Irish Indo article - free channels other than aerial, Sky or UPC

The Cush

Article in the Indo today informing readers how to receive extra free channels now that commercial DTT has stalled. Sky and UPC probably won't be happy with the article. Saorview gets a mention.

Freesat PVR's fail to get a mention.

I am still surprised that people are not aware of freesat, spoke to a person recently who had cancelled Sky and only had the four Irish channels (removed their Sky box).

freesat.ie and satellite.ie both get a mention and should be worth a few orders.

End of an Aerial: ways to get more channels without paying fees

Ahead of the launch of Saorview, the official free-to-air digital TV service, there are ways to get more channels without having to pay fees to commercial providers, writes John Cradden

Thursday May 20 2010

IT is not so long ago that most of us used to be able to get our television service for free (after paying the TV licence, of course).

However, this usually meant living in two-channel land (now four) and often with a less than perfect picture quality, thanks to poor reception.

Amid the clamour for better quality reception and channels to fatten up this meagre TV diet, plans were put in place by the Government and RTE as far back as 1999 to introduce a free-to-air (FTA) 20-channel digital television service to replace the current analogue service, beginning in 2001.

Nearly 10 years later, we're still waiting.

Following a direction from Communications Minister Eamon Ryan, RTE will have to launch its free-to-air DTT service (Saorview) before the end of this year and be available to at least 90pc of the population.

Although it's not yet official, the analogue signal is expected to be switched off by 2012.

But given all the setbacks to date and several still-unresolved issues, it remains to be seen whether these launch and switch-off deadlines will be met.

In the meantime, over two-thirds of the approximately 1.46 million households in Ireland with a television have given up waiting and are now subscribers to a pay digital TV service.

At the end of last year, there were over 600,000 subscribers to a paid satellite digital TV service, while 340,000 households get digital TV via cable or MMDS.

Choice

That doesn't include the 150,000 households that still subscribe to an analogue cable TV service, although this number is rapidly falling as more customers switch to similarly priced basic digital services.

In terms of the choice between satellite or cable, satellite may be the only option for those outside major cities or urban centres. But if you have the choice of either, there's not a whole lot of difference, particularly with the basic packages.

Sky's basic digital TV package starts at €22 a month, and gives most or all of the FTA UK and Irish terrestrial channels as well as a choice of other channel "packages".

The basic digital package from UPC (formerly NTL/Chorus) comprises 93 channels for €25.75 a month, including all the Irish and UK terrestrial channels too.

UPC's digital service offers a facility similar to Sky+ that allows you to pause, rewind and record live TV.

But there are ways to get more channels without having to pay a monthly subscription to companies like Sky or UPC.

There are free to air satellite dishes and installation services legally available throughout the country.

You can either buy a generic brand satellite dish kit from an electronics store or supermarket for around €100. They are also available from online retailers such as Freesat.ie.

You can tune a DIY satellite system to receive more than 200 channels and radio stations.

But if you don't fancy doing it yourself, you can ask an installer, such as Satellite.ie or Freesat.ie, to provide the equipment and install it for you at a once-off cost of just over €300, or a fraction of that if you already have a satellite dish.

Once installed, you can access more than 130 channels without any rental fees, including ITV 1, 2, 3 and 4; BBC 1, 2, 3 and 4, Channel 5, Channel 4, E4, BBC News and lots more.

The service is run by the UK-based Freesat digital television service, which transmits the free-to-air services via satellite and is operated by the BBC and ITV.

The only snag is that the Irish channels are not available through this service because they are contracted to Sky TV, although you can still get them free through a TV aerial.

If you don't have an aerial, installers can offer a complete system of the satellite equipment and a separate TV aerial for Irish terrestrial channels.

If you have a Sky subscription already, you may be aware that even if you cancel your subscription, you get to keep your dish and Sky receiver box.

Michael Watterson, a freelance communications design consultant and board member of broadband lobby group Ireland Offline, suggests cancelling your subscription (after the typical minimum contract period of 12 months) and buying a FTA receiver box to use with your existing Sky equipment.

"Every town has people and large multiples selling €30 to €200 FTA receivers and Freesat receivers. They work on existing Sky dish and wiring," he said. "The only reason to go for UPC is if you are not allowed a dish or don't want one."

But before you opt for a FTA satellite system combined with a TV aerial for the Irish channels, you should make sure you are not living in an area where the existing analogue Irish TV aerial reception is poor.

