"RTE crisis as BBC exits Sky satellite " !

Charles Slane

A remarkable story has appeared on the front page of today's Sunday Business Post written by Sean Mac Carthaigh, the paper's Political Correspondent - http://www.thepost.ie/web/DocumentView/did-864966657-pageUrl--2FHome.asp

The headline "RTE crisis as BBC exits Sky satellite " is followed by

"RTE is facing the biggest crisis in its history. The station's bosses fear that it may soon be relegated to the B-list of European television channels.


The looming crisis stems from the BBC's unexpected decision to make all its stations available free on satellite from the end of next month.

RTE's stark choice is to either join BBC on the free satellite system and lose the ability to negotiate separate Irish rights to popular programmes, or to stay on the Sky-owned platform and lose a huge chunk of its viewers.

The organisation's director general Bob Collins has written to his opposite number at the BBC, Greg Dyke, in the hope of finding a solution, but most industry analysts are pessimistic. The RTE Authority has already discussed a bleak, 20-page report on the future for the station in the light of the development.

The Minister for Communications, Dermot Ahern, is also concerned. Ahern said last night the move had forced a re-thinkof his plan to roll out a 35 channel, all-Ireland digital terrestrial television system.

But he said he remained completely committed to delivering all-Ireland television - which is part of the Good Friday Agreement - whether terrestrial or satellite.

The BBC's decision stunned the television industry, and is being seen generally as a courageous blow struck by the organisation for its own independence.

Currently,the BBC pays Rupert Murdoch's Sky €85 million a year to be on the BSkyB satellite. ITV and Channel 4 are almost certain to follow the BBC onto the new platform.

The footprint for the free satellite covers all of Britain and Ireland. This means that anyone in Ireland will be able to buy a small satellite dish and box and receive all the British channels for free, forever. Viewers will be able to pick up RTE, Network 2, TV3 and TG4 only with "rabbit ears" or an outside aerial.

Studies show that because switching from satellite to a traditional aerial is cumbersome, most viewers will not bother.

The Irish stations expect a massive fall-off in viewers.

If the Irish stations join BBC on the free satellite, however, the companies that sell the rights to top series will charge them up to ten times as much, because they are broadcasting to Britain too. In effect, this will mean Irish stations will not be able to afford to buy the latest episodes, and have to make do with running old shows already seen by most viewers several months previously on British stations.

"RTE is concerned about the implications of these proposals for the acquisitions of rights for programmes, both domestically and internationally," said Cathal Goan, head of RTE Television.

Ironically, Greg Dyke has also met with some criticism from within the BBC. Programmers at BBC Scotland and BBC Wales say the top slot on the on-screen programme guide used by the free satellite viewers will inevitably be BBC London, relegating them to further down the list. On the "electronic programme guide" of existing Sky customers, it is likely that all of the BBC stations will be relegated, partly as revenge for Dyke's temerity in establishing a rival platform.

Also concerned are cable companies such as NTL and Chorus.

Many of their subscribers will ask themselves why they should pay a monthly fee as infinitum for something they can get free after a once-off purchase. "

This article seems to me in general to be badly-written, sensationalist and ill-informed. However the fact that it's on the front page of a national paper will surely get some people worried.

So is there any truth in the report that RTE are scared by the Beeb's move ? And could they really consider a move to FTA themselves ?

Of course the fact that there is a reference to the "BSkyB satellite" undermines the credibility of the article (since no such satellite exists - it's Astra or Eurobird), and I also wonder why the article was written by a Political Correspondent instead of a Media Correspondent (Catherine O'Mahony ?).

So should we be writing to SBP to pu them right on some things, or are there elements of truth in this ?

Is RTE running scared ?

ballooba

If the Irish stations join BBC on the free satellite, however, the companies that sell the rights to top series will charge them up to ten times as much, because they are broadcasting to Britain too. In effect, this will mean Irish stations will not be able to afford to buy the latest episodes, and have to make do with running old shows already seen by most viewers several months previously on British stations.

Emmm...

4 million (A) = 1 (B)

44 million (A) = 11 (B)

Where A is potential audience / potential targets to advertisers.

Where b is the cost to show programmes.

