Saorview ad in Sunday papers

podgeandrodge

Why are Saorview placing ads in the papers encouraging people to go for freesat - "Saorview with free to air satellite" and selling it as a better option than Sky basic or Upc basic - quoting ongoing costs for sky and upc after year 1?

Should they use another platform i.e freesat as a means to encourage a switch to saorview versus pay view? Also, their comparisons are not like for like as Sky or Upc include various channels such as discovery/history in their basic line-up.

This is all under the banner of "Free Digital TV now!" And "The future of tv is here". Maybe they feel without using freesat that would be a bit of a hard sell?

Anyway, I'm neutral - just wondering 1) why 2) should they, and 3) who is paying and who does it serve to pay money (whose money?) for advertising to encourage saorview versus pay tv?

areyawell

Yes its because the boxes are not selling and probably have 10's of 1000's left over. Well Sky sucks and would not give them cent for the programmes they offer, absolute rubbish with repeats. Trying to encourage people who might no know about getting BBC,ITV for free hence encouraging sales.

mike65

I haven't seen the ads but it sounds like they took my suggestion on board! I wrote to digital and told them SKY should not be used as the example of a way to watch UK channels as it conflicted with the whole concept of free telly.

The Cush

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Why are Saorview placing ads in the papers encouraging people to go for freesat - "Saorview with free to air satellite" and selling it as a better option than Sky basic or Upc basic - quoting ongoing costs for sky and upc after year 1?

They are simply advising people that there are sub free options out there other than going down the Sky/UPC route.

UPC and especially Sky have been bombarding us with TV and newspaper ads/flyers about the analogue switchoff and their packages.

The Saorview 200 channel advertising is to counter this with the FTA satellite option.

The Cush

mike65 wrote: »

I haven't seen the ads but it sounds like they took my suggestion on board! I wrote to digital and told them SKY should not be used as the example of a way to watch UK channels as it conflicted with the whole concept of free telly.

This one running since July - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=80008879

watty

areyawell wrote: »

Yes its because the boxes are not selling and probably have 10's of 1000's left over.

Neither RTE or Saorview get a cent from sale of boxes, nor do they buy them, import or stock them.

culabula

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Why are Saorview placing ads in the papers encouraging people to go for freesat - "Saorview with free to air satellite" and selling it as a better option than Sky basic or Upc basic - quoting ongoing costs for sky and upc after year 1?

Should they use another platform i.e freesat as a means to encourage a switch to saorview versus pay view? Also, their comparisons are not like for like as Sky or Upc include various channels such as discovery/history in their basic line-up.

This is all under the banner of "Free Digital TV now!" And "The future of tv is here". Maybe they feel without using freesat that would be a bit of a hard sell?

Anyway, I'm neutral - just wondering 1) why 2) should they, and 3) who is paying and who does it serve to pay money (whose money?) for advertising to encourage saorview versus pay tv?

Freesat? I don't understand. Freesat doesn't carry Saorview channels.

podgeandrodge

culabula wrote: »

Freesat? I don't understand. Freesat doesn't carry Saorview channels.

I didn't say it did.

the cush wrote:

They are simply advising people that there are sub free options out there other than going down the Sky/UPC route.

UPC and especially Sky have been bombarding us with TV and newspaper ads...

Yes, I accept that. But UPC and SKY have a profit making interest in doing so. Does Saorview have a remit of encouraging free (uk) tv take up like a consumer association or is it's only remit to provide free terrestrial digital tv? I thought it was the latter.

Edit: i see saorview is owned and managed by RTE - so do they have a remit to spend licence money? on advertising to get us off pay tv? Why didn't they do this back in analogue days then - same principle as you could add a dish back then as well.

The Cush

culabula wrote: »

Freesat? I don't understand. Freesat doesn't carry Saorview channels.

Saorview terrestrial channels combined the the Free-to-air satellite channels received with a combi receiver such as the Walker WP645 or Triax TSC114

The Cush

podgeandrodge wrote: »

But UPC and SKY have a profit making interest in doing so. Does Saorview have a remit of encouraging free (uk) tv take up like a consumer association or is it's only remit to provide free terrestrial digital tv? I thought it was the latter.

It was simply part of the Saorview campaign to encourage 300,000 analogue only households to switchover to Saorview with the option of further free channels with a satellite dish and no ongoing subscription.

The Cush

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Edit: i see saorview is owned and managed by RTE - so do they have a remit to spend licence money? on advertising to get us off pay tv?

They are not telling anyone to get off pay TV, in fact throughout the camapign they have been saying if you have pay TV you need no nothing as you already have digital TV. They're informing people who have no interest in pay TV there is a FTA satellite option.

MarkK

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Yes, I accept that. But UPC and SKY have a profit making interest in doing so. Does Saorview have a remit of encouraging free (uk) tv take up like a consumer association or is it's only remit to provide free terrestrial digital tv? I thought it was the latter.

The point of the Saorview advertising is to encourage the takeup of Saorview. I imagine the number one question the get asked 'do I get BBC/UTV with Saorview?'. They are just providing information on that which seems perfectly reasonable to me.

