> Sunspots/Solar Outages

By now the loss of reception due to solar outages, also known as sunspots, is near the end of its cycle. Outages occur when the sun is positioned directly behind the satellite your dish is pointed at. What happens is that solar noise drowns out the signal being sent by the satellite, resulting in the loss of reception. The cycle began about the end of August and will continue through the middle of October.

EchoStar Combines ProRramming

EchoStar's DISH Network recently announced that it will combine The Movie Channel and Showtime and offer it as a single premium add-on channel for $10, reducing the cost of its premium movie channels package to $49.95.

Turner Home Satellite's Halloween Havoc

On Oct. 27 Turner Home Satellite plans to present Slim Jim and World Championship Wrestling's Halloween Havoc from 8-11 p.m. EDT. This pay-per-view event retails for $27.95 if ordered no later than Oct. 26, and increases to $32.95 on Oct. 27. It is slated to be carried on G7/8.

Drake- First In Manufacturer's Service

Retail Magazine presented the "R.L. Drake Company with a First Place Dealer Choice Award for Manufacturer's Service. at an presentation ceremony recently. The award honors Drake for its outstanding performance in the area of dealer service and support. At the same ceremony 11 different companies were presented awards for their accomplishments in various categories.

The award recipient is determined by responses to a volunteer retail survey. The survey, among other things, asks retailers which manufacturer they feel offers the best overall service. "it is particularly important and pleasing to us that this recognition comes from retailers," says Mike Brubaker, Senior Vice-President of Sales and Marketing. "Having been in this business for many years, Drake learned long ago that our success begins with the dealers. We appreciate having earned their respect and recognition," Brubaker added.

The R.L. Drake Company has been a leader in the communications field since 1943, and manufactures a diverse line of products including consumer satellite television equipment, commercial satellite communications equipment, and radio communications equipment. For additional infermation contact R.L. Drake Company, P.O. Box 3006, Miamisburg, Ohio 45343. Ph. (513) 866-2421, fax (513) 866-0806, or www.rldrake.com.

Paraclipse Adds Two New Antennas To Product Line

Paraclipse, a Columbus, NE based company recently announced the addition of two new atennas to its product line-up. The new antennas were designed to meet the challenges of DBS and Ku-digital signals and are constructed from galvanized steel protected with a baked-on powder coat paint finish. The Hydro 4 foot (1.2m) and 5 foot (1.5m), are the smallest antennas ever manufactured by Paraclipse. Paraclipse is also offering a strong, lightweight Polar and Az-EI steel mount. For additional information call Paraclipse at 402-563-3625 or e-mail them at paracl ipse@ megavision.com.

Speedvision Network

The first 24-hour cable network devoted primiarly to the automotive, aviation and marine entertainment and information sector, is now available to the C-band market. The network will switch from digital compression signal to an analog signal, and be carried on C4/11, will remain unscrambled through 1996. Coverage includes NASCAR's Winston Cup racing circuit, Formula One and Superbike racing.

The Travel Channel Dropped

In a recent move, DirecTv decided to drop The Travel Channel from their line-up on Sept. 20. According to reports, Landmark Communications Inc. put Travel up for sale in June, and has yet to find a buyer. This move marred The Travel Channel's leverage in the industry, which may or may not have been a factor in DirecTv' decision not to renew its contract with them. They did acknowledge though, that it has never dropped a channel before and have no plans to do in the future.

PT24 Free Preview

Between Oct. 3-23 PrimeTime 24 will offering its first Free Preview to promote its PT East/PT West Combo package. Current PT East or PT West customers will be able to view the combo package during this promotion and will be able to upgrade to the Combo for $9.95/year or $I/mo. through participating program packagers. PT East on Galaxy 4 includes WJLA (ABC-Washington, DC) TR10, WRAL (CBS-Raleigh, NC) TR14, and WNBC (NBC-New York) TR22; PT West on SpaceNet 4 includes KNBC (NBC-Los Angeles) TR6, KOMO (ABC-Seattle) TR8; and KPIX (CBS-San Francisco) TR24; and a national Fox feed, FOX NET on SpaceNet 4, TR10 to home satellite dishes and cable systems via satellite throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.

