From: roberts@triton.unm.edu (Robert Smathers)
Newsgroups: rec.video.satellite
Subject: TVRO YEAR IN REVIEW 1992 (NORTH AMERICAN TVRO)
Date: 31 Dec 92 16:42:03 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque


Here is a long article I wrote to sum up TVRO 1992....

Robert
roberts@triton.unm.edu
-=-=-


A LOOK BACK AT TVRO 1992

A special posting to the Rec.Video.Satellite/Homesat/SDTS

By Robert Smathers

=-=-=-=-=-=

Now that 1992 is just about over, I thought it would be fun to
look over my TVRO notes and logs for the past year to see what we
TVRO viewers were reading/hearing/observing over the last 12
months.  There were so many events, and I think you'll find your
favorite events here.

JANUARY
=======

- TVRO viewers were waiting in anticipation to see the new
satellites.  The satellites were to carry super programming as
well as beam a high power signal into dishes across America.  We
would see launches of Galaxy 5, Galaxy 1R, Satcom C4, Satcom C3,
and Galaxy 7.  We were told Galaxy 4 would be launched in late
December/early January 1993.

- The Vacation Network would start broadcasting on C1/15 Jan 27.

- Action PPV would move from Spacenet 3R/11 to Spacenet 3R/6 to
get a stronger signal.

- The International Airplane Market Place would air Mondays on
Galaxy 6.

- The Las Vegas Television Network was scheduled to begin on
Spacenet 4/20 on January 1, 1992.

- The CNN Headline News "clean" feed moves to Westar 5/16.

- The Real Estate Channel airs at 7 pm ET on T2/23.

- Feeds from Europe and the BBC moves around on Westar 5 but
tries to appear regularly on W5/22.

- The Las Vegas Television Network is rumored to launch on Satcom
C1/16 on February 1.

- The Videocipher 2+ conversion center is set up to help legal
VC2 owners upgrade for free.

- 3 Angels Broadcasting moved from S1/7 to S2/4.

- Spacenet 4 is becoming more active.  Telemundo news feeds can
be seen on trasponder 10 at 6 pm ET.

- Brightside Network Systems appear on Anik E1/23 on an
occasional video basis.

- CNN Checkout Channel appears on GSTAR 4 at 125 degrees West.

- Old fashioned country music appears on Sundays E2/21 on 6.8 MHz
audio subcarrier.

- WSB-FM Nashville announced it will become an audio subcarrier
on the scrambled Country Music TV Network.

- Action PPV and Viewer's Choice 1 and 2 have switched to the
Videocipher 2+ system.

- Superbowl has appeared all over the place.  The CBS affiliate
feeds were all scrambled, though.

- MSG starting to use fiber optics (VYVX) for backhauls from some
locations.

- The Chuck Woolery syndicated show leaves satellite TV.

- KVEG, Las Vegas, has left their subcarrier on Spacenet 3R/15 at
6.3.  They may have gone SCPC or DATS.

- Las Vegas TV Network now announces a launch on April 1 on
Galaxy 6/11.

- Sci Fi Channel update:  delayed until summer or fall.  No
coordinates have been announced.

- TVNC from Yellowknife has appeared on Anik E1/19 (C-band).

- GLOBAL is expanding their feeds to Anik E1/8 (c-band) as well
as their normal Anik E1/12.

FEBRUARY
========

- Action PPV moves from Spacenet 3R/6 to Satcom F4.

- PrimeTime 24 changes their CBS affiliate from WBBM Chicago to
WRAL Raleigh.

- USIA wants to use an audio subcarrier on Spacenet 3R to deliver
VOA programming to VOA shortwave transmitter sites in the near
future.

- Skypix announces they will launch in April on SBS6.  They have
a contract for 10 transponders on SBS6 and will provide 8:1
digital compression.

- SBCA holds its Reno show Feb 12-14.  SBCA audio service covers
the show.

