UTV and ITV-1 Regions BLOCKED!!!!!!

PacMan

As reported earlier, Mark deering was appointed as manager for Sky ireland.
His e-mail is as follows:
mark.deering@bskyb.com

I have sent off a few e-mails, and if a reply comes with anything new or interesting I will post it.

noello

i rang sky sunday about utv.I was surprised that they gave me a answer that utv will be on the EPG by the weekend.

smoke.me.a.kipper

Originally posted by noello
i rang sky sunday about utv.I was surprised that they gave me a answer that utv will be on the EPG by the weekend.

im sorry, but ill believe it when i see it.

tombenjr

Originally posted by noello
i rang sky sunday about utv.I was surprised that they gave me a answer that utv will be on the EPG by the weekend.

Can you confirm that this is true or are you only messing about
write back

PacMan

Well, at last a reply from the ITV network centre. But the same story. Read for yourself:

Dear XXX,
Thank you for your recent enquiry concerning the availability of ITV1 in Southern Ireland via Digital Satellite.

ITV is a UK broadcaster, which is why our transmissions are only available to those in the UTV broadcast region of Northern Ireland. To take this one stage further, our programme rights for Digital Satellite are also only for the UK.

UTV as an independent broadcaster are looking into the possibility of providing their service throughout Ireland on satellite, but there are a number of issues involved, so they are unable to elaborate any further at this stage.

Kind Regards,

ITV1Duty Office.

Same story, as expected. However I loved the "UTV as an independent broadcaster" bit, because according to the UTV press release, (on their website), the ITV network took the decision to block the signals, without consulting UTV!!!!!

Anyone else received any replies?

MOD

If UTV go on the EPG for the republic, what is to stop them from running a "Republic" version of their channel (southern adds only),
as is the case with Sky One and Sky News. If they can't do this then how come sky can?.

byte

Originally posted by noello
i rang sky sunday about utv.I was surprised that they gave me a answer that utv will be on the EPG by the weekend.

I find this highly unlikely, especially if it were Customer Services, but if you're right, i'll eat my hat! Hell, I'll eat it anyway!:D

DMC

I'll bring me ould lad's trilby with barbecue sauce round to your house too, Irishbyte!!

DMC

Originally posted by MOD
If UTV go on the EPG for the republic, what is to stop them from running a "Republic" version of their channel (southern adds only),
as is the case with Sky One and Sky News. If they can't do this then how come sky can?.

Too small an outfit for that, I feel.
I don't think UTV would be bothered...
But they could, as they would have resources left over from the UTV 2 days....

Genghis

Originally posted by irishbyte


I find this highly unlikely, especially if it were Customer Services, but if you're right, i'll eat my hat! Hell, I'll eat it anyway!:D

... and I'll eat my minidish ...

Element 4

oooooooooooh go on then i'll have the set top box, but can I have it with chips instead of side salad ?

dmeehan

so has anyone else got "confirmation" about utv being on the epg by the weekend.

dmeehan

Originally posted by Element 4

Afterall Shy are after settin up a bigger office in ireland recently and are now activly targeting our advertising dollars, even if it is for a 24 CD classical music set

that can't be bought in any shop!:rolleyes:

Dreed700

Let us all not loose sight of intelligent humour, was his tongue not firmly planted in his cheek when he was given the of course reply....by a SKY Rep

As far as the eating of hats, minidishes (is that the plural of minidish ?) and set top boxes go, I will go one further...if it happens I will gnaw through the cable which brings the chorus service to my house and eat them with some favva beans and a nice bottle of Chianti .......sfsfsfsfsfsfsfsf (how do u write the noise that he made ?) Oh well dont worry it wont happen, there is as much chance of that happening as there is of Ireland getting stuffed in Twickenham errrrrrr.

Keep the faith.

dmeehan

heres the latest reply i got from the itv duty office


Dear David,

Thank you for your recent enquiry concerning the availability of ITV1 in
Southern Ireland via Digital Satellite.

