European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 28, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Viewers plugging into alternatives to an to the tradition of grousing about the limited fare offered by the single an Rev stationing Europe is going the Way of the cold War onto the Ash Heap of history Scable television spreads throughout . Military communities at a fast and furious Germany 30 major communities three fourths of the total that is expected to remain after the draw Down Are due to have Cable to installed by the end of this year said Tom Halbert Cable to and satellite manager for the european come. . Bases in the United kingdom have had Cable to for several years while a number of other Sites in other countries around the theater Are also wired. In fact the Only Large nut left to crack is Italy but the military is working on that also. The Cable to wave in Europe is the result of a convergence of factors that have allowed the military to move beyond the one to signal that has Long served most overseas areas. Mel Russell Deputy director of the american forces information service said . Forces could t offer More than one Over the air to Channel be cause the airwaves belong to the Host government which Loans the frequencies to the . Military. The Effort to get around that Roadblock through Cable to was launched in the late 1980s, around the same time German government officials decided to Cable their country. We started looking at How we could use that Effort to provide multiple channels of to on military installations Russell said. The . Air forces in Europe was designated the Cable to executive Agency for the european come and began working with the German government to piggyback on the broader Cable Effort. The agreement has allowed Kaiserslautern based tvs the company that is cabling Germany to also wire . Military communities just As it would any German town or City. That Means americans Are getting plenty of mtg can and Abc super Chan Nel to name just a few of the tvs offerings. Tvs comes in and does a programming Survey put in the satellite dishes and cables and then set up an office in each Community to manage the system Russell said. Military officials have no involvement except to Grant tvs permission to install the system. Once it is running subscribers pay tvs directly there is no Cost to the . Government. It s a commercial Endeavor Between a Cable com Pany and its customers and individuals subscribe to it just like they would in the states Russell said. The calf crts Effort in Germany is similar to what Neucom did in the United kingdom starting in 1987, when officials negotiated a contract to wire the the mtg Europe gang moves the music not to mention daily doses of Bacavis and butt head. Mtg . Bases there with the private company that was cabling that country Halbert said. While other Sites around Europe Are also cabled few can match the mix of programming available in Germany and the United kingdom. In Turkey for example bases Are wired for Cable to but the Cable is owned and operated by the armed forces radio and television service not Pri vate companies. As such those bases Don t get the full palette of programming offered in Germany or the u.k., Halbert said. It s Cable to but the programming is mostly the same old thing. The regular an signal is pretty much All you get there except for in Ciurlik which also gets a direct feed from arts in los Angeles that includes can and some live sports he said. Small Sites in Greece and Spain have similar Mili tary owned Cable systems Halbert said. But beginning in 1996, viewers at those locations will have More choices because of new technology that digitally compresses to signals. That will allow arts to transmit five channels of television into Cable systems Over the same frequency Bandwidth that it uses now for its one to signal. Multichannel an As Russell Calls it will in clude the regular an signal and probably two other channels of . Network programming another Channel combining news and sports and a fourth Channel of alternative programming. Russell said that last Channel May include programming from such stateside Cable channels As Dis Ney the discovery Channel the arts & entertain ment network and american movie classics. As exciting As Cable to s possibilities Are Russell said military officials remain concerned about . Service members and civilians who live off base beyond the reach of Cable with English language programming. That is the Crux of the problem in Italy where Many american viewers live on the Economy. We be not cracked that nut yet Russell said. But we re working on the answer for Italy and other Sites May be wire less Cable the multichannel microwave distribution system or mods. That technology is used now for the Cable to system that serves military viewers in Panama and Riyadh saudi Arabia Halbert said. The system which can offer six channels of to requires viewers to install microwave antennas on the roofs of their Homes or apartments and connect them to decoder boxes on the tvs Halbert said. Neucom plans to test mods in the Aviano Italy area As Well As in Kaiserslautern and Heidelberg in Germany Halbert said. Right now we have a problem because the frequencies needed for current wireless Cable equip ment Are reserved for other data transmission uses in Europe like cellular phones Halbert said. You would have to have someone build the mods equipment to handle a frequency band that it does t handle now and no one is going to do that just for the . Military presence overseas Russell said. We re not sure yet How that Wilt Halbert said Neucom is exploring what would be required to obtain other frequencies for use in the wireless Cable Effort and the potential costs of such a system. No matter How the technology develops the Days of single Channel television in Europe Are s a huge demand for alternative to programming Halbert said. It was t that Long ago that All you had in the states were the three net works and a handful of local stations. Now you re dealing with an audience that has grown up with mtg and dozens of other have changed and we have to figure out How to continue communicating with the Chuck Vinch Central and Black entertainment television among others. But it s the local Access Angle that has him really excited. This is a great Way to build a sense of Community he said. There Are so Many things you could do with this. Everything on that Channel will be aimed at getting local people on Tom Halbert Cable to and to satellite manager for the european come said the Community Chan Nel is up and running in six communities although right now there s not much on it. It s been running mostly video posters and crawl messages and notices like Here s what s happening at the no club this week " he said. The Effort now is to get some real programming on he said the armed forces radio and television service has traditionally shied away from allowing its on air Talent to develop into Media celebrities but Halbert said the Cable to Community Channel will look to do just that. Kaufman seems to have no shortage of ideas for getting people on the air. High school video auteur for example whose work until now has been appreciated Only by their classmates and teachers May reach a far wider audience on Cable re going to Start that in the fall showing the results of the work the kids do in their vide classes Kaufman said. Another idea is to have the kids Host informational shows about what s going Onat their schools who got elected Homecoming Queen How the football team did Over the week-end.".-. / ,"--.-other possibilities include area support groups airing periodic talk shows on what s happening in the local communities As the 26th area support group is already doing each month. Kaufman also envisions a military sports highlights show fed by a network of stringers a to version of classified ads and local commanders having fire Side chats with the troops. Everybody has a video camera these Days so we could just have people just use their own equipment cameras to shoot stuff like sgt. And mrs. Jones just had a baby somebody got promoted somebody made Eagle scout he addition Kaufman is taking material from Mili tary related organizations in the states such As the association of the . Army and the air Force association As Well As the defense department and the military services. To Kaufman the Beauty of the local Access Chan Nel is that each Community can tailor the program Ming to its own specific needs wants and likes All of this is just getting off the ground Kauf Man said we re really in experimental Mode. But the possibilities Are August 28, 1994 sunday Page 7
