some of the confusion with ASO/Digital switch over.

snaps

Thought i'd share this experience with you all. Just shows some of the confusion out there regarding the digital switchover. Got a call from an elderly gentleman who was at his wits end trying to tune a new TV brought in Tesco to receive the soarview channels.
I was passing his house so popped in to see if i could help him out. I checked connections and all seemed well, asked if he had rte reception before he brought the tv, He replied "Yes" (All channels here are from Castlebar UHF). So i tried to scan ch 22, nothing, thought id try Truskmore (As thats another strong transmitter for us here), tried ch 53, Nothing. At a long shot tried ch 48 for Maghera, nothing.

Double checked the coax plug/connection and all seemed well.

Then i noticed a sky box on a cabinet, scart lead and all. I asked the gentleman was he using the skybox for reception before, He replied yes. Asked him where the dish connection was and he told me that it was plugged into the TV! Asked him a 2nd time and he confirmed that the coax into the aerial socket was from a satellite dish and not from an aerial and that he had replaced the f connector with a normal tv coax type plug.
I asked him why he had connected the dish to the tv aerial socket........He replied that he saw the sky adverts saying if you already had sky you where digital ready and he had also saw the saorview adverts saying that the saorview channels where free! So what he had done was cancel his sky sub, thinking that all he needed was a Saorview TV and that needed to be plugged into his dish! Poor lad.

Sam Russell

That comes from the disgraceful way Sky are trying to piggyback onto the confusion of 'Digital Switchover'.

This whole saga has been going on for eighteen months, with RTE and TV3 (and I suppose TG4) ignoring Saorview because they are not getting what they want from Saorview. (RTE want more advertising revenue from extra channels and TV3 want extra advertising revenue from extra channels and a free distribution agreement).

If the broadcasters were serious about it, they would have been telling people (viewers) that they should get Saorview because it gives better quality reception, and more channels. Instead they talk about a switchover on October 24th, like it comes on steam then. Enter Sky, who tell people that if they go with Sky it is easier to go with Sky and they can beleive in better. Unfortunately they forget to mention the monthly subscription, and the fact that the 'switchover' is nothing to do with them.

It is all too late now. Many poor suckers will be watching a blank screen on the 25th, or watching Sky and feeling much poorer.

Ronnie Raygun

snaps wrote: »

... So what he had done was cancel his sky sub, thinking that all he needed was a Saorview TV and that needed to be plugged into his dish! Poor lad.

Boo-hoo, so he'll have to buy an aerial. Interesting to see Sky's advertising backfiring though.

snaps

Ronnie Raygun wrote: »

Boo-hoo, so he'll have to buy an aerial. Interesting to see Sky's advertising backfiring though.

hes folked out on a new tv (Ok he's cancelled his sky subscription), sometimes aerials are a lot harder to install properly than a satellite dish, so its not as simple as just buying an aerial and if i remember right he lives in a dip.

Peter Rhea

snaps wrote: »

(Ok he's cancelled his sky subscription)

That would appear to be his main motivation here, rather than a fear of losing his favourite channels, so that might temper peoples' sympathy somewhat.

Hopefully he can actually receive Saorview at his location without too much bother & with a decent aerial setup & the FTA channels from the Sky box, he should be happy enough.

watty

However renewal is a phone call and minutes ... Still, you shouldn't need Pay TV to get local National TV.

snaps

I just posted this story to show some of the confusion out there.