newbie SKY question - other channels

Uthur

Hi guys. Why does Sky hide some channels away under 'other channels'?
I can't think of a reason why this would be necessary!

Neither NTL or my old FTA system did anything like this.

DMC

Its about payment and rights issues.

A potted history.

Long long ago, when Sky Digital first appeared in Ireland, there were no UK terrestrial channels on Sky. As a part of a marketing drive, Sky paid the BBC for BBC 1 and 2 NI to appear on the EPG (the channel guide) Then, Sky had another marketing drive, and along came RTÉ, TV3 and TG4, who cut a sweet deal to get their channels on Sky for very little money for themselves. ITV were in no such position to appear on Sky in Ireland, as TV3 had in effect blocked them on satellite in Ireland as they had the rights to many an ITV show.

But along came Greg Dyke who said, "stuff Sky, we don't want their encryption, lets go Free-to-air"*, and so it came to pass, the BBC went in the clear. All of their channels were available to Irish viewers through "other channels" Some time later, ITV followed suit. But their channels didn't appear on the Irish EPG, as Sky wanted more money for that to happen, whist also considering the rights issues. ITV3 and ITV4 were on the Irish EPG for some time, before TV3 got them taken off too.

In the end, Sky have decided that there are two types of EPG's. One for Ireland and one for the UK. Neither the BBC or ITV want to pay anymore to Sky, all the while the rights issues with programming remains contentious.




*may not be a direct quote

DMC

Oh yes, before I forget, the reason why the extra BBC channels and UTV appear on NTL, is because of their own arrangements and for historic reasons (the old overspill retransmission reason)

Uthur

LOL I should've guessed it was for legal reasons rather than technical
ones. Silly me