South Coast Community TV

Rippy

I have had official confirmation that the administrators of SCTV have ordered that all transmitters are switched off at midnight tonight.
This includes both analogue and digital services.
As a Carrigaline resident and proprietor of a local aerial business, thank you for the last 25 years of service.

RIP

Sponge Bob

Never even heard they were in trouble.

watty

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055950097

Been likely to happen since BBC, ITV, C4 and Five all FTA on Sat. Shows how likely Pay DTT is to make a profit.

Rippy

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Never even heard they were in trouble.

Been very little in the media about it.

Rippy

It's a pity that there is not even a closed caption being broadcast informing viewers that the service ceases at midnight.
I Expect a lot of phone calls tomorrow form people wondering where there BBC and ITV have gone.
Can also expect SCTV areas to be flooded with sky and UPC reps and assorted cowboys looking to make a killing.

Rippy

watty wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055950097

Been likely to happen since BBC, ITV, C4 and Five all FTA on Sat. Shows how likely Pay DTT is to make a profit.

I Never believed their digital service was financially viable. I do feel sorry for the many (mostly elderly) long standing supporters of South Coast who invested.

Sponge Bob

Couuld we not repurpose it as the worlds first 2 way "terrestrial satellite broadband" network. I'm sure Eamon Ryan would be down to help us for the launch ......like a fly around sh1te.

dowtchaboy

SCTV still working here in Crosshaven this morning (8 am) - on analogue anyway.

The SCTV website is dead though.

Rippy

dowtchaboy wrote: »

SCTV still working here in Crosshaven this morning (8 am) - on analogue anyway.

The SCTV website is dead though.

I take it nobody has been around to flick the switches yet. Just received confirmation digital is still up as well.

Antenna

being discussed on Cork 96FM radio now, irate sounding woman, a customer of digital, on air after ringing in, after being unable to contact anyone in SCTV. I think at least some of the digital channels are gone?

Rippy

All digital now gone, analogue still going.
Tried ringing 96fms news desk several times this morning , no answer....

Rippy

As the cowboys descend on the area beware of those realigning the little 45cm SCTV dish to Astra 2 for a quick and cheap satellite conversion. Dish is way to small for reliable sat. reception here

Antenna

Antenna wrote: »

a customer of digital, on air after ringing in, after being unable to contact anyone in SCTV.

Don't think the issue has got any further mention on that radio show since that caller. I have had it on in the background.

Rippy wrote: »

All digital now gone, ....

This means that some people are now without even RTE and have zero TV at the moment - as some people had got their 'old aerials' taken down when they got the SCTV Digital service installed when it launched. I said at the time it was ill advised to remove analogue backup for the national channels at least.

Rooy

not good news ! , what about the world cup ?! , guess I can watch the matches on line.

What are the alternatives worth looking at ? - Sky and Chorus ?

They probably will be inundated with calls , so might be a bit of a wait.

Rooy

Maybe im on a different digitial transmitter (douglas) , but not all the digitial channels are gone , still have a selection - RTE , BBC etc .

Sponge Bob

Here is an announcement for Cork, someone tell the radio stations

1. Digital TV is live in much of Cork today ,generally if you can already pick up TV3 analogue on air then your existing aerial is compatible and a box can be bought to give you digital RTE and TG4. TV3 will appear sometime this year or next year on Digital but for now only on Analogue.

2. An SCTV 'dish' cannot pick up Free to air satellite except when it is NOT raining. At any other time the 'dish' is too small. Replacing that dish with a 'proper' one ( 60-70cm) and a free to air decoder box should cost no more than €200...tuned and working. This box will not give you Digital Irish channels but will give you your Digital UK Channels completely free from now on.

Digital Irish TV will require at minimum a UHF aerial and another decoder box although single box solutions exists such as Mvision and Edision that will tune RTE and BBC by combining aerial and dish feeds.

3. SCTV will not come back, no liquidator wouldhave turned the signal off if there was any realistic possibility of selling SCTV as a 'going concern'.