- Main Street TV appears on Spacenet 2/7.

- Scott Becker calls into Tracker Bob's show and says he will
start a "low power TV station service on W5/23".  It will air 7
days a week and he says it will go to Galaxy 6 in May.

- Somebody calls in and says KVEG is on DATS (Satcom C5).

- Country Music jamboree appears on Telstar 302/23 at 7 pm ET.

- NHL and the Satellite Sports Network announce plans to lift
blackout policies for the 1991-1992 season effective February 1.
Prime Ticket is still subject to blackout regulations.

- B-TV starts up on W5/23 and is seen daily from 10a to 4p ET.

- Feeds of the Winter Olympics are possible on W5, G6, G2, T1,
T2, F2, and Ku band, according to the Orbit Radio Hour.

- GLOBAL offers transponder time on E2/12.

- Jim Bass announces that his Let's Talk Radio Network may be
simulcasted on another transponder that has ITC video.

- 3 Angels Broadcasting moves from S4/4 to S4/9 (effective Feb
6).

- Encore moves to Galaxy 3/1.

- Many programmers sign up to allow their subscribers to upgrade
to the Videocipher 2+ for free.  Among those include: CMTV, TNN,
WWOR, WGN, WPIX, Playboy, ESPN, Sat Sports Networks.
Negotiations are going on with CNBC, USA, Fam Chan, Lifetime,
MTV, Bravo, VH-1, SC NY, Weather Channel, and so on.

- Turner announces it will launch the Cartoon Service at noon
October 1.

- The Las Vegas Television Network has been running promos on
Telstar 301.

- A Chicago News Channel may launch on satellite TV this year.

- The CNN Headline News "clean" feed has moved to S3R/19.

- The Carribean Super Station seems to not have been broadcasting
lately.

- Korean TV has moved to SBS6.  They had been sharing a
transponder with NACTN on K2.

- Speculation on where Dr. Gene Scott may show up.  Some say
he'll end up on Galaxy 5/2 (after all, channel 2 has not been
taken yet).  Others say he'll end up on Telstar 303.

- The Intelsats were full of Winter Olympic feeds.

- SBCA says there are about 3.6 million dishes in the U.S.

- Hughes Communications wishes to locate the SBS4 satellite to 83
degrees West when Galaxy 7 is launched and takes over SBS4's Ku
slot.

- FCC throws out a proposal to place the cable birds at 3 degree
spacing.  These birds will remain at 2 degree spacing.

- Hughes Communications has taken out one of the largest
satellite insurance policies for 8 satellites to be launched in
the next 3 years.  Among the satellites insured are Galaxy 4H,
Galaxy 7H, Australian satellites, miliatary satellites.  Hughes
will incur an expense of $800 million for launch and life
insurance of these satellites.

- Primestar offers a digital audio music service package called
Prime Audio.

- When Galaxy 4 is launched, Galaxy 6 will move to a storage slot
at 103 degrees West until Galaxy 2 reaches its end of life.  G6
will then replace G2.

MARCH
=====

- CNBC and Country Music TV scramble.

- SportSouth moves from W5 to S3R/19.

- Hughes Communications has contracted with Thompson Consumer
Electronics and News Datacom to provide transmission and
scrambling services for DirectTV.

- The Carribean Super Station has showed up again.

- It is sun outage time.

- Galaxy 5 launch delayed.  It is now scheduled for March 10.

- The Las Vegas TV Network has announced it will launch April 1
from Spacenet 3R.  No channel has been announced.

- Gold News Network and Gold Prospectors Show has launched on
Satcom C1.  It is een at 10 pm ET weekdays and 11am ET weekends.

- On March 10, the Galaxy 5 launch was delayed again.  Hughes
will try again March 12.

- Las Vegas TV Network announces it will launch on either S3R/18
or S3R/22.

- Cricket "Preliminary World Finals" matches are seen on W5/22.
No-one knows the broadcast schedule.

