Interspace’s in-depth study of European satellite activity

Compiled by Mike Fallon

D=Digital
A=Analogue

68.5°E:
PAS-4 & 7

A Simaye Azadi Iranian National TV has launched on 11170MHz horizontal in clear Pal with audio via the 6.60MHz sub-carrier. The clampdown on illegal satellite receivers (all satellite receivers owned by non-officials are illegal in Iran) continues. Two weeks ago 600 receivers were seized by customs in Astara in northern Iran. They had apparently been loaded in Baku, Azerbaijan, and were en route to Tehran

60°E:
Intelsat 604

A A report on the Qatar football team currently touring Malaysia was fed over 4166MHz RHCP in clear Pal on March 3 at 09:35 for Qatar Television, Doha.

50°E:
Anatolia 1

A This craft, which was previously known as HGS 3, has reached this slot and is available for use by Turk Telekom. A solitary analogue test signal can be observed on 11650MHz vertical in clear Pal. The satellite is inclined and wanders 1.5 degrees North/South. Anatolia’s capacity consists of 4 Ku-Band and 30 C-Band transponders.

42°E:
Turksat 1C & Eurasiasat 1

D There are two new multiplexes here using Eurasiasat-1 capacity. 12565MHz horizontal, SR 30000, FEC 5/6 is hosting Vizyon Salon International 1-6, MovieMax International 1-2, Sinema Türk International and Universite Hazirlik. Up at 12612MHz vertical, SR 20000, FEC 7/8 there is .tv – The Technology Channel, Marco Polo, Italian Network News, Pro Sieben Deutschland and 26 assorted Music Choice audio channels. Another interactive service has joined the StarDigital line-up on 11469MHz vertical. It is identified in the EPG as Futbol. Also new here is TeleOn Sinema, a new movie channel.

36°E:
Eutelsat W4 & Sesat

D Some of the output from the Serbian channel Anem TV on 12655MHz horizontal, SR 2961, FEC 3/4, VPID 4194, APID 4195 is being encoded, presumably for copyright reasons. The Italian home shopping channel, Elefante Telemarket, has vacated 12699MHz horizontal where it had been available in clear MPEG-2

28.5°E:
Eutelsat II-F4

D Eutelsat’s latest DTH satellite, Eurobird, blasted off from Kourou on March 8. The new craft, which will be positioned here alongside Eutelsat-II-F4, will provide additional capacity for VSAT networks as well as TV and radio broadcasting. Eurobird carries 24 Ku-Band transponders operating in the range 11200-11700MHz and 12500-12700MHz. One fixed beam and two steerable beams offer 54 dBW and 53 dBW respectively. Germany’s DeeJay Parade Radio has started regular programming on 12718MHz vertical, SR 2892, FEC 3/4, APID 4211. This outlet is primarily for German cable headends. The feed for RTS Sat from Belgrade on 11187 MHz horizontal, SR 6109, FEC 3/4 which supplies the Hotbird signal has changed APID to 4196. Occasional feed traffic is increasing with 11056MHz vertical, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, 11088MHz vertical, SR 15000, FEC 3/4, 11173MHz vertical, SR 6854, FEC 7/8 and 11185MHz vertical, SR 13844, FEC 7/8 all active at times, especially in the early evenings for inserts into live German regional programmes. The Czech version of Hallmark Entertainment appears to have left the CzechLink bouquet on 11554 MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4. In the same package the First Czech state TV channel, CT1, can often be found free-to-air via PIDs V162, A88.

28.2°E:
Astar 2A, 2B & 2D

D Two new adult channels have joined the ever increasing Sky Digital line-up. Spice can be found on Channel 982 and Private Girls is at Channel 988. Both channels offer a PPV service at a cost of £5.00 per night without the need for a subscription. Spice, which uses a stream on 12480MHz vertical, has replaced Sky News Ireland on PIDs V2321, A2322 and Private Girls has taken over from Disney Channel UK on PIDs V2318, A2319. On 11778MHz vertical Sky Box Office Channels 47 & 48 are new on PIDs V515/516, A643/644. These two movie channels have moved here from 12382MHz horizontal where they have been replaced by a Sky Movies Preview Mosaic and Sky Box Office Preview Channel. Troubled MBI Europe from Nigeria has once again left 11973MHz vertical. On the same frequency Zee Cinema, which has been free-to-air for several weeks, has now returned to Videoguard encryption Carlton Food Network is to be re-launched from April 2. The channel, which will have a new name – Taste, is produced by Carlton TV and Sainsburys. On 11875MHz vertical Discovery Wings has changed PIDs to V2336, A2337. Sky News has opened an additional stream at 12070MHz horizontal, VPID 2311, APID 2312 in clear MPEG-2. Following on from their recent inclusion in France’s Canal Satellite Digital and Spain’s Canal Satelite Digital bouquets Fox News, the US network, is to join Sky Digital later this year. Where It’s At is the name of a new youth oriented channel currently testing on 12402MHz vertical. It is expected to start regular programmes very soon. UCB Inspirational, a new radio channel from United Christian Broadcasting, opened another stream on 12110MHz horizontal via APID 2334 last week but this was short-lived. Two days later Inspirational was replaced by UCB Bible. Wellbeing, the new health and beauty channel from Granada and the chemist chain Boots launched on March 14 on 12324MHz vertical. The channel airs from 09:00-21:00 daily with interactive programming about health, fitness and beauty issues. Home shopping channel Ideal World has abruptly stopped all broadcasts on 12032MHz horizontal following a major fire at the channel’s Peterborough headquarters during the night of March 6. The channel was still off the air early this week.

