Great news to all Irish Sky subscribers, both in ROI and NI . RTÉ signed a deal yesterday with sky which will allow all three of their channels to be broadcast on the Sky Digital platform from April. These channels include ONE, N2 and TG4. TV3 will not be available for some time. Along with this all RTÉ radio channels will be made available to everyone on the platform.
<from rte.ie>
BSkyB's chief operating officer Richard Freudenstein said it would be giving RTE top positioning in its Electronic Programme Guide for Ireland. He also confirmed that Sky now had almost 194,000 digital subscribers in Ireland. He also said that this represents 17.5% of the TV audience in Ireland and puts us third, after the UK and Spain, in an EU league table of digital TV penetration.
</from rte.ie>
(Edited by patdublin at 11:58 am on Nov. 24, 2001)
Anyway, are BBC channels available in ROI on Sky Digital - what is on channel 101, etc?
TO
Todd
I wonder will people in Britain be able to get it on ADD CHANNELS? I dont know why people are getting worked up over? I live in Ireland and only watch sky! Mind you i wouldn't mind getting BBC NEWS 24! any news on it?
You see - I find it a bit strange that ROI can watch BBC channels (funded by the UK). If RTÉ doesn't make an appearance on Sky Digital in the UK, I will be rather annoyed.
To answer Andrew's question, RTÉ carries advertising but is also funded in part by the Irish government. The Irish also have to pay for a television licence.
EL
Elusive
Hmm the thing is, UK channels have historically been available in Ireland for years anyway, first because of overspill from the north of Ireland and then in later years, the cable companies carried them. However, that's not to say that Ireland is getting British channels for free! For example, you have to be subscribing to the family pack to get BBC 1 and BBC 2, and the cable companies have been paying royalties for years.
RTE is paid for 60% from advertising and 40% from the licence fee (after the Post Office takes its cut for collecting it). However the government have not given a proper licence fee increase in years, the one this year barely apsorbed TG4 (the Gaelic channel)'s running costs.
Re: BBC available in Ireland but not RTE in GB, the differences are twofold:
1) There is a long history of Irish people watching British TV. This comes from when Ireland had only one channel and UK three. Most people subscribe to cable/satellite for the sole purpose of getting UK TV. There is no comparable history of UK people going out of the way to recieve Irish TV.
2) You can't get BBC PRIME or BBC WORLD in Ireland through normal channels. Only if you know how...
3) (*Most Important*)It is much cheaper for the BBC to clear its rights, already paid for 60m people, for another 3 million (5%), than it is for RTE to clear rights paid for 3m people for another 60 million people (2000%). The cost would bankrupt RTE.
:
