BIKE UK - New Cycling TV Channel to launch

AwaitYourReply

I was glancing thru another online forum platform and was surprised that there was no reference to this new channel about to officially launch on SKY Digital in the coming days. This was apparently announced back on 12/11/2015 and is due to formally commence broadcasting on 10th of December on SKY in the UK.

Source: http://www.skymedia.co.uk/news/bike-channel-to-launch.aspx

I am not sure if BIKE UK is only available to SKY UK paid subscribers however; in case it is accessible manually outside SKY (ROI) EPG. It is apparently showing a recording as part of a repeating loop as still testing in pre-launch mode. Perhaps it will be possible to view via "Other Channels" on a SKY Digibox and/or possible to tune in on a Free-To-Air digital satellite set-top-box pointed at ASTRA 28.2 degrees east.

Thursday 10th December is official launch date of BIKE UK on the SKY UK platform so; we may not know for certain if it is officially an FTA satellite tv channel accessible via satellite dish outside UK until then?

Below are the parameters for the channel:

BIKE UK
Channel Label ID: 52290
Frequency: 11.306gHz
Polarity: Horizontal (H)
SR 27.500
FEC 2/3

AwaitYourReply

I'm happy to report that this channel is currently accessible as (FTA) Free-To-Air on my Triax SR110 satellite tv set-top-box while it is in pre-launch testing mode anyway. Hopefully this will remain FTA on satellite however; we may not know for 100% certain until after it's formal launching date this THURSDAY 10th December!

AwaitYourReply

I wonder if BIKE UK channel have bought a lot of rights or any exclusive rights to major Cycling events like the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, World Cycling Championships etc; often covered by other channels over the years such as British Eurosport, Eurosport, itv 4, Channel 4? In fact, the more I think of it, Eurosport has focused heavily on Cycling as a broadcast sport - Anyone know who is behind BIKE channel as all I understand is that it began life in Europe in Italy in recent times. Perhaps the owner of Eurosport are behind this channel too?

icdg

Channel 464 on the Irish EPG, or at least my Sky+ app tells me.

steveon

Still showing up as FTA and currently showing cycling around Ireland very nice :-)

Anyone know if its staying fta?

AwaitYourReply

Well "BIKE" tv channel is currently the only english language (as far as I know) Free-To-Air tv channel dedicated to any sport on my digital satellite box pointing towards Astra 28.2 degrees East.

Obviously the main premium sports channels will always be encrypted however; I wonder will any of the lesser known more niche sports channels follow BIKE and go FTA on digital satellite tv.

Future possible sports channels to go free-to-air on satellite may include some or all of the following in the months/years ahead:

Motors TV ?
Extreme Sports channel ?
BT Sport Showcase channel (Free-To-Air events are sometimes shown on this channel on the UK Freeview DTT system)
Eurosport News
Sky Sports News HQ

Any Other Sports?

lertsnim

Motors TV It's currently FTV. It used to be FTA on Astra 1 but is now encrypted.
Extreme Sports channel ? I don't think it will ever go FTA
BT Sport Showcase You won't ever see that on satellite
Eurosport News Is that even broadcasting on 28.2 east?
Sky Sports News HQ I'd doubt it. They took it off Freeview in the UK

AwaitYourReply

lertsnim wrote: »

Motors TV It's currently FTV. It used to be FTA on Astra 1 but is now encrypted.
Extreme Sports channel ? I don't think it will ever go FTA
BT Sport Showcase You won't ever see that on satellite
Eurosport News Is that even broadcasting on 28.2 east?
Sky Sports News HQ I'd doubt it. They took it off Freeview in the UK

Reason I referenced BT Sports Showcase and Sky Sports News HQ is if the Marketing/Sales divisions at each of these broadcasting companies wanted to tease more & more viewers who are currently not subscribing to their premium products - maybe this would be a more subtle approach. With larger and larger bids required to secure premium sports rights, they surely need to become a lot more aggressive in gaining more subscribers to their premium channels offering. They need to think outside the box if all other parts of their organization are under financial pressure when bidding such enormous amounts of money for premium sports AND/OR movie content.

When I first subscribed to SKY Digital around 2001/2002, we would have received Sky Sports News channel automatically. We also received Motors TV and Extreme sports tv when they first launched and one or both for a short while after we ditched subscription to SKY.

Maybe Eurosport News channel closed down AND/OR was since replaced by Eurosport 2 or Eurosport HD channel? I lost track of what happened here. I think there are fresh plans intended for Eurosport - not just the visual branding (circle of stars replaced by just one star) which was refreshed recently.

Below are interesting news articles on Eurosport you may not have seen yet

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/eurosport-planning-distinct-national-channels-to-deepen-european-reach-34203396.html

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/12/eurosport-rebrand-discovery-olympics

lertsnim

Eurosport News is available in only a few countries which interestingly includes Australia. I used to watch it ahead of Sky Sports News when it was available here and would love to see it again as a full time channel and not as overnight filler for Eurosport 2.

