1998 TVRO Year in Review by Robert Smathers (roberts@nmia.com) JANUARY ------- - Talk Radio Network leaves subcarrier audio from Satcom C1 and goes to SEDAT only distribution - HBO Direct and Turner Home Satellite announce plans to merge - Thai and Chinese channels launch on Telstar 5 Ku-band in digital format - Daystar Television Network launches on Spacenet 3R, channel 13 c-band - CNN Newsource moves from GSTAR-4 to GE-3 Ku - still remains LEITCH encrypted - Radio AAHS leaves the air (from commercial radio stations; the network had long been unavailable to the home dish owner for a long time) - Champion Holdings pays $4.65 million dollars for the former Alphastar service assets and is planning to launch a DBS system eventually - DirecTV and 21 state attorney generals come to a settlement over the Encore movie channel "bait and switch"-type tactic; DirecTV had put the Encore movie channels in a programming package that people prepaid for a year and DirecTV later moved the Encore channels into their own package charging $4 per month. Subscribers get a $4 per month refund or the Encore package free for the rest of their prepaid year - The new NFL TV contract is decided - NBC and TNT lose football while CBS gains football. ESPN, FOX, CBS and ABC pay $17 billion dollars for the next 8 years of NFL football. FEBRUARY -------- - Outlaw Music Channel on GE1/23 scrambles with the VC2+ system - W0KIE Gold Network launches on Telstar 5/17 c-band (the Oral Roberts University occasional video channel) - Channel Earth goes dark on the DSS system - a bad Pacific Rim economy causes Space Systems Loral to cut 300 jobs - Next Level reports 21,000 4DTV receivers have been sold - Next Level changes their name back to "General Instrument" - Telesat Canada's Anik C2 is retired - Due to the success of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Dawson's Creek", WGN announces 40 less Cubs games will be aired during the 1998 baseball season so these shows can air without preemption. - Oui TV, an adult service, launches on Telstar 4/6 MARCH ----- - Showtime Extreme launches - WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas goes on the air with HDTV; their HDTV signal interferes with hospital medical equipment so WFAA-TV quickly silences their HDTV signal - Echostar drops their lawsuit against Rainbow Communications when Rainbow Communications agrees to let Echostar broadcast the former SportsChannel regional sports network (now Fox Sports regional sports networks) over the DISH system - Basil Bassett Bingo leaves the airwaves - African Broadcast Network launches on Spacenet 3R/1 c-band, but the service quickly ceases to exist - The Senate Commerce Committee recommends keeping satellite carrier copyright fees the same price as they were in 1997; if this action wasn't taken the copyright fees would have increased. The Senate later in the year votes to make this official - General Instruments and many other c-band industry players (National Programming Service, HBO, Superstar and others) met to figure out a way to promote C-band as C-band continues to lose subscribers - Primestar signs 2 millionth subscriber - Southern Entertainment Television launches on GE-1, 15 c-band - fx Movies moves to GE-3, 23 c-band - National Empowerment Television changes their name to America's Voice TV - Panamsat's Panamsat-5 satellite experiences problems with battery power; this problem is critical when the satellite is in a moment of not being in sunshine and having to rely on batteries for power APRIL ----- - An updated version of the old show "Love Boat" airs on United Paramount Network (UPN) - CBS announces Howard Stern will have his own late night show to be syndicated and mostly picked up by CBS affiliates - the Howard Stern show launches in the late summer or fall 1998 and many television stations drop it due to poor ratings or show content - Ozarkana Satellite Radio Network returns to the airwaves on then-Galaxy 4/6. - Chinese TV Network goes digital on the then-Galaxy 4 Ku-band - FOX scrambles their affiliate feeds for primetime programming; scrambling is not just for sports anymore - HTV, a Hispanic music video service, is available for free preview on 4DTV receivers - DISH adds Eye on People, Bravo, AMC, Romance Classics, Classic Sports, Toon Disney, and MSNBC to their America's Top 60 CD package. On Echostar 3, DISH adds Bloomberg TV, TV Japan, and NASA Television. - Toon Disney launches - "Teletubbies" launches on the PBS network; another big hit show for kids that PBS has launched - The Chinese Apstar satellite has been experiencing problems; pagers and other data services are temporarily taken off the air until the problems were fixed MAY --- - B-Movie Channel returns to the air on Telstar 5/18 C-band but soon ceases to broadcast - HBO announces that soon some of their channels will change names; Cinemax 2 will become MORE MAX, HBO 2 will become HBO PLUS, HBO 3 will become HBO SIGNATURE, and new Cinemax channels will be added, called ACTIONMAX, THRILLERMAX and new HBO