Irish Times

Tony

Conor Pope is covering satellite tv in his price watch column in the Irish times today Monday 9/07

dubmick

Conor Pope
Mon, Jul 09, 2007
What's the deal with cable and satellite TV?

Watching television can be a costly business. A 25-year-old who takes out an annual TV subscription with one of the main providers and diligently buys a TV licence every year could shell out in excess of €35,000 over the course of their lifetime. It's a lot of cash by any definition, but it doesn't have to be so bad - the same 25-year-old can, if they take advantage of a free satellite service, pay just under €10,000 over the same long life.

Despite the fact that this much cheaper alternative is available, more than one million Irish households seem quite happy to fork out around €400 a year for their viewing pleasure. One reader who rang PriceWatch last week isn't one of them.

She'd just opened her Chorus bill and was absolutely livid to see that the price of accessing her fairly basic service had jumped €30 to more than €370 per year. She didn't want to part with the cash but Chorus, she said, has her over a barrel.

The management committee in her apartment complex forbids satellite dishes and the other provider, NTL, doesn't offer a service in her area. She said she was seriously considering dumping Chorus and returning to "rabbit's ears" and snowy television.
"First of all, I can't understand why it is so expensive," she fumed down the phone to PriceWatch, "but what really bugs me is that I have absolutely no choice; Chorus has a stranglehold in the area." The good news for our disgruntled reader is that Chorus's days are numbered. The bad news is that it won't make any difference at all to the price she has to pay or to the level of competition, as it is merging with NTL under the banner of UPC Ireland.

UPC is planning a major re-branding exercise this summer and last week a spokeswoman told PriceWatch that the process, which involves aligning the pricing and TV packs offered by NTL and Chorus, was well underway. She said the TV package on offer had been expanded - hence the €30 price increase - and high-speed broadband services are in place, while a digital phone service will be rolled out later this year.
The spokeswoman was upbeat about the developments at the company, and well she might be. Business is booming for UPC and it remains the biggest provider of pay television in Ireland. At the end of March it had 210,800 digital-cable television subscribers.
When analogue cable and MMDS customers are included, it has nearly 600,000 television subscribers. It also has 62,900 broadband customers, second only to Eircom in the sector.

UPC's main competitor for Irish eyes is Sky, which is no slouch when it comes to billing. Available via satellite, it now has close to half a million digital subscribers in Ireland. The prices Sky charges are broadly similar to those imposed by UPC and range from €21.50 per month for an entry-level package to €66 for packages that include Sky Sports and multiple movie channels.
Upgrading to Sky Plus - which allows users to pause live television and record programmes onto a set-top box - will cost an additional €149, plus an installation charge of €45. High-Definition service, meanwhile, costs an even less palatable €449.
With the prices that the major companies are charging, it is remarkable more people do not take advantage of the freeview satellite services that are legally available throughout the country at a fraction of the cost. Fed up with paying big money to big operators, one person PriceWatch spoke to last week decided to take matters into his own hands. He bought a satellite dish in his local Lidl store for €100, attached it to a tree at the back of his house, and laid the cable in a trench he had dug through the garden. He now has lifetime access to more than 200 channels for less than a third of the cost of a Sky subscription for a single year.
If all the digging, cable-laying and tree-climbing sounds too much like hard work - and, let's face it, it does - there is another way of getting low-cost satellite television. Tony Moore, through his website www.satellite.ie, will do it all for you.

Moore offers installations for a one-off fee of €299. The service gives access to hundred of stations, including all the BBC channels, ITV, Film Four, a range of children's channels, multiple news channels, including Sky News and CNN, and a host of other channels that are, in truth, of marginal interest.

The Irish channels are unavailable via free-to-air satellite, as they are contracted to Sky TV, although they can be accessed via a normal TV aerial. Moore has been operating since 1994 and, while business is good, he says his hardest task is getting the word out and overcoming consumer lethargy. Although the service he offers might be significantly cheaper than any of the competition, he can't afford to bombard homes with flyers and play his ads on maximum rotation across the television channels he hooks homes up to.

Nonetheless, the service he and a growing number of other installers provide is worth a look. Mind you, it is hard for the sceptical consumer not to wonder where the catch is. There is none, Moore insists, although the absence of customer support and no guarantees of service might be one area where the freeview option falls down. Moore only sells and installs the equipment and cannot guarantee what channels will be available, so, in the admittedly unlikely event that the BBC or ITV pull their service, those with access to the free satellite service have no comeback.
© 2007 The Irish Times

Tony

Thanks for pasting that up

dubmick

no problem, hopefully that article will increase your sales.

MisterAnarchy

Good article.
More people need to be aware that they can get a good few decent channels for free.
RTE really should be making efforts to go FTA .
In relation to Chorus I honestly dont know why anyone would subscribe to them,their lineup is woeful,half of their channels are FTA on satellite.

dubmick

MisterAnarchy wrote:

In relation to Chorus I honestly dont know why anyone would subscribe to them,their lineup is woeful,half of their channels are FTA on satellite.

