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Satellite Dish News 507
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? "The World's Most Important Publication!" ?
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? ??????? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ?
? ??? ?? ??? ??????? ??????? ??? ????? ??? ????? ??????? ??????? ?
? ??? ?? ??? ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ??? ????? ??????? ??????? ?
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? ????? ?? ?????? ?? ?? ?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?
? (C)Copyright 1993 By Dolan & Associates - All Rights Reserved ?
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? THE SATELLITE TV INDUSTRY ONLINE MAGAZINE ?
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? Volume 5 - Issue # 07 Price:$2.95 May 1, 1993 ?
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? DISHCETERA Satellite TV Magazine, DISHCETERA - The Satellite TV Online ?
? Magazine, and DISHNEWS are (C)Copyrighted 1993 Dolan & Associates, Box 189 ?
? Bellaire, Texas 77402. All rights reserved. Subscription price is $25.per ?
? year pre-payment in advance in U.S. funds only. Send all subscriptions to ?
? DISHCETERA, Box 189, Bellaire, Texas 77402. ?
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THIS MONTH'S TOP SATELLITE NEWS STORIES
---------------------------------------
FCC ISSUES NEW RULES ON RATES AND RE-REGULATION OF SERVICES
SUPREME COURT JUSTICE REFUSES TO GRANT CABLE TV INJUNCTION
N.C.T.A. SAYS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY RESPONSIBLE FOR PROBLEMS
TCI ANNOUNCES PLANS TO BUILD PAY-PER-USE FIBER OPTICS NETWORK
E.S.P.N.'S SECOND NETWORK LOOKS LIKE IT MAY BE A REALITY
WHAT'S HAPPENING ACROSS THE HOME DISH SKY'S THIS MONTH - THE NEWS
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? FCC ISSUES NEW RULES ON RATES AND RE-REGULATION OF SERVICES ?
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In a 500 page document issued on Monday, May 5, the FCC has decided the
hows and whys of cable tv re-regulation. The rulings are designed to reduce
the rates charged by most cable tv systems to their subscribers but the rates
will not be reduced for at least six months.
Before any rate-reduction can take place, the local regulatory authority
must certify in writing that the cable company serving their area is a monopoly
and that won't happen for at least a month. It will then take an additional
month or so for that documentaion to arrive at the FCC and for the FCC to make
such determination known to the cable company involved. The Cable company will
then have 120 days to make any necessary rate changes.
If you are not served by a monopoly cable company, which is to say there is
more than one company you can call to obtain cable service, then the rules on
rate-reduction do not apply and the competition between the other providers is
intended to regulate the rates they charge.
The FCC says their new rate regulation rules should reduce the nation's
cable tv subscribers' basic cable bills by at least $1 billion dollars. The
rate regulation rules only apply to "basic cable" and basic cable is the level
of service that includes all of the local over-the-air broadcast stations, all
of the public access channels, all of the government access channels, and all
of the educational access channels. I'm not sure if this will also include any
leased access channels that may be available of some systems.
In order to determine what the proper "basic cable" rates should be, the
FCC has provided numerous tables showing pricing schedules that are based on
the number of channels, the number of subscribers, and the services which are
carried. A cable company can simply look at the tables and find-out what they
SHOULD be charging.
If they are over-charging by more than 10% they must lower their rates by
10%. Previously, the FCC said cable systems would have to use the rates that
were in effect on September 30, 1992 to make the determination. Lower rates
for basic cable are expected on three-fourths of all cable systems. After the
rates have been lowered, those rates are frozen until the system receives some
sort-of competition from another multi-channel programming distributor.
Based upon the FCC tables, most "cable services" cost around forty-five
cents per channel or $22.50 per month for a 50 channel cable system.
You can be sure than many cable companies will file appeals with the FCC on
the new rates. When that fails, many will probably file lawsuits and the new
rates won't really be in place for quite some time.
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? SUPREME COURT JUSTICE REFUSES TO GRANT CABLE TV AN INJUNCTION ?
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It hasn't been a very good "court" month for the cable industry. On April
12th a special three-judge panel said the new "must-carry" rules were legal and
cable systems would have to start getting into compliance with the new law.
Of course, the cable guys said they would appeal. And, that's just what
they did. They asked the D.C. Court of Appeals to review the decision. The
D.C. Court of Appeals agreed with the three-judge panel's ruling.
Of course, the cable guys said they would appeal. And, that's just what
they did. They've asked the Supreme Court to take-up the matter as soon as
possible. In the mean time, they sought an injunction to stop enforcement of
the new "must-carry" rules claiming their First Amendment right to speak is
impaired if anyone else is allowed to speak.
On Thursday April 29, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist turned down an
emergency request by cable operators and programmers who sought to postpone
the law's effect until an appeal is acted on by the full Supreme Court.
Judge Rehnquist said, "It simply is not indisputably clear that (the cable
operators and programmers) have a First Amendment right to be free from
government regulation."
The cable operators and programmers say the The Cable Television Consumer
Protection & Competition Act of 1992, violates their free-speech rights. One
section of the new law requires cable operators to devote a portion of their
system's channel capacity to carrying commercial and public broadcast TV
stations. The cable operators and programmers argue that this results in
"directly controlling the content of cable operators' speech."
Lawyers representing the FCC urged the chief justice to reject the emergency
request saying that "the must-carry provisions are designed to regulate an
economic market in serious dysfunction, and thereby to protect the First
Amendment interests of viewers to receive a diversity of programming and
information."
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? N.C.T.A. SAYS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY RESPONSIBLE FOR PROBLEMS ?
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Recently, the Federal Communications Commission asked-for and received
comments on, the compatability problems associated with cable tv systems and
consumer purchased "cable-ready" tv's and vcr's.
More than 60 million homes have cable tv and more than 55% of these also
have vcr's. A large percentage of these tv's and vcr's are known as being
"cable-ready". This means that they incorporate special tuners that will make
it possible for them to be used on cable systems that use industry standard
cable equipment, without the need for consumers to rent un-necessary set-top
convertors from the local cable company.
There's just one small hitch, most cable systems have made every reasonable
effort to alter their systems so that consumers can not use any of these to
acheive any level of suitable operation.
Once upon a time, many cable systems installed "traps" outside of their
cable subscriber's home that prevented reception of un-authorized channels but
also allowed the balance of the channels to pass-thru to subscriber equipment
un-altered. At that time, it was a simple matter for cable consumers to buy a
cable-ready tv and just plug it into the cable jack. It wasn't necessary to
rent set-top convertors or any other additional hardware from the cable
company to make this happen.
It was also a simple matter to purchase a "splitter" and hook-up your
cable-ready vcr or other additional cable-ready tv's without calling the cable
company out to do it for you. And, for the most part, everything worked well
and it didn't cost anyone anything extra because "cable-ready" tuners were now
available in most all consumer level tv's and vcr's at little or no additional
costs.
Cable consumers who purchased their own cable-ready hardware saved their
cable company money too because it wasn't necessary for the company to buy and
install set-top convertors. This also eliminated any maintenance associated
with them and maintenance costs of set-top convertors is usually one of the
cable systems biggest expenses. Every time the dog chewed-up the cord or ate
the remote control or the kids poured Coke into the convertor, the cable system
would have to roll a truck to track-down the problem and replace the unit.
With the consumers buying their own equipment and being responsible for the
cost of maintenance, they tend to take much better care of it because they are
the ones who will have to pay to fix it. And, the cable system doesn't have to
roll a truck. Not everyone had cable-ready hardware but as everyone buys a new
tv with the cable-ready tuners built-in, it wouldn't take very many years
before everyone DID have cable-ready hardware. Most cable systems sent out
bill stuffers suggesting that any new tv's or vcr's purchased be cable-ready.
Then, greed set in. Cable systems had finished wiring most areas for cable
and had already hooked-up all of the homes who wanted their services. The
dollars stopped rolling-in from new installations and cable systems started
looking for ways to squeeze additional dollars out of their existing customers.
Many systems did this by adding new channels and creating new levels of
service called tiers. To get the new channels you would be forced to subscribe
to a more expensive tier of service. The problem was, many systems would put
these new services on channels that any home with cable-ready hardware could
already receive at no additional charge.
To stop cable ready hardware from receiving these new "tiers" of service it
would now be necessary for systems that installed "traps" on the poles, to send
an installer to each and every home and install some more traps. The traps
only cost a couple of dollars and are pretty much maintenance-free and for all
practical purposes, this is the cheapest and most effective way to "protect"
the cable systems services from theft.
However, what does cost a lot of money is sending a truck and installer to
each home - we're talking big bucks here. It would also take a year or so for
a large system to do this.
