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In a video interview discussing the financial reports of BSkyB today, Jeremy Darroch, BSkyB CEO, announced having in the region of 30 high-definition channels available by the end of the year.
The video interview can be found here, in which Darroch said:
We have 19 high-definition channels at the moment, we’ll grow that to around 30 channels over the next few months.
So how is this relevant to Freesat? Well its likely that not all the additional 11 channels will be subscription, a few may be FTA (free-to-air) ones that Freesat will no doubt also get. So what could they be? Five HD? Sky News HD? Answers on a post card!
July 31st, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I do not think we should get too excited yet. I think most will be subscription.
July 31st, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Teleshopping HD? Sky Three HD?
I somehow doubt they will be worth it. The man is just saying that to convert more people to HD, more HD subscribers = more income for Murdoch…
Besides most of the 19 existing HD channels rarely don’t broadcast in HD 24/7. HD is nice, good HD content is better.
July 31st, 2008 at 3:39 pm
One vote for 5HD, most of the stuff they show is filmed in HD! Would be a real boost for freesat!
July 31st, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Any expansion in HD content has to be good, even if it’s subscription only in the short to medium term. The more that HD penetrates the mass market, the easier it will be for future Freeesat/FTA HD services to come online - success begets success.
July 31st, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Perhaps a more honest term would be ‘HD enabled channels’ e.g When you study the actual content of channel 4 apart from Hollyoaks there is very little other content.
July 31st, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Credit crunch = less spend………HD for SKY = more customer revenue…..
That is their focus…but yes, hopefully, a few FTA…
either way…freesat is delivering what I want…and will grow….next stop PVR…..
I had many frustrations with Freesat via my Goodmans HD box so I bought a Humax HDCI-2000 last week on Ebay, to compare….
I sold it within 3 hours of its arrival on ebay…made £30 quid, but more importantly, learnt this….the EPG is essential for family usage, and only getting channels from Astra 2 meant no difference…..
The Goodmans box is not as stable as the HDCI-2000 but that will soon be put into the bedroom to make way for the Freesat PVR…whenever it arrives…
Then goodbye to freeview as well…..
This concept will work and grow…….I fully support it……BUT want CH4 and 5 in HD…..PLEASE !!!
July 31st, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Darroch said “we’ll grow that”, and as they are not in business to grow the number of non-subscription channels I can’t see that they will not all be subscription. Outside of Sky’s plans there might, possibly, be other FTA HD offerings, but Sky has no interest in them launching under Freesat as they are a direct competitor to their subscription model.
However, I fully agree with Davei in post 4 - momentum breeds moore momentum
July 31st, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Agreed.
The more HD becomes the norm the moer the transition process will gather speed.
The current state of HD programming annoys me intensley as there are over 10 million HD sets in UK homes and most programmes are now filmed in HD and yet 99.9% of transmission is made in SD. Terrestial has some excuse with bandwidth problems but other modes of delivery such as cable, Sky and Freesat really have none.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:57 pm
This is old news. 30 channels has been discussed on digital spy for months. Channel 5 has shown little interest in HD so I don’t think they will go HD any time soon. ITV have made a complete hash of ITV HD and BBC HD has deteriated into a repeats channel. I would like to see Film 4 go HD but I think that is unlikly.
August 1st, 2008 at 6:21 am
BBC HD, yes does have repeats but also a lot of programmes are broadcast at the same time as on BBC1 and BBC2. I personally find a lot to watch on BBC HD. eg Francesco Da Mosta, Gardeners World, Chinese Cooking, Lost Land of the Jaguar etc etc. There is in my opinion some excellant programmes. The repeats such as Wild China, Dan Cruickshank warrent 2nd viewings.
I agree these may not be to everyone’s taste but it is all down to personal choice.
Has anybody tried LUX HD? Ok it is just a long advert for luxury living but the HD quality is stunning. It sets a maker in terms of the quality of HD picture that can be obtained. Ok you would’nt sit and watch it for long but it is great as a demo.
August 1st, 2008 at 6:25 am
Sorry my last comments should read “—It sets a marker in terms——-”
August 1st, 2008 at 7:24 am
Dennis mentioned Lux HD, How do i get this channel, i have a Humax Foxstat Box ???
I have a Samsung 32 inch H D ready television which they keep saying ,because of internal componants gives near H D quaility on normal channels apart from Freesat.
I cannot tell any differance between freesat HD and any other channels is it my Humax box that isnt giving its best, or is the tele working well !!!!!!!!!
August 1st, 2008 at 8:11 am
Brian - If you can manually search put in 12643 and 27500 Horizontal and you will find a number of channels including Lux HD and Lux SD. I am using a Goodman HD box through a Panasonic LCD TV. It is excellant.
August 1st, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Dennis many thanks for your info, i will give it a go
August 1st, 2008 at 3:20 pm
That’s ok Brian. - Its one N in Denis please.
August 1st, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Not quantity but quality please.
ch4 hd, ch5 hd and other ITV hd channels would be most welcome.Also how about film 4 and movie channels in HD?
Now that would be something.
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:29 am
Yasar - You may evenually get 4HD, 5HD but the point of Freesat is just that, it is free so if you want anything beyond that you will need to go to subsription TV. I think HD TV can be a bit over hyped. The priority at first must be programme content quality. A poor quality content programme in HD remains a poor programme. Eg If Big Brother was in HD it would still be a poor programme.
Yes I am all for HD but not at the cost of poor programme content.
August 2nd, 2008 at 7:39 am
Sorry Denis, but thanks again for the info
Brian
August 2nd, 2008 at 7:59 am
Brian - Thats ok, thanks
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:15 am
Denis, As i am a technafob, could you give me an idiots guide to getting Lux hd etc.
I have ventured onto the Humax Menu , it shows MANUAL TUNE, but i am afraid that if i start messing around, i will loose all channels, also i noticed that the signal strength is 80% is that acceptable
BRIAN
August 3rd, 2008 at 9:57 am
I just tried it. When you want to switch back to Freesat Tune it will take a few seconds to search and re-establish your freesat channel list. But seems to work fine.
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 am
Re Denis (post 13) I have tried the numbers for the Luxe HD channel but no channels appear. I have a Bush HD box. Am I missing something?
August 4th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
For Luxe HD put your receiver in non-freesat mode. Scan transponder 12643H 27500 2/3 (28.2E, Eurobird1) . . That’s where Luxe HD lives .
Look here . .
http://www.flysat.com/hdtv.php
August 4th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
BSkyB said.. “We have 19 high-definition channels at the moment, we’ll grow that to around 30 channels over the next few months.”
Are people going to give up work so they have time to watch TV? What will they be pumping out? I simply can’t imagine what the content will be . .
I have never heard such a non-sensical statement of pie in the sky proportions . . Unemployment benefits will surely have to increase for those that have time to watch .