Japan Satellite TV (JSTV) the analogue Japanese-language subscription service for expatriate executives living in Europe is to switch from analogue to digital transmission. Digital broadcasts are expected to start in April, using a Globecast transponder on Eutelsat Hot Bird at 13 degrees East. The digital transmissions will be encypted in Cryptoworks and subscribers will be provided with receivers equipped with a Cryptoworks CAM and Open TV. An enhanced service will develop from the largely repackaged NHK material that is currently provided.

The recent addition of a Japanese character set to Open TV will ease the development of a complex interactive and information service in tandem with the entertainment television.

The reception equipment was originally to have been sourced from Humax but JSTV has now settled on German importer/manufacturer Galaxis, one of the first to implement a free- to-air receiver with full Open TV.

JSTV currently has about 10,000 subscribers to its analogue service from Astra 19.2 degrees East scrambled in Videocrypt, one third of whom are resident in the UK. The switch from Astra is seen as a minor coup for Eutelsat and demonstrates JSTV’s desire to break away from the present UK-centred service to a further-reaching pan-European one – and, of course, reflects the considerably cheaper carriage on Hot Bird.

Analogue transmissions are expected to be terminated in the autumn of 2001.