Re: RTE will be on Sky 28th May 2001

LegacyUser

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> "I have to stay unregistered for reasons of employment"<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Why? What does registering have to do with your job as it isnt your real name?

Anyway, I sincerely do hope you're right and not hoaxing us. Why are u using the Astra1D? I thought it was only for analog satellite. If u are rite, it is terrible shame that NI arent involved as we were lucky enuff to get BBC off them.

LegacyUser

"Also surely the services would be available in N. Ireland, not just the Republic?"

There is no history of RTE being available officially in NI in full (the closest we get here is ntl: sans Home & Away). TV3 & TG4 have never been available apart from overspill (though deliberate overspill at that). Given the difficulty of getting UK channels available in ROI via DSat even though they have been available by other means for some time, I doubt RTE will be available to any part of the UK, even NI, via DSat from the outset - i.e. even if RTE does get on Sky it will presumably be to the Republic only at the start.

Actually, since the Irish Govt seem to want RTE to be available to the entire island their hostility to SkyDigital seems strange. If they'd got off their backsides somewhat sooner with DTT then they might be singing a different tune

LegacyUser

"Anyway, I sincerely do hope you're right and not hoaxing us. Why are u using the Astra1D?"

Astra 1D was used for analogue satellite - true - but it was moved and used for DSat for a good while as Astra had delays in launching 2B etc. It is due to be moved back to the original, 'analogue' position where I think it will be used for german DSat. Maybe RTE are using it for tests, but they will not be using it in the long term.

"If u are rite, it is terrible shame that NI arent involved as we were lucky enuff to get BBC off them."

Maybe I'm not a typical Norn Iron person but I rarely watch RTE when I'm down in Athlone. We've never had it up here and although I could probably get it here in Bangor with a wideband aerial (atm I can get a very grainy RTE ONE/TV3 without sound) I have little desire to.

To be honest before I went down to Athlone I would have quite liked to have had RTE but now I really don't care. On banlance, I'd rather have it than not, but at the end of the day I would probably not go out of my way to get it. Even in Athlone it is suffering from 'ITV Syndrome' where we rarely watch terrestrial since we are usually watch Chorus. Add to that the fact that Net 2 reception is poor and TG4's is terrible - often poorer than UTV analogue.

LegacyUser

Cos of the fact RTE advertise their sports coverage on UTV its fairly clear they want to be up north.

LegacyUser

I can confirm RTE tests from the Astra 1 D bird located at 24 degrees 10.818ghz V I was searching on friday night last a saw RTE1 and Network2 and a test card on the same frequncy. It is not to unusal to find RTE links on some birds say for short peroids of time for news links and outside broadcasts but I have never seen the 2 RTE channels togeather and it is my first time seeing RTE at 24 degrees. I don't use the net often but if I see anything of interest I will report same here.

LegacyUser

Maybe I missed them but I have been checking this satellite all weekend and have not seen the transponder fire up. I thought "Dublin 4" would have been aware of these tests and let us know so we could all see. I hope I'm wrong (it would be great for business) but i remain sceptical on this story as both posts have come from un registered users and nagravision was used for analogue scrambling I've never heard of it being used for digital. Also "dublin 4" has not answered the quesytion of why 1d is being used, test transmissions are usually carried out on the circuit you are going to use ie W1 was mentioned as the uplink to sky or ses in astra 1d's case.

Hope i'm wrong regards Tony

LegacyUser

This is RTÉ's problem and you should take it up with them.

As far as I'm concerned, not having the same deal (until recently) as those living in the UK, despite the fact that UK channels have been available in Ireland for *years* makes the UK channels the priority at the moment.

That said, I respect that RTÉ reception is not good in some areas (mine included - I needed to install an attic aerial to get it as good as I wanted) and that their availability on DSAT would be most welcome (even if I don't think it'll be next month!)

LegacyUser

So, someone else on the forum confirming RTÉ1 & N2 test transmissions. Is this the same person as Dublin4? I still hope that what D4 said is true but WHY use the 1D? If u are an engineer, D4, keep us updated.

LegacyUser

It costs 300,000 ecu's( and thats a very good deal ) for 4 Mb/s to links on a secondary satellite (ie W1,2 or 3) . On top of this its costs about 1000000 ecu's for 4Mb/s on Sky Digital. RTE would want more than a basic 4Mb/s Signal.

On top of this you have royalty problems . Friends are ahead of E4 and Sky on RTE. They are allowed to do this because there is no real spill from rte into the UK market. If RTE are on Satellite they would lose this advantage.

