Saorview Missed the Boat

Machinehead

Depending on where you're coming from, the second of two episodes of major national interest begin this weekend. The fact that the Rugby World Cup is starting on Friday, the whole Saorview/2rn/RTÉ/TV3 debacle re TV3 HD is denying thousands of viewers the opportunity the see the games in HD. Secondly we have been festooned with enquiries, some of which would have been (& still are) of major national interest, screened on the Oireachtas Channel but remained beyond those dependant on Saorview. Those without Sky or living outside cabled areas for eVision or UPC loose out on these channels which is a shame on Saorview/2rn as service providers. So it's ITV HD for the RWC & Sky for the enquiries. Bad job Saorview. Rant over.

Sam Russell

There is a hidden agenda going on.

Saorview has 38 hidden channel headers and several HD & SD test channels burning off Mbits. This has the effect of screwing up non-Saorview sets.

Saorview changed their series link coding rending all recording on both Saorview and Freeview recorders (except Walker) devoid of series link - which used to work.

RTE have renewed a commercial contract with Sky - not sure if it is related.

There is some need for an independent review/inquiry.

Harry Palmr

Have you put this to 2RN?

dublinman1990

You should include the Saorsat platform as well if it is allowed to be discussed here that is if the mod may change the location of the thread if possible. With the issues of TV3/3e & UTVI not being on that service; people who use Saorsat have the farcical situation of not having Champions League games on RTE2 HD as these games are blocked on it due to rights issues by being beamed into some parts of the UK.

And also Saorview hasn't even got Irish TV on yet either for those who are on Saorview only after a long SIX Months after it was meant to be launched on the platform.

Sam Russell

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Have you put this to 2RN?

Yes, and got nowhere. I have tried RTE and got nowhere. I have tried ComReg and got nowhere. I have tried BAI and got nowhere. I have approached my TD and got nowhere.

It is all some one else's problem.

Gerry Wicklow

If overspill is the issue then by that logic they should pull it from Mt Leinster, Kippure etc since far more are likely to be watching them from outside the country than on Saorsat.

formerly scottish paddy

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

If overspill is the issue then by that logic they should pull it from Mt Leinster, Kippure etc since far more are likely to be watching them from outside the country than on Saorsat.

Especially from Clermont Carn and Holywell Hill!

kooga

Give the whole lot to arqiva and integrate freeview with saorview and have one common dtt for the entire island.

Oscarziggy

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

If overspill is the issue then by that logic they should pull it from Mt Leinster, Kippure etc since far more are likely to be watching them from outside the country than on Saorsat.

From my point of view I only tried to receive Saorsat because it was there ---- having had success, I have removed the KA lnb .
I don't know anyone local to me who receives Saorsat .......
Regards

TAFKAlawhec

formerly scottish paddy wrote: »

Especially from Clermont Carn and Holywell Hill!

Mt. Leinster
Kippure
Clermont Carn
Holywell Hill
Truskmore
Carin Hill
Three Rock
Moville
Carlingford
Monaghan

At least all of the above reach viewers in parts of Northern Ireland, Wales and/or Isle of Mann.

You might also add Letterkenny and Malin if the Saorview coverage checker is anything to go by.

Gonzo

kooga wrote: »

Give the whole lot to arqiva and integrate freeview with saorview and have one common dtt for the entire island.

while that is highly unlikely to ever happen I am kinda surprised that Channel 4 and E4 are not on Saorview as they do have Irish versions of those channels. Would have thought that BBC would have tried to get the 4 bbc's on there as well.

The BBC wouldn't be allowed to by charter. Unless someone was willing to pay BBC Worldwide. But who?

khumbu

Does BBC Worldwide charge for "BBC World"

No, it's free to carry once you get permission. Someone would still have to pay the transmission charges to 2RN of course.

khumbu

Karsini wrote: »

No, it's free to carry once you get permission. Someone would still have to pay the transmission charges to 2RN of course.

