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Originally Posted by RichardCoulter
AFAIK VM take ITV SD from the Astra satellite and ITV HD is line fed.
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I'm not sure about that. I know that VM doesn't have all of the ITV +1 regional variations available on other platforms. Presumably if filling in the gaps is as simple as taking the missing feeds from Astra they would have done that already.
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I wonder if VM contingency plans mean taking the FTA HD feed from Astra?? Presumably if they refuse to pay the retransmission fee, ITV would cut the line feed off.
But wouldn't this still mean that VM are retransmitting the channel and leave them open to legal action?
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That's up to the courts and/or up to the Government to be more specific about the legislation. Which, of course, should have happened at the Bill stage. This is hardly an unforeseen outcome of the legislation.
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I wonder if this will mean us losing ITV2 HD, ITV3 HD and ITV4 HD as these are encrypted on satellite.
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It shouldn't as those channels are subject to an existing, apparently long-term, contract.
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Also, I wondered if their contingency plans somehow meant them taking a non Astra satellite feed to get round the issue, but the only non Astra satellites that carry ITV are encrypted and meant for our forces based overseas (BFBS).
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My personal preference is for ITV to cut the feed and be left to suffer a loss of advertising revenue until they come to their senses. Certainly don't allow them to return to VM without paying a penalty charge for the inconvenience caused. Then encourage third parties to take action against ITV for not upholding the "must offer" requirement of their PSB licence.