4. Turning the network off without any warning or consultation with end users means the Liquidator probably breached Section 22 of the Communications Regulation Act 2010, but not to worry because Comreg will do nothing as usual and more so when they hear it only affects Cork people and even more so once they find that Rural Cork people are in the majority.

dowtchaboy

Rooy wrote: »

not good news ! , what about the world cup ?! , guess I can watch the matches on line.

What are the alternatives worth looking at ? - Sky and Chorus ?

They probably will be inundated with calls , so might be a bit of a wait.

Nip down to Rafeen dump and pick up one of the loads of Sky boxes that get dumped - most work - and get your UK channels for free.
Or go to Dunnes in Carrigaline - have 2 sat receivers, one with HD.
Or go to B&Q who have a cheapo Freesat systems
Or go on eBay like someone else on this forum and get a Sagem box for 9.99....

Apart from the documentary channels and maybe Dave, there is nothing I would want to pay money to Sky or Chorus for....

Apogee

Will the SCTV decoders not function as FTA receivers, or has the tuning menu been crippled in the firmware?

pa990

Antenna wrote: »

........


This means that some people are now without even RTE and have zero TV at the moment - as some people had got their 'old aerials' taken down when they got the SCTV Digital service installed when it launched. I said at the time it was ill advised to remove analogue backup for the national channels at least.

+1
i know lots that have had their tv aerial disconnected when they get a sat dish (sky)
these people don't realise that its no harm having a back up.

Rippy

Apogee wrote: »

Will the SCTV decoders not function as FTA receivers, or has the tuning menu been crippled in the firmware?

Correct. If anyone can find the original firmware for the now obsolete Kaon receivers I would be very interested.

dowtchaboy

Rippy wrote: »

Correct. If anyone can find the original firmware for the now obsolete Kaon receivers I would be very interested.

I feel a bit like a vulture but..... I'll be watching out for one or two of those 45cm dishes - I need a discreet one for "long distance" WiFi in the campervan and for TV I have a suspicion that putting my USB DTT antenna at the focus of the dish might give a good improvement.

I know in theory it should not - but I recall being laughed at by a prof in UCC in the late 80's when I said I was building a ground-level chicken-wire parabolic "dish" to pick up BBC UHF signals from Wales. Couldn't possibly work sez he. Often thought of him and his poor students when I sat at home in Athy watching my 99% perfect BBC coming in over UHF from Wales..... (some of my neighbours had their 12 ft dishes aimed up North..)

I told him about reversing the mylar sheet innards of a BSB Squarial to change the polarity R.H. Circular to Left - but he didn't believe that one either. Then again maybe he wasn't as interested in Danish porn as I was...... :D

Booms

Danish Porn - you mean funny shaped pastries, like?:)

Watty (i think) posted a pic a while ago of a section of fencing on a hill arranged to focus on an aerial. Wasn't yours, was it? Do you still use yours?

dowtchaboy

Booms wrote: »

Danish Porn - you mean funny shaped pastries, like?:)

Watty (i think) posted a pic a while ago of a section of fencing on a hill arranged to focus on an aerial. Wasn't yours, was it? Do you still use yours?

Doubt it. That was another life - I was in Athy Co Kildare which is bog country - quite flat - we were near the River Barrow so no we were not on a hill. As far as I recall it was a quad butterfly element + reflector something like a Colour King (don't think that was the name though - usually got our stuff from Aerials & Electronics down a side street in Ballsbridge) sitting at the focal point pointing back into the dish obviously. Whole thing was backed by two stacked 40 ft containers. Centre of it was about 8 ft of the ground.

Recall seeing stranger setups at focal points- quad Yagi arrays, smaller dishes focussed onto homemade concoctions made of copper pipe.... you name it. Anywhere North of us people tried to get signal from N Ireland - some of the heights were ridiculous, especially on some country pubs, I believe they had to pay a fortune for riggers to go up to fix anything. In later years it was noticeable that many aerials actually dropped the usually quad Yagi array down to maybe halfway on the mast - because the signal was better there! Maybe this happened after a new transmitter went live in the North??

