ITV and the BBC are to launch a free digital satellite service

Things could get very interesting over the next year or 2.

----

ITV and the BBC are to launch a free digital satellite service in a
long-anticipated move to take on market-leading pay-TV company BSkyB.

The broadcasters said today they were working together to develop a Freesat
service that would "complement" Freeview, the digital terrestrial service
that has been sold to more than 5 million homes.

Freesat will be aimed at the 25% of UK households that cannot receive
Freeview and is aiming to be operational in the first half of next year.

The new service will compete with Sky's own Freesat service, which launched
in October offering 120 TV channels and 80 radio stations for a one-off
installation charge of £150.

Sky is also the market leader in pay television, with 7.8 million
subscribers to its Sky Digital satellite service that gives access to
premium channels.

ITV - which announced a rise in revenues and profits as it unveiled
first-half results today - also said it would start broadcasting all its
channels "in the clear", following the BBC's lead in dispensing with Sky's
encryption services.

The new Freesat service will showcase all of ITV's digital channels along
with those of the BBC and other broadcasters.

Charles Allen, the ITV chief executive, said the company wanted its channels
to be as widely available as possible.

"As we move from an analogue to a digital environment, Freesat - and
Freeview - will enable every family in the UK to enjoy a wide range of
quality channels for free," he said

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...io/4221722.stm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/mai...4/cnsatl04.xml

http://www.companyannouncements.net/...01219337Q.html

http://www.sharecast.com/cgi-bin/sha...tory_id=534946



--

Blueyonder Photographic Group
http://groups.msn.com/BlueyonderPhotographic

"^^artnada^^" wrote in message
.uk...
Things could get very interesting over the next year or 2.

----


So technically how will this work?
Will it be the same satellite/transponder used by Sky and this new Freeview?
Or will every one be duplicated?
Will a Sky digibox do? If one uses a normal digital box now one does not
get the Sky EPG etc. so will we have to buy new boxes, I do not suppose
BBC/ITV will give them away as Sky do.
Quite frankly I feel Sky should be involved with the BBC and ITV in this and
they all work together. I feel a bigger mess arriseing than now comeing on.

--
Regards,
David

Please reply to News Group

On Wed, 07 Sep 2005 08:43:36 GMT, "David"
wrote:

So technically how will this work?

The ITV and BBC channels will be FTA so you'll be able to use a
receiver without a card slot.

They will still be broadcast from the same satellites and will still
be available on Sky receivers.

ITV/BBC are merely seeking publicity by saying that they are launching
a new "service".

sponix

David wrote:
"^^artnada^^" wrote in message
.uk...

Things could get very interesting over the next year or 2.

So technically how will this work?
Will it be the same satellite/transponder used by Sky and this new Freeview?
Or will every one be duplicated?
Will a Sky digibox do? If one uses a normal digital box now one does not
get the Sky EPG etc. so will we have to buy new boxes, I do not suppose
BBC/ITV will give them away as Sky do.
Quite frankly I feel Sky should be involved with the BBC and ITV in this and
they all work together. I feel a bigger mess arriseing than now comeing on.

It's almost certain that existing BBC and ITV transmissions on the 'Sky
platform' will be unaffected as far as existing Sky digibox users are concerned.
The only difference is that it seems ITV transmissions will become FTA (just as
the Beeb's did in July 2003)

It will be interesting to see how ITV propose to regionally allocate their
services on the 'non Sky' boxes, (I suppose the Beeb with employ the same
method) ?

--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

David wrote:
"^^artnada^^" wrote in message
.uk...

Things could get very interesting over the next year or 2.

So technically how will this work?
Will it be the same satellite/transponder used by Sky and this new Freeview?
Or will every one be duplicated?
Will a Sky digibox do? If one uses a normal digital box now one does not
get the Sky EPG etc. so will we have to buy new boxes, I do not suppose
BBC/ITV will give them away as Sky do.
Quite frankly I feel Sky should be involved with the BBC and ITV in this and
they all work together. I feel a bigger mess arriseing than now comeing on.

It's almost certain that existing BBC and ITV transmissions on the 'Sky
platform' will be unaffected as far as existing Sky digibox users are concerned.
The only difference is that it seems ITV transmissions will become FTA (just as
the Beeb's did in July 2003)

It will be interesting to see how ITV propose to regionally allocate their
services on the 'non Sky' boxes, (I suppose the Beeb with employ the same
method) ?

--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

"s--p--o--n--i--x" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 07 Sep 2005 08:43:36 GMT, "David"
wrote:

So technically how will this work?