FRIENDO

I don't think sky sports news will be fta, it used to be fta on the freeview platform, however for whatever marketing reason sky took it down.

Eurosport would be great to get fta, the German version was fta on 19e, pity we could not get an english version fta.
However I don't think we will see it fta, as eurosport are pushing their channel on pay platforms, even on an xbox now you can subscribe to a eurosport app.

Bt sport showcase should be fta on 28e, I don't know why they are getting away with not having it on satellite, obviously uefa are satisfied with the freeview platform and have not insisted it goes on satellite.
But being honest, I think bt Showcase is crap compared to Itv, on champions league or Europa nights they often do not show the English/Scottish teams, but two European team's instead.

I hope bt Showcase never ger the fta rights for European club football competition in Ireland, I would also be suspicious that bt are part of the reason that rte on Saorsat are now blocked broadcasting champions league nights.

ftakeith

FRIENDO wrote: »

I don't think sky sports news will be fta, it used to be fta on the freeview platform, however for whatever marketing reason sky took it down.

Eurosport would be great to get fta, the German version was fta on 19e, pity we could not get an english version fta.
However I don't think we will see it fta, as eurosport are pushing their channel on pay platforms, even on an xbox now you can subscribe to a eurosport app.

Bt sport showcase should be fta on 28e, I don't know why they are getting away with not having it on satellite, obviously uefa are satisfied with the freeview platform and have not insisted it goes on satellite.
But being honest, I think bt Showcase is crap compared to Itv, on champions league or Europa nights they often do not show the English/Scottish teams, but two European team's instead.

I hope bt Showcase never ger the fta rights for European club football competition in Ireland, I would also be suspicious that bt are part of the reason that rte on Saorsat are now blocked broadcasting champions league nights.

This bike channel will not show live professional cycling, its just another nothing channel

BT Showcase fta on satellite means nothing in ireland as we have live champions league on rte2/tv3
I have the setanta pack but I have watched some live games on Irish Tv
I have the setanta pack for 10euros per month

FRIENDO

ftakeith wrote:

BT Showcase fta on satellite means nothing in ireland as we have live champions league on rte2/tv3

And I hope it stays like this, as it used to be Itv/Channel 5 who showed uefa champions/Europa league.

Quick question please,
Do any Irish channels show Europa league games anymore FTA?
I know 3e used too.

ftakeith

FRIENDO wrote: »

And I hope it stays like this, as it used to be Itv/Channel 5 who showed uefa champions/Europa league.

Quick question please,
Do any Irish channels show Europa league games anymore FTA?
I know 3e used too.

no europa league on UK/Irish fta tv for the next 3 seasons

its exclusive live on bt sport and setanta ire

FRIENDO

Thanks
Just Bt Showcase on a Thursday.
Luckily I'm in a strong freeview signal area, unfortunately I can't get a reliable saorview signal.

AwaitYourReply

Some viewers who enjoy following various cycling sports coverage on TV were chatting away about the launch of BIKE in the UK on the below Online forum.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/new-sky-cycling-channel

Apparently this channel will also eventually launch on Virgin Media too in the future

Interesting to see it is positioned on a narrow UK transponder beam - one would wonder if they intend to become a more serious player in years to come?

AwaitYourReply

BIKE channel UK may adopt a similar style of programming schedule BIKE channel tv in Italy

I see no Online portal for BIKE UK as yet however; below is the Italian BIKE channel's website for any of those who may be interested in finding out more.

http://www.bikechannel.it/it

mackersdublin

https://twitter.com/BikeChannelSky mentions both Italy and UK Sky numbers Italia: Sky 214 | Uk: Sky 464

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mackersdublin wrote: »

https://twitter.com/BikeChannelSky mentions both Italy and UK Sky numbers Italia: Sky 214 | Uk: Sky 464

It's first launch in Europe was in Italy so; television viewers watching BIKE UK channel should not be too surprised if some of the programmes in the schedule are dubbed AND/OR are in Italian with subtitles from time to time.
The Italian version of BIKE channel's own website had also promoted the fact that BIKE UK was to launch on 10th of December!

http://www.bikechannel.it/it

Mint Sauce

Looking for this today, not on the Freesat EPG, but is under other/FTA channels, and easily found on my generic/aldi box. Any updates if it will appear on the Freesat Platform?

AwaitYourReply

Mint Sauce wrote: »

Looking for this today, not on the Freesat EPG, but is under other/FTA channels, and easily found on my generic/aldi box. Any updates if it will appear on the Freesat Platform?

I have not heard or read anything about it formally launching on the "FREESAT" UK digital satellite platform. The only publicity I have read was on the below link from Sky Media along with brief reference on Bike channel's Italian website.

http://www.skymedia.co.uk/news/bike-channel-to-launch.aspx

http://www.bikechannel.it/it

I am starting to wonder now if BIKE will remain Free-To-Air or if it goes encrypted (e.g.) soft-encrypted requiring an FTV Card (Free-To-View) given that SKY are promoting the channel not FREESAT - if viewing figures are encouraging while the channel is new and unencrypted then they may in time have a plan to scramble the signal.