Why wasn't ITV on Sky Digital in the early days?

NG

noggin Founding member 23 July 2018 2:23pm

ITV 2 certainly did, and the BBC definitely ditched CA when they moved to 2D, but you might be right about ITV 1 ? If it was FTV it certainly wasn't regionally restricted (as the BBC nations were)

Yes - BBC One and Two (and BBC Choice before BBC Two) England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were all FTV but postcode restricted to cards registered in their home countries.

Choice wasn't restricted, you could, and I did watch all four versions. A recall a certain Christine Bleakley
who was on Choice-NI as an in-vision continuity announcer.

You're absolutely right - BBC Choice was not nation-restricted. I too remember the "BBC Choice N IRELAND" DOG that was so huge they may as well have centred it...

NG

noggin Founding member 23 July 2018 2:24pm

thegeek posted:

Markymark posted:

This reminds me of the FTV card saga. When Sky Digital launched, you could buy an unsubsidised box, without a subscription package. That was fine, except you had no access to FTV encrypted services, notably the BBC, and C4 (I can't remember what the initial situation was with C5). The BBC and C4 funded an FTV
card scheme, where you could ring a helpline, and they'd send you a Sky viewing card paired to your box and postcode.

They still offer this - £254 for a SkyHD box and dish (installed), or £25 for a FTV viewing card. Apparently you need the card to watch Channel 4 HD and Channel 5 - I'm not near my box to see if they disappear if I take the card out.

Does the £10/month Sky+ subscription still need to be paid for PVR functionality ? And do you need to pay that for iPlayer access?

NA

Nathan 23 July 2018 2:32pm

Markymark posted:

noggin posted:

Markymark posted:

ITV 2 certainly did, and the BBC definitely ditched CA when they moved to 2D, but you might be right about ITV 1 ? If it was FTV it certainly wasn't regionally restricted (as the BBC nations were)

Yes - BBC One and Two (and BBC Choice before BBC Two) England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were all FTV but postcode restricted to cards registered in their home countries.

Choice wasn't restricted, you could, and I did watch all four versions. A recall a certain Christine Bleakley
who was on Choice-NI as an in-vision continuity announcer.

BBC Choice NI had no DOG, and therefore was an upgrade over the network version...

JA

james-2001 23 July 2018 2:36pm

I've always found what I've seen of the original formats of BBC Choice and Knowedge to be very interesting, sadly hardly anyone had digital TV at the time so virtually nobody saw it, and they changed formats quite quickly.

VM

VMPhil 23 July 2018 2:51pm

noggin posted:

Markymark posted:

noggin posted:

Yes - BBC One and Two (and BBC Choice before BBC Two) England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were all FTV but postcode restricted to cards registered in their home countries.

Choice wasn't restricted, you could, and I did watch all four versions. A recall a certain Christine Bleakley
who was on Choice-NI as an in-vision continuity announcer.

You're absolutely right - BBC Choice was not nation-restricted. I too remember the "BBC Choice N IRELAND" DOG that was so huge they may as well have centred it...

I thought their DOG was the shortened 'BBC CHOICE NI'? As it made an erroneous reappearance on BBC One NI a few years later.

NG

noggin Founding member 23 July 2018 4:09pm

VMPhil posted:

noggin posted:

Markymark posted:

Choice wasn't restricted, you could, and I did watch all four versions. A recall a certain Christine Bleakley
who was on Choice-NI as an in-vision continuity announcer.

You're absolutely right - BBC Choice was not nation-restricted. I too remember the "BBC Choice N IRELAND" DOG that was so huge they may as well have centred it...

I thought their DOG was the shortened 'BBC CHOICE NI'? As it made an erroneous reappearance on BBC One NI a few years later.

I think that was a later iteration. Either that or it was "BBC CHOICE Scotland" that was ridiculous big...

MI

Mike516 23 July 2018 4:21pm

thegeek posted:

Markymark posted:

This reminds me of the FTV card saga. When Sky Digital launched, you could buy an unsubsidised box, without a subscription package. That was fine, except you had no access to FTV encrypted services, notably the BBC, and C4 (I can't remember what the initial situation was with C5). The BBC and C4 funded an FTV
card scheme, where you could ring a helpline, and they'd send you a Sky viewing card paired to your box and postcode.

They still offer this - £254 for a SkyHD box and dish (installed), or £25 for a FTV viewing card. Apparently you need the card to watch Channel 4 HD and Channel 5 - I'm not near my box to see if they disappear if I take the card out.

Those details on the Sky website are a bit out of date. C4 HD and C5 HD clear without a Sky card.

ST

Stuart 23 July 2018 5:15pm

noggin posted:

Does the £10/month Sky+ subscription still need to be paid for PVR functionality ? And do you need to pay that for iPlayer access?

Yes, you do. It's my usual ruse to revert to this if I have to cancel at the end of a discount deal.

It means I keep the functionality of the PVR, which you need for iPlayer as it's progressive download rather than streaming on Sky. You still have access to previous recordings from the FTA/FTV channels, but not any from subscriptions channels.

You're no longer classed as a subscriber, for Sky's purposes, so you soon become eligible for another "come back to Sky" deal. (Last time it took only 3 weeks before I got another 60% off deal for 18 months)

MA

Markymark 23 July 2018 5:21pm

catbooks posted:

Markymark posted:

noggin posted:

Yes - BBC One and Two (and BBC Choice before BBC Two) England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were all FTV but postcode restricted to cards registered in their home countries.

Choice wasn't restricted, you could, and I did watch all four versions. A recall a certain Christine Bleakley
who was on Choice-NI as an in-vision continuity announcer.

BBC Choice NI had no DOG, and therefore was an upgrade over the network version...

None of the Choices had DOGs for a period, here's the chronology

http://625.uk.com/dogwatch/index.htm#bbc3

GE

thegeek Founding member 23 July 2018 5:56pm

Stuart posted:

noggin posted:

Does the £10/month Sky+ subscription still need to be paid for PVR functionality ? And do you need to pay that for iPlayer access?

Yes, you do. It's my usual ruse to revert to this if I have to cancel at the end of a discount deal.

useful to know, we're after a discount!

OF

OF992 23 July 2018 7:00pm

Revolution posted: