Vodafone TV

bk

Vodafone have just announced the launch of their TV service:

https://www.vodafone.ie/home/tv/

This is an IPTV based TV service that operates over VDSL/FTTC (and I assume SIRO FTTH for those who have it). Similar to how Eir TV works.

Note that unlike Virgin or Sky TV service, using this service, will impact on the speed of your broadband, just like Eir TV.

Seems that it costs €30 per month for 55 channels and €40 for 80 channels, on top of what you pay for broadband. Multiroom €5, plus €99 for extra box!

Pros:
- HD included for free (I assume most channels are SD, but where HD is available they display that).
- Restart TV (if you change to a channel and it is already half way through, you can restart from the start of the show), nice.
- 7 day catch up EPG (watch anything shown in the last 7 days).
- TV anywhere, on tablets and phones.
- Netflix included for first 6 months

Cons:
- Too expensive IMO
- Channel line up relatively poor, not much more then what you get off Fressat/Saorview for free.
- Multiroom box too expensive.
- Will slow down your broadband.

To be honest, I can't see many people signing up at these prices and with this channel lineup. However extra competition is always good news and in time I expect prices will drop a lot as the competition heats up between Sky, Virgin, Eir and Vodafone (and not forgetting Freesat/Saorview getting better all the time).

channelsurfer2

yep pretty poor lineup. Nothing would entice me to buy it at that price or to change over from my combo box. I guess they are just launching it to keep up with the others. They don't even seem to want to compete.

jimmynokia

Pointless them entering the market just so they can say they are quad players and the price is ridiculous

mackersdublin

Looks like the same channel line-up as Eir

No mention of what HD channels they have

coylemj

Sounds like they want to impress stock market analysts by claiming to be playing in the same 'quad' field as Virgin. Window dressing if you ask me, not to be treated seriously by consumers.

channelsurfer2

The website is confusing compared to the press release... It says that you can have 2 add ons for 6 months on the website but the press release mentions that the add ons will be at 40 euro per month for the 6 months then the normal price of 85 euro after that for example.

https://www.vodafone.ie/aboutus/media/press/show/BAU026746.shtml

I guess the real answer is to go to a store and ask them?

icdg

coylemj wrote: »

Sounds like they want to impress stock market analysts by claiming to be playing in the same 'quad' field as Virgin. Window dressing if you ask me, not to be treated seriously by consumers.

Given the sheer size of Vodafone what they do in one market in an area outside their core business of mobile won't have much bearing on analysts!

To me it's welcome to see another player in the cable market, and there's some interesting innovations on pricing there - no one else is bundling Netflix for example (though given how cheap Netflix is this may not be as good value). To me their weakness, as with Eir, is their fairly weak channel line up compared to Sky and Virgin. Though it is nowhere near the must have that it was in its 1990s heyday, the lack of Sky One and its sister channels will be enough to turn many people off.

bk

Yes, of the 55 channel lineup I count at least * 33 that are available for free on Saorview/Freesat and the remaining channels are very poor ones of little interest IMO. And that ignores the fact that Freesat has well over 80 channels, including popular ones like the ITV's not carried on this service.

* I don't know exactly every minor FTA channel, a few others might be FTA too.

I count at least 43 of the 80 channel lineup, a little better, but not by much.

Of course in fairness, Sky and Virgin also have lots of FTA channels, but the key for them is that they have at least some compelling pay only channels (Sky Atlantic, One, etc.). I see very few interesting or compelling pay only channels in this lineup.

Definitely not worth 30/40, at a stretch maybe 20/30, but to really gain any traction in the market I think they need to offer the 80 channel lineup for €20

Good to see more competition in the market, but both Eir and Vodafone need to try harder and offer a more disruptive product if they want to gain real market share.

They need to be more like Free in France IMO, so far they look like they are just their old slow, uncompetitive selfs and that won't work to gain market share against Goliaths like Sky and Virgin.

With Sky offering their Broadband and their superior satellite TV service for €50 at the moment, this inferior service for €70 to €80 combined is looking very poor.

coylemj

icdg wrote: »

Given the sheer size of Vodafone what they do in one market in an area outside their core business of mobile won't have much bearing on analysts!

The launch of TV in Ireland is part of their big push into additional services, given that the scope for expansion in the mobile market is limited. This is from their half year report covering the six months ending Sept 30th, 2015 ....

