W H Smith Plc’s W H Smith Television Ltd yesterday announced a multi-million pound, 10-year deal to lease two channels on the Astra TV satellite and unveiled details of its broadcasting plans for the UK and Europe: British Telecom International, desperate to shed its dull persona as a utility for the bright lights of television, will provide the uplinks to the Astra satellite from its London Teleport in the Docklands and the Smith channels will run alongside Rupert Murdoch’s four channels leased for Sky Television; Philips Consumer Electronics is to supply receiving equipment complying with the D-MAC transmission standard and manufacturing will start in the second half of 1989; among the Lifestyle and sports programming, W H Smith also wants to pioneer home shopping by television in the UK, and it has joined up with Kaleidoscope/Scotcade for a trial on its Lifestyle.
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