Sat4Free/Freesat in Ireland

copacetic

Zaphod wrote: »

Yes, they are all very valid reason why RTÉ can't simply go FTA, but I wasn't suggesting that or that they should alter the existing agreement with Sky. They would have to come to some arrangement to restrict viewing in order to satisfy rights holders while maintaining the existing agreement with Sky. But the whole issue of copyright is a grey area.

For example, the notion that transmission of the UK channels from 2D limits their reception to the UK and Ireland is, frankly, a joke. The actual footprint is significantly wider than the official footprint. There is a similar situation with the FTA channels on Badr 4 which have a far higher American film and series content (in English) than RTÉ or the UK terrestrials. The published footprint suggests reception is limited to the Middle East and North Africa but in reality, the channels can be received in the UK and Ireland with 90cm dishes or less. Plus we have the idiotic situation where some of the programming is blocked out by C4 on Sky "for copyright reasons", yet the same programmes can be easily watched via add channels.

So the threshold for copyright holders seems to be that the broadcaster makes a reasonable effort to limit reception or can provide some legal evidence (e.g. footprints) to argue their case.

In the case of Freesat, the interesting channel is ITV-HD. ITV-HD is not transmitted from 2D but from Eurobird 1 whose footprint is focussed on central Europe. In order to avoid any rights issues, and to limit the channel to the UK, the video PIDs are stripped from the PAT and instead transmitted in the EPG stream. So a digibox or a FTA receiver cannot directly tune in ITV-HD. Neither can a Freesat receiver, but it can pull in the approriate PIDs from the EPG data stream. So you have a form of pseudo-encryption which limits the channel to Freesat receivers and effectively to the UK. And you can limit reception further to specific boxes - the example being that the "red button" only appears on ITV but not on UTV. So far this approach seems to have satisfied the rights holders, who might be more worried than usual given that the content is soccer and American films in HD.

One possibility for RTÉ is to transmit the 3 channels in a similar manner with the PIDs stripped from the PAT/PMT and instead sent along with the EPG. With the Sat4Free boxes, you can have a customised EPG with placeholders for the 3 channels inserted - this EPG would not be available on a Freesat box because there would be no corresponding postcode.

There is an issue of cost, with RTÉ having to hire transponder space for the 3 channels. However, they could just as easily hire space on Eurobird as Astra - no need for the "premium" space on 2D after all. You're looking at ~3.7Mbps x3 or 11Mbps in MPEG2 DVB-S currently. Using MPEG4 you could knock off close on 50%. And with DVB-S2 you could save another 30%. So you're down to under 4Mbps. You could bring that to close on 3Mbps with a 544x576 resolution and slight reduction in image quality - the Irish channels have some headroom there anyway.

When you compare the cost of satellite bandwidth with the cost of achieving 95%+ DTT coverage, the economics of the former quickly win out. Or simply drop "Diaspora TV" and use the funds from that.

There is a second approach which requires RTÉ to work in conjunction with Grundig but would entail hardly any additional running costs for RTÉ. Firstly, Grundig would need to modify the firmware on the Sat4Free boxes to incorporate the appropriate encryption software - this would be in their own interests as they would ultimately sell more boxes. Something like BISS would be sufficient as it is cheap to licence from the EBU and doesn't require a smartcard to work. Then you piggyback the second encryption layer on top of the current stream on 10744. As most consumer receiver do not have BISS encryption, you've limited reception to the Sat4Free boxes.

Sky may well bitch and moan at either of the above, but what are they going to do? They might refuse to carry the Irish channels on their platform or pay for the uplink costs, but no RTÉ on your Sky subscription would give a very strong competitive advantage to UPC. Sky need RTÉ more than RTÉ need Sky.

excellent post, don't disagree with any of the technicalities. However I think it is the politics and business that matters here.

We have to turn analog off, about 34% of people are still on analog, they need a cheap replacement. According to the BCI and the dept, DTT is it. It is very expensive to rollout, but very cheap for the public, somewhere between free and €40 one off fee for the FTA mux box. Boxer have won that system and the BCI and Dept will support them to the hilt to make it a success if possible.

