270 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
270 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
-------------------------------- SKYGUIDE UK ---------------------------------
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| Issue 7 - In your four full value pages this week... - Issue 7 |
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------------------------ Week Ending Sat 24th April 1993 ---------------------
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Page 1 Page 2
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* RED HOT IN COURT * WACO DRAMA ON SKY?
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* EQUITY STRIKE GOLD * NEW FACES ON SKY NEWS
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* POTTY ADVERTS * THE BIG FIGHT - ONLY ON SATELLITE
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* THREE NEW BBC CHANNELS FOR ASTRA
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Page 3
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* YET MORE AMERICAN NETWORKS ON ASTRA 1C ?
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* SKY SHAREHOLDER BUYS THAMES
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* WHEN IS DEEP SPACE NINE ON? The Back Page
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* A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY
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* ISSUE TWO FOR A NEW MAGAZINE
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* RASPBERRY OF THE WEEK
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Skyguide Issue 007 Page 1
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-------------------------------- SKYGUIDE UK ---------------------------------
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| Your digest of the latest news in the world of Satellite & Cable TV |
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---------------------- Week Ending Sat 24th April 1993 -----------------------
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* RED HOT IN COURT
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Red Hot Television had their day in the High Court today (Friday). Two High
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Court judges refused RHTV's request to restrain Heritage Secretary Peter
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Brooke from issuing a proscription order against the channel, but they have
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referred to the European Court of Justice, who will decide whether the
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Government's action was lawful.
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The UK judges will not make a final ruling until the European court decide if
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the Government action is lawful. The UK Ban on the channel will continue until
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the European court hearing.
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If RHTV was ruled illegal, it would be illegal to support the channel, list
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the programmes, sell use or buy decoding equipment, or to advertise the
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service. A spokesman for Continental Television said earlier in the week that
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they would carry on selling decoders to the UK from Holland if they were
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banned in this country.
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The number of RHTV subscribers increased by more than 20 percent following the
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Government's announcement of their intention to ban the channel.
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* EQUITY STRIKE GOLD
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Actor's union Equity has won another battle against UK Gold. Following a
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disagreement earlier this year over repeat fees, BBC Enterprises conceded to
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Equity's terms, allowing for increased payments to actors whose performances
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were repeated on UK Gold.
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Thames Television has also now agreed to pay repeat fees along the lines of
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that original agreement. This now opens the door for complete access to
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programmes in the Thames library, allowing screenings of more Thames
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programmes on UK Gold.
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* POTTY ADVERTS
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The Independent Television Commission received just under thirty complaints
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about an advert for Golden Wonder's Pot Snacks. The ads, featuring high-speed
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computer graphics, are said to have triggered epileptic fits in three viewers
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in the UK.
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The commercial was also aired across Europe on MTV, UK Gold and Sky, although
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it is not known if any European viewers were similarly affected.
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The advertising agency had sought medical advice before beginning the
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campaign, and replaced the commercial following the concern.
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On a similar theme, the ITC has also received complains about adverts for "The
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Guardian" newspaper. Some viewers have complained of dizziness and eye strain
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following the commercials, which feature a fast-moving collage of words. After
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due consideration, the ITC announced that they did not intend to ban the ad.
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--------------------------
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Skyguide Issue 007 Page 2
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* WACO DRAMA ON SKY?
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The Waco siege has been made into a TV movie. "Ambush At Waco" will be
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screened in America later next month. Actor Timothy Daly will play the part
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of David Koresh, leader of the Branch Dividians cult.
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World International Network, the distibutors of the movie, say that the drama
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has already been sold to a British Broadcaster, although they are unwilling to
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reveal which one. While Sky has purchased a number of real-life dramas from
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WIN in the past, ITV also stand a chance of screening the movie, bearing in
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mind that Central Television is a member of WIN.
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* NEW FACES ON SKY NEWS
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Sky has announced the recruitment of two new presenters to the station,
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following the departure of Scott Chisholm and Chris Mann.
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Presenters Frank Partridge and Laurie Meyer, both from the BBC, have been
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chosen to fill the gaps.
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* THE BIG FIGHT - ONLY ON SATELLITE
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Pace has spectacularly annoyed Amstrad with its current advertising campaign,
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which makes comparisons between Pace and Amstrad satellite receivers,
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predictably with Amstrad coming out worse off.
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Both companies have long disagreed with each other's claims regarding their
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respective shares of the UK satellite dish market in the past.
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Amstrad has now served a writ on Pace for libel, slander (of its goods) and
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malicious falsehood.
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* THREE NEW BBC CHANNELS FOR ASTRA
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The BBC has announced it intends to launch three new channels next year on the
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Astra 1D satellite. [D for Delta, this is not a mistake] The three channels
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will comprise a news channel, a documentary channel, and a children's channel.
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Director General John Birt has agreed to the move, and the BBC have said that
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they feel it is important to get into a "genre" early. The channels are likely
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to be supported by advertising in the initial period.
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The announcement looks set to create head-on competition with a number of
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channels in Sky's subscription package due to launch later this year,
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featuring, among others, the news channel Sky News, documentary channel
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Discovery and children's channel Nickelodeon.