channels will be HBO COMEDY and HBO ZONE - The Asiasat-3 around-the-moon journey begins; Asiasat-3 was launched on a Proton rocket and was left in a useless orbit. Hughes Global Systems proposed sending the satellite around the moon and inserting it into geosynchronous orbit. A lot of fuel would be used so the satellite would be in an inclined orbit but some commercial users may want to use it. A small amount of money may be made to help insurance companies offset some of the claims they paid when Asiasat-3 was in a useless orbit. As of the end of 1998, there still has been no commercial use on Asiasat-3 even though it is in geosynchronous orbit over the Pacific. - ESPN announces plans to launch ESPN West in late 1998. Later in the year those plans were scrapped - "Wingspan: the Air and Space Channel" launches on Galaxy 7 c-band in Digicipher 2 digital mode - Lowell "Bud" Paxson pays TCI $27 million dollars for some old UHF television stations. Paxson will use these newly acquired stations to air his upcoming Pax Net television network - DirecTV and USSB have 3.5 million subscribers, Echostar has 1.2 million subscribers while Primestar has 2 million subscribers. C-band has 2 million subsscribers - Canada's first high-power DBS satellite gets named. Sheila Rogers' entry, Nimiq-1, was chosen as the winning name. - Ziff Davis TV launches on Satcom C4/12 - Primestar announces their intent to purchase United Video, Superstar, and Netlink - Echostar 4 (148 deg W orbital slot) is launched on a Proton rocket - Fox News Channel test scrambles with the Videocipher 2+ system on their G7/20 c-band service; the service shortly scrambles full time - Galaxy 4 bites the dust on May 19th when a spacecraft control processor fails. Services from Galaxy 4 relocate all over the satellite arc. Pagers go silent and data service users look to the Internet for quick service restoration until new locations and dish repointing can be done. - Due to the Galaxy 4 satellite failure, Galaxy 6 users are kicked off the satellite to other locations and Galaxy 6 drifts to 99 degrees west to restore at least c-band service at that orbital slot. About a week after Galaxy 4 fails, Galaxy 6 is already providing c-band service from 99 degrees W. - Echostar 4's solar panals are having problems deploying; power output performance will be affected by this problem JUNE ---- - ThrillerMax and ActionMax launch on Galaxy 1R in digital format - Cornerstone TV moves from GE-1 to Spacenet 4, channel 19 c-band - Echostar is fined $40,000 for their Echostar 1 and 2 satellites not being at the correct orbital slots. Both satellites were found to be more than .5 degrees away from their licensed orbital slots. Tempo was the party that brought the problem to the attention of the FCC - There is a temporary shortage of 4DTV receivers; production was moved to another factory and glitches in the new assembly line caused the receiver shortage - United Video backed out of a deal to be acquired by Primestar; instead, United Video will purchase TV GUIDE from Ruppert Murdoch's News Corp. - The 9th and final Shuttle/Mir mission occurs - World Cup action was plentiful on Panamsat-5 in digital video format - Superstar Satellite Entertainment acquires Programmers Warehouse - General Instruments reports that the 4DTV receiver is Year 2000 compliant - AT&T and TCI announce plans to merge pending goverment approval - USSB returns the license for 8 transponders at 148 deg W to the FCC as USSB doesn't have any plans to actively use those transponders JULY ---- - Insurance companies decide to pay Echostar for the loss of some transponders on Echostar 4 due to a stuck solar panal - SPECTRUM radio show leaves the air - they were supposed to have gone on a short summer break, but as of the end of the year they are still not back on TVRO subcarrier audio - Panamsat admitted that there are problems with Galaxy 7. Galaxy 7's primary Spacecraft Control Processor failed, but Galaxy 7's backup SCP is working. Galaxy 7 is a Hughes HS-601 satellite. - DBS-1, another HS-601 satellite, also suffered problems. On July 4, DBS-1's primary Spacecraft Control Processor failed and the backup one is working. - GOES-9, a U.S. weather satellite, developed gyro stabilizer problems. GOES-10 was brought out of in-orbit storage to replace GOES-9 - A U.S. District Court judge in Florida orders PrimeTime 24 to cut off anyone illegally subscribing to FOX and CBS network signals since March 11, 1997. - DirecTV and Ethnic-American Broadcasting Company team up to offer some ethnic services on Galaxy 3R Ku-band. - DISH Network drops PrimeTime 24 network signals in favor of their own chosen network affiliates. DISH Nets EAST will be made up of New York City stations, while DISH Nets WEST will be made up of Los Angeles stations. - Loral Skynet and Echostar announce Skyvista DBS service; Skyvista will use transponders on Telstar 5 Ku-band - DISH Network adds more ethnic channels - TV Polonia, TV Asia, ZEE TV, ART Movies, Lebanon LBC TV - Networks announce HDTV formats - CBS and NBC to use 1080 line interlaced format, while ABC and FOX will use 720 line progressive format - Onsat Canada ceases publishing - DISH Network adds KWGN-TV Denver to their superstation package AUGUST ------ - DISH Network adds Salt Lake City, Denver, San Francisco and Phoenix to their local DISH Network network affiliate stations package. These four will be delivered to DISH Network subscribers from Echostar 4 at 148 degrees W - On Echostar 3, DISH Network adds Miami to the local DISH Network network affiliate stations package - DISH Network adds ESPN Gameplan to their PPV offerings - Primestar fires 275 workers - YOUR CHOICE TV leaves satellite TV - Galaxy 10 is destroyed in a satellite launch; it was the inaugural flight of the Delta 3 rocket - Pax Net launches in digital format SEPTEMBER --------- - Unity Motion becomes the first company to broadcast a HDTV signal on satellite all the time - BBC America becomes available on the 4DTV receiver. Also becoming available is America's Health Network, Bloomberg Information TV, CBS Eye on People, Classic Sports Network, Outdoor Life Network, Ovation: Arts Network, Kaleidoscope, The BOX Music TV, Fit TV, MTV Suite (MTVX, MTVS, VH1 Smooth, VH1 Soul, VH1 Country), Discovery Kids Network, Discovery Science Network, Discovery Home and Leisure Network, and Discovery Civilization Network - Smaller cable operators sign an agreement with DirecTV. DirecTV will act like a cable headend in the sky for these smaller cable operators. The operators will earn money by renting DSS systems - Deutsche Welle TV is launching a digital feed on Panamsat-5 but will keep their analog feed on GE-1 - SATELLITE TIMES ceases publishing - rising printing costs and "plug-and-play" satellite communications were cited as reasons for folding the magazine. Some of the popular items published in SATELLITE TIMES will be printed in the pages of MONITORING TIMES magazine - Many services move off Morelos 2 to other Mexican satellites as Morelos 2 activity winds down in preparation for SATMEX-5 to replace Morelos 2 - DISH Network adds Univision and Galavision and fX and TV Japan - The Erotic Network (TEN) launches in digital format - J.D. Power and Associates award Primestar with a #1 Satisfaction Rating for the second year in a row - Some Spanish-language channels are added to the 4DTV system as the channels launch on the HITS service on Galaxy 7 Ku - Ariane launches Panamsat-7 - DirecTV announces they have 4 million subscribers - Recovery Network launches on Galaxy 7 c-band in digital format - Buena Vista Syndicated Television Distribution changes transponders on Telstar 5 c-band OCTOBER ------- - DISH Network adds Ziff-Davis TV - Q2, a second QVC network, quits broadcasting. It is replaced on that transponder by E! Entertainment TV's Style Channel - Outdoor Channel moves from Galaxy 1R to Galaxy 9 - fX (East) moves to Satcom C1 from Galaxy 7 c-band - Problems with Echostar 3: four TWTA's have gone out, but there is enough redundancy to handle that problem - Satellite subscriber figures: DirecTV/USSB 4.06 million subscribers, DISH Network 1.61 million subscribers, Primestar 2.16 million subscribers, C-band has 1.98 million subscribers (first time since July 1994 that C-band has had less than 2 million subscribers) - Gospel Music Television moves to Galaxy 9 - CBS cuts 100 jobs and reduces staff in Dallas, Miami, Tel Aviv and Moscow bureaus - CBS announces some NFL games and other network programming will be broadcast in HDTV format - A judge in Florida grants a 5 month reprieve on a court order for PrimeTime 24 to cut off CBS and FOX channels to people illegally subscribing to them - Art Bell leaves radio due to a "threatening, terrible event" but soon returns to the radio airwaves - The inaugural Boeing Sea Launch is delayed until 1999 as the Zenit 3SL rocket needs to be tested more; the Zenit 3SL is roughly-based on the Zenit 2 and the Zenit 2 has failed in 8 of the last 31 launch attempts - NPS announces they will offer Pax Net in analog format on Spacenet 4, channel 16 and scramble it with the Videocipher 2+ analog scrambling system - Time Warner is going to launch their own headend-in-the-sky service, Athena TV. Athena TV will use Telstar 5 Ku initially before moving to Telstar 7 Ku when Telstar 7 is launched and becomes operational in 1999 - Ariane 503 launched a dummy payload and Ariane reports the flight went perfectly. In previous years, Ariane 501 blew up and Ariane 502 placed a payload in the wrong orbit - THE FOOTBALL NETWORK announces plans to launch next year - STS-95 carrying John Glenn roars into space; the whole satellite arc was lit up with newsfeeds about the launch of an American legend back into space - GE-5 launched on an Ariane rocket - Star Choice signs a contract for some transponders (up to 30) on the Anik F1 satellite to be launched in late 1999 or the year 2000 NOVEMBER -------- - DISH Network announces there will be no package price rate hikes until March 2000 and potentially later than that - DISH Network adds BBC