26°E:
Arabsat 2A & 3A

D Lebanon’s Tele Liban has temporarily closed down to enable a complete revamp of the channel. Their stream at 11785MHz vertical is displaying a caption informing viewers of their plans. The state run channel hopes to return by the end of April.

19.2°E:
Astra 1A-C & E-H

D Radio Osterreich 1 has launched on 11954MHz horizontal, APID 169 in clear MPEG-2. The Polish Roman Catholic channel, TV Niepokalanow, has left 11876MHz horizontal and has been replaced by a promo for another Polish channel, TV Puls. Fox News has commenced regular programming on 11934MHz vertical, VPID 168, APID 112 within the Canal Satellite Digital platform. Spektrum TV on 11992MHz horizontal, VPID 168, APID 108 has been renamed Spektrum International in the Polish Wizja package. Sport 1 Czechia has opened on 12304MHz horizontal, VPID 165, APID 98 encoded in Cryptoworks. Radio Caraibe International is new on 12207MHz vertical, APID 1950 in free-to-air MPEG-2.

A RTL Shop has officially launched on 11245MHz horizontal in clear Pal with audio at 7.02/7.20MHz. Bloomberg TV UK and TV Travel Shop will cease analogue transmissions at 10818MHz vertical on March 31 and will join the long list of channels becoming digital only. 10818MHz vertical is likely to be taken up by a new German version of TV Travel Shop in June.

16°E:
Eutelsat W2

D Simaye Azadi Iran National TV has launched on 11304MHz vertical, VPID 512, APID 650 on clear MPEG-2. A live report from the scene of a cattle and pig burning exercise taking place in Northumberland in an attempt to stem the spread of Foot and Mouth disease was fed over 12523MHz horizontal, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, VPID 308, APID 256, ID: “SIS22 UKI 207” on March 3 at 17:10. A mosaic made up of four pictures featuring different camera angles for the Polish version of Big Brother is occupying 11107MHz horizontal, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, VPID 308, APID 256, ID: “LOCAL CONTENT” in clear MPEG-2. Argentinian football with the Independiente-V-Velez Sarsfield match was carried on 11142MHz horizontal, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, V308, A256 in clear MPEG-2 on March 11 at 21:30.

13°E:
Hot Birds 1/2/3/4/5

D The new offering from Italian state broadcaster RAI, RAISat Fiction, has officially launched on 11996MHz vertical, VPID 165, APID 100 in free-to-air MPEG-2. The Moroccan channel 2M on 12476MHz horizontal, VPID 601, APID 602 is now called 2M International. Tamil Oli radio appears to have left 12245MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, APID 291. Several new channels have joined the Italian Stream line-up on 10992MHz vertical. They are Campionato Stream 4-5, Primafila Cinema Sala 4a-5b, XXX Club and Calcio Stream. All are encoded in Irdeto and Videoguard. The Nuvolari test transmissions on 12558MHz vertical have ceased and have been replaced by a “24 ore” test pattern. Also on this frequency, Radio 24 from Italy has launched via APID 6917. An Olisat promo has replaced TeleGenova Sat on 11096 MHz horizontal, VPID 33, APID 35 in clear MPEG-2.

A EuroSport left 11388MHz horizontal on March 13 from where it had been available in clear Pal for some considerable time. The channel is now exclusively digital and can be found on numerous platforms and satellites. The German music channel Viva Zwei has left 11178MHz vertical, where it had been available in clear Pal. The four Hungarian radio stations have returned to the audio baseband behind Duna TV on 10815MHz horizontal. They are Kossuth Radio – 7.38 MHz, Radio Budapest – 7.56MHz, Petöfi Radio – 7.74MHz and Regionalis es Nemzetisegi Adasok – 7.92MHz.