I would see a potential roll for some of the newer narrowband sat tech in reaching areas after 90% coverage of DTT, with then possibly a local subsidised scheme for the install of dishes and basic boxes. However these would have little or no spillover making them viable commercially.

Sat4Free is Freesat with an NI postcode, the 4 FTA channels here just can't go on that without giving up 70% of their schedules. Similarly with Freesat.

As you say why not a seperate system altogether, well why would you when people will have DTT and Freesat. Except in areas with no DTT coverage perhaps.

The future imo is DTT for the 4 FTA channels and Freesat for everything else. Most TVs will have one or the other built in very soon (prob freesat) so all people will need is an aerial and a satdish to get both. People who don't care about UK stuff will just stick with the 4 FTA channels.

Tony

redout wrote: »

I also want to raise the question about power city selling the Sat4free boxes and some people thinking that they (Grundig) have BBC/ITV permission.

I think it unlikely that Grundig could do this without approval from Freesat given its almost identical and they have gone to the trouble of locking in a NI postcode. These are also being sold by Electroplus the wholesalers whose rep is of the view that official freesat boxes cannot be sold here for Quote: "technical and legal reasons" quite what these reasons are have not been stated so far.

The Cush

Channel 4 & +1 have at last appeared on freesat EPG 104 & 121 with NI postcode.

jaykell

mjsmyth wrote: »

@jaykell

I think I would be rather upset at not being able to tune in ITV HD. Not because I would miss the content (although HD footie is always good), but because it clearly says it on the website and in store that you can get BBC HD and ITV HD.

mj

You're right about the content being limited on ITV HD, but they do have champions league and international football (ocassionally) which was one of the main reasons for buying it. I totally agree that Powercity should not be advertising this unit as receiving ITV HD when it clearly doesn't at present. Just wanted to warn anyone else who is tempted to buy one.

(meant to reply to your comment sooner mj, sorry for the delay).

mydax

Tony wrote: »

I think it unlikely that Grundig could do this without approval from Freesat given its almost identical and they have gone to the trouble of locking in a NI postcode.

I agree, Freesat would not leave their product unprotected from copying. Otherwise cloned Freesat boxes could be sold all over Europe and even in the UK. Sky could even integrate the technology in their boxes.
However, to me this poses the more political question why Freesat would allow Grundig to sell Freesat clones on the Irish market. As far as 5 years back, on the BBC going FTA, RTE was extremely worried (the word crisis was even used) when the BBC was going FTA . They were afraid this would relegate them to the B-list of European television. (http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2003/04/20/story864966657.asp)