- It is preseason baseball time.  Preseason baseball is found on
Ku band birds on the weekends.

- Weather delays the Galaxy 5 launch on March 12.  Next try is
March 13.

- On March 13, Galaxy 5 was launched successfully.

- CNN Bureaus are relocating from W5 to S3R/11.

- BBC 9 O'clock news is scrambled.

- A caller to Tracker Bob's show reveals there is slow scan TV on
SCPC on Galaxy 6.

- SportsChannel Midwest moves to ASC1/22.

- Arab Network of America launches on F2R/1.

- New England Cable News launches on F4R/5.

- The media gets a chance to visit Skypix's broadcasting center
in Oxford, CT.

- The Las Vegas TV Network announces they are going to launch on
S3R/22.

- Deep Dish TV begins March 31 and is on Tuesdays on G6/11 at 1pm
ET.

- Dr. Scott announces he is moving to Spacenet 2/2 on April 1.

- Most of ASC-1's phone and message traffic moves to Spacenet 4
C-band.

APRIL
=====

- The USA Network acquires the Sci-Fi Channel.  Launch is set for
Fall 1992.

- HBO announces they will make their multiplex channels available
to home dish owners on May 1.

- The Las Vegas Television Network finally launches!

- Superior Livestock to launch on Galaxy 6.

- North Carolina Open Net to move to ASC1 from W5.

- WIT Washington newsfeeds move to ASC1.

- The CBS contract channel on W5/7 moves to Galaxy 6.

- Telstar 303 to begin its journey to 123 degrees west begins.

- The Summer Olympic PPV channels will become available to the
home dish owner.  A Videocipher 2+ descrambler is needed.

- BBC Breakfast News shows up 3 am ET on W5/3 ITC.

- SUR starts up on S2/21.

- Brightstar puts some feeds on ASC1/21.

- Showtime 2 multiplex channel becomes available to dish owners.

- Turner Home Satellite has joined the VC-2+ upgrade program.

- Ted Turner considers starting up a channel called The Fitness
Channel.  Dish owners know who is behind the idea.  8^)

- ESPN is starting to use ASC-1 (Ku) for backhauls.

- NFL announces no mandatory scrambling for 1992-1993 NFL games.

- B-TV moves from W5/23 to G6/22.

- ESPN announces plans for a new service.  Details are TBA.

- GE Americom and PrimeTime 24 have reached an agreement to keep the
PT24 stations on F2R until the mid 1990's.

- Group W moves to Telstar 301/10H on April 27.

- Shop at Home can be found occasionally on S1/24 (c-band).

- Universal Electronics announces a new consumer SCPC receiver.

MAY
===

- Westar 5 was turned off on May 1.  8'(

- L.A. riots occurred and the neatest coverage was seen on satellite
TV.

- Visnews is seen occasionally on ASC1/21.

- CBS has set up an early Pacific/Mountain time zone feed on Telstar
302/15.

- Final adjustments for Telstar 301 was made.  T1 is out of fuel and
will slowly become inclined.

- There are G5 test patterns on 3, 1, and 10.

- ABC has announced some regional college football games will be PPV.

- Brightside Network Systems have gone off the air.  I called them and
they claim they are waiting for equipment to go through customs in
Russia.

- Intelsat 6 satellite is rescued by the shuttle astronauts.  Coverage
is seen on NASA Select and on CSPAN.

- Digital Cable Radio announces they signed an agreement with GE
Americom for their service to be on Satcom C3.

- Presidental candidates are using Satellite TV technology to get
their political messages out.  The Republicans have a studio in the
basement of their headquarters and an uplink dish on the roof.

- French news can be seen daily on Galaxy 2/7.

- World of Better Entertainment TV shows up on Spacenet 1/24
(occasional video).

- Summer Olympic PPV channels announced.  They will be on F1R/4, 6,
and 23.  Subscriptions are offered by Netlink.