So, what did the cable systems do? They scrambled the signals and told
their customers to come in and pick-up a set-top convertor box. Of course, a
deposit is required to get the boxes and also a monthly fee to rent the boxes.
And, you have to have one for EVERY tv and vcr even though every tv and vcr is
cable-ready. Want to record a couple of shows on different channels while
you're gone? Too bad, using the cable systems equipment defeats many of the
most popular features on your cable-ready hardware. You also now have an extra
remote control unit to keep-up with. To add insult to injury, many cable
systems are charging an additional monthly fee to get the remote control unit
that is supplied free with their convertor. Pure and simple greed!
Needless to say, the FCC had received many thousands of complaints about
these problems so they issued a notice of inquiry and took official comments
and proposals from anyone who was interested. The FCC plans to issue some new
rules that will eliminate these kinds of problems.
As was expected, consumers, consumer groups, consumer electronics
manufacturers, and representatives of the consumer elctronics industry, all
pointed-out that all of the problems with cable-ready hardware not working in
the intended manner, is the fault of the cable industry. Every cable system
does something different to defeat the use of cable-ready equipment.
You'll be glad to know that the National Cable Television Association filed
comments with the FCC that say the problems are with consumers and the makers
of the cable-ready hardware. The cable industry wants tv sets and vcr's to be
manufactured with better tuners??? They also want tv sets and vcr's to be
built with ANSI 563 multiport decoder interfaces. This would allow cable
systems to rent subscribers a set-top convertor/descrambler that plugs into the
interface. They NCTA forgot to mention that "trapping" instead of scrambling
would immediately solve all of the problems with a minimum of difficulty.
The Electronics Industry Association wants the FCC to adopt a standard that
would force cable systems to do "whatever they want to do to their signals"
outside of customers homes and pass only unscrambled signals into the home or
to adopt a "national scrambling standard". I know that you'll find this hard
to believe, but the cable industry opposes that idea.
The NCTA completed their comments by saying that all consumers need to do
is rent the necessary convertor/descramblers from their local cable company and
that would solve all of the difficulties.
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? TCI ANNOUNCES PLANS TO BUILD PAY-PER-USE FIBER OPTICS NETWORK ?
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After the cable industry spent the last two years telling lies about how
the passage of the cable bill would cut future spending by cable companies and
eliminate their investments in new technologies, Tele-Communications Inc, the
world's largest cable operator, has announced it plans to spend $1.9 billion
dollars upgrading it's systems and investing in new technologies.
Saying they will lay 7,000 miles of fiber optic cables in less than three
years, 27 years faster than they previously claimed it would take telephone
companies to do the same thing, TCI plans to offer a variety of new services to
their subscribers beginning next year.
Using "smart" set-top convertors containing computer chips, TCI customers
will be able to shop-at-home, bank-at-home, make airline reservations, play
video games, AND access hundreds of channels of programming - that's the only
thing you can't do right now using your existing telephone lines.
Most of these hundreds of channels TCI plans to offer are nothing more than
pay-per-view variations of existing programming and numerous duplications. For
instance, they plan to offer a dozen pay-per-view movies starting every 15
minutes for convenience. They also plan on using digital storage to store
various tv programs for later playback on a pay-per-view basis. You can
already get a dozen pay-per-view movies that start every 30 minutes and set
your vcr to record a program or group of programs while you are gone and then
view them later for free. I can't see too much point to any of this aside from
the fact that TCI wants to make sure that telephone companies don't offer the
same things.
TCI is said to be in partnership talks with General Instruments, Intel Corp
and Microsoft to make all of this happen. At the recent National Association
of Broadcasters trade show, Intel and Microsoft were at the General Instruments
booth demonstrating set-top computer consoles that featured Microsoft Windows
menus, that allowed the selection of various video options.
Intel, Microsoft, and General Instruments have entered into a partnership
to produce a "computer processing module" that will be incorporated into the
DigiCable set-top convertors and DigiCipher descrambler modules manufactured by
General Instruments.
G.I.'s Hal Krisbergh says they are putting a $1000. 486 level computer into
a $100. module which will have the capability of doing "anything" the cable
operator wants it to do. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said, "a wide variety
of new programming and services must be created to entice the consumer into
the digital revolution."
Okay, I'm a little confused here; if G.I. can put a $1000. computer into a
$100. module, why can't they put a $45. Videocipher into a $100. module?
For those of you who were on another planet and didn't hear TCI's planted
news story on every network or read about it in every newspaper, I have
included it's text here.
