DTT Mt Leinster, Ch45 blocking Presely in the South East

Trick of the Tail

Well RTE will be on free-to-air satellite soon anyway, as they're cutting down the DTT rollout to save money, and those areas that won't get DTT will be encouraged to get sat receivers instead.

A.

Mr McBoatface

alinton wrote: »

Well RTE will be on free-to-air satellite soon anyway, as they're cutting down the DTT rollout to save money, and those areas that won't get DTT will be encouraged to get sat receivers instead.

A.

RTE in it's current form is not going on free-to-air satellite, it can't due to rights issue's. RTE international showing Irish/rte content only was binned and will not be happening any time soon.

charlie1966

watty wrote: »

Letters by Snail Mail are better. Registered mail preferable.

With Email why not just use return receipts. Shows that someone opened the email.
As far as who to get in contact with, the list is long and should include RTE, RTENL, Comreg, the government department responsible for this, but also the department of finance to indicate the waste of money involved if they continue to use channel 45. The media should also be informed. All recipients should be told who else is going to receive an email on this farcical test phase.
Then outside of Ireland there is the UK version of Comreg, the media and the EU department responsible for the entire digital switchover.

The list is long but is needed if we are going to have any chance of affecting change. A sample letter probably needs to be drawn up and a list of emails will be needed. Not sure if it is against forum rules to post someones email address on the thread but I would assume publicly available addresses wouldn't be a problem to post.

Trick of the Tail

Watch this space, then.

A.

watty

charlie1966 wrote: »

With Email why not just use return receipts. Shows that someone opened the email.

Absolutely not!

Any sensible IT policy has remote content and Return Receipts disabled.

Emails are also easily spoofed. Postmarked real mail is what Government takes seriously.

Only BAI, Comreg and Ryan's Comms, Woodpellet & Bicycle Department are relevant.

Our man in Havana

Agreed that email is not worth anything when you want it official.

Andy454

Perhaps they are trying to block Presli on purpose, its the first time I've noticed the statement on comregs website "protection to signals originating outside the state is not afforded"

It is clear that any commercial operator intending to run DTT intends to charge subscribtions. (failed boxer lineup planned to charge for bbc and itv, 10euro a month!).

At this stage I would say the southeast is one of the few remaining areas of the country that many of the inhabitants still rely on aerials, and if i was a DTT carrier it would be this market i would be aiming at! Given that the majority of households outside this area have already opted for sky,freesat,upc.

The Freeview service in the uk is fantastic!

Efforts at DTT here should be simply complementing it with our own channels.

charlie1966

Regarding this statement "protection to signals originating outside the state is not afforded"
Protecting access to outside signals may not be their priority but it will be a priority forced on them if RTENL continue to use channel 45, or maybe I'm just stuck in Neverland.

If RTENL continue to use C45 through launch in order to block access to UK Freeview then most people will just get a Freesat or FTA dish and receiver. People will quickly find the nonpayment options. So it that is the conspiracy then it is unlikely to work.

As for my thoughts on emails point taken, though more people are likely to join in the protest if this was the preferred method of voicing our opinion. I don't see many protesters sending registered letters to all concerned.

watty

charlie1966 wrote: »

I don't see many protesters sending registered letters to all concerned.

But that is exactly what people in South West need to do. Emails don't cut it. Facebook protests or Web petitions don't either. Real letters do. The effort to do a real letter also proves the degree of seriousness.

No point for me as I'm in Limerick with my dishes and Satellite Reception, so here RTE can broadcast any channel and it makes no difference.

Macy0161

TD's may be more susceptable to email though, although you'd have to spell the issue out in laymans terms.

marclt

I think it will be interesting to see if RTE does go free to air on satellite. Rights issues aren't insurmountable. I guess they need to decide where to spend what money they have.

But I think they do need to ensure that the country is adequately covered by a robust DTT system - RTE should actively seek to use a frequency that protects it's service. Even if they do use the clear frequency of ch39, the minority of people who might receive it on the welsh coast wont have a MPEG4 tuner anyway!

Andy454

There are numerous ways RTE could go FTA on satellite - they could go HD and broadcast in the same manner as channel 4 hd i.e. in a symbol rate manually untunable by the sky box.

I do believe that blocking the Irish stations when sky is cancelled a big offence - who are sky to block access to a public broadcaster?

When sky is cancelled the card should become an Irish "solous" card in that it still allows access to RTE, similar to what used to happen in the uk prior to the bbc and itv going free to air.

If you cancelled a british sky subscribtion your card still had access to bbc, itv ,ch4 and ch5.

Perhaps someone should get a tow truck and pull the interferring transmitter down....

charlie1966

Andy454 wrote: »

Perhaps someone should get a tow truck and pull the interferring transmitter down....

Which Mt Leinster or Preseli ???:D

Watty, While I do for the most part agree with you, I just don't see many people sending a registered letter.

If it is affecting Welsh residents receiving Freeview then how are RTENL going to be able to justify continuing to use C45 and even more so when the power is increased in the 1st 1/4 of 2011?

Oh! How I want to rant about some of the incompetent public service ideology, but not here I suppose.

Mr McBoatface

Andy454 wrote: »

There are numerous ways RTE could go FTA on satellite - they could go HD and broadcast in the same manner as channel 4 hd i.e. in a symbol rate manually untunable by the sky box.

I do believe that blocking the Irish stations when sky is cancelled a big offence - who are sky to block access to a public broadcaster?

When sky is cancelled the card should become an Irish "solous" card in that it still allows access to RTE, similar to what used to happen in the uk prior to the bbc and itv going free to air.

