Sky to launch Freesat

DMC

From: MediaGuardian

9.15am: BSkyB to launch a free satellite package of over 200 channels to compete with Freeview. More soon...

DMC

Now the beef....

10am

Sky: was pay, now some free

Owen Gibson, chief reporter
Wednesday June 9, 2004

BSkyB is to launch a package of up to 200 free channels to counter the growing threat from Freeview, allowing satellite "refusniks" to pick up the five terrestrial channels and other stations including BBC3 and BBC4 without having to pay a subscription.
It is the first time since the satellite giant launched more than 10 years ago that it has reached out to those who don't want to pay for movies and sport, BSkyB's most popular and most expensive services.

The package will include ITV, BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, CBBC, Cbeebies, News 24, BBC Parliament, Channel 4, Channel Five, ITV2, ITV News, CNN and scores of other channels, although most of these are of minority interest such as Extreme Sports.

The move is the brainchild of the BSkyB chief executive, James Murdoch, and marks his first major strategic initiative since joining the pay-TV giant last year.

Analysts and rivals have been waiting anxiously to see how Mr Murdoch would cope with the twin challenge of increasing Sky's average revenue per subscriber while continuing to attract new customers who up to now have been uninterested in pay-TV.

The runaway success of the BBC-backed Freeview service, which offers 30 channels for a one-off fee of around £80, has increased the pressure on BSkyB.

Figures released earlier this month by media regulator Ofcom showed Freeview was now in more than 3.5 million homes and its growth continued to outpace pay-TV.

Mr Murdoch will hope the launch of a free-to-air alternative on satellite, offering access to more channels than Freeview and with added interactivity, will persuade potential customers to pay a one-off fee of £150 and no monthly subscription.

"These initiatives are another step in giving consumers a choice from Sky that suits their needs at the top and lower ends of the scale. They will help drive even greater take-up of digital TV services and enable Sky to enjoy a close relationship with even more customers," said Mr Murdoch, who controversially replaced Tony Ball as Sky chief executive last year.

Today's moves are designed to reassure investors concerned at recent figures showing that Sky's subscriber growth had slumped to its lowest level since 1998 that Mr Murdoch can retain the initiative his predecessors have shown in making Sky the pre-eminent pay-TV platform.

The new package will prove attractive to those households, particularly in rural areas, that can't receive Freeview or require an arial upgrade in order to do so.

And once they have a Sky dish installed, the company hopes they will eventually upgrade to pay-TV. BSkyB, 36% owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, will also hope to make money from interactive revenues.

The move will also be welcomed by the government and Ofcom as a significant step forward in plans to switch off the analogue signal by 2010. Earlier this year the regulator identified the lack of a viable free-to-air satellite service, filling in the gaps in coverage, as one of the main barriers to digital switchover.

While customers can already buy a dish and box from Sky without subscribing, the company has ironed out the flaws that made it an unattractive option for those considering switching to digital.

New free-to-air customers will receive access to all five existing terrestrial channels through the Sky electronic programme guide.

ITV, Channel 4 and Five have been unavailable to free-to-air satellite viewers since last year when the BBC made all its channels free to air and stopped paying for the "solus" cards required to watch the terrestrial channels.

Under the new offer, Sky will provide a viewing card to allow viewers to watch the correct regional variant of all the existing terrestrial channels plus over 200 free-to-air channels, including the likes of CNN and QVC.

In a separate initiative, BSkyB also unveiled plans to launch the UK's first high definition TV - HDTV - service to appeal to the big spending, early adopter end of its subscriber base.

With the boom in home cinema, widescreen TV and hard disk recorders like Sky Plus, Mr Murdoch hopes the new format, which offers pin-sharp pictures, will appeal to a significant minority of its customers.

HDTV has already taken off in the US, where a number of sport, drama, entertainment and news shows are already made in the format. Sky hopes the new service, not due to launch until 2006, will encourage subscribers to pay a premium to receive channels and one-off events, such as big football matches, in the new format.

Having ruled out plans to launch a free-to-air competitor to ITV and Channel Five, Mr Murdoch has pledged to continue to grow Sky's subscriber base beyond the 8 million figure targeted by next year.

Mr Murdoch insisted there were still 10 million potential pay-TV customers to target as the country moves towards digital switchover.

