Coming to Sky Ireland - BBC3, BBC4, CBBC and CBeebies

Charles Slane

Originally posted in the BBC One HD thread by EGUINEY, but I nearly missed it and don't see a specific thread for it.

It's only taken 9 years for BBC Four, so roll on 2019...

www.skyireland.ie/freeze

"From 12 May, get something for the whole family with four extra channels from the BBC:
BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC and CBeebies - at no additional cost*."

mike65

Oh my sister will be thrilled with that. ITV1 next?

channelsurfer2

surprise surprise.... one wonders are the feeling the heat from freesat and saorview or just being generous. bit disappointing that bbc news 24 is not going to be on the epg or bbc1hd.

galtee boy

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

surprise surprise.... one wonders are the feeling the heat from freesat and saorview or just being generous. bit disappointing that bbc news 24 is not going to be on the epg or bbc1hd.

Would Sky be stealing a march on whatever "big announcement" UPC have to make this week ?

It's about time the Irish Sky Epg started to look like its UK counterpart, we're paying dearly for it and while the above channels are to be welcomed, the big absentees are BBC1HD,BBC News and ITV1HD/UTV. We probably will see BBC1HD and BBC News at some stage, but hell will freeze over before we see ITV or UTV on it !

greendom

Brilliant news! Time for a bigger hard drive on my Sky + box. And to my kids no I'm not planning on recording lots of kids stuff

mullingar

I just love small print:

From 12 May, get something for the whole family with four extra channels from the BBC:
BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC and CBeebies - at no additional cost*.

* Channels available without subscription.

Typical Sky, trying to give you that feel-good factor of "value for money" when the are ripping Irish people off

greendom

mullingar wrote: »

I just love small print:





Typical Sky, trying to give you that feel-good factor of "value for money" when the are ripping Irish people off

I'm not a fan of Murdoch at all but how could Sky have announced this change to their service, without annoying you ?

_Kaiser_

Ironic that this is announced on the day that I decide to downgrade the service (currently about €70 per month) to the basics while I put the saved money towards a Saorview/Freesat HD (if these exist yet?) box and get rid of Sky entirely.

While the BBC's are to be welcomed, until they add the rest of them and the ITV's etc to the EPG and at the same/equivalent euro price as the UK package then there's not really much to be shouting about I think... ok they've frozen the price but it's already significantly more than the equivalent UK pack for less functionality/channels.

PacMan

Great news. Would love to see ITV 2/3/4 added also.

About time they realised were in a depression!

We've frozen your Sky TV price until 2013

As for the BBC channels - * Channels available without subscription

And how about a upgrade of the software to allow us to get CH4 HD on other channels?

Charles Slane

Regardless of the fact that these channels are free to air and could be added on a Sky box throught the "other channels" feature, it'll be good to have them on the EPG and be able to record them using Sky+.

BBC Four can be a little goldmine of good programmes.

Dave_Dublin

Good news but I'm still hoping for UTV (let's face it, we're not going to get ITV1) on EPG 117 (wishful thinking)

I hope they move BBC1 / BBC2 down to 115 / 116 and add 3+4 to 141 / 142

. . . Makes sense doesn't it ?

excollier

Freesat box, anyone?

greendom

excollier wrote: »

Freesat box, anyone?

No change, should still be available through Freesat

Trevord

excollier wrote: »

Freesat box, anyone?

Indeed.

There is a touch of reinventing the wheel about this thread.

greendom

Trevord wrote: »

Indeed.

There is a touch of reinventing the wheel about this thread.

I was unable to use Sky + to record these channels before. Shortly I will be able to. That is excellent news and worthy of a thread

Charles Slane

Trevord wrote: »

Indeed.

There is a touch of reinventing the wheel about this thread.

In what way? The title says the channels are coming to Sky Ireland. It doesn't say they're coming to Freesat or a free to air satellite receiver.

Pat Gleeson

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

While the BBC's are to be welcomed, until they add the rest of them and the ITV's etc to the EPG.

