Analoguesat said:
Chances are you will need to buy the dedicated receiver, although we dont know for certain yet
Italy’s new digital satellite TV platform, Tivù Sat, will launch on July 31, with 19 TV channels provided by the country’s leading broadcasters.
"In order to receive the Tivù Sat offer, viewers will need to acquire a satellite dish, pointed at the 13° East orbital position, as well as the Tivù Sat digital box (bundled with the smart card), available from mid-July and costing around E100. Viewers already equipped with a Nagravision satellite receiver can request a dedicated smart card from RAI, paying only postage costs. Furthermore, conditional access modules (CAMs) will be on sale from 2010, which will enable reception on many of the existing digital satellite receivers on the market.
The line-up will include 10 channels from public broadcaster RAI (Rai Uno, Rai Due, Rai Tre, Rai4, Rai Gulp, Rai Gulp +1, Rai Sport +, RaiNews24, Rai Storia and Rai Edu 1); 7 channels from commercial broadcaster Mediaset (Canale 5, Rete 4, Italia 1, Iris, Boing, Boing+1 and Mediashopping); as well as La7 and Sat 2000. A package of HD channels will be added later on.
A decision has yet to be made by the broadcasters whether all or part of the programming (for which the foreign TV rights have not been acquired) will be encrypted. Mediaset has already made known it is likely to scramble its most watched TV channel, Canale 5.
RAI and Mediaset each have 48 per cent in the new venture, while Telecom Italia Media has the remaining 4 per cent"
"Launch" is probably an exaggeration ................ certainly there was/is no great ceremony.
A bit like our UK Freesat, not a lot actually happened!
But give it time.
As I understand it, dedicated Receivers are still as rare as rocking-horse poo and even if you can lay your hands on one, activation of the Card will require an Italian TV Licence.
Purely in the interest of experimentation, you understand, I shall try to acquire one via the wife's family who live in t'hills near Rome. Don't know when, though: It seems there is no hurry.
