Is the 6N Free-To-Air on TV3 HD?

Patty O Furniture · 31-01-2018 2:57am #1

Can anyone tell me will the 6Nations be free to air on TV3 HD without a HD sub?

As i remember a similar item regarding a recent competition with the ROI team & RTE 2 HD needed a sub, until someone reminded them that there are other HD channels showing it & RTE changed their tune as they didn't want Irish viewers lost to BBC/ITV

Thanks.

31-01-2018 9:39am

If you're talking on Saorview or equivalent I don't think they're planning to go HD, unless something has changed.

Former Former · 31-01-2018 9:47am

Definitely not for this season, unlikely in the future.

OldRio · 31-01-2018 9:51am

No FTA coverage on HD for TV3. We will have to tune into British TV to watch Ireland play in HD. ( Via Northern Ireland for Aerial reception or Freesat for reception via a dish)
Disgraceful situation in my opinion.

*If you live in the border counties or east coast reception via aerial might be possible.

31-01-2018 9:52am

OldRio wrote: »

No FTA coverage on HD for TV3. We will have to tune into British TV to watch Ireland play in HD. ( Via Northern Ireland for Ariel reception or Freesat for reception via a dish)
Disgraceful situation in my opinion.

Really is farcical. Was this not a factor at all in the bidding process?

OldRio · 31-01-2018 9:59am

You really would think that it would have been a prerequisite before bidding but........
??

Former Former · 31-01-2018 10:06am

In fairness, if RTE weren't competitive with their bid and a fuzzy picture for a small proportion of the population is the trade off for keeping it off pay-TV, then I'll take it.

I will be watching on BBC/ITV via satellite and flicking to TV3 for analysis.

bloodless_coup · 31-01-2018 10:19am

How RTE with the licence fee AND advertising can get outbid by TV3 is beyond me.

The bitrate of TV3 standard definition on Soarview is well below par. It's THE worst looking channel available on terrestrial or satallite in Ireland.

How in 2017/2018 they could be even allowed to bid for the competition without broadcasting it in HD, or even decent SD, is a joke.

What in the name of jaysus are we paying the TV licence for.

slingerz · 31-01-2018 10:26am

Watch it on BBC and go to TV3 for the analysis seems to be the popular way

Losty Dublin · 31-01-2018 10:33am

Patty O Furniture wrote: »

Can anyone tell me will the 6Nations be free to air on TV3 HD without a HD sub?

As i remember a similar item regarding a recent competition with the ROI team & RTE 2 HD needed a sub, until someone reminded them that there are other HD channels showing it & RTE changed their tune as they didn't want Irish viewers lost to BBC/ITV

Thanks.

Not to get off track but RTE 2 HD has always been free to air since it launched in 2011. It took the pay services a wee while to cary it as well as the SD pictures but that's a few years ago now.

As regards TV3 HD, well you need to take it up with them on free to air HD directly. Personally I feel that it is bad form from them to not offer it.

Tigerandahalf · 31-01-2018 10:40am

The bbc will have POC as commentator/analyst so good analysis there.

purpleisafruit · 31-01-2018 11:27am

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

The bbc will have POC as commentator/analyst so good analysis there.

They also won't have 50 ad breaks like TV3 RWC coverage

Former Former · 31-01-2018 11:43am

doylefe wrote: »

How RTE with the licence fee AND advertising can get outbid by TV3 is beyond me.

The bitrate of TV3 standard definition on Soarview is well below par. It's THE worst looking channel available on terrestrial or satallite in Ireland.

How in 2017/2018 they could be even allowed to bid for the competition without broadcasting it in HD, or even decent SD, is a joke.

What in the name of jaysus are we paying the TV licence for.

The other side of that argument is, why should licence fee money be spent on outbidding a private company with very, very deep pockets when the content will be freely available anyway?

Moaning about having to watch a match in standard def is a textbook first world problem.

The majority of the population will be watching it in HD anyway.