Unified communications

We are well on our way to becoming a full service integrated operator, for both households and businesses, in our main markets. We market high speed broadband services to 66 million households across Europe, and through organic investment and acquisition, 42% of these households are ‘on-net’ – serviced by our own fibre or cable infrastructure. In the last 12 months we have extended our own network to reach an additional 3.6 million homes, and we continue to invest to reach more homes and businesses in Spain, Italy and Portugal.

We are achieving strong and consistent customer growth across our footprint. We now have 12.5 million broadband customers, with 0.5 million new broadband customers added in H1. In Europe, we have 11.7 million broadband customers and 9.2 million TV customers, with 47% of our European broadband customers taking a high speed service over fibre or cable.

Wabbit Ears

bk wrote: »

Seems that it costs €30 per month for 55 channels and €40 for 80 channels, on top of what you pay for broadband. Multiroom €5, plus €99 for extra box!
.

I looked at the site and the basic packaghe with 55 channels is 40 euro with the broadband only package. After 6 months that raises to a whopping 70 euro for TV and Just brooadband dual package

Add telephone and the package is still 40 eurpo for 6 months raining to 75 euro after that.

massively expensive IMHO and this is all before you go near Sky sports etc.

tricky2beat

"Seems that it costs €30 per month for 55 channels and €40 for 80 channels, on top of what you pay for broadband. Multiroom €5, plus €99 for extra box!"

That price includes Broadband and TV. Its €40 all in. Then depending if you have the Basic Pack (55 channels plus a choice of either 6 months free Netflix or 6 months free Sports Pack) or the Plus Pack (88 channels and a choice of two of the following - 6 months free Netflix, 6 months free sports or 6 month free wireless multiroom with no €99 free) then the price raises in month 7 to €70 and €80 in total for BB and TV. This is a 18 month contract across FTTC or FTTH

bk

tricky2beat wrote: »

"Seems that it costs €30 per month for 55 channels and €40 for 80 channels, on top of what you pay for broadband. Multiroom €5, plus €99 for extra box!"

That price includes Broadband and TV. Its €40 all in. Then depending if you have the Basic Pack (55 channels plus a choice of either 6 months free Netflix or 6 months free Sports Pack) or the Plus Pack (88 channels and a choice of two of the following - 6 months free Netflix, 6 months free sports or 6 month free wireless multiroom with no €99 free) then the price raises in month 7 to €70 and €80 in total for BB and TV. This is a 18 month contract across FTTC or FTTH

So pretty much terrible value for money.

Sky currently offering broadband + their vastly superior TV service for €49 per month at the moment.

galtee boy

The prices for the two packages are for phone, broadband and tv. Apart from Sky One, Sky Atlantic and Sky Living, what other channels of note are missing ? The ITVs, Channel 5 etc aren't on any platform. I actually think the channel line up isn't too bad. Also, the box appears to be a much more clever piece of kit than a Sky Box and the ability to customise the EPG to suit different members of the family is very clever. If I'm reading the Vodafone site correctly, all channels that have a HD version available, should appear on their EPG in HD, ie. TV3 HD, TG4 HD, BBC News HD and so on. If that's correct, and HD is at no extra cost, then it's a nice bonus.

scargill

I was considering it myself - until I saw this thread!

Things that seem attractive to me:
HD seems to be available at no extra cost
Netflix is free for 6 months.

I already have the Eir broadband bundle (with basic channels). Average monthly bill (including calls) is around €90 + €7 for Netflix subscription.

If I subscribe to Vodafone the same service will be €40 + calls (~€20).

So for 6 months I will be paying ~€60 instead of ~€97, after 6 months it will be ~€87 - still slightly better off.

What would an equivalent package for Sky cost?

Maybe I need to start looking at freeview options!

tricky2beat

Was in a store today and they had a live demo. Turns out you can set and watch recordings across all multi room devices which are also connected wirelessly. Depending on speed you can record 4 shows while watching a 5th. The fast channel switching was really impressive.

found this on newstalk

http://www.newstalk.com/Vodafone-TV-Ireland-channels-Netflix-broadband-prices

tricky2beat

Was in a store today and they had a live demo. Turns out you can set and watch recordings across all multi room devices which are also connected wirelessly. Depending on speed you can record 4 shows while watching a 5th. The fast channel switching was really impressive.

found this on silicon republic and newstalk

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/2016/01/20/vodafone-tv-ireland-10-things-to-know

http://www.newstalk.com/Vodafone-TV-Ireland-channels-Netflix-broadband-prices

Wabbit Ears

tricky2beat wrote:

Was in a store today and they had a live demo. Turns out you can set and watch recordings across all multi room devices which are also connected wirelessly. Depending on speed you can record 4 shows while watching a 5th. The fast channel switching was really impressive.