Now Freesat is allowing a cloned box to be sold in Ireland; this must feel to RTE as a stab in the back. I don’t think Freesat (BBC/ITV) will allow this to happen. Ireland is not there targeted market, so there is no reason for them to actively get involved.
From whet I read RTE seem to be good friends with Freesat and seem to be even working together: The RTE radio stations have gone on the Freesat EPG and it looks like RTE International will be exclusive on Freesat (which will sell quite some boxes to Irish people in the UK). So why would Freesat set out to stab RTE in the back on their own home market?
Personally I don’t believe this is the case.
Could it be that we are missing the bigger picture. Is the introduction of Sat4free only the introduction of a Freesat clone or are we seeing the birth of Irelands own Satellite platform?
Here is the reasoning behind it:
1. RTE contract with Sky is running out this year, so now is the time to reconsider their options for the future.
2. RTE feels it is best for them to go FTA to be able to compete with the Freesat channels. Satellite reception in Ireland is growing and it is not in RTE’s interest to stay hidden away behind Sky’s encryption. People might not be willing to pay for RTE as they can have the Freesat channels including RTE International for free. This way losing viewers/advertisers.
3. RTE is committed to be platform neutral. In their document “DIGITAL TELEVISION AND RADIO SERVICES IN IRELAND” (http://www.rte.ie/about/rtedigital_english.pdf) the option of “Free-to-the-consumer” satellite is taken into account.
4. The new platform will give the BAI full control over the Irish EPG making Irish broadcasting independent. The EPG is now under control of Sky, which has annoyed the BAI for a long time.
5. As far as the program rights issues are concerned, I think there are solution for this and will not be a showstopper:
Technical – as mentioned in other posts there are several tricks to minimize overspill. Some posts ago there was mentioning that the software in the Sat4free boxes did not allow to add ITV regions. Which means the software of the Freesat boxes can also be adapted so it will not allow adding of Irish channels.
Negotiations – Working together with BBC/ITV they must have a strong position to negotiate some kind of deal for both UK and Ireland with program providers. (http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2003/04/27/story46676753.asp)
6. Cost. I have no idea how much transponder costs are but seeing there are lots of “crap” broadcasters it can’t be so expensive. Anyway, by not having to go the expensive “extra mile” in rolling out DTT will be a saving.
7. From what I read on the forum there will be a product launch and the boxes will subsequently be sold in Tesco’s. This seems to be the same way as the Freesat boxes were introduced in the UK… I wonder if they would be using this saturate selling instrument if Sat4free is only a box.
I’m not saying I’m right, but it would be a golden opportunity for Irish broadcasters to get their own independently controlled satellite platform and get rid of Sky.
These are just some thoughts from my side to add to the ongoing discussion.
We will just have to see what will happen.
Does anybody know when the product launch is?

Mossy Monk

RTÉ cannot afford to go FTA on satellite.

Tony

mydax wrote: »

However, to me this poses the more political question why Freesat would allow Grundig to sell Freesat clones on the Irish market.

Interesting post, your points are well made. It would be interesting to know whether Grundig are doing a solo run on this or are other parties involved.

I think we need to differentiate between Free to air and some kind of quasi rights protection for RTE on satellite given the propensity of some contributors here to dismiss the idea out of hand.

TheDriver

Think there is merit in RTE going FTA via a rights mechanism. Lets dispel all the usual people's comment about FTA outright and why/why nots, it is possible and only time will tell. There is definitely something up and could be curious as to whats on. Maybe its like the UK where they can't provide DTT everywhere so this is a handy alternaative?

redout

The Cush wrote: »

Channel 4 & +1 have at last appeared on freesat EPG 104 & 121 with NI postcode.

Just checked mine and it is still on 974 with a NI postcode.

muincav

So lads, what would you all advise if I bought a Bush HD Freesat,- would it be to put in a, for example, London postcode so as to recieve ITV HD and just add BBC and UTV manually at the end of the EPG?

Reasons I am asking are that I need a reciever for my dad because with the Lidl sl65 it keeps needing to be retuned and I am not always round to do it, and another reason is I go to Armagh twice a week and could pick one up easy enough.

all views appreciated

redout

muincav wrote: »

So lads, what would you all advise if I bought a Bush HD Freesat,- would it be to put in a, for example, London postcode so as to recieve ITV HD and just add BBC and UTV manually at the end of the EPG?

all views appreciated

This is possible but ITV HD does not show an awful lot but does do the football. It is not a channel, it is just itv and tells you to hit the red button when a programme is broadcast in HD. It is only a matter of time until they move the HD to UTV and STV.

byte

From what I can find on Digiguide, nothing on ITVHD until Monday (Wired).

muincav

redout wrote: »

This is possible but ITV HD does not show an awful lot but does do the football. It is not a channel, it is just itv and tells you to hit the red button when a programme is broadcast in HD. It is only a matter of time until they move the HD to UTV and STV.

The Freesat site says it has nothing to do with UTV or STV not broadcasting HD and the reason why should be put to these channels and not Freeat, but I do agree with you that it is only a matter of time until they broadcast in HD,.

Thanks lads for the reply.....:D

Mark#1

Mylow wrote: »

Not available 'yet'. Talks of PVR box by end of year.

http://www.turbosat.com/shop/product.php?productid=655&cat=128&page=1

Note that (AFAIK) some (all?) free satellite PVRs (and the free satellite/DTT combos) only have PVR functionality when an external HDD is connected, and then they can only record the channel you're watching. More knowledgeable folk please feel free to correct me on this.

