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Did RTE ever have discussions with Freesat?

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  • 17-02-2019 10:06pm
    #1
    lawred2
    Registered Users Posts: 24,286 ✭✭✭✭


    As per title..

    Did RTE ever consider or were they ever approached about being part of Freesat offering?

    Seems like something that should have possibly happened.


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    #2
    Phileas Frog
    Closed Accounts Posts: 946 ✭✭✭Phileas Frog


    Why? They're already on Saorsat


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    #3
    The high horse brigade
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,456 ✭✭✭The high horse brigade


    I don't think it's possible for them, when they pay for movies and shows they pay for an audience of 4-6m on this island. If they were to increase viewership to cover the UK the prices they pay would go up


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    #4
    lawred2
    Registered Users Posts: 24,286 ✭✭✭✭lawred2


    Phileas Frog wrote: »
    Why? They're already on Saorsat

    Don't you need two different lnbs to get saorsat and Freesat/freeview?

    Kinda defeats the purpose.


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    #5
    lawred2
    Registered Users Posts: 24,286 ✭✭✭✭lawred2


    The high horse brigade wrote: »
    I don't think it's possible for them, when they pay for movies and shows they pay for an audience of 4-6m on this island. If they were to increase viewership to cover the UK the prices they pay would go up

    Ah that's a fair point.. although one might argue that RTE should be focusing on their own content but that's a whole other ball of wax.


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    #6
    Charles Babbage
    Registered Users Posts: 5,484 ✭✭✭Charles Babbage


    lawred2 wrote: »
    Don't you need two different lnbs to get saorsat and Freesat/freeview?

    Kinda defeats the purpose.


    the purpose is a satellite whose footprint corresponds to Ireland.

    Freesat does not meet this purpose.


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    #7
    lawred2
    Registered Users Posts: 24,286 ✭✭✭✭lawred2


    Charles Babbage wrote: »
    the purpose is a satellite whose footprint corresponds to Ireland.

    Freesat does not meet this purpose.

    What do you mean? Far as I was aware Freesat/Freeview was available all over Ireland.

    28.2e more than covers Ireland

    Sure it's the same platform as delivers sky over Ireland.

    Either way doesn't matter - it's a commercial licensing decision.


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    #8
    lbc2019
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,291 ✭✭✭lbc2019


    It covers more than Ireland so they would need to pay for UK rights also to be on Freesat


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    #9
    lertsnim
    Registered Users Posts: 9,719 ✭✭✭lertsnim


    lawred2 wrote: »
    As per title..

    Did RTE ever consider or were they ever approached about being part of Freesat offering?

    Seems like something that should have possibly happened.

    I'm sure there must have been contact to get RTÉ radio on the platform. Television never for the reasons outlined in previous posts.


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    #10
    lawred2
    Registered Users Posts: 24,286 ✭✭✭✭lawred2


    Charles Babbage wrote: »
    the purpose is a satellite whose footprint corresponds to Ireland.

    Freesat does not meet this purpose.

    Actually I get you now.. you meant an Ireland only footprint not a footprint that includes all of Ireland.

    I picked you up wrong


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    #11
    The Cush
    Registered Users Posts: 15,495 ✭✭✭✭The Cush


    This from an Oireachtas committee discussion back in 2010 with RTÉ
    The BBC, ITV and a number of other companies have put their services on one of the wideband Astra satellites. The services are broadcast unencrypted, or "in the clear" as we call it. The trouble with those wideband satellites is that they have a very big footprint. If RTE were to be put up on a wideband satellite, its services would be in the clear to the UK, France, Holland and many other countries. One might ask why that should not be done, to which I would respond that we do not have the resources to purchase the rights to enable us to broadcast into those countries. We buy programming that allows us to broadcast to 4.5 million people. We do not have the money to broadcast to 100 million people. Therefore, the option taken by the BBC when Freesat was launched is not available to us.


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    #12
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    It would only work if, and this is a big if, Freesat boxes were armed with a CAM slot for Irish channels all of which would have to be on a single transponder I think (not a techie but that sounds right!)