So local hard disk recording over IP... makes no sense unless they don't have sufficient NPVR rights for the content. Still, Streaming 5 video feed as once seems a bit silly.

helimachoptor

the OH works for VF so been trialing it for a while, basic interfaces but works surprisngly well when you consider it runs over a copper network, the multi room works well.

Channel line is isnt great but to be expected

tricky2beat

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

So local hard disk recording over IP... makes no sense unless they don't have sufficient NPVR rights for the content. Still, Streaming 5 video feed as once seems a bit silly.

Isn't that how they all do it. Do t think any in ireland has NPVR rights. I don't understand your disappointment in the ability to record multiple shows at once. My sky can't do that. Drives me nuts.

Wabbit Ears

It's actually quite impressive. The silly comment is that you have to use a lot of bandwidth to record stuff, A lot of which you may never even watch. You'd be amazed at how little of what people record they ever actually watch!

galtee boy

As with the Eir tv system, this Vodafone TV system will apparently affect your broadband speed. What exactly does this mean ? For example, my broadband speed averages about 60mb ( though I'm supposed to be getting 100mb ), anyway, if I got Vodafone tv which requires minimum 40mb, what would it do to surfing the net on my laptop, watching/ streaming stuff on other devices ?

Also, in their basic package, it says 17 of the 56 channels are in HD and in the plus package it says 24 of the 80 channels are in HD, but it doesn't say which ones are in HD. I've searched, but can't see which channels are in HD, has anyone come across this information ?

bk

galtee boy wrote: »

Apart from Sky One, Sky Atlantic and Sky Living, what other channels of note are missing ? The ITVs, Channel 5 etc aren't on any platform. I actually think the channel line up isn't too bad.

The Sky channels are really very important in the Irish market. Sky 1, 2, Atlantic, Living, Arts, News, Sports News (also less important Pick, Challenge and Real Lives).

To be honest paying €40 per month and not getting these channels is ridiculous!

Also the ITV's, Channel 5's are available via "Other Channels" on Sky, though not recordable.

The ITV's, Channel 5's, etc. and over 80 channels are available for absolutely free, with recording, series link, etc. on Freesat (or Linux FTA boxes).

Most of the ITV channels are also available on Virgin.

The channel lineup of this Vodafone service and also Eir is really pretty terrible for the money they are lokking for. The channels they carry are bargain basement channels and really no way should people be paying such a premium for these channels.

scargill wrote: »

What would an equivalent package for Sky cost?

Maybe I need to start looking at freeview options!

Sky TV + Broadband + Free off peak calls is €49 per month at the moment. Great value for money IMO. However this deal is only available for the next 13 hours, so grab it fast!

BTW Freesat is awesome, once you do it you will wonder why you wasted so much money on Sky, etc. for so many years.

tricky2beat wrote: »

Was in a store today and they had a live demo. Turns out you can set and watch recordings across all multi room devices which are also connected wirelessly. Depending on speed you can record 4 shows while watching a 5th. The fast channel switching was really impressive.

While technically a nice demo, that sounds horrible for people on FTTC.

That would require 5 streams. If those channels were HD, then you would be using about 50Mb/s of your bandwidth, on top of the 15Mb/s lose from swapping to a "stable profile". Very few people would have fast enough speeds to support this and those who do would end up losing most of it if doing this.

To be honest the idea of recording shows locally is so last century. They should really be recording them in the "cloud" and streaming playback as needed.

In fact they most actually be recording to the cloud anyway to support the 7 day replay EPG feature.

I'm not saying that Vodafones platform isn't technically interesting, it is and sounds good. But it doesn't matter how great your platform is technically if you don't have the channels people want and if you charge too much for it!

galtee boy wrote: »

As with the Eir tv system, this Vodafone TV system will apparently affect your broadband speed. What exactly does this mean ? For example, my broadband speed averages about 60mb ( though I'm supposed to be getting 100mb ), anyway, if I got Vodafone tv which requires minimum 40mb, what would it do to surfing the net on my laptop, watching/ streaming stuff on other devices ?

