ITV going fta

[Analoguesat]

http://www.companyannouncements.net/cgi-bin/articles/200509070701219337Q.html

And about bl**dy time.

ITV PLC
07 September 2005


ITV ANNOUNCES NEW DIGITAL MOVES

ITV & BBC TO LAUNCH FREESAT

ITV today announced a new service that will further strengthen its position in
the digital environment.

ITV and the BBC are working together to develop a new free digital satellite
service - project title 'Freesat' - to complement the hugely popular Freeview
service.

Freesat will enable viewers to access subscription-free digital television via
satellite and will be aimed primarily at people in the UK currently unable to
access Freeview.

As part of the development of Freesat, ITV is also announcing that it intends to
start broadcasting ITV channels unencrypted - 'in the clear' - within the next
few months on digital satellite television. ITV has consulted all relevant
rights holders.

The free satellite service will initially carry all ITV and BBC free-to-view
digital services including digital television, digital radio, electronic
programme guide, and interactive services, in addition to dozens of other
free-to-air channels. The project aims to be operational within the first half
of 2006.

 

[rolfw]

It'll be interesting to see what 4 and 5 now do, they could find themselves left out in the cold unless they act reasonable quickly.

 

[makum101]

http://www.companyannouncements.net/cgi-bin/articles/200509070701219337Q.html

And about bl**dy time.

The link doesnt work, says "cant find article"

 

[makum101]

Ah yes it does. Sorry chaps

 

[rolfw]

Works fine, but have now parsed the link.

 

[makum101]

So does this mean ITV & BBC will disappear from the Sky platform?

Which satellite will they transmit from?

I've just invested £2000 in a 3.1 metre dish to enable my reception of Astra 2D/North beam (BBC ITV and C4 etc) Does this mean i will loose these channels?

Sooooooo many questions need answering

 

[rolfw]

No, particularly as ITV have just leased more transponder space, they will stay where they are, but instead you will be able to use a standard receiver with DiseqC and a more sensitive tuner and watch more than one provider if you wish.

 

[Analoguesat]

C4 isnt doing anything for at least 3 years. They have an encryption contract with SKy until 2008. C5 are also signed up for about another 4 years.

I rather suspect the forthcoming More 4 and More 4+1 will be fta though.

 

[makum101]

No, particularly as ITV have just leased more transponder space, they will stay where they are, but instead you will be able to use a standard receiver with DiseqC and a more sensitive tuner and watch more than one provider if you wish.

Phew!

Surely then all Sky need to do to (excuse my bullsh1t bingo lingo here) to leave this new BBC / ITV venture 'dead in the water' is match the box price of their freesat to that of the BBC / ITV's (maybe give a plus box away too), and with the additional channels offered by sky, the new offering from BBC would surely have no chance??

 

[dave branson]

It will be interesting to see what Satellite they use,all on 2D?

 

[Analoguesat]

It will be interesting to see what Satellite they use,all on 2D?

Probably, although ITV has contracted an additional SES tp just this week, with no mention of which bird its on.

 

[gameboy]

to leave this new BBC / ITV venture 'dead in the water'

The difference is before OnDigital, etc, had to make money.

ITV and BBC offer this service to allow digital to take over from analogue - they may make money, but that isn't their No 1 priority.

The only difference is to Sky as people now have the option of buying a cheap box/dish for only the channels that they are used to - not the hundreds offered, at extra cost.

Questions have been asked about regional advertising, presently controlled by your card, in fact users tend to watch the regional programming where they live by choice (local news, sport coverage).

With the ability to watch all regions all the viewer has is more choice.

As I said before, this is the news we have waited a year for - the £17 million ITV will save leaving Sky encryption should go a long way to financing the service.

With stores like Lidl able to sell FTA satellite receivers for under £40 it is now a real alternative to Freeview.

Only time will tell...


:-Jumbo :-Jumbo :-Jumbo :-Jumbo

 

[rolfw]

I believe that it will probably increase the sale of second hand digiboxes as well as other receivers, as many Brits will prefer the EPG style and ease of use.

 

[dave branson]

With the transponders booked by bbc and itv on Astra,something is going to change on
2d,any ideas,radio back on 2a?

 

[cjgall]

This is great news! Anybody want to buy a dragoncam and sky freesat card? (just kidding). Lets hope that they use an open standard for the EPG as well as the current EPG.

 

[BGonaSTICK]

LOL, EPG? Where have I heard THAT b4 ?!?! O-Ha

 

[w hole]

I believe that it will probably increase the sale of second hand digiboxes as well as other receivers, as many Brits will prefer the EPG style and ease of use.

Hello All

Not sure about that R.

Never been to keen on the Sky EPG personally.

I guess it will depend a lot on what the BBC/ITV EPG is like. - Hopefully it will be user adaptable.

Interesting to see if they will be producing a Branded STB or wot?

Regards

W. H.

 

[Schnuffi]

That's good news for people like me who can´t afford or will
not pay the gray market cost for sky . May be they should
put all the shopping channels on 2d because the rest of Europe
wouldn't pay extra postage any way.
Regds Schnuffi

 

[rolfw]

Hello All

Not sure about that R.

Never been to keen on the Sky EPG personally.

I guess it will depend a lot on what the BBC/ITV EPG is like. - Hopefully it will be user adaptable.

Interesting to see if they will be producing a Branded STB or wot?

Regards

W. H.

You are looking at it from the hobbyists point of view WH, most punters do not know or care about other satellite receivers or non UK providers and like the uniformity of the tailor made EPG, which in my opinion is pretty slick and way better than most of the competition.

Also you are perhaps making an assumption that they will produce another EPG, not sure whether I can see that happening, as it would be a retrograde step for them to back out of the Sky EPG, would they really want to drop 7 million viewers? I would be very surprised if in the short term they produced their own box, but will be interesting to see.

 

[Analoguesat]

That's good news for people like me who can´t afford or will
not pay the gray market cost for sky . May be they should
put all the shopping channels on 2d because the rest of Europe
wouldn't pay extra postage any way.
Regds Schnuffi

And just how would that work??? - many of them are contracted to Eutelsat for transmission on Eurobird1 Nothing to do with SES....