ITV FTA decision: Not before April...

Widescreen · 04-11-2004 12:16PM

And don't forget good old Jerry Springer. I used to watch him every day on Living and then he suddenly disappeared to ITV2!!

eirebhoy · 04-11-2004 03:24PM

watty wrote:

I think more people are interested in ITV1. I can apprieciate the Football angle, but as I and many others NEVER EVER watch ANY football, ITV2 is thus of little interest.

Tastes Differ.

I thought everyone had ITV1 (UTV), no? I know its not on Sky but its not too hard to press the TV button on the Sky remote.

Tom Dunne · 04-11-2004 03:59PM

channelsurfer wrote:

No sign of any annoucement yet. itv are keeping very quiet .It will probably be a last minute decision but it is hovering on the fta side I would say at the moment. itv needs to save around £100m to help their investors so a £17million saving on encryption would help that.

Yes, but if they save 17 million on encryption, how much will they lose by not being able to provide advertisers with regional advertising?

I don't know how much regional advertising makes up ITV's income, but it has to be fairly large. They are, after all, a commercial station.

And for the record, I'm with Watty - myself, himself and that fella in Limerick don't watch football.

Mossy Monk · 04-11-2004 04:15PM

eirebhoy wrote:

I thought everyone had ITV1 (UTV), no? I know its not on Sky but its not too hard to press the TV button on the Sky remote.

not everyone is in a cables area, mmds area or an area with a deflector :cool:

cdebru · 04-11-2004 04:40PM

eirebhoy wrote:

I thought everyone had ITV1 (UTV), no? I know its not on Sky but its not too hard to press the TV button on the Sky remote.

not everyone lives in dublin

eigrod · 04-11-2004 04:52PM

eirebhoy wrote:

I thought everyone had ITV1 (UTV), no? I know its not on Sky but its not too hard to press the TV button on the Sky remote.

Press the TV button on the SKY remote........and UTV will appear out of thin air ????? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

eirebhoy · 04-11-2004 04:53PM

cdebru wrote:

not everyone lives in dublin

thought.

PoolDude · 04-11-2004 07:08PM

Assuming ITV follow the BBC and go FTA, what are the chances of their channels plus the BBC channels (not already available on the EPG) appearing on our Irish EPG

DMC · 04-11-2004 07:14PM

Somewhere close to nil, PoolDude. Like the BBC, they should appear under Other Channels once added.

Capt'n Midnight · 04-11-2004 07:37PM

DMC wrote:

Somewhere close to nil, PoolDude. Like the BBC, they should appear under Other Channels once added.

actually nil divided by the cost BBC would have to pay to get an Irish EPG entry ...

Charles Slane · 04-11-2004 07:44PM

DMC wrote:

Somewhere close to nil, PoolDude. Like the BBC, they should appear under Other Channels once added.

Maybe if NTL make a big deal about the availability of the BBC channels and ITV, Channel 4 etc, Sky will eventually realise that they should put them on the EPG and/or negotiate carriage deals to attract more subscribers.....

channelsurfer · 04-11-2004 08:15PM

worryingly for the fta option it now seems that itv have removed the bill and some other programmes from itv3 due to the fact it is fta so it does not bode good for itv1 or itv2 going fta

DMC · 04-11-2004 08:41PM

It has more to do with the fact that as it closed PLUS they risked alienating a sizeable enough audience for a new channel.

It was going to be FTA at launch, so thats balderdash.

Wiggy · 04-11-2004 08:53PM

Charles Slane wrote:

Maybe if NTL make a big deal about the availability of the BBC channels and ITV, Channel 4 etc, Sky will eventually realise that they should put them on the EPG and/or negotiate carriage deals to attract more subscribers.....

Do the BBC pay Sky to put BBC1 and BBC2 on the ROI EPG?
Why aren't BBC3 and BBC4 on the ROI EPG?

Mossy Monk · 04-11-2004 08:56PM

the deal originally was for BBC1 and 2 NI to be put on the EPG when they were encrypted. i dont know when this deal finishes or if it already has, can someone shed light on this please

byte · 04-11-2004 09:40PM

If ITV1 and ITV2 go FTA, there is a strong chance that football, particularly Champions League, will not be available. BBC did the same when they had the Scottish football rights. You had to change to your terrestrial to get the football. So I'd imagine that ITV would do the same, ie request you use terrestrial signals to watch football.

DMC · 04-11-2004 09:44PM

I think that ITV may have secured that byteh, when the current Champions League deal was signed the same summer as when the BBC went FTA. I wouldnt put my house on it that that is the case, but ITV are coming at this now and have seen what problems the BBC already encountered.

byte · 04-11-2004 09:51PM

I hope you're right!

Jungle Boy · 04-11-2004 11:52PM

byte wrote:

If ITV1 and ITV2 go FTA, there is a strong chance that football, particularly Champions League, will not be available. BBC did the same when they had the Scottish football rights. You had to change to your terrestrial to get the football. So I'd imagine that ITV would do the same, ie request you use terrestrial signals to watch football.