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    #13
    kooga
    Registered Users Posts: 2,882 ✭✭✭kooga


    But why then on sky is rte on the European beam rather than the uk beam


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    #14
    lbc2019
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,291 ✭✭✭lbc2019


    kooga wrote: »
    But why then on sky is rte on the European beam rather than the uk beam

    Its encrypted


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    #15
    Johnboy1951
    Registered Users Posts: 13,991 ✭✭✭✭Johnboy1951


    The Cush wrote: »
    This from an Oireachtas committee discussion back in 2010 with RTÉ
    The BBC, ITV and a number of other companies have put their services on one of the wideband Astra satellites. The services are broadcast unencrypted, or "in the clear" as we call it. The trouble with those wideband satellites is that they have a very big footprint. If RTE were to be put up on a wideband satellite, its services would be in the clear to the UK, France, Holland and many other countries. One might ask why that should not be done, to which I would respond that we do not have the resources to purchase the rights to enable us to broadcast into those countries. We buy programming that allows us to broadcast to 4.5 million people. We do not have the money to broadcast to 100 million people. Therefore, the option taken by the BBC when Freesat was launched is not available to us.

    That means that all channels on Astra 28.2E have rights to broadcast into the island of Ireland?
    I was never sure of that.


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    #16
    Charles Babbage
    Registered Users Posts: 5,484 ✭✭✭Charles Babbage


    Johnboy1951 wrote: »
    That means that all channels on Astra 28.2E have rights to broadcast into the island of Ireland?
    I was never sure of that.


    I'm not sure that follows. If they pay for the UK rights then nobody might get too excited abou Ireland, this would not be true the other way around.


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    #17
    JDxtra
    Registered Users Posts: 5,871 ✭✭✭JDxtra


    Never going to happen. Freesat will only ever be UK only. Just look at the recent Saorview Connect box - even though it's running Freesat software, Saorview weren't allowed to use Freesat EPG data on it.


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    #18
    Johnboy1951
    Registered Users Posts: 13,991 ✭✭✭✭Johnboy1951


    Charles Babbage wrote: »
    I'm not sure that follows. If they pay for the UK rights then nobody might get too excited abou Ireland, this would not be true the other way around.

    But as pointed out in the quote it is not only Ireland but other countries also.
    That could amount to a fairly sizeable number of people which I would think someone would have looked at and wanted payment for.


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    #19
    Vic_08
    Registered Users Posts: 3,041 ✭✭✭Vic_08


    Johnboy1951 wrote: »
    But as pointed out in the quote it is not only Ireland but other countries also.
    That could amount to a fairly sizeable number of people which I would think someone would have looked at and wanted payment for.

    Other countries, none of which are English speaking. There will be some demand for English language programming across Europe but nothing compared to the market for primary language content for the various countries.


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    #20
    icdg
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,516 Mod ✭✭✭✭icdg


    My understanding is that in many cases (BBC, Channel 4, and others) rights are cleared here.

    In other cases (eg Channel 5) they are not but there is an understanding from rights holders that Freesat is not marketed or promoted here, and the broadcaster does not market or promote themselves here, and they are not on the Sky EPG here then the reception and actual viewing of the channel is likely to be relatively limited enough for the rights holders to “look the other way” or at least treat it as being akin to “overspill”.


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    #21
    loyatemu
    Registered Users Posts: 14,776 ✭✭✭✭loyatemu


    RTE were looking for money for an international channel a few years back. This would have broadcast exclusively home-produced content (and possibly some archive material) for a UK audience, though I don't know if they planned to put it on Freeview/Freesat or just on Sky.

    I haven't read anything about it recently. I wouldn't have thought it would be massively expensive to do, when you look at some of the shoestring operations that have channels on Sky currently.

    Is the RTE Player available outside Ireland? Many programs would have no rights issues (e.g. the news, LLS, Operation Transformation) - I don't see why they can't be made available outside Ireland.