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/surviving-the-recession/end-of-an-aerial-ways-to-get-more-channels-without-paying-fees-2186654.html

related article from the print edition

Free-to-air service that pushes all the right buttons

DAVID Burns, from Malahide in Co Dublin, used to subscribe to a cable TV service from Chorus (now UPC) for a number of years at a cost of €300 a year.

While the Chorus service worked fine, he was not happy with the company's customer service.

He considered getting a satellite TV subscription package from Sky, but after some thought, he decided to go down a slightly less conventional route to getting multi-channel TV.

"I'd done some research into free-to-air satellite service and knew that it was, in effect, a one-off cost," he said.

"I felt that with a young family there were plenty of channels to choose from."

He opted for a package comprising a free-to-air satellite system along with a new aerial to get the Irish terrestrial channels from Dublin-based satellite TV specialist store Satellite.ie, who also installed it.

The total cost came to €600. Compared to the annual €300 cost of his old cable TV service, the new system will pay for itself in two years and will save David hundreds of euro in the long run.

David is very pleased with the service. "Initially I was concerned about the lack of sport on free to air but with more sport now available on terrestrial and BBC/ITV, there is very little that you can't get via free to air," he said.

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/surviving-the-recession/freetoair-service-that-pushes-all-the-right-buttons-2186685.html

Sam Russell

The word is getting out. Pity he did not mention DTT being available now, even if it is a test.

watty

We discussed that.

The problem is the selection of TV or setbox. A newspaper can't go into technical details or have a list. We need the Saorview logo in shops and the Publicity launch
http://www.rtenl.ie/downloads/Receiving%20DTT%20(May%2010).pdf

The papers will do articles on DTT when official publicity starts. Also current DTT has no TV3 and can't be relied on.

I think the main thrust was how to have more than basic TV and Digital TV without subscription TV. Note it's under personal Finance.

In that he has succeeded in keeping it simple.

I think we need a soft launch in next month with TV3 carried also. Otherwise the publicity is going to be confusing. Once the Publicity starts, TV3 maybe should get free carriage till 31st October 2010 and then plug pulled on them if they do not have payment for carriage in place for launch.

Watty,I think it is a shame that ye didn't mention viewers in wexford and Wicklow who used have analogue TV from wales can now mostly receive the digital version for free with a decoder or a newer tv with an mpeg4 decoder built in via their existing welsh aerial.

You could also mention that after NI analogue switch off in 2012 that the same applies to viewers in the Republic who were able to receive analogue NI stations.
This is already tried and tested in Wexford and Wicklow

watty

You don't know what I mentioned.

I did actually

It was HIS article, not mine. He edited one piece from text chat over several days. He had limited space too.

If ye all tell the indo how much you liked it I'm sure they'll let him have more space. He might be less technical than I am, but he has the advantages that (a) He writes MUCH better than me and (b) People actually pay him for what he writes and publish it. Quite often.

Mr McBoatface

A nice article it will open some peoples eye's to Free To View TV, but it would have been nice to inform the public that in the case of Sky you can continue to use their current equipment without a sub to receive Free To View

mike65

jobyrne30 wrote: »

A nice article it will open some peoples eye's to Free To View TV, but it would have been nice to inform the public that in the case of Sky you can continue to use their current equipment without a sub to receive Free To View

from article

If you have a Sky subscription already, you may be aware that even if you cancel your subscription, you get to keep your dish and Sky receiver box.

watty

jobyrne30 wrote: »

A nice article it will open some peoples eye's to Free To View TV, but it would have been nice to inform the public that in the case of Sky you can continue to use their current equipment without a sub to receive Free To View

Free to Air.

I know it's confusing. But "Free to View" needs a special card and Decoder. In UK it's almost dead. All the "Free to air" BBC, ITV, C4 and Five used to be "Free to View" which needed a UK only Solus card or UK only cancelled sub card and a Sky box.

Mr McBoatface

The Cush wrote: »

I am still surprised that people are not aware of freesat, spoke to a person recently who had cancelled Sky and only had the four Irish channels (removed their Sky box).

From the article

If you have a Sky subscription already, you may be aware that even if you cancel your subscription, you get to keep your dish and Sky receiver box.

