Freesat and Freeview to merge

lgs 4 · 11-02-2021 8:48pm #1

https://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/bbc-itv-and-channel-4-announce-plans-integrate-digital-uk-and-freesat

Harry Palmr · 11-02-2021 9:00pm

I read it's only at a technical and administrative level. So the channels will still be slightly different.

icdg · 13-02-2021 12:05pm

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I read it's only at a technical and administrative level. So the channels will still be slightly different.

Yes, only the companies which run the two services (which have the same shareholders) are merging. There will still be a digital terrestrial service and a free to air satellite service and no plans at present to close one of the platforms.

fryup · 13-02-2021 12:44pm

7 day epg for Paddy ?

Kurn · 15-02-2021 6:03pm

fryup wrote: »

7 day epg for Paddy ?

Are you thinking of FTA satellite?

TheDriver · 16-02-2021 10:36am

Could this mean C4 HD will be back on Freesat?

Widescreen · 16-02-2021 11:44am

Hopefully their goal won't be to have the whole system just internet based so that they can ensure only people entitled to the service can watch it.

It's a pity there isn't a reciprocal arrangement between Ireland and UK allowing us both officially to watch each others non subscription channels.

dubrov · 16-02-2021 11:49am

Widescreen wrote:

It's a pity there isn't a reciprocal arrangement between Ireland and UK allowing us both officially to watch each others non subscription channels.

There would be major licensing implications. RTE would gain significant advertising revenue but would need to purchase the rights to show the programs in the UK.

It would be a case of sink or swim and I think we all have our own opinions of what would happen there

Widescreen · 16-02-2021 11:51am

So does that mean all the UK channels have the rights to show their programmes in Ireland?

dubrov · 16-02-2021 12:17pm

Widescreen wrote: »

So does that mean all the UK channels have the rights to show their programmes in Ireland?

I am not sure but there must be some agreement in place.

I don't think it is as much an issue the other way round as the potential audience is just increasing from about 65 million to 70 million.
The only reason why we receive UK channels over free-to-air satellite is due to the shape of the satellite footprint causing it to spill into Ireland from the UK.

I'd say Virgin/Sky Ireland pay the likes of BBC to carry the channels on their platforms.
In turn BBC would pay a higher fee to purchase the rights due to it being broadcasted in Ireland.

mackersdublin · 16-02-2021 5:23pm

TheDriver wrote: »

Could this mean C4 HD will be back on Freesat?

Let's hope so. It's been off Freesat for 3 years now

dxhound2005 · 16-02-2021 5:52pm

dubrov wrote: »

I am not sure but there must be some agreement in place.

I don't think it is as much an issue the other way round as the potential audience is just increasing from about 65 million to 70 million.
The only reason why we receive UK channels over free-to-air satellite is due to the shape of the satellite footprint causing it to spill into Ireland from the UK.

I'd say Virgin/Sky Ireland pay the likes of BBC to carry the channels on their platforms.
In turn BBC would pay a higher fee to purchase the rights due to it being broadcasted in Ireland.

The satellite operator does not seem to make much of an effort to stop the signal covering big chunks of mainland Europe. So the potential audience is much bigger than just the UK and Ireland.

https://www.eutelsat.com/en/satellites/eutelsat-28-east.html

Other satellites cover Ireland as well, and a dish pointed at 19 East for instance will bring in loads of German TV for free.

https://www.globecast.com/what-we-do/satellite-terrestrial/

dubrov · 16-02-2021 6:34pm

The languagea are different on the continent so not really an issue. Very few will bother to get a second dish to view content in a language different to their own.

How much do you think the rights for the most popular talk show in Germany would sell for here?

fryup · 16-02-2021 6:36pm

Other satellites cover Ireland as well, and a dish pointed at 19 East for instance will bring in loads of German TV for free.

even *cough* durty channels??

Gerry Wicklow · 16-02-2021 10:51pm

dubrov wrote: »

The languagea are different on the continent so not really an issue. Very few will bother to get a second dish to view content in a language different to their own.

How much do you think the rights for the most popular talk show in Germany would sell for here?

I've met many Germans and Dutch who watch BBC as much as we do.

L1011 · 16-02-2021 10:52pm

fryup wrote: »

even *cough* durty channels??

There are very few of those left - the internet has absolutely replaced that market. And they were all pay.

The content on weekend evenings on German conventional TV is a tad racier than normal here, though. But you clearly have internet access.

Vic_08 · 16-02-2021 11:14pm

Widescreen wrote: »

So does that mean all the UK channels have the rights to show their programmes in Ireland?

That would depend on the specific channels and their contracts, but for the most part, yes Irish viewing is taken into account for UK tv rights.

The 4 terrestrial channels always had significant overspill here from direct reception, cable and grey market solutions (deflectors) and it continued from there with satellite/cable channels mostly being co-available in both markets with some exceptions (Channel 5 group of channels).

It is advantageous to RTE/VM/TG4 to be in a secondary market when buying imports as they are only competing against each other for non-exclusive, non-first run rights (as UK networks with overspill/dual market will have concurrent rights) which are significantly cheaper, even when viewership is taken into account.

High demand imports are expensive for UK broadcasters, they are relatively cheap for Irish channels.