[edited because post was badly phrased]

Cork

The way RTE has largely ignored digital radio & TV means that it is at the mercy of others.

RTE should have developed decent programming years ago. TV3 is tied to Granada. TG4 make pretty good programmes on a shoestring.

RTE gives us Fair City. The chickens are surely coming home to roost for them.

byte

Currently,the BBC pays Rupert Murdoch's Sky €85 million a year to be on the BSkyB satellite

I thought it was 85 million over the 4 years?

It will be very interesting to see how all this will pan out for everyone. There will be implications for RTE, other network channels and indeed Sky who I think are selling subs in ROI on the strength of BBC being on Family Pack. This is why I would think that June 1 would be a good time for Sky to add UTV and Channel 4 to their Family Pack, as from then, BBC will be FTA.

Roll on June 1st!

Charles Slane

Of course RTE (and TG4 and TV3) have a contract with Sky for carriage on the platform, so it's unlikely that they could go FTA any time in the near future. Unless of course the government got involved in much the same way that they've scuppered the Sky Sports deal.

I also find this bit very interesting -

"The Minister for Communications, Dermot Ahern, is also concerned. Ahern said last night the move had forced a re-thinkof his plan to roll out a 35 channel, all-Ireland digital terrestrial television system. "

I wonder if that "rethink" is just another way of saying that they've found an excuse not to have to bother their a*ses trying to come up with a terrestrial digital plan. How bizarre to blame it on the BBC going FTA on satellite.

Also if the Irish channels were to go FTA with a beam that covered both Ireland and the UK, and the rights issues were sorted, the Irish channels would be very popuar indeed with the earlier showings of so many programmes and films. I can't imagine the UK terrestrials being at all happy about it.

By the way, I was going to tack this article onto the end of the "BBC FTA" thread, but I felt that there were a lot of other issues raised by the article, principally the idea of RTE's complications - hence the new thread.

Lennoxschips

RTE1 and Net2 on FTA satellite, even without the latest episodes - would be a major source of income for RTE. Think of all the Irish diaspora in the UK and Europe who would suddenly be tuning in to watch the 6.01 news. This would not go unnoticed by advertisers!

The whole thing would be a blessing in disguise really. It will force RTE to stop shelling out to buy rights for American shows and British football and make them pump some money into home grown productions instead!

But I've heard that the idiots at RTE have signed up with Sky untill 2008(!) so we shouldn't get our hopes up.

However, the people that should be worried the most about this whole BBC FTA thing should be Sky Ireland, Chorus and NTL. Let's face it, if everyone can get the British terrestrial in channels in crystal clear reception for free after buying a cheapo fta receiver, who the hell is going to sign up for cable tv anymore?

Cork

What is the time scale that :
BBC will cease to be on SKY & set up their free to air service in Ireland?

Capt'n Midnight

It's very simple - you don't show the american shows...

Italian FTA channels scramble certain events on satellite - eg F1 / movie premieres / some football matches / some documentary premieres. Also BBC Radio 4 can have different programs on FM & LW (bloody cricket) - even Irish radio has rregional variations..

Not really a problem - RTE do have archive material so they can fill up airtime easily.

Hang on - they usually show Films & Series about two weeks ahead of the UK channels - so definitely a marketing op. there since they will now have 44m extra customers

---

I've said it before about NTL - if they can't offer BB and people can get the UK terresterials FTA and they are not under cutting SKY for the same channels - the future don't look bright. Shame 'cos they have been providing more or less uncapped BB in some parts of Dublin for years at a fraction of what the Telco's are even after all the recent hype and price cuts.

DMC

Originally posted by Cork
What is the time scale that :
BBC will cease to be on SKY & set up their free to air service in Ireland?

Cork, they wont be directing a free to air service in Ireland, we will be fortunes to overspill.

cgarvey

Originally posted by Capt'n Midnight
Hang on - they usually show Films & Series about two weeks ahead of the UK channels - so definitely a marketing op. there since they will now have 44m extra customers

Yes, but they only have rights to show in Ireland, not in UK. Next question is can they afford the extra rights costs to show in the UK.

johnnyq

How can RTE lose lots of its viewers by staying with Sky, since many people in Ireland have aerials anyway?