Mossy Monk wrote: »

ROI versions with programming still blocked. A joke.

Sorry for not understanding this correctly - do you mean that Freesat channels were blocked on a Freesat box used in ROI?

copacetic wrote: »

The future imo is DTT for the 4 FTA channels and Freesat for everything else. Most TVs will have one or the other built in very soon (prob freesat) so all people will need is an aerial and a satdish to get both. People who don't care about UK stuff will just stick with the 4 FTA channels.

I agree with this - it's what I'll be doing, but won't those used to (and dependant on) the PVR functionality of Sky+ and NTL's equivalent be left wanting if they choose TVs with Freesat and/or Irish FTA DTT tuners built-in? Or is there a way to have PVR functionality in that case?

Panasonic's PZ81 range have a Freesat HD tuner built-in, along with a UK Freeview (NOT Irish DTT) tuner - perfect set-up (in the UK) if there is a way to have PVR functionality.

I'm sure that Panasonic (and more brands) will release TVs with Freesat and MPEG4 DTT (for Irish DTT) tuners built-in - IIUC, there seems to be many more countries where MPEG4 is used for free DTT, rather than the UK's MPEG2.

Mind you, I won't be too interested in seeing what price Irish dealers will be asking for those - current TVs on sale here without any tuner suitable for Ireland in the near future (not DTT, not Freesat, not free satellite . . . and remember - analog will be gone before you know it) are on sale here for up to €900 more than the same model on sale in the UK. NNNNGG... MMMUSSST..... NNOTT.... RRANNNT....

I'll be getting a Humax Foxsat HDR and a DTT PVR (hopefully PlayTV, isn't that right, Mossy, Watty & Byte . . . :rolleyes: ). It means that I'll have separate 7-day EPGs for DTT and Freesat, but that's okay with me - the Freesat EPG is pretty enough and the PlayTV EPG is even better.

I'll also have a Logitech Harmony remote which will let me use it all in such a way that I won't be dicking around with loads of remotes and confusing decisions.

It won't matter what TV I use then, from the standpoint that the TV itself won't need any tuner at all.

Interesting times . . .


Mark

Mossy Monk

Mark#1 wrote: »

Sorry for not understanding this correctly - do you mean that Freesat channels were blocked on a Freesat box used in ROI?

It was a reference to the encrypted Channel 4 versions mentioned in the post prior to mine.

Rick_

muincav wrote: »

So lads, what would you all advise if I bought a Bush HD Freesat,- would it be to put in a, for example, London postcode so as to recieve ITV HD and just add BBC and UTV manually at the end of the EPG?

Or you could just set it up with the NI postcode and add ITV 1 London in manually, then tune to it when something in HD is on and press the red button. At least that keeps the NI programmes on the 7 day guide for him to see. Will make it easier for him I think.

Tony

Will that work though since Freesat Uk say ITV HD is not available in NI? Guess you can revert if it does not work out.

Paddy C wrote: »

Or you could just set it up with the NI postcode and add ITV 1 London in manually, then tune to it when something in HD is on and press the red button. At least that keeps the NI programmes on the 7 day guide for him to see. Will make it easier for him I think.

watty

Mark#1 wrote: »

Note that (AFAIK) some (all?) free satellite PVRs (and the free satellite/DTT combos) only have PVR functionality when an external HDD is connected, and then they can only record the channel you're watching. More knowledgeable folk please feel free to correct me on this.

No, there are many with built in disks. But most only can schedule german stations on 19E properly, no Freesat or Sky EPG support.

Many have dual tuners for sat or DTT.

However the cheaper combos only have one each DTT and Sat tuner and external drive. A proper PVR combo needs dual DTT and dual Sat tuners and internal drive. These are not cheap and often a separate DTT and Sat box has better features and better value.

redout

Channel 4 is now available on 104 and channel 4+1 on 121 on the NI EPG as opposed to 974. My official freesat box would not download this change to the EPG even though this channel was moved over a week ago. It required myself doing a first time install to recieve the update. Anyone else get this problem.