Michael Watterson, a freelance communications design consultant and board member of broadband lobby group Ireland Offline, suggests cancelling your subscription (after the typical minimum contract period of 12 months) and buying a FTA receiver box to use with your existing Sky equipment.......They work on existing Sky dish and wiring.....

No where in the article does it actually mention you can receive Free To Air (point taken Watty:)) through your old sky box without spending any extra money at all. In fact from reading it the average person may think a free to air box is a requirement which is simply not the case.

The OP's point about peoples sky equipment not being used to receive Free To Air satellite isn't fully addressed by the article. I was merely pointing this out. It's still a good article and it will open some peoples eye's to Free TV.

Thanks OP

goat2

jobyrne30 wrote: »

From the article

No where in the article does it actually mention you can receive Free To Air (point taken Watty:)) through your old sky box without spending any extra money at all. In fact from reading it the average person may think a free to view box is a requirement which is simply not the case.

The OP's point about peoples sky equipment not being used to receive Free To Air satellite isn't fully addressed by the article. I was merely pointing this out. It's still a good article and it will open some peoples eye's to Free TV.

Thanks OP

a bit of good news at last, we were paying way over the odds in the good old times, and were too busy to see it,

watty

jobyrne30 wrote: »

From the article

No where in the article does it actually mention you can receive Free To Air (point taken Watty:)) through your old sky box without spending any extra money at all. In fact from reading it the average person may think a free to air box is a requirement which is simply not the case.

Thanks OP

The writer does know that, it may have become unclear in editing for length.

It is implied. My comment about adding a FTA box to existing Sky install was actually in context of a second, additional room/TV, as most sky installs are now Sky+ or SkyHD with two spare outlets.

Mr McBoatface

watty wrote: »

The writer does know that, it may have become unclear in editing for length.

It is implied. My comment about adding a FTA box to existing Sky install was actually in context of a second, additional room/TV, as most sky installs are now Sky+ or SkyHD with two spare outlets.

Does Michael Watterson = Watty ?, Sorry I didn't know that, but guess I should have copped it:rolleyes:.

Anyway I do think its a good article, In my opinion it's a shame the editing (at least for the the on-line edition) made it a little unclear about some points.

Tony

It happens unfortunately when space pressure means that some points cannot be elaborated to be totally clear. The price quoted for FTA installed for exampled is a little high (sorry for OT)

I think its really unfair that Mike at freesat.ie got mentioned and he did no work for it

jobyrne30 wrote: »

Anyway I do think its a good article, In my opinion it's a shame the editing (at least for the the on-line edition) made it a little unclear about some points.

The Cush

This article appeared in yesterday's Sunday Business Post.

Even though it deals with freesat I thought the most appropriate place to post it was this thread which was started following a similar article in the Indo which also covered freesat following the collapse of the BAI DTT process.

Irish Satellite and Aerial Association (Steve Staveley of Astral TV and Gerry Walsh of VSat Communications) get a mention and

Tony wrote: »

I think its really unfair that Mike at freesat.ie got mentioned and he did no work for it

Tony (satellite.ie) gets another mention

Free satellite TV coming soon

Sunday, May 30, 2010 - By Adrian Weckler

Next month, broadcasters and television manufacturers will try to sell us new TVs and new channels in time for the World Cup.

But there is another way to get your high definition World Cup into your living room: using Freesat.

Ninety per cent of Irish households watch television through cable providers or Sky. But Freesat and DIY satellite equipment is an alternative that is growing in popularity.

Freesat is a free television service aimed at Britain and the North. Funded by the BBC and ITV, it is targeted at British households who are outside the coverage areas for analogue and digital terrestrial television (DTT) networks. But because of our proximity to Britain, Irish households can also get the service.

It is available to anyone with a satellite dish and a basic decoder.

There is no monthly or annual subscription to pay.

What you do not get from the service is RTE, Sky or any premium film and sports channels. For these channels, you must rely on an analogue aerial.

There are dozens of satellite installation firms across Ireland.

While most concentrate on lucrative pub and hotel customers, many now service private homes. A new organisation called the Irish Satellite and Aerial Association was founded by Steve Staveley of Astral TV and Gerry Walsh of VSat Communications; its website offers a county-by-county guide to installation firms.

One of the reasons for the enthusiastic adoption of satellite systems is that sports fans can subscribe to premium sports packages licensed in other countries. An example would be the Saudi Arabian based ART Sport channel, which is officially licensed to show English Premier League football games. To view these games, a decoder card is required, which can be purchased online for between €100 and €150. This gives access to 12 months’ premium sport at less than the cost of a Sky subscription.