- A Spanish home shopping network appears on M1/9.

- Telesat Canada was acquired by Allouette.  Allouette purchased 53
percent of the shares.

- The Game Show Channel will launch in 1993.

- SCOLA moves to Spacenet 1.

JUNE
====

- Empire Sports Network launches on S2/23.

- American Family Entertainment Network moves to Galaxy 6/17.

- CSPAN announces their Democratic and Republican convention coverage
will be made available to users in Europe and Asia.

- SUR moves to S2/22.

- Cornerstone TV launches on S2/21.

- WCBS-AM, NYC, shows up on T2/20 at 7.38.

- Radio Iraq shows up on S3R/15 at 6.18.

- PBS announces they are moving from Spacenet 1 to Spacenet 4.

- World of Better Entertainment TV moves to ASC1/16.

- Satellite Sports Networks adds Empire Sports Network.

- New Age TV Network appears occasionally on Telstar 301.

- Jim Bass sells the Let's Talk Radio Network (sometime in May or
June).

- There was a PAL signal on SBS6.  Russian TV used the PAL format.

- The Sun Radio Network announced they are cutting some live programs
to save costs.

- ADL has filed a lawsuit against Chaparral for patent infringement
(patent was on a feedhorn).

- General Instruments and Multivision (Mexico) have signed an
agreement to deliver digital compressed video to Mexican home dish
owners and cable companies.

- Digital Planet signed a letter of intent to make their digital music
service available to home dish owners.

- It was announced that the NBC Olympic PPV can be ordered on a per
day basis using the videopal.

- PPV sales of the Holyfield/Holmes fight was poor.  TVKO, Inc. blames
the poor matchup as well as high purse guarantees as a reason.  TVKO,
Inc. suffered losses of around $2 to $3 million.

- Court TV causes a mistrial in Texas.  A first-time producer
contacted jurors during a lunch break while the trial was in process.
That caused a mistrial.

JULY
====

- ESPN and TNN are using SBS6 for auto racing feeds.

- All services are just about filled up on Galaxy 5.

- BBC 6 pm News is shown live on NHK (G6/18).

- Earthquake strikes California's desert.  Satellite coverage was
interesting.

- The Monitor Channel dies.

- Access America starts up on Spacenet 3R.

- Country Music Jamboree disappears.

- NASA Select goes to 4 hour block programming with repeats (when
missions are not going on).

- Shop at Home can be seen occasionally on Galaxy 1.

- French launched two satellites -- feeds were on Galaxy 6.

- CNN International launches on Spacenet 3R/16 (LEITCH).

- PBS finally moves to S4.  Some people say the signal is better and
some people say the signal is poorer.

- Video Catalog Channel moves from S3R/8 to S4/6.

- Access America moves to G2/20.

- G.I. sent a "electronic bullet" to shut down VC-II boards with
prefixes 018, 019, and 032 to eliminate part of the piracy problem.

- Colorado Talking Book Network is found on C1/3 at 5.58.

- NBC dropped their C1/9 C-band feed.

- It was announced CTV would carry the Summer Olympics in Canada.  I
could hear the dish owners cry.  ;)

- Video Catalog Channel moves back to Spacenet 3R.

- CNN Headline News "clean" feed on S3R/19 goes Videocipher 2.

- Empire Sports Network on S2 goes fixed key Videocipher 2.

- World of Better Entertainment TV ceases transmissions on ASC1.

- Sci-Fi channel tests.  It will start August 10.

- It was announced that the Satscan Series Pro SCPC receiver would be
available soon.

- The Summer Olympics cause some changes.  The PPV channels start up,
American Movie Classics moves to F4R (ITC) and Cable Video Store moves
to F4R/11 (remains scrambled).  CNBC goes ITC and at times splits the
screen into fourths, shows the PPV channels in 3 quadrants and has an
ad in the fourth quadrant.