I would also be interestd to find out if anyone has a sat4free box and recieved this update to the EPG.

Phibsboro

Hi,

I think we might need a new thread for sat4free - can a mod pull this one out as a starter if they agree?

I was at the launch today (great little launch actually though I missed the lunch ). It is basically a freesat box but without the freesat name or logo anywhere and preset to NI postcode. It is being handled by Tesco, Atlantic and Woodies for the "dish installation included" box and powercity for just the box. The box is made by Alba and branded Goodmans on the demo EPG I saw.

I asked about the region thing and the main techie guy said it could be changed and that the HD box defo receives ITV HD. There was no official pricing but unofficially the prices will be (are already?) €299 for the SD box with install, €399 for the HD with install. No even unofficial prices for the without install box but they already for sale in powercity at €100 for the SD box and €230 for the HD box (http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-23-989265).

I made the point to the main techie guy that a combo box would knock boxer and basic sky offering out of the water but he felt it was too early to be totally sure what free to view DTT was going to look like in Ireland (i.e. he was surprised to hear that the public service mux is currently testing in clear and the expectation is it will remain in clear. Its probably worth noting he was English so mightn't be totally up to speed with whats happening over here).

c

redout

Phibsboro wrote: »

Hi,

. There was no official pricing but unofficially the prices will be (are already?) €299 for the SD box with install, €399 for the HD with install. No even unofficial prices for the without install box but they already for sale in powercity at €100 for the SD box and €230 for the HD box (http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-23-989265).

c

How does labour, sticking up a dish and running a cable justify €200 on top of the €99 for an install ? That is a bit excessive. Better off sticking with DIY if you can.

Phibsboro

redout wrote: »

How does labour, sticking up a dish and running a cable justify €200 on top of the €99 for an install ? That is a bit excessive. Better off sticking with DIY if you can.

Well, you are getting the dish and mounting etc as well. This wasn't totally clear to me tbh but I double checked it with one of the people at the launch.

C

TheDriver

So its official, interesting stuff indeed and with the usual local retailers selling it, should be some deals as tesco love selling things cheap at times. Will be on the watchout there!

The Cush

Sat4Free website is up and running http://www.sat4free.ie/.
Similar in style to the freesat website.

The website is registered (see here also) to Irish Power Products Limited. The website renewal date is Jun 09, so the Irish launch must have been planned around the time of the freesat launch.

redout

It must be 100% confirmed now. This is defintely a tie-in with freesat. It links direct to the freesat homepage for all the channel listings. Still dont know how they get away with broadcasting channel 5 etc in Ireland.

Phibsboro

redout wrote: »

It must be 100% confirmed now. This is defintely a tie-in with freesat. It links direct to the freesat homepage for all the channel listings. Still dont know how they get away with broadcasting channel 5 etc in Ireland.

Thing is, they aren't broadcasting anything. If c5 make the decision to go fta on sat and to join the freesat epg then that is their decision. The signal just happens to be available to a slightly wider footprint than the UK alone.

I didn't take any notes at the launch but the phrase "in conjuction with the BBC" may have been used - but really I very much doubt it went that far. The company who produced the box has worked with freesat/bbc initially to do the freesat box. There is no need for them to work with BBC/freesat to do what they are doing now. The EPG data is being broadcast effectively in the clear for example. As i see it, all that is happening is that a local electrical equipment wholesaler has approached a freesat box manufacturer to strip out the freesat name and logo from a freesat box. How far that company went to get freesat/bbc approval for what its doing is debatable - my gut feel is that it did nothing of the sort, I can't see freesat ever giving official approval to a box aimed at another territory.

C

redout

If they did not get permission then I am sure the BBC would not to be to long about going legal with that.

Phibsboro

redout wrote: »

If they did not get permission then I am sure the BBC would not to be to long about going legal with that.

