When did the BBC go on to Satellite?

Elmo

Did Sky viewers have access to BBC on satellite in the early years of Sky? or was it a case of having cable or overspill for the UK channels?

One person was suggesting a return to just Sky Sports and Movies or Pay TV channels from sky/DTT rather then wasting time on reselling the FTA channels on satellite.

But did sky have other packages in the early days?

watty

I have a UK address.

Even without one it wasn't hard to get a FTV card.

Sky was running a while in UK on Digital before they launced it here, while still selling their analogue package off 19E, which had C5 semi FTA. (you needed a videocrypt decoder).

When first launched here you could still get Ch5 semi FTA on Analogue via 19E and BBC was not on the Irish package. Neither was RTE.

I think we got BBC1NI and BBC2NI included in variety mix shortly before RTE started. Tara TV ended shortly before RTE launched.

BBC was still encrypted then.
S4C was first to go FTA as a test actually for BBC plans. S4C had intended to be FTA from the start and BBC had always only intended to be part of Sky encryption on a temporary basis.


Do note that between Cable, MMDS, so called deflectors, direct reception on aerial, etc that over 70% of households had BBC and ITV before Sky digital even existed in UK.

Only C5 of the "terrestrials" was on Sky Analogue. That's another story.

Elmo

What about the analogue era did you just have the Sky packages? e.g. Sky movies and sky sports.

watty

UK Gold, SciFi, Discovery, Sky1 etc.

We never subscribed to Sky Sport or Movies and never will.


Here is SkyDigital in 2001
http://homepage.eircom.net/~watty/satellite/skydigitv.htm

Sky Analogue closed in 2001
http://homepage.eircom.net/~watty/satellite/sathowto-p2.htm

(After 30th April 2001)
BBC NI only added to Irish Subscribers 1 May 2001

You need to have the "Family" Package. BBC1 and BBC2 are on 214 and 215
From my 2001 ROI Sky FAQ
http://homepage.eircom.net/~watty/satellite/sathowto-p4.htm

See also this late 2001 / early 2002 page
http://homepage.eircom.net/~watty/satellite/sathowto-p12.htm

Irish DTT (Digital Terrestial) is now not likely to start till January or February 2003. Though I won't complain if it is earlier. It is rumoured to be a better system than OnDigital, but since no-one actually has it.....

Sky Analogue 1993
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=260956

Sky Analogue 1997
http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/historiclists/Sky97.html


Sky finally closed on Analogue 19E September 2001


Channel 5 closed on Astra 19E on December 2001. We had it on a separate analogue receiver -> UHF channel piped to all the TVs in the house.


19E was and is a slot intended for Germanly / mainland western Europe primarily, so as well as Sky package on Analogue you could get German etc too.
http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/historiclists/Astra1%20May%201996.html

Some of the German channels that where there when Sky closed are still there in analogue to suit poor people in East Germany. There were a good few polish analogue for a while too.

I beleive one of the satellites has transponders unsuitable for digital so still has analogue content!

See http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/astra1_19e.html

His home page.
http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/intro.html

Years ago we exchanged a few emails.

watty

watty wrote: »

I beleive one of the satellites has transponders unsuitable for digital so still has analogue content!

I always assumed that transponders just rebroadcast what they pick up, no? I even recall seeing digital feeds on Intelsat 511 and that was a 1985 satellite.

watty wrote: »

See http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/astra1_19e.html

His home page.
http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/intro.html

Years ago we exchanged a few emails.

As did I, some of the material on the site was provided by me a few years ago.

watty

Yes, the transponders just retransmit.

You need a bit higher linearity for a digital signal. Even more so for DVB-S2.

Terrestrial & cable digital needs even more linearity.

In order of "difficulty" for linearity (no account of SNR, multipath or interference issues):
Analogue VSB-AM (terrestrial PAL)
Analogue VSB-AM (terrestrial NTSC)
Analogue FM (satellite or analogue Microwave TV link)
QPSK (DVB-s)
8VSB /ATSC (USA Digital Terrestrial)
DVB-S2
64 to 256QAM (i.e. Digital Cable, DOCSIS, DVB-c)
64 to 1024QAM (Cable, Fibre, DVB-c2)
OFDM (DAB, DTT/DVB-t, 802.11g,n wifi, WiMax, LTE, Flash)
OFDM (DVB-t2)

zilog_jones

Something I came across just now: http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/albertsattic/066.html
So BBC originally had plans for satellite TV long before Sky or BSB, using MAC and digital audio (NICAM?). I wonder what happened?

watty

BSB happened. It was too technically advanced and expensive. Sky under cut them with cheaper FM analogue with no "licence", by simply uplinking from a different Country.

The BBC ALWAYS intended to be FTA also. Using Sky encryption was only ever a temporary solution. S4C~Digidol was the "stalking horse" to test out the problems with "Rights Holders".

icdg

Elmo wrote: »

Did Sky viewers have access to BBC on satellite in the early years of Sky? or was it a case of having cable or overspill for the UK channels?