If you cancelled a british sky subscribtion your card still had access to bbc, itv ,ch4 and ch5.

Just to clarify it could never go FTA on satellite, it would have to FTV which would involve being encrypted, the symbol rate change could be bypassed on non-Sky boxes so the encryption would have to remain.

While I would like to see an Irish SKY FTV card system, it would have to be Sky who would introduce such a card, they pay all the fee's associated with the satellite uplink. I'm sure it's not within their interests to bring in such a system in the current economic climate.

I'm also sure Sky fulfil all of their contractual requirement as negotiations with RTE. RTE or whomever negotiated the deal with Sky could have insisted on such a FTV card but I'd imagine they where short sighted and didn't realize the benefits such a card would bring and jumped at the chance for free carriage.

Don't blame Sky, they are a business protecting their interests, blame RTE people who should have negotiated better.

Other than a Sky FTV system which seem very unlikely there is no other way RTE can go on Satellite.

Again don't blame Sky blame RTE.

Trick of the Tail

What about if they went on Eurobird?

A.

alinton

alinton wrote: »

What about if they went on Eurobird?

A.

Programming rights and current carriage rights wont allow that I think - not a biad idea though and it gives rte a big market in terms of the massive size of the eurobird and astra 1 at 19.2e footprint - there is a severe lack of english channels on astra 1 but its still a damn good service xonsidering its totally FTA (not including the enxrypted services of course in france , germany or spain

anyways sky and other uk sat channels available at the time were on astra 1 until the mid ninties and then they switched over to astra 2 at 28.2e

Mr McBoatface

alinton wrote: »

What about if they went on Eurobird?

A.

There is no money in RTE to pay the upload fee to the Satelitte owner. Nobody knowns the terms of the contract RTE have with sky but RTe may be prevented from doing so even if they could afford it.

This is the wrong thread for this discussion, the subject has been discussed to death in the satellite forum.

Trick of the Tail

OK, but please remember I said this! Its going to happen, so that RTENL don't have to roll DTT out to as many sites.

A.

marclt

Let's try and keep our focus on the topic listed here guys... I'll move comments out into the satellite forum, where I'm sure we'll all enjoy discussing the new RTE FTA rumours...

Mr McBoatface

alinton wrote: »

OK, but please remember I said this! Its going to happen, so that RTENL don't have to roll DTT out to as many sites.

A.

After todays news I found a hat and start eating it Are you an inside man by any chance;)

Back to the DTT stuff, while the was some excellent news today a concerning issue from all the news is that it looks like there are going to be 2 muxes for 9 channels. This in itself isn't bad news but If 2nd mux used at Mount Leinster is one that interfers with Presely the current situation of no RTE in parts of Wicklow and else where + blocking of UK free view on the East coast will be amplified.

For anybody affected by the current inference should write letters to thier local TD's .

charlie1966

Has anyone here got any ideas for the wording of the letter to our local TDs so they will be able to understand our complaint. I would like to say that I am not implying they(Politicians) are stupid, the truth is they cannot be expertly knowledgeable on all subjects.

Mr McBoatface

Maybe one of the more techie guys could let us know what 2 muxes would be suitable for RTE from Mount leinster . I assume channel 39 for one but what other mux could they use, Is channel 40 suitable ?

I'm correct in saying RTE only have a license for one public mux which on Mount Leinster currently is channel 45?

Do they need to be apply for a license for the 2nd public mux ?

Could they use the application for the 2nd mux to have channel 45 removed and replaced with 39 ?

If RTE have to apply for a license and the continue to use the wrong muxes can members of the public object ?

marclt

I'd have thought it would have made sense to use the Grp B frequencies on Mt. Leinster as a temporary arrangement until DSO and then move back to using the already cleared analogue frequencies.

Perhaps that is too simple!?

Ch. 39 is free for now... also Ch. 30 and 34.

Our man in Havana

Indeed. Of course it is too simple.

<sarcasm> but...but...if they did that...people in the southeast would be watching dirty ...dirty british television and worse than that for free... instead of rte ...god save us... </sarcasm>

Gerry Wicklow

marclt wrote: »

Ch. 39 is free for now... also Ch. 30 and 34.

I seem to remember somewhere along the road (probably the Ofcom site) seeing CH30 being reserved for future HD at Preseli.

Gerry Wicklow

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

I seem to remember somewhere along the road (probably the Ofcom site) seeing CH30 being reserved for future HD at Preseli.

Yep - think that is coming online in the next 6 months if not alot sooner

They're currently broadcasting hd from preseli on channel 50.
I have it here and I can tell you it knocks the socks off rte2 on dtt no matter what RTE's CFO thinks...

(he said at the oireachtas hearing today that he thought the quality of the world cup on RTE2 was better than bbchd :rolleyes:)

Sam Russell

Deleted User wrote: »

They're currently broadcasting hd from preseli on channel 50.
I have it here and I can tell you it knocks the socks off rte2 on dtt no matter what RTE's CFO thinks...

(he said at the oireachtas hearing today that he thought the quality of the world cup on RTE2 was better than bbchd :rolleyes:)

Maybe he was talking about the commentry, or even the sound of the vuvuzelas.:D

Gerry Wicklow

Deleted User wrote: »

They're currently broadcasting hd from preseli on channel 50.

Correct but I got the impression that CH30 was for 1 or 2 years further down the road. Channel 4 and FIVE maybe?
There was also negative comments on UK boards as this would be out of band for existing aerials in Preseli's service area. Sorry I cant remember where I read this:o