European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 31, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse K 1 to plus Cable a coming to More . Areas in German Deedee Arrington Doke Kaiserslautern Bureau a German Cable company plans to spend 30 million Marks a about $18.4 million a to bring expanded to service to air Force and army installations in Germany Over the next three years. Cable will be added Only at locations that . Officials expect to control for at least the next seven years said Tom Halbert . Air forces Europe a command broadcast officer. The army still is trying to decide a priority list for Cable expansion in Germany. But most air Force bases in Germany will be linked to Cable by the end of the year. Under an agreement signed in february by the Deutsche Bunde Spost and the . European come res Tele Kabel Trief service a Mph a Tele Kom subsidiary will have Access for 15 years to buildings currently occupied by . Forces. Many buildings to be linked to Cable will still be used As housing if . Forces vacate them. German officials who would assume responsibility for the properties do not object to the 15-year agreement Halbert said. A that was a major concern obviously a Halbert said. Cable fever already has claimed bit Burgas. Stuttgart a Patch Barracks Mcnair Barracks in Berlin and areas of Simbach a. Multiple English language channels also loom Large in the foreseeable future for an additional eight areas. Res tvs will introduce Cable later this year at the following locations Benjamin Franklin Village in Mannheim Hahn a the Kaiserslautern military Community Mark Twain and Patrick Henry villages in Heidelberg Ramstein a the Sohrn housing area near Hahn a and Spang Dahlum a. The air Force is considering additional projects at Rhein main a and Tempelhof Central Airport in Berlin. The army is deciding cables Fate at the following family housing areas Ansbach bad Kreuz Nach Bamberg Baum older Darmstadt Frankfurt Giessen graft Wohr Hanau Niernberg Schweinfurt Wetzlar and Wurzburg. A we done to see any wider expansion for the air Force a Halbert said of projects beyond Rhein main and Tempelhof. A the army is still going through a lot of a what a Cable will be offered in Niscor Standard american format in areas with 500 or More dwelling units. It is not Cost effective in areas with fewer units but will be offered there in pal the Standard european broadcast format. Services offered at most locations include Cable news network International music television lifestyle Rel plus bbl Europe euros port screen sport. Rel plus will follow lifestyle at 6 45 . In some locutions let commanders Channel is available. But . Forces in Germany can forget about being Able to receive the popular English Lan Guage sky movie and sky one channels like other networks sky pays entertainment companies for the rights to broadcast their films and other entertainment specials but the network pays for the right Tif broadcast within Only eng. Land and Ireland. A while numerous people All Over Europe Are getting sky channels via satellite sky is officially discouraging the practice and As part of that has refused to allow . Forces to have the Chan Nils outside England and Ireland even on Cable. Last fall sky officials said they would be willing to offer sky movie and sky one to . Forces provided that the four major film distribution companies that served sky also agreed. Walt Disney Orion and 20th-Century Fox agreed Halbert said. Warner Brothers did no to. In november sky bought out British satellite broadcasting owners of the Marco Polo 1 and 2 satellites. Sky now works with about 10 film distributors a a which makes it nearly impossible to sell the idea to All 10 of them a Halbert said. But another idea is brewing to bring a movie Channel to . Forces viewers. Halbert said negotiations arc under Way with a film Cable service in Dallas to introduce six hours of movies a Day. Summer is the earliest time that the service could be available. And Back Home its the age of 3-digit to Robert Epstein the los Angeles times Nee television was an innocent handful of channels. Some soaps news sitcoms sports. But that innocent period faded Long ago somehow television received License to go Forth and multiply. The handful of uhf and vhf channels has doubled tripled and quadrupled become cabled dished Dow linked and unlinked. We Are in the age of three digit to �?150 channels in Many Homes a each Channel spinning out around the clock. Before exhaustion sets in take a break and consider what is happening. A massive time Warner announced it will convert its franchise in the Queens and. Brooklyn boroughs into a 150-Channel operation by years end. The present 75 channels wont do. Full up. A Cable labs the research and development technicians of the Cable Industry has scheduled fall demonstrations of a digital transmission system that would deliver 100 to 150 channels with an important plus a High definition pictures. Three digit to has to be More than just More of the same to although a lot of that will still be around. But the promises Are for so much More. How the promises will be delivered will be the make or Brcak Point for these new technologies and these expanded. Channels. But even choices have their Price. Half of the new 75 channels in Queens and Brooklyn for example will end up Selling pay per View movies. March 31, 1991 sunday a Page 11
