1995 - THE YEAR IN TVRO by Robert Smathers (roberts@nmia.com) This file may be freely distributed as long as the ENTIRE file is not modified. (January-March 1995 left out -- I lost my notebook for those months -- I will add those entries here if I find my notebook). APRIL ===== - Omega Radio Network is the network you get your tech talk from - OJ TV continues. GSTAR 1/5 and GSTAR 4/5 are the main feeds for the trial. NBC/ABC/CBS tear down Camp OJ scaffolding due to the rent and borrow others' perches to file reports from. . . . In the TV ratings, OJ TV dominates the cable ratings each week (many times being all of the top 15 cable shows each week). - UPN viewer ratings are twice that of the WB network (about 2 months into the launch of the networks). - NHK Tokyo to U.S. circuit moves to G6/6 - Winegard ceases production of Pinnacle perf and Quadstar satellite antennas - Court fight between AT&T and Lockheed Martin begins over the launch date of T402R - Oklahoma City bombing occurs - lights up the skies with SNG and other feeds; cable TV ratings for the OKC bombing the biggest since the Gulf War -- so big that OJ coverage doesn't even crack the top 15 cable show ratings the week of the bombing. - Iran dish ban takes effect - Hughes Communications announces new transponder pricing -- $1000/hour U.S. (15 min minimum) every hour of every day (no prime/non-prime time designation). - Hughes Communications breaks ground on their facility they will use for Galaxy Latin America DBS on the Ku side of Galaxy 3R - Friday Night Live fund commences from Tulsa MAY === - Omega Radio Network ceases operation; Tech Talk RN begins in mid-May on the Skyvision channel on T2/21 and Spectrum moves to various transponders before settling down on an ASC on G6/14 - AT&T and Lockheed Martin settle their T402R lawsuit out of court - it is agreed the satellite will be delivered in July for a launch on an Ariane rocket as soon as possible - Hughes Communications signs contracts with 4 international programmers to turn Galaxy 4 Ku into a major international niche programming bird -- two of those programmers are The Filipino Channel and TVB Jade. - Intelsat 706 is launched on an Ariane rocket - UPN announces fall lineup -- they axed all programs from their initial season except for Star Trek Voyager - FCC revokes Advanced Communications' BSS slot permit - Hughes Communications selects the Delta launch vehicle to launch Galaxy 9 in April 1996 - SCOLA goes Wegener compressed on the last day of the month - no dual illumination, as T3/22 goes away that same day JUNE ==== - Telstar 303 starts its inclined orbit operation - GSTAR 2 begins inclined orbit operation - Home Shopping Club and Home Shopping Club 2 merge into one channel, the Home Shopping Network (HSN) - DBS-3 successfully launches on an Ariane rocket - Ted Turner officially announces his new financial TV Network, CNNfn; it will be on the CNN International Galaxy 1R transponder half of the day, CNN International will be on the other half and the network should launch by the new year - It's announced that TCI will buy the United Video group - Somewhere in this part of the year, the Sony DSS system hits the market - DirecTV adds many new channels to their system, especially sports networks (SportsChannels and Newsport mainly) JULY ==== - The FCC says there are 5.6 million satellite dishes in use (for BUD, DSS, and Primestar). They say 2.3 million subscribe to Videocipher C-band programming, and approximately 600,000 subscribe to DSS and 500,000 subscribe to Primestar. Calculations show that leaves 2.2 million home dish owners who enjoy ITC television and radio (or don't use their dish at all). - Chaparral announces they'll be dropping out of the consumer IRD market - Deutsche Welle TV on Satcom C4 goes to programming 24 hours a day - BBC postpones plans to launch BBC World in America (AGAIN!) - Rush Limbaugh starts doing radio ads during his show for DSS - Satellite City leaves the satellite airwaves mysteriously, but about a month later reappears again - BCTV goes ITC on E1/22 C-band before going into digital video compression shortly thereafter - Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper reports that Expressvu will use Anik E1 Ku-band for their service; also, the article says Anik E2 has 4 years of life in it, meaning Telesat Canada will have only one satellite for at least a year - FCC relaxes satellite permits -- they have changed a provision so that satellite operators can construct a satellite without a permit, but will have to get a permit for launching the bird; also, SNG permit renewals have gone from renewing every year to renewing every 10 years; also, redundant earth stations will have to be reported to the FCC - Group W Videoservices purchases 3 c-band transponders on Galaxy 4 from Global Access Telecommunication Services so they can feed syndicated shows AUGUST ====== - CourtTV says goodbye to dish owners by leaving analog for the Digicipher digital format, but would surprise dishowners twice (2 weekends) by going ITC. - Capital Cities ABC and Disney annouce merger - CBS and Westinghouse announce merger - Expressvu announces a launch delay to later this fall (and of the end of the year, still no launch on Anik E1 Ku) - Jerry Garcia passes away -- many satellite feeds of