Hmmm - I'm not sure. Why would BBC go legal? They have chosen to broadcast on this particular satillite in the clear. They have chosen to use standard MHEG-5 for the red button service and they/freesat have chosen to broadcast the EPG data unencrypted (though compressed). There are 100's of ordinary FTA sat receivers that can pick up all the channels that a freesat/sat4free box can, so that is definitely not illegal. All that the sat4free box adds is red button (unlikely to be illegal, all the streams are available on different channels on an FTA box) and the EPG (this is the main area that might be a concern but really I expect to see non-freesat boxes using this EPG data soon. The german channels broadcast 7 day epg and all generic FTA receivers can use this data.)

So my gut feel is that freesat/BBC ain't gonna officially endorse something like this but they ain't gonna go running to the courts either. The key people affected by moves like this are Boxer and Sky - if we get a box with a proper freesat epg implementation like this one with the 4 irish DTT integrated fully into the EPG then I think Boxer wouldn't even start up - or if they do then they'll drop the entry level pack completely and try to get permission to broadcast premium content only (or mainly).

Sky is already in a battle in the UK with this kind of thing (both freesat and freeview offer a nice choice of UK channels FTA) and they are fighting it by trying to offer things you can't get on the free offering - pushing the + box as standard for example and offering much more HD content as well as keeping up their premium content. I reckon they will move away from their current "mix" pricing and make the entry level package much more attractive at some point (or even offer it free in a bid to get their box into houses). They also continue to try and muddy the waters for consumers with their Freesat by Sky offering... http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/

c

redout

Yes the EPG use is exactly my point. If no permission was sought then they are in fact stealing the Freesat EPG and passing it off as their own. Surely the BBC/ITV are not going to stand idley by and let this happen because if they did then every tom, dick and harry would be at it. I believe that they have been given permission and the sat4free website even links to the Official freesat website.

Phibsboro

redout wrote: »

Yes the EPG use is exactly my point. If no permission was sought then they are in fact stealing the Freesat EPG and passing it off as their own. Surely the BBC/ITV are not going to stand idley by and let this happen because if they did then every tom, dick and harry would be at it.

They are broadcasting it effectively in the clear. Are all the 100's of current FTA receivers "stealing" BBC's programming content because they are capable of receiving it? A box capable of displaying the EPG is in a similar situation - I'd be very suprised if Freesat or BBC pursue that line. There is already a parser available for PC's that grabs the epg data from the broadcast stream...

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=837707

C

Tony

Worth noting that goodmans, grundig and alba are the same company, they make both boxes so this must have been sanctioned.

TheDriver

of course its sanctioned as a big company with a prize contract with freesat isn't going to risk anything nor pay for the advertising etc, something else is behind this and most probably freesat themselves unofficially. Its goodnews all round tho as people can get stuff from local retailers that are afraid of online sales etc

coffee to go

The Irish Power Products office is virtually next door to mine - A quick visit didn't reveal much (all PR staff were out of the office), but apparently sat4free will be publicised in this Friday's papers.

dhaumi

Interesting! I wonder how they will defend the fact that they don't provide any irish channels AND that you can get the same thing (if not better) a lot cheaper in Northern Ireland!
Unfortunately, the price is more likely to go down then the Irish channels to appear...

The_Conductor

Tony wrote: »

Worth noting that goodmans, grundig and alba are the same company, they make both boxes so this must have been sanctioned.

The same company also make the "Bush" brand. Its also the exact same circuit board in all their boxes (with slightly different programming to differentiate the 3 brands). Save yourself £40 and go for whichever is best value......

Tony

dhaumi wrote: »

Interesting! I wonder how they will defend the fact that they don't provide any irish channels

Why do they have to defend that? It was RTE who decided to join sky and it is they who should be defending the fact that they are not available on satellite for licience holders.

muincav

Tony wrote: »

Worth noting that goodmans, grundig and alba are the same company, they make both boxes so this must have been sanctioned.

