FTV Response from Government

KotF wrote:

: Aren't they free with the equipment rental? They certainly were last time I
: had cable (a few years ago admittedly).

It depends on what you call "free". Cable firms won't "just rent the equipment"
- they require a minimum subscription. The ntl: minimum is about £20/month
for ~40 channels (including all the "terrestrials" at no EXTRA charge).

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 17:32:08 +0000 (UTC), (David
Marshall) wrote:

So, postcoding without buying encryption (admittedly a new product from
SSSL) *is* available to any broadcaster.

Presumably not that new - S4C have been available on that basis for
over six months now.

On Thu, 17 Jul 2003 07:26:21 GMT, Geoff Rimmer
wrote:

Especially if someone brought in a law which said that ITV1, C4 and C5
must be broadcast in the clear on digital satellite. This law would
presumably then cancel out any previous contracts made.

And what good would that do the viewers? Suddenly ITV1, C4 and C5
would be unable to broadcast half their programmes on satellite
because they don't own pan-European rights.

So that means satellite viewers would get something else, or nothing
at all - just as is happening now with the BBC.

Who exactly does that serve?

I'm a bit confused about all of this. Why are people blaming the Beeb for
this. They've been coughing up £12 for these cards for ages, now they don't
need them, why should they still pay for them.

There seems to be 2 options. ITV/CH4 and Five take on the payment of this
one off fee for a free to air card. This is the preferred option, and seeing
as how these guys have been riding on the backs of the Beeb for the last few
years it seems only fair that they cough up now. Even more so because they
will lose the valuable ad revenue of the 6-700,000 people who have used this
facility.

Or someone (Sky maybe) could flog free to air cards direct to consumers for
£12, or whatever these cards cost.

Or have I missed something.

Paul

"fatboy" wrote:

I'm a bit confused about all of this. Why are people blaming the Beeb for
this. They've been coughing up £12 for these cards for ages, now they don't
need them, why should they still pay for them.

Indeed.


There seems to be 2 options. ITV/CH4 and Five take on the payment of this
one off fee for a free to air card.

Indeed.


Or someone (Sky maybe) could flog free to air cards direct to consumers for
£12, or whatever these cards cost.

Indeed.

Or (3): the channels could go FTA like the BBC.

Or (4): Sky could be obliged to issue such cards (and/or ensure that
expired subscription cards continue to work as FTV cards) for free.
They are already being paid staggeringly large amounts for encryption
services by all the FTV broadcasters. This is more than enough to
finance the issue of some viewing cards.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/guiv
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.cjb.net/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

"Ant" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 17 Jul 2003 07:26:21 GMT, Geoff Rimmer
wrote:

Especially if someone brought in a law which said that ITV1, C4 and C5
must be broadcast in the clear on digital satellite. This law would
presumably then cancel out any previous contracts made.

And what good would that do the viewers? Suddenly ITV1, C4 and C5
would be unable to broadcast half their programmes on satellite
because they don't own pan-European rights.

Wouldn't the European-rights issue be solved (or at least almost solved) by
ITV, C4 and C5 broadcasting on Astra 2D - according to the DCMS response in
the original post, this satellite seems to have been deliberately positioned
to have a much tighter footprint than the others currently employed by Sky -
so it only covers the UK and Eire (okay, with a little bit of spill-over
into Benelux and France, but satellite footprints tend to be circular or
eliptical- anything more irregular in shape would be complicated to produce)
The UK TV market is no small fish, and program producers may have to concede
this small overlap of national borders in the interests of getting on-air in
the UK. Alternatively, get the EU to make Europe a single broadcast entity
with respect to rights - US Networks don't have to restrict their broadcasts
to individual states because of rights issues, do they? (more chance of
nailing jelly to the ceiling than getting the last point done )

Joe 90

Joe 90 wrote:

: Wouldn't the European-rights issue be solved (or at least almost solved) by
: ITV, C4 and C5 broadcasting on Astra 2D - according to the DCMS response in
: the original post, this satellite seems to have been deliberately positioned
: to have a much tighter footprint than the others currently employed by Sky -
: so it only covers the UK and Eire (okay, with a little bit of spill-over
: into Benelux and France, but satellite footprints tend to be circular or
: eliptical- anything more irregular in shape would be complicated to produce)

Astra 2D *helps* - but it can be received with a moderate size dish
(~1.5m ??) from about as far as Berlin (and with more silly sized dishes
from further afield).

All ITV, C4 or C5 could do is go to the rights owners and say "we have
done our best to minimise spillover - how much extra do you want?"
They could not go FTA before agreeing such terms.

rnet[dot]co[dot]uk (Simon Gardner) wrote:

Alternatively, get the EU to make Europe a single broadcast entity
with respect to rights

The EU doesn't have the power to do that.

Yes it does. The are very few things that the EU can't decide about
and this certainly isn't one of them. The EU can decide whether Tesco
may import Levi jeans from Baltic states. The EU can decide whether
DVD regionalisation is permissible. The EU can decide whether rights
agreements must be pan-European. Whether they care to make the
decision or not is another matter. Generally they choose not to, just
as the UK government generally chooses not to upset Sky.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/guiv
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.cjb.net/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

Joe 90 wrote:

Alternatively, get the EU to make Europe a single broadcast entity
with respect to rights

Of course. This is exactly the sort of thing that the EU should be
doing. Instead they worry about aluminium cutlery quotas and peach
subsidies.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/guiv
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.cjb.net/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)