Welcome to the AnalogueSat website.
***All European analogue tv services have now closed so the info on the site is now solely for historical interest***
This site now has an online translation service. I have no idea how accurate the translations are, but I hope they will be a useful addition to the site for non English speakers. (Page bookmarks - like those below - do not work correctly with the translation - they link to the English version of the site. Scroll down instead).Follow the bookmarks to the section of this page you want:
With analogue shutdown imminent you might want to put a dish up for some digital kit. Have a look at http://motorised-satellite-uk.com/ for some ideas.
One of the lads from the Digital Spy forum has put some of the old SES-Astra promo videos on line. They can be downloaded here..Note - the Orbitalzone site has disappeared so Ive found the last update on the Wayback machine archive site.
If you want help or information, why not join a forum? Theres loads out there. Try Satellites.co.uk
1st May 2012: Eurosport was
closed down overnight so apart from the 19 or so info cards that really is it for analogue
satellite transmissions in Europe. This site started in February 2001, and I never
expected it to be active more than 5 or 6 years, so getting 11 out of it has been a bonus.
Its been great fun keeping the site going over the last 11 years and keeping up to date
with all the changes. Thanks to all the visitors over the years, I hope its been
interesting for you as well.
Please dispose of your
redundant analogue receivers in an appropriate manner - take them up the local tip and
thrown them in the electrical recycling bins - dont just throw them out into the domestic
rubbish.
Screengrabs of the closedown tickers, and final off air notices can be found here http://tinyurl.com/8ymu7q8
30th April 2012: Well thats just about it for analogue - almost all channels are carrying "closed down" captions . Except one - Eurosport is still on air and becomes the very last active analogue service in Europe! (Although its expected to close as well later tonight). Several of the old analogue channels have been digitalised already and are now carrying both SD & HD channels.
Front page counter now 170,202
28th April 2012: Well all good things come to an end - tomorrow is the last full day of
analogue broadcasting on 19E. Most if not all the remaining channels are now
running ticker / info bars saying the channels close on the 30th. A few tp's are expected
to stay on air for a few days with info cards, and according to figures I saw last week
around 500,000 German households are still to change to digital! Analogue tp's are
expected to start being pulled off air from around 0200 uk time Monday morning with
digital services on air by the early morning.. Numerous new HD digital channels will
be launching in the next few days.
The site will be left up with one last update about the channel closedowns.
5th April 2012: Only 25 days
to go :-( Apparently 11 of the 29 currently active transponders will remain on air for a
few days showing infomation about the closedown and digital migration. (Much like what
happened on 5W last November). Once the analogues are off air around 0300 uk time, some of
the transponders will be reconfigured and digital HD services will start coming on air
about 0500 uk time.
Just as a matter of interest the counter on the front page now reads 169,672. I;'ll update
this after final closedown.
8th March 2012: Just over 50 days to go to the 19E decimation. :-(
2nd January 2012: Viva & Comedy Central closed around 0300 German time, DMAX lasted until 0900 German time. These should be the last 19E closures before the decimation of the services at the end of April
The 19E shutdown times are staggered:
29.04.2012 - 30.04.2012
21:00 Tp.49 (KI.KA) to closedown
03:00 Tp.30 (rbb)
03:01 Tp.35 (arte)
03:02 Tp.36 (Phoenix)
03:03 Tp.39 (WDR television)
03:04 Tp.40 (TV-hr)
03:05 Tp.41 (BR-alpha)
03:06 Tp.45 (Bavarian Television)
03:07 Tp.43 (MDR network)
03:08 Tp.48 (SWR BW TV)
03:09 Tp.61 (SWR television RP)
03:10 Tp.10 (3sat)
03:11 Tp.33 (ZDF)
03:12 Tp.25 (NDR TV)
03:13 Tp.19 (Das Erste)
1st January 2012: 5 closures
over New Years night:
From 19E DMAX - 11377V / Viva Germany - 11612H /
& time share channels Nickelodeon & Comedy Central - 11421H
From 5W Canal+ France - 12648V
5W is now down to the two Fransat promos running on 12564V & 12690V
14th December 2011: TF1 has closed as expected. Apparently its carrying the Fransat loop now. Canal+ continues for the time being
3rd December 2011: TF1 & Canal+ are still active on 5W along with the Fransat promo loop.. TF1 will close on December 13th.
29th November 2011: Major changes at 5W as exepcted. All channels have closed apart from TF1 and Canal+. France 2 is still on air but just running a promo loop for the digital Fransat service.
