Saorview Content Speculation

watty

watty wrote: »

RTE is not transmitting any "series link" yet. If you have "series link" it's "guessed" by program title matching, not a real "Series link" provided by broadcaster.

Plus the Windows 7 MC uses it's own proprietary EPG and not the standard DVB EPG.

TomTom

ftakeith wrote: »

Saorview has loads of live fta sport such as
37 live first choice uefa champions league football games on rte2hd and tv3
17 live first choice uefa europa league football games on 3e and tv3
every rep of ire competitive football game by law on saorview
celtic league rugby on rte2 and tg4
GAA live on rte2hd, tv3 and tg4 through out the year
6 nations rugby & ireland's other home rugby games on rte2hd
uefa 2012 football on rte2hd

That list is the main reason I am ditching sky. I just don't watch premier league any more, everything I need is covered by my TV licence or Freeview. I currently have sky+ and once I can get a decent satellite/terrestrial HD PVR box, it's bye bye sky.

watty

Karsini wrote: »

Plus the Windows 7 MC uses it's own proprietary EPG and not the standard DVB EPG.

There is option to use DVB EPG though. Also the MHEG5 mostly works.

ftakeith

TomTom wrote: »

That list is the main reason I am ditching sky. I just don't watch premier league any more, everything I need is covered by my TV licence or Freeview. I currently have sky+ and once I can get a decent satellite/terrestrial HD PVR box, it's bye bye sky.

Saorview has loads of live fta sport such as
37 live first choice uefa champions league football games on rte2hd and tv3
17 live first choice uefa europa league football games on 3e and tv3
every rep of ire competitive football game by law on saorview
celtic league rugby on rte2 and tg4
GAA live on rte2hd, tv3 and tg4 through out the year
6 nations rugby & ireland's other home rugby games on rte2hd
uefa 2012 football on rte2hd
fifa world cup 2014 on rte2hd
2011 rugby world cup on rtehd

warlikedave

watty wrote: »

There is option to use DVB EPG though. Also the MHEG5 mostly works.

MHEG5 does work on it from my use of it - the new aertel service works - is there any other MHEG5 services we need to be aware of? also how do you make WMC choose the saorview epg instead of the downloaded version? I think ive a saorview epg anyways because once i disconnect the ariel the epg goes

Lahm

ftakeith wrote: »

Saorview has loads of live fta sport such as
37 live first choice uefa champions league football games on rte2hd and tv3
17 live first choice uefa europa league football games on 3e and tv3
every rep of ire competitive football game by law on saorview
celtic league rugby on rte2 and tg4
GAA live on rte2hd, tv3 and tg4 through out the year
6 nations rugby & ireland's other home rugby games on rte2hd
uefa 2012 football on rte2hd
fifa world cup 2014 on rte2hd
2011 rugby world cup on rtehd

Did we hear you the first time?

Fingleberries

Lahm wrote: »

Did we hear you the first time?

It's OK - I think if you look at the list the Rugby World Cup an the next FIFA world cup were added the second time around. He probably didn't want to go back to edit the older post as someone had already commented.

Elmo

Fingleberries wrote: »

It's OK - I think if you look at the list the Rugby World Cup an the next FIFA world cup were added the second time around. He probably didn't want to go back to edit the older post as someone had already commented.

Wouldn't minded but Setanta have most of those games :rolleyes: And ITV4HD is only available with a UK sky sub.

ftakeith

ftakeith wrote: »

Saorview has loads of live fta sport such as
37 live first choice uefa champions league football games on rte2hd and tv3
17 live first choice uefa europa league football games on 3e and tv3
every rep of ire competitive football game by law on saorview
celtic league rugby on rte2 and tg4
GAA live on rte2hd, tv3 and tg4 through out the year
6 nations rugby & ireland's other home rugby games on rte2hd
uefa 2012 football on rte2hd