Originally posted by Charles Slane
I also find this bit very interesting -

"The Minister for Communications, Dermot Ahern, is also concerned. Ahern said last night the move had forced a re-thinkof his plan to roll out a 35 channel, all-Ireland digital terrestrial television system. "

I wonder if that "rethink" is just another way of saying that they've found an excuse not to have to bother their a*ses trying to come up with a terrestrial digital plan. How bizarre to blame it on the BBC going FTA on satellite.

I think what he's getting at there is the fact that a DTT system in ROI wouldn't make much sense, if the channells for which you would have to pay a small charge for, on it , were free on a digibox.
mm

DMC

Originally posted by cgarvey
Yes, but they only have rights to show in Ireland, not in UK. Next question is can they afford the extra rights costs to show in the UK.

No chance!

Icehouse

Came across this and found it interesting - the BBC move may well change some of the points alluded to within... http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/telecoms/regulatory/publiconsult/comments/barriers_to_widespread_access/hawkinsdavid.pdf

On the subject of rights, surely RTE/BBC/whoever have the right to broadcast FTA to their target audience via satellite without having to pay rights for what they regard as overspill, assuming of course that they have done all within their power to reduce overspill (i.e. used a low powered satellite which is aimed only at their country, or as close to as is possible, i.e. Astra 2D).

RTE should be happy about this - they can sit back and watch how BBC deal with all of the above issues (including whether Sky's stranglehold on the market is loosened) and then, if the Beeb have proven they don't have to pay extra programme rights, happily go FTA....

BrianD

I would have thought that a Freeview system in Ireland would be a roaring success - though I would suspect that it may be a long time covering the cost of roll out. Who wants to pay €720 to Sky or €336 to NTL for digital channel when you could get your essential core channels plus a few bonus channels for a once off payment of, say, €145? Success would depend on having access to UK terrestrials.

With a Freeview system we have our own DTV platform without relying our foreign co's who contribute nothing to Irish broadcasting (Remember Sky customers - your VAT payments go straight to the British Government).

Our Minister for Communications, the lazy BCI and Irish broadcasters need to get the finger out and start mapping out in a proactive fashion the future of indigenous Irish broadcasting.

colinsky

here's my response to this article from elsewhere.

Perhaps RTE might get more bang out of its buck (er...euro) by reducing its number of stations.

Yes, many of the important US shows are popular, but being able to watch 24 or Scrubs one week before the BBC or Sky One really isn't that strong a marketing point. Showing imported shows doesn't show off the channel as a significant European Presence. Neither does showing Euronews for 12 hours a day.

RTE DOES have some strong home-grown shows, espeically in some of its archive material that it digs up and re-shows. There's been a handicrafts series that has been shown lately on early evenings. That Duncan Stewart guy who does the Eco-homes shows. Even Ballymaloe. I remember a nice documentary about the restoration of Farmleigh house, and another one about immigrants living in Dublin. RTE also does some good sports commentary. And the Dail programming is always entertaining, but on late.

They also have some strong locally-grown radio. Lyric FM, for instance, generally holds its own against BBC3.

Put RTE1 and RTE2 together, drop the US crap (especially the sitcoms!) and you have a pretty good european station. It's English-language so it has many of the same benefits internationally as the BBC. There's a large Irish overseas presence (even in the US) which should allow good RTE shows to be licensed international, rather than vice versa.

RTE's strongest brand, though, is TG4. I regularly watch TG4 programmes -- documentaries, dramas, comedies, films, and I know VERY little Irish. That's EXACTLY what makes good "European Television" -- good programming. Programming that people will watching, because it is entertaining, no matter what language it is in. That Hector guy has a good travel show. That lady with the RTE-1 travel show may be cute, but her show is generic -- as is BBC's holiday. Package tours, holidays in the sun, blah. That's a brand.

Quite a lot of European TV is "look, girls in Bikinis". BBC has good programmes that surpass that. So does RTE. They just need to work out how to market it.