- Skypix continues to lose transponders.  They are now down to 3
transponders on SBS6 and they are getting more and more into financial
trouble.

- Medical News Network will launch next year.  The network will be
seen in doctors offices and hospitals.

- Value of G.I. stock has dropped since the conversion program began.

- DirectTV broke ground for their first DBS broadcast center.
Construction ends in June 1993.

AUGUST
======

- Flix launches into preview mode on T3/17.  It will scramble after a
month.

- World Harvest TV launches on G6/15.  It replaces the Indianapolis
religious TV staton on satellite.

-  Sci-Fi channel launches on G5/4.

- Cancom launches a new satellite bar/tavern network.  It is called
Tavern Television and it can be seen on G6/16.  It will eventually be
encrypted with the BMAC system.

- Access America moves to F2/21.

- Some dish owners noticed HAM conversations, fire truck and
police calls, phone calls, pager broadcasts, and O's baseball on
an audio subcarrier of the scrambled Delmarva Downs horse racing.

- Primestar announces they are using digital compression in 1993.

- 93 percent of home dish owners (in a survey of 300) agreed HBO
became a better value when they added their multiplex channels.

- Many services have announced their Videocipher 2 datastream
shutoff.

- SBCA holds its Baltimore show.

- Disney announces they will have a multiplexed channel in Oct.

- MOR Music TV launches on G5/10.

- MCD TV starts up on SBS6.  There are two feeds: one for the
counter and one for the dining room.

- The Satellite Data Text Service starts up on the Let's Talk
Radio Network (S3R/21).

- Galaxy 1R was launched but had to be blown up with
something went wrong and the launch vehicle went out of control.

- The Airport Channel moves to Spacenet 2/24 (Ku).

- Hughes Communications announces their plans in the aftermath of
the Galaxy 1R loss.  They will move Galaxy 6 to G1's spot when
Galaxy 4 is launched.  G4 will take G6's old spot at 99 degrees
West.  Galaxy 6 will be at 133 degrees West until Galaxy 8 is
launched.  When G8 is launched, it will move to G1's old spot at
133 degrees west and G6 will be moved over to G2's spot and G2
will be retired.

- DirectTV announces it has signed a contract with Digital
Equipment Corp. and Network Computing Corp. to handle the billing
for the DBS service.

-
- There is fear that SPICE will be pulled off satellite TV due to
their graphic programming.

- Sportschannel announces their new locations when F4R shuts off.
SC OHIO -> C1, SC CHI -> C1, SC CIN -> C1, SC NY -> F2R, SC PHI
-> F2R, SC NE -> F2R, SC FL -> C1.  They will be dual illuminated
in January.  Transponder assignments TBA.

- Hurricane Andrew strikes the U.S.  There is neat coverage on
satellite from WSVN.  It was amazing the damage that was done and
the coverage was super.  Benefit concerts and telethons were also
on satellite TV.

- HBO has settled out of court for $300,000.  Woodfin Suites Inc
had falsely represented itself as a residential place instead of
a commercial establishment when they purchased HBO programming.

- Orbit Radio Hour leaves the satellite airwaves.

- Las Vegas Television Network disappears -- never to be seen
again.

- Winegard lowers the prices of their dish.  Technological
improvements are the reason given.

- KTLA signed a deal to carry 50 Los Angeles Dodgers games over 5
years.

- Satcom C4 was successfully launched.

SEPTEMBER
=========

- Skypix, because of worsening financial problems, has terminated
its week-by-week lease of one transponder on SBS6.  Home dish
owners and other industry observers have written off Skypix as a
DBS service.

- Compression Labs sold some SpectrumSaver (TM) video compressors
to the Indiana Higher Ed Telecomm System.  The Indiana Higher Ed
net will use them on Galaxy 7 (Ku).

- Norway's first TV channel, TV 2, launches.

- Las Vegas TV Network has not come back and is still using the
excuse that they are installing VC 2+ equipment.

