1999 TVRO Year in Review compiled by Robert Smathers (roberts@nmia.com) JANUARY ======= - Outlaw Music Channel and Southern Entertainment TV both leave the satellite TV airwaves - Mars Polar Lander launches - Video Catalog Channel moves from Anik E2 C-band to Spacenet 3R, channel 7 - FOX Sports Ohio/Cincinnati moves their analog feed from transponder 4 to transponder 1 on GE-1 C-band - Turner Classic Movies moves from Galaxy 1R to GE-3 Cband, channel 14 - United Video Group acquires TV Guide - DISH Network hits the 2 million subscriber mark - Talk Radio Network returns to subcarrier audio on Satcom C1/14 at 5.80 MHz FEBRUARY ======== - Noggin cable channel launches - Ozarkana Radio Network leaves subcarrier radio - KHCB-FM (Houston, Texas religious format) moves to GE1/9 C-band subcarrier radio - Fox Sports Bay Area and Fox Sports New York change transponders on GE-1 c-band - Stardust is launched on a mission to explore a comet close-up - 4 Globalstar satellites are launched - RAI Italy moves from Galaxy 3R to GE2/3 C-band - Telstar 6 launches and soon goes operational at 93 degrees West longitude - Fashion TV France briefly shows up in the North American satellite arc - CBC Technical workers go on strike; on Anik E2, CBC transponders are shut down earlier each evening and many technical gaffs happen on the air - FCC approves the AT&T/TCI merger - Telstar 303 is retired; Morelos 2 is moved over to 120 degrees West longitude to resume some communications from that orbital slot - DirecTV drops PrimeTime 24 affiliates and starts to broadcast network affiliates from New York and Los Angeles - Liberty Works Radio Network appears on SCPC analog radio MARCH ===== - GE-3 has gyro problems that cause it to spin out of control; GE Americom is able to control and get the satellite back into service - NCAA Final Four Basketball Tourney affiliate feeds are encrypted much more this year than in years past due to the fact the early rounds of the tournament are offered as Pay-Per-View on DirecTV - DISH Network celebrates its third birthday - 4 more Globalstar satellites are launched - CSPAN turns 20 years old - Las Vegas TV Network appears on Spacenet 4, channel 12 but shortly thereafter disappears again; home dish owners have lost count how often this channel launches and leaves the air - A SeaLaunch demo launch is successful - a dummy payload is placed into geotransfer orbit APRIL ===== - Several regional sports networks (among them Fox Sports Chicago, New England, Bay Area, Ohio, Cincinnati and MSG) transmit in digital form on GE-1 C-band - PrimeTime 24 announces plans to discontinue the Spacenet 4 FOXNet feed in favor of the same feed found on Satcom C1 c-band - GEMS Shopping Channel changes transponders on Galaxy 3R C-band - Ikonos-1's launch from Vandenberg AFB on an Athena 2 rocket failed as the payload fairing failed to separate and the satellite crashed into the South Pacific Ocean - DirecTV's acquisition of Primestar is announced - Solidaridad 1, a Hughes HS-601 satellite, goes out of service for a few hours as it starts spinning. Ground controllers are able to stop the spinning and restore service. Some cable service programmers become scared enough of a second outage that they move their programming to other Mexican satellites - A Titan 4 launch fails to place a Milstar military satellite in the proper orbit - The Racing Network and TrackPower both begin beaming horse racing to homes MAY === - Orion 3 launches from Cape Canaveral on a Delta 3 rocket. A failed second stage burn causes the satellite to be placed in a useless orbit - Chinese goverment officials begin a crackdown on foreign broadcasts by seizing satellite dishes and receiving equipment - A National Geographic cable channel is announced - it is to be a joint venture of National Geographic, NBC, and Fox Television. - Soap City is announced; a cable channel to launch in January 2000 devoted to soap operas - STARZ! Cinema and STARZ! Family channels cable channels launch - HBO Comedy and HBO Zone cable channels launch - Canadian Nimiq-1 DBS satellite launches on an International Launch Services Proton rocket; Bell Expressvu to soon use it for DBS service delivery - A Titan 4B rocket successfully places a classified satellite into orbit - Space Shuttle Discovery embarks on a mission to outfit the International Space Station with supplies, attach a crane to the ISS, and install some foam covers in the Zarya module