After paying 1.3 million ECU's plus uplink per channel what would RTE achieve financially ? Nothing !!!

I cant see RTE spending this money !

If they want to sell their programmes in the UK , they already have TARA.

In fact putting RTE on Sky Digital would ruin Tara !!

LegacyUser

if RTÉ ever do get on digital satellite i think it would only be in the Republic for a while. how would this change their broadcasting of Friends etc. Tara is aimed at the UK so how would this be affected

LegacyUser

if RTÉ ever do get on digital satellite i think it would only be in the Republic for a while. how would this change their broadcasting of Friends etc. Tara is aimed at the UK so how would this be affected

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I agree. RTÉ is only likely to be available in ROI at any point. (NI with added rights funding from Sky *possibly*, but not without some blocking which already exists on several programmes.) The rights to US films and series will make it completely impossible for RTÉ and TV3 to exist on Sky Digital in the UK and I do not forsee this happening. Tara TV services those in the UK who want *Irish* programming. (Of course, the majority of satellite/cable users probably don't watch RTÉ for the domestic stuff, but rather its good track record for imports.)

LegacyUser

Email2 from TV3:-Dear Will,

Unfortunately, we have no immediate plans to go onto Sky Digital, however, it may be something for the future.

Regards,

TV3

TONY!! Check out Astra 1D tonite and tomorrow nite as these are the nites that D4 said RTÉ would be testing again!
Our digibox supplier has stated that RTE may be coming on Dsat too but didnt know any dates.
Keep u posted on any info i can find.....
Will D
<!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://i-sky.escape.to/&quot; OLDREF="">i-sky</a><!--EZCODE LINK END-->

LegacyUser

Tara for me is not a bad service. At least *some* RTE programmes are live on it. BUT there are no live Gaelic Games or Irish Soccer Internationals on Tara as Setanta Sports have the exclusive rights to these in the UK.

I would be prepared to pay a subscription to Setanta to watch these but the bastards don't even acknowledge email or phone calls from private individuals like myself. Setanta are exclusively for Pubs and Clubs only and do not accept subscriptions from members of the public.

This is a very restrictive practice and at the end of the day the viewing public lose out.

If I could get the Irish terrestrials on Satellite you can bet your bottom dollar I'd watch them instead of Tara. Either that or if RTE want Tara to survive (and I'm speaking as a great supporter of Tara) they should let them show live games as well.

LegacyUser

I'm confused - do Setanta have rights for Gaelic for the whole UK - or just GB? I thought BBC NI had the rights for Northern Ireland - or is that just highlights?

Richard

LegacyUser

You're right Richard. Setanta have the rights to GB and the rest of Europe, BBC NI have the rights in Northern Ireland.

LegacyUser

Tony! Have u checked out to see if RTÉ were testing last nite? Sposed to be testing again tonite. If u're reading, check it out as I can't! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START --><img src="../www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/frown.gif" ALT=":(" OLDREF="http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/frown.gif"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END-->

Will

LegacyUser

ya right !!!!!!seriously why are rte giving no info. about it then

LegacyUser

and why would sky give rte such high EPG no.s and bcc 1+2 lower ones

LegacyUser

Maybe some people in RTE are being smart and staying a few jumps ahead of the politicians. DTT as a platform in Ireland will never get off the ground given the lesuirely timescales involved. If the government think that Dublin's transport problems can wait fifteen years to be solved, then no-one should hold their breath for Digico to be commercially established. A few civil servants probably thought DTT was a good idea and sold it to RTE management as a way of paying for TG4, Lyric and RnaG.

In the meantime, TV3's coverage in significant parts of the country remains poxy at best and the commercial impetus driving TV3 will mean that they will want coverage at a reasonable cost. I am sure that RTE taking TV3 onto its existing transposers will charge more than TV3 leasing space on Sky, whether by itself or by renting space from RTE.

The moral of the story is that if a platform is available it should be used, rather than waiting forever for something that may never happen. As a reminder, it took ten years of procrastination and reports before Telefis Eireann came on the air. The whole Digico project has the dead hand of the Department of Finance all over it.

LegacyUser

Digital TV will not work in Ireland until true Digital TV's come on the market at the same price as analogue TV's.

Sky is so far ahead of Digital TV has no hope in Ireland as a Premium Programme Supplier , anybody with a Sky Dish will not bother to change. Chorus / NTL are arriving into the market too late and will probablly become the second supplier of paid for programming.

At the moment Terestrial TV have the bottom of market , people who do not pay for TV ( with the exception of Licence ) . These will migrate to digital when the digital portable tv costs the same as the analogue portable .