- Satcom C3 was successfully launched.

- Vision TV announced they were moving to Ku-band.

- Galaxy 3 puts advertisements in industry magazines for 8
transponders.  The cost per transponder is $79,500 a month.  The
lease can be from April 1993 to November 1994 (end of service).

- AFRTS radio becomes audible on the AFRTS BMAC-encrypted
transponder on S2/20.

- Satellite Music Network announces a new format, Young Adult
Contemporary.

- Skypix is being forced into bankrupcy.

- GSTAR 4 and GSTAR 2 start to swap orbital locations.

- Cable Bill passes both House and Senate, but President Bush
vetoes it. 

- HBO Asia launches.

- HBO, Showtime, The Movie Channel, and Cinemax are the first to
shut off the VC2 datastream.  They start in Sept and finish in
Oct.  Other programmers follow in October, November, and all of
the services are VC2+ in mid-December.

- Hughes Communications and Playboy sign a contract.  Playboy
will end up on Galaxy 5/2.

- A court declares Skypix bankrupt and issues several rules for
Skypix to follow.  Skypix may not enter into any long term
contracts or sign checks for more than $1000 without the court's
approval.

- GTE sold Spacenet 1 to the Hong-Kong based Asian Pacific
Telecomm for use in the China Sat project.  GTE is also trying to
sell Spacenet 2, Spacenet 3R, Spacenet 4, and GSTAR-1.  The
estimated sale price of Spacenet 1 was $20-$50 million.  It is
rumored GTE is close to selling Spacenet 2.

- The FCC wanted to impose satellite user fees, but Congress
rejected that idea.  The fees would have been paid by uplinkers,
VSAT users, and satellite owners (Hughes Communications, GTE
Spacenet, GE Americom, and AT&T among others).

- It was released that over 21,000 dishowners subscribed to the
Olympics Triplecast at some level or another according to G.I.
authorization figures.

- The Sci-Fi channel launched.

OCTOBER
=======

- The new TV and syndicated show season provided many new wild
feeds.

-  Congress overrides President Bush's veto.  Congress passed the
"skeleton" of the bill -- it is now up to the FCC "to add meat to the
skeleton".

- TBS files the first lawsuit over the cable bill -- they call
parts of it unconstitutional.

- ABC News takes the initiative to beam some of their programming
into Europe.

- FCC allocates what band will be used for satellite-to-car
digital audio music service.  The band chosen is from 2.310 to
2.360 GigaHertz.


- The American Transportation TV Network launches Trucker TV.  It
gets good publicity on Entertainment Tonight among other shows.

- MTV launches in Europe.

- Australian broadcasters meet t decide the future of Australian
TV.  They want to try to "ween" off American TV programs.

- Intelsat K is the satellite for the first trans-atlantic
direct-to-home broadcast.  The first transmitted service was RAI.
The reception was super in the Eastern half of the U.S. and the
Carribean using a 26-35 inch antenna and a special decoder.

- Cancom was ready to market SuperChannel in Eastern Canada, but
had to hold off until the Canada Radio and Telecommunications
Commission (CRTC) could review the rules and regulations of the
marketing of premium channels in Canada.

- Shaun Kinney passed away.

- The ABC Sports/JC Penney In-store network appeared on GSTAR 4
at 105 degrees West.

- Satcom C4 begins testing.

- A home dish owner ran a test on Satellite City TVRO's Super Ice
C-band LNB.  Satellite City claimed it was a 19-21 degree LNB,
but the test showed it was a 37 degree LNB.

- Galaxy 7 was launched successfully.

- GSTAR 2 and GSTAR 4 swap concludes.

- FCC announced that on February 24, 1993 the HDTV standard
would be announced.  After it is announced, the standard will go
into field testing in Charlotte, NC.

- G.I. reported a net profit of $2.3 million in the 3rd qtr 1992.