Digifriendly · 31-01-2018 11:57am

Former Former wrote: »

The other side of that argument is, why should licence fee money be spent on outbidding a private company with very, very deep pockets when the content will be freely available anyway?

Moaning about having to watch a match in standard def is a textbook first world problem.

The majority of the population will be watching it in HD anyway.

Tend to agree with this. I think I'm right in saying that take up of satellite in ROI is quite high so many will probably use Freesat or Sky - with Freesat making it easier to record from for IIRC ITV has to be added under 'other channels' for watching on Sky in ROI. Here in NI I am a bit disappointed 6N is still not on RTE as it gave a viable alternative to BBC/ITV coverage. Having had HD now for some 6 Years there is no way I'm going to put up with SD no matter how good the commentary is or the analysis.

OldRio · 31-01-2018 12:05pm

Well if we put up with second best we will always receive second best.

Larbre34 · 01-02-2018 12:35pm

OldRio wrote: »

Well if we put up with second best we will always receive second best.

Totally agree with this. The Depts of Culture and Sport give great lip-service to protecting FTA for key sports events for the huddled masses of Ireland, but in reality they don't look into the quality of whats on offer.

Eg, Formula 1, supposedly protected FTA on Eir Sport Ireland, however if you have no choice but to subscribe to Virgin (many apartments in urban areas), they do not carry Eir Sport because of a row with them, or Sky Sports F1 either, so there is no physical way to watch all Grand Prix FTA for those people. Im worried about rugby being fragmented in the same way and falling through the cracks for some folk.

01-02-2018 12:45pm

What is the definition of FTA? I can watch RTE for free (well, for the price of a license fee) but I would always have to pay something to watch Eir right? Either subscribe to their broadband or else pay for their channels via Sky.

Hoboo · 01-02-2018 12:46pm

doylefe wrote: »

How RTE with the licence fee AND advertising can get outbid by TV3 is beyond me.

What in the name of jaysus are we paying the TV licence for.

TV3 is owned by Virgin Media, more cash than RTE have or will ever have.

In answer to your second question, we're paying for the likes of Turbridy and Miriam to provide us with pure drivel week in week out. Should be a salary cap, I'm talking 100k, for all presenters. If they don't like it, they can head off to TV3. No UK channel would touch them. Its an employers market FFS.

Cape Clear · 01-02-2018 12:57pm

Who sells the rights is it the IRFU or the organisers of the tournament. Either way it went to the highest bidder so the lack of HD coverage really isn't TV3's fault if it wasn't made a pre-requisite of the process. Money talks

01-02-2018 1:04pm

Cape Clear wrote: »

Who sells the rights is it the IRFU or the organisers of the tournament. Either way it went to the highest bidder so the lack of HD coverage really isn't TV3's fault if it wasn't made a pre-requisite of the process. Money talks

It's the tournament organisers, who are World Rugby, who the IRFU would be some sort of stakeholder in.

Losty Dublin · 01-02-2018 1:22pm

Lizbeth Attractive Seeker wrote: »

What is the definition of FTA? I can watch RTE for free (well, for the price of a license fee) but I would always have to pay something to watch Eir right? Either subscribe to their broadband or else pay for their channels via Sky.

Free to Air means that they are available to view via a non subscription broadcast platform such as Saorview or Saorsat. Effectively it means RTÉ 1/2 and TV3 when it comes to big events, with TG4 being a non runner for big price bidding.

01-02-2018 1:26pm

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Free to Air means that they are available to view via a non subscription broadcast platform such as Saorview or Saorsat. Effectively it means RTÉ 1/2 and TV3 when it comes to big events, with TG4 being a non runner for big price bidding.

Ok thanks, so is Eir Sport available on Saorview?

awec · 01-02-2018 1:27pm

Lizbeth Attractive Seeker wrote: »

It's the tournament organisers, who are World Rugby, who the IRFU would be some sort of stakeholder in.

I don't think it is run by World Rugby. It's organised by Six Nations, which is it's own entity and made up of the six unions involved.

