Freesat: Free satellite TV by BBC and ITV tv to launch!

[info4u]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7384928.stm

Free satalite TV due to launch to improve the service of Freeview with 80 channels to start and expected to change to 200 by the end of the year

Virgin Media and Sky might find this difficult to compete with, specially since stb and installation looking at about £45.00 or £120.00 for HD STB

[GeoffW]

Where was the hype, the details of receivers the program rollout plans etc etc..

Worst launch ever.....

[frogstamper]

This certainly merits a closer look, a one off payment of £120 for a HD stb, with BBC HD and ITV HD and no doubt C4 and C5 to follow. I can see now why Neil Berkett said VM doesn't need HD channels, I mean why pay VM when they come free with free-sat, add to this the cou de gras of withholding the content from Murdoch and the service seems a winner. If VM hope to keep their TV subscribers they are certainly going to need to up their game.

[cimt]

Interesting... Looking at the epg list it's worth it.

Originally Posted by cimt

Interesting... Looking at the epg list it's worth it.

You can get all the FTA channels if you do a manual scan (286 channels roughly)

They will make their way to the EPG sooner or later...but its good if you want them now.

This was one royal cockup of a launch though...nobody had the boxes in stock, the ones that did had the boxes which were withdrawn etc.

[gadge]

The humax is a cracking box got one yesterday.

[Matt D]

Originally Posted by frogstamper

add to this the cou de gras of withholding the content from Murdoch and the service seems a winner.

... not just withholding it (ITV HD) from Murdoch & therefore any Sky subscribers... they're also withholding it from anyone using a Sky HD box as a FTA/FTV box (i.e. people who use Sky for "Freesat from Sky" & don't pay Sky subs), and also withholding it from anyone with *any* non-Freesat HD STB (i.e. anyone with a non-Sky FTA HD STB).


Still, it's ITV, so will most likely be crap (in both picture quality & in programme quality)

[Hiroki]

It looks like an interesting concept and reminds me of the old sky analogue days....only thing that troubles me is the lack of content and the fact that it's all available on free from sky.

I might buy one when there is more HD content because at the moment nobody in my house watches any of the BBC, ITV or C4 stations

[andygrif]

Originally Posted by frogstamper

This certainly merits a closer look, a one off payment of £120 for a HD stb, with BBC HD and ITV HD and no doubt C4 and C5 to follow. I can see now why Neil Berkett said VM doesn't need HD channels, I mean why pay VM when they come free with free-sat, add to this the cou de gras of withholding the content from Murdoch and the service seems a winner. If VM hope to keep their TV subscribers they are certainly going to need to up their game.

I think it's very early days yet, but you're right this could be a significant challenge to pay-tv.

In terms of HD offerings, there's only BBC HD and ITV HD - although it's unclear at this stage how much stuff ITV is broadcasting in HD anyway. It's expected that ITV HD will make its way to other platforms in time, but for now it's exclusive to FreeSat.

If a few more channels start to add HD content into the FreeSat lineup then this will be a big challenger to Sky HD and would appeal to the majority of people who watch the mainstream channels but don't want to pay an extra £120 per year for a subscription to a few HD channels.

I hope that Sky will drop it's HD subscription, but I don't really think FreeSat is compelling enough at this stage to convince them to do so....yet.

Originally Posted by andygrif

I think it's very early days yet, but you're right this could be a significant challenge to pay-tv.

In terms of HD offerings, there's only BBC HD and ITV HD - although it's unclear at this stage how much stuff ITV is broadcasting in HD anyway. It's expected that ITV HD will make its way to other platforms in time, but for now it's exclusive to FreeSat.

If a few more channels start to add HD content into the FreeSat lineup then this will be a big challenger to Sky HD and would appeal to the majority of people who watch the mainstream channels but don't want to pay an extra £120 per year for a subscription to a few HD channels.

I hope that Sky will drop it's HD subscription, but I don't really think FreeSat is compelling enough at this stage to convince them to do so....yet.

You dont have to pay skys HD subscription to get the HD channels (par from discovery/movie HD chans)...if you look on the sky site, although its well hidden, it does tell you how to view the free HD channels.

[andygrif]

Originally Posted by TraxData

You dont have to pay skys HD subscription to get the HD channels (par from discovery/movie HD chans)...if you look on the sky site, although its well hidden, it does tell you how to view the free HD channels.

You can get C4 and BBC HD free on Sky HD (without a sub), and perhaps a couple of others that I don't know about....but if you're having an HD box then you'll want to receive all the channels available right? That's what I object to paying £120 a year for personally - especially as we don't have the movies or sports channels either.

[Matt D]

Originally Posted by andygrif

but if you're having an HD box then you'll want to receive all the channels available right?

I've got a Sky HD box, but don't bother with the Sky HD subscription.

Just got a normal basic 2 mix package.

Don't see it as being worth £10/month just to watch a few US shows in HD on Sky 1.

Although if I thought the Sport & Movie channels were worth having, maybe I'd think otherwise & pay for the HD sub.


I got my box for roughly just over half what Sky charge, via eBay, & think it was quite a good price for double the space of a Sky+ box, plus BBC HD & C4 HD, plus upscaling over HDMI of the SD channels.

Originally Posted by andygrif

You can get C4 and BBC HD free on Sky HD (without a sub), and perhaps a couple of others that I don't know about....but if you're having an HD box then you'll want to receive all the channels available right? That's what I object to paying £120 a year for personally - especially as we don't have the movies or sports channels either.

C4 HD is encrypted so you need a smartcard at least.

[the-cable-guy]

Originally Posted by cimt

Interesting... Looking at the epg list it's worth it.

its the same channels that have always been free at 28 East.

---------- Post added at 11:40 ---------- Previous post was at 11:38 ----------

Originally Posted by Losttheplot

C4 HD is encrypted so you need a smartcard at least.

Channel 4 & five wont work with freesat as they dont have Videoguard cams. however Channel 4 are rumoured to be going FTA by the end of the year. the FTA feed for Channel 4 has now been replaced with E4.

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

its the same channels that have always been free at 28 East.

---------- Post added at 11:40 ---------- Previous post was at 11:38 ----------



Channel 4 & five wont work with freesat as they dont have Videoguard cams. however Channel 4 are rumoured to be going FTA by the end of the year. the FTA feed for Channel 4 has now been replaced with E4.

They will work with Freesat from Sky as they use Sky boxes. C4 HD though I'm not sure if that will work with a HD box without a HD subscription. Sky do their encoding muxing and encryption for the HD service.