Saorview Updates - 2023

Of course they'll tune in properly on the TV IF it has a satellite tuner.

Of the 1.72 million television viewing homes in Ireland, approximately 648,000 had Saorview in 2022 and in approximately 201,000 homes, (Nielsen establishment survey, January 2023) Saorview was the only means of watching broadcast television

Saorview under 12% only & <38% total going by the above.

Sky's ease of use & integration is not going to be beat for many people. Not many are going to be bothered with combi boxes, flashing images, setting up bouquets etc. Of course a bit of inertia too as already mentioned but gives you access to premium stuff too so that has to be factored in

I know, I my point is that the satellite is picking up other HD channels no issue, and test UHD channels, and all SD channels, it just effect BBC HD channels, ITV, C4 and C5. Anyone had problems with TLC TV like this before?

Is this the Saorview thread or anything goes

I did a while back, crickets!

Tell us the names of some of the channels that you ARE receiving. It really does sound like the dish is pointing at the wrong satellite.

Its time to move on, a third MUX should be opened and this mux3 can be owned and managed by Sky TV, we in Ireland have nothing else to offer so our first two multiplexes can even be used for extra HD content.

Can't see Sky owning or managing a MUX, given the moves they are making towards an internet service. We may want or like the idea of more channels on Saorview but the economics don't add up for commercial operators.

Probably Five or Six million per annum.

It sky were to run a third mux. You can bet all the channels would subscription only . I think the sort channels people maybe thinking about is UKTV .Which is owned by , BBC entertainment. Channels like Dave ,Yesterday .

Yes doing what said would save RTE money .This was my reply to the original post .

Mickey 9, 2023

Its time to move on, a third MUX should be opened and this mux can be owned and managed by Sky TV, we in Ireland have nothing else to offer so our first two multiplexes can even be used for extra HD content.

Let's nip this bollocks in the bud right now - Sky will not in 2023 or even in 2024 be seeking to get a multiplex for themselves for DTT broadcasting in the Republic of Ireland. At most they may enquire with 2RN about potential capacity on the platform to launch another service, but they most certainly do not need a multiplex to themselves - they would never fill it with enough FTA content and they are not going to launch a DTT-based subscription service either. Sky's future is in their streaming platform through Glass/Stream in parallel to their satellite platform in the meantime for at least the next few years. And neither is Sky going to invest in physical infrastructure separate to that of 2RN to broadcast DTT in the country.

You will get better odds of the Loch Ness monster being confirmed as real & alive or all four Virgin Media DTT channels going HD on Saorview and Saorsat by 2028 than any of the above happening. Usually, I'd never say never but in the above case, I can confidently say "nah".

I'd expect the ROI reps would be from Comreg and also possibly elsewhere from the Dept. Environment, Climate & Communications.

My own €0.02 - while clearly a lot of media consumption is moving away from "traditional" forms of broadcasting, in many parts of Europe 2030 may be too soon to think of abandoning DTT platforms, especially in countries like the UK, France & Spain where high levels of reliance on DTT platforms still exist. OTOH, many other parts of "Region 1" outside of Europe have had their UHF bands be largely empty and thus would like to have "official" clearance for more spectrum to be used for mobile technologies. One issue I see is that in theory, channels E39-48 could be cleared as a further dividend by allocating it to LTE Band 71 or NR band n71 (for once the Yanks came up with a designated frequency band that the rest of the world could practically adopt), leaving channels E21-37 in place for a rump DTT service, but this continual piecemeal allocating of bands below 1 GHz will not on its own (bar the use of carrier aggregation which doesn't tend to be used together at these frequencies) deliver lightning fast speeds to users in the likes of rural & semi-rural areas, and aren't on their own terribly spectrum efficient either. I suspect there might be a compromise, for example in the European broadcasting area E21-37/38 remaining a broadcasting band, while E39-48 will be a primary broadcasting band with secondary permission for mobile technologies, depending on the country/administration to decide what such frequencies shall be used for with co-ordination required for border locations with other countries where required.

As it is, at present all DTT broadcast sites in the Republic of Ireland have at least six frequencies cleared for broadcasting following a joint frequency plan drawn up alongside the UK a few years back for the clearing of broadcasting in the 700MHz frequency block (LTE Band 28), and like the UK three "Primary" frequencies are cleared with higher potential coverage with another three "Secondary" frequencies that has potential lower coverage (broadcast antenna restrictions, co-channel interference etc.) Most Saorview at present broadcasts using two of the three frequencies from the primary frequencies though there are exceptions (notably on Three Rock and maybe Maghera). If there was another part-clearance in the future like I suggested above, both the ROI & UK authorities I am sure will meet to co-ordinate to repack frequencies into a smaller UHF broadcast band - given that the UK follows a similar 3 primary/3 secondary band plan on DTT and would surely want to retain this (the three UK COM multiplexes have licences that are due to expire only in 2034), it would be likely IMO that such a repack for ROI would also keep at least three muxes available for broadcasting from each site. Wherever any UHD DTT broadcasting would commence in the future in the Rep. Ireland is another question altogether - there's not a huge pile of it being broadcast from satellite across the world right now, let alone terrestrially.

What's the story with RTE Gold and Chill? They should keep RTE Radio1 Extra and Gold, get rid of the rest.