In a press release, Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the Bulls said, "Our goal from the start was to reach as many fans as possible in the Chicago area through free TV and we now have been able to increase our number of games on WGN to a new one-season high of 35 games."
Playboy/Spice Decision Still Pending
Section 505 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires operators to either scramble adult programming signals or air them between the hours of 10 p.m.-6 a.m. Playboy Entertainment Group and Spice Entertainment have appealed this ruling from the beginning, claiming it unconstitutional under the First Amendment. A federal district court recently granted them a stay, pending the appeal. According to reports, the Supreme Court may not begin arguments until late 1997 or even into 1998.
MCI Formally Receives DBS License
The FCC's International Bureau has formally granted MCI Communications the DBS license they purchased earlier this year for $682.5 million.
According to reports, the FCC dismissed requests from several industry companies, such as Time Warner and TCI Satellite Entertainment, to delay its decision until it was determined whether British Telecommunications, which is merging with MCI, would be allowed to hold the license. The license for the 110 deg. slot is the last orbital slot providing full coverage of the United States.
The FCC said the grant is "entirely separate and distinct" from another decision the agency will make next year on MCI's request on transferring the license to British Telecom. FCC rules, which could be waived, prevent foreign companies from owning more than 25 percent of an FCC license holder.
MCI purchased the license for the American Sky Broadcasting venture it entered with News Corp. earlier in the year. However, after MCI announced merger plans with British Telecom, the company said it would cut back its 50 percent stake in ASkyB to around 20 percent.
At the same time, in a separate ruling, the bureau also granted EchoStar Communications the DBS license it purchased at the FCC sale for $52.3 million. This license will allow EchoStar to operate at 148 degrees, a slot that covers the western United States.
Patent Infringement Suit Settled
Comsat Corporation, General Instrument Corporation and Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. announced recently the final resolution of a patent infringement action filed by Comsat Corporation in the Northern District of California entitled Comsat Corporation v. Chronicle Publishing Co. et al., Civil Action Number C-95-01274. Terms of the settlement are confidential, and include a dismissal of all claims.
French Government Halts Thomson Sale
The French government recently terminated the sale of Thomson SA due to weeks of labor disturbances related to the proposal and concerns about the future of Thomson's consumer electronics unit.
The Finance Ministry said in a statement the sale of government-owned Thomson to Lagardere Groupe was stopped due to objections over Lagardere's planned sale of the electronics unit to South Korea's Daewoo Electronics. Thomson Consumer Electronics manufactures the RCA line of DSS equipment.
Prime Minister Alain Juppe said renewed talks about Thomson's sale could start soon. "The government will launch consultations as rapidly as possible allowing the privatization to take place on a basis that will be defined very quickly," Juppe said.
HBO Asia Launches Second Movie Channel
General Instrument Corporation, the world's leading supplier of high-quality, end-to-end digital transmission systems, announced that its DigiCipher II/MPEG 2 technology has enabled HBO Asia to launch its second movie channel in Asia, Cinemax, on Apstar 1.
HBO Asia said it is now using GI's digital compression technology with full redundancy for its channels. "Compression is achieved with GI's DigiCipher II/MPEG 2, a world standard system," said Vince Caputo, HBO Asia's Vice President, Technology and Operations. "The DigiCipher II/MPEG 2 processes up to 16 television channels for transmission on a single satellite transponder," he added.
With the Cinemax launch, HBO Asia will initially compress and transmit five channels on Apstar 1 to serve the NTSC and PAL markets in the region, and eventually expand to as many as eight channels. "We found in our research that the 8:1 ratio allows us to deliver optimum picture quality without trading off on capacity," said Caputo.
Star Choice Gets Satellite Space and EchoStar's Help
Star Choice Television Network, a subsidiary of Direct Choice Television, has made arrangements to sublease satellite transponder space for its DTH service in Canada from Stentor Canadian Network Management. These arrangements are subject to approval from the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission.
Star Choice, will also receive technical support, consumer satellite equipment and a U.S. programming signal from EchoStar Communications.
Securing this satellite transponder space is an important step which will allow Star Choice to move forward with the launch of its Canadian DTH satellite service, according to a Star Choice spokesperson. When the operating license was approved last summer, Star Choice had indicated that they would be ready to launch in the first quarter of 1997. Reports indicate that they are on track and comfortable by the progress thus far.
PanAmSat/Hughes Merger Update
The Department of Justice permitted an important review period to pass without comment on the proposed merger between PanAmSat and the Galaxy satellite unit of Hughes Communications.
No further antitrust approvals are necessary for completing the merger, according to PanAmSat. However, the FCC will be conducting a separate review of the merger.
PanAmSat and Hughes agreed to merge satellite operations, in September, creating a video, voice and data communications giant. Galaxy, a unit of Hughes Electronics, provides cable and broadcast television satellite distribution services.
Express News - The Technology Choice
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For the past several months ExpressVu has worked closely with Telesat Canada, to develop a Canadian solution to the provisioning of high powered DBS satellite capacity in order to deliver a DTH service to Canadians as soon as possible. These plans have recently become the subject of debate between Canada and the U.S., culminating in a preliminary decision by the FCC, to disallow our U.S. partner applications to participate in the use of satellites from Canadian space.