10°E:
Eutelsat W1

A Metro FM (7.02/7.20MHz), Kral FM (7.38/7.56MHz) and Super FM (8.10/8.38MHz) have all returned to the baseband of 11181MHz vertical, the home of the Turkish channel Star TV. In fact Star TV was the latest Turkish channel to be punished by the local authorities for not conforming to their broadcasting ethics code and as a result they were closed down for 24 hours on March 7. The ban also applied to Star TV’s digital Turksat outlet. An onscreen message in Turkish explained the reason for the channel’s temporary absence.

7°E:
Eutelsat W3

D Simaye Azadi Iran National TV has launched via a SCPC carrier on 11596MHz horizontal, SR 3000, FEC 3/4, VPID 33, APID 34 in clear MPEG-2.

5°E:
Sirius 2/3

D ICTV from Ukraine has once again changed Symbol Rate to 2479 on 12634MHz vertical. Animal Planet Mediterranean has been replaced by Discovery Channel Italia within the cable headend multiplex on 12418MHz, VPID 1160, APID 1120 in MPEG-2/PowerVu and on PIDs V1460, A1420 cartoons are being played out continuously in clear MPEG-2. B4U Movies Middle East is currently free-to-air on 12453MHz horizontal, SR 18051, FEC 3/4. CNBC Europe is being fed over one of the Merlin Communication streams at 12111 MHz horizontal, SR 27196, FEC 3/4, VPID 55, APID 56. Also in this package are Nimrooz TV – V52, A53 and Simaye Azadi Iran National TV – V57, A64. There is a new IP service on 12111MHz too, entitled PlanetSky. Simaye Azadi is also available on 12453MHz horizontal, SR 18051, FEC 3/4 in the Kingston TLI platform. A live insert featuring a bell dancer for the Danish regional magazine programme “Lorry” was fed over 12598MHz vertical, SR 7028, FEC 3/4, VPID 33, APID 36, ID: “TV2/LORRY CPH” in clear MPEG-2 on March 6 at 18:45. On the same evening at 18:50 a live report from a snowy town centre for the Swedish network SVT was carried on 12588MHz vertical, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, V308, A256, ID: “TERACOM OB23” in free-to-air MPEG-2.

0.8°/1°W:
Thor 1, 2 & 3 & Intelsat 707

D Not to be outdone, Norway is the proud producer of it’s own version of Big Brother. The programme is using three streams at 11247MHz vertical, VPIDs 517/518/520, APIDs 660/664/672, Ids: “BigBr ITV No1”, “BigBr ITV No2” and “BigBr ITV No3”. Both streams are encoded in Conax and Viaccess. A caption on 11247MHz vertical, SR 24500, FEC 7/8, VPID 519, APID 668 reads; “Termination of Services at 1° West for DTH 01.03.2001. MTV2: Satellite: Thor2, txp7. K-World (Analog): Satellite: Thor3, txp18. Travel: Satellite: Thor2, txp2”.

5°W:
Telecom 2C

D A new audio channel entitled InstoreLive One has started on 12711MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, APID 670. This has replaced Alldays Radio. On 12711MHz horizontal Radio Magdalena has undergone a name change and is now known as Radio 7. On March 3 at 16:25 live and recorded video footage from a law and order demonstration in Paris was fed over 12544MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, VPID 122, APID 132, ID: “OCC1 TC2B” in free-to-air MPEG-2.

7°W:
Nilesat 101 & 102

D Tele Liban is temporarily absent from 12054 MHz vertical, VPID 300, APID 301 (see Arabsat 26 degrees East). A new channel called Wow has replaced LBC Europe at 11900MHz, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, VPID 314, APID 315.

8°W:
Telecom 2A/D

D Live and recorded soccer highlights for the Swiss network SF DRS were fed over 11601MHz horizontal, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, VPID 4194, APID 4195, ID: “SRG D105” in clear MPEG-2 on March 3 at 16:15. This stream was in use again on March 6 with a news report for a Swiss channel on Foot and Mouth disease under the ID “SRG FLAVIA RESERVE”. On the same day at 16:20 12627MHz horizontal, SR 27500, FEC 3/4, V1122, A1132, ID: “GCPE 2” in the GlobeCast multiplex was relaying colour bars overlaid with “SERTE PARIS MIRE 4:2:2”. Coverage of a street festival being held in Switzerland was fed over 11611MHz vertical, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, V1062, A1063 in clear MPEG-2 on March 4 at 14:45. On 12742MHz vertical, SR 5632, FEC 3/4, V21, A22, ID: “BELGACOM” colour bars overlaid with “BERTBF FEED POINT 32 2 737 27 34. Fax 32 2 737 30 31” were present at 14:55 on March 4. RTL have a rolling news feed service on 11520MHz vertical, SR 6665, FEC 7/8, VPID 512, APID 640 in free-to-air MPEG-2.

