Why do we get all BBC tv for free?

darkman2

Just curious about this. The BBC is, of course, funded by UK license payers so why do we get all their services for free? I know it started as a fluke - we could get the North's reception years ago. I asked a relative about this before and he said why would they complain because it's free publicity for a British take on events. That kind of makes sense but still RTE is not available at our expense to them so it seems a bit strange. SKY is not comparable because it is a UK and Ireland service and a private operator. ITV is also a British service but yet we still get it. With France we get France 24 but that's the only French service we get.


It's not a big deal but it's curious that the BBC is available when we don't pay for it.

NIMAN

Well we get it via satellite simply because the footprint of the signal covers UK and Ireland.

RadioRetro

Viewers in west Wales can get RTE if they buy a VHF aerial and point it this way, just as here in Wexford you see loads of UHF aerials pointing eastwards. A mate of mine now living in Pembrokeshire's done just that so he can keep up with news and views here.

LordSutch

darkman2 wrote: »

Just curious about this. The BBC is, of course, funded by UK license payers so why do we get all their services for free? I know it started as a fluke - we could get the North's reception years ago. I asked a relative about this before and he said why would they complain because it's free publicity for a British take on events. That kind of makes sense but still RTE is not available at our expense to them so it seems a bit strange. SKY is not comparable because it is a UK and Ireland service and a private operator. ITV is also a British service but yet we still get it. With France we get France 24 but that's the only French service we get.

It's not a big deal but it's curious that the BBC is available when we don't pay for it.

Analogue singal.
Ever since I was a nipper in south Dublin we had a roof aerial so that we could pull in BBC & ITV from either Wales or Northern Ireland, and as I say, its all because of our geography. The UK stations are broadcast from transmitters all over the UK, and we have benefitted from the overspill for decades, same goes for residents in parts of Wales and NI who pick up Irish TV and radio stations due to border overspill.

Digital signal
Same now goes for the digital signals, Astra 2 beams a signal that covers the whole of the British isles & parts of mainland Europe too, and it would be impossible to just block us off for example, so yet again, lucky us for our geographical proximity to the UK.

Click > http://ukfree.tv/styles/images/astra/0_astra_2D_H.jpg

mike65

If they ever decide to use narrow spot beams to cover the UK alone I'll have to kill myself*























*or get NTL/SKY, not sure which is worse

Dymo

Sky subscribers have it included in a subscription so not free, I remember then BBC1 come onto the service they justified a price increase to pay for the BBC channels.

brian_t

Dymo wrote: »

Sky subscribers have it included in a subscription so not free.

All the BBC's are included in Sky freeview so it is free.

Elmo

brian_t wrote: »

All the BBC's are included in Sky freeview so it is free.

Is Sky Freeview available to Irish customers?

You can tune in all UK FTA satellite channels under Other Channels on your Sky box. This is not Sky Freeview.

Both Sky and UPC pay BBC Worldwide for their access to BBC channels.

Not everyone has access to free BBC TV.

Yamanoto

RTE purchase rights to foreign shows on the basis that the audience reach will be 5 million or so.

If RTE transmissions were receivable across the UK (to an audience of over 60 million), the rights for those shows would cost RTE significantly more and would I imagine require a license fee charge many multiples of what it currently is.

When RTE launch its own Sat service, the footprint will be narrow, precluding a UK audience from accessing it (NI excepted?)

Elmo

Yamanoto wrote: »

RTE purchase rights to foreign shows on the basis that the audience reach will be 5 million or so.

If RTE transmissions were receivable across the UK (to an audience of over 60 million), the rights for those shows would cost RTE significantly more and would I imagine require a license fee charge many multiples of what it currently is.

When RTE launch its own Sat service, the footprint will be narrow, precluding a UK audience from accessing it (NI excepted?)

Saorsat I believe is available in parts of the North.

brian_t

Elmo wrote: »

Is Sky Freeview available to Irish customers?

You can tune in all UK FTA satellite channels under Other Channels on your Sky box. This is not Sky Freeview.
.

I get all the BBC channels plus the ITV's and others without going through the "Other Channels" route. (They appear in the EPG)

I thought this was Sky Freeview but I could be wrong.

icdg

brian_t wrote: »

All the BBC's are included in Sky freeview so it is free.