LFCFan

Originally posted by Capt'n Midnight
I've said it before about NTL - if they can't offer BB and people can get the UK terresterials FTA and they are not under cutting SKY for the same channels - the future don't look bright. Shame 'cos they have been providing more or less uncapped BB in some parts of Dublin for years at a fraction of what the Telco's are even after all the recent hype and price cuts.

half the reason BB is so bad in Ireland and so expensive is because there is no Cable operator offering widescale BB so there is feck all competition. Cable Internet has driven down the price of ADSL in other countries. This is not the case in Ireland.

Charles Slane

Originally posted by colinsky
RTE's strongest brand, though, is TG4.

I know that RTE have to provide a certain amount of programming to TG4, but I don't think RTE own the brand.

I'm surprised that TV3 haven't pitched in with a comment about BBC's FTA plans.

DMC

That would show Granada's true hand. And like ITV, TV3 are waiting in the long grass on this one.

Shinji

Colinsky is absolutely correct in his assessment of the situation - but I doubt there's anyone in Montrose with the foresight to see that.

If the BBC is going to be providing its channels FTA to Ireland - by accident or on purpose - then there is no point in RTE continuing to shell out for American sitcoms and the likes.

In many ways, this is actually the SOLUTION to the problem which RTE has, namely that it's an increasingly irrelevant broadcaster. If all of Ireland can get the Generic TV Pap (which RTE currently blows massive budget on) from the BBC, then RTE can knuckle down and focus on creating local programming for an Irish and Irish-European audience.

Without the expenditure of paying for international programming and sporting events, RTE could probably even FINALLY do the decent thing and stop operating as an advertising platform - instead surviving on TV licensing revenues - or indeed do vice versa, and become a wholly commercial entity while dropping the TV licensing system.

The BBC FTA move has given RTE a chance to evolve; and equally it has given it an ultimatum, in that if it does not evolve now, it will die as viewers leave and advertisers leave with them.

Charles Slane

Originally posted by Shinji
If the BBC is going to be providing its channels FTA to Ireland - by accident or on purpose - then there is no point in RTE continuing to shell out for American sitcoms and the likes.

The majority of American sitcoms and other US programmes that RTE show are not shown on the BBC (eg Friends, ER, That 70's Show, Scrubs, Frasier etc), so they wouldn't be taking viewers from RTE for those shows.

I also consider the availabilty of these shows to be very important to RTE's popularity in Ireland. Quite a few of them (ER, Friends, Scrubs) are usually in the Top Twenty ratings.

If RTE were to go FTA, the only viable option would be to have blank screens or alternative programming when the rights were not available.

I don't want that to happen.

So is there another solution ?

watty

The real crunch will be in 2004 when ITV contract for encryption expires!

johnnyq

So,

BBC Contract ends : May 2003
ITV Contract ends : ??? 2004

when do the CH4 and CH5 contracts end, and will they follow the BBC???????????????????????????

TVDX

Channel 4 state that they are in a quote "long term contract" with SKY.
But industry figures have suggested that if the BBC move goes off well, and if ITV follow suit, they will have no choice.

Its probably more complicated in their case though, as you have to remember they have premium channels like Film Four, and of course Attheraces and E4, all of which require conditional access system usage. They cant just give them away.

Five could do the move very easily and happily i think!.

Capt'n Midnight

There is nothing stopping C4 leaving some channels with SKY .
They could also encrypt them videoguard/mediaguard or whatever from the new satellite - they could transmit on both during a transition period..

At the end of the day these questions are all financial and political not technical...

Also digiboxes have a pcmcia type slot so they could be retrofitted with a CAM that takes viewing cards for non-SKY decryption - again the constraints that have stopped this happening thus far are mainly financial and political rather than technical.

Charles Slane

I had Channel 5 for years on analogue.

At the time they weren't at all concerned by the fact that they were available to all Sky subscribers in Ireland. Ther was never a mention of rights issues.

Hopefully they'll eventually have the same attitude to the digital feed.

johnnyq

is it still on analogue??????? ? ? ?

dmeehan

Originally posted by johnnyq
is it still on analogue??????? ? ? ?

nope, the analogue (sat) transmission was closed a good while ago

johnnyq

Originally posted by charlie2000
very complicated

yes, you are Charlie:rolleyes:

johnnyq

Edit: Charlie2000 rubbish

West Briton

Moderators please note.

Tony

Originally posted by West Briton
Moderators please note.

