THE BEST AND WORST OF TVRO 1996 as the Internet satellite group readers voted! ================================================================ From: bdk WORST OF TVRO AWARDS - Much Music - gonzo digital BEST OF TVRO AWARDS - M2/Music Television 2 - Viva! BEST OF TVRO AWARDS - SBS6 KU - Great Backhauls-Newsfeeds-etc... Brian Kaiser -=-=-=- From: Joseph Moschella Well...the 'worsts' are usually pretty easy; it's the 'bests' that are hard to come by! Worst ----- Anik E2 Ku Channels like MuchMusic and Bravo going digital GI and the DigiCipher cherade Ariane 501 going 'up in smoke' Best ------ The successful launch of GE-1, PAS-3R, and Galaxy 9 (I'm not totally sure on these, there may be more or less) Friday Night Live finding a new and fairly stable home W0KIE Network alive and well Thanks- Joe Moschella, N9YJZ Brookfield, WI 53005 jmoschel@execpc.com -=-=-=- From: scottg@usa.nai.net (Scott Greczkowski) Best NEW Audio Subcarier - WCNJ GE-1 Tr 6 6.2 MHz Best Hobby Network - W0KIE Network Scott -=-=-=-=- From: kucharsk@netcom.com (William Kucharski) Best: * Radio Station WCNJ (and not just because they now air FNL!) * GE-1. Now EVERYONE can see ALL THREE NBC network feeds... * Dean Spratt heroically rescues FNL from oblivion by hosting it while Gary recovers from an illness * Gary returns to FNL after recovering from his illness, but Dean agrees to continue to host on nights Captain Herm is away * C-Band continues to show its worth with the Olympic Park bombing, as real information flows forth as opposed to the just plain misinformation flowing forth from NBC as the event unfolds... * NTV stays analog for an unexpectedly long period of time * NTV agrees to authorize anyone who coughs up the money for an SA PowerVU receiver * Speedvision decides the larger VC II audience warrants their previously digital feed going analog Worst: * Gary's illness * An idiot with a cable TV show decides to show wild newsfeeds, pissing off everyone, especially NBC's Tom Brokaw * Anik E1 goes , meaning almost all of Anik E2 goes digital * Family Channel - West goes digital * First wildfeed (Dr. Quinn) goes digital * KTVT, Dallas, once a satellite superstation, decides to play hardball now that it's gone from C-Band to vigorously prosecute SHVA-violating network viewers * NTV goes digital * Worship goes digital Special Mention: AT&T - With the upcoming move of "Venus" TV to Telstar 402R, that means that ALL the XXX adult services will once again be on AT&T birds... Canada - For keeping those trouble making American programs and US DBS providers out of the market but failing miserably in all attempts to launch their own DBS service. GI - Digicipher II. For those of you have not yet been blessed by being exposed to DC II, it does indeed break up into smaller blocks than DC I when a digital glitch occurs, but UNLIKE DC I, it loses the sound and most often emits a digital "bleep" if the breakup is bad enough, sounding somewhat like a CD player if you smack it lightly on its side... GI - To avoid connotations, the Triple Play becomes the 4DTV. Now to see if it will ever see the light of a dealer's shelf this spring, some three YEARS behind schedule... MSNBC - Must be nice to arrange to have a 747 blown out of the sky in for your debut. I knew Bill Gates was powerful, but... ;-) Dr. Gene Scott - Gone for the most part are the horses, replaced with "the girls." Pro or con? You decide, but for those of you who saw the "Heartbreak Tonight" dance video, TELL me the subject wasn't once a stripper... He also fired his entire staff YET AGAIN. Now GET ON THE TELEPHONE... Scientific Atlanta - While a home unit did not beat GI's to market, at least they are willing to sell you a PowerVU if you're willing to pay for it. While that confirms their past behavior (e.g., you CAN get a SEDAT receiver if you cough up the $$, though good luck getting it authorized), it's worthy of some applause. (Experiment: Just TRY to get Wegener to sell you, a lowly consumer, an audio expander box...) William Kucharski kucharsk@netcom.com -=-=-=-= Worst of '96: All major TVRO manufacturers dropping their high-end IRD's (or dropping out entirely). Best '96: FINALLY! Lower prices on VCII modules! (a little late though...) --Gary Davis -=-=-= From: rwkobent@pop.gov.bc.ca (robertK) Worst of 1996.. * Loss of NTV to digital as well as continued digitization of Canadas SAT programming * Diminished hockey feeds on C/Ku band * CBC budget cuts * Continuous changes at FNLsince departure from Anik, hopefully things will be stable in 1997 Best of 1996 * anything? Maybe that we still have some iTC programming ! * G9/ku offering better NBC Ku coverage than at K1 * continued use of WWW for TVRO info Robert Kobenter -=-=- Best (Or at least Better than Nothing): NBC, ABC, and Fox for showing NFL playoff games ITC. Worst: NBA Backhauls ITC (as in where are they?). Randy Erickson randye@mid.org -=-=-=-= From: ron.hauger@sourcebbs.com (RON HAUGER) BEST THING TO HAPPEN IN 1996: The return of Gary Bourgois + FNL WORST THING TO HAPPEN IN 1996: Still no BBC BIGGEST SAVE: Dean Spratt WORST ERROR: Dropping WWOR for Animal Planet BEST NEWS: KTLA WORST NEWS: FOX News Channel RON.HAUGER@WARPDRV.COM*KC4KNA*VBARC*AMSAT*RTTY*PACKET*SWL*ATV HF+VHF WEFAX*TVRO*SCPC*FM2*EXTRATERRESTRIAL*WATCHEROFTHESKIES --- * OFFLINE 1.58 -=-=-=- Robert Smathers (roberts@nmia.com) Worst Satellite Equipment: Comstream Musicam decoder -- many state radio networks and other audio users have upgraded analog SCPC equipment to this -- each month brought quite a loss of SCPC audio users as they converted to Musicam Best new satellite service of 1996: CNN fn Best show on a cable network: ESPN Sportscenter -- the opening segment is very funny if Keith Olberman and Dan Patrick narrate it! Best sporting event I saw a backhaul for: Superbowl 30 -- Cowboys beat the Steelers in beautiful Tempe, AZ! Best ITC satellite service: NASA TV -- it's hard to get sick of shuttle activity! Best audio service: WCCO-AM -- was quite good for most of 1996, but that has tailed off when Jim Rodgers left Best new satellite: GE-1. NBC comes in beautiful on a 3' dish! Best DBS service (as if there could be one 8^): DISH network - more variety than DSS and appears to care more, too! Best news story of 1996: toughie as there were so many. TWA 800 has to be the best, but not my much over other news stories. Helicopter shots the night of the crash were awesome! Summer Olympics in Atlanta was a very close second Worst country for satellite telecommunicatons: (tie) Mexico and Canada - it's hard to believe they put the faith of their country's telecomm in 2-3 satellites! Worst channel to see go digital: NTV (even though it's available for an arm and a leg with SA equipment) Best satellite for news: (tie) GSTAR-4 (CNN, ABC, CBS overflow feeds) and SBS6 (Conus news feeds, some CNN, lots of indepedents and other users) Best merger: Turner and Time Warner -- combines two already great companies into one more mega broadcasting company -=-=-=