RD
Er, surely the point of Freeview, is that it is free!
My impression is that there is no-longer any pay-TV on UK DTT, apart from a small Top-Up TV service which is no longer marketed and the quasi-VOD Top-up TV Anytime? Neither of which would seem to be a home for Sky News...
rdd
Founding member
JoandCo posted:
When is live desk?
Sky News will still become a pay channel eventully on freeview.
Sky News will still become a pay channel eventully on freeview.
Er, surely the point of Freeview, is that it is free!
My impression is that there is no-longer any pay-TV on UK DTT, apart from a small Top-Up TV service which is no longer marketed and the quasi-VOD Top-up TV Anytime? Neither of which would seem to be a home for Sky News...
SP
In theory, Sky could bid for their own DTT multiplex after DSO when the freed-up spectrum is auctioned off, which they could use for a pay TV service. But they'll come in for extremely stiff competition for this, particularly from mobile phone operators. Chances are, the huge cost of doing this wouldn't make it worth their while.
I suppose they could buy up Top Up TV to run a DTT pay service, but this would offer them less space than Picnic would have done, so it's doubtful they'd consider this now.
So for now it seems certain Sky News will stay free on DTT, unless of course Sky decide to pull their channels totally off terrestrial. With the official line from Sky being that plans for Picnic are 'on hold' (although nobody's going to be working on it), it seems unlikely they'll give up their DTT space yet.
When you also consider that Sky News is totally free to air on DSat, it seems totally inconceivable that Sky News will be anything other than free on DTT for the forseeable future.
rdd posted:
My impression is that there is no-longer any pay-TV on UK DTT, apart from a small Top-Up TV service which is no longer marketed and the quasi-VOD Top-up TV Anytime? Neither of which would seem to be a home for Sky News...
In theory, Sky could bid for their own DTT multiplex after DSO when the freed-up spectrum is auctioned off, which they could use for a pay TV service. But they'll come in for extremely stiff competition for this, particularly from mobile phone operators. Chances are, the huge cost of doing this wouldn't make it worth their while.
I suppose they could buy up Top Up TV to run a DTT pay service, but this would offer them less space than Picnic would have done, so it's doubtful they'd consider this now.
So for now it seems certain Sky News will stay free on DTT, unless of course Sky decide to pull their channels totally off terrestrial. With the official line from Sky being that plans for Picnic are 'on hold' (although nobody's going to be working on it), it seems unlikely they'll give up their DTT space yet.
When you also consider that Sky News is totally free to air on DSat, it seems totally inconceivable that Sky News will be anything other than free on DTT for the forseeable future.
BC
Blake Connolly
Founding member
Funny sound issue on the top story tonight, Joel Hills voiceover runs about a second earlier than it should. It's quite comical, it seems like he rudely interrupts each talking head just before they finish their sentance.
LR
Slightly different schedule today with Colin on Sky Today and Chris Roberts on the Live Desk. Chris doing a good job as ever but surely the other way round would have made more sense for the sake of consistency. Also why not have Martin Stanford as the stand-in for Colin on The Live Desk? It makes sense given he has to do that 5 minute segment at the end of the programme anyway.
NG
In theory, Sky could bid for their own DTT multiplex after DSO when the freed-up spectrum is auctioned off, which they could use for a pay TV service. But they'll come in for extremely stiff competition for this, particularly from mobile phone operators. Chances are, the huge cost of doing this wouldn't make it worth their while.
I suppose they could buy up Top Up TV to run a DTT pay service, but this would offer them less space than Picnic would have done, so it's doubtful they'd consider this now.
So for now it seems certain Sky News will stay free on DTT, unless of course Sky decide to pull their channels totally off terrestrial. With the official line from Sky being that plans for Picnic are 'on hold' (although nobody's going to be working on it), it seems unlikely they'll give up their DTT space yet.
When you also consider that Sky News is totally free to air on DSat, it seems totally inconceivable that Sky News will be anything other than free on DTT for the forseeable future.
I think that Sky's initial plans to go encrypted SD H264 rather than MPEG2, then their interim plans to go encrypted SD MPEG2 initially, probably caused them more problems than they realised. Whilst other countries - like Ireland, Denmark, Norway, New Zealand, are going universally for DVB-T H264 for SD - the UK is going to be a mix of DVB-T SD MPEG2 and DVB-T2 HD H264. SD H264 via DVB-T would really muddy the waters.
Sky's proposed H264 SD service via DVB-T would be a third terrestrial system... (Fourth if you count TopUpTV with their SD MPEG2 encryption)
It was all too complex for a small offering - and I think Sky realised that they were pushing their luck in trying to get a pay-TV toe-hold on Freeview. I can't see TopUpTV lasting forever.
Be interesting to see what happens when DSO happens - particularly as the non-PSB Freeview muxes aren't going to be transmitted from any more sites, so won't have the same coverage as the post-DSO PSB muxes.
noggin
Founding member
Spencer For Hire posted:
rdd posted:
My impression is that there is no-longer any pay-TV on UK DTT, apart from a small Top-Up TV service which is no longer marketed and the quasi-VOD Top-up TV Anytime? Neither of which would seem to be a home for Sky News...
In theory, Sky could bid for their own DTT multiplex after DSO when the freed-up spectrum is auctioned off, which they could use for a pay TV service. But they'll come in for extremely stiff competition for this, particularly from mobile phone operators. Chances are, the huge cost of doing this wouldn't make it worth their while.
I suppose they could buy up Top Up TV to run a DTT pay service, but this would offer them less space than Picnic would have done, so it's doubtful they'd consider this now.
So for now it seems certain Sky News will stay free on DTT, unless of course Sky decide to pull their channels totally off terrestrial. With the official line from Sky being that plans for Picnic are 'on hold' (although nobody's going to be working on it), it seems unlikely they'll give up their DTT space yet.
When you also consider that Sky News is totally free to air on DSat, it seems totally inconceivable that Sky News will be anything other than free on DTT for the forseeable future.
I think that Sky's initial plans to go encrypted SD H264 rather than MPEG2, then their interim plans to go encrypted SD MPEG2 initially, probably caused them more problems than they realised. Whilst other countries - like Ireland, Denmark, Norway, New Zealand, are going universally for DVB-T H264 for SD - the UK is going to be a mix of DVB-T SD MPEG2 and DVB-T2 HD H264. SD H264 via DVB-T would really muddy the waters.
Sky's proposed H264 SD service via DVB-T would be a third terrestrial system... (Fourth if you count TopUpTV with their SD MPEG2 encryption)
It was all too complex for a small offering - and I think Sky realised that they were pushing their luck in trying to get a pay-TV toe-hold on Freeview. I can't see TopUpTV lasting forever.
Be interesting to see what happens when DSO happens - particularly as the non-PSB Freeview muxes aren't going to be transmitted from any more sites, so won't have the same coverage as the post-DSO PSB muxes.