27th November 2011: Two days to go before all 7 channels on 5W are turned off forever :(
9th November 2011: DMAX will also cease off 19E at the end of December. It will close off 11377V :-( Its now just 172 days until final analogue closedown
1st November 2011: Two more channels are confirmed to close at the end of December - time sharing channels Nickelodeon / Comedy Central will close off 11421H
16th October 2011: Viva will close off 11612H on 19E at the end of December
2nd October 2011: All 7 analogue channels on 5W will close on 29th November 2011
1st October 2011: Channel 21 Shop closed off 19E Astra 1KR 11224H at midnight UTC. The frequency has already been digitalised and the Austrian channels are up and running.
18th September 2011: Channel 21 Shop closes off 11224H on 19E on October 1st. The frequency will be digitalised for Austrian TV.
13th August 2011: If you are still using analogue reception from 19E you need to upgrade soon. Only 260 days to final closedown of all the analogue channels off 19E..
11th August 2011:Astra 1N has been safely
launched and is heading to 28E to provide interim capacity for the UK until one of the new
Astra 2's can be put into service late in 2012.
Yahsat 1A has been launched and has slotted at 52.5E.
7th June 2011: Astra 2C has moved to 19E, and the first channel to move over to her is an analogue service! Arte on 10995H holds the honour, although reports are now coming in that Arte is no longer available in parts of eastern Europe due to the satellite change.
30th April 2011: 1 Year
and counting until all remaining analogue channels go off air All remaining
channels close at 0200 uk time on 30th April 2012.
Rumours are circulating several of the smaller channels may go later this year
30th March 2011: More news about 30/4/2012. The remaining analogues will all be shutdown at 0300 German time (0200 British Summer Time)
26th March 2011: Not much happening on the satellite front recently, although there is an interesting article about analogue switch off and how it affects the German market:
Almost three million German analogue DTH satellite households need to convert to digital before the final switch-off date of April 30, 2012. “That means 9,000 analogue households need to go digital per workday,” according to Wolfgang Elsäser, managing director Astra Deutschland, during the presentation of the 2010 Satellite Monitor results.
25th February 2011:
Today is the 10th anniversary of the site! We have had over 160,000
visits in 10 years!
I never expected either the
site to be still going after 10 years or there still to be analogue tv transmissions
available in Europe. :-)
1st January 2011: Happy New Year! The last day of 2010 was a bad day with three 19E closures , although one new channel started as well:
Astro TV left its timeshare on 10714H
Neun Live left 10936V a few seconds after 2300 uk time - they had the midnight chimes and
some fireworks then the signal was cut
MTV Germany left 11612H
Viva Germany changed frequency from 11127V to 11612H
Sixx has started in the evening timeslot of Astra on 10714H
28th December 2010: After a postponement caused by bad weather Eutelsat's huge internet satellite KaSat was safely launched on an Ariane 5 on December 26th. SHe will slot at 9E and is expected to enter service in May 2011.
1st December 2010: Hylas 1 and Intelsat 17 were successfully launched at the end of November. Hylas 1 is a UK interner bird and will slot at 33.5W. Intelsat 17 will go to 66E.
1st November 2010: Eutelsat decided they couldnt do anything with W3B so she was drained of fuel, the batteries disharged and she was abandoned in her transfer orbit. She is expected to decay in about 25-30 years time.
30th October 2010: Eutelsat had a successful launch of their new bird for 16E on the evening of October 28th. Then an hour after launch a major fuel leak was discovered onboard the craft and she was immediately declared a total loss! Poor old W3B will be deorbited into the Pacific in the next few days. Eutelsat have immediately ordered W3D to replace her, the new sat is expected to launch early in 2013. In the meantime W3C which is under construction will launch summer 2011 and go straight to 16E to allow the three ailing birds there (W2M, Sesat 1 & Eurobird 16A) to be redeployed.
7th October 2010: More 19E
closures and changes coming:
MTV will cease at the end of December. The digital version is going pay, so theres no need
for the analogue version to be free
Viva will take over the MTV frequency 11612H leaving the old Viva freq 11127V free to be
digitalised
Astro TV will cease its evening transmissions on the Kika timeshare on 10714H at the end
of December
A new part time channel starts on 1/1/2011!! Sixx will take over the
Astro TV evening hours on 10714H
2nd October 2010: According to my German
contact 9Live will cease off 19E 10936V on December 31st 2010 :-(
Its now less than 600 days until the mass switch off on 30th April 2012.....
