Channel 4 availability

Val Dennison

Hi,
I've just gone ahead and got Sky+ installed. Much to my chagrin, I find that there's no Channel 4, (even though I was told in the sales talk that it was available) On calling Channel 4, I find that there is no licence to transmit the service to the Rep. of Ireland - that it is against the law in fact.
I have, for the past number of years, been receiving this Channel, along with the other terrestial ones, by way of a microwaved system. (Is this company breaking the law?)
Does anyone have any further info. re. this issue? Why on earth is this the only UK terrestial channel unavailable to us in the Republic?
Cheers
Val

L1011

Channel 4 plead innocence on the cable/MMDS/deflector systems, trying to claim that they can't stop them. Of course they can, but they don't...

However, they claim that the way the channel is acquired by those systems counts as "legitimate overspill" and hence doesn't affect rights issues and that being on satellite would affect them.

They are -allowed- broadcast here, nothing illegal about it, but its rights issues that stop them.

We also can't get Channel 5 here on Sky, remember. And Sky sales reps lie.

watty

Five was of course availab le freely for years on Analog satellite here.

DMC

Val Dennison wrote:

Hi,
I've just gone ahead and got Sky+ installed. Much to my chagrin, I find that there's no Channel 4, (even though I was told in the sales talk that it was available) On calling Channel 4, I find that there is no licence to transmit the service to the Rep. of Ireland - that it is against the law in fact.
I have, for the past number of years, been receiving this Channel, along with the other terrestial ones, by way of a microwaved system. (Is this company breaking the law?)
Does anyone have any further info. re. this issue? Why on earth is this the only UK terrestial channel unavailable to us in the Republic?

Whilst I see your (just) anger against Sky reps telling fibs, and Channel 4 telling fibs.

MYOB set out the situation. Historic "overspill" reasons are used for cable and MMDS operators to continue to broadcast Channel 4, even though they use digital sources for the channels.

The talk has been for some time that Channel 4 will drop encryption on Sky by 2008, meaning that like BBC (extra channels) and ITV1-4, it will be viewable through other channels, it still wont let you use your Sky+ to record these channels. Another bugger.

On the other hand, an awful lot of Channel 4 programming is found on E4 and More4.

Ulsterman 1690

Channel 4 used to broadcast adverts for some of its programmes on Today FM

But then Today FM is available in parts of the UK on "legitimate overspill" :rolleyes:

ITV or the Beeb dont seem to have any problems with this non-existant law against them transmitting FTA

JohnC.

Ulsterman 1690 wrote:

ITV or the Beeb dont seem to have any problems with this non-existant law against them transmitting FTA

And the contract?

L1011

C4 signed the contract of their own free will, remember.

com7

typical sales talk from sky sales people !!!

Val Dennison

Thanks for the advice and sympathy guys. I have read that there is a card (sky ftv)that one can purchase from E.Bay that one inserts into the Sky+ box and hey presto! you get Channel 4 AND all the BBC channels too.
What do you think?

Val

Mossy Monk

it will give you Channel 4 and five but you wont be able to record on your Sky + with one. the best solution imo is to get a 2nd hand Sky box somewhere for UK terrestrials

Mossy Monk

on quiet reflection i must ask, why is this in terrestrial?

moved

Val Dennison

As a complete, inexperienced user, and a brand new one too, I find I have written to the wrong board. However, you have been very helpful and many thanks.
Val

Mossy Monk

thats no problem, hopefully you can get this sorted

darkmaster2

Ulsterman 1690 wrote:

Channel 4 used to broadcast adverts for some of its programmes on Today FM

But then Today FM is available in parts of the UK on "legitimate overspill" :rolleyes:

ITV or the Beeb dont seem to have any problems with this non-existant law against them transmitting FTA

I remember a few advertisers on S4C specifically mentioning some of their shops in Cork and waterford years ago when it was being carried on the deflector system. I suppose they knew there was a fair few viewers in southern Ireland.

kilasser

Channel 4 plan to transmit over the internet from the end of this month.

Info at: http://www.channel4.com/microsites/S/simul_c4/index.html

dohouch

The way I undestand the situation as I too would be interested in seeing some of the movies on Ch 4.

You can get a Sky vieving card in U.K. for channels 4 and 5 but you have to put it into Sky box that is connected to U.K. phone line. Then you ring Sky and the card is validated. The catch is the the card ( £20 I think ) is tied to the origonal Sky box, i.e. the box it was in when it was validated...