- Cyclesat signed a contract to remain on GE Americom's Satcom
K2.

- AT&T announced a discount on transponder hour fees on Telstar
301 and Telstar 302 until December 31.  The discounted
transponder fee is $100/hour.

- Howard Stern's radio show has gone SEDATS on Satcom C5/15.  It
can still be heard on SCPC on Galaxy 2/3 occasionally.

- MCD TV ended its test run.  It is not known if McDonalds
considers the test successful enough to make it a service to be
shown in every McDonald's in America.

- The Las Vegas Television Network phone line was disconnected,
so everyone thinks it is gone for good.

- Deutsche Welle launched on Satcom C4/5.

NOVEMBER
========

- Private Cable Show held in Ponte Verde Beach, FL.

- Galaxy 7 starts testing, much to the surprise of everyone.
No-one though that Galaxy 7 would be in its slot and testing so
early after launch.

- Satcom C4 continues to fill out nicely.

- Greensheet left the Satellite TV airwaves.

- HBO tests the Digicipher on Telstar 302/2.  HBO will have a
Digicipher compressed service for cable companies on Galaxy 1/18
in January 1993.

- E! Entertainment Television has signed up Howard Stern to do a
talk show.

- November 3rd was election night and Bill Clinton was elected.
There were news feeds all across the sky.  Some stats:  GTE
Spacenet News Express logged 684 accesses to 47 transponders on 7
birds.  CONUS provided 707 live feeds for 88 stations in 1992.
Compare that to 323 feeds from CONUS in the 1988 Presidential
election. Brightstar provided 25 hours of ABC coverage to Europe.

- Let's Talk Radio moved from S3R/21 at 6.20 audio to S3R/21 at
5.80.

- William Cooper is not able to be heard on the Becker Network
anymore.

- DirectTV became one step closer to reality.  They ran a
successful demo of the video compression system with a test
signal broadcasted on SBS6.

- The BBC World Service came to North America on an Intelsat for
use by CBC's NewsWorld.

- SC Chicago took 68 Chicago-area bars to court over signal
theft.  SC Chicago was seeking $1.53 million from each of them.
They sued because the sports bars illegally obtained home
Blackhawks playoff game telecasts.

- Skypix may be coming back.  The onwer of Microsoft (an original
partner) vows to pump millions of dollars into Skypix to get it
going again.

- Sky High TV started running information scrolls and old time
movies in preparation for officially launching on January 1,
1993.  Their service was on S1/23 (c-band).

DECEMBER
========

- Satcom C3 goes into service.

- GLOBAL encrypted their signal using LEITCH on E2/12.  Their
syndication show feeds moved to E1/8 when they are encrypted on
E2/12.

- Visnews is changing to Reuter's TV.

- Telesat Canada demonstrated digital video compression to an
invited audience in Toronto.  It was the first successful test in
Canada.  Telesat Canada proved that Canadians could also compress
video and they hoped to compete with U.S. systems.

- Oak Communications, famous for their Oak Orion decoders, are
changing their name to TV Communications International.

- The Carribean Satellite Network launched on Galaxy 3/7.

- SUR scrambles using the VC-2+ system.

- KGAY, a network for gays and lesbians, started up on Galaxy 5/6
and S3R/22.  They moved their S3R/22 feed to G6/17.

- First Choice (Canada) is thinking of renaming their service to
"The Movie Network".

- HBO has been doing some surveying in the Canadian market, and
hopes to launch a Canadian HBO service in the near future.

- U.S. Troops landed in Somalia and the satellite news coverage
was exciting.

- The Northeast was paralyzed by a big snowstorm and there were
some satellite feeds.

- Services on Spacenet 1 move off in late December in preparation
for Spacenet 1 going dark in early January.


As you can see, there were many changes in our TVRO industry in
1992.  It was an exciting year -- so many new services, several
neat-to-watch satellite launches, and high expectations for what
the future holds.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU