Just Sharing This Could ITV Encore be joining Freesat?

R

RichardCoulter

Member
My Satellite Setup
TV with built in Freeview/ Virgin Media TiVo V6 box
My Location
UK
AIUI, Sky approached ITV and offered to revenue share, pay all capacity costs and 50% of playout costs in order to get this channel encrypted behind their pay wall.

The four year deal ends next June, but it has recently been going out FTA for periods of time.

Apparently, encryption is sometimes lifted in order to carry out closed Freesat inclusion tests via the adaptation hub.

There's been speculation that Sky may be instigating an early get out clause as the viewing figures aren't great.

Has anyone else got any info/news about this?
 
A few short periods of fta transmission is pretty flimsy evidence that ITV Encore may be going fta.

eg they may just be having issues with the encryption encoder - we have seen Sky Sports UK fta on rare occasions when they have been having problems!
 
Yes, too early to do owt other than idly speculate.

Mind you, after years of nay-saying about various of the UK TV stable going FTA, they have slowly been doing so.

What I'd really like is for the ITV 2,3,4 HD versions to see the light. Never say never.
 
Lazarus said:
Yes, too early to do owt other than idly speculate.

Mind you, after years of nay-saying about various of the UK TV stable going FTA, they have slowly been doing so.

What I'd really like is for the ITV 2,3,4 HD versions to see the light. Never say never.
Click to expand...

Now that there has been a change at the top of ITV Management it may well happen.
 
Love to see the full ITV hd's on free sat, they should some good telly I'm my opinion.
 
It was Adam Crozier who decided to encrypt ITV-2,3 & 4 HD channels to appease $ky now he has gone ;)

ITV is to appoint current easyJet boss Carolyn McCall as its first female chief executive.

McCall will assume the role on 8th January next year – succeeding Adam Crozier, who left the company at the end of June – and brings media experience in the form of her previous role as chief executive of Guardian Media Group, which publishes The Guardian newspaper.

Carolyn McCall to become ITV chief executive
 
To be frank, BBC4 and ITV3 are my main viewing! The former for when I'm feeling intellectual or nostalgic and the latter for repeats of stuff like Midsomer, Lewis etc.
 
The thing to remember about ITV 2 3 4 HD's is that they were created specifically to tap into the subs money offered to channels by Sky to encrypted channels. No other reason - they were to diversify the ITV income stream in an era of rapidly declining & fragmenting advertising income.

The equation for ITV with regards to the HD channels is which gives them the greatest income


If income from ITV 2 3 4 HD's encrypted > advertising income from them being fta then they will stay encrypted.

If income from ITV 2 3 4 HD's encrypted < advertising income from them being fta then they will go fta.
 
Analoguesat said:
The thing to remember about ITV 2 3 4 HD's is that they were created specifically to tap into the subs money offered to channels by Sky to encrypted channels. No other reason - they were to diversify the ITV income stream in an era of rapidly declining & fragmenting advertising income.

The equation for ITV with regards to the HD channels is which gives them the greatest income


If income from ITV 2 3 4 HD's encrypted > advertising income from them being fta then they will stay encrypted.

If income from ITV 2 3 4 HD's encrypted < advertising income from them being fta then they will go fta.
Click to expand...

Whatever happens in the near future, I think it's inevitable that they'll eventually go FTA.

As fewer and fewer SD only receivers remain, we get closer to them being able to turn off the DVB-S SD transponders to save money on satellite capacity for the same channels twice.

It's already happened in France in the last year, and other countries are starting to go the same way.
 
Quite. Indeed, I'm surprised Ofcom allowed ITV to ring-fence them in the first place.
 
Analoguesat said:
A few short periods of fta transmission is pretty flimsy evidence that ITV Encore may be going fta.

eg they may just be having issues with the encryption encoder - we have seen Sky Sports UK fta on rare occasions when they have been having problems!
Click to expand...

Taken on its own yes, but after taking everything else into account, I think that there may be something in it.
 
Adam792 said:
Whatever happens in the near future, I think it's inevitable that they'll eventually go FTA.

As fewer and fewer SD only receivers remain, we get closer to them being able to turn off the DVB-S SD transponders to save money on satellite capacity for the same channels twice.

It's already happened in France in the last year, and other countries are starting to go the same way.
Click to expand...

I agree, especially as HD becomes the norm too.

I wonder how what they would save by the cessation of dual illumination compares to the money they get by encrypting their channels on VM & Sky??
 
RichardCoulter said:
I agree, especially as HD becomes the norm too.
Click to expand...

It'll be a LONG time before HD is the norm even across Europe. I saw details of a survey about a year back (might have been Eutelsat) where they reckoned ~85% of all the channel launches in the next few years (and globally we are talking thousands of channel launches here) would be SD.

At the end of the day HD brings nothing to the broadcaster except much higher transmission costs
 
Little chance of UHD TV taking off any time soon then :-rofl2
 
william-1 said:
Little chance of UHD TV taking off any time soon then :-rofl2
Click to expand...

Give it 10 years or so and the viewing figures might look respectable. :D

The numbers of UHD satellite receivers in use in the UK (Sky Q) are still pitifully low. Even those of us with the dish connected to a UHD compatible tv what is there actually to watch? A few demo channels. Ive been waiting for Travel XP to launch on 13E - the pic looks lovely but its still showing the same short loop as it was when I bought the tv last Christmas.
 
Back
Top