to try to reduce the noise level inside that module JUNE ==== - CBS Newspath relocates from Galaxy 7 C-band to Telstar 6 C-band. - 4 Globalstar satellites are launched, bringing the total to 24 satellites in the constellation - Midwest Sports Channel goes digital - A Long March 2C rocket launched 2 Iridium satellites; Iridium, meanwhile, lays off 15% of their employees and slashes prices on phones and per-minute call charges in an attempt to remain a going concern - Astra-1H satellite is launched on an Ariane rocket - the Military Channel ceases on their Satcom C3/24 location; soon after, it reappears for a short time on Galaxy 7/8 C-band on a limited usage basis - BET on Jazz, Galaxy 7/21 C-band, begins fixed-key Videocipher II Plus transmissions - Discovery Communications purchases a controlling interest in the Knowledge TV cable channel - TCI announces they will offer their Headend in the Sky (HITS) service to home dish owners using a small Ku-band dish and a Digicipher-2 compatible receiver. G.I. will provide authorization services. - DBS subscriber figures: DirecTV 5.159 million; DISH 2.492 million - CBS lights up Telstar 6 C-band and Ku-band with affiliate and other network feeds; uses Telstar 4 C-band for the backup satellite network feeds - Shop at Home Network moves to Galaxy 7 JULY ==== - Four more Globalstar satellites were launched - Eileen Collins is the first female commander in shuttle history as she guides Columbia STS-93 on a mission to deploy the Chandra X-ray telescope - Gossip runs rampant that there is a quality control issue with 4DTV receivers, causing temporary shortages as the issues are resolved - SBCA show in Las Vegas - emphasis seemed to be using DBS systems in MDUs (Multiple Dwelling Unit) and showing off HDTV systems and new MPEG2/DVB receivers - the Military Channel disappears all-together from Galaxy 7/8 C-band - TVG (TV Games Network) launches on GE1/23 C-band AUGUST ====== - a total Solar Eclipse in Europe brought about many satellite feeds of the event for news organizations around the world - Four more Globalstar satellites are launched - Iridium files a request with the courts to go into Chapter 11 bankrupcy - Ted Turner ponders launching a women's cable channel, but quickly scraps the idea when he find outs it will be expensive to operate it - the last of the MIR crew leave the aging space station; MIR has been unmanned ever since - Home Team Sports begins digital delivery service to cable companies SEPTEMBER ========= - the Primetime 24 West network affiliates (KOMO-TV Seattle, KNBC-TV Los Angeles, KPIX-TV San Francisco) leave the satellite airwaves - Bell Expressvu starts using the Nimiq-1 high power DBS satellite at 91 degrees West to deliver their service - DirecTV and DISH network were given orders to allocate 4% of their video channel capacity for noncommercial educational programming. - J.D. Powers names DISH network the number one subscription TV service in their annual survey - CBS and Viacom announce they are merging - DBS figures: DirecTV has 7.5 million subs (including Primestar customer conversions to DirecTV); no word about DISH Network figures - Mars Climate Orbiter's mission fails as the spacecraft either crashes into Mars or burns up in the Martian atmosphere; a metric-English units problem is blamed for the failure - Echostar 5 launches aboard an Atlas IIAS rocket; it is destined to serve at the 110 degrees West longitude slot - Four more Globalstar satellites launch - Ikonos-2 earth imaging satellite is launched on an Athena 2 rocket - Motorola announces it will acquire General Instrument for $11 Billion dollars worth of Motorola stock - Showtime Beyond cable channel launches - Telstar 7 is launched and soon goes operational at 129 degrees West longitude - the Rogue and XXXCite adult channels merge operations on Telstar 4 C-band OCTOBER ======= - DirecTV 1-R is launched on a Sea Launch launcher; the first successful commercial launch for Sea Launch - RCMP's begin seizures of satellite systems that Canadians are using to receive programming that is not CRTC-sanctioned - a Russian Proton rocket fails to place the Express A1 comm sat into orbit; the second stage misfires and the satellite and launcher fall back to Earth - Primetime 24 complies with a court order to shut off NFL games to Canadian subscribers - Ted Turner launches the cable channel "Turner South" - the NBC Pacific Time Zone affiliate feed