Well first of all they will change you from a variable profile to a "stable profile", so you will lose about 15Mb/s straight off.

For instance if you are really getting 100Mb/s at the moment, then they will change you to a 85Mb/s "stable" profile, even before you start watching anything.

Next you will lose data for each channel you watch or record (streams). How much depends on if the channel you are watching/recording is SD or HD. SD should only use about a reasonable 2Mb/s, but HD would be about 8 to 10Mb/s

So worst case scenario, say you are recording 4 HD channels while watching a 5th, you would end up using almost 50Mb/s, ontop of the 15Mb/s you lost by signing up to this sort of service.

If you do far less simultaneous recording and mostly watch SD channels, then obviously it would have less impact.

BTW The above applies to the majority of costumers on FTTC/VDSL. For those on Siro FTTH, while the same is true, having 1Gb/s of available bandwidth obviously it would be much less of an issue.

galtee boy

bk wrote: »

The Sky channels are really very important in the Irish market. Sky 1, 2, Atlantic, Living, Arts, News, Sports News (also less important Pick, Challenge and Real Lives).

To be honest paying €40 per month and not getting these channels is ridiculous!

Also the ITV's, Channel 5's are available via "Other Channels" on Sky, though not recordable.

The ITV's, Channel 5's, etc. and over 80 channels are available for absolutely free, with recording, series link, etc. on Freesat (or Linux FTA boxes).

Most of the ITV channels are also available on Virgin.

The channel lineup of this Vodafone service and also Eir is really pretty terrible for the money they are lokking for. The channels they carry are bargain basement channels and really no way should people be paying such a premium for these channels.



Sky TV + Broadband + Free off peak calls is €49 per month at the moment. Great value for money IMO. However this deal is only available for the next 13 hours, so grab it fast!

BTW Freesat is awesome, once you do it you will wonder why you wasted so much money on Sky, etc. for so many years.



While technically a nice demo, that sounds horrible for people on FTTC.

That would require 5 streams. If those channels were HD, then you would be using about 50Mb/s of your bandwidth, on top of the 15Mb/s lose from swapping to a "stable profile". Very few people would have fast enough speeds to support this and those who do would end up losing most of it if doing this.

To be honest the idea of recording shows locally is so last century. They should really be recording them in the "cloud" and streaming playback as needed.

In fact they most actually be recording to the cloud anyway to support the 7 day replay EPG feature.

I'm not saying that Vodafones platform isn't technically interesting, it is and sounds good. But it doesn't matter how great your platform is technically if you don't have the channels people want and if you charge too much for it!



Well first of all they will change you from a variable profile to a "stable profile", so you will lose about 15Mb/s straight off.

For instance if you are really getting 100Mb/s at the moment, then they will change you to a 85Mb/s "stable" profile, even before you start watching anything.

Next you will lose data for each channel you watch or record (streams). How much depends on if the channel you are watching/recording is SD or HD. SD should only use about a reasonable 2Mb/s, but HD would be about 8 to 10Mb/s

So worst case scenario, say you are recording 4 HD channels while watching a 5th, you would end up using almost 50Mb/s, ontop of the 15Mb/s you lost by signing up to this sort of service.

If you do far less simultaneous recording and mostly watch SD channels, then obviously it would have less impact.

BTW The above applies to the majority of costumers on FTTC/VDSL. For those on Siro FTTH, while the same is true, having 1Gb/s of available bandwidth obviously it would be much less of an issue.

Thanks for the info. It looks like the Vodafone box is a technically superior box to the Eir and Sky boxes, but from what your saying, it is a broadband bandwidth guzzling beast, especially when it's in full flight ie. recording maybe two or more HD channels, while watching another HD channel and that's assuming you have enough broadband width for it to guzzle in the first place ! The channel line up I could live with, but I would be concerned that what would be left of the broadband width after the Vodafone box was finished, would be like going back to the old dial up days. If there was a trial period where you could give it back if you weren't happy with it, people might try it.