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    #22
    lertsnim
    Registered Users Posts: 9,719 ✭✭✭lertsnim


    There is an international version of the RTÉ Player yes.


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    #23
    s8n
    Registered Users Posts: 3,833 ✭✭✭s8n


    No. It was on Andy Riely’s To do list but didn’t get to it


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    #24
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,774 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Tivusat is the Italian version of Freesat. Same people doing the backend.

    To cover the overspill problem it's encrypted.

    And while it's Free To View you can't buy the card on it's own, you have to buy it with bundled hardware.

    Not a technical issue, just a paywall and you need an Italian PRSI number. I can imagine any proposed solution here being even more costly for "reasons".




    Or look at the Saorview Connect. Freesat don't allow it to use the Freesat EPG even though it's programmed by the same people who've had a twin tuner HD recorder for Freesat ten years ago.

    It's not a technical issue. It's a rights issue. BBC and ITN won't share their EPG.



    One way to put RTE on Freesat would be to encrypt it. And provide cards. And the UK with ten times the population abandoned that years ago as too expensive. The funny thing about that is the BAI via SKY used to send you a card for the Sound And Vision scheme.



    Again it's not a technical issue.


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    #25
    FRIENDO
    Registered Users Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭FRIENDO


    icdg wrote: »
    My understanding is that in many cases (BBC, Channel 4, and others) rights are cleared here.

    In other cases (eg Channel 5) they are not but there is an understanding from rights holders that Freesat is not marketed or promoted here, and the broadcaster does not market or promote themselves here, and they are not on the Sky EPG here then the reception and actual viewing of the channel is likely to be relatively limited enough for the rights holders to “look the other way” or at least treat it as being akin to “overspill”.

    Unfortunately this is not the attitude with Champions league on RTÉ Saorsat.

    I suppose its just lucky nothing else was blocked on Saorsat over rights.


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    #26
    Gerry Wicklow
    Registered Users Posts: 4,540 ✭✭✭Gerry Wicklow


    Capt'n Midnight wrote: »
    .....

    Not a technical issue, just a paywall and you need an Italian PRSI number. I can imagine any proposed solution here being even more costly for "reasons".
    ......

    Can you imagine the uproar here if they wanted your PPS number just to watch TV? :eek:


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    #27
    Johnboy1951
    Registered Users Posts: 13,991 ✭✭✭✭Johnboy1951


    Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

    One way to put RTE on Freesat would be to encrypt it. And provide cards. And the UK with ten times the population abandoned that years ago as too expensive. The funny thing about that is the BAI via SKY used to send you a card for the Sound And Vision scheme.

    Again it's not a technical issue.

    Is that still the situation?
    I believe I saw a programme mentioned as FTA on the eir sports EPG ....... would that have been broadcast in the clear or requiring a card?


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    #28
    lertsnim
    Registered Users Posts: 9,719 ✭✭✭lertsnim


    Johnboy1951 wrote: »
    Is that still the situation?
    I believe I saw a programme mentioned as FTA on the eir sports EPG ....... would that have been broadcast in the clear or requiring a card?

    Always requires a card with Eir.


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    #29
    Johnboy1951
    Registered Users Posts: 13,991 ✭✭✭✭Johnboy1951


    Johnboy1951 wrote: »
    Is that still the situation?
    I believe I saw a programme mentioned as FTA on the eir sports EPG ....... would that have been broadcast in the clear or requiring a card?
    lertsnim wrote: »
    Always requires a card with Eir.

    So a FTA card is issued on request to eir? or BAI? or who?


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    #30
    lertsnim
    Registered Users Posts: 9,719 ✭✭✭lertsnim


    Eir though some people say they are given the runaround when trying to get one off them. Of course any old Irish subscription card will work for that "FTA" content too.


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    #31
    Gerry Wicklow
    Registered Users Posts: 4,540 ✭✭✭Gerry Wicklow


    Also assuming you have an old Sky box to put it into or would it work in any box cam slot?


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