BBC contract an Astra 2A transponder!

Analoguesat

Betzdorf, July 11TH, 2005


ASTRA SECURES BBC DEAL FOR ADDITIONAL SATELLITE TRANSPONDER
SES ASTRA, an SES GLOBAL company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), is pleased to announce that the BBC has contracted a further transponder, this time on the ASTRA 2A satellite at 28.2o E.

The BBC, which already has six ASTRA transponders on ASTRA 2B and 2D, will use the additional capacity to reconfigure the satellite delivery of its portfolio of TV, radio and interactive services.

Alexander Oudendijk, ASTRA's Chief Commercial Officer and Senior Vice President, said: "The BBC is a broadcasting institution throughout the world, respected and admired for the diversity and quality of its programming. Once again the BBC has decided to expand our business relationship and we believe that this is in no small measure due to our like-minded commitment to quality and service."

The BBC's acting Controller of Distribution Richard Waghorn, said: "The BBC aims to deliver its services across the UK on the platforms where our audiences expect to find them, free-to-air. The new transponder will increase our flexibility to meet our audiences' changing aspirations for the satellite platform. The BBC is pleased to be enhancing its long-standing relationship with ASTRA who can provide world-class technical expertise and experience, as well as proven security and back-up facilities."

Lancelot

Now there's a thing !. Any feelings as to what they are up to here AS ?


L.

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I've got an inferiority complex, but it's not a very good one.

Analoguesat

Shifting the interactive streams off 2D onto 2A south Theres only 2 free tp's on 2A - 1 & 5 - both on the 2A south beam. To free up 2D capacity??

Expand the interactive services for future big events???

Launch BBC's 5 6 7 8 9 etc????

Launch BBC HDTV 1 2 3 4 etc???

You know as much as I do about it - any more sensible guesses?

EgyptDUDE

so that was only a blind guess or u sure they will launch those service

coz i didnt hear they will launch HDTV !!!

rolfw

They are guesses, hence the question marks.

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BarMoo

It will be BBC HD.

The BBC, like every other EU PSB broadcaster, has signed up to HD. IHMO, the BBC are purely doing catch-up to the likes of German telly: ze Germans will film and broadcast the world cup 2006 in HD.

The superbowl was shot in HD last year, but that didn't stop channel 5 showing it in 4:3 crap resolution.

Seriously, its UK catch-up on an EU scale, that's all. Again the yanks - don't forget they go DTV in 2007? Correct?

Whatever, UKTV has spent the last five years getting us to upgrade to obsolete, Alba, widescreen crap. More pictures for your money - not quality.

No other country that I know of has pursued this course.

And Now ......................... blah, blah.

A final whatever: regarding the BBC - It would not suprise me if the BBC stuck a channel logo right in the middle of the ****ing screen like they do now - just because they don't have a clue and don't want to piss-off twelve technicians in telly centre who have a gazillion national and regional feeds of BBC to deal with.


Mark.

Have Fun, Moo.

makum101

So does this mean that we 90cmers in tenerife (can pick up 2a South) will get BBC again or will we have to buy a HDTV for a squillion eusros?

Analoguesat

No-one knows for sure at the moment, its all guess work


but I'd be VERY surprised if the main entertainment channels went onto 2A.

makum101

Ok.

Does anyome know what the frequencies are?

ax197

I will agree with Analoguesat. In my opinion it is highly unlike that BBC shifts some regional versions of the BBC 1, 2.... channels to the 2A bird, since their transmission is not encrypted ! ! !

Thus, I expect to see the BBC Parliament, the BBCNews24, the radio stations plus the remaining of the interactive services (the ones that broadcast from the 2D bird), moving to 2A.


I wish someone knew more about this issue.

makum101

whats the frequencies??? (sorry for being repetitive but im desperate LOL)

Analoguesat

Its GOT to be either

11720 H
27500 2/3 (tp 1)


OR
11798 H
Probably 27500 2/3 as well. (tp5)

These are the only two free tp's on Astra 2A

makum101

Ooooh. Ta muchley.

Analoguesat

Unless of course they decide to shuffle tp allocations around a bit - thats is at least a faint possibility.

EgyptDUDE

i cant wait
hope if it is HDTV it would be free and in MPEG2 and work on usual flat tv (too much, ha? need a miracle)

Analoguesat

Mpeg 2 ?? Old hat! Try Mpeg 4 from what ive been seeing on the other forums. But NO-ONE knows for certain at the moment

EgyptDUDE

yeah, i know most of HDTV would go to mpeg4 directly.
but is the brits ready to change all there STBz now ? that they just got when BBC went FTA ?

ax197

I doubt that BBC leased the extra capacity only for the reason of accomodating HD channels.

Analoguesat

Anyone who wants HDTV is going to have to change their Sky stb's. Current models cannot handle the amount of data that a hdtv stream requires. Try running one of the fta hdtv channels on your current fta box. I doubt very much you will get more than a smeary mess on the screen - the data rate crashes my fta boxes eventually.

BarMoo

The heat is getting on my nerves, so this is more of a rant than a reply

So, it seems like some are a little too concerned about the 'wrong' kind of content going HD (like BBC1 for instance). Why? isn't HD is as good as encryption itself? LOL. For a start, the price of HD kit is still a joke and don't even think of factoring-in that sony widescreen you bought last year.

From reading the thread, I suppose they could just move back all the crap to 2A, like Parliament, iTV feeds that don't work on my SKY box and that BBC News 24 thing - but why bother ?

I'll be honest I'll be more interested to see how the BBC intends to piggy-back on sky's HD (such is my assumption ) - all of which requires a new subscriber STB (as pointed out).

Tone shifts to my perennial gripe with the BBC on/using SKY.

Its just my beef, but, I think that there has to be a limit as to the number of times SKY let's the BBC come round only to nick all the twiglets, drink the stash of Bud and leave without thanks. Like, SKY makes the investment - the BBC bareback the platform. HD will be no different. Time for change me thinks.

PayTV SKY will show HD sport and movies; unlike the BBC which will first have to wait for SKY's launch (sic) and will then, probably, soft-launch its own service with an HD version of the Lottery show, News at Ten and Fawlty Towers with a logo in the middle of the screen.

I'm confident that after the BBC re-broadcasts Germany's HD World Cup in 2006, the government will herald the BBC as an HD champion.

Whatever, me thinks that there must be a point where even the domestic PSB's realise that having their own branded satellite proposition is workable if they stopped leaching off SKY.

There is a gazillion BBC channels, soon to be 4 ITV channels + News, Channel Whore will milk every last drop of bandwidth they can and RTL have never missed a trick with Channel Five.

Have fun,

Mark.

P.S. still doing homework on the symbol rate, maybe some techy can help. Euro 1080's symbol rate is 27500 - 3/4. So perhaps this is another factor to bear in mind with the Beeb's aquisition of space on 2A, since the typical rate on 2D is 22000 ??? Is the latter rate sufficient for HD ??

Have Fun, Moo.

makum101

Ok sorry to butt in with more of my thick questions. I do appreciate you techy guys answering my simple queries...

Will I need to buy a HD telly to get it?

Also many thanks for the frequencys. Is there a test card running on them presently (William Thingy)? as last night I hot footed it home clutching my frequency list and did a "add other channel" but it came up and said "No Satellite Signal Found" :-( Are the frequencies turned off or is it my system that cant get them? (i receive all astra south channels on my 90cm and sky+160 setup).

P.S. Sorry for sounding desperate, but currently the only way I can get BBC is to have my wife stand on our roof dressed in only one Dr Martin Boot (left foot), holding an aerial pointing in the general direction of some german bloke's house on a small island just off the south Tenerife coast! So as you can imagine this news is of great interest to me (and Mrs Makum!)

Cheers guys.

closetosoton

probably not, your HD reciever will probably have normal non HD ouputs too, its just you won't reap the HD benefits. its like using some £1000 CD player coupled to a £2000 amp and played though the speakers of a £30 mini compact stereo you picked up at ASDA - OK, I exagerate a little - but you get the big picture (or at least a low quality version of the picture)

-cts

solly

there any tp is working on asrea 2a and 2b testing hd signal ?

Analoguesat

I think we need a hdtv poll to get people attitudes towards this new technology

I'll set one up in a minute.

makum101

Are you saying my Sky+160 box is a HD reciever?