The ITV and BBC channels will be FTA so you'll be able to use a
receiver without a card slot.

They will still be broadcast from the same satellites and will still
be available on Sky receivers.

ITV/BBC are merely seeking publicity by saying that they are launching
a new "service".

sponix



Do you think they'll get their monkey out again? ;-)

"David" wrote:
So technically how will this work?

Best guesses follow:

Will it be the same satellite/transponder used by Sky and this new Freeview?

It'll be Astra 2D, same as now.

Or will every one be duplicated?

itv-1 and BBC are already duplicated a lot to show regional
news/ads. They don't seem to merge transmissions when they're
showing the same programme, which is what German and Austrian
channels do (frees up capacity which can be used for other
channels the rest of the time). I'm told that was because Sky
digiboxes don't cope well with merges and splits.

Will a Sky digibox do?

You should be able to get all these channels.

If one uses a normal digital box now one does not
get the Sky EPG etc. so will we have to buy new boxes, I do not suppose
BBC/ITV will give them away as Sky do.

Hopefully BBC and ITV will start broadcasting the normal EPG
(DVB-SI EIT) in addition to the Sky one. Sky don't give boxes
away: you're tied into their subscription if you take a freebie,
else you pay.

Quite frankly I feel Sky should be involved with the BBC and ITV in this and
they all work together. I feel a bigger mess arriseing than now comeing on.

I don't want to buy from Murdoch. This might cause a little
short-term mess, but might make Sky end the non-standard dodgy
digibox approach, by promoting standards and competition.

Now, if Ceefax returns as part of this, all will be right with the world...

--
MJR/slef

astefaq updated with itv news: http://mjr.towers.org.uk/comp/astefaq.txt

"Mark Carver" wrote in message
...
David wrote:
"^^artnada^^" wrote in message
.uk...

Things could get very interesting over the next year or 2.

So technically how will this work?
Will it be the same satellite/transponder used by Sky and this new Freeview?
Or will every one be duplicated?
Will a Sky digibox do? If one uses a normal digital box now one does not
get the Sky EPG etc. so will we have to buy new boxes, I do not suppose
BBC/ITV will give them away as Sky do.
Quite frankly I feel Sky should be involved with the BBC and ITV in this and
they all work together. I feel a bigger mess arriseing than now comeing on.

It's almost certain that existing BBC and ITV transmissions on the 'Sky
platform' will be unaffected as far as existing Sky digibox users are
concerned.
The only difference is that it seems ITV transmissions will become FTA (just
as
the Beeb's did in July 2003)


What about the interactive support? Do any of the present non sky satellite
receivers handle the interactive system used on the Sky platform?

Will channels 4 and 5 follow?

--

Michael Chare

I don't want to buy from Murdoch. This might cause a little
short-term mess, but might make Sky end the non-standard dodgy
digibox approach, by promoting standards and competition.

Now, if Ceefax returns as part of this, all will be right with the
world...


Amen.

It was one week after Sept 11th that Ceefax was switched off - the BBC
******s - so I think it is the 18th Sept 2005 that will be the 4th
anniversary of CEEFAX's digital demise.

"Michael Chare" wrote in message
...
"Mark Carver" wrote in message
...
David wrote:
"^^artnada^^" wrote in message
.uk...

Things could get very interesting over the next year or 2.

So technically how will this work?
Will it be the same satellite/transponder used by Sky and this new
Freeview?
Or will every one be duplicated?
Will a Sky digibox do? If one uses a normal digital box now one does
not
get the Sky EPG etc. so will we have to buy new boxes, I do not suppose
BBC/ITV will give them away as Sky do.
Quite frankly I feel Sky should be involved with the BBC and ITV in
this and
they all work together. I feel a bigger mess arriseing than now
comeing on.

It's almost certain that existing BBC and ITV transmissions on the 'Sky
platform' will be unaffected as far as existing Sky digibox users are
concerned.
The only difference is that it seems ITV transmissions will become FTA
(just
as
the Beeb's did in July 2003)


What about the interactive support? Do any of the present non sky
satellite
receivers handle the interactive system used on the Sky platform?

Will channels 4 and 5 follow?

--

Michael Chare





Well firstly, Interactive Software should have been developed using a common
standard, not the closed "open TV" proprietary system.

Secondly, Interactive TV isn't really interactive TV since its too slow for
gaming and "interactivity" and is mainly good for "channel switching".

If broadcasters want to make people switch channels, there is no reason why
they can't do it the same way Freeview / DTT does it with some high-band
channel numbers like 701, 702, 705, allocated to alternate screens.