A Lockheed Martin Corp. rocket launched from Cape Canaveral pro-pelled GE-3, owned by General Electric's GE American Communica-tions, into orbit September 4th.
The satellite will deliver program-ming for Fox, PBS, CNN Financial News and CNNSi.
It was the 32nd consecutive suc-cessful launch for the Atlas rocket, which started in the 1950's as an intercontinental ballistic missile. The next satellite-related launch expected at the Cape is EchoStar's third satellite, set for lift-off in early October.
Tele-Communications Inc. Chair-man John Malone says the PrimeStar roll-up has a 90 percent chance of completion which he expects to happen within the next three to six months.
But Malone gave News Corp.'s effort to join the home satellite provider only a 65 percent chance, adding he doesn't think Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp will join the PrimeStar partnership for an addi-tional three to six months after the roll-up is complete.
PrimeStar need NewsCorp to supply high-power DBS spectrum. The orbital location now controlled by News Corp. and partner MCI Communications will allow Prime-Star to compete more effectively with Echostar's DISH Network and Direc-TV.
But with the delay, PrimeStar may not be able to go to high-power until next summer. That may allow the two other high-power DBS services to gain and maintain an advantage difficult to overcome.
A Chinese Long March 2 rocket, carrying two simulated Iridium sat-ellites owned by the U.S. company Motorola, was successfully launched early in September.
The launch was performed from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) located in the Shanxi Pro- vince of China.
The objective of the mission was to check and verify the capability of the modified Long March 2 before the official launch is performed in the future.
This marks only the third satellite launch performed from TSLC. In 1988 and 1990, two polar orbiting weather satellites were launched by Long March 4 boosters.
Turner broadcasting has offic-ially announced that TBS will be fully 'rights compliant' on or before 31 December, 1997. At that time it will cease it's operation as a legally defined 'superstation' and become a satellite/cable/dbs station, fully exempt from copyright restrictions and payments by carriers
This means that TBS will receive its money from per-subscriber fees instead program distribution. Also, the move will give system operators move advertising time to sell locally, partially offsetting the increased cost. Initially, this will result in a higher carriage cost to cable systems and satellite providers, which may or may not be passed on to subscribers, but TBS says the increased income will permit it to successfully renew major sports contracts and upgrade its prime time movie offerings. TBS has become one of the top channels by market share, and feels the move from superstation to cable channel is necessary at this time.
Subscribers to satellite TV ser-vices DirecTV and USSB encount-ered blank screens September 4th as the companies' satellite feeds went down for approximately an hour. The outage affected all of the estim-ated 2.8 million subscribers to the services nationwide.
According to DirecTV, an anomaly in their datastream that affects subscriber authorizations caused the outage. The problem was caused by a software glitch that caused the services' satellite feeds to temporarily revoke every subscriber's authorization to receive program-ming.
DirecTV and USSB. are separate companies, but they transmit their signals from the same satellites.
It is beleived the problems actually stem from a botched attempt to turn on a premium package "Free Weekend". Some subscribers noted that all channels on the system were available, including the USSB movie services, except the package they had purchased.
This incident began a continuous string of outages, authorization switches and glitches. Many sub- scribers continued complaining of only partial authorization of paid-for packages.
Another large group of upset subscribers noted that Macrovision copyright protection signals was appearing on several premium channels, disrupting attempts to time-shift programs for later viewing. DirecTV/USSB comsumer reps con-tinue to disavow there was any Macrovision added.
PrimeStar Partners pegged sub-scriber growth for August at 23,000. Subscribers for the service stand at 1.79 million.
In the process of preparing documents for the SEC, the com-pany's financial department had discovered an approximate 100,000-subscriber over-reporting of numbers dating back to January, 1997, resul-ting in some confusion in actual reported authorizations when a net of 500 was originally announced for August.
PrimeTime 24 is changing its CBS and ABC feeds for the eastern zone. They have announced that they will drop WJLA-ABC out of Washington, DC in favor of WKRN-ABC out of Nashville, TN on November 1, 1997, and have already switched the CBS affiliate from WRAL-Raleigh, NC, to WSEE-Erie, PA, for its more pre-emption-free schedule.
The Pro-Am Sports Service (PASS) is ceasing operation in September. The regional sports network allowed FoxSports Detroit to purchase it's remaining contracts, which Fox renewed with the teams involved. Most cable companies are simply replacing PASS with Fox Sports Detroit with no interruption to service. How the change to C-band and some DBS subscribers remains to be seen. DirecTV will offer the service as part of its programming line up. Fox Sports Detroit carries as many as 44 Detroit Red Wing hockey games, up to 35 Detroit Pistons basketball games and a full-slate of Detroit Tigers baseball games. Other programming includes: CCHA col-lege hockey; Big 12, PAC-10 and Conference USA college football, Fight Time on Fox boxing events and Fox Sports News.
EchoStar Communications chief Charlie Ergen, in a meeting with shareholders and employees Friday, said the company's DISH Network will reach its goal of 1 million subscribers by year's end.