Niemoj

Heard about this months ago but Vodafone seemed to have kept tight lipped, happy to see it finally here as more competition between Sky/Eircom/UPC is always good!

bk

galtee boy wrote: »

Thanks for the info. It looks like the Vodafone box is a technically superior box to the Eir and Sky boxes, but from what your saying, it is a broadband bandwidth guzzling beast, especially when it's in full flight ie. recording maybe two or more HD channels, while watching another HD channel and that's assuming you have enough broadband width for it to guzzle in the first place !

That is an excellent summary. Technically a good platform, but poor channel lineup, too expensive and potentially * a bandwidth guzzler.

* I say potentially, because on FTTH it wouldn't really matter, but for most people who are on FTTC, then it certainly can.

If you are interested in the features of this box, then you might want to wait for Sky's new platform, Sky Q, which is due to launch in the next few months.
Does all the same as the Vodafone platform and more (12 tuners with multiroom streaming support, etc.), but with the superior channel lineup of Sky and no impact on broadband * as it uses satellite for live TV and recording.

* Not for live TV and recording, but obviously it would use broadband bandwidth for VOD services like catchup TV, replay TV, box sets, etc. But should be less impact overall, specially with 12 tuners!

BTW interestingly Vodafones TV platform and Sky Q are both based on the same Cisco IPTV platform and operating system, though obviously with their own implementation on top and differences in delivery (pure IPTV versus mixed IPTV + DVB-S2).

jd

bk wrote:

The Sky channels are really very important in the Irish market. Sky 1, 2, Atlantic, Living, Arts, News, Sports News (also less important Pick, Challenge and Real Lives).

Sky definitely holds on to Atlantic for its own platform. Upc/virgin may have the other sky channels, but that could be for historical reasons.

bk

jd wrote: »

Sky definitely holds on to Atlantic for its own platform. Upc/virgin may have the other sky channels, but that could be for historical reasons.

I think that is more down to the size and number of customers Virgin has and the threat of legal action by competition authorities when Sky withholds them.

In the UK Virgin actually dropped all the Sky channels for about two years, when Sky looked for too much money for the channels. Virgin lost a lot of customers, but Sky's viewership figures also fell greatly and they came under great pressure from the regulators in the UK. Many argue that it resulted in the regulators capping how much of ITV Sky could buy and in the end forced Sky to make Sports and Movies available on all platforms. In the end Sky and Virgin came to a deal and the Sky channels returned to Virgin.

galtee boy

bk wrote: »

That is an excellent summary. Technically a good platform, but poor channel lineup, too expensive and potentially * a bandwidth guzzler.

* I say potentially, because on FTTH it wouldn't really matter, but for most people who are on FTTC, then it certainly can.

If you are interested in the features of this box, then you might want to wait for Sky's new platform, Sky Q, which is due to launch in the next few months.
Does all the same as the Vodafone platform and more (12 tuners with multiroom streaming support, etc.), but with the superior channel lineup of Sky and no impact on broadband * as it uses satellite for live TV and recording.

* Not for live TV and recording, but obviously it would use broadband bandwidth for VOD services like catchup TV, replay TV, box sets, etc. But should be less impact overall, specially with 12 tuners!

BTW interestingly Vodafones TV platform and Sky Q are both based on the same Cisco IPTV platform and operating system, though obviously with their own implementation on top and differences in delivery (pure IPTV versus mixed IPTV + DVB-S2).

I agree, from what I've read, it does appear that the Sky Q box is going to be some piece of kit, but I shudder to think what they will charge for it and it appears that you must use the Sky Q broadband hub/router for the wireless Q multiroom box to work, so presumably that will tie you to Sky's broadband service as well. They are calling it a premium product, so it will mean premium price too, but we shall wait and see.

jd

bk wrote:

I think that is more down to the size and number of customers Virgin has and the threat of legal action by competition authorities when Sky withholds them.

But that would be in the UK?

bk

galtee boy wrote: »

I agree, from what I've read, it does appear that the Sky Q box is going to be some piece of kit, but I shudder to think what they will charge for it and it appears that you must use the Sky Q broadband hub/router for the wireless Q multiroom box to work, so presumably that will tie you to Sky's broadband service as well. They are calling it a premium product, so it will mean premium price too, but we shall wait and see.

For the 4k box, yes, but the 1080 Sky Q box, there are lots of rumours that it might not be too expensive, but we will have to wait and see on that.