changes channels on GE-1 Ku-band - a CBS Eastern Time Zone affiliate feed changes transponders on Telstar 6 C-band to make room for a CBS HDTV distribution channel - WB Network feed moves to Telstar 6 C-band from Galaxy 6 C-band NOVEMBER ======== - GE-4 satellite launches; it goes into service in December - Arab Network of America (ANA) leaves analog satellite television - vanishes from GE-2/22 C-band - Spacenet 3R satellite is retired; most services move to Spacenet 4 - Superstar/Netlink and DISH Network team up to try to convert home dish owners to DISH Network subscribers - XHUPN-TV 49 appears on Galaxy 6/23 C-band for reasons unknown; best speculation is that the satellite signal is feeding San Diego area cable stations until a stronger signal or fiber/microwave feeds can be put in place for feeding those cable companies - Leonid Meteor storm occurs - not as spectacular as last year and once again communication satellites survived the meteor shower - FOX television network, NBC, and Turner Sports acquire NASCAR rights - DirecTV markets Spanish-language channels in a package called "Para Todos" - these channels are delivered by the Tempo high powered satellite at the 119 degrees West longitude slot - DBS figures: DirecTV has 7.8 million subs at the end of October; DISH Network has 3.1 million subs - C-band subscribers number at 1.7 million - Hubble Space Telescope goes into safe mode when the fourth gyroscope out of six total fail. - An Atlas 2A rocket launches the Navy's UHF Follow-on F10 sat - the updated Satellite Home Viewers Act is passed; it appears the legislation will allow C-band customers who had their network signals shut off between July 11, 1998 and October 31, 1999 to receive distant network signals regardless of if they were in a grade A, B or white area, DBS customers shut off between those same dates can continue to receive distant network signals if they do not reside in a Grade A area, satellite program providers must report new network subscribers to the networks, satellite program providers can be held responsible for violations of territorial restrictions, and RV'ers and longhaul truckers qualify for distant or local network signals DECEMBER ======== - Space Shuttle Discovery launches on a mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope (the first flight of two servicing missions). The gyroscopes were fixed so the Hubble Space Telescope is able to go back to service after having been in safe mode since November - STARZ! East, STARZ! West, STARZ! Theatre East and STARZ! Westerns East feeds move to Galaxy 6 from Spacenet 4/GE-4 - the Mars Polar Lander mission fails; it is unknown at this point what happened to the Polar Lander (whether it crash landed or broke up in the Martian atmosphere) - an Ariane rocket launches the Helios 1B spy satellite - Fox Sports announces the following plans for their regional sports networks: All Fox Sports networks will leave analog c-band on December 31st except for Fox Sports World (which will stay on analog c-band until January 31, 2000) - an Ariane 5 launcher puts the European Space Agency's X-ray Multi-mirror observatory into orbit; it is the first commercial launch on the Ariane 5 rocket - a Pegasus XL rocket puts seven Orbcomm satellites into orbit - Cancom adds a french-language public television netowrk RFO-1 to their lineup - DirecTV and DISH Network meet the deadline to add public interest channels - DirecTV adds WorldLink TV, NASA TV, PBS YOU, StarNet, ClaraVision, and Inspirational Life Network. DirecTV already carried C-SPAN, Eternal Word TV Network and Trinity Broadcasting Network - ABC NewsOne, CBS Newspath and FOX News Edge announce they will combine their newsfeeds services into a single news cooperative to be called Network News Service (NNS) - the W0KIE Radio Network on GE1/12 5.70 MHz subcarrier leaves the air as the year ends - FOX Sports regional networks leave c-band as the year comes to a close; they are digitally delivered now and Fox Sports World is the only one scheduled to remain in analog format for a little while longer - RTPi (Portugal) leaves Anik E1 C-band/channel 10 and broadcasts to the U.S. in digital video format on an Atlantic Ocean Region satellite - M2: Music Television moves to Galaxy 9/6 C-band -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 6 BUD-lites - Albuquerque Intl. Downlinkport TVRO Audio Subcarrier/SCPC Guide columnist, MONITORING TIMES Magazine