I predict quite a few of the smaller channels will cease analogue during 2011 - SES
desperately need some of the capacity back for HD & digital transmissions
17th August 2010: 3 recent
satellite changes at 19E
10803 H : N24 moved from Astra 1KR to Astra 1M
10936 V : 9 Live moved from Astra 1KR to Astra 1M
11421 V : Nick Deutschland/Comedy Central Deutschland moved from Astra 1L to Astra 1KR
The final analogue channel on Hotbird 13E was turned off on July 27th (TV5 Monde on 11320V). The transponder has been digitalised for HD services. 13E has now been removed from the active analogue satellites list.
More satellite changes:
Astra 1E was withdrawn from 23.5E and was drifting westwards in early August
Astra 1G was withdrawn from 23.5E & replaced Astra 2C at 31.5E in mid July
Astra 1D was withdrawn from 31.5E and sent to 2E in June / July
Intelsat 706 was withdrawn from 54.8E and is being sent to 72E to replace the failed
Intelsat 4.
Eutelsat W3B will launch in September and will operate at 16E.
Badr 5 was successfully launched and was in service at 26E by mid July.
Thaicom 2 will be moving into European skies in a few weeks time - she will be activating
the Thai 50.5E slot.
Arabsat 5A is new at 30.5E She replaced Arabsat 2B
Arabsat 2B was withdrawn from 30.5E and is now operating in C-band only at 20.2E
1st July 2010: Das Vierte / Mediashop closed off 10729V (Astra 1KR) at 2300uk time yesterday
18th April 2010: SES
have confirmed all remaining analogue transmissions on 19E will be axed on 30 April 2012.
News here
(in German)
TV5 Monde is expected to cease from 13E by the end of July 2010.
All the analogue channels on 5W are expected to go in November 2011 when France shuts down
the analogue tv transmitter network
31st March 2010: Two
closures today. Duna TV left 10815H on Hotbird 6 at 13E and CNN ceased off Astra 1KR at
19E. No doubt the tp's will be digitalised very quickly.
Update to the W2 story - it was decided she wasnt salvageable and moved to junk orbit in
mid March :-(
15th March 2010: Duna TV will cease operations from 10815H on 13E on March 31st. This will leave TV5 Monde as the only analogue service on 13E.
11th March 2010: CNN will cease transmission of 11627V on 19E at the end of March :-(
6th March 2010: Eutelsat W2 at 16E expired with a major technical fault on January 27th. All traffic has been moved over to the co-located Eurobird 16A, Eutelsat W2M (moved to 16E in early January) and Eutelsat Sesat 1 (moved from 36E when W7 went into service and on station at 16E by the end of January.
12th January 2010: The solitary analogue channel on 8W (Canal + 12606V) has closed.
4th January 2010: News from
my German contact on the DigitalSpy forum - Das Vierte 10729V analogue is now only
available between 0500 and 1700 CET. The rest of the time Mediashop uses the frequency.
Not much good for viewers as Das Vierte only has its own programmes in the evenings -
during the day CNBC / Living Gospel & Astro TV provide programming!!
1st January 2010: Happy New Year! As expected we lost Sonnenklar off 11464H on 19E in the final hour of 31st December. The tp was immediately digitalised in DVB-S2 for Pro7 HD channels.
26th December 2009: More defunct European satellites spotted by the satobs.org lads. This time its Arabsat 1A & Hotbird 1 seen to be flashing slowly as they tumble slowly in their eternal junk orbits.
More satellite moves to update as well:
Thor 6 is on air at 1W
Recently launched Intelsat 15 is testing at 63.2E
Amos 1 has been sold/leased to Intelsat has moved to 47.2E and been renamed Intelsat 24
Eutelsat W7 is testing near 50E and will be replacing Sesat 1 at 36E.
Ex Asian bird Asiasat 2 has been renamed Amos 5i. She will slot at 17E and provide C-band
coverage into Africa
Eutelsat W1 has moved to 4E and been renamed Eurobird 4A
Hotbird 3 (Eurobird 10 / Eurobird 4) was moved to 76E and renamed Eutelsat W76. She has
now moved to 75E and has been redesignated Eutelsat W75. She is also know as ABS 1B aftwer
ABS took capacity on the ageing satellite - W75 is now running 0.8degrees inclined so has
a couple of useful years left before the wobble gets too big.