Half the people reading this thread will not comprehend what it was like to have 1 1/2 TV channels......and what lengths people would go to to have a choice.

Remember another setup that should not have worked but did - guy in a house in a bit of a dip in South Carlow - had his house antenna pointed up the field at an antenna on a pole connected to NOTHING but pointed at Mt Leinster - and he got a perfect signal.

Re Danish - - at one stage was getting Danish Swedish and Norwegian channels showing the same movies dubbed (not a lot needed) - the movies would start at the same time but the Norwegian ones ended 15 or 20 minutes before the Danish one - which had lot of close ups, and interesting angle shots and much more ..... graphic... content! But after a while all this boring gets boring.....

aidanodr

Im amazed this news was kept under wraps since May 20th. No mention - I do not think - in the local Carrigduon Newspaper in Carrigaline. You would imagine this would have been front page news here?

I ( Sky since 1996 ) only found out because my sister is a digital Subscriber with them, she's livid and a shareholder too - she wasnt even told or informed of any of this. Quiet alot of shareholders down here I would say - when they started selling their digi package a while back they also flogged shares to tap into the local thing. She said its basically snow now from the digi box. Only channel is the Soth Coast local with a screen advert saying thanks for your past custom.

Apparently the Digital was switched off mid night last night ( 30th June / 1st July ) and the analog beam will be gone end of this week or so.

I think this service spanned quiet alot of the south coast? Will affect many people?

Web site is gone too - www.sctvdigital.com/

Aidan

Apogee

Rooy wrote: »

not good news ! , what about the world cup ?! , guess I can watch the matches on line.

What are the alternatives worth looking at ? - Sky and Chorus ?

You can get all of the World Cup in HD with either a Freesat HD or free-to-air HD satellite receiver.
www.freesat.co.uk

Booms wrote: »

Watty (i think) posted a pic a while ago of a section of fencing on a hill arranged to focus on an aerial. Wasn't yours, was it? Do you still use yours?

http://www.geocities.ws/corkradio/txgal5.html


http://www.castlebar.ie/photos/mike/TV-deflector/glry/index/castlebardeflector3.html

Rippy wrote: »

Correct. If anyone can find the original firmware for the now obsolete Kaon receivers I would be very interested.

Can you get the model number from the box externally or internally?

dowtchaboy

Yup - That Castlebar one is similar - except ours was a bit more wonky and the focal point held a Kathrein (probably) reflector array. Just throw in a few LabGear line amplifiers and a load of RadioSpares coax and you're away!

the one on the hill looks mad! (in a Cork sense....)!

Sat dishes are soooo (yawn) easy....

dowtchaboy

Hope somebody has documented all this stuff - what went on in the early days with secret antennae being erected over to the East and being powered by guys hauling battery packs up mountains..... great community spirit and many unsung heroes.

"And you try and tell the young people of today that...... and they won't believe you"

Rippy

dowtchaboy wrote: »

I feel a bit like a vulture but..... I'll be watching out for one or two of those 45cm dishes - I need a discreet one for "long distance" WiFi in the campervan and for TV I have a suspicion that putting my USB DTT antenna at the focus of the dish might give a good improvement.

I will be taking a hell of a lot of them down. I'll save you a couple of good ones.

First one down today.
Not in the best of shape.

Rippy

dowtchaboy wrote: »

Hope somebody has documented all this stuff - what went on in the early days with secret antennae being erected over to the East and being powered by guys hauling battery packs up mountains..... great community spirit and many unsung heroes.

"And you try and tell the young people of today that...... and they won't believe you"

Not to mention the epic legal battles........
There has to be a book in it.
Will be talking to a few of the pioneers after a decent interval, some of these lads will be very upset at the moment.

dowtchaboy

Rippy wrote: »

I will be taking a hell of a lot of them down. I'll save you a couple of good ones.