2rn pricing structure needs to be modified to allow deals to be offered to broadcasters or BAI mandate all PSB channels be transmitted in HD on saorview (& saorsat). Its must be cheaper now to broadcast HD with saorview on all transmitters than it was to broadcast SD on Analogue from just main transmitters as TV3 was.

Sam Russell

khumbu wrote: »

2rn pricing structure needs to be modified to allow deals to be offered to broadcasters or BAI mandate all PSB channels be transmitted in HD on saorview (& saorsat). Its must be cheaper now to broadcast HD with saorview on all transmitters than it was to broadcast SD on Analogue from just main transmitters as TV3 was.

There is only one multiplexor service for all of Saorview, so all Saorview transmitters send the same signal. Currently two muxes are used which has capacity for all main channels to be in HD. The reason they are not in HD is the fault of ComReg for agreeing a poor charging model that charges for bandwidth used. Unused bandwidth is ignored. As a consequence, if all main channels were in HD, there would be little difference in the charges, but if, say UTVi went HD, they would double their transmission charge.

The sensible option would be if RTE took over mux1 and paid 2RN €6m per annum, and the other three broadcasters split the €6m between them, they could all have one HD channel and one SD channel each.

Another change has to be to allow RTE to sell advertising on the two SD channels. It would require RTE 1+1 to become RTE Plus or RTE Three, and RTE News Now to become a real stand alone news channel with its own journos.

It is TV3 who forced the current charging model.

decor58

Before dso the hope was to have BBC on saorview but someone got confused between fta and free to view ( who pays the carriage costs).

Sam Russell

decor58 wrote: »

Before dso the hope was to have BBC on saorview but someone got confused between fta and free to view ( who pays the carriage costs).

You are talking about the Memorandum of Agreement which was signed, and then rewritten. The UK Government was supposed to pay but refused. The Irish Government pays for the NI mini-mux.

The Cush

Sam Russell wrote: »

You are talking about the Memorandum of Agreement which was signed, and then rewritten. The UK Government was supposed to pay but refused. The Irish Government pays for the NI mini-mux.

This is incorrectly repeated here occasionally, the text of the MoU wasn't changed only the press release from the 2 governments, both governments still link to the original signed document. See post #1 here for the text posted from the MoU before the changes to the press releases happened, no mention of BBC being FTA.

Changes to the press release text - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=64337941#post64337941
Original UK press release - http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100408145658/http://britishembassyinireland.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/pdf1/digital-tv-press-release

UK MoU link - http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100407154013/http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/media_releases/6613.aspx/
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100407154013/http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/UK-NI-ROI_MOU_Feb_2010.pdf[/QUOTE]

Irish MoU link -
http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/communications/en-ie/broadcasting-media/Pages/Memorandum-of-Understanding.aspx
http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/communications/SiteCollectionDocuments/Broadcasting%20Policy%20Division/UKNIROIMOUFeb2010.pdf

The BBC aren't interested in providing their channels to Saorview. There is no requirement for them to do so on a FTA basis in the MoU and they never engaged in the process - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=85803555.

Regarding the NIMux, RTÉ pays for the carriage of its channels on the mux and the UK government pays for the carriage of TG4 as per its commitments in the Good Friday Agreement - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=74941960.

Sam Russell

The BBC were never consulted on the MofU so it is not surprising they refused to be involved. My understanding was there was to be a reciprocal transmission agreement for re-transmission and that instantly fell apart when the BBC were brought into it. Hence the revised text in the press release.

Because of Freesat, it is irrelevant anyway.

TAFKAlawhec

Also worth remembering that the RNI multiplex in the north is just a 3 transmitter network running on quite low power of maximum ERPs of just 2kW, 1kW & 16w. What helps coverage here is the rugged transmission mode but even still only has restricted coverage, no transmission from Limavady for example. While I haven't been able to find concrete costs for running the multiplex, I doubt the running costs are excessive (with RTÉ looking to possibly running their own NI opt-out advertising also) - certainly compared to the cost of setting up a multiplex for the BBC channels across the whole Saorview network.