Former Former · 01-02-2018 1:27pm

Lizbeth Attractive Seeker wrote: »

Ok thanks, so is Eir Sport available on Saorview?

No. Saorview is RTE, TG4, Tv3, Be3, 3e and that's it.

awec · 01-02-2018 1:28pm

BBC HD is the only way.

The TV3 coverage is rubbish. Crap picture, loads of ads, amateur-esque production.

01-02-2018 1:30pm

awec wrote: »

I don't think it is run by World Rugby. It's organised by Six Nations, which is it's own entity and made up of the six unions involved.

Sorry yes brainfart from me, of course it's the 6N who sell the rights.

Former Former · 01-02-2018 1:47pm

awec wrote: »

BBC HD is the only way.

The TV3 coverage is rubbish. Crap picture, loads of ads, amateur-esque production.

Only one of our games is on BBC, the others are on ITV.

Hopefully TV3 will up their game. Not having Matt Cooper on board is a huge bonus.

Zzippy · 01-02-2018 1:58pm

Ah crap, I only have ITV SD through the manual channels on Sky.

I see ROG is in the TV3 ad, he's hardly flying back and forth from NZ for each game??

Akrasia · 01-02-2018 2:01pm

Former Former wrote: »

I will be watching on BBC/ITV via satellite and flicking to TV3 for analysis.

Analysis?

TV3 will have about 30 seconds of 'analysis' at half time and 5 minutes of adds, probably a competition to mention to win a pair of tickets to a match at a 3 euro entry fee which will soak up another chunk of their 'analysis' time.

Former Former · 01-02-2018 2:05pm

Zzippy wrote: »

Ah crap, I only have ITV SD through the manual channels on Sky.

I see ROG is in the TV3 ad, he's hardly flying back and forth from NZ for each game??

If you have a Sky HD box, you should be able to tune in ITV/UTV HD.

It's only ITV2/3/4 that are limited to SD.

bloodless_coup · 01-02-2018 4:28pm

Hoboo wrote: »

TV3 is owned by Virgin Media, more cash than RTE have or will ever have.

Yet are too cheap to pay for HD broadcasting on Soarview.

Mebuntu · 01-02-2018 4:46pm

Lizbeth Attractive Seeker wrote: »

Really is farcical. Was this not a factor at all in the bidding process?

Unfortunately no. Money is the only factor. But what else do you expect? The Pro12/14 handed coverage of their games to a channel that broadcasts them in a language that 95% of the population doesn't understand.

Zzippy · 01-02-2018 4:52pm

Former Former wrote: »

If you have a Sky HD box, you should be able to tune in ITV/UTV HD.

It's only ITV2/3/4 that are limited to SD.

Must check it when I go home. Still manual tuning though, so no pause, playback or recording function. No idea why we can tune these in manually but can't get them on the EPG

Schorpio · 01-02-2018 5:39pm

Zzippy wrote: »

Must check it when I go home. Still manual tuning though, so no pause, playback or recording function. No idea why we can tune these in manually but can't get them on the EPG

Come over to the dark side (aka freesat!). HD channels with full EPG and series link recording! :pac:

Zzippy · 01-02-2018 6:30pm

Schorpio wrote: »

Come over to the dark side (aka freesat!). HD channels with full EPG and series link recording! :pac:

I am possibly the least tech-savvy person you could meet. I wouldn't even know where to start. Also, the missus would throw a fit if she couldn't get GoT on Sky Atlantic...

Losty Dublin · 01-02-2018 8:16pm

Mebuntu wrote: »

Unfortunately no. Money is the only factor. But what else do you expect? The Pro12/14 handed coverage of their games to a channel that broadcasts them in a language that 95% of the population doesn't understand.

:rolleyes:

.ak · 01-02-2018 9:26pm

Mebuntu wrote: »

Unfortunately no. Money is the only factor. But what else do you expect? The Pro12/14 handed coverage of their games to a channel that broadcasts them in a language that 95% of the population doesn't understand.