It must be lack of consumer awareness, you'd be amazed at how little thought some people put into ordering satelite, broadband etc.

com7

most of the people that read the irish times can well afford the subscription to chorus or sky so i would nt be expecting any big increase in buisness,

Tony

com7 wrote:

most of the people that read the irish times can well afford the subscription to chorus or sky so i would nt be expecting any big increase in buisness,

I dunno, i've met a lot of tight rich people

mustang68

Well done on getting that in Tony, hope that you get a bit of extra business off it.

com7 wrote:

most of the people that read the irish times can well afford the subscription to chorus or sky so i would nt be expecting any big increase in buisness,

Why is the irish times significantly more expensive than other newspapers??

Zaphod

Fair play Tony - how many pints did you have to buy Conor Pope for the free advert?

I notice more and more ads in papers which previously only mentioned Sky packages, now mentioning 'freeview satellite' as well. Passing through Macroom at the weekend, spotted a small electrical shop with a similar offer in the front window.

If 1.1M/1.2M metres dishes could be imported cheaply enough in bulk, then a dual Astra 28E/Arabsat 26E would be more than a match for many of the more expensive packages offered by Sky.

Tony

Zaphod wrote:

Fair play Tony - how many pints did you have to buy Conor Pope for the free advert?

It was just a straight bribe

Tony

mustang68 wrote:

Well done on getting that in Tony, hope that you get a bit of extra business off it.

Thanks. 600 visits to the site so far today, this is usually around 250 at this time on a Monday. I think these are mainly curiosity hits as orders are not up significantly on a normal Monday but I'm very grateful none the less.

digitaldr

I would consider going FTA but love my Sky+ too much. Is there any freesat PVR that comes close to it?

Tony

PVR's seem a lot more reliable than they used to be so worth checking out if you are ok with FTA content. Hope to get in a sample machine soon and check it out, maybe the other installers/retailers on here have tried some already.

digitaldr

Thanks for that Tony. Do you know if it'll have direct recording form the epg, series link etc?

TheDriver

From my friends, the sky thing is a bit of a buzz work and so easy to ring the number and get someone in to install. FTA still gives the impression of dodgy german channels that no one here wants to watch which of course is not the case.
Well Done Tony, hope it goes well for you.

Tony

TheDriver wrote:

Well Done Tony, hope it goes well for you.

Thanks

Tony

digitaldr wrote:

Thanks for that Tony. Do you know if it'll have direct recording form the epg, series link etc?

I doubt it unless they find someway of using sky's epg or BBC itv come up with their own EPG which will most likely only work in their proposed freesat box.

MisterAnarchy

I see Sky unveiled a new deal in the UK called 'Pay Once'
http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/editorial/skytv?int=hp-promos%20Sky%20TV
Its not a bad deal at all.
WHAT IS PAY ONCE

A new way to get free digital satellite TV for a simple one off payment of £75.

* - NO MONTHLY FEE
* - OVER 200 DIGITAL TV CHANNELS INCLUDING BBC AND ITV
* - OVER 95 DIGITAL RADIO
* - BOX, MINIDISH, VIEWING CARD AND STANDARD INSTALLATION INCLUDED
* - ACCESS TO EXCITING INTERACTIVE SERVICES
* - ABILITY TO UPGRADE TO ANY SKY DIGITAL PACKAGE

Exclusive to new Sky TV customers, this pack gives you access to over 200 free digital TV channels – that’s four times more than Freeview, plus 6 months of Sky’s most popular Entertainment Mixes, ‘Variety and Knowledge’*

Charles Slane

Nice one Tony! Good to see someone who provides a good service getting the kudos they deserve!

Rosser

Why is the irish times significantly more expensive than other newspapers??[/QUOTE]

..because it's significantly better...

Tony

Charles Slane wrote:

Nice one Tony! Good to see someone who provides a good service getting the kudos they deserve!

you are too kind. BTW 1067 site visits so far today , this is usually around the 300 mark

mike2084

mustang68 wrote:

Why is the irish times significantly more expensive than other newspapers??

Actually it is cheaper than the Indepedent as of today €1.70 vs €1.60, although the Times will probably follow.

wil

They could afford to keep the price down because of Tonys substantial "financial backing" he mentioned earlier
But seriously, well done Tony, and its a substantial article, I caught it today. I hope it helps lift the dampener this miserable summer has become every time youve got to put a dish up in the pouring rain.
Wonder does business improve in bad weather or do so many head off to the sun for it to have any effect?

Tony

Thanks for the kind words. I think you have a point about the weather as its been busier than normal for this time of year.

wil wrote:

They could afford to keep the price down because of Tonys substantial "financial backing" he mentioned earlier
But seriously, well done Tony, and its a substantial article, I caught it today. I hope it helps lift the dampener this miserable summer has become every time youve got to put a dish up in the pouring rain.
Wonder does business improve in bad weather or do so many head off to the sun for it to have any effect?

mustang68

Michael Walsh wrote:

Actually it is cheaper than the Indepedent as of today €1.70 vs €1.60, although the Times will probably follow.