ITV is a UK broadcaster, which is why our transmissions are only available
to those in the UTV broadcast region of Northern Ireland. The availability
of the UTV regional service was only a temporary situation in the immediate
aftermath of our launch on the satellite platform.

We have now done what every other UK broadcaster on the Sky platform does
in the Republic, and blacked out our service as we do not have the Irish
programme rights which would allow us to make the service available to
viewers in Ireland.

UTV as an independent broadcaster are looking into the possibility of
providing their service throughout Ireland on satellite, but there are a
number of issues involved, so they are unable to elaborate any further at
this stage.

Kind Regards,

ITV1Duty Office


Well at least it looks like UTV are tryin.
no more scottish football on itv anymore... sob sob

but i think i'll point out to them what bbc and co. are doing on sky digital

Genghis

Originally posted by dmeehan


We have now done what every other UK broadcaster on the Sky platform does
in the Republic, and blacked out our service as we do not have the Irish
programme rights which would allow us to make the service available to
viewers in Ireland.

LOL:) The Sky platform is currently a 100% British platform! If 'EVERY Other UK broadcaster' had done as ITV have doen there would be no channels on Sky in Ireland.

In fact, Every other broadcaster except ITV make programmes available to ROI - BBC have two channels, Channel 4 have E4 and all satellite broadcasters make absolutely no distinction between Ireland and the UK. Channel 5 is the only real exception I can see. dmeehan, I certainly think you should stir them up with this point!

This programming rights thing is really beginning to annoy me. I cannot see any clear line at all.

carrolls

Here is a reply I sent to the ITV duty office


Dear Sir/Madam

Here is a recent Quote by Duty Office

"We have now done what every other UK broadcaster on the Sky platform does
in the Republic, and blacked out our service as we do not have the Irish
programme rights which would allow us to make the service available to
viewers in Ireland".
This is a lie because BBC1,BBC2, E4, and 60+ other UK channels are available to
Sky Digital customers in the Republic of Ireland. ITV are the only UK company
not represented. If every other UK broadcaster on the Sky platform blacked ot their
service in the Republic, their would be no channels to watch in the Republic on SKY digital.
ITV1 is available on all cable networks in the Republic(1.5 million Viewers).
I know it is a pain to have to keep hearing from us, but assuming we are stupid and
filling us with false information is not going to help the situation.
Thanks, Carrolls number 1

Mredmond

This is a lie because

but assuming we are stupid and filling us with false information is not going to help the situation

I know its annoying for people to keep getting the same replies back, but at least these replies are courteous and polite, in the main.


Stuff like this is going to help how?


mr

DMC

Yes, I agree MR....

When I communicate with TV companies, it is always polite, and never in a confrontational manner.

If we are shown as organising a civil debate with them, that will stand us in good stead, rather than an all-out assault.

By all means, correct them if you feel they are wrong, but don't jump down their throats.

carrolls

Sorry that you don't like my approach.
But I have had Sky Digital for Six months in which
time 15 ITV1 channels have gone off the air,
Channel 4 has gone off the air, so has Tara,
Channel 5 and a number of other channels.
Your softly softly campaign seems to be working (not).
My letter was by no means rude, maybe a little
confrontational, but if someone in authority at ITV1
is knowingly dismissing genuine complainants
as total morons, i mean ("All UK Channel companies block their
channels"), you have two choices
1: Stop writing to them.
2: Keep sending them softly softly letters and get nowhere.
3: Say it how it is and at least maybe they will take notice.(And of course maybe they won't)
Irish Sky Digital viewers are getting a good service, but compared to the Sky Digital service in the UK it is still a raw deal.
The reason is the IBA and BBC for the most part.
These people have to be put in the picture and made to take notice.

carrolls

Thanks Damo,
On matute recollection, point taken and
I think you are probably right about the "liar" thing,
but having said that, do you not think progress is very slow
with this campaign, and for every step forward we take,
the British TV companies (whoever ) move us two steps further back. How do we take this campaign to a new level without being confrontational?

Thanks, Carrolls

DMC

OK carrolls, I do agree that progress is slow... but I'm an advocate of the drip, drip effect. Slowly get them into seeing your point of view.

We saw the mail from Channel 4, which to all folk on this board was not only ignorant but in some ways, it was patronising. That does make me angry. In that case, I would've smugly replied with the correction of the facts.

But that is not to say the campaign is not progressing. We have seen a lot of positive news in the past few days. UTV is actively seeking to get on the ROI EPG, RTÉ applying for the licence to the BCI and that should be known soon, and that very positive e-mail from BBC 5 Live.

These things take time, carrolls, BBC 1 NI and BBC 2 NI took 3 years to appear, we dont want the same to happen to BBC 3 and BBC 4, plus we wait for the rest.

As Morcheeba (and Iarnród Éireann!) sing, "Rome wasn't built in day." (Hey Hey, Hey! )

ShaneOC

Hi Carrolls,

I tend to agree that maybe a bit more confrontational letter may get quicker results, but there is a fine line between confrontational and rude.

The only channel that you named that was ever officially available here, and now is not,was Tara. Channel 4 and Channel 5 were not on the air here at all and ITV was only available due to a sort of loophole which has now been shut.

you have two choices
1: Stop writing to them.
2: Keep sending them softly softly letters and get nowhere.
3: Say it how it is and at least maybe they will take notice.(And of course maybe they won't)

There are three types of people in the world. Those who can count and those who can't.

Funky Phantom

Hi first post so hear goes.........

email sent to UTV earlier this week and reply, seems nothings changed as regards getting UTV/ITV in the near future.

Hi,

Knowing that ITV plc, as such, removed access for ROI Sky customers to UTV it has been rumoured, admittedly, that UTV will be appearing on the ROI Sky EPG by the close of this week, is this true or what exactly are UTV’s plans?

Having watched UTV as part of the packages supplied by several “cable” companies down south for many years why the delay in getting into bed with Sky, surely UTV’s advertising revenue people realise that Sky has 200,000 subscribers down south, c’mon sort this out….how much longer….????

Regards

Pat McD

UTV Reply:


Dear Pat,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding rumours that UTV will be appearing on Sky in ROI by close of this week. I'm afraid to tell you that this is just a rumour.

UTV's position is still the same, we are keen to be available on Sky in the Republic but we need the consent of the ITV network to do this.

Regards,

Orla McKibbin
Head of Press and PR



Problem I see is "we need the consent of the ITV network to do this", don't hold your breathe guys...seems UTVs hands are tied.

How much could this have to do with the return of Champions League football? just a thought.

Welcome to the Boards Funky Phantom,
Well at least altough the message is generally the same,our auld friend Orla is varying the way she says it .
My own view on this is that I think it's unlikely that any of the tv channels we want will appear on the Irish EPG untill RTE and TV3 are there.
That would be for all the obvious and already stated reasons.
Now that the BCI are involved that could take a very long time indeed.
mm

shinobi

What is ITV & CH4's problem with broadcasting in the ROI
as ITV have ITN and CH4 have E4 on the ROI EPG.

digitalman

hi shinobi,
ITV do not own ITN as far as i am aware.ITN is a seperate company and just provide the news for independent tv like itv and channel 5.Not too sure on e4..I think they have a different licence for sat tv which allows them to broadcast into ireland where as ch4 is a terestrial channel and has a licence for the uk only.I am sure however with a bit of effort they could overcome this if they really want too.If i am wrong on any of the above points i am sure someone can correct me.

digitalman

smoke.me.a.kipper

just sent email to ITV asking why they allow UTV to broadcast on cable and not on skydigital.

Mr Burns

May I point out if you continue to harass people by email phone or fax, they may sue you and close down boards.ie for harrassment.

ShaneOC

Who is harassing people?

People are just trying to find out why there is a difference between the cable situation and the satellite one?