However, some in the industry caution against relying on satellite equipment for this purpose. ‘‘We used to sell subscriptions to ART Sport, but we don’t any more,” said Tony Moore, founder of Satellite.ie, a Dublin-based satellite installation firm. ‘‘We found that these rights get changed around quite often. As a retailer, you can get stuck with a lot of access cards that are out of date.”

Another premium sporting competition that is available with the right equipment is the Heineken Cup, which is broadcast free-to-air on French station France 2.

Another reason for the popularity of DIY satellite systems is the on going uncertainty over Ireland’s switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT). Last month, the last remaining consortium of private sector investors pulled out of launching a commercial DTT service in Ireland. This leaves the prospect that only RTE,TV3 and TG 4 will be available on the digital television platform when Ireland switches from analogue to digital networks in 2012.

To set up the equipment, you need a south-facing roof, wall or patch of land that is not obstructed.

This is because the Freesat satellite is located 28 degrees to the south. Satellite TV enthusiasts get much more out of their services than just Freesat. ‘‘If you purchase a bigger dish, you can pick up thousands of stat ions,” said Staveley, director of Mullingar based satellite installer Astral TV.

‘‘You can pick up stations from as far away as Russia and the Middle East, all the way back across Europe and northern Africa.”

To achieve this, Staveley said that the dish must be a minimum of 80 centimetres across, with dishes of 1.2metres in diameter preferable. It must also be ranged on a motorised arc to follow the geostationary position of different satellites.

Such a system can cost up to €1,000 to install, with suitable electronic programming systems.

It is the falling cost of these do-it-yourself systems that is attracting customers.

‘‘A basic Freesat installation costs between €200 and €300 from a professional installation firm,” said Staveley. ‘‘You can do it yourself for less by buying equipment from Lidl or Aldi.

But you need to know what you’re doing, especially in getting the angle of the dish right.” High definition broadcasts are available over satellite.

Both the BBC and ITV offer their HD service on Freesat.

This means that it will be possible to watch events such as the World Cup in high definition, although a high definition decoder box will be required.

Tony

Thanks Cush. I'm a little surprised I got a mention as those comments of mine were made in a casual conversation with Adrian Weckler just before the today fm interview last week. I can't fault the guys memory

watty

Today FM rang me but I missed the call. Otherwise occupied at the time

Apogee

Tony wrote: »

I'm a little surprised I got a mention as those comments of mine were made in a casual conversation with Adrian Weckler just before the today fm interview last week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlfK1P6ldXA

AstralTV

in the above article wich states,

"While most concentrate on lucrative pub and hotel customers, many now service private homes. A new organisation called the Irish Satellite and Aerial Association was founded by Steve Staveley of Astral TV and Gerry Walsh of VSat Communications; its website offers a county-by-county guide to installation firms."

I would like to clarify that ISAA was founded & set up by Gerry Walsh,
and that I am a member of ISAA, my apologies to Gerry and for any confusion caused,

Steve,

watty

I'd say you are a "founding" member though. Probably that's what they mean.

paulportoloive

hey guys - listen i have my sky box connected up and dont pay for sky package - just getting all the free ones but am wondering why dont get the rte irish station on it - is there codes for them or will i not get them because am not paying???

watty

RTE isn't free on Sky. You need a TV aerial.

STB

Ah give him the codes Watty.

paulportoloive

yeah watty lol - ah seriously is there any way to get rte on sky?

watty

Same was as getting Sky1 on Sky.

Any basic Subscription with Sky on a Sky Digibox.

Unless you are in UK, but not N.I., as on UK sub RTE is not available unless you have an N.I. Postcode on your account.

Tony

Paul Farrelly wrote: »

yeah watty lol - ah seriously is there any way to get rte on sky?

Yes , subscribe to sky!

Machinehead

Re RTÉ FTA on satellite. Quote from The Irish Indo 30/07/10: "Homes that already have a satellite or cable connection would not need to upgrade their equipment".
I have read on various forums that RTÉ will launch FTA on a satellite other than the ones at the Astra/Sky orbital position, but the implication from the above quote is that RTÉ will launch FTA on it's existing satellite slot, hence no equipment upgrade required. Can anyone shed any light on this one.

holidaysong

I'd imagine that's an error on the part of the Indo and that 'satellite' in their article should read 'Sky'.

