I am aware there is another thread nearby but I don't think the same questions are posed.
What do you know/ think this platform will offer? Obviously there will be BBC1,2,3,4,N24 and i, and ITV1,2,3,4 and News, but what else?
Do they have rights to broadcast Sky?
I really can't see how Freesat can fill up the same amount of channels as Freesat from Sky does, as it is to be sold at the same price of £150. Any help appreciated.
The BBC/ITV announcement is basically that ITV1 and 2 will be moving from FTV to FTA - and will therefore no longer need a Sky viewing card (of the Sky Freesat or lapsed sub variety), or even a Sky receiver.
Effectively you still point your dish at the same satellite and receive the same transmissions as a Sky viewer does - but because the transmissions are no longer encrypted, as they are currently, you can receive them without a card.
Channel Four and Five will remain FTV (i.e. Free-to-view i.e. encrypted and requiring a card but NOT a subscription to view), but all the other Sky Freesat channels are already FTA (Free-to-Air - i.e. unencrypted), so the line-up will be effectively the same - apart from Channel Four and Five who will remain encrypted for the moment. The channels that you get on Sky's Freesat offering aren't paid for by Sky - they are generally the low-cost channels who can't afford, or don't need, to pay Sky for encryption!!
(Sky offered an equivalent to Freesat for many years - though they hid it well - with the BBC funding the viewing card and Sky funding the receiver, with Four and Five, but not ITV, also funding the helpline. This ceased when the BBC went from FTV to FTA...)
The BBC and ITV aren't broadcasting a new feed for their Freesat - it is just a marketing job aligned with ITV ceasing to pay Sky for encryption of ITV1 and 2. (ITV3 is FTA already, as is the ITV NC. ITV2 used to be pay-TV but is no FTV)
Longer term it may be that the BBC/ITV Freesat also start duplicating their EPG information in an open format as well as the proprietary Sky format, allowing non-Sky+ PVRs, PCs etc. to access a satellite EPG.