New "FTA" Music Channel

Icehouse

Just read the report below (from SyDigi) that the Chart Show Channel which is currently testing, will have an EPG listing of 458 and will be FTA. If true, it's about time we had FTA music (certain Indian language channels excepted that is!). I hope also that the format will have moved on a bit from that used for years on ITV, before The Chart Show was axed (this channel is being set up by the same company).

The Chart Show TV channel have exclusively revealed to us plans for their launch on Sky Digital on 16th September 2002. Chart Show TV will feature a Singles and Album charts compiled by Official Charts Company which will be broadcast ahead of the official Radio One count down on Sunday evenings. In addition to the pop charts music lovers will be able to get to see the most popular songs in the Rock, Indie, Nu Metal, Urban, Dance, Jazz and Blues, Classical, Country and Compilation Charts. There will also be a programme dedicated to Music Videos and DVD’s. The channel will be presenter-free with non stop music videos on your TV screens. The channel has not yet commenced testing and we have been told that the channel will not be testing until its full launch next month. Chart Show TV will be free to view and will be located on EPG 458.

Tony

Thanks, looking forward to the country and rock especially

Originally posted by Icehouse
Just read the report below (from SyDigi) that the Chart Show Channel which is currently testing, will have an EPG listing of 458 and will be FTA. If true, it's about time we had FTA music (certain Indian language channels excepted that is!). I hope also that the format will have moved on a bit from that used for years on ITV, before The Chart Show was axed (this channel is being set up by the same company).

The Chart Show TV channel have exclusively revealed to us plans for their launch on Sky Digital on 16th September 2002. Chart Show TV will feature a Singles and Album charts compiled by Official Charts Company which will be broadcast ahead of the official Radio One count down on Sunday evenings. In addition to the pop charts music lovers will be able to get to see the most popular songs in the Rock, Indie, Nu Metal, Urban, Dance, Jazz and Blues, Classical, Country and Compilation Charts. There will also be a programme dedicated to Music Videos and DVD’s. The channel will be presenter-free with non stop music videos on your TV screens. The channel has not yet commenced testing and we have been told that the channel will not be testing until its full launch next month. Chart Show TV will be free to view and will be located on EPG 458.

byte

Look at the now and next!

NOW The Indie Chart (not bad)

8.15pm Teleshopping (not great):mad:

It seems that soon all channels will have Teleshopping!!:rolleyes:

Mossy Monk

this is sounding great, with the exception of teleshopping. how long will it remain free. i remember when Q was free

carrolls

Won't be free for long.
FTA channels pay a much bigger premium for Sky Digital space than channels that are part of the Sky Package.
Advertisments are not going to cover this hiked premium.
So expect it to be part of the Family pack in the near future.

lawhec

Originally posted by carrolls
Won't be free for long.
FTA channels pay a much bigger premium for Sky Digital space than channels that are part of the Sky Package.
Advertisments are not going to cover this hiked premium.
So expect it to be part of the Family pack in the near future.

Are you sure about this? IIRC Sky were ordered to set strict conditions for access to it's EPG, one of these included that Sky must give any interested channel space on it's EPG for a fixed fee wherever it is part of the Sky package or not. This was part of the ITC plan to allow all channels fair and reasonable access to the digital satellite platform.

Richard

Originally posted by Northern Correspondent
Are you sure about this? IIRC Sky were ordered to set strict conditions for access to it's EPG, one of these included that Sky must give any interested channel space on it's EPG for a fixed fee wherever it is part of the Sky package or not. This was part of the ITC plan to allow all channels fair and reasonable access to the digital satellite platform.

But if it was part of a Sky Package they would get money from Sky which would probably cover the cost of EPG listing. Look at RTE. They are reportedly getting on Sky for next to nothing because viewers have to subscribe to a pack to get it. The 'cost' of the transponder and EPG listing are met by the money that RTE are getting from being part of the family pack.

And anyway, Oftel regulates EPG costs for the UK, but not for ROI. I imagine Sky doesn't take advantage of this to hike ROI costs.

carrolls

Are you sure about this?

As sure as can be.
Unless an EPG channel is a subscription channel or Quick profit shopping channel in some shape or form, it cannot break even on just advertising. The broadcasting premiums are prohibitive without a BSkyB subsidy.
Expect to see the Chart Show Channel on the Family Pack soon.

lawhec

I think it's just crossed wires here...

Any channel that wishes to be on the $$$ky EPG pays a fixed fee for a space on it, regardless wherever they are encrypted or not. If $$$ky were to charge channels more for an EPG slot if they wern't part of a Sky Digital package the ITC would be down on them like a ton of bricks (of course no such directive exists in the Republic)

However as mentioned most channels often have to then become subscription based to stay on the Sky EPG so that they either run their own monthly fee or take a (very small) cut of the fee charged by Sky for its packages. The best examples of this is the various Asian channels - many of the more established ones like Zee TV, Sony TV and Star are subscription based while others have come and gone having been both FTA and subscription based.

Of course there are some exceptions. At the last count there were 32 shopping channels on the Sky EPG (this doesn't count the ones showing Teleshopping in the early hours!) all of them FTA. Also one wonders how the likes of Life TV and Showcase have kept going.

carrolls

Any channel that wishes to be on the $$$ky EPG pays a fixed fee for a space on it,

Not quite true.
RTE are paying nothing because they are only on the irish Sub package.
ITV paid £2 Million less because ITV2 is only available on Sub in the UK.

lawhec

Originally posted by carrolls

Not quite true. RTE are paying nothing because they are only on the irish Sub package.

As I mentioned the EPG ruling can only apply to the UK so RTÉ can get around this, although this may become more difficult if RTÉ ever makes it's way to broadcasting to NI via $ky. Remember that $ky is not regulated in the Republic.

ITV paid £2 Million less because ITV2 is only available on Sub in the UK.

ITV (or more accurately Granada & Carlton) made a deliberate move to encrypt ITV2 so that it became part of the $ky Package and could then get a cut of each subscriber. This allows ITV to pay towards it's EPG postition (103/226 & 963/964 in some areas) and for the fee $ky charged the ITV Network Centre for the Videoguard conditional access use.

However the point I am making is that ITV paid for each indivudal slot in the EPG the same amount as any other channel. the same that Bravo paid, MTV paid for MTV Hits or even youTV! Wherever they broadcast FTV, encrypted or part of a $ky package is not relevant to the fee that a broadcaster pays for an EPG space - it is a fixed amount that is set and regulated by the ITC and if a broadcaster offers $ky the fee to be on the EPG $ky cannot refuse them or force them to pay more or less. This was set so that $ky could not shift channels off it's EPG "at will" or hold them to ransom, and to allow all broadcasters fair access to the digital satellite platform.

Getting a spot on the EPG is actually not that particualrly expensive (I've heard various figures being banded about) but a licence to use the Videoguard CA system actually costs a lot more and is not regulated by the ITC. $ky (or to be accurate, NDS) set their own costs for this. Some people may remember that just before ITV launched on Astra 2D, they were involved in a huge public arguement with $ky over the price that they were being charged for use of Videoguard to encrypt the ITV channels with and had threatened to bypass $Ky altogether and launch independently on digital satellite FTA, albeit with some programming missing because of copyright restrictions.

Richard

Originally posted by carrolls

Not quite true.
RTE are paying nothing because they are only on the irish Sub package.

You could say the RTE are paying Sky £x per week to be on the EPG and £y for transponder space. And Sky are paying RTE £(x+y) to be part of the value pack. So overall, RTE pays Sky £(x + y - (x+y)) = £0 - or next to nothing anyway.

ITV paid £2 Million less because ITV2 is only available on Sub in the UK.

Yeah, but they couldn't have put ITV1 on sub because the ITC wouldn't have allowed an analogue terrestrial channel to be part of a subscriptin package.