Newstalk hoping to braodcast on Sky

Charles Slane

Tucked away at the bottom of a piece in the Irish Times about Newstalk's sports deal with Five Live -


"NewsTalk chief executive Dan Healy ..... also revealed that NewsTalk was hoping to get Sky to broadcast its output on the Sky Digital platform."

So hopefully, in the not too distant future, Newstalk's ambition to be nationwide will be realised and the rest of Ireland (and probably the UK) can enjoy the dulcet tones of Dunphy, Kiberd and Hook. Alright, Dunphy tends to polarise opinions, but Damien Kiberd is great and Hooky is well worth a listen.

Mossy Monk

good news about the Sky ambition but what is this deal with 5 live?

EKRIUQ

Charles Slane wrote:

"NewsTalk chief executive Dan Healy ..... also revealed that NewsTalk was hoping to get Sky to broadcast its output on the Sky Digital platform."

.

Hoping is a word which could have many implications, I'm hoping to be the next President of Ireland, but not in this coming election but in the furure and whose to say otherwise, I have a lifetime left to acheive this:)

So even though Dan Healy is HOPING it sounds good for any press release(and more importantly future advertisers) to say that you have aspirations to increasing your target market potential and listeners.

I've neaver heard the station so my opinion means little but I'm "Hoping" to one day.

BrianD

AFAIK Newstalk is already available in Galway and Waterford on NTL cable. When the Setanta Sport channel is not on-air, a slate is displayed and Newstalk is played.

Charles Slane

TIPPTOP wrote:

Hoping is a word which could have many implications, I'm hoping to be the next President of Ireland, but not in this coming election but in the furure and whose to say otherwise, I have a lifetime left to acheive this:)

So even though Dan Healy is HOPING it sounds good for any press release(and more importantly future advertisers) to say that you have aspirations to increasing your target market potential and listeners.

I totally agree that the use of the word "hoping" is no guarantee of an appearance on the Sky EPG any time soon, which is why I made the point of including the word in the title of the thread. We've all seen numerous reports over the years of exciting developments "hopefully" happening that have come to nothing.

By the way, don't give up on your notion of becoming the next president - it would be nice to have an option

byte

Hmm, I would like to see Newstalk on Sky. Though I'd prefer Phantom!

Mossy Monk

BrianD wrote:

AFAIK Newstalk is already available in Galway and Waterford on NTL cable. When the Setanta Sport channel is not on-air, a slate is displayed and Newstalk is played.

its Classic FM in Waterford. dont know about Galway though

BrianD

I was at the Marketing Breakfast where Dan Healy of Newstalk spoke. He specifically mentioned that Newstalk was on in Galway and Waterford (perhaps it is in the pipeline and hasn't happened yet). I asked him about how they were going to achieve their "aspirartions to be a national channel" but he wasn't specific other than the NTL cable deal was the first step.

Newstalk could easily get on Sky Digital, it's simply a matter of allocating the budget.

Genghis

Is it that easy, though? It just struck me that the only radio broadcasters from Ireland that are on Sky are RTE stations. Is there maybe a licencing issue - I seem to recall that RTE TV and TV3 needed to get a 'different licence' to broadast on satellite before going on the EPG.

Also, (and this is getting away from satellite) - shouldn't Newstalk stake a claim for one of the two national AM frequencies left vacant by RTE? Speech content is perfect for AM, and for Irish listeners Newstalk would have the entire band to themselves.

Finally (now getting back on topic), are Newstalk now being upfront about the 5Live arrangement. I listened in on the opening day of the season and it was embarassing the way they kept cutting back to Ger in the studio everytime the commentary turned to get an update on the cricket, etc. Being a live broadcast, this typically resulted in silence, then a rush to say 'something, anything' to fill the space before hacking back in to the commentary. Perhaps now they will simply say - for the next 45 mins we are simply rebroadcasting 5Live.

In any case, TodayFM do a much better job, imho.

Charles Slane

Sports rights are closely watched and a BIG issue for anyone wanting to broadcast on satellite. With Newstalk taking live sports coverage from Five Live, would this cause a problem with them getting on to the Sky platform ?

I can't imagine the BBC being too happy that chunks of their schedule would be rebroadcast on a commercial station.

Of course this is presuming that if and when Newstalk make it onto Sky they broadcast FTA. I suppose they could encrypt (like TalkSport) but I'd imagine the cost of doing so would be prohibitive.