11°W:
Express 3A & Telecom 2B

D Some occasional news feeds have appeared here over the last few days from Telecom-2B transponders. On March 7 at 15:45 12696 MHz horizontal, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, VPID 512, APID 4112, ID: “FTR/2/6111SDI” was noted displaying this message; “GlobeCast Live F.T. Reportages. Tel 01461 54260/61 ou 0680 319116. Signaux pour reglage TVRO. Audio 1L/1R 1000/400 – 18 DBFS”. At the same time 12527MHz horizontal, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, V308, A256, ID: “dsng vANVES” was active with a live camera shot of a car with “F3 PARIS. Ile-de-France Centre” on the door. On March 11 Telecom-2B lit up with feed traffic as feeds poured in for the French local elections. 12506MHz vertical, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, V512, A4112, ID: “FTR/F.38/1/11MB PAL” carried France 2 feed traffic from Lyon. 12545MHz horizontal, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, V308, A256, ID: “france3alsace” was carrying colour bars overlaid with ” DSNG F3 Alsace”. 12566MHz vertical, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, V308, A256, ID: “APTN UKI94” was also relaying colour bars with “Starbird UKI94”. 12572MHz vertical was in use by France 3 from Rouen. 12590MHz horizontal carried feed traffic for France 3 from Limoges. 12614MHz horizontal active with feeds for GlobalLink AG. A conference was relayed on 12620MHz horizontal, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, V4194, A4195, ID: “Tadiran Scopus”. Optex were using 12640MHz horizontal, SR 6111, FEC 3/4, ID: “OPTEX STANDARD”. More colour bars were in evidence on 12671MHz horizontal, SR 6109, FEC 3/4, V308, A256, ID: “FTR” with “GlobeCast Live FT Reportages” and 12716MHz vertical, SR 6109, FEC 3/4, V512, A4112, ID: “FTR S-TV 6111 SDI” was active with varied feed traffic mainly for France 2.

15°W:
Telstar 12

D In parallel to 11876 MHz horizontal on Astra at 19 degrees East, TV Niepokalanow has left 11600 MHz vertical and is replaced by a TV Puls promo. Some occasional feed traffic for NTL is being carried on 11648MHz horizontal, SR 6618, FEC 3/4. Live coverage of an NFL game between LA Xtreme and Birmingham Bolts was fed over 11520MHz horizontal, SR 6111, FEC 7/8, VPID 308, APID 256, ID: “LONDON RTN”, in clear MPEG-2 on March 12 at 00.00.

30°W:
Hispasat 1A/B/C

D 11605MHz vertical, SR 13496, FEC 3/4, VPID 777, APID 787, ID: “ATLAS

NEWS” is relaying this caption, “ATLAS NEWS. SERVICIO DE NOTICIAS”. On the same frequency via PIDs V776, A786, ID: “ATLAS NEWS GRID” an animated graphics loop is being played out accompanied by music.

45°W:
PAS-1R

D Morocco’s 2M has launched here on 4098MHz horizontal, SR 2892, FEC 3/4, VPID 333, APID 800 in clear MPEG-2. This relay is presumably used to feed 2M’s new Hotbird outlet. There are several new services here in C-Band for Latin America. TeleFuturo has launched on 3760MHz vertical, SR 3700, FEC 3/4, VPID 4194, APID 4195, Red Global is on 3849MHz horizontal, SR 4243, FEC 2/3, V4130, A4131, EuroChannel – 3867MHz vertical, SR 6618, FEC 2/3, V4194, A4195, Red Nacional de Peru – 3942MHz horizontal, SR 2170, FEC 3/4, V33, A34, TeleOnce – 3969MHz horizontal, SR 3000, FEC 7/8, V33, A32, Zona Latina and Via X – 4042MHz vertical, SR 5797, FEC 3/4, VPIDs 1160/1260, APIDs 1161/1220 and TeleNorte is new on 4071MHz vertical, SR 2615, FEC 3/4, V2160, A2120.

53°W:
Intelsat 706

A 2M has left here in favour of a digital relay on PAS-1R. The channel had long been a resident of 3766MHz RHCP from where it broadcast in Secam.

All times in UTC unless otherwise stated.

SR – Symbol Rate
FEC – Forward Error Correction
VPID – Video Programme Identifier
APID – Audio Programme Identifier

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