Celtic supporters hope ITV don't block Champions League. When ITV England show the Arsenal or Chelsea match, ITV Scotland show the Celtic match. Having a choice is the whole point of satellite tv!

eirebhoy · 05-11-2004 12:18AM

byte wrote:

If ITV1 and ITV2 go FTA, there is a strong chance that football, particularly Champions League, will not be available. BBC did the same when they had the Scottish football rights. You had to change to your terrestrial to get the football. So I'd imagine that ITV would do the same, ie request you use terrestrial signals to watch football.

I could be wrong here but I think Setanta showed SPL games on PPV last year to Irish customers so thats probably the reason BBC Scotland was blocked here.

Charles Slane · 05-11-2004 12:25AM

channelsurfer wrote:

worryingly for the fta option it now seems that itv have removed the bill and some other programmes from itv3 due to the fact it is fta so it does not bode good for itv1 or itv2 going fta

I've read elsewhere that the reason The Bill is not now being shown is that ITV3 now has access to the programmes that Plus used to show and have decided to incorporate them into the schedule(rather than it being an FTA issue). For some reason they must believe that these shows will do better than repeats of The Bill.

They seem to intend showing specials like "The Bill Uncovered - Kerry's Story".

Charles Slane · 05-11-2004 12:30AM

Wiggy wrote:

Do the BBC pay Sky to put BBC1 and BBC2 on the ROI EPG?
Why aren't BBC3 and BBC4 on the ROI EPG?

Sky pay BBC Worldwide to have BBC1 and 2 on the Irish EPG. Shortly after they arrived Sky increased the Irish subscription, so they've covered themselves for the cost, and they attract more subscribers by having a couple of UK terrestrials.

Wiggy · 05-11-2004 11:38AM

Charles Slane wrote:

Sky pay BBC Worldwide to have BBC1 and 2 on the Irish EPG. Shortly after they arrived Sky increased the Irish subscription, so they've covered themselves for the cost, and they attract more subscribers by having a couple of UK terrestrials.

So SKY pay the BBC for this, rather than vice versa.
I wonder what the likelihood is of getting BBC3 and BBC4 on the ROI EPG?

It's a pain not being able to record them on SKY+

Do SKY pay those crappy FTA channels that are on the EPG?

robert muldoon · 06-11-2004 12:20AM

Unless I have missed something but if ITV goes fta,what would happen the arrangement ITV has with TV 3 for Corrie etc. How long is this agreement for? Would ITV have to pay TV 3 off or what???

DMC · 06-11-2004 12:32AM

Seeming as they are almost one in the same.. nothing. Somehow Corrie wont be disappearing off TV3 screens!

tapest · 06-11-2004 02:28PM

PoolDude wrote:

Assuming ITV follow the BBC and go FTA,

When will we Know ??? Is there a final date or do we just keep holding our breath ??
t

Charles Slane · 06-11-2004 02:42PM

tapest wrote:

When will we Know ??? Is there a final date or do we just keep holding our breath ??
t

November 20th 2004 seems to be the most quoted date for the end of the encryption contract between ITV and Sky.

So things may be clearer in two weeks time. Unless there's a big announcement in the meantime ..........

Colm80 · 09-11-2004 12:07AM

ITV going fta when its encryption deal runs out later this month?? This from Media Bullet

08/11/04 ITV considering following BBC's FTA plans
ITV is considering following the BBC's Free To Air plans according to latest reports. The move will mean the network saving up to £17m a year to spend on other things. The current deal allows ITV to broadcast each of its regions on the Sky EPG as well as its three channel being broadcast in the UK only, i.e. Free To View for Sky subscribers only.

Not much of a up date there, we will see in 11 days.

watty · 09-11-2004 03:13PM

Wiggy wrote:

So SKY pay the BBC for this, rather than vice versa.
I wonder what the likelihood is of getting BBC3 and BBC4 on the ROI EPG?

It's a pain not being able to record them on SKY+

Do SKY pay those crappy FTA channels that are on the EPG?

Mostly not.

The Beeb has to pay though for EPG in UK.

Channels such as TVeI, TV5e and DWTV, Bloomberg and CNBC are normally Free To Air, the fact they are NOT FTV or FTA on Sky sugguests they get free EPG and possibly reduced price carriage.

RTE1 & NET2 etc are not even on basic packs, only the Family Pack or Higher, RTE gets paid nothing, and pays nothing for EPG/ Encryption/Carriage (They have their own uplink). It only sounds like a good deal for a foriegn commercial station, it is a stunningly bad deal for the Irish Consumer, who is the only person who can watch, and has no other source of Irish Satellite TV.

But then RTE (offical in Email I had), regards Satellite simply as a foriegn Cable TV system, simply a version of Chorus or NTL. While this may be true of "BskyB" as a Pay Operator, it is a daft view of Satellite TV by our main Public Service Broadcaster.

Wiggy · 09-11-2004 07:27PM

watty wrote:

Mostly not.

The Beeb has to pay though for EPG in UK.

My head is melted from this :eek:

Sky pay the BBC for the EPG of BBC1 and BBC2 in ROI.
The BBC pay Sky for EPG of all BBC in the UK.

So, no EPG for BBC3 & BBC4 in ROI, unless Sky pays the BBC I guess.
Unless the BBC would let them do it for free.

ITV FTA decision: Not before April...

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