Hotbird 4 (Atlantic Bird 4) is operating as additional capacity at 15.8E and is renamed
Eurobird 16
Turksat 1C operating at 31E is now running 1.5 degrees inclined so doesnt have much more
than a year left.
Badr 3 has moved out over the Atlantic and is drifting slowly westward out past 16W
Astra 1C at 2E is running heavily inclined - now almost 3°.
More inclined birds - Thor 2 at 5E - 1.4° / Astra 1D at 31.3E - 2° / Sirius 3 at 1W -
0.8° / Intelsat 603 at 20W - 6.7° / Intelsat 603 at 47.5E - 4.8°.
24th December 2009: Not much to update recently - although there is more info on the final 19E closedown. It now looks likely any analogue channels still on air in early 2012 will be pulled off air for good on April 30th 2012 :-( I still reckon channels will start closing beforehand though, especially for any channels that have transmission agreements that expire beforehand.
29th October 2009: Sonnenklar TV is the next analogue to close off 19E. They will disappear before the end of the year... :-(
21st October 2009: Latest update on the 19E channel closures - all 19E public channels (ARD / ZDF / any remaining regional channels) will cease on April 30th 2012. Any commercial channels still on air at this point are expected to close as well. A third of the freed psb capacity will immediately be filled with HDTV versions of the public channels.....
23rd September 2009: SES
have confirmed that they plan to close all the remaining 19E analogue channels down by the
end of 2012 :-(
ARD / ZDF have decided "early 2012" for their closedown
22nd September 2009: Lots of
satellite changes:
Eurobird 9 (ex Hotbird 2) has slotted at 48E and been renamed Eutelsat W48
Eurobird 4 (ex Hotbird 3 / Eurobird 10 has slotted in Asian skies at 76E & been
renamed Eutelsat W76
Astra 1F has gone to 57E although is currently off air.
Bard 3 (ex Arabsat 3A) has moved from 26E to 20E.(20E is Arabsat's new C-band slot and
will have a new bird launched there early next year)
Amos 1 left 4W and is moving slowly eastwards.
30th July 2009: Astra 1F is
off air and no doubt will be redeployed to another orbital slot in the near future. The
final frequency changes:
11229V RTL moved Astra 1F - Astra 1KR or Astra 1L (depends on which source you look at)
11259V Eurosport moved Astra 1F to Astra 1KR or Astra 1L (depends on which source
you look at)
11347V 3Sat moved Astra 1F to Astra 1KR or Astra 1L (depends on which source you
look at)
11421H Comedy Central / Nick Germany moved Astra 1F to Astra 1KR or Astra 1L
(depends on which source you look at)
the exact satellite will be updated when confirmed by SES
29th July 2009: The site
webcounter on the front page passed 150,000 hits within the last 24 hours!
More satellite swaps at 19E:
11288V Sat 1 moved Astra 1F - Astra 1L
11332H Kabel 1 moved Astra 1F to Astra 1KR
11377V DMax moved Astra 1F to Astra 1KR
11406V Pro Sieben moved Astra 1F to Astra 1L
27th July 2009: Two more
frequency swaps:
11082H BR Alpha moved Astra 1L - Astra 1KR
11141H Bayerisches Fernsehen moved Astra 1L - Astra 1KR
23rd July 2009: It
definitely looks like Astra 1F is being run down in preparation to being removed from 19E
- channels are steadily being removed
11273H Vox has moved from Astra 1F to Astra 1KR
11391H Super RTL has moved from Astra 1F to Astra 1KR
Radio updates from "KDG-Freak" on
the Digital Spy forum:
Bremen 1 & Nordwest Radio ceased tranamission via ADR [Astra Digital Radio] -
(yes its still going!) Das Erste frequency at the beginning of June
The POS shooping mall channels stopped off the n-tv transponder mid July.
22nd July 2009: 11244H
Channel 21 Shop is the latest channel to change satellites at 19E. Its moved Astra 1F -
Astra 1M
10759V QVC moved Astra 1KR - Astra 1M
21st July 2009: Well its
been a while since the last update, but to be honest its been VERY quiet in recent weeks.
Also the weather was so nice in the Spring I was outside as much as possible!
However theres been a few 19E radio closures on 19E, and also a number of satellite
changes for various frequencies.