I would go further and argue the public should be provided with better and clearer information on how to get BBC NI/UTV by satellite in the wake of the "All-Ireland TV" MOU between the two governments.

culabula

The Cush wrote: »

Saorview terrestrial channels combined the the Free-to-air satellite channels received with a combi receiver such as the Walker WP645 or Triax TSC114

I see. Wasn't made clear in the OP's post.

Capt'n Midnight

What most people want is a Freesat box that also does Saorview / Saorsat so you get the EPG from both, puts the Irish channels at low numbers , and you don't have to go into menus to switch between Irish and UK channels and doesn't cost over €300 for the box alone.

This will give them most of what they get from SKY / UPC at present.


You can spend more if you want. Possibly on the Fox HD box / Technisat one but since T2 tuner will be mandatory on newly approved Saorview boxes in two months time it might be better to wait a wee while unless you like button bashing.

In the meantime to get a UK EPG you can buy a sky box (not sky+) for ~€20 or get a Cheap and chearful Freesat box (SD no bells or whistles)
https://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5321557.htm £28


A Saorview TV + Freesat box gets you most of the way there.



"Freesat from Sky" is just marketing speak for "sky is trying to hijack the freesat brand"

culabula

podgeandrodge wrote: »

I didn't say it did.

"Why are Saorview placing ads in the papers encouraging people to go for freesat - "Saorview with free to air satellite" "

podgeandrodge

culabula wrote: »

"Why are Saorview placing ads in the papers encouraging people to go for freesat - "Saorview with free to air satellite" "

I was quoting the Saorview ad which stated "Saorview with free to air satellite". I didn't say "Freesat carried saorview channels" as you put it but I see how you read it that way.

@ the cush- I understand, but am curious as to:

Saorview is a replacement for analogue so:

1) why wasn't RTE pushing freesat for analogue viewers over the last few years?

2)You say that they are simply "letting people who have no interest in pay tv that there is a FTA satellite option" - but does Saorview have a remit to encourage people to move to free UK tv rather than simply make people aware?

They ARE attempting to encourage people off Pay TV - even if their ads said if you have pay tv you don't need to do anything -because they are now doing cost comparisons.

I agree with MarkK's point that they are probably asked about the Uk channels a lot so I get why they are referring to it - my beef is with them doing cost comparisons to encourage a move to freesat.

I know I am in a minority of one. But I still have the feeling that RTE are spending money out of my licence fee to "compete" with UPC and SKY when there is no need to.

MarkK

podgeandrodge wrote: »

They ARE attempting to encourage people off Pay TV - even if their ads said if you have pay tv you don't need to do anything -because they are now doing cost comparisons.

I agree with MarkK's point that they are probably asked about the Uk channels a lot so I get why they are referring to it - my beef is with them doing cost comparisons to encourage a move to freesat.

I think the reason for the cost comparison on the adverts is more a case of Saorview answering the questions "why is it called Saorview it's not free" by showing it is free once you have spent paid for the necessary hardware and install.
On the surface it may seem that getting a basic Sky subscription is the cheapest way of getting RTE if you are faced with paying €225 for a Saorview box and new aerial.
It makes the point that Saorview is much cheaper in the long term as there is no ongoing subscription.

The Cush

podgeandrodge wrote: »

1) why wasn't RTE pushing freesat for analogue viewers over the last few years?

2)You say that they are simply "letting people who have no interest in pay tv that there is a FTA satellite option" - but does Saorview have a remit to encourage people to move to free UK tv rather than simply make people aware?

Suggest you go to the source, RTÉ/Saorview, for definitive answers.

podgeandrodge wrote: »

They ARE attempting to encourage people off Pay TV - even if their ads said if you have pay tv you don't need to do anything -because they are now doing cost comparisons.

People aren't stupid, give them the information and let them make up their own minds. How much extra is it costing to provide such information?

sesswhat

October 2010: Saorview gets its first public 'launch', coinciding with the availability of the first certified box from Walker.

July 2012: Walker have a new combo box certified. Saorview ad campaign follows to push Saorview with FTA satellite.

October 2012: Still no series link data on Saorview. Waiting for the Walker PVR?

You could say of course that Saorview could not push a particular feature until there was an approved product to support it. It would be a bit of a concidence though to say they only discovered FTA satellite after the Walker combo came out.

Capt'n Midnight

All of the current saorview approved boxes can record can't they , so why no series link ?

It's only a software feature and all the approved boxes can be upgraded over the air.

Also the timings are a little off. It missed the end of Shaun The Sheep :mad:

watty

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

All of the current saorview approved boxes can record can't they , so why no series link ?

Because in the mind of RTENL / RTE, Series Link is for a PVR. The Recording is only tested on boxes with dual tuner and internal HDD. None of the external USB + single tuner boxes meet Saorview PVR spec, so recording was not even tested. They are not certified for recording.

Manufacturers can add extra uncertified features. Some (not all) have an uncertified External USB recording feature with limitations compared to a real PVR (partition size, file size, watch different multiplex to one recording etc).