Thing is Vodafone are asking for a pretty premium price for their service too, €40 for just 80 channels, most of which are on Freesat!

BTW The Sky Q multiroom can work over either powerline or wireless. Over powerline it requires the Sky Hub, but over wireless it doesn't, so I don't think you will have to have the Sky Broadband service to use it.

jd wrote: »

But that would be in the UK?

Yup, obviously. Though in Ireland UPC/Virgin is owned by Liberty Global, which has massive scale across Europe and even owned many channels of their own, so Sky couldn't bully them around either.

icdg

There was a dispute way back in 1992 when Sky One and Sky News were pulled from what was then Cablelink for about two years. That was a far bigger deal then than it would be now, because in the 1990s virtually all first run US programming debuted on Sky One. It wouldn't be such a deal now. At the time Sky's cable viewing outnumbered direct to home subscribers in Ireland by several multiples, but they weren't selling adverts in Ireland and wouldn't for several more years so they cared more about the carriage fee.

Sky no longer have any wholesale must offer obligations but used to have obligations in respect of Sky Sports 1 & 2 only.

AwaitYourReply

Here's my tuppence worth...

If I'm not mistaken Vodafone Ireland were going to launch into TV market here for quite some time and then Eircom went ahead and relaunched their company's portfolio offering as eir which had already included their iptv service E-vision which was launched in recent years.

Meanwhile hot on the heels of eircom>eir major rebrand came Liberty Global's cable tv division here: UPC Ireland which would also undergo a high profile re-branding to Virgin Media Ireland as per it sister's operations in the UK. In addition to all this, Liberty Global buys out Doughty Hanson & Co. the UK based private equity firm who had owned TV3 Ireland (TV3, 3e, TV3 HD, TV3+1) Television Network Ltd out at Ballymount in Dublin. And if all that activity wasn't enough Liberty Global are said to have been back in merger talks with Vodafone.

My own sense is that Vodafone Ireland eventually decided to proceed with their Vodafone TV to ensure that it could offer the Quad Play option along with other competitors in the Irish market as there is no guarantee or certainty that the merger with Liberty Global will become a reality as these merger exploratory talks have stalled in the past and there is a lot at stake as they carve up the various assets across both company's operations around Europe.

I would agree with those contributors that the Vodafone TV is not price sensitive in general but it's early days and they may want to get it running smoothly and iron out all major teething issues before becoming more aggressive with their competitors in the market. All in all, it is excellent to have more competition in the Irish market as SKY, Virgin Media Ireland would probably charge more otherwise. Competition is usually welcome once there is no cartel allowed to operate in the market.

Sources:
http://www.digitaltveurope.net/477742/report-liberty-global-vodafone-merger-talks-back-on/
http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/vodafone-and-liberty-global-shares-surge-on-deal-reports-34327486.html

mass_debater

Been taking to lads out installing these. They say it's a much better system than what Eir offer but the biggest drawback is no data port extensions or homeplugs, it all runs over Wi-Fi which is ridiculous and will cause no end of issues

AwaitYourReply

mass_debater wrote: »

Been taking to lads out installing these. They say it's a much better system than what Eir offer but the biggest drawback is no data port extensions or homeplugs, it all runs over Wi-Fi which is ridiculous and will cause no end of issues

Well it's a good thing that forums like this are around - this valuable feedback is important for those considering it so that they can at least make an informed decision before they enter into a contract. Unfortunately some people will discover it when it's too late but like most things there are gonna be Pros and Cons with every product and service offering. I'm sticking with my Saorview and Free-To-Air Digital Satellite along with other Online streaming methods which I can't discuss in detail here for obvious reasons.

bk

AwaitYourReply, two other developments in the Irish TV market over the last few months:

1) Eir purchase of Setanta Sport

2) Virgin Media launching replay and 7 day catch up EPG, two of the major new features of the Vodafone platform.

Things are definitely heating up in the Irish TV market and while the Vodafone platform looks technically good, I agree that they look late to the game and a me too service that isn't trying very hard at all, at least for now.

Interesting to note, that in Germany Vodafone owns the largest cable TV operator in the country and they are rolling out this new TV platform across both their DSL/FTTH customers (pure IPTV) and their cable customers (mixed IPTV + DVB-C platform).