First one down today.
Not in the best of shape.

That was fast! One down already? Someone desperate not to miss the World Cup then?:)

(Ta - I'll stand you a pint in Cronin's - or Buckleys....)

aidanodr

Hiya Guys,

This was the only newspaper articles on this I could find, very under reported.

http://www.thecorknews.ie/?q=content/switched

"Residents in Carrigaline, Fountainstown, Belgooly as well as parts of Waterford and Tipperary all affected by this switch off"

Digital Box subscribers only have rte, beeb, C4, HTV now, but not for long. Apparently the Analog and Digital signals for all the above will be gone by or after the weekend coming. So in alot of cases we will have nothing.

Good times for Sky and UPC sales teams ..

Aidan

Booms

Thanks to Dowtchaboy, fascinating stuff, love hearing about the pioneering engineering.Pity it'll never happen again as we move to DTT and satellite.

My first experience of DXing was a homemade quad in the attic using biscuit tin lid cut up as triangular elements in front of a mesh. i added a £6 battery powered amp from Orchard Electronics in Devon. first day i tried it I picked up Granada and HTV perfectly. subsequently turned out to be a huge High Pressure lift at the time. if hadn't been there probably would have given up as bad job and not kept up interest.

Incidentally, has anyone thought of recording some co-channel interference reception while it still occurs on analogue. They'll never believe what it was like in twenty years time.

Also thanks to Apogee, that's the picture I was looking for.

Sorry for hijacking thread, i'll give it back to you now.:o

dowtchaboy

Booms wrote: »

Thanks to Dowtchaboy, fascinating stuff, love hearing about the pioneering engineering.Pity it'll never happen again as we move to DTT and satellite.

Wish I could claim to have been one of the pioneers but I wasn't - did not reach this wonderful part of the world until late Nineties. Did a bit of TV DXing based on Roger Bunnies articles and some weird Danish book on antennae in the 80's but never got much. All personal stuff - what went on down here was generous community activity. And it wasn't all low-tech - isn't the system in Dungarvan quite advanced if perhaps a tad in a grey area? Actually it would be an interesting bit of academic research for somebody I suspect - the kind of generous giving of time you get very much in coastal, fishing and island communities - the volunteers in the Lifeboats for example. Maybe it's the further you get from Dublin, like?!

Antenna

Good to hear Ian of Signal Solutions of Carrigaline interviewed on Cork 96FM radio's Neil Prendeville show this morning (Friday), - as one could have thought there had been some sort of media blackout of the SCTV issue in the press, and there was also much confusion as to what is exactly happening to SCTV digital and/or analogue viewers in the coming days.

FTA satellite options for ex-SCTV viewers were explained (including receivers with recording capability), and he also very strongly advised anyone purchasing a new TV to make sure it is 'MPEG4' so capable for the not yet officially launched RTE digital.

He jokingly or otherwise said that there would be cowboy FTA installers descending on the SCTV area from as far away as Co. Mayo and Co. Louth, and these wouldn't be around if something goes wrong in the future unlike reputable installers

lynch71

I've lost most of my channels and the analogue ones are going next weekend I think

I've ordered Sky, they're fitting 2 boxes (one Sky+ High-def, the one George Hook keeps talking about), for 30.00 euro!! Only paying 33.00 a month too.

Go down to Mahon Point and see Adrian on the Sky desk (before you get swamped with door-knockers), Adrian's very helpful

St Senan

Antenna wrote: »

Good to hear Ian of Signal Solutions of Carrigaline interviewed on Cork 96FM radio's Neil Prendeville show this morning (Friday), - as one could have thought there had been some sort of media blackout of the SCTV issue in the press, and there was also much confusion as to what is exactly happening to SCTV digital and/or analogue viewers in the coming days.

FTA satellite options for ex-SCTV viewers were explained (including receivers with recording capability), and he also very strongly advised anyone purchasing a new TV to make sure it is 'MPEG4' so capable for the not yet officially launched RTE digital.