As per Charter - no complaining about language coverage please.

Patty O Furniture · 02-02-2018 2:34am

Digifriendly wrote: »

Tend to agree with this. I think I'm right in saying that take up of satellite in ROI is quite high so many will probably use Freesat or Sky - with Freesat making it easier to record from for IIRC ITV has to be added under 'other channels' for watching on Sky in ROI. Here in NI I am a bit disappointed 6N is still not on RTE as it gave a viable alternative to BBC/ITV coverage. Having had HD now for some 6 Years there is no way I'm going to put up with SD no matter how good the commentary is or the analysis.

I gave up HD a while back as €17 or lower promo price wasnt' enough to keep it!
Also I hadn't realised that NI don't have TV3, as when i got an automatic reply back, there was this in the FAQ saying:

TV3 in Northern Ireland

It came as a big disappointment to TV3 that our channel is not included in the free-view service in Northern Ireland, but it is entirely beyond our control. However, if you wish to continue to watch TV3 shows we have developed a new service called Roku, where you can now watch TV3 programmes via the Roku box by subscribing for £5.49. They are available to purchase from Amazon.co.uk or Maplin stores in Belfast or Derry. www.tv3.ie/roku

Is that a once off payment?

Cape Clear wrote: »

Who sells the rights is it the IRFU or the organisers of the tournament. Either way it went to the highest bidder so the lack of HD coverage really isn't TV3's fault if it wasn't made a pre-requisite of the process. Money talks

Afaik, weren't they told they had to have HD to cover a recent competition, was it the world cup, as they had the new HD studios ready by then!

Zzippy wrote: »

Ah crap, I only have ITV SD through the manual channels on Sky.

I see ROG is in the TV3 ad, he's hardly flying back and forth from NZ for each game??

I came across the frequency to tune in ITV/UTV HD channels below here:

Gerry Wicklow wrote: »

11068 V DVB-S2 8PSK 23000 3/4
KingofSat

Mebuntu wrote: »

Unfortunately no. Money is the only factor. But what else do you expect? The Pro12/14 handed coverage of their games to a channel that broadcasts them in a language that 95% of the population doesn't understand.

labhair ar do shon féin/ speak for yourself

jrmb · 02-02-2018 3:41am

TV3 belongs to Virgin Media, which is also a cable TV distributor. It's not in Virgin's interest to improve a competitor's offering by transmitting TV3 in HD on Saorview and they probably won't unless it's made a condition of TV3's licence. The same probably goes for TV3 HD without an HD subscription.

A few years ago my friend was paying rental for an HD box, even though he didn't have a subscription to any HD channels, none of which were free-to-air. There are far too many cases like this.

MJohnston · 02-02-2018 3:56am

It's amazing that in 2018, we're still talking about extra charges for HD channels! It should be default by now, they can start offering 4K instead now. This is why I gave up any form of live TV service, apps only for me at this stage.

Schorpio · 02-02-2018 9:27am

Zzippy wrote: »

I am possibly the least tech-savvy person you could meet. I wouldn't even know where to start. Also, the missus would throw a fit if she couldn't get GoT on Sky Atlantic...

If you can use a Sky box, you can use a freesat box. Freesat is effectively the satellite version of freeview - and it's designed to be as user-friendly as possible.

The disadvantage of the system is that you'd need an aerial for Saorview too if you wanted to received the Irish channels, along with some other form of receiving Saorview (all modern TV's have it built-in). GoT on the other hand, I can't help you with! :pac:

I've said it many times on this site, but TV3 HD being behind a paywall on Sky is a disgrace (as is TG4). I'll be watching in HD on ITV/BBC.

Tigerandahalf · 02-02-2018 9:30am

MJohnston wrote: »

It's amazing that in 2018, we're still talking about extra charges for HD channels! It should be default by now, they can start offering 4K instead now. This is why I gave up any form of live TV service, apps only for me at this stage.