If anybody has tried one of these Sky cards from U.K. and is able to view
Ch 4 I would be interested to know.

Thanks
dohouch

JohnC.

kilasser wrote:

Channel 4 plan to transmit over the internet from the end of this month.

Info at: http://www.channel4.com/microsites/S/simul_c4/index.html

Only stuff they produce themselves though.

pbirney

Kahless wrote:

Only stuff they produce themselves though.

... and probably only available to UK-based users.

lasno

I have a Sky FTV card and can watch Ch.4.
The card was activated by a friend in London. The Sky box does not have to be connected to a phone line for activation. My friend phoned the number on the back of the card, when asked gave the details of his box and the card was activated. When activated the card will work in any Sky digibox.
Hope this helps.

Mossy Monk

dohouch wrote:

You can get a Sky vieving card in U.K. for channels 4 and 5 but you have to put it into Sky box that is connected to U.K. phone line. Then you ring Sky and the card is validated. The catch is the the card ( £20 I think ) is tied to the origonal Sky box, i.e. the box it was in when it was validated...

incorrect incorrect incorrect incorrect

why not read one of the many threads that will tell you how this system works. i have one of the cards myself and it works just fine

dohouch

Well I'm glad to hear that I don't have to carry my un-subscribed box to U.K. in order to get to watch Ch 4. What I quoted in earlier post was something I read, and maybe the guidelines for what should happen.

By the way I storing "favorites" only possible if there is a card in the box? I have'nt been able to do this with my box and assume it is because I've no card.

scart

dohouch wrote:

The way I undestand the situation as I too would be interested in seeing some of the movies on Ch 4.

You can get a Sky vieving card in U.K. for channels 4 and 5 but you have to put it into Sky box that is connected to U.K. phone line. Then you ring Sky and the card is validated. The catch is the the card ( £20 I think ) is tied to the origonal Sky box, i.e. the box it was in when it was validated...

If anybody has tried one of these Sky cards from U.K. and is able to view
Ch 4 I would be interested to know.

Thanks
dohouch

A FTV card does not need to be paired to the digibox. It will work in any sky digibox. Same as an active sky subscription card without any premium channels like Sky sports/movies will work in any digibox.
I got a FTV card from ebay and it works fine.
A word of caution, make sure the seller knows the card PIN number. This is usually the last four digits of the card number but if it has been changed by previous owner you will not be able to use the parental control feature. If this has been set to prevent access to say over 15 movies it will give you a big blue screen if you wish to view such a movie during day time hours....Very annoying!
It happened to me with my purchase off ebay. Luckily the seller sent me another card where the pin was the last four digits of card number.

byte

That's a good point, scart. Never thought of the PIN thing before.

The_Conductor

dohouch wrote:

If anybody has tried one of these Sky cards from U.K. and is able to view
Ch 4 I would be interested to know.

Thanks
dohouch

I got a card delivered to my brother's address in London and got him to send it over to me. I told SKY that I did not have a phone line and called them from my computer (I have NTL broadband and used Skypeout to call them). They activated the card no problem whatsoever and talked me through a software update for the box (which I told them I had bought second hand on ebay).

They were very easy to deal with and talk to. I gave my brothers address as the one I was calling from- so the EPG is set to London (which suits me fine).

dohouch

Thanks for your reply "smccarrick". I think I will go that route as well, i.e. getting one delivered to U.K. address, or maybe Belfast and doing the vaildation over Skype from local internet cafe as I don't have the broadband or the Skype at home and don't want the hassle that MAY come when the SKY call centre operator sees a R.O.I. prefix on her/his screen.
rgds
dohouch

L1011

withhold number. Sorted...

Getting one delivered to NI will give you UTV on 103 and the right BBC regions on 101/102 for the versions in paper TV guides here, ITV1 and BBC England have quite different schedules some times, particularly Friday nights.

glenroe2006

Has anyone been watching online? Quality is actually quite good and you can view fullscreen too. I'm using it a bit waiting for NTL to sort out my dodgy Channel 4 reception on Cable because I just cancelled NTL Digital in favour of Sky+.