He jokingly or otherwise said that there would be cowboy FTA installers descending on the SCTV area from as far away as Co. Mayo and Co. Louth, and these wouldn't be around if something goes wrong in the future unlike reputable installers

It's a pity that south east radio here in Co Wexford didnt have broadcast last August/September when Pressley switched off Analouge broadcasts. The county is now full of cowboys using cheap quality satellite equipment and undercutting reputable installers. At nearly every car boot sale/ outdoor market their is some JOHN WAYNE selling cheap crap satellite systems. Maybe if they hear whats after happening in Cork they might saddle up lock and load and follow the Gold rush down south.
Rippy/Ian get the word out fast about these cowboys or else the Tv trade in Cork will suffer like Wexford.

Mike 1972

Think the closedown message could have done with some more info on "altenative suppliers" e.g. advice about Freesat and MPEG4

Always thought the 12 GHz digital was a white elephant and they should have lobbied to be allowed run local DTT multiplexes on UHF and/or diversify into wireless broadband. Ultimately this decision was their downfall

Sad to see it go but TBH Its time has passed

Wonder how long before operators in Mayo, Donegal etc follow

Most/all of them are losing revenue to Sky/Freesat bigtime and the operators are getting on a bit.........

Sponge Bob

There are no other 'operators' on the air , merely deflectors, and many are already dead. MMDS will be gone end 2014 latest.

Mike 1972

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Think the closedown message could have done with some more info on "altenative suppliers" e.g. advice about Freesat and MPEG4

Such as this one? Except it was really self-promotion.

Rippy

Today has been a very hetic day!
Due to the fact that.no one from the receivers , KPMG, or (understandably) no ex SCTV staff want to comment, I seem to have become a sort of unofficial spokesman.:rolleyes:
As well as the 96FM interview I have given interviews to local papers (Cork News article published today) and have fielded many phone calls and emails from viewers wanting general info about the shutdown and alternatives.
Some of this has, of course, generated business for myself, both in Sky sales and installs, and also FTA and aerial work .
Next weeks dairy is now completely full.
I must state that the media has come to me, (many journos monitor Boards), and I have not been 'pimping' my business to them. I have tried to remain as impartial as I can.
The problem is that people will not be prepared to wait a week or two to get a proper professional installation at a reasonable price, and will go with whoever can do it quick and cheap.
I am offering a reduced price for ex SCTV digital customers (in some cases cable can be reused cutting down on install time and costs) to help soften the blow , and assume that other reputable installers will do the same.

A 'mole' has hinted to me that broadcasts may actually continue to after the World Cup final on the 12th, but this is by no means certain.

aidanodr

Hiya,

My opinion is that KPMG were at fault here. They were appointed receivers back in May 20th for SCTV? I imagine once this happens - KPMGs appointed receiver guy then runs the operation?

Surely they should have been informing the customers since then and also having a bigger lead in to being cut off. As it was it happened this July 1st, early Morning - out of the blue, no warning with a notice that doesnt say much on the digi box screen. All subscrip stations gone. Very bad handling in my opinion!

Aidan

Rippy

aidanodr wrote: »

Hiya,

My opinion is that KPMG were at fault here. They were appointed receivers back in May 20th for SCTV?

Correct, I am in compete agreement. Surely there should have been closed captions on screen for a few weeks and or letters to subscribers?
I imagine the reasoning was that they did not want subscribers to leave , in the hope that a last minute buyer for the business could be found. But that was never likely to happen.

dowtchaboy

Rippy wrote: »

Correct, I am in compete agreement. Surely there should have been closed captions on screen for a few weeks and or letters to subscribers?
I imagine the reasoning was that they did not want subscribers to leave , in the hope that a last minute buyer for the business could be found. But that was never likely to happen.

True - I think the Receiver's legal obligation is to get the maximum in a realistic time for the business to be paid to the various creditors in strict order. The investors are last on the list, unfortunately. The Receiver has no obligation to do the "right thing" as far as the users of the service are concerned, in fact if doing the right thing such as telling subscribers their service was closing might jeopardise any negotiations to sell it as a "going concern" then he could be in legal hot water with angry creditors (including the Revenue).