Yes and BUSH is part of the same company as well, so they actually have 3 of the 4 boxes in the Freesat range..

Phibsboro

Tony wrote: »

Why do they have to defend that? It was RTE who decided to join sky and it is they who should be defending the fact that they are not available on satellite for licience holders.

I made the same point to them in person - they are selling this in tesco, woodies, atlantic etc. I am *mad* into this area of technology and sometimes i struggle to remember how it is all currently panning out. This box will definitely be returned by 1 - a small percentage of purchasers who didn't realise that it required a satellite and 2 - a larger percentage who assumed they would get the four irish channels.

The hobbyist market (of which i totally accept I'm one) will lap this box up, but i wonder how many ordinary punters in powercity really understand what they are buying? ... Roll on DTT and the first semi official combo box...

c

jaykell

redout wrote: »

Channel 4 is now available on 104 and channel 4+1 on 121 on the NI EPG as opposed to 974. My official freesat box would not download this change to the EPG even though this channel was moved over a week ago. It required myself doing a first time install to recieve the update. Anyone else get this problem.

I would also be interestd to find out if anyone has a sat4free box and recieved this update to the EPG.

Channel 4 and 4+1 are on 104 and 121 on my sat4free box. Can't say for sure whether they were automatically updated, or whether they were tuned in as part of first install, but they do work fine.

Also found out that ITV London, and thus ITV HD can be added as extra channels. Details are on the sat4free website which is now up and running, or from their customer support, which is first rate (phone 1800 992296). Wasn't sure about this system at first, but I'm very happy with it now.

leex

http://www.sat4free.ie/uploads/files/Adding_ITV_Regions_Rev1_Oct08.pdf

Tony

jaykell wrote: »

Also found out that ITV London, and thus ITV HD can be added as extra channels. /QUOTE]

This is good news as the NI postcode seemed to be causing a problem with this as the freesat website was saying ITV HD not yet available in NI.

TheDriver

wonder if RTE will become some part of this at all or just freesat copy, I think it will be just freesat copy and never anything different to behonest, why would rte bother when dtt is coming

The_Conductor

TheDriver wrote: »

wonder if RTE will become some part of this at all or just freesat copy, I think it will be just freesat copy and never anything different to behonest, why would rte bother when dtt is coming

RTE have already stated they will not be going FTA- so there is your answer on that one. You will be able to add-in RTE-International as a manual channel if interested though (from Feb 09). S.

Tony

TheDriver wrote: »

why would rte bother when dtt is coming

Because they are not bif fans of Boxer

Tony

smccarrick wrote: »

RTE have already stated they will not be going FTA- so there is your answer on that one.

True but they do not necessarily have to go to free to air to become available without subscription on satellite, all they have to do is satisfy the rights holders.

pizzahead77

smccarrick wrote: »

RTE have already stated they will not be going FTA- so there is your answer on that one. You will be able to add-in RTE-International as a manual channel if interested though (from Feb 09). S.

Actually people believe that RTE International will be officially part of the freesat EPG in the UK next year - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=883608&highlight=rte

The_Conductor

pizzahead77 wrote: »

Actually people believe that RTE International will be officially part of the freesat EPG in the UK next year - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=883608&highlight=rte

Cool! Lots of people will be happy with that!

mullingar

It seems that there will be a TV with Sat4free built in similar to the Panasonic PZ81B's:

Sat4Free gives you an HD service for free, so you can watch HD programmes from the BBC and ITV. All you need is a Sat4Free HD digital box connected to an HD Ready TV, or a TV with Sat4Free HD built in.

http://www.sat4free.ie/index.php?page=whatissat4free

redout

That is probabley the Panasonic tv's which are already available for Freesat. They will probabley just change the software for the Irish Market. I doubt that will be building something from scratch.

DMC

Tony wrote: »

This is good news as the NI postcode seemed to be causing a problem with this as the freesat website was saying ITV HD not yet available in NI.

Like UTV, the same for STV.

ITV playing hardball again. Shades of ITV2/UTV2/S2 all over again.