nothing about freesat for the UK tv channels alongside saorview
realityBYTES Sunday Business Post
29 May 2011 By AdrianWeckler
Last week, Saorview was launched. For most Irish television consumers who already have Sky or UPC it is completely irrelevant. But for about 250,000 households, it will mean that it’s time to upgrade your television or get a new digital set-top box.
That’s a minimum cost of €70 per household (presuming it’s just one television to be covered, as every non-Saorview TV will need a Saorview digital box).For some households, the costs could be much higher: up to €500 or €600.
RTE, which has built the digital terrestrial television (DTT) service and is operating it, advises that a rooftop aerial is required for most people availing of the service.
But some households’ existing analogue aerials will not be up to scratch and will need to be replaced. That means new equipment and installation fees, on top of the upgraded television or set-top box costs.
In other words, there is not much that is free about ‘free to air’ digital television. In fairness, new Saorview compatible television sets cost as little as €200, with big brands such as Sony, Samsung and LG joining budget manufacturers such as Walker and Finlux.
And you will have Zero monthly bills, compared to at least €20 per month for basic services from UPC or Sky.
Add to that the addition of high definition on at least one channel (RTE Two),which was used yesterday to show the Champions League final and will be used today for the Munster hurling semi-final between Cork and Tipperary, and you have some decent innovation on offer here.
The downside is the low number of channels. Just eight stations - most of them from RTE - are available at launch under Saorview.
More are expected in 2013, but a row between RTE and commercial stations has prevented further stations being offered. It is not foreseeable that any British stations will be offered on the service in the near future.
Both RTE and the Department of Communications still have a considerable job ahead of them in informing people of the existence of Saorview.
According to a survey commissioned by the Department of Communications earlier this month, a majority of those who depend on analogue television are still unaware of Saorview’s existence.
They are also unaware of the need to upgrade their equipment over the next 18 months, after which time their televisions will no longer receive a TV signal using the aerials and equipment they already have.
In many ways, the development of Saorview been an unfair burden on RTE, which is having to put up €70 million to cover the cost of a service that seems to have little commercial potential and which it was obliged to do.
Rivals don’t see it that way, crying foul at what they see as a broadcasting land grab on a new digital platform.
Whatever the truth, the state’s broadcaster may become more aggressive in trying to leverage the channels it is putting up on digital terrestrial television (DTT) and in creating new ones when the next programming window for DTT opens.
Let’s hope that more broadcasters will become interested in offering extra channels to DTT television viewers.

micks_address

Hi Guys,

Apologies if this has been asked already, but how do you know if something is being shown in HD on rte 2? It always seems to say RTE two HD regardless of the content? The Munster match was great.. was the champions league final shown in HD? i watched it on Sky HD.. and some of the GAA looked HD yesterday..

Cheers,
Mick

ftakeith wrote: »

nothing about freesat for the UK tv channels alongside saorview
realityBYTES Sunday Business Post
29 May 2011 By AdrianWeckler
Last week, Saorview was launched. For most Irish television consumers who already have Sky or UPC it is completely irrelevant. But for about 250,000 households, it will mean that it’s time to upgrade your television or get a new digital set-top box.
That’s a minimum cost of €70 per household (presuming it’s just one television to be covered, as every non-Saorview TV will need a Saorview digital box).For some households, the costs could be much higher: up to €500 or €600.
RTE, which has built the digital terrestrial television (DTT) service and is operating it, advises that a rooftop aerial is required for most people availing of the service.
But some households’ existing analogue aerials will not be up to scratch and will need to be replaced. That means new equipment and installation fees, on top of the upgraded television or set-top box costs.
In other words, there is not much that is free about ‘free to air’ digital television. In fairness, new Saorview compatible television sets cost as little as €200, with big brands such as Sony, Samsung and LG joining budget manufacturers such as Walker and Finlux.
And you will have Zero monthly bills, compared to at least €20 per month for basic services from UPC or Sky.
Add to that the addition of high definition on at least one channel (RTE Two),which was used yesterday to show the Champions League final and will be used today for the Munster hurling semi-final between Cork and Tipperary, and you have some decent innovation on offer here.
The downside is the low number of channels. Just eight stations - most of them from RTE - are available at launch under Saorview.
More are expected in 2013, but a row between RTE and commercial stations has prevented further stations being offered. It is not foreseeable that any British stations will be offered on the service in the near future.
Both RTE and the Department of Communications still have a considerable job ahead of them in informing people of the existence of Saorview.
According to a survey commissioned by the Department of Communications earlier this month, a majority of those who depend on analogue television are still unaware of Saorview’s existence.
They are also unaware of the need to upgrade their equipment over the next 18 months, after which time their televisions will no longer receive a TV signal using the aerials and equipment they already have.
In many ways, the development of Saorview been an unfair burden on RTE, which is having to put up €70 million to cover the cost of a service that seems to have little commercial potential and which it was obliged to do.
Rivals don’t see it that way, crying foul at what they see as a broadcasting land grab on a new digital platform.
Whatever the truth, the state’s broadcaster may become more aggressive in trying to leverage the channels it is putting up on digital terrestrial television (DTT) and in creating new ones when the next programming window for DTT opens.
Let’s hope that more broadcasters will become interested in offering extra channels to DTT television viewers.