Sorry, My original comment came across incorrectly, I know the prices, it was supposed to be more of a raised eye brow comment. Thats the problem when you chat online, it can be difficult to get your point across.

watty

MisterAnarchy wrote:

I see Sky unveiled a new deal in the UK called 'Pay Once'
http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/editorial/skytv?int=hp-promos%20Sky%20TV
Its not a bad deal at all.
WHAT IS PAY ONCE

A new way to get free digital satellite TV for a simple one off payment of £75.

* - NO MONTHLY FEE
* - OVER 200 DIGITAL TV CHANNELS INCLUDING BBC AND ITV
* - OVER 95 DIGITAL RADIO
* - BOX, MINIDISH, VIEWING CARD AND STANDARD INSTALLATION INCLUDED
* - ACCESS TO EXCITING INTERACTIVE SERVICES
* - ABILITY TO UPGRADE TO ANY SKY DIGITAL PACKAGE

Exclusive to new Sky TV customers, this pack gives you access to over 200 free digital TV channels – that’s four times more than Freeview, plus 6 months of Sky’s most popular Entertainment Mixes, ‘Variety and Knowledge’*

Not really a new deal, just a relaunch of their FreeSatFromSky with a puppy dog.
They expect a significant number to remain as subscribers.

simonckenyon

MisterAnarchy wrote:

I see Sky unveiled a new deal in the UK called 'Pay Once'
http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/editorial/skytv?int=hp-promos%20Sky%20TV
Its not a bad deal at all.
WHAT IS PAY ONCE

A new way to get free digital satellite TV for a simple one off payment of £75.

* - NO MONTHLY FEE
* - OVER 200 DIGITAL TV CHANNELS INCLUDING BBC AND ITV
* - OVER 95 DIGITAL RADIO
* - BOX, MINIDISH, VIEWING CARD AND STANDARD INSTALLATION INCLUDED
* - ACCESS TO EXCITING INTERACTIVE SERVICES
* - ABILITY TO UPGRADE TO ANY SKY DIGITAL PACKAGE

Exclusive to new Sky TV customers, this pack gives you access to over 200 free digital TV channels – that’s four times more than Freeview, plus 6 months of Sky’s most popular Entertainment Mixes, ‘Variety and Knowledge’*

it is called freesatfromsky and has been available for a couple of years.
only available to people in the UK (allegedly).

legend99

The fact that RTE is not free to air is whats killing the market for people who don't wish to subscribe.

Tony

legend99 wrote:

The fact that RTE is not free to air is whats killing the market for people who don't wish to subscribe.

I think if RTE were FTA it would certainly be a boost to the market but I'm not certain its the only reason. In times past we (in the industry) thought Sky would go through the roof when BBc was added but it never really happened.

easkey

I see some installers are now offering two and three LNB’s
on the system they are selling there by giving other channels
from other satellites that are FTA and are encrypted on S£Y.:(

S€Y have a monopoly and can charge what ever they like €€€?:mad: :mad:

DMC

I think the issue is that there is no cohesive FTA strategy. I mean, no common user interface and such.

Freesat from the BBC and ITV, will change all that, and that will be a boon to the independent installer.

Good man Tony, btw. Excellent to see an old ICDG'er like yerself spreading the good word around further!

Davexirl

Fair play to you Tony, I have used your website before and was very happy with the service you provided. Hope you get a lot more customers after today!!!

Tony

Thanks, I agree with you the strategy is all wrong and too many confusing terms, freeview, freesat etc,etc

DMC wrote:

I think the issue is that there is no cohesive FTA strategy. I mean, no common user interface and such.

Freesat from the BBC and ITV, will change all that, and that will be a boon to the independent installer.

Good man Tony, btw. Excellent to see an old ICDG'er like yerself spreading the good word around further!

Tony

Thanks for the kind words

Davexirl wrote:

Fair play to you Tony, I have used your website before and was very happy with the service you provided. Hope you get a lot more customers after today!!!

mike2084

mustang68 wrote:

Sorry, My original comment came across incorrectly, I know the prices, it was supposed to be more of a raised eye brow comment. Thats the problem when you chat online, it can be difficult to get your point across.

I know what you mean. No worries

Tony

DMC wrote:

Excellent to see an old ICDG'er like yerself spreading the good word around further!

Does that mean I'm old or just been around here too long

Hotblack Desiato

legend99 wrote:

The fact that RTE is not free to air is whats killing the market for people who don't wish to subscribe.

Unfortunately RTE can't go FTA until the licence fee from 4m people is enough to pay for broadcast rights for 70m people... in other words, never

We're just too close to the UK to be able to get good coverage of all of Ireland without including much of Britain (and even that's assuming a specific Irish satellite, or transponders at the very least.) Kind of like the way that Astra 2D spreads into much of France and further afield - but the equipment gets more and more expensive and impractical the further away you go and there's a language barrier, so the 'leakage' is limited.

If RTE was widely receiveable in the UK (via analogue, sat or whatever) you could forget about exclusive US series, Premiership, Champions League etc. as these would be very attractive to a UK audience.

watty

Ok I think in this forum we are preaching to the converted.