America channel - Panamsat-8 is launched on a Proton rocket - National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET) employees walk off their ABC jobs; shortly thereafter, ABC locks them out. The lock out has caused fun-to-watch technical gaffs and the ABC satellite feeds have been unscrambled much more often - Leonid meteor storm happens; the meteors were not as plentiful as predicted but were rather spectacular to watch anyway. No satellite damage occurred - Primestar announces they will start supplemental DBS service from the 119 deg W slot using a license acquired from Tempo; this DBS service will be from high-powered satellites, unlike Primestar's normal DBS service from medium-powered GE-2 Ku - Las Vegas Television Network launches on Spacenet 4, channel 12 but this new launch attempt does not last long - The first component of the International Space Station, Zarya, was launched on a Proton rocket - The FCC ruled that renters have the right to set up small satellite dishes; some apartment rental organizations are appealing this ruling - Z-Music TV went digital on Galaxy 7 c-band - Echostar and News Corp. reached a blockbuster deal - Echostar will get 28 DBS transponders at the 110 deg W orbital slot, the right to carry Fox News Channel and Fox Sports channels on the DISH Network, two satellites for use at the 110 deg W slot, a uplink center near Phoenix, and a license to manufacture and distribute set-top boxes incorporating News Corp. technology in exchange for News Corp. getting a 40% stake in Echostar - DISH Network adds a "Action Plus Package" containing Speedvision, Outdoor Channel, and Outdoor Life Network. Shortly after the deal occurred, Speedvision and Outdoor Life Network backed out of the deal and sued DISH Network for breach of contract. DECEMBER -------- - The first American component of the International Space Station was launched aboard STS-88 Shuttle Endeavour. This mission also mated the Unity module (American) with the Zarya module (Russian) and some electrical and data connections were made between the two modules and the STS-88 astronauts entered the International Space Station for the first time. - W0KIE Satellite Radio Network launches on GE1/12 c-band at 5.70 - The Nashville Network launched a west feed of their service on Galaxy 1R/6 using VC2+ encryption - SATMEX-5 was launched and it will replace Morelos 2 at 116.8 deg W early in 1999 - Hughes reports a problem with the Palapa-C satellite, a HS-601 satellite. The power system went out for 6 hours as the batteries aboard Palapa-C aren't able to function during times of eclipse from sunlight. The primary Battery Charge Controller failed during the transfer orbit after launch and the backup Battery Charge Controller failed recently. During times of eclipse from sunlight, Palapa-C will be a dead satellite. - Nickelodeon announces two channels to launch in early 1999 - Noggin and Nickelodeon GAS (Games and Sports) - New 4DTV channels include Lifetime Movie Network, ZEE TV, and The BOX EDGE format - General Instruments rolls out Digicipher 2 edgeband transmissions; the test is a Boston area package delivered on the edgeband of the New England Sports Network transponder on Satcom C3 - TV Dubai leaves Galaxy 7 c-band to go digital - Toon Disney is added to the 4DTV receiver through HITS on Galaxy 7 Ku - Panamsat announces problems with Panamsat-8; The northeast and southeast Asia beams are not pointing where they should be and the "steerable" antennas are stuck and can't be moved - DirecTV offers to merge with USSB and make a one-stop DSS service at the 101 deg W slot. If the deal goes through, DirecTV will acquire premium movie channels. A uplink center in Minnesota will be shut down and consumers will only need to call one number for customer service and will receive only one bill for their DSS service - Panamsat-6B was launched on a Ariane rocket; it will serve the DBS markets for Central and South America - WCPE-FM, a classical music station, launches on Galaxy 5/7 at 5.58 and 6.12 - Outlaw Music Channel, Willie Nelson's music service, ceases broadcasting - Southern Entertainment Television moves from GE-1 c-band to Anik E2, channel 4 c-band and just as the hours in 1998 wind down, SET disappears from satellite tv - CBC North service mysteriously moves from channel 13 to channel 5 on Anik E2 C-band. The transponder electronics on channel 13 may be failing - Iraq is bombed by the U.S. and Great Britain for not allowing weapons inspectors to do their job at inspecting certain sites; feeds from the Gulf are plentiful on Atlantic Ocean satellites and rebroadcasts on domestic satellites of the scenes in Baghdad during 4 days of nighttime bombing -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- de fcc sgn, Robert Smathers (roberts@nmia.com) Albuquerque, NM USA Robert's Satellite TV/Baseball page: http://www.nmia.com/~roberts/ Proud owner, 5 TODYWEN(!) and 5 BUD-lites - Albuquerque Intl. Downlinkport TVRO Audio Subcarrier/SCPC Guide columnist, MONITORING TIMES Magazine