10714H Kika / Astro TV moved from Astra 1KR to
Astra 1M
11214H RTL 2 moved from Astra 1F to Astra 1KR
11464H Sonnenklar moved from Astra 1KR to Astra 1M
11523H DSF moved from Astra 1KR to Astra 1M
11553H Tele5 moved from Astra 1L to Astra 1M
11582H NDR moved from Astra 1L to Astra 1M
11612H MTV Germany moved from Astra 1KR to Astra 1M
11641H N-TV moved from Astra 1KR to Astra 1M
And having just been scanning the
satellite-observation website, the sat-obs lads have spotted more of our defunct comms
sats flashing as they tumble above our heads. This time its Hispasat 1B & Turksat 1B
that have been spotted.
27th May 2009: lots of satellite related news
in recent weeks:
Express AM-44 has taken over all services from Express A3 at 11W
Eutelsat W2A has taken over all services from Eutelsat W1 at 10E
Eutelsat W1 is rumoured to be redeployed to 80E in June
Hotbird 4 / Atlantic Bird 4 has slotted at 16E and been redesignated again - shes now
Eurobird 16
the faulty Eutelsat W2M is dumped at 3.8E
Astra 2C has moved from 28.2E and is now at 31.5E
Intelsat 702 has replaced Intelsat 704 at 66E, and 704 is drifting westwards.
The elderly ex American bird Galaxy 26 is on station at 50.8E and is being used for
military communications
Telstar 11N is on air at 37.5W
29th April 2009: Thanks to "KDG-Freak" on the Digital Spy forum for the following information - there will be 5 analogue radio channel closures on April 30th :-(
2 ADR channels
Antenne Bayern 11332H
Rock Antenne 11332H?
3 on normal analogue sub carriers
Antenne Bayern 11332H
Deutschlandfunk 11347V
Deutschlandradio Kultur 11347V
Eutelsat W4A seems to have slotted at about
40E
Recently launched Russian bird Express-AM44 is on station at 11W
Hotbird 10 is on air in her temporary guise as Atlantic Bird 4A at 7W
The now redundant Atlantic Bird 4 is drifting eastwards.
3rd April 2009: Some interesting info about the relocation of Galaxy 26 from American space to the skies above the Middle East
7th March 2009: On 19E RTL Shop has been renamed Channel 21.
3rd March 2009: Hotbird 2 / Eurobird 9 has been renamed again - shes now Eutelsat W4A, and is moving away from 9E to a new temporary home at 36E.
21st February 2009: More
defunct communications satellites have been spotted by the Sat-Obs lads. Seen in the
last couple of weeks - Eutelsat 1-F1 & Eutelsat 2-F2. Both spotted flashing so are
tumbling as they forlornly circle the Earth.
Hotbird 10 successfully launched a few days ago. She will eventually replace Hotbird 6,
but first shes going to 7W to replace Atlantic Bird 4.
18th February 2009: Astra 1G has moved to 23.5E and is on air transmitting nice high power digital signals.
17th February 2009: Hotbird 9 went into service in the early hours of this morning. She took over all the traffic from Hottie 7A which is to move to 9E and become Eurobird 9A. EB9A is expected in service by March 1st.
3rd February 2009: - One of the German
speaking lads on the Digital Spy forum has been in contact with some of the German
channels that we didnt have analogue closedown dates for. His research says:
Sonnenklar - mid 2011,
DMAX - depends what Das Erste & ZDF does, so in effect they will go in 2010 as well.
QVC - havent made any decisions yet.
Das Vierte - "eventually"
Eurosport - no decision yet
1st February 2009: Duna TV are reported to be shutting down their analogue channel on 10815H on 13E on April 1st :-( That will leave only one analogue left on 13E - TV5 Monde.
28th January 2009: The newly launched Eutelsat W2M (was to replace W2 at 16E), has suffered a major power system anomaly before it even went into service. Eutelsat have decided its not fit for service and will not be joining the fleet... Eutelsat W3B which was supposed to be going to 7E mid 2010 will now go to 16E.
25th January 2009: Looks like Tele5 on 19E is the latest candidate for a 2010 closedown.
21st January 2009: Some old sat equipment up for grabs - postage only:
A Philips CTU900 D2MAC decoder. Complete with
(Dutch) instruction manual and remote. Powers up OK. Has a European 2 pin plug on it, but
I can swap it for a UK 3-pin. It'll probably cost about 12 quid to send this.
Nokia DVB9600S digital receiver. With remote. It has the original Nokia software on board,
and is prone to resetting itself, but someone with the know-how could probably load
DVB2000 onto the receiver and solve that problem. For that reason I'll throw in a BDM
interface to do this. Again free, but this is a bit heavy so will cost £15 to send.