Ulsterman 1690

Getting one delivered to NI will give you UTV on 103 and the right BBC regions on 101/102 for the versions in paper TV guides here, ITV1 and BBC England have quite different schedules some times, particularly Friday nights

One can still get the NI versions of BBC and ITV on a mainland UK card (oe even no card at all) but its a lot less fiddly when theyre on 101-103 (only possible on a NI registered card

A NI subscription card has RTE and TG4 (not sure about TV3) on there as well which gives the best of both worlds and is a particularly popular option for Irish expats in mainland Britain (and the parts of the continent within range of 2D)

curryman

Is rte availabe on the NI free View card. And does anyone know the no to ring in the north as i have a friend who could activate it

glenroe2006

Can someone please explain to me WHY we can't get Channel 4 on Sky? It's on NTL Digital! And UTV, ITV2-4 and BBC 3 and 4, why can't we get them on the EPG? As I understand though, you can get BBC1 and BBC2? It just doesn't make sense to me.

DMC

curryman wrote:

Is rte availabe on the NI free View card. And does anyone know the no to ring in the north as i have a friend who could activate it

RTÉ is on subscription up North.

DMC

glenroe2006 wrote:

Can someone please explain to me WHY we can't get Channel 4 on Sky? It's on NTL Digital! And UTV, ITV2-4 and BBC 3 and 4, why can't we get them on the EPG? As I understand though, you can get BBC1 and BBC2? It just doesn't make sense to me.

Its an old chestnut, discussed to death many times here. To explain quickly, the reasons are historical, in that cable was always allowed to show the UK terrestrial channels for overspill reasons.

For satellite, Sky are the gatekeeper to the EPG. Channel 4 and ITV don't pay for placement on the Irish EPG, nor do the BBC for the other channels bar BBC 1 and 2, which Sky themselves paid for the EPG placement, in the early days of Sky Digital being sold over here.

There are other reasons, but thats the nuts of it.

tommee

I am a long term freesat viewer; have just opted for SKY plus here for a year.
Installer said SKY know of the demand for Channel 4.
I wonder if its worh writing or emailing SKY in a few months time complaining of the lack of BBC radio and digital channels on teh EPG, lack of Ch 4...
ITV issue needs to get the TV3 owbership issue resolved before UTV comes on the EPG I guess.
Has anyone and everyone informed SKY personally?

Skyhater

DMC wrote:

RTÉ is on subscription up North.

RTE is also on subscription down south (at least on sky/cable).... There has to be some european law against this.
Surely a state broadcaster (which is "partly" financed through a licence) has to be made available free on every carrying platform (Over the air, cable, satellite).
I know it should be up to RTE/The government to provide a FTV card system, but these cards should only be needed when you are not subscribed to other sky services/or have a canceled Irish sky card.

classicsounds

Well lads I have a soulition to reciving Channel 4 online .
as linked here


In the sign up they ask you for a user name and password then they look for an e mail address a hotmail account will do

The also look for a UK post code

To get a
UK postcode here is a good link




Now submit all that and your in business

Happy Viewing

classicsounds

OPPS no links

here ya go

http://www.londontown.com/LondonPC/Postcodes/ZipCodes/Information/SW19/

Thats the for the post codes

and this is the one to the signup

http://geo.channel4.com/player/simulcast/index.jsp

classicsounds

actually link for sign up

http://geo.channel4.com/player/simulcast/login.jsp

Mossy Monk

as good as that link is, not everyone has broadband

slegs

classicsounds wrote:

OPPS no links

here ya go

http://www.londontown.com/LondonPC/Postcodes/ZipCodes/Information/SW19/

Thats the for the post codes

and this is the one to the signup

http://geo.channel4.com/player/simulcast/index.jsp

very usefull...never knew that existed...

Mossy Monk

yeah, there is a thread about it here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054952632

dohouch

So 101 is BBC NI, 102 is BBC 2 NI, 103 is UTV, 104 is Ch4, 105 ia Channel 5,.
Rte is there at 175 on EPG but is not viewable. Presumable you need a proper N. Irish Sky Sub.

Odly though I now have FOX News, (my dream come true!) so it seems that came with the Sky FTV card as well. Havn't spotted any other changes.

Charles Slane

dohouch wrote:

So 101 is BBC NI, 102 is BBC 2 NI, 103 is UTV, 104 is Ch4, 105 ia Channel 5,.
Rte is there at 175 on EPG but is not viewable. Presumable you need a proper Irish Sky Sub.

You don't need an Irish Sky sub to get RTE on 175, you need a Northern Ireland Sky sub.