DISH is well on its way to that goal. EchoStar reported the service gained 75,000 new subscribers in August, putting it over the 700,000 mark.
A Russian Proton rocket carried seven more telecommunications satellites into orbit for U.S.-based Iridium over the weekend of September 15th.
The seven satellites joined 22 others already in orbit that will form part of a 66-satellite global network providing mobile communication services. The service is expected to launch next year.
The launch was the second of three for Iridium to be carried out by Russian rocket-maker Khrunichev. The first was on June 18 and the last is due next April.
Iridium is also using U.S.-made Delta rockets to launch satellites. A Boeing Delta II expendable launch vehicle is ready at Van-denberg Air Force Base, Calif. to place five more Iridium system satellites into orbit.
The launch is scheduled for no earlier than Sept. 26. To date, the Delta II has successfully launched 15 Iridium satellites in three previous launches on May 5, July 9 and Aug. 20. The upcoming mission will bring the total number of satellites in this system to 34.
Boeing will launch the majority of the satellites for the project, playing a significant role in reaching Iridium's goal of providing world-wide mobile telecommunications ser-vice by June of next year.
Ted Turner pledged $1 billion to a new foundation benefittng United Nations causes, such as helping refugees, fighting disease and eliminating land mines.
Turner said his net worth was $2.2 billion as of Jan. 1, but had since grown to $3.2 billion. He said he would donate $100 million of Time Warner stock every year for the next 10 years to the new foundation that will work with various U.N. com-mittees.
Turner made the announcement at a Manhattan hotel while receiving the Global Leadership Award from the United Nations Association.
Deutsche Welle will use GE Americom's GE-1 satellite to provide German television and radio pro- gramming to cable, SMATV, hotels and television stations in North America.
Based in Cologne, Germany, Deutsche Welle distributes television and radio programming throughout the world. The company will join other major cable and broadcast companies on GE-1 such as PBS, NBC and Turner.
Deutsche Welle will move its programming from GE's Satcom C4 satellite to GE-1. The German service will transmit on both Satcom C4 and GE-1 until Oct. 31.
Arianespace launched the Hot Bird-3 and Meteosat-7 satellites aboard an Ariane 44LP rocket Sep-tember 2nd. The launch took place at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, South America. Hot Bird-3, built by Matra Marconi Space, is part of the second gene-ration of Eutelsat satellites, providing digital and analog broadcasts to Europe from 13 degrees East long-itude.
Meteosat-7, built by Aerospatiale, will provide meteorological services from 0 degrees longitude.
Ariane aslo launched Intelsat 803 into geotransfer orbit using a 42L launch vehicle September 23rd.
The Lockheed Martin built space-craft will provide telecommunication service over the Atlantic Ocean at 338.5 degrees East.
This was the 100th Arianespace mission launched.
Orbital Sciences Corp. reports its first satellite, INDOSTAR-1, has been shipped to Kourou, French Guiana, where it will be launched aboard an Ariane 4 rocket this October.
INDOSTAR-1 will provide high-power S-band direct-to-home (DTH) INDOVISION television program- ming. Orbital's satellite will broad-cast 40 digital channels on five 70-watt transponders to the Republic of Indonesia's 14,000 islands when it is put in service at its 107.7 degrees East location.
The INDOSTAR-1 is the first satellite to use S-band frequencies for DTH broadcast service, providing high-quality transmissions to 70 cm antennas in a region of heavy rain-fall.
Similar performance is not economically feasible with compar-able Ku- or C-band DTH satellite systems since more power is required in these bands to penetrate the moist atmosphere.
Bloomberg has signed an agreement with The National Cable Television Co-operative allowing for the distribution of Bloomberg Tele-vision to all NCTC member systems. The NCTC is a program-ming purchasing co-operative serving over 800 small and inde-pendent cable operators throughout the United States. The agreement allows members of the "co-operative" to launch Bloomberg Television on both their analog and digital systems.
U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin said Congress should allow broadcasters to pay into a trust fund supporting the Corporation for Public Broad-casting as a way to fulfill public service obligations.
The Louisiana Republican and chair of the House Telecommuni-cations Subcommittee suggested broadcasters could support a $400 million CPB trust fund rather than fulfill on-air obligations. He based his $400 million on figures given by FCC Chairman Reed Hundt as the amount of free political debate air time that broadcasters should be required to provide.
Tauzin, speaking at a hearing on digital television, also gave three choices for digital spectrum use, a hotly debated topic among law-makers after some broadcasters hinted they may use new spectrum for purposes other than those specified under law.
The first choice offered by Tauzin is to use new spectrum for HDTV as originally intended. The second would require return of any spectrum not used for HDTV, while a third would require users to pay new fees or fulfill additional public service obligations.
DirecTV filed a complaint with the FCC over Comcast's refusal to allow the DirecTV access to its sports network, which results in "unfair methods of competition."
