European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 14, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday june 14, 1966 the stars and stripes Page 3 s photo by l. A ninth a tilt or. This Niero Wue dish is used by be seb network in Al Tina idly. Al right sol kill Hull Sei. Tony grates with Headset ind slits l. Ken Conner work in lot studio. Seb network takes advantage of High tech by Charlie Bowden Munich Bureau Vicenza Italy for the Southern european broadcasting network which reaches about 30,000 people in Italy and Sicily the right to broadcast television took eight years or negotiating with the italian government. Even with today s High technology seb s Broadens Day continues to be a series or  and Downs. The network receives a signal that is first sent up then Dawn then Back up and then Down through sat net the defense satellite network to the 13-meter dish at seb network headquarter in Vivenza and then Back up again before coming to rest at affiliate stations via 9 meter dishes. The Advent of satellite television combined with the Concession from the italian government is making the seb television signal More readily available to the Amer ican population living and working in Italy snid network commander it. Col. Stephen Mason. The preponderance of our audience does not live on a Cavern or in a government housing  Mason said. Most of our people live on the econ  most of those people Are widely Dis Persed and seb needed permission 10 broadcast its signal so it could reach the scattered population. That took a Concession on the part of the government Mason said. The negotiating took eight years. Once they agreed then came contracts and such in order to get it  since 1984, broadcasts have spread rapidly to Many . Outposts in Italy. Camp Darby near Pisa was the most recent and Mason said top priority is being Given to Comiso Sicily. Getting the network on line and also ready for satellite technology was t easy Mason said. The station in Naples served As the Dow link for the signal from arts in los Angeles until the Vincnza facility was ready in May 1985, this is a very enormous project so these things Don t just happen Mason said. Were not talking about someone moving his Back Yard dish into place we re talking about a pretty Large expensive  the new technology has allowed the network to change its broadcast lineup putting More emphasis on the affiliates to fill air time with local news and information programs. Mason said. A decentralized operation is what the concept really is he said. The affiliates Are providing a great amount of program Ming news sports and spot material. In formation that is focused on that partic ular audience so that we Don t have to bore people with information that does t pertain to  much of the reasoning behind this is the distance Between the stations. From the network Headquarters in Vincnza to inc southernmost affiliate in Comiso is roughly 1,000 Miles. On a Man of the United Stales. I m sitting in Richmond a. And Comiso is in Miami and there s no Way that 1 could provide a local service to somebody so far removed. Our audience requirements arc vast that s Why we hit hard on filling those local needs otherwise you wind up feed ing them pablum thai serves no real Pur  the network is conducting a viewer Survey to find out what its audience thinks of the programming. When we go from Zero to anything it s hard to miss Mason said. People Are very Happy of course. But the Honey Moon goes fairly  2 . Bases should get Cable to by september Raf Mildenhall England is the first Cable television should be installed in two american occupied bases in England by september air Force officials said. Two companies have been awarded contract to install inc pay television which is to include about 11 channels in High density housing areas common areas same work centers and dormitories. Raf bin Waters and Chicksands will be the first two bases to get the service said it. Col. Brian Mills commander of the 7,000th contracting so dil 4. Work to install the Cable is expected to Start this month at the two bases. Milk said. Theother bases should have the service with in the Neil seven months he said. The monthly rental for the Cable serv ice is expected to be about $30. Mills said. There also will be a connection fee of about s30. The air Force will pay for some outlets in dormitory common areas and 24-hour work areas. Channels expected to be included in the Cable offering arc the two British Broad casting corp. Channels the two Commer Cial channels and movie sports children s and music channels. One Channel will be reserved for use by commanders officials said. Congressman seeks to end via offset program Washington a Florida Congress Man wants to do away with the new pro Gram thai cuts housing allowances of serv ice members whose total allowances exceed actual expenses. Rep Charles e. Bennett has Intro i Bill to end the 4-Monlh-old Var Democrat on the House armed services committee said he has received Many negative letters from Bervie members in his District about he program. His District includes naval bases at Mayon Fla., and Jacksonville Fla. Pic think if unfair just said. But More than that Lions from the Pentagon that the prop in t proving to be very " thai s the Punu Ubl _ _ Yll b not Worth  the program via recipients must fill out forms listing actual housing expenses. Those who draw More in combined via and Basic allowance for quart ers than they pay in expenses have their via reduced by half the difference. The general accounting office projected first year savings of about j50 Mil lion if housing allowances were limited to actual expenses and savings of about 125 million with Only a 50 percent reduction in Jie difference Between exp department per diem Ratet  Al Lowance committee said million figure will prove to be too wifi re he said a firm figure will not be Avail Able until finance officials of each service finish studying the housing surveys provided by the 900,000 service members who receive via. Bennett said he would expect savings to steadily decrease in succeeding years if the program continues. He said when service members make future permanent change of station moves they probably would Opl for Llota by would Lerichi bbl less expensive housing. The via offset program was passed by Congress last year As a result of reports of members overseas paying much less than they were receiving in i Tolj cause of the Dollar. A member of Bennett a said his Hill probably Wilt be attached As airs to the 1987 defense authorization i to be drawn up soon