Industry Canada has been, and continues to be supportive of Telesat's plan. They have, subject to certain conditions, allocated the orbital slots to Telesat and will entertain discussions with the U.S. regarding "facilities-based" reciprocity. ExpressVu appreciates the government of Canada's ongoing support in this regard, and will continue with its partners, an effort to demonstrate to the U.S. that the Telesat arrangement is as much in the best interest of U.S. consumers as it is Canadian consumers.
ExpresVu believes the Telesat Canada plan is a "made in Canada" solution. Under this plan, the infrastructure of both satellites, which equates to approximately half their value, would be owned and operated by Telesat. For its service, ExpressVu plans to own ten out of thirty-two transponders on one of two satellites. Thus, the majority of these satellite assets would be in Canadian hands even though the Canadian market is one tenth that of the U.S. A further benefit to Canadians of sharing the satellites with U.S. partners, is that ExpressVu need not consume expensive satellite space to put up U.S. channels on its own. This results in lower overall cost to the consumer of a Canadian DTH service, and that is why ExpressVu so strongly endorses the Telesat plan.
Following the FCC's preliminary decision, there is some uncertainty as to whether this plan will be allowed to unfold as presented. Therefore ExpressVu continues to explore its other options. These options include the use of U.S. satellites until a Canadian satellite could be in place. While ExpressVu believes the Telesat plan is by far the best overall solution for Canada, for consumers and for ExpressVu, they are committed to providing a DTH service for Canadians and will continue to examine these options if it becomes necessary following the FCC's reconsideration of their preliminary order.
Anik C1 Satellite Returns To Serve Canada
Telesat Canada has announced plans for the return of the Anik C1 satellite to serve Canadians in 1997, by meeting the initial needs of one of Canada's direct-to-home (DTH) television companies. For almost four years, Telesat has operated the Anik C1 and C2 satellites for Paracom Satelites of Argentina, under a multi-million-dollar international agreement that allowed Argentina to establish its own domestic Ku-band satellite communications system.
"Anik C1 has been one of the great success stories about the export of Canadian technological expertise to the rest of the world," said Larry Boisvert, Telesat's President and CEO. "After its term of service in Argentina comes to an end, Anik C1 will help provide Canadian consumers with a smooth transition to the next generation of Telesat satellites, which will be more advanced than ever before."
Anik C1 is one of a series of spin-stabilized, high-power communications satellites operating in the 14/12 GHz FSS band. It was launched on April 12, 1985. In 1993, the Anik C1 and C2 satellites were put into service to bring broadcast services to Argentina until the completion of that country's permanent system at the end of 1996. The satellites were sold to Paracom Satelites, in which Telesat maintained a 10 per cent interest. Under the deal, Argentina secured two superior satellites for four years, and obtained access to Telesat's extensive technical and marketing expertise. In return, Telesat gained an opportunity to enter Argentina's telecommunications market.
Telesat has been planning the reacquisition of the Anik C1 for some time, as its service in Argentina comes to a close right on schedule. Telesat now resumes ownership of both satellites, with plans for Anik C2 still to be determined.
Argentina plans to launch its Nahuel 1 satellite in January or February of 1997. After traffic is successfully transferred to the new satellite, Telesat will move Anik C1 from its current position of 72 degrees west to Canada's orbital slot at 114.9 degrees west. This should make the satellite available for Canadian use by the spring of 1997. It will operate in an inclined orbit for the provision of specialised services such as DTH television.
Telesat is Canada's national satellite communications company, providing telecommunications and broadcast distribution services in North America. The company is also a leading satellite consultant, operator and partner with private companies and government agencies around the world. Telesat's name has been synonymous with high-quality satellite communications since 1972, when it ushered in the age of satellite communications with the launch of Anik A1, the world's first domestic satellite in geostationary orbit.
Second Galaxy Latin American Bird
Galaxy Latin America, a service providing DirecTv throughout South America, announced recently that they will launch Galaxy VIII-I by September 1997. The new $250 million satellite will supply DirecTv 32 additional transponders for use in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America. DirecTv's service will increase to 238 channels of digital video and audio programming, which will include 102 channels of video, 43 PPV movies and sports, 66 music channels and 27 channels reserved for entertainment and data services now under development.
McDonnell Douglas/Boeing Merger
A merger to create the world's largest aerospace company has been announced recently. McDonnell Douglas and Boeing will join forces. The two will operate under the Boeing name, with the main headquarters based at Boeing's headquarters in Seattle. Based on reports the deal could be worth over $13 billion.
Patent Infringement Against DSS
Personalized Media Communications recently filed patent infringement claims in U.S. District Count's San Jose Division, against some members in the DSS industry. DirecTv, USSB, Thomson Consumer Electronics are among those named in the suit. In November, PMC filed complains with the International Trade Commission accusing five members of the DSS consortium with patent infringements. The patents covers PMC technology allowing end-users to customize processing of a broadcast signal and have greater control over programming content. If the commission supports PMC's claim, it could issue an order banning importation of receivers and a cease and desist order directed to all five DSS manufacturers. It could also order DirecTv and USSB to cease and desist from providing signals to unlawfully imported receivers. The others manufacturers named in the suit are Toshiba America, Hitachi and Matsushita Electric. Sony Corporation, another DSS manufacturer, is excluded from the suit, as they are licensed to use PMC's technology.