EKRIUQ

Mr Murdoch will hope the launch of a free-to-air alternative on satellite, offering access to more channels than Freeview and with added interactivity,

Pretty major news in the sattelite world:eek:

The key words in the statement is free to Air and I presume with Irelands geographical position the people in the foot print of skys signal will also benefit.:D

johnKarma

Under the new offer, Sky will provide a viewing card to allow viewers to watch the correct regional variant of all the existing terrestrial channels plus over 200 free-to-air channels, including the likes of CNN and QVC.

So, it looks like ITV/C4 will REMAIN under an FTV-type scheme. Oh well, at least it might become easier to get your hands on a card.

Lennoxschips

Very clever. A freeview system that only works on Sky Boxes.

Sky has just called the BBC's bluff.

ken90

Under the new offer, Sky will provide a viewing card to allow viewers to watch the correct regional variant of all the existing terrestrial channels plus over 200 free-to-air channels, including the likes of CNN and QVC.

Surprise Surprise see line 2

DMC

What you've got is Son of Solus.

Macy

The move is the brainchild of the BSkyB chief executive, James Murdoch, and marks his first major strategic initiative since joining the pay-TV giant last year

Weren't the BBC talking about setting up a FTA system a while ago? Brainchild my arse, but presumably it'll mean new FTV cards coming on the market?

Mossy Monk

interesting to see ITV2 is included

DMC

This is the Guardian's list of what will be on the service....

Free-to-air TV and radio services available on digital satellite

116 TV CHANNELS

30 general entertainment
BBC1
BBC2
ITV1
Channel 4
Channel Five
BBC3
BBC4
Travel Channel
Travel Channel 2
S4C ~ Digital
Life TV
Overload
Game Network
You TV
BEN
Reality TV
Performance
Rapture TV
FRIENDLY TV
ACTV
L!VE TV
Nation217
Fashion TV
OBE
Game in TV
Hollywood TV
Get Lucky TV
Classics TV
S42 ~ 2
AVAGO

Nine news & documentaries
Sky News
BBC News 24
BBC Parliament
CNN
ITV News Channel
Euro News
CCTV9
Community Channel
Information TV

Four children's
CBBC
CBeebies
POP
POP Plus

Five music
Chart Show TV
The Vault
Classic FM TV
channel U
M-Channel


Five sports
Motors TV
Extreme Sports
Golf TV
i Sports TV
Wrestling Channel

One movie
The Horror Channel

Sixty-two specialist
QVC
TV Travelshop
TV Travelshop 2
TV Shop
Ideal World
Price Drop TV
Shop America
Travel Deals Direct
Simply Shop
Best Direct
Simply Home
Entertainment
Simply Ideas
TV Warehouse
Factory Outlet
bid-up.tv
Thomas Cook TV
Telsell
letsgoshop+
Auction World
Shop on TV
Thane Direct
ShopSmart
TVWarehouse
Shop 24/7
Stop+Shop
Yes
Screenshop
Phoneworld
Vitality
FO3
God Channel
God 2
Wonderful TV
TBN Europe
Revelation
UCB TV
TV Job Shop
Dating Channel
txt me
Gay Date TV
Escape
Create & Craft
Exchange & Mart TV
Teletext Hols
Broadband TV
Golf Pro-Shop
PCNE Chinese
mta- muslim TV
ATN
Islam Channel
FO2
JML Direct
Open Access
Abu Dhabi
Vectone Urdu
Vectone Hindi
Vectone Tamil
Vectone Bangla
SAB TV
Record TV
Chat Box


EIGHTY-ONE RADIO CHANNELS:


BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 4 FM
BBC Radio 5 Live
Classic FM
Virgin Radio
Classic Gold
The Storm
Planet Rock
Core
Capital Gold
XFM
BBC World Service
BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Wales
BBC Radio Ulster
BBC Asian Network
BBC6 Music
The Mix
WRN Europe
Premier Radio
Heart 874
UCB Europe
Cross Rhythm
OneWord
SBN
Solar Radio
Panjab Radio
BBC 7 service
PrimeTime
Sunrise Radio
UCB Insp
BBC 1Xtra Radio
Transworld Radio (TWR)
UCB Bible
UCB Talk
RTE Europe
BBC Radio 4 LW
Radio 5 Live Sports Extra
Club Asia
Real Radio
EWTN
Sukh Sagar
Asian Gold
BBC World Service Extra
BBC Radio Cymru
BBC RnGael
CalvaryRadio
Gaydar Radio
Family Radio
RTE Radio 1
The Arrow
Capital Disney
Apple FM
RTE 2FM
RTE Lyric FM
RTE R na G
Jazz FM
Akash Radio
Desi Radio
The Hits
Galaxy FM
Smash Hits
MeanCountry
Century Radio
Capital FM
Amrit Bani
LBC Radio
Kiss
Heat Radio
Magic
Q
Mojo
Kerrang!
FCUK FM
Spectrum 1
Liberty Radio
Yarr Radio
Pure Dance
Choice FM