So given that and the fact that the platform was created by NDS, the company responsibly for the current Sky platform, it isn't a surprise that it is a technically a very good system. It is obviously designed for a large pan European operator rather then a small Irish company.

However the rollout of it in Ireland looks like a largely box ticking exercise rather then a serious attempt at competition, for now anyway. Hopefully that will change.

bk

AwaitYourReply, two other developments in the Irish TV market over the last few months:

1) Eir purchase of Setanta Sport

2) Virgin Media launching replay and 7 day catch up EPG, two of the major new features of the Vodafone platform.

Things are definitely heating up in the Irish TV market and while the Vodafone platform looks technically good, I agree that they look late to the game and a me too service that isn't trying very hard at all, at least for now.

Interesting to note, that in Germany Vodafone owns the largest cable TV operator in the country and they are rolling out this new TV platform across both their DSL/FTTH customers (pure IPTV) and their cable customers (mixed IPTV + DVB-C platform).

So given that and the fact that the platform was created by NDS, the company responsibly for the current Sky platform, it isn't a surprise that it is a technically a very good system. It is obviously designed for a large pan European operator rather then a small Irish company.

However the rollout of it in Ireland looks like a largely box ticking exercise rather then a serious attempt at competition, for now anyway. Hopefully that will change.

galtee boy

mass_debater wrote: »

Been taking to lads out installing these. They say it's a much better system than what Eir offer but the biggest drawback is no data port extensions or homeplugs, it all runs over Wi-Fi which is ridiculous and will cause no end of issues

Excuse my ignorance here, but does this mean that, the TV box can't be directly wired to your router or am I misreading ?

mass_debater

galtee boy wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance here, but does this mean that, the TV box can't be directly wired to your router or am I misreading ?

Of course it can, just that the installer doesn't get paid to run any cables or to move the modem and must use wireless for multi room boxes or even the main box if it's not beside the modem

galtee boy

mass_debater wrote: »

Of course it can, just that the installer doesn't get paid to run any cables or to move the modem and must use wireless for multi room boxes or even the main box if it's not beside the modem

Ok, thanks .

AwaitYourReply

bk wrote: »

AwaitYourReply, two other developments in the Irish TV market over the last few months:

1) Eir purchase of Setanta Sport

2) Virgin Media launching replay and 7 day catch up EPG, two of the major new features of the Vodafone platform.

Things are definitely heating up in the Irish TV market and while the Vodafone platform looks technically good, I agree that they look late to the game and a me too service that isn't trying very hard at all, at least for now.

Interesting to note, that in Germany Vodafone owns the largest cable TV operator in the country and they are rolling out this new TV platform across both their DSL/FTTH customers (pure IPTV) and their cable customers (mixed IPTV + DVB-C platform).

So given that and the fact that the platform was created by NDS, the company responsibly for the current Sky platform, it isn't a surprise that it is a technically a very good system. It is obviously designed for a large pan European operator rather then a small Irish company.

However the rollout of it in Ireland looks like a largely box ticking exercise rather then a serious attempt at competition, for now anyway. Hopefully that will change.

Oh that's for sure alright - This is definitely a major box ticking exercise going on here from Vodafone where their new Vodafone TV offering is concerned... I'd say if they put off launching their TV platform any longer they might have felt even more compromised by not offering "a Quad play bundle" like the other big names in the Irish market.

Vodafone had been hinted about entering the TV side for quite some time so; they had to launch eventually on their own as the merger talks with another player Liberty Global (owner of Virgin Media Ireland) were start>stop>restart>? with no certainty as to the outcome. Interesting times ahead and maybe it is better if we do have multiple operators in the Irish market with all competing aggressively rather than narrowing it down to a smaller number of players hiking prices.

The Cush

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

In addition to all this, Liberty Global buys out Doughty Hanson & Co. the UK based private equity firm who had owned TV3 Ireland (TV3, 3e, TV3 HD, TV3+1) Television Network Ltd out at Ballymount in Dublin.

Liberty Global didn't buy Doughty Hanson just one of its subsidiary companies, Tullamore Beta Limited, via subsidiary Virgin Media Limited in an agreement with Tullamore Finco Limited.

