Digital RTE TV - 9 channels!!

2manyconditions

Was watching RTE news this eve and they were on about this new digital TV set for 2012.

Where does that leave those of us who want to not pay the TV licence. Will we not be able to get one of these digital thingys without a licence.

And nine channels, nine, is it too good to be true.

JonathanAnon

ah ffs, I thought you were gonna say they were live now..

SuperInfinity

What a disgrace. You should set up a group representing all the people who refuse to pay their tv licences and how they're being all now cut-out and forgotten about in this new, ill-conceived scheme by the government.

You people who refuse to pay your tv licences have been discriminated against long enough, it's now time to stand up for yourselves and demand that you still be able to get your DTT RTE while dodging the tv licence inspectors in the usual way.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

9 channels? They'll need a lot of new shows - this could be my chance to get my foot in the door...

***CaptainNegative is off to write some tv pilots***

Shea O'Meara

Before my time but, the Catholic Church got on to their subordinates, the Irish Government regarding Television and how good Catholics were being perverted by the BBC.
Thankfully we received what we did as the aerials picked up the signals, analogue.
Some of us may recall when satellite/dish viewing became available you could pick up German channels etc. Then digital came in and you not only got what you paid for, but were limited by what the company you chose could provide.
This gave birth to/offered a myrid of mind numbing channels set up and based on the captive customer. Simply put, if you didn't pay for the exact channel you wanted to view, you couldn't receive it. End of.
So my warning is, (and why I'm 'agin it', to paraphrase Grandapa Simpson) that you pay your TV licence, this covers RTE. Will you still receive BBC1/2, Channel 4, TV 3, ITV? Furthermore and most worryingly...about fifteen years ago there was talk of RTE starting a number of specialty channels. One for youth called Zap TV etc. (I kid you not).
My point is do we need to have some of us stuck with the only option being a series of poor quality RTE produced channels? They can't handle those they have. We'll have Twinks sprogs and so on, wall to wall.
Also, if this is not the case and we continue receiving business as usual, but digital, RTE will need to pay the BBC for carrying their programming, seeing as their (RTE's) licence fee will be coming form both RTE and BBC viewers.
When it's analogue, you pick up what you pick up randomly. When it's digital what you get is sent by your provider (in this case RTE) no more, no less. And don't get me started how this will affect radio should it become standard.
So if this happens, it's all RTE all day. Or business as usual, but higher licence fees should you want to view channels other than RTE.
And to be fair, they are going to milk us but good either way once the change comes into effect.

mike65

Read all about it

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055935335

Namabillion

What are the nine channels?

Shea O'Meara

mike65 wrote: »

Read all about it

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055935335

Based on the limited and poor gene pool they already draw from I predict disaster for those stuck with this. We will end up with a number of channels no more than filler to justify the whole deal. At present it's poor or less than with few and far between series of good above par viewing. Where are they going to generate all these hours of television from? At least if they began hiring outside their own that would be something.
The only saving grace of the licence fee is also receiving the british channels. So from this we will either have what we have, plus a ton of RTE s*** or just a ton of RTE s***.
Who told RTE they were doing such a great job they should create more channels of their fine shows?
These channels in what ever guise they take will be nothing more than justification for the digital service/hike in the licence fee. A f****** joke on us.

TheTrain

**** you RTE, you parasites.

I already begrudge the fact that I have to press the button twice to skip over their aspiring-to-be-mediocre, deeply-amateur misery.

At least there'll be cushy taxpayer-subsidised jobs for every family member now. No Tubridy/Andrews/Ryan will ever have to look for a real job again.

Minstrel27

TheTrain wrote: »

**** you RTE, you parasites.

I already begrudge the fact that I have to press the button twice to skip over their aspiring-to-be-mediocre, deeply-amateur misery.

At least there'll be cushy taxpayer-subsidised jobs for every family member now. No Tubridy/Andrews/Ryan will ever have to look for a real job again.

Who said they will all be RTÉ channels? Nobody did.

mike65

They will be bar TV3 (Tg4 is a sister channnel to RTE I believe)

Minstrel27

mike65 wrote: »

They will be bar TV3 (Tg4 is a sister channnel to RTE I believe)

3e will be there. TG4 is not linked to RTÉ. Another channel will be a time share channel consisting of RTÉ1 +1/Childrens television/Euronews. RTÉ HD channel simulcasting what is already being shown on RTÉ Two. Oireachteas tv which already exists online.

There really isn't going to be anything new to give more jobs to the boys as was hinted.

mike65

RTE can't afford to add anything, nor can anyone else hence such a limited launch as compared to what was envisaged by the Dept three years ago.

Mr McBoatface

The DTT launch is good news. This service will be replacing the current Analogue service which is about 4 times more expensive to run per channel and is no way near as good. I've been receiving the current test/trial signal for a year or so now and it's so much better than analogue and is as good if not better than SKY. I can't actually get a viewable analogue service but DTT is picture perfect.

The digital service will use less spectrum space than analogue and as such It will free up spectrum space for other service such as broadband. DTT will actually make it cheaper to broadcast RTE, TV3 etc .

It's not a competitor for Pay TV service, pay DTT was a poor idea and it's best left to history, it would have failed anyway. I believe 9 of the top 10 viewed TV channels in the Republic of Ireland will now be available Free To Air on a high quality digital platforms. RTE digital service can be combined with Free to air satellite service coming from the UK via 28.E (your sky dish) with DDT/Sat combo boxes or TV's.