---
DENVER, Co. (April 12) - Tele-Communications Inc., the nation's largest
cable-television company, unveiled a $1.9 billion plan Monday to build a
cross-country fiber-optic system capable of delivering as many 500 channels and
a forest of electronic information at futuristic speed.
TCI, with 10 million customers and a 20 percent share of the U.S. cable
market, said the system will eventually entail the laying of 7,000 miles of
fiber-optic cable across the nation, linking more than 250 cities by the end of
1996. Fiber-optic cable can carry far more data than regular cable, which, in
terms of television channels alone, tends to fill up at 54 channels.
John Malone, Tele-Communications' CEO said the network is a step toward
realizing President Clinton's goal of creating an information "superhighway"
across the nation. "The Clinton administration has proposed a $17 billion
government-coordinated communications infrastructure development plan that
would build a two-way information superhighway across America," he said. "All
agree that private enterprise must pull the strongest oar in meeting this
need," he added.
"This is an important signal to Washington," said Christopher Dixon,
analyst with Paine Webber. The plan should also enable TCI to generate
revenues from services not regulated by the Federal Communications Commissions.
About 65 percent of TCI's business comes under regulation.
Tele-Communications said its new network, called the Infostructure Network,
will eventually give subscribers a range of services including interactive
educational programming, multiple movies, enhanced shop-at-home offerings,
data storage and transfer and computer software delivery, cable commuting and
huge amounts of television programming.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS SUPERHIGHWAY
Q. Why are they spending this money?
A. Fiber optics is a superior delivery system to the current pencil-sized
coaxial cables that currently run cable-TV into the home. A strand of
fiber can deliver up to 500 channels, giving consumers greater choice.
Q. Will it just upgrade the television set?
A. Initially yes, by offering more channels with far better picture
quality. But the company also said it will allow consumers "more
personalized control over their TV service." It will allow two-way
television, such as home shopping, and also links to data bases.
Q. It's like a computer then?
A. It will allow the television to act more like a computer. In the future,
you might be able to transmit memos to the office, ring up data bases for
flight information, news or stocks and send video pictures to distant
family members over the fiber optic lines.
Q. Isn't that what telephone lines are for?
A. Exactly. And that's why a fight has developed, for telephone companies
want to offer similar services over their lines. Essentially cable
television companies and telephone companies are going head-to-head for
control over delivering communications into the home.
Q. Which side will win the battle?
A. Analysts say cable tv has an edge in delivery, while the telephone
companies have more capital. The most likely scenario will be for both
sides to link up and come to the table with their best offerings.
Q. Didn't Vice President Al Gore talk about this information "superhighway"
during the campaign?
A. The fiber optic superhighway was a cornerstone of the president's
economic plan. But private enterprise is jumping ahead of the government
in trying to get the program off the ground for consumers rather than for
schools and businesses as Gore envisioned.
Q. So will I be able to use my new-fangled television.
A. Any new technology comes with its pitfalls and analysts are not even
sure what the TV set will look like when this revolution is over. The new
television/telephone/computer will have to be cheaper and easier to use
than anything that's out there now, or consumers won't buy it.
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? E.S.P.N.'S SECOND NETWORK LOOKS LIKE IT MAY BE A REALITY SOON ?
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
After much speculation, ESPN says they plan to begin offering, a second
channel of "hipper" programming late this year. There is also talk that the
so-called ESPN II would be a "cable exclusive channel" and not available
through other distribution methods. Since ESPN is owned by Capital Cities/ABC
and not by a cable company, ESPN is not required to offer their programming for
sale by other technologies.
Herb Granath, president of Capital Cities/ABC Video Enterprises says that
there is plenty of sports programming to not only fill ESPN II but also a
third ESPN channel. ESPN will not make any decisions on marketing for ESPN II
until the dust settles from the passage of the cable bill.
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? WHAT'S HAPPENING ACROSS THE HOME DISH SKY THIS MONTH ?
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
CNBC has pulled all of its ads from TV GUIDE because they won't carry the
program listings for CNBC's programs. CNBC says they reach 48.5 million cable
tv homes and are the largest network not listed in TV GUIDE.
Recently, E! ENTERTAINMENT conducted a write-in campaign to get their
listings published in TV GUIDE. TV GUIDE says that every time they add a new
network's listings they have to add several pages to the guide and that costs
lots of money. TV GUIDE's CABLE EXTRA is now being distributed with the Boston
Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Chicago editions of TV GUIDE and does contain
the listings for CNBC and E! ENTERTAINMENT.