Note what??

johnnyq

Earlier on some idi*t named Charlie2000 totally spammed up the board

He obviously got loose from his chain :rolleyes:

johnnyq

I think (I hope ) he was banned?, all seems quiet anyway

hamster

I think the FTA is a good delvopment for many people in Ireland. Not everyone is going to pay 720 Euro or a subset of for Sky's services. The churn rate will rise if BBC go ahead with their decision. I wonder will the ex-sky dishes be able to pick the FTA transmission (replacing the box perhaps)?

watty

Bangs head on wall...

You won't need a different receiver. Unless you want stuff from Hotbird that is not Digibox compatible like VOA/CSpan TV.

The Sky digibox is owned by user unlike Chorus/NTL etc.

The Sky box does receive any FTA transmission oin SR27,500 and SR22,000

The BBC will be receiveable on ANY digibox.... Though the free BBC epg channels will only be via "Other Channels" or repower box with a blank card (or upside down ROI card) will display the BBC channels on EPG.

UK FTV cards or UK cancelled/active subscription card users will be unaffected.

BBC1 NI and BBC2 NI will still be 214 and 215 on active ROI subscriber at family pack or higher.

hamster

Well that's just plain groovy then...

Charles Slane

More from the Sunday Business Post on this issue -

http://www.thepost.ie/web/Home/Document%20View%20Business/did-46676753-pageUrl--2FBusiness-2FNews-Features-2FAll-New-Features.asp


"RTE could join forces with BBC on imported shows

27/04/03 00:00

By Sean Mac Carthaigh
RTE hopes to survive the BBC switch to free satellite by co-operating with the British giant in screening and buying rights to foreign programmes, The Sunday Business Post has learned.

Station insiders say they will be "flexible and imaginative" in their battle to keep viewers, and that they have not ruled out eventually joining the BBC on the free satellite.

Montrose bosses fear that the BBC's unexpected decision to make all its stations available free on satellite from the end of next month could relegate RTE to the B-list of European television forever.

RTE must choose between staying on the Sky-owned platform and losing large numbers of viewers, or joining BBC on `FreeSat' and losing the capacity to negotiate separate Irish rights to popular programmes like Friends or The Sopranos. The government is also concerned about implications relating to sovereignty.

RTE's director general, Bob Collins, is said to be in regular touch with Greg Dyke, his opposite number at the BBC. Sources say that Collins wants Irish and British channels to co-operate in purchasing the rights to screen programmes.

Increased co-operation could take a variety of forms, all of which would benefit RTE,TV3 and TG4.

For example, the Irish stations might all decide to go on the free satellite, acknowledging that, in effect, it ends the concept of exclusively Irish rights to programmes, and agree to `sub-let' rights from BBC, ITVand Channel 4.

The Irish stations may also follow the simulcast' model pioneered by Canadian television stations whose viewing figures were being gobbled up by larger US stations.

The simulcast system means that whenever a hit show is being screened on a US network, it is usually screened at the same time on a Canadian one. In this way, Canadian stations have kept not only their viewers but also their local advertisers.

If the Irish stations went on the free satelite, they would be still available to viewers with Sky digiboxes.

But RTE fears that Sky would demote the Irish channels to the bottom of its onscreen electronic programme guide (EPG) which viewers use to surf the channels.

One way around this would be to co-operate with an independent manufacturer of satellite receiver boxes and ensure that the Irish channels were pre-programmed at number 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The EPG issue has also generated opposition within the BBC.

Bosses at BBC Scotland and BBC Wales fear that viewers will tune their satellites to the main BBC stations for the London area, and not bother watching their local variants.

UTV executives are likely to share the same fears if ITV follows BBC onto FreeSat.

Explained: Satellite TV's brave new world

Its channels will still be available on the Sky network, but from next month you won't need a Sky decoder card to watch BBC channels on satellite. The satellite `footprint' covers Britain and all of Ireland, so anyone with a dish should be able to point and watch.

Why is the BBC doing this?

To save money, and also to break Sky's stranglehold on satellite television in Britain.

The BBC pays to use the Sky encryption system, which allows viewers `conditional access' to BBC, so satellite viewers in Ireland get BBC1 Northern Ireland, while those inWales get BBC Wales.

