reminding SKY about the missing BBC's

tommee

I recently subscribed with SKY as I have a SKY+ box.
I also have two other tv's with the UK card.
When my years contract with SKY expires I am not sure I will remain-
not having BBC3 BBC4 News 24 and the radio stations is a drawback-
has anyone emailed sky about this?
whats the best email address to use please.

John mac

check this
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=318569
bbc channels are on the other channels they dont go away!

Greenman

John mac wrote:

check this
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=318569
bbc channels are on the other channels they dont go away!

Does $ky + work with Other Channels?

John mac

I don't think so.
I don't have it so i can not be 100 %

tommee

the other channels option is workable but SKY + will not record them
and also they inconvenient to access.
Even Chorus are having a filed-day mentioning the fact that they have the BBCs.
the SKY Ireland product is inferior without these new digital channels which are available from the other providers.
thanks for that information anyway.

watty

BBBC is uninterested in Irish EPG. Sky have to pay BBC, They don't want to pay for more as 90% of people satisfied with BBC1 & BBC2 according to viewing figures in N.I. (!) Of course EVERYONE watch a channel 1% of time and be 100% upset if it is not there. A % viewing figure does not show this vital fact!


Sky+ and SkyHD only record from EPG.

Dozens of non-Sky Satellite PVR available and all record without recording rental. Some even have EPG.

It seems in Ireland you need 2 or 3 receivers:
1) ROI Sub with at least variety pack if you want Irish WS TV
2) Another Digibox with a FTV card (C4 & Fives)
3) A FTA (or non-Sky Pay TV) PVR dual tuner.

Thats what I have and it works

tommee

I agree totally.
As other providers in Irealnd have the new BBC's I would expect SKY to be under pressure to provide them also,
the CBBC's BBC3 BBC4 and News24 plus the radio stations.
Has no one emailed them??
What's the best email address?
I guess I might have to use a NI address for a sub. with SKY+ next year in order to have a fuller use of the channels, RTE available on EPG there.

byte

tommee wrote:

I agree totally.
As other providers in Irealnd have the new BBC's I would expect SKY to be under pressure to provide them also,
the CBBC's BBC3 BBC4 and News24 plus the radio stations.
Has no one emailed them??
What's the best email address?
I guess I might have to use a NI address for a sub. with SKY+ next year in order to have a fuller use of the channels, RTE available on EPG there.

Just bear in mind that for some sporting events on RTE (possibly other programmes too?), the channel is blanked out on NI EPG.

fat-tony

tommee wrote:

I agree totally.
As other providers in Irealnd have the new BBC's I would expect SKY to be under pressure to provide them also,
the CBBC's BBC3 BBC4 and News24 plus the radio stations.
Has no one emailed them??
What's the best email address?
I guess I might have to use a NI address for a sub. with SKY+ next year in order to have a fuller use of the channels, RTE available on EPG there.

The email address to complain about lack of BBC 3/4 and ITV channels on the Irish EPG is viewerr@bskyb.com
SKY don't have them on the Irish EPG due to a combination of cost (for them) and lack of perceived audience (or some vague copyright issues). I took another tack with them and asked to get the "Other Channels" facility enabled for recording on SKY+ but I got standard answers about this not being a feature on the box. I was promised a response from some technical bods but am still waiting a month later. Here's a clipping from their last email to me (10th October)

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the recording of manually tuned channels.
Your comments have been noted and passed on to Sky Technical for their attention.

I regret that I am unable to assist you further, but may I thank you once again for taking the time to write to us at Sky.



Kind regards

xxxxx xxxxxx

Viewer Relations


As you can see they will reply but you you just get stock answers.

watty

Please don't post names in private correspondance. Get us all (inc yourself ) in trouble.

tommee

here is the answer from SKY:

Thank you for your e-mail regarding channels available in the ROI.

Unfortunately, the channels mentioned in your e-mail are not currently available in your area.

Although BBC, ITV and Channel 4 broadcast via the Sky platform, they also operate independently. Therefore, for further information you may wish to contact them direct on the telephone numbers listed below.

BBC - 08700 100 222
ITV - 0870 600 6766
Channel 4 - 0207 306 8333

I note your disappointment and your comments have been noted and passed to the relevant department for their information.

I trust I have been able to assist with your enquiry. If you require any further help, please contact me at the above address.

If you would like more information on our services and packages, or you simply want to see what is going on in the world of News, Sport, Movies or Entertainment, please log onto www.sky.com <www.sky.com>

"What do you want to watch? "

Thank you for taking the time to contact Sky.

Kind regards

byte

LOL. I gotta laugh at the quote at the bottom of their reply: What do you want to watch?

channelsurfer

"what do you want to watch"..... well how about bbc3 &4 utv itv 2 3 and 4 on your epg for a start..

stevo00

a list of channels i have in "other channels"
arstworld
chelsea tv
the hits
itv
bbc 1 london
bbc 2 england
bbc news 24
cbbc channel
cbeebies
bbc three
utv
itv3
itv1 london
itv2
itv4
these channels can be tuned in easily

byte

Yes, though for some boxes, the Other Channels seem to disappear at random and then need to be reentered again. While this isn't a big job, it can be an inconvenience if you haven't the frequency paramaters to hand.

stevo00

does any1 know if theres a way of assigning the channels in "other channels" numbers so you can add them to favourites instead of having to go into other channels to view them

watty

No, you can't sadly.

The "Other Channels" is a minimum feature not really intended for real use, It is to prevent BskyB being in trouble with EU as Premiere in Germany was for a receiver that could ONLY receive Premiere package.

DMC

Do I sniff another Satellite campaign thread?

tommee

I would welcome an action to get SKY to treat the Irish viewers better.
Glad so many folk have followed up on the issue-
How do we get SKY to listen to us viewers in RoI other than treatening to cancel the sub.?

bk

I could see this become a major issue for Sky in about a year and a half.

Imagine in a year and a half from now when C4 (and maybe C5) go FTA. You can get a PVR FTA sat box which would give you all the BBC, ITV, C4 and maybe Irish channels (via DTT eventually) with a nice easy to use EPG and no subscriptions of any type.

Versus Sky who won't have BBC 3, 4, and ITV's available on Sky+ and all which have big subscription.

I can see a lot of Irish Sky users going FTA under those circumstances.

watty

Not sure about the nice easy to use EPG bit, but a 4 tuner 320G HDTV Sat/DTT box does exist, with DVD writer!

byte

watty wrote:

Not sure about the nice easy to use EPG bit, but a 4 tuner 320G HDTV Sat/DTT box does exist, with DVD writer!

Sounds nice, where can one obtain one of these potential Xmas gifts?

watty

http://www.reel-multimedia.com/english/endkunde/reelbox_info_detail_lite.html

It has two tuner connections on motherboard. The basic version PVR has a single tuner in each slot. The Dulatuner cards and DVB-S2 are supposed to be out this month.

It takes CAM via CI and has neotion cam built in.

Alternatively for a PC based media centre their is a SINGLE PCI card with dual sat and dual terrestrial tuners available from an Austrialian shop. (unlike US /Japan gear it should woork here).

I have:
2 x DVB-S2 and 1 x Analog TV tuner in a PC
1 ReelBoxLite with 2 x DTT tuner in Office
1 ReelBoxLite with 2 x DVB-S tuner at home
1 x Celeron with 2 x SS2 DVB-S
1 PC with Skystar 1 + SS2
2 x Sky Digibox
1 x Palcom Motorised.

I use a 16 way multiswitch with 4 x Quattro feeds.