Macy

So the only real benefit is the UK FTV channels and the EPG, over a standard FTA system? Mind you, a similar Irish set-up would do well given the quality of Terrestrial reception in many areas.

jmcbride

Actually there's nothing new here. There are a couple of channels are are on Freeview (ITV2, Sky Sports News, UKTV History/Bright Ideas, FTN), that will continue to be subscription-only on Sky. I don't see anything in this package to persuade Freeview viewers to go Sky.

eoinm1

This is very good news I think.

I love to get one from NI.

Eóin

mickeyboymel

At a glance, does this mean that all the channels currently free to air such as CNN etc etc will come under the scope of the card,meaning nothing will be viewable from 28.2 on a Sky Box, unless you have a subscription, or one of these new cards?

robbie1876

This 'regional variation' thing, does that mean we might get RTE / TV3 in Ireland via this service? Also, what sort of launch date are we looking at?

Robbie

DMC

No.

Those channels that are FTA, remain FTA. They cant block FTA channels, really.

mickeyboymel

So the news is not as good as it could be for Irish viewers. This means ITV is unlikely to go free to air in September,and we start all over again trying to obtain new cards, witholding numbers and putting on English accents:D

I have not seen it specified in any of the press releases,on further inspection,and the point has been raised in various forums today, that the card will be available on its own,without actually buying and having a Sky system installed at £150 which will tie the card to the postcode.

Lets hope the current FTV and Expired Subscription Cards continue to work during the transition and into the future.

Tony

The picture you paint im most likely in my opinion but consider the cost of a FTV card scheme, could well be that they decide not to go down card route when the costs add up. It would be much cheaper just to enter in what variation you want on the box.

probaly wont happen unless the accountants get their way

Tony

Originally posted by mickeyboymel
So the news is not as good as it could be for Irish viewers. This means ITV is unlikely to go free to air in September,and we start all over again trying to obtain new cards, witholding numbers and putting on English accents:D

Skyuser

It's interesting to see ITV2 there. Does this mean that it will be going ftv? If it is, then us people with a current ftv card will be able to get ITV2

DMC

I don't think this will affect ITV going FTA. ITV will not want to pay for encryption again, after the BBC proved that FTA works.

What Sky are proposing is in effect what you had in the days of the solus card, a hybrid of FTV and FTA channels. We'll need more detail if we need to buy the box and card as a whole, or can we get the card separately. I suspect, with all the people that have not got Sky subs, but still have boxes, that they will give the card separately.

I'm not impressed and is Sky seriously suggesting that you will need a free to view or "son" of solus card to view some what are now existing FTA channels??
Or are they hoping that they can dis inform people that they have this new service which infact mainly consists of what people can pick up without a card anyway?

Macy

Originally posted by mickeyboymel
So the news is not as good as it could be for Irish viewers. This means ITV is unlikely to go free to air in September,and we start all over again trying to obtain new cards, witholding numbers and putting on English accents

Doesn't mean ITV won't go FTA, it's Sky raising the stakes to try and put ITV off making that move.

Genghis

On Newstalk this morning it was mentioned that Sky plan to offer an Irish Freesat some months after they launch the UK Freesat. The delay is to allow for discussions with Irish broadcasters TV3 and RTE.

seano

Originally posted by Genghis
On Newstalk this morning it was mentioned that Sky plan to offer an Irish Freesat some months after they launch the UK Freesat. The delay is to allow for discussions with Irish broadcasters TV3 and RTE.

Now that is good news.

with a bit of luck RTE etc will be on the irish FTV list

DMC

Remember, RTÉ and TV3 as part of the deal they did with Sky get carriage for free, so long as Sky have them on the Family Pack, and that lasts for another 3 years more.

Question is, if RTÉ wanted to be on a FTV system, would they drop that deal and pay (possibly) for carriage?

Macy

Originally posted by DMC
Question is, if RTÉ wanted to be on a FTV system, would they drop that deal and pay (possibly) for carriage?