FRIENDO

ftakeith wrote: »

Saorview has loads of live fta sport such as
37 live first choice uefa champions league football games on rte2hd and tv3
17 live first choice uefa europa league football games on 3e and tv3
every rep of ire competitive football game by law on saorview
celtic league rugby on rte2 and tg4
GAA live on rte2hd, tv3 and tg4 through out the year
6 nations rugby & ireland's other home rugby games on rte2hd
uefa 2012 football on rte2hd
fifa world cup 2014 on rte2hd
2011 rugby world cup on rtehd

Good Post ftakeith
Just to add PRO-Box live on RTE (Boxing from many of our best home grown boxers)

holidaysong

Also 18 League of Ireland games a year on RTÉ 2.

Lahm

So when we get a saorview box can we get another box to get the British channels?

warlikedave

micks_address wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Apologies if this has been asked already, but how do you know if something is being shown in HD on rte 2? It always seems to say RTE two HD regardless of the content? The Munster match was great.. was the champions league final shown in HD? i watched it on Sky HD.. and some of the GAA looked HD yesterday..

Cheers,
Mick

Agreed - it does always say HD so whats the story with that may I ask?

watty

Extra channels are Freesat.
Or for Pay TV Sky and UPC. Ireland is a small country. Most decent extra channels will be Foriegn.

A stupid waste of money to duplicate 45 odd decent free UK channels on Irish DTT.

Elmo

watty wrote: »

Extra channels are Freesat.
Or for Pay TV Sky and UPC. Ireland is a small country. Most decent extra channels will be Foriegn.

A stupid waste of money to duplicate 45 odd decent free UK channels on Irish DTT.

RTÉ, TG4 and TV3 will all need a multichannel strategy in the coming years.

While its true that most of these channels will purely be repeat channels (like many English ones) it should also be pointed out that Irish broadcasters should be working towards removing many of the channels from away opt-out advertising which is causing €60m a year to leave Ireland.

I amn't suggesting that any extra services that RTÉ, TG4 or TV3 will be any better than E4, Sky 1, Sky Living, ITV2, ITV3 etc (nor worse TBH) but what I am saying is that RTÉ, TG4 and TV3 will need a multi-channel strategy to fend of these bigger channels in terms of advertising.

I amn't suggesting that the main English channel or even extra channels won't remain significant but I am say that the 7 or so channels that we currently have will need to expand to prevent audiences leaving for extra channels. Even if that is just to get 50% of that audience back to Irish services.

As more people move away from UPC and Sky to FTA Satellite opt-out services become less of a threat. But that isn't to suggest that new Irish services can't appear or that we should support such efforts.

RTÉ 1+1 goes no way towards a multichannel broadcast strategy, RTÉ will need one more "extra" channel as will TV3 and TG4 to survive. Setanta will have to take on a FTA channel strategy if it is to survive.

Also I amn't expect 45 channels but at least 15. 45 decent channels, you'd be luck to name 15. IMO

watty

PVRs will be able to record a week of all channels. You could do that today on Saorview. Then you just browse the last 7 days as if RTE player/iPlayer. But 24x7 of all channels is already on the disk.

+1 transmissions are doomed and stupidity. In the future should be banned.

We don't have 7 or 8 channels. That's marketing guff. There are really only 5. Repeats don't count as real channels.

The only likely extra channel is Oireachtas. An Irish Film channel would be nice, but I can't see it happening. Who pays for it?

Freesat (and Freeview in some areas) is the only economically viable FTA extra channels.

The "Multichannel" strategy in UK has almost destroyed TV. More channels, but much more repeats and rubbish. Less decent TV getting made than when there was 4 to 5 channels.

Irish National TV needs a "multichannel" strategy like a hole in the head. They need to improve quality on the channels they have. They need to do more in-house production and build permanent in-house capability. The insistence and philosophy of "outsource" has been the death of excellent C4 in-house production and dumbing down of BBC.

Macy0161

Not sure I share the view of +1 channels - pvr's are fine if it's something you planned to watch, but the +1 channels work when you are just channel hopping to see what's on. For what it's worth, we've already watched programming on RTE+1, and we would regularly watch the UK +1 freesat channels.

Ultimately, it'll be viewing habits that'll decide I guess - commercial channels won't pay for transmission, if it's not adding to advertising revenue.

That's not to say I wouldn't have preferred something better at launch - pure short termism from the BAI, reflecting the short termism of TV3, and sky should never have been given a say anyway.

watty

A decent PVR in the future will AUTOMATICALLY have +1, +2, +3 etc going back for an entire week, for ALL the channels.

BAI is a waste of time and money. A disgrace.

Elmo

watty wrote: »

We don't have 7 or 8 channels. That's marketing guff. There are really only 5. Repeats don't count as real channels.

