Midnight Mass, Urbi et Orbi Blessing to be Broadcast Worldwide from Vatican

 WASHINGTON -- TV coverage of Midnight Mass from St. Peter's Basilica and the Christmas Day Urbi et Orbi (To the City and theWorld) blessing of Pope John Paul II will be provided for worldwide distribution by RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana, in cooperation with the Vatican Television Center and coordinated by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

The information was provided by Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Scheduling and related information follows.

Monday, December 24, 2001, Christmas Eve, 22.55 - 00.45 hours UTC (GMT),

Midnight Mass celebrated by His Holiness Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica.

Tuesday, December 25, 2001, Christmas Day, 10.55 - 11.40 hours UTC (GMT), Christmas Greetings and Blessing Urbi et Orbi of the Holy Father,from St. Peter's Square.

Satellite up-link of the broadcasts via Intelsat is offered free to all countries outside the European area.

Commentary positions for interested broadcasters will also be availableat the Braccio di Carlo Magno, Vatican City, upon request to Mrs. LauraMaggiore (RAI Eurovision Office, Rome; Tel. +39 06 3317 2814; Fax +39 06 3317 1151; E-mail l.maggiore@rai.it.

Otherwise, broadcasters may avail of the Vatican-provided commentaries in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Ukrainian. A commentary in Italian, provided by RAI, will also be available.

To receive the video feed and international sound, in the case of countries outside Europe, television broadcasters should ask their telecommunications provider to contact Telespazio (Mr. Sergio Bernardi, Telex 620424 TSPZRO I; Fax +39 06 407 1790; Tel. +39 06 4079 3487).

For the Americas, a video feed complete with the Vatican commentary in Spanish will be available through Telespazio.

Important new information regarding audio:

The recent digitalization of the Intelsat network permits the use of additional audio channels. Therefore, along with the feed of video and international sound, the satellite transmissions in all regions will carry clean feeds on separate channels of the Vatican commentaries in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. These services may be ordered through Telespazio.

In the case of all of the above services, broadcasters are urged to make their requirements known without delay to the respective provider or providers.


To: ALL ENTITIES INVOLVED

From: Sergio Bernardi TELESPAZIO Customer Support

Subject: SCHEDULE OF TV SERVICES FOR CHRISTMAS 2001

Ouref. TV/OCT-2001/ALL/SB

PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT, CONCERNING EVENT IN SUBJECT, TELESPAZIO HAS RESERVED THE FOLLOWING DIGITAL (9 MHz) FEED INTELSAT SATELLITES (ALL CONFIRMED).

DIGITAL DETAILS FOR ALL TRANSMISSIONS: MPEG2 DVB NDS 4.2.0. ========================SYMBOLRATE 5.632 MS/S -FEC 3/4

24 DEC. 2001 (2255 - 0045 GMT) CHRISTMAS MIDNIGHT MASS

SAT-335.5 CH 1-A (9Mhz) 525/NTSC (INTL.MIXED SPANISH) ID 1000481928

SAT-335.5 CH 1-B (9Mhz) 625/PAL (INTERN. SOUND) ID 1000482109

SAT-325.5 CH 1-A (9Mhz) 525/NTSC (INTERN. SOUND) ID 1000481933

SAT-60 CH 1-A (9Mhz) 625/PAL (INTERN. SOUND) ID 1000481937

25 DEC 2001 (1055-1140 GMT) CHRISTMAS MASS + BLESSING "URBI ET ORBI"

SAT-335.5 CH 1-A (9Mhz) 525NTSC (INTL.MIXED SPANISH) ID 1000481929

SAT-335.5 CH 1-B (9Mhz) 625/PAL (INTERN. SOUND) ID 1000482110

SAT-325.5 CH 1-A (9Mhz) 525NTSC (INTERN. SOUND) ID 1000481935

SAT-60 CH 1-A (9Mhz) 625/PAL (INTERN. SOUND) ID 1000481938

PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT UP-LINK COMMERCIAL CHARGES IS OFFERED BY VATICAN CITY."

FOR ANY ADDITIONAL AUDIO REQUESTS, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH `TELECOM ITALIA - FAX +39.06.3689.4413 OR 3689.4506; PHONE +39.06.3689,4067 OR 3689.4432.

PLEASE INDICATE IN YOUR REQUESTS EXACT SATELLITE PATH AND CHANNEL, STANDARD LINE, AUDIO COMMENTARY AND INTELSAT ID. NUMBER.

TELESPAZIO ROME

FAX: +39 06 4071790 PHONE: +39 06 40793487