BBC was available on satellite from the launch of Sky Digital (1st October 1998) but was only available to UK viewers and only the correct BBC region for the nation you lived in (English Regions, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland). In addition English viewers didn't get their local BBC services, they got a generic BBC One which was basically BBC One South East (this being pre-BBC London days) but with Newsroom South East replaced by a "UK Today" programme which was a selection of news reports from the English Regions programmes.

As mentioned above Irish viewers didn't get BBC on satellite until May 2001, when BBC One NI and BBC Two NI joined the Family Pack as was.

Elmo

So people using Analogue Sky Satellite before 1998, had to either get the BBCs terrestrial signal or in Ireland have a cable connection.

What other channels did you get with Analogue Sky Satellite?
BBC World?

watty

BBC World was not and is not available on Satellite platforms intended for the UK

Prior to Digital and After Digital you could subscribe to BBC Prime and get BBC World free in Ireland. Not in UK.

BBC World News TV was not available FTA on Analogue during period of Sky Analogue.

As posted earlier, Sky Analogue Channels (ONLY) prior to Digital launch in 1997
http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/historiclists/Sky97.html
Not listed above were the German channels on the same 19.2E slot

See http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/astrachannels.html
Complete list of ALL the channels on 19.2E Analogue and when they closed.

Most of the remaing analogue German channels will close next year.

see also http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/skyclosedown.html

and http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/mainpage.html#Latest%20News

zilog_jones

Elmo wrote: »

So people using Analogue Sky Satellite before 1998, had to either get the BBCs terrestrial signal or in Ireland have a cable connection.

If you lived far enough out in the sticks in the west you had no way of getting UK terrestrials.

What other channels did you get with Analogue Sky Satellite?
BBC World?

BBC World Service Television ran from 1991-1995, before being separated into BBC World and BBC Prime but neither were ever on Astra 1 (was it on Hotbird in Europe?). I used to get World Service TV when I lived in Saudi (on Star TV/AsiaSat) - it had news every hour and some programme inbetween like Top Gear, Tomorrow's World or some documentary. We had to rely on SSVC for soaps etc., and IIRC it was all VHS recordings back then.

Freddie59

There was also a channel for ex-pats called BBC Prime in the mid-80s.

Freddie59

Freddie59 wrote: »

There was also a channel for ex-pats called BBC Prime in the mid-80s.

It's still going

Elmo

Karsini wrote: »

It's still going

www.bbcprime.com

icdg

Elmo wrote: »

So people using Analogue Sky Satellite before 1998, had to either get the BBCs terrestrial signal or in Ireland have a cable connection.

Yes. Or MMDS.

What other channels did you get with Analogue Sky Satellite?
BBC World?

To answer that question we first need a little history lesson. When Sky Television started on Astra in 1989 (Sky Channel having existed on cable for a good few years before that), Sky was and for a good chunk of the 1990s was still seen, as primarly a broadcaster, not a platform. The only channels it had direct control over were Sky Channel, Sky News, and Sky Movies (it also had a stake in Eurosport at the time) and these, incredible is it may seem now, were all originally FTA. Sky had originally intended to charge for Sky Movies from the ofset (the studios being insistant on this), but there were delays with either setting the subscriber management system or licencing VideoCrypt (can't remember which) and it didn't encrypt until after a few months after launch.

After the dust settled on the Sky-BSB merger in 1990-1991, the line up was Sky One, Sky News, Sky Sports, Sky Movies, and the Movie Channel. At that stage still the only channels being charged for were the two movie channels. Sky Sports simply didn't have any sports rights worth charging for at the time and was (believe it or not) FTA during this period.

If you had an Astra dish during this period, there were a number of other broadcasters which were FTA (and some of which were on Intelsat rather than Astra). These included The Childrens Channel, MTV, Lifestyle, Screensport, Eurosport and others.

In 1992 Sky Sports went subscription. Then in September 1993, Sky put together the Sky Multichannels package of channels. This is where you stop regarding Sky as merely a content play and start regarding it as a carriage play (essentially a wireless cable operator). On this package were Sky One, Nickelodeon, UK Gold, MTV, CMT, Bravo, Family, Discovery, and UK Living. Sky News was marketed as part of the package but was still FTA. This was essentially the Sky service that existed until the launch of Sky Digital in 1998.

That could be a thread of its own...

Freddie59

Karsini wrote: »

It's still going

:eek:

watty

And Still technically you can subscribe to BBC prime in Europe except UK.

I see they have now removed Ireland:
http://www.bbcprime.com/
http://www.bbcprime.com/main.html

Changes to the BBC Prime service

We would like to bring your attention to the changes BBC Worldwide Channels will be making to the BBC Prime service in March and April 2009. These changes will require DTH customers to adjust the position of their satellite dish from Hotbird 6 to Eurobird 9, and existing smart cards will be replaced.

In order to ensure that the service remains unaffected whilst customers make the changes required, BBC Prime will be available on both satellites for a short period of time prior to switching off the existing feed.

We are in the process of contacting local operators to instruct them to make the required adjustments and those customers who have a direct subscription with us should expect further details and instructions in the post in due course.

Please note that if you subscribe to BBC Prime through a satellite or cable operator, these changes will take place automatically and you do not need to do anything.