It also pays Sky to put BBC1 and BBC2 at the top of the on screen `electronic programme guide' (EPG), which viewers use to find out what is on.The BBC expects to save €123 million ayear, as well as to offer an alternative to Rupert Murdoch's Sky system.

Isn't this good news?

It's great news! The BBC has eight digital channels and 15 regional channels. People all over Ireland will be able to watch early editions of Eastenders on BBC3, high-quality documentaries and profiles on BBC4, Bob the Builder on Cbeebies, the children's channel and even - should it be their predilection - proceedings in the House of Commons on BBC Parliament.

Because the BBC is so powerful, other British channels - ITV, ITV2, Channel Four, E4 and Five - will probably also join the move to what is being called `FreeSat'.

What about RTE?

RTE1, Network 2,TV3 and TG4 are not on FreeSat.They are on the Sky satellite system, but only available to people in the Republic.

What's the problem?

None, from the viewer's perspective. From next month, people in the Republic will be able to watch Irish channels using a normal house aerial - or even `rabbit ears' on top of the television - and switch to satellite to watch the BBC channels.

So why is RTE worried?

Because its bosses have seen the surveys and the studies, and they know that once people switch over to the satellite, it is very hard to get them up off the couch to switch back to RTE. They will surf the ever-increasing number of FreeSat channels instead.

Over time,the four Irish stations could descend into a vicious spiral, losing viewers, then losing advertising revenue as a result, then cutting back on spending, then losing more viewers, and so on.

Then why doesn't RTE just join BBC on FreeSat?

That's tricky. It's all to do with the rights to programmes.

Until now, the Irish channels have been able to negotiate with the big American companies on the basis that only the viewing population of the Republic could see certain programmes.

But if RTE were on a satellite that 55 million people in Britain could see, then the rights to screen programmes like Friends, The Sopranos, ER or The Simpsons would cost a lot more - so much more, in fact,that RTE couldn't afford to pay.

And the GAA, for example, might not be too happy about not being able to sell separate rights for championship matches to Britain.

What would happen then?

The Irish channels would have to screen exclusively home-made programmes or buy older programmes on the cheap.

Home-made programmes are very expensive to produce. Irish viewers are less likely to watch an episode of The Sopranos on RTE if they have already seen it six months ago on Channel 4.

Who else is worried?

The cable companies are terrified.With FreeSat, after a once-off payment for a dish and box, it is free forever. Most people only pay their hard-earned cash every month to Chorus and NTL because they have no other way of getting anything other than the four Irish stations.

Viewers were resentful that they could do nothing when the cable operators axed Eurosport and TV5, while failing to deliver on their promises of broadband internet and phone service.

The cable companies fear that these people have been waiting in the long grass for this moment, and will relish the prospect of dumping them - and telling them to get their ugly wires off the house while they're at it!

Should anyone else be concerned?

Sky, which has proved adept at extracting a hefty monthly fee from Irish consumers. BBC and ITV regional stations, which fear that viewers will simply tune their satellite receivers to the `London' version of the station, and not bother with the local version, such as UTV or BBC Northern Ireland."

As usual there are a few inaccuracies lurking in there, but it is interesting that RTE are looking at the "simulcast" option. Not good news for those of us who value choice. It is also ignoring the fact that RTE and BBC don't actually share that many prgrammes.

Originally posted by Charles Slane
It is also ignoring the fact that RTE and BBC don't actually share that many prgrammes.

Except maybe that 24 programme and that alien thing and of course movies.
It would be a sad state of affairs if RTÉ were to be showing movies in simulcast with the BBC.
Regarding the whole UTV/Granada TV3 Irish EPG squabble...lots of issues to be sorted out there yet, methinks for the "08" message to go.

Probably said already, but this marks the fulfillment of your BBC campaign thread Charles, with the whole "cost" issue on supplying BBC licence funded channels to ROI for free having been resolved.

What lies ahead now for RTÉ's relationship and that of ITV+CH4/5 with Sky will be interesting.


And on that not all I have left to say for now, is this is my 2000th post:D ( methinks 3000 might be sooner than later , now that I've ordered DSL:p :ninja: )
mm

Charles Slane

Congrats on the 2000th post Man !! A stalwart poster and an example to us all !!