Yet Netflix still charge on the basis of sd/hd/4k.

Schorpio · 02-02-2018 9:44am

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Yet Netflix still charge on the basis of sd/hd/4k.

It's not just resolution - you also get more 'screens' with the different netflix packages, i.e. number of people able to watch at once, so I don't think that's an entirely fair comparison.

Benedict XVI · 02-02-2018 12:16pm

Schorpio wrote: »

If you can use a Sky box, you can use a freesat box. Freesat is effectively the satellite version of freeview - and it's designed to be as user-friendly as possible.

The disadvantage of the system is that you'd need an aerial for Saorview too if you wanted to received the Irish channels, along with some other form of receiving Saorview (all modern TV's have it built-in). GoT on the other hand, I can't help you with! :pac:

I've said it many times on this site, but TV3 HD being behind a paywall on Sky is a disgrace (as is TG4). I'll be watching in HD on ITV/BBC.

Is TV3 HD still behind a paywall on Sky (variety pack) ?

I think TG4 are HD on channel 104 for the last year or so.

02-02-2018 12:18pm

Benedict XVI wrote: »

Is TV3 HD still behind a paywall on Sky (variety pack) ?

I think TG4 are HD on channel 104 for the last year or so.

Sky itself is a paywall, having it in any way costs money.

Benedict XVI · 02-02-2018 12:28pm

Lizbeth Attractive Seeker wrote: »

Sky itself is a paywall, having it in any way costs money.

Yes, that is true of course

MJohnston · 02-02-2018 12:48pm

For any other cord cutters like myself, I'm going to give AerTV a try for the Six Nations, they have all the Irish channels and some of the BBC ones too, and there's a free first month trial.

As far as I can tell, it's the only way to legally live stream TV3, as the 3Player app seems to only do catch-up (which is bullshít in this day and age).

Wish I could use Rugbypass.com here, legally, too, as rugby is literally the only thing I need live TV for!

Former Former · 02-02-2018 1:05pm

MJohnston wrote: »

For any other cord cutters like myself, I'm going to give AerTV a try for the Six Nations, they have all the Irish channels and some of the BBC ones too, and there's a free first month trial.

As far as I can tell, it's the only way to legally live stream TV3, as the 3Player app seems to only do catch-up (which is bullshít in this day and age).

Wish I could use Rugbypass.com here, legally, too, as rugby is literally the only thing I need live TV for!

Surely the TV3 website (not the app) will be streaming the game?

02-02-2018 1:10pm

I'm moving into a new house in the next couple of months and I think Rugbypass is going to be the only thing I subscribe to. Does it have Pro14 coverage? I don't think it says so on their website.

MJohnston · 02-02-2018 1:25pm

Former Former wrote: »

Surely the TV3 website (not the app) will be streaming the game?

They do, but that's fairly useless to me, I can't "push" streaming websites to my TV, so the only way of doing it is hooking up the laptop to the TV directly, which is awkward (especially with a grabby toddler around). Plus they use a Flash-based player (in 2018!), so I can't just load it up on the Xbox One and use the browser there.

Hopefully RTE and TV3 will move to HTML5 players soon, like the BBC, and I'll be able to access them directly on the Xbox.

MJohnston · 02-02-2018 1:30pm

Lizbeth Attractive Seeker wrote: »

I'm moving into a new house in the next couple of months and I think Rugbypass is going to be the only thing I subscribe to. Does it have Pro14 coverage? I don't think it says so on their website.

I think they have everything but Pro14. I'm lucky in that as an Ulster fan, all our matches are on BBC NI, but I suppose if you were wanting to watch Leinster matches, for example, you've have to pay for the rip off NowTV passes.

I'm waiting on Virgin or Eir or someone offering a completely cord-free IPTV service with add-ons for Sky Sports or Eir Sports or whatever. I have a feeling I'll be waiting a long, long time.

Is the 6N Free-To-Air on TV3 HD?

HD or not HD, that is the question! 21 votes

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