Machinehead

Ok. Sub Sky for satellite, then the implication is that if you already have Sky no upgrade or change of equipment needed for RTÉ FTA, ergo RTÉ will be FTA via Astra 28.2. Question then what's going to happen with RTÉ's carraige deal with Sky?

watty

No. Nothing is changing on 28.2E. RTE on Sky will not be FTA. Nor will it be HD. It's just included in ROI and NI subs.

FTA Satellite Irish TV (a copy of all the Saorview DTT TV and Radio) will be on 9E Kasat, maybe mid 2011, assuming the Fire Stick works and launch is OK.

Never mind the papers. Collected Boards.ie links and comment: http://www.techtir.ie/watty/soartv

If you want RTE on other TVs that don't have UPC cable or Sky Digibox, for about 95% it means a Digital TV or a Saorview compatible Set box connected to an Aerial. The FTA (Saorsat) is NOT from Sky/28.2E but for the 2% to 8% that need it, from Kasat at 9E.

The Cush

Machinehead wrote: »

Re RTÉ FTA on satellite. Quote from The Irish Indo 30/07/10: "Homes that already have a satellite or cable connection would not need to upgrade their equipment".
I have read on various forums that RTÉ will launch FTA on a satellite other than the ones at the Astra/Sky orbital position, but the implication from the above quote is that RTÉ will launch FTA on it's existing satellite slot, hence no equipment upgrade required. Can anyone shed any light on this one.

holidaysong wrote: »

I'd imagine that's an error on the part of the Indo and that 'satellite' in their article should read 'Sky'.

RTÉ announced in mid July at an Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications discussion that they had submitted a revised DTT plan including a FTA satellite option - Saorsat, for areas in the country that will not receive the new DTT service to the Minister for Communications for approval.

The Dept announced approval for the revised plan at the end of July and so the reason for the article in the Indo the following day.

What that quote from the Indo article was saying is if you already have digital satellite i.e. Sky or digital cable/mmds i.e. UPC you will not require a new DTT or Saorsat receiver to get the existing terrestrial channels are they are already available digitally by Sky or UPC. The new FTA satellite service Saorsat will be transmitted from a new satellite position probably 9 deg. East with a beam tightly focused on Ireland which is the reason it can be FTA.

Of course the article didn't take into account other existing non-digital TVs in the household that don't have a Sky or UPC receiver attached which will require a DTT or Saorsat receiver to continue watching the terrestrial channels once analogue switchoff take place in late 2012.

EDIT: Watty - didn't see your post, was writing mine at the time.

Machinehead

Can we therefore safely assume the minister hasn't a clue when it comes to FTA satellite, when he says that anyone with existing satellite set up will not require an upgrade to get 9 degrees east.

The Cush

Machinehead wrote: »

Can we therefore safely assume the minister hasn't a clue when it comes to FTA satellite, when he says that anyone with existing satellite set up will not require an upgrade to get 9 degrees east.

Forget the Minister this is an RTÉ project, read the transcript or watch the Joint Committee discussion to see their reasoning behind it.

When DTT is up and running only an estimated 2% of the population will require a Saorsat dish the rest will get the Irish channels by aerial and/or Sky/UPC.

Well co wexford and south wicklow will probably need a saorsat dish/satelite to reliably receive RTE post dso aswell and those numbers will probably bring the figure above 5%
It will be the only area of the country that gets their perfect analogue signal switched off to be replaced by a ropey dtt signal needing people to invest in satelite thanks to Comreg and RTE incompetency at the network planning stage.
A flick of a switch and a signature on a form is all thats needed to avoid preseli co channel

But oh no...that would be too simple.

2012 is going to be some crack down this neck of the woods when the real people discover the careless mess rte and comreg have made of dso in this region.
They don't believe us of course :rolleyes::rolleyes: [well in private no doubt they do ...but don't give a damn]

Gerry Wicklow

For what it's worth I haven't seen Mt Leinster for several weeks now (not since the welsh AMs got it in the neck over jamming) even with a seperate 56 element in the attic aimed that way for the rare times I might want to watch it.
Meanwhile Devon is booming in the last few days on 21, 24 etc.

slegs

Mt Leinster is definitely down on power at the moment. I can normally pick up loud and clear in Kildare but not now.