Alternatively if anyone is in the Twyford, Berkshire area they can pick either one up for
nowt.
Contact adam.cartledgeATorange.fr if you are interested.
17th January 2009: Astra 5A (ex Sirius 2) at 31.5E has been declared a total loss after a major technical failure. Press release here
9th January 2009: TMC has
left 11100V on Atlantic Bird 3 on 5W
A new website dedicated to Eurobird 9 and the fascinating selection of digital channels
carried by it at at the 9E orbital slot is currently under development :-) More info
later.
1st January 2009: Happy New
Year! On 19E 11303H (Comedy Central) is reported to have been turned off at 2300 uk
time. CC continues in time share with Nick Germany on 11421H.
Ive taken another end of year "snapshot" of the current state of the analogue
channels. The old lists can be found here.
Thanks to Paul Goodridge for this info about the current availability of analogue boxes in
French hypermarkets:
I have the catalogue for 'Brico Depot' here and a system comprising the receiver and 80cm
dish with lnb is €39.70 while the receiver alone is €32.50 (dish+lnb only is
€35...) The other major chains (Mr Bricolage, Brico Marche etc.) also do the same or
similar systems for about 10% more. These receivers are nothing exceptional but do the job
fine, they are normally pre-programmed for all the available French channels along with
some German - total of 500 channel memory. I haven't used one myself - I use two ex-sky
units I got for free from a ham radio rally.
Ive also added a second page about painting & hiding dishes thanks to a contributor.
29th December 2008: Astra 1M has finished testing at 33.5E & is heading towards 19E.
22nd December 2008: On 19E Comedy Central started timeshare with Nick Germany on 11421H on December 15th. (CC is on after 2015-0600 CET). This is in preparation for 11303H to be discontinued at the end of the month.
20th December 2008: Hotbird 9 & Eutelsat W2M have been safely launched from Kourou. HB 9 will replace HB 7A which will be redeployed to 9E, W2M will go to 16E and replace W2.
17th December 2008: TVN has finally ceased analogue transmissions with the info card turned off and the frequency digitalised
15th December 2008: TVN has ceased off 11509V on 13E and is carrying an info card. Hotbird is now down to 2 analogue channel :-(
29th November 2008: More
analogue channel losses are likely - Prosiebensat (Prosieben, Kabel Eins, N24, Sat1
& Neun Live) and RTL (RTL, RTL 2, Super RTL, RTL Shop, Vox, n-tv) have both announced
plans to go digital only in 2010... With over 25 channels already expected to disappear, I
cant see many of the smaller operators holding out much longer
Astra 1M is reported on air testing at 33.5E with high power analogue carriers
Galaxy 11 has safely slotted at 32.8E
20th November 2008: The Scottish Borders is now digital only - the BBC1 ITV C4 & C5 analogue transmitters were turned off for the last time a few minutes after midnight.
6th November 2008: The
sleepy backwaters of the Scottish Borders made broadcasting history in the early hours of
this morning - Digital Switch Off has started here. BBC2 analogue was turned off overnight
and all relay transmitters now carry one set of DTT signals. Full switch off occurs
in two weeks time.
Astra 1M was successfully launched from Baikonur last night and is heading for 19E
Aatra 5A has suffered some sort of failure (possibly an incorrectly uplinked command) and
has drifted off station. She has been recovered by the ground control operators and will
be repositioned back on station in the near future.
31st October 2008: Loads of satellite slot changes going on at the moment:
Looks like its not game over for Astra 1C just yet - shes slotted at 2E!
Meanwhile Astra 5A (ex Sirius 2) has left 31.5E and is drifting eastwards.
Ex yank sat Galaxy 11 is rattling round the Clarke Belt at an unheard of rate of almost 6
degrees a day and is heading for 33E to back up Intelsat 802
The elderly Intelsat 5 (ex Badr C) has left 26E and is heading rapidly east.
Amos 1 has left 4W and has slotted at 1.5W
27th October 2008: Astra 1C has been withdrawn from 4.6E and is drifting westwards. Presumably she has been sent to junk orbit and oblivion.
24th October 2008: Another 19E tp loss coming - as the recession starts to bite Nick and Comedy Central will be timesharing one channel from 1st January 2009. This affects both digital & analogue. MTV Germany have also started cutting back some of their programmes with several axed with immediate effect.
19th October 2008:
Forthcoming satellite launches - Astra 1M will launch on a Proton October 31st from
Baikonur on a mission to replace Astra 1H at 19E.
