late last year. Products include high-definition cameras for studios, portable cameras for mobile news crews and a line of studio monitors, storage and networking equipment used in video editing and distribution.
The High Definition Video System varies in pricing, with cameras, for example, starting at about $70,000. Some of the equipment is expected to be available this spring and other HDVT products available by the end of the year..
A major technology breakthrough was announced by Norsat when they unveiled the world's first commercially viable Ka-band low noise block downconverter (LNB) at an international telecommunications conference in Vancouver, B.C. recently
According to Norsat, the Ka-band-LNB represents a significant technology breakthrough due to the ability that it will be integral to supporting the growth of a wide range of high-speed, two-way digital communications services. These services are focused on addressing commercial and consumer demand for speedier access to the information superhighway, everything from Internet access to distance learning, multimedia broadcasts, and voice and video conferencing.
Norsat plans to build up to 1,000 Ka-band LNB field trial units in its Surrey manufacturing facility for delivery in early 1998.
Several companies, including Hughes (Galaxy/Spaceway), Teledesic, AT&T (VoiceSpan) and GE Americom (Star System) are planning satellite-based communications services operating within the Ka-band broadcast spectrum from 17 to 30 GHz..
The CRTC has approved the application filed by TVA CanWest, a partnership between CanWest Global and Tele-Metropole to revitalise CKMI in Quebec City. CKMI, will break away from the CBC, be renamed Global Television Network (Quebec), and will become a regional English-language broadcaster serving Quebec City, Montreal and Sherbrooke effective September 1, 1997.
Its plan of operation calls for the extension of its broadcast signal, currently received only in Quebec City, to Montreal and Sherbrooke, Quebec. Separating from CBC will allow CanWest Global to program Global (Quebec) with its full schedule of popular Canadian and U.S. programs. The extension of its signal to Montreal and Quebec will give the new service access to one million anglophones, as well as to a significant portion of the province's bilingual population, which is increasingly being drawn to English language television..
Following the FCC release of licensing, service and technical rules governing the auction process and development of Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (S-DARS), Digital Satellite Broadcasting Corporation (DSBC) announced it intents to bid in April 1, 1997 auctions for (S-DARS) licenses. DSBC is one of four companies competing for two licenses.
S-DARS is a nation-wide satellite-delivered radio service for homes and cars. S-DARS technology sends multiple channels of programming through a single digital signal that covers the entire United States. Consumers will receive the programming on new radio receivers with credit-card sized satellite antennas that can be installed in cars, trucks and homes.
DSBC's service will use small spot beams (24 of them, each at least 250 miles in diameter) which will deliver regional programming throughout the U.S., Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. By combining DSBC's national distribution system with the spot beam approach, DSBC will offer a wide array of targeted programming, such as children's programming, foreign-language, classical music, opera, all-news, all-sports, educational and public affairs programs, aimed at highly-targeted demographic groups. The programming will be offered as an advertising-supported service and as a commercial-free subscription service.