- - - - - - - - - -
THE GAME CHANNEL will officially launch their service as part of THE FAMILY
CHANNEL beginning June 7th. A two and one half hour block of interactive
programming will begin at 12:30 (CST) with Let's Make A Deal, Trivial Pursuit,
$100,000 Name That Tune, and another episode of Let's Make A Deal.
It should be noted that these first shows will not really be interactive
but will show viewers how to play the various games. Later on, they didn't
give any idea when, the shows would switch to true interactive formats using
either 800 or 900 numbers. [I bet I can guess which one!]
Early next year another similar channel, THE GAME SHOW CHANNEL, plans to
launch it's network and THE GAME CHANNEL wanted to be the first to get started.
- - - - - - - - - -
Remember the LAS VEGAS ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK? The one that spent a year
promoting several different blocks of programming on one transponder and then
vanished without any trace or explanation? A very interesting press release
surfaced this last week and says as follows:
---
Las Vegas Entertainment Network signs definitive sales and purchase
agreement for acquisition of Maxim Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas
Marina Del Rey, Ca. - Las Vegas Entertainment Network announced Friday it
has escrowed funds and signed a formal purchase and sales agreement to acquire
the Maxim Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
This follows a November 1992 announcement that LVEN had entered into a
preliminary letter of intent to acquire the Maxim, which is located just off
the famed Las Vegas "Strip" and within close proximity to major resorts such as
Caesars Palace, Bally's, the Flamingo Hilton and the Mirage.
The Maxim, which has operated under the same ownership since it opened its
doors in 1977, contains a newly renovated 795 room hotel, a 20,000 square foot
casino, a cabaret showroom and two restaurants among many other amenities. For
the fiscal year ended June 30, 1992 Maxim revenues were approximately $60
million.
LVEN is a media-based company and we intend to marry several resort
destination projects currently in development with our ongoing television
programming production, to maximize mutual marketing and publicity
opportunities," said Bruce Lasky, LVEN vice-president.
Las Vegas Entertainment Network Inc. is currently engaged in the production
and international distribution of television programming that showcases
entertainment and events centered in Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe.
The company's first television series, "Las Vegas Tonight," premiered in
1992 on France 3, one of three major networks broadcasting to French-speaking
Europe. Distribution agreements are also into place for broadcast outlets in
Spain, Portugal, Central and South America.
---
I guess they decided not to serve the home dish market in this country. It
would have been nice if they had issued a press release saying that.
- - - - - - - - - -
The founders of MOVIETIME, which is now E! ENTERTAINMENT, have announced
plans to launch FXTV: FITNESS & EXERCISE TELEVISION, sometime in 1994. The
channel will be free to cable systems that carry it on their basic level.
- - - - - - - - - -
The D.C. Court Of Appeals has issued a temporary injuction stopping the
enforcement of recently enacted FCC rules prohibiting indecency on public
access channels. The injunction will remain in effect until the court can
rule on the constitutionality of the new regulations later this year.
- - - - - - - - - -
A new channel to deliver programming to the hotels and other resorts, as
well as, cruise ships in the Caribbean area has been announced and plans to be
in operation on June 1. Colin Chisholm III, a former executive with Turner
Broadcasting and United Artists Television, said the network will offer
entertainment and business news programming that its affiliates can pick up
using a satellite dish and unscramble for their guests.
The network has signed agreements to buy programming from the CNBC and from
E! Entertainment Television. Chisholm said Caribbean resorts offer few
English-language programs that appeal to American tourists.
- - - - - - - - - -
VIEWERS CHOICE has announced that they will begin feeding three channels of
CONTINUOUS HITS and one channel of HOT CHOICE from a single transponder using
DigiCipher beginning in August of this year. Starting next month, authorized
affiliates will receive free DigiCipher integrated receiver descrambler units.
The new compressed channels will be offered on Satcom C4 #18 and a single
channel of VIEWERS CHOICE will remain in the analog format on Satcom C3 #3 for
the time being. The DigiCipher units cost around $2000. for anyone who wants
to be an "early adapter!"
REQUEST TV has also announced that it will switch to five channels using
compression later this year, however they are not providing any more details at
this time. Clearly, if they don't keep-up with the other guys they would lose
all of their customers and go out of business.
In case anyone is interested, there's going to be a national pay-per-view
conference in New Orleans on May 10 -12 at the Hyatt Regency.
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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