I'd say the wait is for sky to see the UK take-up, and then see whether the want RTE to pay for carriage - i.e. who benefits most.

the dead parrot

This is from the Times today and may be of intrest to you (Not sure if this has already been announced)

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB presented plans to introduce a free television service in Britain yesterday and said it was reviewing whether to launch it in Ireland.

The new "freesat" service will offer more than 200 digital television channels to British consumers this year for free with no requirement to subscribe to Sky.

It will be available to any consumer in Britain and Northern Ireland who buys a satellite dish and a set-top box at a cost of up to €350.

But initially the new service will not be available to Irish consumers as the broadcasters RTÉ, TV3 and TG4, would have to strike a carriage deal with Sky.

Under a five-year deal struck in April 2002, RTÉ, TV3 and TG4 agreed to be carried on Sky's subscription-based satellite platform in an effort to expand their reach. However, if RTÉ and the other Irish broadcasters want their stations to be made available on the new "freesat" service they would have to pay carriage fees to Sky.

In Britain ITV pays tens of millions of pounds to BSkyB for carriage on its platform and the Irish broadcasters could face a bill of several million euro for carriage.

An RTÉ spokeswoman confirmed that Sky and RTÉ have already held informal discussions on the "freesat" matter.

Mr Mark Deering, managing director of Sky Ireland, said the firm was reviewing whether it would introduce its service in Ireland given certain commercial conditions and consumer demand.

But it is believed that BSkyB is keen to extend the service to Ireland if it can strike the right deals with national broadcasters. Sky has aggressively targeted the Irish market in recent years and has more than 300,000 subscribers in the Republic. It has also launched an Irish news service to widen its appeal and the "freesat" service could help it grow further here.

The extension of Sky's "freesat" service to the Republic could further undermine the Government's plans for a national digital terrestrial service. Since 1997 the Government has been planning to establish a free national digital television service in the Republic, but has so far failed to get the project off the ground.

A spokesman for the Department of Communications said yesterday a trial service should be established later this year.

However, the extension of Sky's "freesat" service to Ireland could further undermine the commercial basis for this type of digital service in the Republic. It is thought that the Government's planned service may have to charge consumers for access to the British television channels whereas on Sky they will be free.

Tony

I think in reality RTE would be paying for EPG placement, they can get FTA carriage without having to involve sky.

The devil is in the detail

Macy

If they do bring out an Irish FreeSat system, I reckon it would do pretty well. €350 compared with a decent aerial set-up (for still mediocre reception in my case) for RTE, Net 2, TV3 and TG4, plus a FTA system isn't bad value, even if you have to give Murdoch money.

Mike 1972

It is the first time since the satellite giant launched more than 10 years ago that it has reached out to those who don't want to pay for movies and sport,

In the early days of Sky all the channels (bar the movie and sport channels) were FTA

When Sky took over BSB those with the BSB systems got a free Sky system and were promised that they would be able to continue watching on the same terms as before only for Sky to begin encrypting channels that were formerly free not long after :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Funnily enough in the very early (pre Astra) days of Sky they were only licenced to transmit to the Netherlands and (I think) Belgium .This was supposedly enforced using encryption Although the system they were using was fairly primative and piracy was widespread although as Sky werent actually charging subscriptions (other than fees from cable operators) I dont think they were too bothered

JBoyle4eva

QUOTED FROM THE DIGITAL SPY WEBSITE(LINK PROVIDED BELOW)
Sky to launch FTA service installed for £150
12:12 BST, Wednesday 9th June 2004 -- by Alan Jay
Sky have today announced details of a new FTA satellite promotion, priced at just £150 for equipment and standard installation.

The service, due to launch "later this year", will come with a viewing card (to allow ITV, C4 and BBC regions to be viewed) but no requirement to subscribe to any Sky services.

That said, consumers will still be able to upgrade to a subscription package at any time without the need for any extra equipment.

The offering is designed to bring digital TV to those who are not currently interested in pay TV but cannot get access to DTT service FreeView: recent figures show that some 27% of UK households are currently unable to receive the full FreeView lineup

DIGITAL SPY

JBoyle4eva

Now this does say it provides ITV,Channel4 and five, but I'm still worried that wee mightn't be able to get the FTA package over here for the reason there not on Irish subs: Programming rights!

However, I'm sure if you purchased it from Uk you would be able to get it.

radxxx

Uhm, what will happen to this generation UK FTV cards ?