Check out the terrestrial forums for more info on DTT. http://boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=56

Another positive from the digital launch is Ireland will have it's own satellite service too. While it will offer no new content to DTT, the satellite may offer alternative broadband solutions in the near future. http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055968485

mike65

Its not picture perfect as they haven't been transmitting in the ideal defintions yet, even RTE 2, which is the closest, ain't 100% to my eyes. RTE1, TG4 and the "News channel" are pretty soft.

JerryHandbag

Was there not supposed to be an Oireachtas channel and an Irish film channel? Cant imagine there would be a sport channel, all it would consist of would be GAA repeats, since they dont have rights to most other sports.

phasers

Bracing for 9 channels filled with re runs

Mr McBoatface

Here is the RTE document presented by Conor Hayes to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications :- http://www.techtir.ie/sites/default/files/JOCC20100714.doc. It details the channel line up amongst other things.

RTÉ One
RTÉ Two (HD light)
TV3
TG4
RTÉ News Now
RTÉ One +1/RTÉ Children’s / Euronews
RTE1+1, RTÉ Children’s & Euronews will actually share one channel the same way Cbeebies and BBC3 do, so it's actually more like 7 channels.
RTE Children in will be on in the mornings, I read somewhere it would be advert free but can't find the link. RTE1+1 will be in the evening/afternoon and Euronews at night.

RTÉ Two(HD light) will run both SD and HD material on it, I'd imagine the HD material will initially be sports based but that's just my opinion.

Some points to note:-

This is the proposed channel line up for the initial launch in October of this year. Later when a 2nd mux(extra signal space) is added there will be more HD content and more room for extra TV service which could mean the movie channel and Oireachtas TV will come on board.

The new channels and HD content will not be on SKY or UPC.

For those people who only use RTE analogue and this will be a nice upgrade in service. For those with or considerings HD DDT/Sat combo boxes which start at around 130 euro it means they'll have a non-subscription TV service available to them that rivals Sky's and UPC basic package but with exclusive/additional HD content.

Sandwlch

What kind of aerial, if any, do you need for digital TV ? I use a rabbits ears/amplifier thing from B&Q since I have no (reasonable) means to fit a roof aerial. Gets me RTE1,RTE2, TV3, and TG4 fine though. Anyway I can get BBC or more through the new system ?

mike65

I use a DIY chicken-wire mesh in teh attic and it works, no this for Irish Stations only, no BBC etc.

Mr McBoatface

Sandwlch wrote: »

What kind of aerial, if any, do you need for digital TV ? I use a rabbits ears/amplifier thing from B&Q since I have no (reasonable) means to fit a roof aerial. Gets me RTE1,RTE2, TV3, and TG4 fine though. Anyway I can get BBC or more through the new system ?

Existing Aerials will more than likely be fine. As a general rule if you can get TG4 and TV3 on analogue (even a snowy image) you'll able to the digital service. If this is the case there is no need for new Aerials or cables , you'll need to have an mpeg4 decoder on your TV or set top box.

Beware of TV's or set top boxes advertised as "Freeview" capable as many them do not have Mpeg4 decoders and will not work. "Freeview HD" equipment will work , pixmania sell cheap STB and also TV's with the logo "TNT HD" on them (A French TV Service) these will also work fine.

copacetic

jobyrne30 wrote: »

This is the proposed channel line up for the initial launch in October of this year. Later when a 2nd mux(extra signal space) is added there will be more HD content and more room for extra TV service which could mean the movie channel and Oireachtas TV will come on board.

That isn't the proposed line up for October, it's the proposed eventual lineup.

Mr McBoatface

copacetic wrote: »

That isn't the proposed line up for October, it's the proposed eventual lineup.

From the document I linked to -

Proposed Digital Free-To-Air Channels
We are still finalising the channel line up that will be available on both the DTT and Satellite systems. A potential service line up could include the following:

Television
Radio
RTÉ One
RTÉ Radio 1
RTÉ Two (HD light)
RTÉ Radio 1 Extra
TV3
RTÉ 2 FM
TG4
RTÉ RnaG
RTÉ News Now
RTÉ Lyric FM
RTÉ One +1/RTÉ Children’s / Euronews
RTÉ Choice
3e
RTÉ Gold
RTÉ Digital Teletext
RTÉ Junior/RTÉ Chill

RTÉ Pulse/RTÉ 2xm

It is envisaged that the 2nd National Multiplex will facilitate a more extended roll out of High-Definition television and other services.

There will be a 2nd mux added which I think (not sure) will become available after Analogue switch off at which point there will be more from for extra broadcasts and/or HD content.

Minstrel27

mike65 wrote: »

Its not picture perfect as they haven't been transmitting in the ideal defintions yet, even RTE 2, which is the closest, ain't 100% to my eyes. RTE1, TG4 and the "News channel" are pretty soft.

But RTÉ Two looked better than BBC HD for the World Cup

What a statement that was.

mike65

Bob Collins = plank

Conor108

I can't wait to watch the quality shows RTE will have on these new channels. Mad Men, House, Rescue Me, True Blood, Glee etc. Gonna be hard to choose what to watch at 2/3 AM each night 5-6 years after the DVD boxsets have been released...