The only likely extra channel is Oireachtas. An Irish Film channel would be nice, but I can't see it happening. Who pays for it?

The "Multichannel" strategy in UK has almost destroyed TV. More channels, but much more repeats and rubbish. Less decent TV getting made than when there was 4 to 5 channels.

I was including Setanta, City and DCTV in my counting of channels 3e must really not count at all so only 4. (RTÉjr was always going to have content on RTE 2 until switch over much like BBC had CBBC on BBC1 and 2, I think they still do???).

The Multichannel strategy in the UK is wrong I agree with you. But since it is a strategy employed by competitors in the market place it must be employed.

I would be looking towards RTÉ Plus which is viable as RTÉ have the content for it. Oirechtas TV should either be part of TG4 or RTÉ News Now, which it is.

The Film Board channel could be roled out but it needs advertising and it could be part of TG4's multichannel strategy.

The extra channels are purely "repeat" channels, Broadcasters should be focused on their mainstream channel e.g. in the UK focus should be on BBC 1, 2, ITV (Channel 3 regions), C4 and C5 (Here RTÉ 1, 2, TV3 and TG4), the other extra channels should be there for repeats nothing more (perhaps testing new ideas). And yes +1 are stupid, I think ITV 1 Yesterday would be of more benefit, for the flicker and the person who just missed something yesterday.

The Cush

ftakeith wrote: »

nothing about freesat for the UK tv channels alongside saorview
realityBYTES Sunday Business Post
29 May 2011 By AdrianWeckler

Just read the article by Adrian Weckler, a few thing stood out

Add to that the addition of high definition on at least one channel (RTE Two),which was used yesterday to show the Champions League final and will be used today for the Munster hurling semi-final between Cork and Tipperary, and you have some decent innovation on offer here.

The Champions League Final wasn't in HD, the Magners League Final was.

More are expected in 2013, but a row between RTE and commercial stations has prevented further stations being offered. It is not foreseeable that any British stations will be offered on the service in the near future.

No such row between them preventing new channels being launched. The BAI has carried out an expression of interest consultation, with report to the Dept of Comms for the spare capacity on the PSB muxes. Neither RTÉ nor TV3 will prevent further channels being launched, only simple economics.

Whatever the truth, the state’s broadcaster may become more aggressive in trying to leverage the channels it is putting up on digital terrestrial television (DTT) and in creating new ones when the next programming window for DTT opens.

Can't see RTÉ launching new channels given their present financial position.

Lahm

So British channels aren't on saorview?

Can we get a freesat box to get those too?

The Cush

Lahm wrote: »

So British channels aren't on saorview?

Can we get a freesat box to get those too?

Yes and yes.

Elmo

The Cush wrote: »

Just read the article by Adrian Weckler, a few thing stood out

Fair Article IMO.

jamescc

commercial stations? would that be the likes of tv3

Elmo

jamescc wrote: »

commercial stations? would that be the likes of tv3

Suppose it would after all they seemed to protest the most about RTÉ PLUS.

warlikedave

Elmo wrote: »

Suppose it would after all they seemed to protest the most about RTÉ PLUS.

They as in tv3 should have been forced to come up with an alterntative to rte plus if they objected (like a channel of thier own to compete with rte plus) and as for skys input - they should have been told that they can only have input if they ae going to be part of saorview by putting a channel or two on it.....

Either way its disappointing that those two parties were allowed such influence since tv3 dont want to spend any money on improving saorview and also trying to stiffle the competition and as for sky they will gladly interfere to prevent any challenge to thier sat platform....There should have been a far bigger public consultation in regards to new channels and frequency allocations

Macy0161

warlikedave wrote: »

Either way its disappointing that those two parties were allowed such influence since tv3 dont want to spend any money on improving saorview and also trying to stiffle the competition and as for sky they will gladly interfere to prevent any challenge to thier sat platform....There should have been a far bigger public consultation in regards to new channels and frequency allocations

Regardless of the competition issues, Sky's submissions shouldn't have been taken into account since they don't even pay tax on their subs here, never mind the fact they aren't regulated here.

Pure short termism by TV3 - a strong saorview will ultimately help them.

Machinehead

Response from Saorview Team re HD content info in EPG & HD "DOG" for non HD broadcasts:

"Your feedback and suggestions are appreciated with regards to publicity for HD content.

I will copy the relevant Saorview office on this and also the relevant press officer/s in RTÉ Television, who will in turn forward it to all other related offices.

Thank you for taking the time to write.

Kind regards"

Machinehead

Human Planet on Two HD ATM looks damn good, almost as good as it was the last time I saw it on BBC HD.