Saorview Content Speculation

STB wrote: »

Sports rights can and are bought for this country alone terrestrially. eg Champions League.

Then the BBC and ITV and Five and S4c's of this world buy up other sports.

Then you have the protected content that Sky can never get their hands on in Ireland or the UK.

Thats a lot of sport.

Of course the Irish market is peanuts towards the UK market. Any drops in price will be reflected by the UK's viewing habits. More and more are moving away from pay tv everyday.

Bottom line, you are right. They will end up having to sell sports seperately.

About time, charging people for FTA in bundled packages in order to sell sports packages with proprietry hardware has to stop. People are getting over using non sky systems when they see the money they are saving.

That is UPC also, they have to pay for the FTA channels (Partners) they call the different tv networks and so charge everyone who avails of their services. When more words get around from word of mouth, newspapers, tv ads about FTA services terrestrially and by satellite and people see that they can get hundreds of free stations through Freeview in overspill areas, Freesat/FTA sat and Saorview/Saorsat then Sky customer numbers will probably drop by forty to fifty percent in the next three years after analogue switch off. It will take years for the economy to improve dramatically and paying Sky or UPC for FTA bundels is madness and a waste of money. Premiership football is all about the money, image and the standard of football can be dire at times, remember the English performance in the World Cup, they were pretty useless, it reminded me of school boy soccer. I kid you not that I used to practise striking a ball for hours everday and could score goals from forty yards out. They made the game look complicated which it isn't. Come to think of it it was a pretty disappointing World Cup and who knows how far the Irish team could have gone if they weren't cheated out of qualification by Thierry Henry. He'd probably be a much better Gaelic player than a soccer player. The point I am making is that I cannot see what all the fuss is about watching foreign Premiership teams in a foreign country and paying Sky the privilege of hundreds every year to watch over paid, overrated players broadcast exclusively on Sky Sports. A waste of money, whether one finds it entertaining or not. I watch GAA, International Soccer and Rugby but I have no interest in the Premiership or the Champions League even though it is broadcast FREE TO AIR on RTE2 and ITV . I CANNOT SEE WHAT ALL THE FANATICISM IS ALL ABOUT. How many twin tuner combo PVRS could one buy for multiroom viewing for every year of subscribing to Sky Sports packages?

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/rte-to-begin-70m-digital-tv-switchover-467819.html

Sense of deja vu another announcement today.

dunleas wrote: »

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/rte-to-begin-70m-digital-tv-switchover-467819.html

Sense of deja vu another announcement today.

Just a follow up to the Dept of Communications press release on last Thursdays' announcement which only appeared on the website today.

Well, the Government have really had it forsale since 1999 roughtly. That's nothing new. I think it would be idiotic and a repeat of eircom fiasco.

The 1st Asset stripping vulture capitalist carpet bagger to buy it would likely load it with debt by borrowing to buy it. (Leveraged buyout). Then sell off all the mast sites.

There would never be much real investment in Network Infrastructure ever again.

Sell off 2FM and RTE 2 TV maybe. Nothing more. Completely separate RTENL and RTE, no connection if you like.

Combine RTENL, eNet backhaul, Heanet, MANs and ESB network (not the power gen) in one state company. Or keep them separate. But don't sell them.

jobyrne30 wrote: »

From the above article - DTT equipment subsidy for pensioners, being considered but not yet confirmed.

"Mr Ryan said he did not envisage any increase in the licence fee to help RTÉ pay for the new service. The cost of new televisions or adaptors would be borne by customers, but he said he would consider a subsidy for pensioners."

With October looming large it would be nice for to have official equipment for the customers to invest in.

I agree with watty about keeping ownership of infrastructural assets.

Ditto on state infrastructure assets, discussed here recently - director general of RTE resigns and RTE maybe privatised

Regarding subsidised DTT equipment there is a provision in the Broadcasting Act for such a scheme. The October date doesn't apply for two reasons, firstly the Oct date is being discussed as the technical launch (information campaign for retailers/installers/viewers, training for installers/retailers), with the full launch due possibly Q2 2011. Secondly, subsidised equipment will only be required just before analogue switch off (as is the case in the UK and was the case in the US). I would expect to see a subsidy scheme maybe mid 2012, state finances may be a little better and we are due a general election about that time.

(9) The Minister, for the purpose of ensuring a smooth and
efficient interchange between the provision of analogue and digital
television services in the context of analogue switch-off, shall have
the power by himself or herself, or in conjunction with any other
person, to—

(d) operate, manage or sponsor, whether in whole or in part,
measures aimed at alleviating the effects of analogue
switch-off on classes of communities or persons
adversely affected.

watty wrote: »

I agree.
No subsidy scheme till near end of Analogue. (Mid to late 2012)
Sat dish install 100% covered only if RTENL says out of DTT coverage.
Any setbox subsidy only for people already means tested perhaps. (There are well off pensioners and very poor non-pensioners)

I agree about the subsidy in 2012 but cannot see them paying for a sat install and box as there are going to be alot more than the 2% they say will not be able to receive DTT as in the analogue world at present it is more like 15-20% who are presently with Sly mostly for good RTE etc. reception and free UK channels.