Comcast has refused requests from DirecTV to make Comcast Sports-Net, its regional sports network, available to the the DBS service. Comcast SportsNet will replace Sports Channel Philadelphia, which will cease operation on Sept. 30.
"On Oct. 1, tens of thousands of DirecTV subscribers who reside in the greater Philadelphia area will be left without a local regional sports network as a result of Comcast's decision," said Steve Cox of DirecTV.
Comcast says the sports network will not be made available to any DBS service.
A New York U.S. District Court judge entered a default $119,837 judgment against the Alley Way, a Long Island sports bar accused by DirecTV of stealing its signal.
The complaint said the bar dis-played programming it received on a residential subscription, violating the Federal Communications Act.
The suit was filed after the defendant ignored several requests to cease and desist
The RCMP in Manitoba plan a major crackdown on illegal satellite television dishes after receiving hundreds of complaints from people who bought them and then had their service cut.when the U.S. service providers discovered the customers where Canadian.
The RCMP spokesman said the customs and excise unit will go after of dealers who sell dishes designed for U.S. companies such as DirecTV and EchoStar.
The action will not target individ-uals, who are considered "victims". Dealers are upset, because most of the systems were sold before recent court actions ruled them illegal.
Echostar Communications Corp. announced today that Sears, Roebuck and Co. will support the DISH Network.
The JVC brand Dish Network digital satellite receiver system will be available beginning October 1997 in more than 800 full-line, mall-based stores anchoring some of the best malls in America. EchoStar had approximately 715,000 DISH Net-work subscribers as of August 31, 1997. ``Sears, Roebuck and Co. is a great choice as a national retailer because of their extensive customer relationships and dedication to providing customers with the highest level of value and service,'' said Jim DeFranco, Executive Vice President of EchoStar.
``We anticipated a positive reaction from our dealer network when we partnered with EchoStar earlier this year,'' said Harry Elias, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, JVC Company of America. ``The JVC set-top boxes have begun shipping and early sales figures indicate we are off to a great start.'' ``Sears prides itself on providing outstanding selection, value and customer service,'' said Chuck Cebuhar, Sears vice president and general manager of electronics and home office. ``The addition of the JVC/DISH Network will enhance Sears already compelling satellite assortment.'' Three digital set-top boxes will carry the JVC brand name when distributed through the JVC national retail network: Good - Model TU3500SU A basic IR model with the V-chip. Better - Model TU4500DU A UHF remote model with VCR control Best - Model TU5500DU A UHF model with "Local TV Link", caller ID and AUX digital input for your lazerdisk, etc. DISH Network offers customers 40 of America's favorite channels, including the Disney Channel, for just $19.99. And for only $7 more per month that package can be upgraded to America's Top 50 programming package. The best programming value for the money, this package includes over 50 outstanding video channels plus over 30 CD-quality music channels. JVC is a global leader in the development and manufacturing of innovative audio and video hardware, as well as related software products. They are renowned for developing the VHS video format, the universal standard for home video, and continue to play a prominent role in the enhancement of video com-munications.
DirecTV will provide DSS pro-gramming in Delta Air Lines' Crown Room Clubs and international airport lounge locations across the con-tiguous United States.
Major Delta airport hubs that will be served by DirecTV include Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, New York and Salt Lake City.
Delta Crown Room Club mem-bers will be able to view more than 42 popular cable channels such as Bloomberg Television, CNBC, CNN, C-Span, Discovery Channel, E! Entertainment Television, Headline News, MSNBC, The Weather Chan-nel and up to 24 regional sports networks via the DirecTV Business Value programming package.
DirecTV will begin shipping and installing DSS equipment to Delta Crown Room Clubs immediately. As part of the agreement, DirecTV will show on-air promotional spots on selected Delta domestic flights.
A Dish Network dealer sent the following to Echostar last week in regards to their latest advertising campaign stating that the dealers are the ones who have to explain to the customer how misleading these print ads are.
As a DishNet dealer I find it embarrassing that Echostar continues in its deceptive advertising of "free" installs, when in fact what is being offered to the consumer is a $100 discount on installation. Is Echostar so ashamed of the offer that it cannot advertise it properly? Step up to the plate and delete the misleading ad headline or abandon the campaign!
Also, I'm taking a survey of the number of DishNet dealers who also feel that they are getting "ripped off" by Echostar's current plan of REQUIRING dealers to buy premium units if and when they want to order standard units. Why would a dealer pump up an inventory which isn't moving. My company already has a 2-month supply of premium units, but no standard units. Despite adequate inventory of premium systems (and a desire to purchase standard systems for new orders) we have been told that we must buy units on a "1 for 1" basis: one premium for each standard. Is Echostar so "hard up for cash" that it resorts to strong-arming its dealers? Are dealers and Dishnet on the same team or does Echostar perceive us as an expendable resource?"
Recent MANDATORY changes in contracts and dealer compensation are not reflective of an organization which values its sales force. If the trend continues this dealer will have no alternative but to disassociate itself with Echostar and recommend to other DishNet dealers that they do the same.