The BBCs were not free to air at the time they joined the Irish EPG. At the time they were still encrypted and you needed to have either a Sky subscription or a FTV card to access them. It was a deal between Sky and BBC Worldwide that brought them (initially just BBC One NI and BBC Two NI) to the Irish EPG.

Re Freesat from Sky (not Sky Freeview), this is a service from BSkyB available in the UK whereby you can pay £175 to buy a Sky HD box and minidish and get free installation. You don't take a BSkyB subscription. You get all the Free to Air channels on Sky's EPG plus a couple that are free-to-view. There are very few free-to-view channels left (essentially Pick TV and not much else), but the "advantage" (from Sky's point of view, anyway) is that you can take out a Sky Digital subscription at any time and have it switched on within a few hours. Its not available in Ireland, though if you have an expired Sky subscription and leave the viewing card in, you'll receive the Free-to-View channels (again, really Pick TV at this stage).

brian_t

icdg wrote: »

Freesat from Sky (not Sky Freeview), this is a service from BSkyB available in the UK whereby you can pay £175 to buy a Sky HD box and minidish and get free installation. You don't take a BSkyB subscription. You get all the Free to Air channels on Sky's EPG plus a couple that are free-to-view. There are very few free-to-view channels left (essentially Pick TV and not much else), but the "advantage" (from Sky's point of view, anyway) is that you can take out a Sky Digital subscription at any time and have it switched on within a few hours. Its not available in Ireland, though if you have an expired Sky subscription and leave the viewing card in, you'll receive the Free-to-View channels (again, really Pick TV at this stage).

You describe what I have so it is available over here in Ireland.

icdg

brian_t wrote: »

You describe what I have so it is available over here in Ireland.

Where did you purchase it? Sky's Irish website makes no mention of it and I haven't seen it advertised in any retailers.

Minstrel27

darkman2 wrote: »

It's not a big deal but it's curious that the BBC is available when we don't pay for it.

They save money by remaining FTA. NDS do not get any encryption money from them.

Similar situation in Austria for example. They get the German channels for free via satellite but Germans do not get Austrian tv freely via satellite.

Elmo

brian_t wrote: »

You describe what I have so it is available over here in Ireland.

We're just getting into technicalities.

BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 all have free to air services on Satellite. Irish Sky Customers can get these channels on their Sky STB under Other Channels, but they are not part of the sky service. AFAIK and I could be wrong you can't record those channel's programmes unless they are part of Sky Ireland's bonus package, currently the BBC and Channel 4 are the only UK terrestrials available on that package.

Sky do have a product called Sky Freeview but it is not available in the republic of Ireland. Your receiving unencrypted satellite transmissions of UK TV channels, AFAIK you don't need a Sky View card for that, and you definitely don't need a sky subscription.

brian_t

Elmo wrote: »

We're just getting into technicalities.

Sky do have a product called Sky Freeview but it is not available in the republic of Ireland. Your receiving unencrypted satellite transmissions of UK TV channels, AFAIK you don't need a Sky View card for that, and you definitely don't need a sky subscription.

My quote was in response to a post by icdg who was referring to "Freesat from Sky"

icdg wrote: »

Where did you purchase it? Sky's Irish website makes no mention of it and I haven't seen it advertised in any retailers.

I bought a Sky box (without card) plus dish and as Elmo and you said I can watch all the Free to Air channels on Sky's EPG incl BBC's and ITV's

Elmo

brian_t wrote: »

I bought a Sky box (without card) plus dish and as Elmo and you said I can watch all the Free to Air channels on Sky's EPG incl BBC's and ITV's

You bought this from sky?

icdg

brian_t wrote: »

My quote was in response to a post by icdg who was referring to "Freesat from Sky"



I bought a Sky box (without card) plus dish and as Elmo and you said I can watch all the Free to Air channels on Sky's EPG incl BBC's and ITV's

You can't buy a Sky box without a card through official channels in the Republic of Ireland. If you bought it second hand via Ebay or a friend that's one thing, but it is not the same as Sky making Freesat from Sky officially available here. Even then its not the same as Freesat from Sky, since Freesat from Sky **does** use a viewing card, which as I said in my previous post gives you access to Pick TV and not much else. It does however perform the additional function of giving UK viewers the right BBC and ITV regions, since Sky Digiboxes don't allow users to select their own post code like Freesat (BBC/ITV) boxes do.