Hotbird 9 and Eutelsat W2M will fly on an Ariane 5 in November. HB9 is going to 13E with
W2M going to 16E
10th October 2008: ARD are planning to shut all analogue services down by the end of 2010. (Das Erste, WDR, SWR BW/RP, NDR, Bayerisches Fernsehen, MDR, hr, rbb, 3sat, arte, KiKa, Phoenix, BR-alpha) ZDF may follow them out at the same time....
2nd October 2008: Newly arrived MusicMax / Eso TV on 11023H on 19E ceased at 0200CET on October 1st.
14th September 2008: TMC on 5W has changed frequencies from 11475V to 11100V.
3rd September 2008:
Amazingly, although Primetime has ceased off 11023H, a new channel has launched! MusicMax
is the new occupant of the frequency. Astro TV has moved into a timeshare with Kika TV on
10714H.
Turksat 1C has slotted at 31E but is currently still off air
The C-band services removed from Badr-C have been found a new home on Badr-6
7th August 2008:
Primetime/Telemedial will cease off 10714H on 19E on September 1st. Its evening timeshare
slot will be taken by Astro TV, which will vacate 11023H, which will no doubt be
immediately digitalised.
C-band services on Badr-C at 26E are being run down
3rd August 2008: Astra 1N
was ordered on 14th July. Preliminary details have been added to the satellite comparisons
table.
Turksat 1C has been withdrawn from 42E and is heading westwards.
Astra 1C is now running 1.7 degrees inclined, so is pretty much useless for DTH
broadcasting purposes now.
Astra 1D is reported as now running 0.8 degrees inclined so cant have too much life left.
1st August 2008: M2 ceased off 12130H on 13E overnight. The tp has been immediately reconfigured for digital services. 13E is now down to just 3 analogue services.
5th July 2008: Heres an interesting article about the rescue of Olympus-1 back in 1991. This is the satellite that took an unintended trip around the Earth after an incorrect command was uplinked onto it.
1st July 2008: 1.2.3.tv ceased off 19E at 2AM CET this morning. No graceful closedown - the transponder was just cut off.
21st June 2008: apologies
for the site being unavailable today.... Demon have been carrying out maintenance on their
server arrays.
According to broadbandtvnews.com, M2 will cease analogue on 13E next month. :-(
16th June 2008: all quiet recently.
2nd June 2008: Sorry for the lack of updates recently - Ive been very busy at work again..... First bit of news is another channel loss - 1-2-3.tv will shut down its analogue signal at the end of June
30th April 2008: No changes
on the channel front since the last update.
Sirius 2 has slotted at 31.5E and has been renamed Astra 5A
Optus A3 has been sent to junk orbit - she was obviously only keeping the 31.5E slot
reservation open
AMC-14 has been declared a total loss and SES are discussion their options to get rid of
her.
15th March 2008: Sirius 2
has been withdrawn from 5E and is currently drifting slowly eastwards towards 23.5E
Thor 5 has slotted at 1W
The Russians lost another satellite last night when the Proton carrying AMC 14 into orbit
suffered a malfunction in the upper stage. AMC 14 is now stranded in a low orbit and is
likely to be crashed into the Pacific.
2nd March 2008: Not much to
update recently although there are 4 satellite related news bits:
Eutelsat have ordered W3B which will be co-located with W3A to strengthen the 7E slot -
details have been added to the W series comparison page
Thor 5 has been safely launched, is currently testing at 16.5W and will be going to 1W in
a few weeks time.
Eutelsat have orders a new bird to slot at 13E with the Hotties. Its called Ka-Sat, and
will be a Ka band only satellite
Turksat 3A is to be launched from Kourou in the next couple of months
2nd February 2008: Bloomberg Germany has ceased off 11362H 19E.
26th January 2008: The following dates have been announced for the closedown of analogue channels on 19E (info from the Transponder News forum)
ARD - 2011
Arte - 2011
ZDF - 2012
15th January 2008: Measat 1 has slotted at 46E and has been redesignated Africasat 1. Sirius 4 has taken over virtually all the traffic off Sirius 2, and S-2 will be moved in the near future.
1st January 2008: 10744H on 19E was turned off last night. The frequency will be turned over to digital in the near future.
The earlier news has been moved to seperate pages on the site due to the amount of material.