The rest of the BBC channels are up to the Beeb to allow at some future date - the exclusion of UTV and the rest is an ITV decision under pressure from TV3, I suspect. UTV have long stated their wish to be on the Irish Sky EPG, and Sky are amenable as a channel provider here.
As for the Euro conversion debacle - I agree 100% that it's wrong, but Sky are like any other business, they will charge what they think the market will allow. If more people leave - as seems to be the case recently - this will push prices down eventually. Sky's current Irish HD advert mentions "Ireland's biggest selection of HD channels, and more coming soon" *

*Paraphrasing

excollier

greendom wrote: »

No change, should still be available through Freesat

That's why I said it.
If people really must have these channels with an EPG, get a Freesat box.
I have the Humax HDR myself, no way will I pay Murdoch & Co to see what is free, or to record it.

greendom

excollier wrote: »

That's why I said it.
If people really must have these channels with an EPG, get a Freesat box.
I have the Humax HDR myself, no way will I pay Murdoch & Co to see what is free, or to record it.

You pays your money and you takes your choice

Cantona's Collars

excollier wrote: »

That's why I said it.
If people really must have these channels with an EPG, get a Freesat box.
I have the Humax HDR myself, no way will I pay Murdoch & Co to see what is free, or to record it.

What if people want to watch other channels that are subscription only such as Sky Atlantic?
This is where the free tv only argument falls down slightly.It's good to see more channels added to the epg,subscription free or not.I tried as an experiment to watch only the fta channels and found what was on offer extremely limited-a huge amount of it was soaps or reality tv,both of which are of zero interest to me.So unfortunately the ditch Sky and get a Freesat box mantra isn't an option for a huge amount of people like myself as the stuff they watch is on subscription only channels.

On a side note,was there not talk of the BBC ditching BBC3 and BBC4 due to cost cutting measures?

greendom

There was certainly talk of them getting rid of a couple of radio stations but I think those were put on hold due to protests. Not sure about tv channels but they do have major budget constraints so its possible I suppose

lucernarian

I remember hearing about one TV channel being dropped but not both I think.

yop

Is it because I have a free UK Sky box that I have had them for the last 6 years?

lucernarian

Yep, they're on the UK EPGs.

Macy0161

Sky have to pay to have them on the Irish epg, even though they are FTA, so it was never as simple as just making them available (that's in no way a defence of sky btw)

Being announced with the price freeze smacks of the threat of Freesat and/or combo's to me, given the economic climate. The free television option is getting a lot more coverage and a lot more takers anecdotally at least. A saorview certified combo (with or without some form of satellite epg above now and next) could be the real threat rather than upc...

excollier

zerks wrote: »

What if people want to watch other channels that are subscription only such as Sky Atlantic?
This is where the free tv only argument falls down slightly.It's good to see more channels added to the epg,subscription free or not.I tried as an experiment to watch only the fta channels and found what was on offer extremely limited-a huge amount of it was soaps or reality tv,both of which are of zero interest to me.So unfortunately the ditch Sky and get a Freesat box mantra isn't an option for a huge amount of people like myself as the stuff they watch is on subscription only channels.
On a side note,was there not talk of the BBC ditching BBC3 and BBC4 due to cost cutting measures?

If you or anyone else want to continue to make Sky and their owners piles of dosh, then that's fine by me. The movies they repeatedly show have already been at the cinema and released on dvd, and you are paying for loads of other content you will never see, no problem.
I ditched Sky before it went digital, it was, for me, a rip off back then. Thanks BBC etc. for OnDigital and then Freeview.
I hardly have time to watch a fraction of the of the fta stuff, so Freesat is fine for me, and I have the channels that many Sky subbers on here seem to want, with full epg. And free recording, and some HD.
Go away (or words to that effect) Sky!

Lady Chatterton

Thanks OP, this is really great news!! My four year old will be thrilled, it will be great to finally be able to sky+ some Cbeebies programmes instead of messing around with the DVD recorder.

It is also worth acknowledging that it was the following post back in 2005 that helped many of us to tune in extra channels, so thanks again

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=3545568

Trevord

Folks keep in mind that it's not a simply a case of having Sky OR freesat. You can have both and for those who can't live without Sky then the addition of a freesat or FTA box gives you the best of both worlds.

Sky (as is their right) continues to offer an inferior service for some of the non Sky channels it carries (presumably because they want you to watch Sky channels or more specifically Sky ads). They charge you a lot of money and much of what people feel they are paying for is available for free elsewhere.