Sponge Bob

dowtchaboy wrote: »

The Receiver has no obligation to do the "right thing" as far as the users of the service are concerned

They do actually, KPMG probably broke the law

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2010/en/act/pub/0002/sec0022.html#sec22

icdg

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Couuld we not repurpose it as the worlds first 2 way "terrestrial satellite broadband" network. I'm sure Eamon Ryan would be down to help us for the launch ......like a fly around sh1te.

"Terrestrial satellite" is an oxymoran. A satellite is in space and terrestrial refers to the planet Earth. In fact the technology used for the SCTV digital service was essentially MMDS, yes in a different frequency band to that used by Chorus/NTL, but MMDS nonetheless. The only thing satellite about it was that it operated in the band which is normally used by DBS frequencies (hence Sky's concerns about it being licenced). Of course, it should never have been licenced but that was Comreg's call.

Now as for this thread, I'm quite uneasy about it being in the Terrestrial forum particularly when it seems to be discussing the SCTV digital service primarily. Of course SCTV also operated an analogue UHF service so if people are happy to follow the following rules:

* This thread should be used to primarily dicuss the SCTV analogue UHF service.
* The thread in Cable/MMDS can be used to discuss the digital service.

If this isn't followed, the thread's will be merged according to whichever service has been discussed more.

dowtchaboy

Sponge Bob wrote: »

They do actually, KPMG probably broke the law

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2010/en/act/pub/0002/sec0022.html#sec22

Maybe - though I doubt they had 2,000+ subscribers to the digital communications service - most people picked up their analogue TV service without paying a sub in recent years (we paid up to last year even though we had all channels except C4 on satellite), and I suspect there is not the same obligation on them or anybody to maintain a broadcast service.

the regulations you pointed to from ComReg state that ComReg may take action if there is a substantial number of people affected:
".....“substantial number” means 2,000 users in the case of any termination of an electronic communications service."
Anyway - it's sad that they are gone, if inevitable.

Apogee

icdg wrote: »

In fact the technology used for the SCTV digital service was essentially MMDS, yes in a different frequency band to that used by Chorus/NTL, but MMDS nonetheless.

If anything, it was a hybrid design borrowing equally from satellite and MMDS.

As well as the frequency band, the signal modulation (DVB-S) and all of the reception equipment (LNBF, dish, receiver, encryption) are from DTH satellite.

Deise Tom

Rippy wrote: »

I have had official confirmation that the administrators of SCTV have ordered that all transmitters are switched off at midnight tonight.
This includes both analogue and digital services.
As a Carrigaline resident and proprietor of a local aerial business, thank you for the last 25 years of service.

RIP

Was wondering why there was no picture.

Was there a reason why they were turning off the analogue pictures since Christmas over the night, and not turning them on until 7-15 before the change of time and 8-15 after the change.

watty

MMDS can use DVB-C, DVB-t (UPC uses both) or DVB-s. At 12GHz the DVB-s receiving gear is cheapest. But it's a x4 waste of capacity.

Buceph

I think I'll be doing a lot of reading over the next day or so.

What are the options for someone in a rural area outside Carrigaline, and currently with an analogue receiver? (BBC, ITV and C4 was what we got (still get for the next few days, we hope.)) And is it definite we won't lose RTE, TG4 and TV3?

Deise Tom

Buceph wrote: »

I think I'll be doing a lot of reading over the next day or so.

What are the options for someone in a rural area outside Carrigaline, and currently with an analogue receiver? (BBC, ITV and C4 was what we got (still get for the next few days, we hope.)) And is it definite we won't lose RTE, TG4 and TV3?

Living in West Waterford, no BBC, ITV or C4 via aerial. Could never get TV3 via aerial. Rang Sky today for an extra box to try and get pics into a second room so i can see sports etc when others dont want to watch.