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The BBC sought to downplay the competition, saying that in particular their
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documentary channel would complement Discovery, rather than compete with it.
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Talks were ongoing some time ago regarding the feasibility of a joint news
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channel with Sky, but it is understood that agreement could not be met since
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Rupert Murdoch insisted on overall control.
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The BBC will also be involved in the Thames "Women's Lifestyle" channel, set
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to launch on Astra 1C.
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--------------------------
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Skyguide Issue 007 Page 3
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* YET MORE AMERICAN NETWORKS ON ASTRA 1C ?
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Little more than strong rumours at the moment, but it looks likely that
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American film and television giants Paramount and MCA will launch two
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channels in Europe on Astra 1C.
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Both The USA Network and The Sci-Fi Channel are already running in the US,
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and the move is in line with many American broadcaster's desires to enter the
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European market.
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The Sci-Fi Channel is a particular cause of angst in the USA, since many cable
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television networks do not carry the channel, despite large demand from
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viewers. Many US cable networks have now reached their maximum capacity - as
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little as 30 channels in some cases - and no further channels can be added
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without dropping an existing channel, or upgrading the network.
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Neither options are particularly attractive to US cablenets - upgrading a
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network is very expensive, and with so many channels actually paying to be
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carried - such as Home Shopping or evangelical channels, there seems to be no
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easy solution.
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* SKY SHAREHOLDER BUYS THAMES
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Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times and BSkyB shareholder to the tune of
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17.5%, has purchased Thames Television for 200 pence per share, valuing the
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company at some 99 million pounds.
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Majority shareholder Thorn EMI, owning just under 59% of the shares, have
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agreed to Pearson's bid, so it looks very much like a done deal.
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Thames Television lost the London ITV franchise on December 31st last year,
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but continues to make a number of programmes for the ITV Network, as well as
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being involved in the satellite channel UK Gold.
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Thames shares rose sharply to around 195 pence per share following the
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announcement this morning, up twenty pence.
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* WHEN IS DEEP SPACE NINE ON?
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Sky One's May schedules are all over the place, and it now looks as if Star
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Trek: Deep Space Nine may have been moved back for screening in the Autumn
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after all.
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"The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" now seem almost certain to be taking the
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Sunday 7pm slot from May 2nd.
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It's all very confusing, with a number of conflicting reports. I'll be
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absolutely frank, I don't know what the hell is happening. Your guess is as
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good as mine!
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* A DATE FOR THE DIARY
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Assuming good weather, expect Astra 1C to launch on Wednesday April 28th.
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Don't expect to see any transmissions from the satellite for a while though,
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it'll take a while to get into position.
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--------------------------
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Skyguide Issue 007 The Back Page
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* ISSUE TWO FOR NEW MAGAZINE
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Issue Two of the new magazine "Buying Satellite" is in your newsagents now.
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Sadly they couldn't manage to go one month without the word "SEX" appearing
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on the cover again.
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Among the highlights is details of how to video satellite TV - useful advice
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if you do not possess the July 1989 issue of "What Satellite" (from the same
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publisher) which carries a feature on "how to video satellite TV".
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Buying Satellite is, of course, designed for a non-technical audience. The
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cover strap says "Your e-a-s-y guide to buying and using satellite TV",
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presumably spacing out the letters in "easy" in order that its readers are not
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confused by the long word.
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There's definitely room in the market for a "novice" publication like this,
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although if Issue 2 is anything to go by, this is not the one. A brief flick
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through the magazine revealed a number of excruciating errors, some repeated
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as many as three times.
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We particularly liked the advice that a centre speaker in a surround sound
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system should be placed in front of your television (which may somewhat
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obstruct your view of the screen).
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Satellite novices will also be interested to hear that "The Adult Channel"
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broadcasts for three hours a night (um.. four), on Sky One's transponder,
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(no..) that TCC starts at 4.30pm (5pm actually) and that it shows a
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home-produced programme named "Saved By The Bell" (which hitherto a small
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American network named "NBC" were rather under the impression that they were
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responsible for).
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But enough of the sub-editing.
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.. Which may have been what the publishers said. :-)
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* RASPBERRY OF THE WEEK
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.. goes to Sky News for completely failing to report the news about Red Hot
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Television this afternoon. Admittedly they did seem a little busy covering a
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story about an alleged takeover of "The Observer" newspaper, very manfully
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staging an OB from "Central London" at the "Observer HQ", which is more
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commonly known as "Marcopolo House", home of the defunct BSB.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Skyguide is published weekly and is copyright. Not to be redistributed in any
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form without consent. Errors and Omissions expected. (c) 1993 by Ant Purvis
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Comments, suggestions, stories and monetary donations are always appreciated!
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You can contact Skyguide in the following ways:
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CIX : mail to bignoise, or use the Skyguide/comments conference.
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Fidonet : Netmail to ANTONY PURVIS at 2:251/22, or leave a message in the
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Satellite TV echo.
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Internet: bignoise@cix.compulink.co.uk
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