Widescreen

I think this is great news. What Ireland needs nationally is a Talk Radio Station to be available on both FMorAM Radio or on Satellite. It is a real pain in the evening after 7, when you can only get music on every station when you are based outside the pale.

shabbyroad

Does the deal that they (Newstalk) have done with 5Live include the use of the sports coverage on non-terrestrial broadcast ? what about their internet feed ? (TodayFM Premiership coverage wasn't available online last time I checked)

Mossy Monk

Genghis wrote:

for the next 45 mins we are simply rebroadcasting 5Live.

i heard Radio Kerry say it when they rebroadcast BBC Radio Ulster

SRB

It could always be made available on ROI cards only.

Antenna

Outside the Pale perhaps Newstalk could be made available to rebroadcast on community and college stations as a 'sustaining service' OUTSIDE the broadcast hours of those stations (which are usually rather limited)?

This would be simple to do with a satellite feed and would be a useful addition to listening choice in those areas.

Charles Slane

Antenna wrote:

Outside the Pale perhaps Newstalk could be made available to rebroadcast on community and college stations as a 'sustaining service' OUTSIDE the broadcast hours of those stations (which are usually rather limited)?

This would be simple to do with a satellite feed and would be a useful addition to listening choice in those areas.

That would great if NewsTalk had programming to broadcast. As it is, once the sports programme finishes at 10pm, they rebroadcast Dunphy and then shut down at midnight until 7am. The weekends also have repeats and a midnight shutdown.

If they were to move towards any kind of national coverage (AM or Sky) they really should have original programming 24/7. You'd imagine that late night chat (in the style of 98FM or FM104) would be ideal for them.

Coincidently BBC Five Live is carried by lots of BBC local FM stations after midnight, so the idea is a sound one Antenna, and might spur NewsTalk into broadcasting around the clock.

DMC

Unfortunately, talk radio is very expensive to produce, and with only a 4% listenership in Dublin, the omens are not good.

If Dunphy doesn't bring more listeners, the writings on the wall.

PacMan

It would be nice to see NewsTalk on Sky. However, my favourite radio station on Sky is LBC-97.3 from London. From 10pm it has Clive Bull followed by Steve Allen. Great Talk Radio.

EKRIUQ

PacMan wrote:

It would be nice to see NewsTalk on Sky. However, my favourite radio station on Sky is LBC-97.3 from London. From 10pm it has Clive Bull followed by Steve Allen. Great Talk Radio.

I listen to that radio station nearly every night its on Channel 927 and is London based but deals with topics from around the country some of the Jocks aren't afraid of giving their opinions. James O Brien on the weekend mornings always worth a listen.

dmeehan

DMC wrote:

Unfortunately, talk radio is very expensive to produce, and with only a 4% listenership in Dublin, the omens are not good.

If Dunphy doesn't bring more listeners, the writings on the wall.

Ron Atkinson has been lined up for the eveing show. he will stand in for Dunphy as the soccer pundit.

Greenman

PacMan wrote:

It would be nice to see NewsTalk on Sky. However, my favourite radio station on Sky is LBC-97.3 from London. From 10pm it has Clive Bull followed by Steve Allen. Great Talk Radio.

I'll second that. Clive Bull is great!!!
When in Dublin last week I listened to Newstalk, nice to be able to switch between RTE Radio 1,Radio 4,Radio 5 and Newstalk especially Moncrieff!!!

eirebhoy

BrianD wrote:

AFAIK Newstalk is already available in Galway and Waterford on NTL cable. When the Setanta Sport channel is not on-air, a slate is displayed and Newstalk is played.

Setanta will be going full time in January AFAIK so that won't last long.

Genghis wrote:

Finally (now getting back on topic), are Newstalk now being upfront about the 5Live arrangement. I listened in on the opening day of the season and it was embarassing the way they kept cutting back to Ger in the studio everytime the commentary turned to get an update on the cricket, etc. Being a live broadcast, this typically resulted in silence, then a rush to say 'something, anything' to fill the space before hacking back in to the commentary. Perhaps now they will simply say - for the next 45 mins we are simply rebroadcasting 5Live.

They had full 5live commentarly the the ManU-Liverpool match and they mentioned 5live. I don't think they were every actually trying to fool there listeners into thinking it was there own commentators.

Mike 1972

How are NTL in Galway getting a feed of Newstalk ? Maybe its on satellite (without a Sky EPG listing ???) already or are they just using a multielement FM aerial to pull it in.

BTW RE: Chorus not offering FM radio the one in Swords do (of did when I lived there) but it seemed to be just a dipole aerial at the headend without any processing/filtering. Some of the stations were riddled with multipath distortion (especially when planes flew over headend) although one could get some BBC stuff

byte

I was wonderign this too. Perhaps NTL have a digital link to Dublin? Unlikely but you never know?

Mossy Monk

why doesnt NTL in Waterford carry Newstalk when Setanta is not showing anything?

instead they have Classic FM, already available on their FM network