Sky are making a few changes to improve the service but I just don't see the point of getting excited when your captor treats you a little less badly. That's stockholm syndrome after all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

NewHillel

Trevord wrote: »

Folks keep in mind that it's not a simply a case of having Sky OR freesat. You can have both and for those who can't live without Sky then the addition of a freesat or FTA box gives you the best of both worlds.

As I do...

Trevord wrote: »

Sky (as is their right) continues to offer an inferior service for some of the non Sky channels it carries (presumably because they want you to watch

Exactly!

Trevord wrote: »

Sky are making a few changes to improve the service but I just don't see the point of getting excited when your captor treats you a little less badly. That's stockholm syndrome after all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

Some conflation, perhaps?

Lady Chatterton

Trevord wrote: »

Sky are making a few changes to improve the service but I just don't see the point of getting excited when your captor treats you a little less badly. That's stockholm syndrome after all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

LOL

Ha Ha, Another bloody syndrome, I think you might be happier contributing to the psychology forum, some of us come to this forum to escape the rest of the world and its problems :D

NewHillel

MrsD007 wrote: »

LOL

ROFL, even. :D:D

mcwhirter

Charles Slane wrote: »

Originally posted in the BBC One HD thread by EGUINEY, but I nearly missed it and don't see a specific thread for it.



"From 12 May, get something for the whole family with four extra channels from the BBC:
BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC and CBeebies - at no additional cost*."

free

mcwhirter

Dave_Dublin wrote: »

Good news but I'm still hoping for UTV (let's face it, we're not going to get ITV1) on EPG 117 (wishful thinking)

I hope they move BBC1 / BBC2 down to 115 / 116 and add 3+4 to 141 / 142

. . . Makes sense doesn't it ?

UTV will never happen, because of TV3 showing same live programs on saturday evenings.

Pat Gleeson

mcwhirter wrote: »

Been free for years those channels, no subscription required, tune them in manually.

Yep, but when they go on the EPG it will be possible to record them to the Sky+ hard disc and schedule recordings - that's the main benefit.

Lady Chatterton

mcwhirter wrote: »

Been free for years those channels, no subscription required, tune them in manually.

True, but you couldn't Sky+ them. My heart was broken from having to set the dvd recorder to record Cbeebies programmes for my four year old. Sky+ is perfectly painless

Charles Slane

mcwhirter wrote: »

Been free for years those channels, no subscription required, tune them in manually.

Yes, but now they'll be on the EPG - handier for listings and for recording if you have Sky+.

On a side note, if you don't have Sky or don't intend getting it, it's of no relevance whatsoever, and it may be better to argue the merits of Sky versus Freesat versus Free to Air box versus UPC versus Saorview or whatever in a new thread, possibly titled "How I think everyone else should get their TV - the Big Debate" :)

Macy0161

Charles Slane wrote: »

On a side note, if you don't have Sky or don't intend getting it, it's of no relevance whatsoever, and it may be better to argue the merits of Sky versus Freesat versus Free to Air box versus UPC versus Saorview or whatever in a new thread, possibly titled "How I think everyone else should get their TV - the Big Debate" :)

Maybe, but it is least relevant, imo, to a wider debate due to the timing. There's no technical reason it couldn't have happened years ago, so why do it now (along with an annoucement of price freeze) when once off payment options are getting significantly more airtime?

MBSnr

Charles Slane wrote: »

Yes, but now they'll be on the EPG - handier for listings and for recording if you have Sky+.

Exactly.

I've been toying with the idea of ditching Sky+ for years but just look at the other options available to replace the Sky+ box and retain access to the Irish channels - all lacking in one or two areas. Didn't do it when the Humax HDR came out as DTT for RTE etc was still in testing and intermittent. TV3 wasn't even there for a long while. Now the Foxsat HDR is 2 years old and long in the tooth, so it hardly seems worth buying it until the new one appears (When? If ever). I'd pinned a lot of hope on the new Samsung S7800 Freesat PVR box, but that currently isn't "fit for purpose" by all accounts, even after a firmware update the other day, so that's not an option.

So I've been using a Mvison HD300 for the past 18 months that can do DTT and record BBC3/4 & Cbeebies, but it is seriously limited in the wife/user GUI friendly options + it's only one tuner.