If RTE/VM/TG4 were to ever apply for UK transmission licences for their Irish channels they would suddenly be unable to buy or transmit most of their UK staples (soaps, most of VM's ITV studios content) as this is exclusively owned by ITV/BBC and would need to pony up huge sums for US shows in order to outbid all the UK networks. Same for sport, they would have to compete with all the market for any sports and even if they won rights would struggle to generate enough viewers as they have zero profile in most of the UK.

Vic_08 · 16-02-2021 11:22pm

dxhound2005 wrote: »

The satellite operator does not seem to make much of an effort to stop the signal covering big chunks of mainland Europe. So the potential audience is much bigger than just the UK and Ireland.

https://www.eutelsat.com/en/satellites/eutelsat-28-east.html

Yes they do, as the satellites at 28E have been replaced, Europe wide beams have given way to much tighter UK/IRL beams, the ability to receive UK satellite with domestic equipment in continental Europe has massively shrunk over the last 20 years, look at anywhere Spanish resident "ex-pats" congregate and much whinging about having their UK BBC/Sky reception cut due to this.

SteM · 16-02-2021 11:32pm

Widescreen wrote: »

Hopefully their goal won't be to have the whole system just internet based so that they can ensure only people entitled to the service can watch it.

Maybe way down the line. I'm sure there are areas of the UK where BB is so poor that they couldn't rely on internet-only based distribution. Just like the are areas of the UK where the signal is so poor that they can't rely on Freeview only distribution.

dxhound2005 · 17-02-2021 1:01am

Vic_08 wrote: »

Yes they do, as the satellites at 28E have been replaced, Europe wide beams have given way to much tighter UK/IRL beams, the ability to receive UK satellite with domestic equipment in continental Europe has massively shrunk over the last 20 years, look at anywhere Spanish resident "ex-pats" congregate and much whinging about having their UK BBC/Sky reception cut due to this.

I didn't mention Spain or any other country. The UK beam covers a big chunk of mainland Europe. I was pointing this out in the context of the discussion about rights. If overspill is the determining factor in rights, then it should apply in other countries as well as Ireland.

athlone573 · 18-02-2021 10:08pm

dxhound2005 wrote: »

I didn't mention Spain or any other country. The UK beam covers a big chunk of mainland Europe. I was pointing this out in the context of the discussion about rights. If overspill is the determining factor in rights, then it should apply in other countries as well as Ireland.

I reckon that UK broadcasters will try to limit overspill where benefits outweigh the costs.

For satellite broadcasting they've already done so by tightening the circle to only include Ireland and part of Benelux/France and they can't do any more on Astra without implementing encryption. (correct me if I'm wrong). You can argue if that's a large chunk but certainly its less than before.

The BBC and (I think) ITV have geo locked their catch up services but strangely Channel 4 haven't yet.

So my point is that satellite overspill would be very expensive to eliminate even if it might marginally effect Irish or North Europe broadcast rights negotiation.

Very different situation if RTE were over spilling into the UK with its millions of football fans and this may be why the Saorsat system uses a different technology with a much tighter cutoff.

fryup · 18-02-2021 11:25pm

athlone573 wrote: »

The BBC and (I think) ITV have geo locked their catch up services
.

why are they so strict about that anyway?

vectra · 22-02-2021 9:28pm

TheDriver wrote: »

Could this mean C4 HD will be back on Freesat?

mackersdublin wrote: »

Let's hope so. It's been off Freesat for 3 years now

I have a Humax Freesat hd box and have C4 HD on Other channels.

Charlie-Bravo · 22-02-2021 11:37pm

To get C4 back would be helpful...I also have it saved under other sat channels. And it would be nice to have ITV2 in HD as well which isn't on FTA Sat at all, or Freeview for that matter...it'd just be nice to have these available...come on, it's the 2020's!.

TheDriver · 23-02-2021 1:24pm

vectra wrote: »

I have a Humax Freesat hd box and have C4 HD on Other channels.

I rarely watch live TV, its usually a record and watch hence stuck with SD

Hotblack Desiato · 26-02-2021 2:16pm

Widescreen wrote: »

So does that mean all the UK channels have the rights to show their programmes in Ireland?

Many of the non-BBC ones sell advertising specifically for the Irish market so they can hardly claim to not know their channels are spilling over here

dubrov · 26-02-2021 7:31pm

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Many of the non-BBC ones sell advertising specifically for the Irish market so they can hardly claim to not know their channels are spilling over here

I would've thought the Irish market was too small for that.
Do you have an example of a channel that does that?

Hotblack Desiato · 26-02-2021 7:38pm

Channel 4 has an Irish feed on satellite (as well as a feed for each of their UK advertising regions)

Think E4 and More4 do too

dubrov · 26-02-2021 7:47pm

Channel 4 seem to have some special arrangement. Their player works no problem in Ireland and could easily be geolocked. I guess E4/More4 are related.

Johnboy1951 · 26-02-2021 11:01pm

dubrov wrote: »

I would've thought the Irish market was too small for that.
Do you have an example of a channel that does that?

Drama has one transmission with Irish adverts.

Gadgie · 27-02-2021 11:29am

dubrov wrote: »

I would've thought the Irish market was too small for that.
Do you have an example of a channel that does that?

All channels listed here on Astra/28.2 E are UK channels with Irish advertising:
https://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/Ireland.html

Freesat and Freeview to merge

Comments