185 lines
8.2 KiB
Plaintext
185 lines
8.2 KiB
Plaintext
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Skyguide Issue 001 Page 1
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--------------------------------- SKYGUIDE UK ---------------------------------
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| Your digest of the latest news in the world of Satellite & Cable Television |
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----------------------- Week Ending Sat 20th March 1993 -----------------------
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* RED HOT BANNED
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On the day that the Home Secretary announced he thought letting children into
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public houses was a good idea, Heritage Secretary Peter Brooke announced in a
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commons written reply that in 15 days it will be a criminal offence to sell
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subscriptions to, or equipment to recieve, Red Hot Television, partly because
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of the danger to children.
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He said: "This Government will not tolerate exploitive material of a sexually
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explicit or gratuitously violent nature. The sexually explicit content of Red
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Hot Television is unacceptable and has the potential to cause great harm to
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children who may see it. The service exceeds, by a wide margin, the standards
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we expect from UK broadcasters and I see no reason why material of this sort
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should be avaiable in the UK simply because it is broadcast from overseas."
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The Government has written to both Red Hot Television and the EC Commission,
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informing them that they intend to proscribe the service pursuant to the EC
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Broadcasting Directive.
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The EC Broadcasting Directive also ensures freedom of reception of television
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channels, providing they are legal in the EC country from which they originate
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The Government's decision of today may well infringe this agreement, and it is
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likely that it is this that will be Continental's main point of attack in the
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courts.
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Britain's view of pornography would appear to be very much out of step with
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Europe, it being the only EC country to outlaw hardcore. Laws made in Britain,
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however, only apply to Britain. The UK Goverment would have no means of
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preventing a company outside the UK from selling decoders or subscriptions,
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although it could prevent such a company from advertising in any UK-controlled
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media.
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Continental Television will challenge the Government in court, saying they
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are happy that they have the chance to settle the matter once and for all.
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* RED HOT VIDEOCRYPT?
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Meanwhile, rumours are currently circulating that Red Hot Television will
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change from their current scrambling system to a variant of Videocrypt.
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Continental Television, the owners of the channel, have been saying for some
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time now that they will change their scrambling system in early 1993, although
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from previous information it was expected that the Cryptovision system would
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be used.
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The latest information is that scrambling will be achieved by means of "Enigma
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1", originally thought to be a standalone decoder, but now thought to be a
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card which would function in a Videocrypt decoder. Videocrypt decoders are
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widely available in the UK, being the scrambling system used by Sky.
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Red Hot Television (formerly Red Hot Dutch, until EC pressure forced them to
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move their uplink from Holland) currently face two problems in the UK: Firstly
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that their current scrambling system, SAVE, is notoriously insecure and has
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already been widely pirated. Owners of some satellite systems need only flick
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a switch to invert the video for a watchable picture - hardly a secure
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access-control system.
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==========================
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skyguide/skyguide #3, from bignoise, 2744 chars, Mar 19 19:20 93
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This is a comment to message 2.
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There are comments to this message.
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--------------------------
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Skyguide Issue 001 Page 2
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The second, and perhaps most important problem, is that recent media attention
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has been focused on the channel by the UK press, in turn attracting government
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attention amid calls to ban the channel. While it would be impossible to
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prevent the channel being beamed into the UK, a ban on the sale of decoders
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would prevent the channel being legally subscribed to.
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This is where the card-based system comes in. As the majority of UK satellite
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viewers own Videocrypt decoders, Videocrypt cards to watch the channel could
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be posted to subscribers from elsewhere in Europe - thus there would be no
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actual decoders for the channel being sold to be banned.
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The scrambling is expected to change on March 20th, and at the time of writing
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no-one would appear to have seen the mysterious Enigma 1, be it a card, a
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decoder, or anything else.
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* CARTOONS & TNT .. AN EXPLOSIVE COMBINATION
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It has now been confirmed that Turner International, owners of CNN, will be
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taking a transponder on Astra 1C to launch two new services.
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The Cartoon Network, already running in the US, shows non-stop cartoons,
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mostly from the archives of Hanna Barbera which was acquired by Turner earlier
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last year. The channel will run from 6am to 8pm.
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>From 8pm onwards the transponder will carry Turner's entertainment channel TNT
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(Turner Network Television), also already running in the US. The channel
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screens made-for-TV movies, classic American movies from a library of some
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2,500 acquired by Turner, and "premium" entertainment.
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Initially the services will be clear, but a spokesman said that encryption was
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being looked into. Promotions for the new channels are being carried on CNN
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International.
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* BYE BYE JUKEBOX
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The Cable Jukebox, a video request channel currently carried on a number of UK
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cable television networks, closed suddenly on March 15th.
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As a sister channel to the Lifestyle Satellite Jukebox, which closed at the
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end of January, it was launched in 1987 by WHSTV (WH Smith Television), then
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owners of the Lifestyle and Screensport channels, now also defunct.
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Many cable networks will be carrying rival jukebox service "The Box" in its
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place. Owned and operated by the American company Video Jukebox Network, it
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was launched at the Cable and Satellite show in 1992.
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While the Cable Jukebox offered just 75 tracks to choose from in an entire
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month, The Box offers 500 videos to choose from at any one time, from a
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library of over 2,000 laserdiscs. Tracks are requested by means of a premium
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rate telephone number.
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Each "The Box" is equipped with an AVS broadcast-quality standards converter
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worth around 20,000 to convert the American NTSC format video into UK PAL.
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==========================
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skyguide/skyguide #4, from bignoise, 1822 chars, Mar 19 19:20 93
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This is a comment to message 3.
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--------------------------
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Skyguide Issue 001 Page 3
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* PHILIPS CLAIM 50 MILLION FROM SKY
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A High Court has ruled in favour of a damages claim made by electronics
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company Philips. The company alleges that Sky Television beached a contract
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between themselves and BSB when the two operators merged in November 1990.
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Up to 40,000 receivers had been ordered by BSB from Philips, an order which
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was cancelled when the merger took place.
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Philips is claiming up to 50 million in damages. BSkyB is appealing against
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the ruling.
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* COUNTRY MUSIC FOR EUROPE
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Q-CMR (Quality Country Music Radio) is expected to launch in Europe at the
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upcoming Cable & Satellite show in April.
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The station will play non-stop country music, and is backed by Country Music
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Television in the USA. Programming will be predominantly American, but
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material from the UK and Europe will also be broadcast.
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The station is expected to utilise the frequency vacated by Euronet, on the
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Sky Sports transponder. (Mono, 7.56, Astra Transponder 20)
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Country Music is growing in popularity in the UK. Sales of albums in the UK
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Country Chart rose 43% last year and cable operators are finding Country Music
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Television Europe to be a popular channel.
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* BBC RADIO FOR EUROPE
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Satellite households all across Europe can now enjoy some of the BBC's
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terrestrial radio services. The BBC is now utilising the audio subcarriers on
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its co-venture satellite channel UK Gold to transmit BBC Radio One, Four,
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Five, and World Service to the whole of Europe.
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All services are in mono, and can be found on the 7.38, 7.56, 7.74 and 7.92
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audio subcarriers of UK Gold, which itself can be found on Transponder 23 of
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the Astra 1B satellite, 19.2 degrees east.
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***
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THE END
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