Now that Sky have finally decided to include these on the EPG it makes the Mvision redundant except for the HD channels. Even that need will mostly disappear once I get a Sky HD box free from a friend, leaving the MVision mostly for non 28E services. Sure I pay for watching free TV, but one box now will do nearly all the families recording requirements! My yearly spend on the basic Sky package would have bought a Freesat PVR but we'd have lost the complete ease of pause/record/playback of the Irish channels.

I'm not a big fan of Sky and their 'fantastic' euro mark up rates but at least this is a positive move and they have retained one customer (for now).

Trevord

MBSnr wrote: »

Now the Foxsat HDR is 2 years old and long in the tooth, so it hardly seems worth buying it until the new one appears (When? If ever).

The new Foxsat came out last year

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Humax-500GB-Freesat-Satellite-Receiver/dp/B0039J42LM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1304527285&sr=8-2


or are you talking about the next one in the pipeline ?

MBSnr

Trevord wrote: »

The new Foxsat came out last year

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Humax-500GB-Freesat-Satellite-Receiver/dp/B0039J42LM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1304527285&sr=8-2


or are you talking about the next one in the pipeline ?

The original HDR was 320GB and came out late 2008 or early 2009.

The 500Gb one in your link is the updated version using the same HW but with a bigger HDD.

They mentioned a new HDR2 originally for Q3 2010 then Q1 2011 I think, but it's now slipped and may not be here until summer 2011 if at all - something to do with YouView spec being delayed I recall.

Great news about the extra BBCs coming onto the EPG,I assume they will have the same channel numbers as the UK EPG.I watch BBC4 quite a lot and it will be great to series link and record from the EPG. Hopefully BBC News,all the ITVs and the CH5s will go on as well at some stage.

JDxtra

As mentioned on these forums before, Channel 5 and the additional ITV channels are highly unlikely to appear.

Adding BBC News and BBC One HD (plus the radio services) makes sense though.

Charles Slane

JDxtra wrote: »

Adding BBC News and BBC One HD (plus the radio services) makes sense though.

Hopefully these will also appear either on Thursday or soon after.

It's possible that Sky are saying that BBC1 HD will be available to Sky customers, but actually mean it will be available through the "other channels" feature (as it already is).

It would be nice if Sky have done a deal with BBC Worldwide for the complete set of BBC services.

Crackity Jones

Charles Slane wrote: »

Hopefully these will also appear either on Thursday or soon after.

It's possible that Sky are saying that BBC1 HD will be available to Sky customers, but actually mean it will be available through the "other channels" feature (as it already is).

It would be nice if Sky have done a deal with BBC Worldwide for the complete set of BBC services.

Yea I got that feeling about BBC1HD being available in other channels is what they mean. I'd really like to see it on the EPG. They do a fair amount of programming in HD.

Stinicker

I'd much prefer if Sky just simply lifted the restriction on their Sky+ boxes to allow recording of the "other channels", I have a Freesat TV and Technomate Combo box and PVR so the announcement is of little relevance to me, its all about competiting with UPC and the FTA options, while making the average thick Irish customer think they are getting a better deal with these new channels.

Lady Chatterton

Stinicker wrote: »

I'd much prefer if Sky just simply lifted the restriction on their Sky+ boxes to allow recording of the "other channels",

I record "other channels" to my planner on my Sky+ box all the time, granted it is bit tricky but it can be done.

Crackity Jones

Stinicker wrote: »

its all about competiting with UPC and the FTA options, while making the average thick Irish customer think they are getting a better deal with these new channels.

Of course it's about competing with UPC etc and it's to be welcomed. How do you figure its not a better deal for those consumers that choose Sky as their TV provider as up to this they weren't available on the EPG?

Dogdaysareover

MrsD007 wrote: »

I record "other channels" to my planner on my Sky+ box all the time, granted it is bit tricky but it can be done.

Hi, could you explain how you do it?

Minstrel27

MrsD007 wrote: »

I record "other channels" to my planner on my Sky+ box all the time, granted it is bit tricky but it can be done.

A bit tricky is an understatement. It is an extremely awkward practice and not user friendly.

Skerries

tell us the mysteries of the "other channels" my lord so we may spit in the navel of the cursed Sky