Advanced Communications !nc.'s Battle...ls It Over Yet?

In the Sept. 9 issue of Forbes magazine an article appeared indicating the possibility of Gore-Hundt connection along with the Hundt-DirecTv angle used in the decision to sell off frequencies owned by Advanced Communications Inc.'s at 110 and 148 degree. The article continued to imply that the FCC was influenced by vice president Al Gore to further obstruct TCl's chairman John Malone's ambitions. The FCC denies the accusations.

Who's In Charge Here?

On Aug. 8, the FCC ruled that over-the-air television broadcasters must transmit three hours per week of children's programming. The programs also must be regularly scheduled, at least 30 minutes in length, shown between 7 a.m.-lO p.m. and of approved children's content. Seems like this ruling is an expansion of the Children's Television Act of 1990, which imposed similar requirements and put the FCC in charge of determining criteria for labelling programs as educational. Isn't it up to the parents to decide what programs their children watch? What makes The Smurfs any more educational than The Flintstones? Who watches and then decides what is better for our children?

They are up, they are down, but don't count them out. The current ECM's of the DSS test devices have many people discouraged and angry. Since the middle of August the cards have been down more than they have been up. This situation has caused the rumors and tempers to flare. Well, I plan to vent my frustration so here goes.

I am not upset with the design groups, but with the people that expect too much out of the groups. I know that you paid top dollar for whatever you are running, but if you think it is so easy to write a MAIN file give it a try. I guess my patience comes from being around satellite scrambling since the beginning and satellite TV since the 80's. People complain about dealers disappearing. Well, you should know who you are dealing with and whether they've been around awhile, not just some fly-by-night Johnny-come-lately. That means the old dealers are the best there is for support.

Now back to the support groups. Since the raids in Canada there are members of the support groups that can't go to the 7- 11 without being followed by Ringo's MIB's (men in black). This makes it very hard to work on a new main file. After the legal (illegal raids) are settled in Canada things will get better.

I have also heard that the Internet is to blame for the fast ECM's. I don't think this is the case. I haven't seen the Main file posted in open areas on the net. I can't speak for the private subscription areas but these are no more than a BBS. And BBS's have been around since the early days of test devices. If the DirecTv boys want the main file and info I am sure they have purchased at least one of each of the test devices with a subscription to the updates. This gives them access to the same BBS information that the dealers have. I also understand that some people may be posting the Main file in frustration because their dealer disappeared and they have had to pay someone else for update service. But do you really believe that the DirecTv boys would depend on this for information, not on your life. Well, enough from my soap box.

I have been watching three main web pages in these times of major ECM's, not for a Main file, but for information. The information comes in two forms. One, when a new file is ready at the sdurces, and second, to monitor the pulse of the end users.

My favorite web site is The **North American** DBS/DSS Underground Satellite Site, http//www. spots. ab. ca/deejay/ dssnews.html. This site has regular updates by a person that apparently is not in the business of selling any of the test devices, but is only posting news and comments from the end users. I personally don't see how he does this with some of the flack he takes from the end users. From the comments sent to him, you would think that he was taking money for the updates.

Concerning E-mail messages, I want to say Deejay is very friendly and does a great job with his information home page. He also has many links to other DSS type home pages and even the TTN (Tec Talk Network) home page which is the home of the Realaudio files of the DB-1 show (www.ttn.nai.net) and other TTN shows. Deejay is taking a survey of DSS/DBS users and, by the time you read this, should have the results posted on his home page. The survey questionnaires make for very interesting reading.

The next two home pages are given in no special order. They are both good and also offer equipment.

The first is Discount Satellite's Home Page, http//www.compusmart.ab.ca/discsat/ discount.htm. This site has information on all types of satellite systems, test devices and ECM's. This site usually has a daily update during a ECM or card down time. The information seems to be very reliable and accurate. The author of this web page seems to have his finger on the pulse of what is going on in CANADA.

The last web page for this month is The Satellite Connection, http//www.jaw.com /~satconn/satdish.htm. This site is also very good with information and updates during the ECM's and down times. They also post comments from visitors to the home page. If nothing else, this helps pass the time during the ECM down time.