However back on topic initial line up of the 4 national channels plus in the next phase probably the UK FTA channels if copyright allows with perhaps a sprinkling of Sky sports /films down the line as the pay per view chapter.
Also looks like UPC are up against it when Sky comes to DTT eventually.

Just my opinions guyz as a veteren viewer.

gtg60 wrote: »

NO WAY will Sky ever come to Irish DTT!
Why would they pay carriage costs on DTT for ~90% potential coverage of the country when the current system they use does about 99.9% and will have 100's more channels.

Some people might/would like the convenience of recieving sky via an indoor ariel rather than having to wait 2-4 weeks for an installer to install your dish (just desnt out a DTT box and card in the post ) - plus for the likes of myself where i live in wooded areas and its hard to get a sat signal without building a mast - i barely get 19.2e and cant get 28.2e with all the trees around the house

so sky could use it as na extra option to reach others plus its a more convient setup as well in many respects...so some sort of alternative sky DTT service is possible but not probable

All depends on demand and I am sure they will survey the market in regards to this possibility

warlikedave wrote: »

... for the likes of myself where i live in wooded areas and its hard to get a sat signal without building a mast - i barely get 19.2e and cant get 28.2e with all the trees around the house

They must be VERY big trees very close to house

                   v        ---
                  vvv       |
                 Vvvvv      | 
         V     vvvvvvvvv    | Tree Height - Dish Height
         |   V     ||       |
_(       |   |     ||       ---
 \       |   |     ||       | Dish Height
_|_______|___|_____||_____  |
House         Woods
  
   |--------------|
      Tree Distance
Tree Distance Must be more than 2 x (Tree Height - Dish Height)	  
	  

Dish on 1m pole on chimney
subtract height of dish from height of tree
Remaining Height must be 1/2 of distance of tree from dish.
(assuming 22.5 degree elevation for 28.2E in Ireland. 19.2E is easier, higher elevation)

Maybe you have 20m Beech trees only 10m from House? In which case worry about the foundations.

Maybe it's a bungalow/Cottage?

If the trees blocking at all you get NOTHING on Satellite. Maybe poor alignment.

Note ONE mature beech tree reduces my 12km distant Woodcock hill terrestrial reception on UHF to rubbish. I have my TV aerial only 2m above patio to get clear LOS UNDER the boughs of the row of trees!

My dishes "look" like they are pointing into a row of tall firs an a house behind them. But the elevation is fine. I get 42E to 50W.

must be kind of dark...
In the autumn look to see where has direct sunlight at about 11 am (at ANY height, anywhere on your site). That place can get Sky.

Soarsat is easier as the elevation is higher. Sun illuminated spot about noon.

I have a pole on a gable end with bolts into attic with aerials that have more wind load than a dish.

I'd say the far end of your house from the trees is perfectly clear and you just need a suitable brackets and pole to "see" over the roof from that spot. Dishes are commonly mounted on an S pole 30cm above gutter looking straight over roof.

If ridge points South East/North West, then you mount on North West Gable pointing down the ridge... etc.

Many of the Sky installers are just guys with drills. A few are actual Technicians. None are Communications Engineers.

rte could go fta 28e but are you willing to 250 euros or more for tv lience because cost of programs like flashforward csi and others would double, it would be not just ireland but uk france spain or anyone with large enough dish that can get 28e on till uk narrow beam sat comes on in 2013 or 2014 when happy days for sky no out side uk will get sky, poland have done it already with polish bean at 19e

lgs 4 wrote: »

rte could go fta 28e but are you willing to 250 euros or more for tv lience because cost of programs like flashforward csi and others would double, it would be not just ireland but uk france spain or anyone with large enough dish that can get 28e on till uk narrow beam sat comes on in 2013 or 2014 when happy days for sky no out side uk will get sky, poland have done it already with polish bean at 19e

watty wrote: »

no, quadruple or much more. TV licence 1250 Euro or much more.

This is what Conor Hayes said at the recent Joint Committee debate

Mr. Conor Hayes: ...
Another innovation by RTE is promotion of its satellite option, Saorsat. Some members of the committee will be familiar with the equivalent UK service, Freesat. The BBC, ITV and a number of other companies have put their services on one of the wideband Astra satellites. The services are broadcast unencrypted, or “in the clear” as we call it. The trouble with those wideband satellites is that they have a very big footprint. If RTE were to be put up on a wideband satellite, its services would be in the clear to the UK, France, Holland and many other countries. One might ask why that should not be done, to which I would respond that we do not have the resources to purchase the rights to enable us to broadcast into those countries. We buy programming that allows us to broadcast to 4.5 million people. We do not have the money to broadcast to 100 million people. Therefore, the option taken by the BBC when Freesat was launched is not available to us.

...
It [Saorsat] will cost us approximately €1.5 million per year. We can manage it. As other channels come on board, part of the cost will be defrayed. In light of the security this option provides and the ability to supply to the 2% of the population who do not currently receive public service television, the cost can be adequately justified. We might have a different take on the situation were the cost €20 million or €25 million, but the actual amount is appropriate and reasonable.