It certainly will an interesting couple of months in the relationships between RTE/ITV/Channel4/5 and Sky.

Does anyone know how long RTE's contract with Sky for encryption lasts ?

icdg

From the SBPost article (and they have been wrong before, but however - they did break the BBC on Sky Ireland news first), it looks like RTE's future lies in an affliation agreement of sorts with the BBC.

Under this scenario, RTE and the BBC will buy the rights together as one organisation. RTE will have UK rights and BBC Irish rights. This would solve the rights issues regarding RTE for good, it only works if RTE agrees to screen programmes simultanously or after BBC (to protect BBC audience).

What the SBPost neglects to mention is while this scenario exists in Canada, there is a little known CRTC regulation which means that whenever NBC/ABC/CBS/PBS are showing a programme at the same time as CBC/CTV/Global, then the cable companies in Canada replace the US feed with the Canadian feed, in order that the Canadian company's advertising revenue is kept.

I doubt this is on the cards for Ireland. It might not even be legal under EU law.

byte

Can't say I'd be too keen on both BBC and RTE simulcasting programmes. Kinda defeats the purpose of extra TV channels if they show the same thing. Though I suppose it would make things a lot easier for RTE if they consider FTA route. Only thing is, if same programme was on RTE and BBC, which would people watch? Considering BBC don't show adverts mid-programme

dmeehan

also bbc show most of their programmes in widescreen

timpat

If RTE went FTA and could be pricked up on "FreeSat" in the UK, there would be rights implications with CHannel 4, ITV and Channel 5 not just the BBC. A simulcasting or other affiliation arrangement with the BBC would only solve small part of the problem.

Alot of the programmes we are talking about - Friends, ER etc are shown by Channel 4 for example. RTE and Channel 4, it would seem to me show more of the same US programmes.

By extension then, if RTE were to affiliate will all UK terrestrials, would we be left with anything other than Prime Time and the Six-One news(not forgetting Fair City of course!!)?

icdg

Indeed this raises another point. There are four UK terrestrial broadcasters, but only three Irish ones.

RTE is trying to affliate with BBC, claims the SBPost. TV3 are already semi-affliated with Granada, and once the Granada-Carlton merger goes through that will probably build into a formal affliation between TV3 and ITV.

This leaves Channel 4 and Five to be sorted out. Either RTE and TV3 do not bid for programmes, the rights for which are held by C4 and C5. Or they sort out affliation agreements with these too...

vorbis

I'm confused about this legal wrangling. I can already pick up all 4 british channels in reasonable quality with a bbc arial and booster. Whats so special about everything being fta?

Capt'n Midnight

RE: RTE is trying to affliate with BBC Reckon this is just for the foreign progs licenses. On the production side they are also doing some stuff with ZDF and other european networks so it won't be all "walking with BBC" and they do buy a lot of Aussie progs.. Anyone remember "Joe Dancer" - a US detective series way back, that AFAIK wasn't on any of the UK channels..

'course there is always the TG4 way - dub it in Irish and put on subtitles - then you'd only have to pay royalties for Irish speakers.

- remember RTE2 was setup as an alternative to allowing the UK terresterials broadcast here - it was relaunched as Network2 'cos it now does a little more than that.

Granada-Carlton merger - well it will sorta blur the distinctions between UTV / TV3 / ITN .. so getting BBC FTA will mean we are really only are missing C5...

---

RE: I can already pick up all 4 british channels in reasonable quality with a bbc arial and booster.
Eh.. Listen Bud - it's a Satellite forum - Aerials are fine if you have line of sight and own the entire building they go on but for the other 99% of us getting UK channels has meant paying for Cable or Satellite on a monthly basis - FTA is nearly as much fun as getting 24/7 unmetered internet access at less than half the price Eircom/Esat charge for their metered versions...

johnnyq

Originally posted by Charles Slane


Does anyone know how long RTE's contract with Sky for encryption lasts ?

until 2008

johnnyq

Originally posted by vorbis
Whats so special about everything being fta?

we will be able to get BBC 3&4 CBBC CBBiees news 24 and possibly more