Grateful Dead fans mourning - SBS-3 is decommissioned - Mike Tyson/Peter McNeely fight to be available on C-band -- this is the first Tyson fight to be available for purchase on C-band; some found a fight feed ITC on SBS-4 - at the Nashville SBCA show, Echostar announces their DBS system will be called D.I.S.H. (Digital Information Sky Highway); also, the lineup is not much different from DSS -- cable services you'd find on any cable system (and just a handful that you may not find on every system) - DirecTV announces 3 new channels -- Black Entertainment TV, Home and Garden TV, and the History Channel - Major league baseball lifts territorial restrictions on Prime/SportsChannel channels - Windows 95 launches -- tons of satellite feeds about the launch (interview with Bill Gates, pictures of consumers buying the product, etc.) - Turnervision is named to provide signal authorization for the Alphastar DBS system, and Amway is named to do the marketing of the system - Vyvx handles FOX football backhauls for the second year in a row - Musique Plus moves to Anik E2 Ku; Shortly thereafter, in September, the onslaught of channels moving from Anik E1 to E2 Ku (or going digital) begins and quiets down around the early part of December SEPTEMBER ========= - Anik E1 goes dark for 40 minutes -- initially, it was said that workers at the ground station doing maintenance on the satellite accidentally shut it off, but Telesat Canada later said that E1 experienced an electrostatic discharge that caused noise on the command lines and messed up the momentum wheel speed causing earth lock loss and that commands sent to do thruster firings caused the satellite to regain earth lock - fX Movies scrambles on Galaxy 7/23 - the Denver ABC/NBC/CBS stations change affiliations -- not only do they change over-the-air affiliations, the Satcom C1 feeds are rearranged. - Sony suspends DSS sales for a short period due to problems with the Sony DSS unit - FCC announces the BSS license that Advanced Communications lost will be sold to the highest bidder in an auction to be carried out at a later date - Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting announce a merger - Telstar 402R launches on an Ariane rocket - Galaxy 3 is retired - KTRT talk radio launches on satellite on the American Independent Network transponder OCTOBER ======= - O.J. found not guilty -- news feeds plenty with the news and reaction to the verdict; ratings for the verdict coverage were a 15.9/93 share during the verdict reading and a 11.1/91 share one hour after the verdict was read - Hurricane Opal batters Florida panhandle area -- hurricanes were the most plentiful in history this year and all of them that battered the U.S. coastline were well covered by SNG transmissions - the Pope visits the U.S.; coverage well done as is typical with big news events - Hughes Communications moves SBS-6 to 74 degrees West to make room for Galaxy 3R Ku-band - Primestar adds some DMX music formats and a few more channels, including some Spanish language channels. - T402R saturation testing begins - Hughes announces its HS-702 body stabilized spacecraft -- Galaxy 10 will be the first satellite to use the HS-702 type of spacecraft - Tech Talk Radio Network Cybergeek Gateway begins service - DirecTV wins an Emmy for technical achievement (for their digital DTH innovation); Primestar wins the same Emmy also. - DirecTV announces they will be launching their service to Alaska using 8 foot dishes - Hughes Communications leases Hispasat 1A from the Brazilians, points it towards the U.S., and opens it up to service. A test pattern to locate the satellite is up often in the first month of service. Not many have used the satellite since the leasing. - H-TV shows up on Spacenet 2/4; SUR moves to Intelsat 705 - the Quebec independence referrendum occurs -- the Anik birds lit up with feeds and coverage of the vote - Million Man March occurs - DirecTV gets its one millionth subscriber NOVEMBER ======== - C-band "ITC free preview" occurs -- but the vast majority of the participating services were in fixed key and not true ITC mode - Rabin assassination occurs -- heavy coverage on the Atlantic Ocean Region birds - Budget battles begin -- the federal government is shut down for a short period and in December is shut down again - One can buy Videocipher decoders for $309 -- compare that to $359 a few months ago - The first real video, some color bars, appear on T402R C and Ku-band DECEMBER ======== - The Tech Talk Radio Network ceases operation on T2/21; TTN will return on E2/18 at 5.80 in the new year - T402R goes into official operation -- many adult services on the C-band and Alphastar is testing on the Ku-band - Galaxy 3R successfully launched - Echostar-1 successfully launched - The ABC/NBC/CBS/PBS Cancom network affiliates from Detroit and Toledo prepare to go into digital video compression as January 1 approaches -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Robert Smathers "Keeper of THE `bible'" (roberts@nmia.com) Albuquerque, NM Robert's Satellite TV/Baseball page: http://www.nmia.com/~roberts/ Sky-Scanner Extraordinaire! Proud owner, 2 of (by far!) TODYWEN! Satellite Services Guide Manager & Co-Monitor, SATELLITE TIMES magazine * My views do not necessarily represent the views of my employers *