There isn't such a thing as Sky Freeview. Sky has very little to do with Freeview (which is the UK's equivalent of Saorview) other than offering Pick TV and Challenge on the service.

Elmo

icdg wrote: »

There isn't such a thing as Sky Freeview. Sky has very little to do with Freeview (which is the UK's equivalent of Saorview) other than offering Pick TV and Challenge on the service.

My mistake I thought Sky had marketed their Free-To-View service as Sky Freeview rather then Freesat from Sky.

brian_t

Dymo wrote: »

Sky subscribers have it included in a subscription so not free.

brian_t wrote: »

All the BBC's are included in Sky freeview so it is free.

My apologies I erred in referring to it as Sky freeview but to return to my original point all the BBCs are available for free on the Sky non-subscription service.

Apart from 101 and 102, between 971 and 988 there is a range of BBC1s and between 990 and 992 there are three different BBC2s

Technocentral

Not quite free but got my UPC Digital switched off but still have internet so have analogue for free (BBC 1 & 2 plus 11 other stations).

Elmo

Technocentral wrote: »

Not quite free but got my UPC Digital switched off but still have internet so have analogue for free (BBC 1 & 2 plus 11 other stations).

You pay for that since UPC put an extra charge on your bill when you don't take TV with their Broadband and Telephony service.

brian_t wrote: »

My apologies I erred in referring to it as Sky freeview but to return to my original point all the BBCs are available for free on the Sky non-subscription service.

Apart from 101 and 102, between 971 and 988 there is a range of BBC1s and between 990 and 992 there are three different BBC2s

The problem is that Sky Ireland don't provide a non-subscription service to their Irish customers. Their Free-to-View service is only available to UK customers. Irish customers can cancel their sky subscription and still receive non-encrypted satellite channels under the other channels option on their Sky box but this is not a Sky product.

Technocentral

Elmo wrote: »

You pay for that since UPC put an extra charge on your bill when you don't take TV with their Broadband and Telephony service.



The problem is that Sky Ireland don't provide a non-subscription service to their Irish customers. Their Free-to-View service is only available to UK customers. Irish customers can cancel their sky subscription and still receive non-encrypted satellite channels under the other channels option on their Sky box but this is not a Sky product.

Still much cheaper for me boss.

brian_t

Elmo wrote: »

The problem is that Sky Ireland don't provide a non-subscription service to their Irish customers.

I get the free to air channels on the main EPW without going through the "other channels" route.
All the non-free channels tell me to "insert your Sky viewing card"
Up to last christmas the C5 group (C5 5USA & 5*) had to accessed through "other channels" but then they showed up on the main EPG.
I'm no longer going to make the mistake of naming this service but it's what I get here in Dublin.

Richard

mike65 wrote: »

If they ever decide to use narrow spot beams to cover the UK alone I'll have to kill myself

I think the border would present quite a challenge to narrow spot beams!

Elmo

brian_t wrote: »

I get the free to air channels on the main EPW without going through the "other channels" route.
All the non-free channels tell me to "insert your Sky viewing card"
Up to last christmas the C5 group (C5 5USA & 5*) had to accessed through "other channels" but then they showed up on the main EPG.
I'm no longer going to make the mistake of naming this service but it's what I get here in Dublin.

I too am trying not to make the mistake of calling it sky freeview.

I think this is unusual.

Do you receive Sky's Pick TV? Have you removed your card completely from the box?

Have sky being providing Channel 5 and ITV channels on their EPG?

IsaacWunder

What ever became of this? One would think we'd all be watching free BBC by now:

Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan has signed an agreement with the British government to ensure the continuing widespread availability of TG4 in Northern Ireland following the switchover from analogue to digital TV services, which is planned there for 2012.

The agreement commits the two governments to facilitating RTÉ services in Northern Ireland and BBC services in the Republic of Ireland on a free-to-air basis.

The minister said the agreement provided for an all-island approach to the development of digital television services in Ireland.

