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Freesat have today confirmed that issues with Freesat box software has meant putting the launch of new channels on hold.
The firmware within all Freesat digital boxes is suppose to auto-update when new channels are launched, including them within the EPG. Unfortunatly technical issues with the software have caused Freesat to posepone the additional ITV regional channels, plus a few other FTA channels.
Freesat would not confirm how long this delay is expected to last, nor the FTA channels to be introduced, but did say that both manufacturers and Freesat are working togeather on a prompt resolution.
June 11th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Why can’t we just do a manual scan like on every freeview box, not worth delaying any launches?
June 11th, 2008 at 9:49 am
After all the delays, all the testing, they couldnt get this bit right????
June 11th, 2008 at 10:57 am
agree with you Lee B ,if its good enough for freeview it should be good enough for freesat.so long as there is a pop up banner lling you that new channels are available i cant see any problems.little things like this are putting me off going freesat and making me consider a HD FTA box
June 11th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Freesat and Freeview are built on different technical platforms, so things will work differently behind the scenes. You’ll be asking why they haven’t got iPlayer on there yet, as it’s working fine on Virgin.
They are a new service, and they count Sky amongst their competitors. You can be sure that they didn’t delay anything for fun!
June 11th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
If I purchase a Grundig HD dox now will I have to purchase another
to get manual tune.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
graham - no, certainly not, they will update via the satellite so it will work on the current boxes, of course if it didn’t, there would be grounds to return it for a replacement. Make sure you pick up the best price online using the column on the right, Comet or Currys are the best places to buy, at £149.99, alternatively consider the Humax for the same price from Comet.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Rich,
I appreciate freesat and freeview are different, but both CURRENTLY have a manual scan option, and with millions of freeview owners out there having little difficulty doing a manual scan, then what is the problem with launching the channels and freesat owners doing a scan just this once until the next firmware is fixed.
I hardly think the argument about iPlayer is a fair one, as I said freesat does already have a manual scan option, I’m not asking about things it does not have!
June 11th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
OK IF PEOPLE FROM FREESAT READ THIS PLEASE TAKE NOTE
I ALONG WITH MANY OTHERS PAID VERY GOOD MONEY FOR A SERVICE
I UNDERSTAND ITS NEW,I UNDERSTAND THERE ARE PROBLEMS BUT
WHY CANT YOU JUST EXPLAIN WHAT IS PLANNED
WHY CANT YOU JUST EXPLAIN WHAT YOU ARE DOING NOW TO FIX THINGS
WHY CANT YOU JUST GIVE SOME CUSTOMER SERVICE
WHY CANT YOU PUT I PLAYER ON IT
WHY CANT YOU TELL US WHY IT ISNT WORKING PROPERLY
WHY CANT YOU UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE
WHY CANT YOU TALK TO SOMEONE ON THIS WEB SITE WHO DO ACTUALLY CARE AND PROMOTE YOU !!!!!
JUST GIVE ME AND OTHERS SOMETHING TO GO ON
PPPPPPPPPPPLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSEEEEE !!!!!!!!!!!
June 12th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Lee B
I see where you’re coming from there, and it’s a good point. But one of the things they claim is that the EPG updates automatically, so perhaps they think it’ll cause more upset and complaints to ask for a manual scan than to just wait a few weeks until it’s resolved. Or - and this is quite likely - there’s something else behind the scenes that will cause future technical problems if they rush it now. For all the criticism they’re getting for not having everything in place, they sit in the middle of a lot of third parties and they’ve got to manage them all - that’s got to be difficult and I’d rather they delay a few channels for a few weeks than do something which breaks the platform further down the line.
The iPlayer comment was just to highlight how different platforms work at different paces, not anything more
June 12th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Adrian
Alright chap, calm down!
I’ll have a go at your questions, sorry in advance for the length of this post though:
WHY CANT YOU JUST EXPLAIN WHAT IS PLANNED
Because Sky will f**k them, they are very aggressive behind the scenes e.g. paying channels to remain Free-to-View instead of FTA. Also, because they sit in the middle of a bunch of 3rd parties, and they would be making promises for them - if these promises aren’t met the negative backlash falls entirely on Freesat, not Humax, Comet, BBC etc.
WHY CANT YOU JUST EXPLAIN WHAT YOU ARE DOING NOW TO FIX THINGS
Because there’s not that much wrong! Regions are missing, but they’re coming. Interactivity isn’t entirely there, but that’s coming too. Component for HD is disabled, but that’s not their fault, you need to take your complaint about HDCP to Hollywood.
That said, it’s good for companies to communicate with their customers more, so I broadly agree with this one. However, they do need to be more careful than other companies, not every company is owned by unique entities like BBC and ITV, who are responsible to Parliament and public opinion more than others
WHY CANT YOU JUST GIVE SOME CUSTOMER SERVICE
Because they sit in the middle of a lot of third parties. They don’t make the boxes, sell the boxes, or install the boxes. They manage the platform, and customer service falls within the remit of manufacturers, retailers and installers. They attempt to influence this through tight standards in their trade-mark licences
WHY CANT YOU PUT I PLAYER ON IT
They can put iPlayer on it, that’s one reason why it’s better than Freesat from Sky. The BBC have to design a version of iPlayer for Freesat first though, that’ll take some time. As always, Freesat sit in the middle, taking the heat.
WHY CANT YOU TELL US WHY IT ISNT WORKING PROPERLY
Because it’s likely to be extremely technical or commercial, and to be fair, most of it *is* working right, but just not to what some people were expecting. At the end of the day, Freesat is a small company that’s non-profit and partially public funded through the license fee. Why spend money [mine, and yours] explaining to curious early adopters the exact techincal or commercial reasons why things don’t conform exactly to their expectations, when everything will be all right soon?
WHY CANT YOU UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE
They do, I thought. Maybe they just don’t fill it with the info you need. You could try emailing or ringing them direct for your answers?
WHY CANT YOU TALK TO SOMEONE ON THIS WEB SITE WHO DO ACTUALLY CARE AND PROMOTE YOU !!!!!
I would guess it’s because they don’t have enough people, and they’re concentrating on other stuff. That said, I agree with you on this one as well.
Rich
June 13th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Hi
does anybody know whether the scope and depth of the functionality of the interactive red button currently available on Sky (eg on BBC where it is possible to get a choice of programmes) will be available on Freesat?
June 15th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Nicely answered Rich.