Ron

rcunning03

Would we be able to go into an electrical shop in NI and just buy the card ?

sceptre

Already being discussed in this thread but welcome to the forums!

(& this particular article hasn't been posted already so it's nice to get the IT's view)

the dead parrot

This is from the Irish Times today


Satellite broadcaster BSkyB presented plans to introduce a free television service in Britain yesterday and said it was reviewing whether to launch it in Ireland.

The new "freesat" service will offer more than 200 digital television channels to British consumers this year for free with no requirement to subscribe to Sky.

It will be available to any consumer in Britain and Northern Ireland who buys a satellite dish and a set-top box at a cost of up to €350.

But initially the new service will not be available to Irish consumers as the broadcasters RTÉ, TV3 and TG4, would have to strike a carriage deal with Sky.

Under a five-year deal struck in April 2002, RTÉ, TV3 and TG4 agreed to be carried on Sky's subscription-based satellite platform in an effort to expand their reach. However, if RTÉ and the other Irish broadcasters want their stations to be made available on the new "freesat" service they would have to pay carriage fees to Sky.

In Britain ITV pays tens of millions of pounds to BSkyB for carriage on its platform and the Irish broadcasters could face a bill of several million euro for carriage.

An RTÉ spokeswoman confirmed that Sky and RTÉ have already held informal discussions on the "freesat" matter.

Mr Mark Deering, managing director of Sky Ireland, said the firm was reviewing whether it would introduce its service in Ireland given certain commercial conditions and consumer demand.

But it is believed that BSkyB is keen to extend the service to Ireland if it can strike the right deals with national broadcasters. Sky has aggressively targeted the Irish market in recent years and has more than 300,000 subscribers in the Republic. It has also launched an Irish news service to widen its appeal and the "freesat" service could help it grow further here.

The extension of Sky's "freesat" service to the Republic could further undermine the Government's plans for a national digital terrestrial service. Since 1997 the Government has been planning to establish a free national digital television service in the Republic, but has so far failed to get the project off the ground.

A spokesman for the Department of Communications said yesterday a trial service should be established later this year.

However, the extension of Sky's "freesat" service to Ireland could further undermine the commercial basis for this type of digital service in the Republic. It is thought that the Government's planned service may have to charge consumers for access to the British television channels whereas on Sky they will be free.

gorm

Read a post on http://www.satellites.co.uk just now that one thing sky didn't mention in its blurb was that the FTV card is only guaranteed for 24-months, after that you may be required to buy another one. The is required for ITV1,2,C4,E4

sceptre

Originally posted by gorm
Read a post on http://www.satellites.co.uk just now that one thing sky didn't mention in its blurb was that the FTV card is only guaranteed for 24-months, after that you may be required to buy another one. The is required for ITV1,2,C4,E4

Mmmm, it's "guaranteed" till at least December 2005. If Sky change their encryption before that they'll replace the card. If they don't the odds are rather good that a card change won't be necessary until they do. They've only changed it once since they started in digi-land.

gorm

I read the article to mean that for the card's continued use another "once off" fee would be required for continued use.

digitaldr

I take it there won't be a SKY+ freesat option?

mickeyboymel

British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) today announced plans to drive sustained demand for digital satellite television through separate initiatives that will address the premium pay-TV and free-to-air (FTA) audiences. Speaking at an investor conference in London, James Murdoch, Chief Executive of BSkyB, said that the Company would introduce a new FTA satellite proposition later this year and had begun developing a premium package of services in the High Definition Television (HDTV) format for launch in 2006.

Free-To-Air Satellite

Later this year, BSkyB will introduce a FTA satellite proposition offering access to almost 200 television and radio channels and interactive services which are available without a monthly subscription fee. Consumers will be able to purchase a package of reception equipment (including a Sky digibox, minidish and initial viewing card) direct from BSkyB for a one-off cost of £150.00 including standard professional installation.

There is no obligation to subscribe to a pay-TV service and FTA satellite viewers pay no monthly fee. However, the FTA satellite proposition offers an easy upgrade path for viewers who choose subsequently to add a pay-TV service to their viewing options. There is no requirement for additional equipment and viewing cards can be enabled remotely for the reception of pay-TV services.