More: http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0201/communications.html

mike65

I am already - its a called freesat or generic FTA

Elmo

IsaacWunder wrote: »

What ever became of this? One would think we'd all be watching free BBC by now:

Lobbyist have pretty much push the department of communications into certain rules and regulations. UPC, Sky, BBC Worldwide, TV3, Magnet Networks etc all make money thought the sale of programming from the BBC, to even place BBC 1 and 2 Northern Ireland on a Free basis on DTT would reduce the value of programmes and channels from BBC Worldwide.

Patsy fyre

Rte is fta in Scotland Afaik.

Elmo

Patsy fyre wrote: »

Rte is fta in Scotland Afaik.

There might be some spillover.

Speaking of the law, EU law on this states that no government can prevent the broadcast channels coming from other EU countries, and such stations are governed by the country of broadcast regulations.

e.g. in Sweden their TV3 avoids Swedish regulations by broadcasting from the UK.

IsaacWunder

Elmo wrote: »

Lobbyist have pretty much push the department of communications into certain rules and regulations. UPC, Sky, BBC Worldwide, TV3, Magnet Networks etc all make money thought the sale of programming from the BBC, to even place BBC 1 and 2 Northern Ireland on a Free basis on DTT would reduce the value of programmes and channels from BBC Worldwide.

Is that an allegation or a supposition?

brian_t

Elmo wrote: »

I too am trying not to make the mistake of calling it sky freeview.

I think this is unusual.

Do you receive Sky's Pick TV? Have you removed your card completely from the box?

Have sky being providing Channel 5 and ITV channels on their EPG?

Pick TV (channel 152 & 153) is not available - "insert your Sky viewing card" comes up.

There is no card in the box.

The ITV channels have been available on the EPG since I've had the box (approx 2.5 years) and C5 5USA and 5* since last December

Elmo

brian_t wrote: »

Pick TV (channel 152 & 153) is not available - "insert your Sky viewing card" comes up.

There is no card in the box.

The ITV channels have been available on the EPG since I've had the box (approx 2.5 years) and C5 5USA and 5* since last December

You are receiving FTA Satellite on your Sky Box. ITV* and Channel 5 are not provided to Sky Ireland Customers, those channels are only available via FTA Satellite.


*UPC carry ITV

CRM Ireland

Patsy fyre wrote: »

Rte is fta in Scotland Afaik.

Id never even heard of RTE until I moved to Ireland. In Scotland I had the full sky package, analog terrestrial tv and a couple of UK Freeview STBs. In fact, I also had a Freeview PCI card for my PC. I just moved house here in Ireland and didnt have my satellite bolted to the wall for over a week. I had to endure watching RTE and TV3 etc for the very first time until I setup my Freesat. I cant believe that people actually pay a TV licence for such drivel, and to add insult to injury, they even had commercial breaks!

Freeview is VERY similar to Freesat. The main difference being that one uses an antenna and the other uses a satellite dish.

http://www.freeview.co.uk/

http://www.freesat.co.uk/

Most modern TVs now have Freeview tuners built in, probably the vast majority of HDTVs sold in the UK in the last couple of years will have had an HD Freeview tuner built in.

Given the choice, I would opt for Freesat anyday. There are more channels and they seem to have more bandwidth as the picture quality is better with Freesat even when compared to a Freeview setup with a very strong signal.

Elmo

CRM Ireland wrote: »

Id never even heard of RTE until I moved to Ireland. In Scotland I had the full sky package, analog terrestrial tv and a couple of UK Freeview STBs. In fact, I also had a Freeview PCI card for my PC. I just moved house here in Ireland and didnt have my satellite bolted to the wall for over a week. I had to endure watching RTE and TV3 etc for the very first time until I setup my Freesat. I cant believe that people actually pay a TV licence for such drivel, and to add insult to injury, they even had commercial breaks!

200M v 3B ? I am guessing that BBC will have a higher quality. Bar the Local Varients such as BBC Scotland

CRM Ireland

Elmo wrote: »

200M v 3B ? I am guessing that BBC will have a higher quality. Bar the Local Varients such as BBC Scotland

What does 200M V 3B mean?

Elmo

CRM Ireland wrote: »

What does 200M V 3B mean?

BBC get 3billion in Licence Fee Revenue, in comparison to RTÉ who get less than 200million. I doubt RTÉ would ever be able to spend 15m on a co-production like Band Of Brothers.