ITV FTA decision: Not before April...

doh.ie

DMC wrote:

Aha! Pointless without an FTV card

Interesting quirk all the same, good find!

Ah, sorry - I get you now. Well, still good to know you can force it
to change nationalities and it's not 'forever' stuck.

You might be able to borrow one to do this with it - would only
take a few minutes.

DMC

Indeed. The Sky Digibox doesnt have an active Irish sub or FTV card, so, for me, there are merits in your trickery this halloween!

doh.ie

Oh, good. As long as Rupert has one less person willing to sign up, then it surely is a treat as well!

wolfe25

It would be a magor step towards breaking Sky's monopoly on sat viewing in these islands and, if it happens, who knows what other channels might bolt out of that stable and opt for free to air transmission.

FIRE

wolfe25 wrote:

It would be a magor step towards breaking Sky's monopoly on sat viewing in these islands and, if it happens, who knows what other channels might bolt out of that stable and opt for free to air transmission.

Or possibly Sky News going the other way and becoming encrypted.

:mad:

Greenman

FIRE wrote:

Or possibly Sky News going the other way and becoming encrypted.

:mad:

IMHO No great loss!!!

channelsurfer

dosent look likes its going to happen according to digitalspy forums negotiations are going well between itv and sky for itv3 so that means an end to itv1 going fta. sky will do everything they can to avoid itv going fta

Mossy Monk

take it all with a pinch of salt

daveg

channelsurfer wrote:

dosent look likes its going to happen according to digitalspy forums negotiations are going well between itv and sky for itv3 so that means an end to itv1 going fta. sky will do everything they can to avoid itv going fta

Do you have any links?

Also does anyone know the date ITV are supposed to sign a new contract with sky? In other words when will we know, either way, if ITV are going FTA?

toonarmy

channelsurfer wrote:

dosent look likes its going to happen according to digitalspy forums negotiations are going well between itv and sky for itv3 so that means an end to itv1 going fta. sky will do everything they can to avoid itv going fta

#

so no itv 2 then............sh*t

DMC

There is a bit of cross over between threads, but lets leave this as a discussion about ITV going FTA.

Somehow, I'm less sure now.

ITV have bought out BSkyB's share of Granada Sky Broadcasting, including channels PLUS and Men & Motors.

If Sky have done this deal with ITV, does this mean FTA ITV is dead?

We await further developments....

Watch this space....

channelsurfer

just did the upside down card thing and yes its official as of now itv3 is free to air. it seems that itv have only bought sky's share of gskyb and not did an encrytion deal with sky for itv1 ....... as of yet.. but itv2 is still encryted so it looks as if things are still up in the air in realation to itv1 going free to air.

DMC

What I'm wondering, is, yes they have done a deal for GSB and ITV3, does that mean a new encryption deal would be easier to obtain?

channelsurfer

looks like it will be fta . unless itv3 is scrambled within 24 hours . itv want to be on a wide a platform as possilbe and fta is the only option. they cannot unerypt itv1 and 2 until nov 20 at the earliest so its just a matter of playing for time..

JTMan

Good news on the chances of ITV going FTA ... ITV3 was a SEPERATE agreement and the Guardian still thinks ITV1 will go FTA ...

From the Guardian:
The GSB transaction also threw the spotlight on negotiations over a new satellite encryption deal between ITV and BSkyB. It is understood that BSkyB suggested thrashing out the new encryption contract and the GSB takeover together, but ITV refused.

ITV pays about £17m a year to have ITV1 and ITV2 encrypted by the pay-TV group, ensuring that its channels are seen by Sky's 7.4 million sub scribers only and not by viewers in mainland Europe. Furthermore, the encryption arrangement allows ITV to beam the appropriate regional programmes into households around the UK.

The current contract between ITV and BSkyB expires at the end of the month and ITV executives are seriously considering dropping the encryption service altogether. ITV3 will broadcast unencrypted, appearing on the 119 slot on Sky's onscreen channel menu.

Last year the BBC said it would sever its links with the Sky platform and broadcast "in the clear" without an encryption deal, although it has signed a new arrangement with BSkyB that ensures its regional channels appear on the Sky electronic programming guide.