TV3 is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Tullamore Beta, which was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tullamore Finco. Tullamore Finco is ultimately majority-owned and controlled by Doughty Hanson.

bk

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

Interesting times ahead and maybe it is better if we do have multiple operators in the Irish market with all competing aggressively rather than narrowing it down to a smaller number of players hiking prices.

Oh definitely, though unfortunately we don't seem to have that here. We seem to have 4 big companies now, all increasing prices and busily avoiding really competing with one another.

Here is what I mean from Vodafone, 100Mb BB + 80 channel TV + phone costs €90 per month.

From Virgin 240Mb BB + 100 channel tv + phone costs €85

In Germany meanwhile, Vodafone offer 100Mb BB + 100 channel TV + phone for €40 first 12 months, €60 after that!

Another example Virgin in the Netherlands on the brand Ziggo, offer 120MB BB + 70+ channel TV (29 HD) + phone for €60

And that isn't unusual, €60 seems to be about the norm for such bundles across Europe. We seem to be paying about €30 per month for the same sort of bundles compared to European average. Rip off Ireland IMO.

icdg

The massive cost of sports rights - in particular Sky's rights to the Premier League - hasn't helped the cost of packages here either.

On the whole though, the competition situation is better than it's ever been - up until recently it was either Sky or cable. Before 2002 if you wanted the UK terrestrials and you couldn't pick them up off air, it was cable or nothing.

bk

icdg wrote: »

On the whole though, the competition situation is better than it's ever been - up until recently it was either Sky or cable. Before 2002 if you wanted the UK terrestrials and you couldn't pick them up off air, it was cable or nothing.

Yes, there is far more options now, but it still hasn't really lead to the sort of price competition you would expect. In fact broadband and pay TV seems to be getting more and more expensive! Far ahead of inflation!

When you see that happening, you know there is something badly wrong with the market.

What we really need is an official Saroview/"Freesat" combi box with 7 days EPG and series link. That will really shake things up.

Joeface

Just looked into this myself

Dumped sky a year ago to day as it happens, and from looking at the Vodafone channels that are listed, not gaining much if any thing at all over the FTA and saorview channels.(current setup is triple turned sabunix with plenty of help from the engima2 thread in the terrestrial Tv section)

Netflix full time and maybe an other steaming service included would have been a small enticement but it would have to be under 60 a month after all they would be cutting into my 80meg if I went with it.

mass_debater

bk wrote: »

What we really need is an official Saroview/"Freesat" combi box with 7 days EPG and series link. That will really shake things up.

This is coming, this is the first step....
https://www.saorview.ie/en/news/article/rte-and-saorview-partner-with-freesat-to-deliver-a-next-generation-product

Sam Russell

No mention of a Sat tuner. It is just DVB T2 and broadband with the Metaphore software platform.

The Cush

Sam Russell wrote: »

No mention of a Sat tuner.

Yet.

Tony wrote: »

Its most likely there will be a combi box

Tony wrote: »

Sorry I cannot comment on that right now as I've agreed non disclosure with saorview.

icdg

We might keep that to the thread in Terrestrial

mass_debater

Sorry folks, got some mixed info that I must clarify. The main PVR gets hardwired to the modem by either connecting directly to the modem or a data port extension. The multi room boxes connect by wireless directly to the access point built into the PVR.

tricky2beat

So ordered Vodafone TV a few days ago and got it installed today. I went with the plus pack and got the BT Sports and Multiroom 6 months free option.

A KN installer (odd) did all the work. They had to connect the main box wired to the Vodafone router. That was pretty quick and the TV was working soon after. It landed on RTE HD and the quality was impressive.

He then had to add this little box beside the router. Apparently this is what the wireless Multiroom box needs to work. I've the other TV way back at the end of the house so we were both wondering if it would work. When he turned on the multiroom box it asks to pair and you hit ok. Looks like a basic WPS sync. Straight away 4 large wifi signal bars come up on the display and the to starts installing. This took longer than the main box but we were up and running in 8 mins. I must admit I'm blow away with the Multiroom. The fact that it was wireless and performs exactly the same as the other box. He finally showed me some demos of how to record on one box and access it on another. He did the restart thing and we also launched Netflix (which is available even though I didn't choose it. I can use my own account details)

Still playing around with it and getting to understand the remote. This is way much better than I thought it would be.

I've set a few recordings and will try a few torrents to see how it effects my bb speed. Apparently I'm on 60mb profile. Will keep you posted