This site is solely concerned with tv channels that can be received on analogue satellite tv equipment in Europe. In the UK this really means "can I still get anything with my old redundant Sky Analogue receiving gear which is currently sitting forlornly in the shed??" And the answer is - "Of course you can!" HOWEVER. There isnt a fantastic amount of English language programming left, and certainly no general entertainment programming in English.
If you want:
1) Free access to English programming on
Eurosport, CNN, CNBC, or BBC World
2) a few extra tv channels to play with
3) to just experiment to find out whats still out there
4) learn a new language
5) see how other Eurpopean countries report the news
6) watch the ahem "erotic" programming that you find on German
channels late at night, and you no longer get since you moved to Sky Digital
then this is the site for you.
Just as important to me is that watching these channels will not cost you a penny once you have the receiver and dish. Almost all the channels listed on this site are fta (free to air). You do not need any smart cards of any sort in your receiver. The very few remaining scrambled channels are mentioned, but only as they are part of our analogue heritage, and are still going. (And so you will know what that encoded channel is if you run across it). Most of them have closed in recent months, and there are only about half a dozen or so left now.
With Sky tv changing its transmissions from the old analogue system over to digital in the last 5 years or so, millions of British analogue installations were ripped out and junked. If you are lucky, you will be able to get your receiver and dish for free from someone who has upgraded. Ask around friends & family - its surprising how many folk still have their old stuff tucked away in cupboards & garages. This is how I got my equipment for free. However, even if you cant get equipment donated, it wont cost you more than a few pounds for a fully functioning set of kit. However, remember that the days of analogue transmissions are numbered. In a few years time, all transmissions will be in the digital format, so dont spend lots of money on something soon to be totally obsolete.
Some ideas on where to get analogue kit cheap second hand can be found here.
In 2000, some friends of mine decided to upgrade their satellite system from Sky analogue to Sky digital. This left their old kit redundant, and looking for a new home. They were happy for me to take it off their hands for nothing, as it saved them a trip to the tip. Details of the equipment I use for all my satellite reception can be found on the site too.
The technical advice side of the site is really aimed at the beginner, although I hope other folks will find it interesting / useful. All the info has been compiled from my own observations / experiences, and is the sort of info that isnt easily found elsewhere on the web. With a bit of experimenting, and maybe some advice if you get stuck, you can get a second hand dish and receiver operational. Its easy when you know how - honest!
A quick note on terminology on my site. I tend to use the terms "receiver" and "decoder" across the site to mean the same thing - the box which you plug the end of the cable from your dish into. To be strict, the box is a satellite receiver. A decoder was the bit which decrypted the scrambled Sky channels. Very early satellite receivers had stand alone Videocrypt decoders which were connected to the receiver by a SCART cable. Later analogue receivers had built in decoders, (which is where my rather free interpretation of the terms comes from). (The early stand-alone Videocrypt decoders are now only fit for the local land fill. There arent any Videocrypt transmissions left. The last Videocrypt transmission above Europe ceased at the beginning of October 2002).
What I found when I started.
One chilly afternoon I ventured outside with my new dish, and pointed it roughly south. In less than 10 minutes I was watching the free channels on the Astra 1 satellite constellation. The current free to air Astra 1 analogue channels can be found here. The other satellite information can be navigated to using the panel on the left.
After lining the dish up on the Astra 1 satellites, I quicky decided to find out what else it was possible to watch using this old dish. A complete starters guide to finding the currently active orbital positions and well over 100 tv channels can be found elsewhere on the site, and is based on my own experiences.
Analogue channel closedowns.
This page has details of the phased Sky analogue channel closedowns, which finally ended with the analogue service ceasing at the end of September 2001. This page also has details of what I have been able to find out about non Sky channels across all the satellites.
The Analogue Channel Graveyard.
This page details the tv channels that we have lost from analogue format since the beginning of 2001. It will be regularly updated with an ever increasing list of stations we have lost from our main satellites to the digital format.
Thanks to help from SES-Astra in Luxembourg, Ive got hold of a list of almost all of the analogue tv channels that have ever broadcast off the Astra 1 satellites. Its quite a big file (85 kb at the moment), but interesting. How many of the early channels do you remember?
Contributions.
The Contributions Page now has 9 articles on it.
If anyone has any articles like these they would like to see on the website, contact me and let me know what you like to contribute. As long as its more or less relevant to analogue satellite tv, I'll accept almost anything.
Ross Lockley
Galashiels (Scottish Borders)
Site details, future plans, and revisions
This page was last updated on 01 May 2012
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