Read more here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1341321,00.html

DMC

Just reading it myself, before I looked here, fungus, well done

Very encouraging news.

channelsurfer

It all depends really on whether itv can get sky to give them the regional guide like bbc in the 940's so that advertisers will be happy. If they can do this and go fta then they will go for it .. but itv3 is definitely fta so i cant seen them gonna keep paying sky 17million to encrypt itv1 and itv2 and leave itv3 fta. if anything they will go 100% clear.
has there been an official statement from itv that itv3 will broadcast free to air and not free to view.. there is a massive difference.

cdebru

i tought at the time bbc went clear sky were more or less forced to carry bbc at 101 and 102 they were threatening to relegate them to the nether regions
so if they had to do it for the bbc they will have to offer the same deal to itv surely

channelsurfer

yep itv london would be on epg no 103 as the default then the regional such as utv would be on the high 900's like bbc regions but really sky dont have to offer them anything unless the uk goverment makes em..

watty

channelsurfer wrote:

It all depends really on whether itv can get sky to give them the regional guide like bbc in the 940's so that advertisers will be happy. If they can do this and go fta then they will go for it .. but itv3 is definitely fta so i cant seen them gonna keep paying sky 17million to encrypt itv1 and itv2 and leave itv3 fta. if anything they will go 100% clear.
has there been an official statement from itv that itv3 will broadcast free to air and not free to view.. there is a massive difference.

If the encryption is not renewed, BSkyB won't cut off their nose. They'll offer roughly the same regionalisation deal to ITV.

Beeb has solved all the issues for ITV :-) If someone has a card, they will continue to have the correct ITV region on 103, just as 101/102 works.

FTA box users tend to tune to either the region they live in (Local news) or the region they are from, or both. So that also is not a big issue for ITV regional Advertisers.


Even if Sky offer cut price encryption the debacle over card issuing and the possibility of a rise in numbers of non-Sky Digital Satellite receivers in UK fuelled by BBC will make ITV think twice about continuing FTV.

In fact Sky themselves with greed over the issuing of FTV cards in UK may have shot themselves in foot regarding encryption for ITV.

Widescreen

Is it possible that ITV3 is being treated the same as ITV News Channel. i.e. not encrypted because it really doesn't need to be?

ITV3 is just showing old stuff where rights may not be an issue. Lets face it, ITV2 is the channel we all want. It shows Champions League football and Jerry Springer.


I hope it all goes FTA but I'm not sure it will . Come on all you positive people out there and reassure us that it will go FTA!!!

toonarmy

Widescreen wrote:

Is it possible that ITV3 is being treated the same as ITV News Channel. i.e. not encrypted because it really doesn't need to be?

ITV3 is just showing old stuff where rights may not be an issue. Lets face it, ITV2 is the channel we all want. It shows Champions League football and Jerry Springer.


I hope it all goes FTA but I'm not sure it will . Come on all you positive people out there and reassure us that it will go FTA!!!

ditto

cdebru

Widescreen wrote:

.
I hope it all goes FTA but I'm not sure it will . Come on all you positive people out there and reassure us that it will go FTA!!!

ok it will go fta

feel better

Widescreen

Yeah!

cdebru

good then my work here is done

toonarmy

thats great then,so if we just assume it'll happen ,it will.

Mossy Monk

i couldnt really care less if we got ITV2 or not

the only thing of interest is about 2 hours every 2 weeks or so and TV3 normally show that game anyway

ITV2 is chronic

Macy

Mossy Monk wrote:

i couldnt really care less if we got ITV2 or not

the only thing of interest is about 2 hours every 2 weeks or so and TV3 normally show that game anyway

ITV2 is chronic

The more FTA stuff the better IMO. If we had BBC1-4 and ITV1-3(4) plus the news channels it's all good and will only encourage more decent channels to go that way...

Mossy Monk

agreed, just saying i couldnt care less about ITV2

redabbey

Mossy Monk wrote:

i couldnt really care less if we got ITV2 or not

the only thing of interest is about 2 hours every 2 weeks or so and TV3 normally show that game anyway

ITV2 is chronic

The reason I want ITV2 is for the Champions League games. Already this season on Matchday 2 the games between Man Utd was shown on both ITV1 & TV3. The game I wanted to see was on TV3 involving Liverpool. So had to listen in on the internet but boycotted both other stations to watch Real Madrid on Sky.

At least the last time it happened TV3 had the sense to show the game that ITV was not showing but there is the potential for the same thing happening on November 23rd. So fingers crossed that ITV is FTA by then.

toonarmy

Mossy Monk wrote:

agreed, just saying i couldnt care less about ITV2

ITV 2 is best for uefa cup games...so for the time being i've my fingers crossed.

channelsurfer

No sign of any annoucement yet. itv are keeping very quiet .It will probably be a last minute decision but it is hovering on the fta side I would say at the moment. itv needs to save around £100m to help their investors so a £17million saving on encryption would help that.

dmeehan

is the 17m payment an annual figure or for the duration of the contract?

Widescreen

When the decision is made , how are we likely to find out. Is it likely to be announced in advance, i.e. a week. I remember when the BBC bombshell dropped it was about three months in advance.

EKRIUQ

With ITV3's last minute launch on Sky Digital there are quite a few technical problems still being resolved. One of them being programme listings for the new service. ITV3 on EPG 119 has been displaying

"This is ITV3" on its Now/Next banner without any further details of the shows being screened on the actual channel. Conflicting reports suggest the EPG programme details for ITV3 will be made available tonight, however when contacted ITV regarding this situation, they themselves were unsure about when show details will be available. According to ITV Press,

Mossy Monk

there was EPG details when i looked at it last night

Charles Slane

TIPPTOP wrote:

With ITV3's last minute launch on Sky Digital there are quite a few technical problems still being resolved. One of them being programme listings for the new service. ITV3 on EPG 119 has been displaying

"This is ITV3" on its Now/Next banner without any further details of the shows being screened on the actual channel. Conflicting reports suggest the EPG programme details for ITV3 will be made available tonight, however when contacted ITV regarding this situation, they themselves were unsure about when show details will be available. According to ITV Press,

The EPG details have been there since yesterday.

watty

Widescreen wrote:

Is it possible that ITV3 is being treated the same as ITV News Channel. i.e. not encrypted because it really doesn't need to be?

ITV3 is just showing old stuff where rights may not be an issue. Lets face it, ITV2 is the channel we all want. It shows Champions League football and Jerry Springer.


I hope it all goes FTA but I'm not sure it will . Come on all you positive people out there and reassure us that it will go FTA!!!

I think more people are interested in ITV1. I can apprieciate the Football angle, but as I and many others NEVER EVER watch ANY football, ITV2 is thus of little interest.

Tastes Differ.

Tony

watty wrote:

I think more people are interested in ITV1. I can apprieciate the Football angle, but as I and many others NEVER EVER watch ANY football, ITV2 is thus of little interest.

Tastes Differ.

are you kidding watty? its only you and that other bloke in limerick who do not watch football

toonarmy

watty wrote:

I think more people are interested in ITV1. I can apprieciate the Football angle, but as I and many others NEVER EVER watch ANY football, ITV2 is thus of little interest.

Tastes Differ.

wot...footy is everything :eek:

Widescreen

And don't forget good old Jerry Springer. I used to watch him every day on Living and then he suddenly disappeared to ITV2!!

eirebhoy

watty wrote:

I think more people are interested in ITV1. I can apprieciate the Football angle, but as I and many others NEVER EVER watch ANY football, ITV2 is thus of little interest.

Tastes Differ.

I thought everyone had ITV1 (UTV), no? I know its not on Sky but its not too hard to press the TV button on the Sky remote.

Tom Dunne

channelsurfer wrote:

No sign of any annoucement yet. itv are keeping very quiet .It will probably be a last minute decision but it is hovering on the fta side I would say at the moment. itv needs to save around £100m to help their investors so a £17million saving on encryption would help that.

Yes, but if they save 17 million on encryption, how much will they lose by not being able to provide advertisers with regional advertising?

I don't know how much regional advertising makes up ITV's income, but it has to be fairly large. They are, after all, a commercial station.

And for the record, I'm with Watty - myself, himself and that fella in Limerick don't watch football.

Mossy Monk

eirebhoy wrote:

I thought everyone had ITV1 (UTV), no? I know its not on Sky but its not too hard to press the TV button on the Sky remote.

not everyone is in a cables area, mmds area or an area with a deflector :cool:

cdebru

eirebhoy wrote:

I thought everyone had ITV1 (UTV), no? I know its not on Sky but its not too hard to press the TV button on the Sky remote.

not everyone lives in dublin

eigrod

eirebhoy wrote:

I thought everyone had ITV1 (UTV), no? I know its not on Sky but its not too hard to press the TV button on the Sky remote.

Press the TV button on the SKY remote........and UTV will appear out of thin air ????? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

eirebhoy

cdebru wrote:

not everyone lives in dublin

thought.

PoolDude

Assuming ITV follow the BBC and go FTA, what are the chances of their channels plus the BBC channels (not already available on the EPG) appearing on our Irish EPG

DMC

Somewhere close to nil, PoolDude. Like the BBC, they should appear under Other Channels once added.

Capt'n Midnight

DMC wrote:

Somewhere close to nil, PoolDude. Like the BBC, they should appear under Other Channels once added.

actually nil divided by the cost BBC would have to pay to get an Irish EPG entry ...