UTV themselves supported people calling the ITV Network Centre.

PacMan

I agree with ShaneOC.
UTV have given me the e-mail address for ITV Network centre. They informed me that if wanted any more info I was to e-mail ITV. Anyway the e-mail for ITV is info@itv.co.uk
Info = Information which is what we want!!!

smoke.me.a.kipper

all i want is to know why im being oppressed as a roi sky digital customer. besides, i dont know why boards.ie would be sued. id be sending the same mails even if i hadnt seen this page.

Mr Burns

Well if some poor bugger sitting in London is getting swamped by the same emails I bet he would want to do something about it.

This campagin is too public. You think sky dont read the boards?

Think again

Just a friendly warning, from someone in the know!

Leesider

>>>Just a friendly warning, from someone in the know!<<<

Would you please back up your claims of being 'in the know' by providing some tangible evidence of any forthcoming developments??

We can all speculate as to what is going to happen regarding ITV and the other BBC channels, but do you really know something that the rest of us don't.

Please elaborate.

Mr Burns

I know that ITV have no plans to unblock UTV.

Frankly they are fed up paddies harrassing them.

Ah come on now Mr Burns,if the people in ITV network centre are so small minded that they don't look on ROI as another marketplace , who gives a damn about them.

Maybe it's time to change tack and campaign for TV3 on Sky digital and keep bombarding them with mails and calls as they have most of the UK programmes anyhow.
If they took some of Ch 4's programmes then same difference.
mm

ShaneOC

The only reason that we are contacting them is that we wish to know why you can get their service quite legally here on one platform and not on another.

It is not a hard question to answer.

I wonder if the end of the exclusivity clause in March will have any bearing on the situation.

carrolls

Maybe we should leave ITV headquarters alone and concentrate our efforts on Granada Holdings Ltd. They are the crowd that got the 15 ITV1 channels switched off in the republic.
Why? Because having ITV1 on 220,000 Sky boxes in the Republic would directly affect TV3's percentage share on Terrestial with so many head to head clashes in programming. The only way Granada are going to win this battle in the long run is to make TV3 an ITV1 channel and show more ITV1 network programming on the TV3 platform.

PacMan

As leesider has stated, I think that Mr. Burns should be more specific regarding his "Inside" information.
The ITV website is in the public domain. The info@itv.co.uk e-mail is also a public e-mail address giving out information. UTV have and are, currently giving the info@itv address.
UTV will be on the Sky digital platform. Its only a matter of when. The Good friday Agreement has a clause that both Northern ireland television and Republic of ireland television are available on both sides of the border. Perhaps someone could give more information on this.

carrolls

The good Friday Stipulation only provides for public service broadcasting, ie BBC 1,BBC2, RTE1, RTE2 and TG4.
UTV is actually an Independent commercial entity and is not part of the agreement.

Charles Slane

I don't pay too much attention to Mr Burns posts, as I've always assumed that he's just having a laugh. So I'm not paying much attention to this one either.

So far none of his posts has struck me as being informative, informed, or conducive to any kind of intelligent debate.

And if he is just having a laugh, there's no harm in that either. We can all do with a laugh now and then.

Leesider

To all the people who contribute to this forum, cast your mind back to March of last year, when we anticipated the arrival of BBC1 and BBC2 on Sky in ROI.

One particular contibutor stated that we would NEVER see those channels on the Sky Digital platform either in whole or in part, and sounded quite authoritative on the subject. It put a whole damper on our discussions. A few days later, BBC1 was officially launched (March 26th), and BBC2 followed on April 30th.

So, Montgomery Burns, either provide hard evidence to back up your claims, or go back to Smithers.
:-)

Cloud

He's going to crush us all like paper cups.

Tony

Originally posted by Leesider
To all the people who contribute to this forum, cast your mind back to March of last year, when we anticipated the arrival of BBC1 and BBC2 on Sky in ROI.