It is anticipated that the new FTA satellite proposition will support the Government's proposed switchover to digital-only broadcasting by providing an additional subscription-free option for viewers not currently attracted to pay-TV. In particular, FTA satellite will provide an accessible and attractive means of 'going digital' for the 27 per cent(1) of UK households which are currently unable to receive the full range of digital terrestrial television services and for the additional number of households which require an aerial upgrade in order to receive digital terrestrial services.

The extensive line-up of channels available to FTA digital satellite viewers includes the BBC's portfolio of digital television and radio services and digital versions of the five analogue terrestrial television channels, including all national and regional variants of BBC One and BBC Two. Access to the encrypted signals of ITV1, Channel 4 and five will be available as a result of the provision of a digital satellite viewing card, which will also enable automatic reception of the relevant variant of regionalised FTA channels.

All FTA satellite viewers enjoy access to Sky's comprehensive electronic programme guide (EPG) featuring seven-day listings of forthcoming programmes on all channels. In addition to a wide choice of FTA television and radio channels, interactive services such as Sky Active, BBCi, ITVi and Channel 4's Big Brother Interactive are available to digital satellite viewers without any monthly subscription fee. All Sky digiboxes contain an integrated modem and therefore are capable of accessing online services including e-mail, SMS text messaging and public service information from Directgov.

egal

Have a look here:

medianetwork.blogspot.com

gorm

As the article on Medianetwork says, if its to good to be true it probably is. For all the talk of FTA it really is a hybrid needing a viewing card for ITV,C4 etc. For sky to say that viewers may need to pay again read WILL need to pay again, and again and again....
Neat attempt at blocking Freeview in the UK though and if launched here would probably give Government excuse not to proceed with DTT

watty

Its marketing double talk.

Virtually all those TV channels are FTA now. The Radio all FTA now.

Really the *ONLY* new thing is a proposal for Sky to make even more money out of ITV's Ch4's and Five's encryption.

Those operators pay more than enought to cover issuing 10 cards per person and make Sky a profit. But with no cards getting issued, Sky are worried that ITV in particular will go BBC route. (Contract for ITV1 and ITV2 expires August).

So since no-one else will anylonger pay Sky exhorbitant money to issue Cards, Sky propose to issue them themselves.

1) Encourage ITV /C4 to stay on encryption
2) They'll make an extra Tenner or so profit per card at NO extra cost to them.

Sky would really like EVERYTHING to be encrypted to cement Monopoy. This is why the RTE "free carriage, free epg and encryption" is a bad deal for RTE and makes money for Sky.

You don't think Murdock would give something "free" without making money?

Already now the EPG placement which costs Sky nearly nothing is about 1/2 the cost of renting space for a TV channel (carriage) on Satellite!

Sky needs its monoploy broken not strenghtened

byte

Yup, watty, you seem to have it summed up nicely. Sky are just gonna offer the service that BBC stopped paying for since it went FTA.

If Sky cover the cost of issuing FTV cards, is there much likelihood of BBC going back to encryption? I would doubt it, but I'd be pretty sure that Sky would be eager for BBC to encrypt again

watty

BBC *NEVER* intended to stay encrypted. That was only short term. S4C~Digidol was supposed to FTA from the beginning, but was encrypted nearly 3 years I think while they sorted "rights" out. Partly Astra 2D didn't exist when BBC Started and partly they needed to sort out other stuff.

They won't join Sky again unless Gov forces them. ITV is none to keen on price of encryption, but with BBC it was principle of it, not entirely cost!

Tomk1

I rarely used my digi-box exept sometimes to look up the epg for ITV&BBC.

For a while I could recieve SKY3 with the deactivated irish card, but last time I tried there where no FTV channels, only FTA which I use my other rx for.

Note:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=104016&p=irol-newsArticle_Print&ID=580035&highlight=
"There is no obligation to subscribe to a pay-TV service and FTA satellite viewers pay no monthly fee. However, the FTA satellite proposition offers an easy upgrade path for viewers who choose subsequently to add a pay-TV service to their viewing options. There is no requirement for additional equipment and viewing cards can be enabled remotely for the reception of pay-TV services."

At the time I remember this being on the news as the value of Sky shares increased, but fine there is the begining of a HT premium package, but what of the Sky FTA/FTV(with sky box) to rival the BBC&ITV ?

Best regards TomK

watty

That is what the UK FTV card scheme is called. Freesat from Sky. About £21 adds C5, C4 and Sky3 to the free BBC/ITV channels. They do a complete install package too.

Both only to UK (inc NI) postcodes.