Loading ...In Wotsat’s chat with Emma Scott, Freesat Managing Director, its believed that 230 FTA (free-to-air) channels should be available by early 2009, but technical issues with Sky are limiting Freesat to launching them in batches.
Emma Scott told Wotsat:
We wanted to launch with them all, but it was not possible. We have got every free-to-air channel that wants to be on Freesat pre-registered already, and we expect to have have the full 230 early next year.
It’s slightly decided by a timetable set down with Sky, which concerns the uplinking arrangements so we do not interfere with their EPG and they do not interfere with ours.
The EPG data is an additional component which is added to the broadcast stream, and they were not able to combine it for all the channels in time for our launch.
We are unclear on exactly what technical issues for FTA channels could cause such delays?
In an interesting twist, Emma has said that there will be one exclusive Freesat channel. Shall we play a game of ‘guess that channel’?
Thank you Wotsat for the information.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
There was some talk recently of RTE (the Irish Rebublic broadcaster) launching an exclusive channel on freesat next year. It will be great if it’s true. I did enjoy the some of the programmes on the now long defunct Tara channel.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Michael – thats a very good bet for the exclusive Freesat channel. Any other takers
July 24th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
See this link “www.rte2fta.com/2008/rte-international-it’s-coming-sooner-than-we-think”
July 24th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Freesat exclusive – Five HD, by red button like itv?
July 24th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I’d love a Five HD service even with a red button (better without though!), and as many of the American shows are filmed in HD it should have lots of material unlike the poor show from ITV .
A Five HD service would also make up for the lack of the other 2 Five channels and
really be a jewel in the freesat crown.
July 24th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Its you usual corporate statement objective, give your public a number goal and target date. I’m not bothered about getting a large quantity of channels on my Freesat. I just want quality channels and more HD availability.
What are the chances of that happening?
July 24th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
The only rights issue Five has likely solved is spill over to Ireland by being on 2D… which they have said all the time (if you actually would have bothered to contact them…
and five might be better to negotiate with Sky than the others… perhaps getting 2 transponders and launch a Five HD sharing space with Channel4 HD
July 24th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Well all you have to do is look at the FTA channels on 28.2E……..for now that’s your lot, and Freesat has no power to change things…..only market forces can do that….want more HD?….so do I, yesterday…..yes, so do I…….but if one can’t wait….SKY it is….sadly to say….
July 24th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
[...] 230 Channels By Early 2009 [...]
July 25th, 2008 at 10:52 am
i agree with mjv, i had freesat but didnt get on with it at all, dredful looking epg, no channels and a poor hd offering, what do you expect for free though i suppose. joined sky hd now and its GREAT!
July 26th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
tom – I remember sky when they first went onto satellite how many English speaking channels did they have after 3 months? was it around 7 channels!
what did we expect for a sky service ! It did take time for sky to build up to what it is now. and it took a lot of years to do so.
People expect too much too soon, it could be or more likely will be another story this time next year.
July 26th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Emma Scott told Wotsat:
“The EPG data is an additional component which is added to the broadcast stream, and they were not able to combine it for all the channels in time for our launch.”
So it’s going to take Sky ’till early 2009 to complete this? Sky must have only one employee in their I.T. department then.
A case of ‘dragging it out’ appears to be the case.. I know of five people who have dropped their Sky subscription in the last two months, I suspect there are thousands more.
230 channels will be great but I suspect 80% will not be worth watching that often. That leaves 46 channels that ‘might’ be worth looking at. Divide that by three and we may be nearer a figure (15) that are worth looking at. Let’s not get too excited.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:45 am
I thought ITV HD was Freesat Exclusive or was that traded off with Sky to get permission for some other channels to be released from their exclusivity?
What’s RTE like, any good?
Personally Batch launches don’t bother me so long as they’re not stretched out over too long a period and more importantly the quality of channels is there, although saying that, a one off roll out would have been nice.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Nevermind I googled it. Looks like its Irish programming aimed at irish ex-pats.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Forget the RTE channel the exclusive is clearly the C4 HD channel!!!
on another point…
The target for Christmas has changed again! it was 200 FTA channels by this christmas!!! Freesat need to get this sorted soon as they WILL miss the massive boost a “Freesat in a box” Christmas present would be for the viewer numbers!!!
July 29th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Tom, do SKY employees get free SKY HD?
July 30th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
230 FTA (free-to-air) channels !
I don’t care how many there are as long as they dont just re-transmit the TOTAL AND UTTER RUBBISH that is transmitted by the vast majority of the FTA channels that are available on SKY at the moment.
Unfortunately, looking at those released so far, I’m not that hopeful.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
daveb – you can almost guarantee that all the FTA channels currently on Sky will be those refered to on Freesat, with the exception of maybe a few considering the move from FTV, or new channels altogeather. Its what happened beyond then that will be interesting, as viewers increase and more subscription channels consider the drop to FTA.
August 3rd, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Bought the HumexHD 2 weeks ago and still no red button on ITV, Is it because I live in Ulster (UTV), or as I fear they are showing nothing….. Would make sence if ITV published an HD listing like BBC….Save us fools watching programes in the hope of it being in HD
August 4th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Bert you may find this interesting regarding no red button on UTV. I think UTV may fall into the same category as STV
Anyone outwith London or using a London post code may be interested in the reply from Scottish Television regarding no HD signal on Saturday evening for “The Scorpion King” other regions may find this true also.
STV quote
“Dear Mr *********,
Thank you for contacting stv.
We are aware that ITV have launched an HD service on Freesat in some parts of the UK. stv has asked ITV to make an stv version of this service available in Scotland. We are keen to get this resolved as soon as possible and as soon as the stv HD service is made available in Scotland stv will be happy to broadcast it.
Kind Regards,”
August 6th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
no sorry matt but im not a sky employee and i do pay for sky hd! i was just trying to state that if you do pay a monthley fee you get a much better service, not just a load of rubbish channels you dont even want to watch. its only a 1 year contract so in a year il have another look at freesat an see where it is than.
October 19th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
does anyone know of plans for MOTD to be on HD?