On a note for the big dish owners, it is nice to watch the NFL minus the sound with audio from the Internet via some of the Realaudio sites. There is a new BtrA release of Realaudio which has stereo capability. The BETA version 3.0 has a 60 day life span. The current registered version of Realaudio is Realaudio Plus. Even though this is mono, it has two great features. One, it lets you download a program for later listening and, two, it has buttons like the radio in your car that you can program to go to your favorite site and start playing your favorite show, DB-1 of course.

Another of the good Realaudio sites is Timecast, http//www.timecast.com. This site has access to sports and other audio selections. This is also great when you can't find your team on the sat or local radio, you can get updates on the net. Next month I plan to cover suppliers of DSS information. If you have any comments or feed back please write the Satellite Watch News with comments to ROCKY.

Hats off to Ronald King and company at King TV and Satellite Inc.!! In a decision which can only be described as stunning, the Court of Queen's Bench in New Brunswick quashed a June 26th search warrant executed at Mr. King's business. There were other warrants also executed cross-Canada simultaneously, which were the subject of much media attention. The civil suit filed by DirecTv followed shortly thereafter. This is the first one of those warrants that has been dealt with by the courts, and the outcome is incredible.

In a 13 page document, the Judge gave a well-reasoned decision, which was quite clearly researched and very well thought out. Many of the legal issues put before him were the same ones which I have been talking about here for last few months, mainly the fact that under the current circumstances it appears to be legal to use a 'clone' device to receive programming without paying for it.

Here are some of the highlights of that decision....

.....the search warrant was issued on June 26, 1996. It did not authorize just the seizure of "Green non-genuine access cards" and evidence of their purchase and sale. It authorized seizure of what Mr. King calls 'all of my company's records, computers, other equip ment and materials, bank records and client lists with respect to the operation of my business'..... ....As a result of the seizure Mr. King says that his business, which had been "grossing approx- imately $20,000 to $25,0000 per month, has ground to a halt, necessitating the layoff of em- ployees". He says that has affected his "debt re- payment and financing" and has "grossly af- fected the livelihoods of my employees". No charges have been laid. This application to quash was filed on August 13, 1996. In his affidavit in support, Mr. King says that Power DIRECTV has been authorized by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecom- munications Commission to broadcast to Caneadian consumers the direct-to-home signals of an American corporation, DIRECTV, but had not done so... ...Charter Acts of parliament such as the Radiocommunication Act and the Criminal Code of are subject to the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It includes... ...(b) freedom of thought, belief opinion and expression including freedom of the press and other media of commonication; (8) Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure. 11 Any person charged with an offense has the right (d) to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an impartial tribunal. 24(1) Anyone whose rights or freedoms, as guaranteed by this Charter, have been Infringed or denied may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction to obtain such remedy as the court considers appropriate and lust in the clrcumstances. 24(2) Where, in proceedings ender slrbsection (1), a court concludes that evidence was obtained in a manner that infringed or denied any rights or freedoms guaranteed by this charter, the evidence shall be excluded if it is established that, having regard to the circumstances the admission of it in the proceedings would bring the administration oflustice into disrepute. ....Both section 10(l)(b) of the Radiocommunication Act and section 327(1) of the criminal code use the phrase "under circumstances that give rise to a reasonable inference thar' the object would be used for some illegal purpose. That suggests a possible "Reverse Onus" that could offend the presumption of innocence in the Charter.... ....As noted, Parliament has enacted fairly broad legislation that attempts to make it illegal to operate or possess any equipment for the reception of any rediocommunication transmissions that are not "intended for direct reception of the general public': Also parliament has attempted to make it specifically illegal to decode encrypted television signals without "authorization from the lawful (CRTC approved) distributor" in Canada or "without payment of a lawful (CRTC approved) charge therefore': If there is no lawful distributor actually distributing in Canada, such authorization cannot be obtained end lawful charges cannot be paid. Thus, in such a situation, counsel for the applicant says in effect there is no lawful distributor in Canada to be defrauded and thus no offense can be committed. Counsel for the respondents says in effect that if there is no lawful distributor in Canada, then the decoding was done without the appropriate authorization and is absolutely prohibited. That question has been dealt with in Manitoba by the provincial court and the Court of Queens Bench, but left undecided by the Court of Appeal. The conclusion at trial, affirmed by the Court of Queens Bench, was that: Allowing signals to be decoded in Canada, which are not authorized in Canada does in fact harm the lawful distributors in Canada who offer the same type of programming. Where there is no lawful distributor in Canada, there is an absolute prohibition of decoding encrypted subscription programming signals.... That interpretation in Open Sky may be correct However at this stage of the case, I will follow the lead of Lyon J.A. of the Manitoba Court of Appeal and leave that point undecided. ...An opinion of the Canadian system of regulation of satellite television was expressed in a letter from Chris Preston of Victoria BC, published In the Report on Business of the Globe and Mail on September 9 1996. Mr. Preston's letter is headlined "Cable Firms Coddled" and includes the following: I don't need Tad Rogers or Keith Spicer or the CRTC to tell me what I can watch. Suppose you were told what books to read at the library or what books to buy at the bookstore... ...There are hundreds of channels flying around above our heads, yet we are told what channels we should be watching. Mr. King and his business appear to serve members of the public who may agree with Mr. Preston. The Ontario Court of qopeal, in a decision written by Tarnopolsky J.A., has indicated support for such a broad interpretation of the freedom of expression.... ...The Supreme Court of Canada has also interpreted the freedom of expression clause very broadly. That court struck down federal legislation that banned the advertising of cigarettes... ...Thus, if Mr. King and his business are prosecuted, the breadth of the Canadian "freedom of...expression, including freedom of the ....other media of communication" will be an Issue. It may well be argued that the right of the public to have help from people like Mr. King to watch American television from space despite Canadian laws to the contrary, Is a much more modest example of freedom of expression than advertising of cigarettes. Such a freedom may be similar to the once disputed freedom behind the Iron Curtain to receive The Voice of America and Radio Canada International.... ....Thus there appears to be arguments that the use or sale of unauthorized clones of RCA DSS decoding cards to watch encrypted direct-to- home satellite television may be legal in some circumstances in Canada. If such decoding card clones are eventually found to be legal, it would not be the first time that the laws of Canada or of the United States have permitted clones to compete with the genuine original product. Examples include "clones" of Marconi wireless, Bell telephones, Sayer aspirin, IBM computers and Intel chips. ...lf Mr. King and his company are prosecuted, legal questions relating to the absence of lawful distributors in Canada, freedom of expression and the legality of clones, may have to be answered. At this stage of the case I think those legal questions must be kept in mind deciding whether the search and seizure of June 26, 1996 was reasonable or unreasonable. Because of the breadth of the seizure under the warrant to search, Mr. King and his company were in effect punished before they had their day in court. Instead of getting the search warrant, the RMCP could have simply charged Mr. King and his company with selling an allegedly illegal decoding card to Cst. Plourde. If that charge had been laid, the legal and Charter issues could have been dealt with by the courts before Mr. King and his company were punished by the extensive seizure.... ....ln my opinion the search warrant issued on June 26, 1996 and the search and seizure on that date of the applicants Ronald W. King and King T.V. and Satellite Inc. were not proportional to the situation. I find the warrant, the search and seizure violated their "right to be secure from unreasonable search and seizure" within the meaning of s. 8 of the Charter. In this circumstances enter the aurhority of s. 24 of the Charter, I consider that it would be appropriate and lust to quash the search warrant and to grant related relief........for these reasons, I order that the search warrant be guashed; the items seized (and all copies made) from Ronald W. King and King T.V. end Satellite Inc. in Sussex, N.B. on June 26, 1996 are to be returned to them within seven days; and that neither the RCMP, nor the Attorney General of Canada nor the Minister of Communications, may use or retain directly or Indirectly any of the evidence that came to their attention as a result of that illegal search and seizure."

As I said, this is incredible. It all but makes it open season for all in Canada again. I suspect that everyone else who was raided will proceed in the same fashion, hopefully with similar results. Just when I was losing hope in our system, it's nice to see a sound, just decision. Too bad we couldn't get this kind of level-headed thinking in our Provincial Courts here in Manitoba. Well folks, this is worth celebrating, so kick back and raise a toast to Mr. King and his obviously competent counsell Take it easy 'til next month!

Dean