One particular contibutor stated that we would NEVER see those channels on the Sky Digital platform either in whole or in part, and sounded quite authoritative on the subject. It put a whole damper on our discussions. A few days later, BBC1 was officially launched (March 26th), and BBC2 followed on April 30th.

So, Montgomery Burns, either provide hard evidence to back up your claims, or go back to Smithers.
:-)

Yes I remember being told off, unfortunately a new guy has taken over Sky's Irish arm and when I questioned him on this matter he seemed to be totally at sea, so sorry guys I cant shed any further light on this.

Regards Tony

Genghis

Originally posted by carrolls
The good Friday Stipulation only provides for public service broadcasting, ie BBC 1,BBC2, RTE1, RTE2 and TG4.
UTV is actually an Independent commercial entity and is not part of the agreement.

This is interesting stuff - I was not aware of that clause. Surely this is just one more example of the fact that programming rights are not an issue of any true importance. If there is public support for channels, then they can emerge. Its a matter of raising will, not of knocking barriers.

bdg

This chat is proving to be a total waste of time, the mails and calls to the various bodies are both fruitless and a waste of your own time.

The issue at hand is simple, an economic issue where the network has to make a choice about entering further competition to the Irish arena which may conflict with TV3's interests.

All the harassing that has been going on is falling on deaf ears and will have no impact what-so-ever on the outcome(and harassment is the best way to describe the activity that has been encouraged on this forum in recent times).

And don't kid yourselves that the emails previously to the beeb had any impact on their appearance on the Irish platform.

Your time would be better served not obsessing about such matters that are clearly out of your hands and spending time reflecting on the fact that it is only a t.v. station that has a limited offering.
:eek: :eek: :eek:

Leesider

You're entitled to you're views, but you do come across as a pessimist.

I read recently that Setanta Sports in the US were due to broadcast a champion's league game live featuring Manchester United. Several Celtic supporters in the US called the broadcaster and asked them to drop the Man Utd game, in favour of the Celtic broadcast. They initially said no, but a few days later, after they received in excess of 10,000 e-mails, they changed their minds, and the Celtic game was shown live.

I think it is patronising of you to suggest that we're all wasting our time here. This forum is for people who are genuinely interested in TV and channels such as ITV, irrespective of whether they provide a 'limited output' If you want something more high-brow, subscribe to the Arts channel.

People like Charles Slane, Mossy Monk, Madman, Tony & Ronan are doing a great job, in trying to highlight the issues, and it's very interesting to read their ideas and comments.

But you're entitled to your opinion. I personally think you'll eat your words, and not before too long.

tombenjr

I got lot of replies from ITV,UTV,Granada about
all the ITV1 regions been blocked.I also wrote to channel4,
S4C and Channel5.
Every one of the replies say" sorry but we are not lience
to broadcast anywhere outside the Uk.Blah,Blah,Blah...etc.
would it be alot easily if we gave right to show RTE1,Network2
and TG4 to the UK and the UK give us ITV,Channel4,
Channel5 and S4C then they would be no complains as we
ROI and the UK both got something.So do you agree with this.
Hope UTV comes back.:rolleyes:

MrPudding

Hi all

I just received a reply from the ITV duty office. It is, for the most part, the same as everyone else seems to have received. I have attached a paragraph from the mail gives a hint as to the difference between ITV on cable and ITV on sky digital.

"We have now blacked out our service as we do not have the satellite Irish
programme rights which would allow us to make the service available to
viewers in Southern Ireland via Sky Digital. Cable operators are covered
by European legislation in a way that satellite operators are not. It is
this legislation that allows us to put our signals on overspill cable
networks even though we do not have Irish rights."

Does anyone know of the legislation about which they speak?

MrE

carrolls

http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/lif/dat/1993/en_393L0083.html

The above document is "Council Directive 93/83/EEC of 27 September 1993 on the coordination of certain rules concerning copyright and rights related to copyright applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission".
This document makes no differentiation between cable and satellite.