Loading ...Kind of a pointless post, but not much is happening in Freesat world this week.
We sent a message over to Freesat’s PR company last week requesting answers to the burning questions, as customers and potential customers are starting to get impatient at the lack of news and advertising from Freesat.
We asked about regional channels, channel Five, PVR’s, planned improvements for HD channels, further channels to be added this year, iplayer, advertising strategy to name but a few.
So far we’ve had a reply back from the PR company (fireflycomms) last Friday to say they are working on our request with Freesat and would be in touch Monday. Nothing yet so we contacted them again this morning to be told they are chasing.
We really hope that they are genuinely going to answer some of our questions. Now we appreciate that some can’t be answered, but reasoning behind why is the least we can expect. This blog receives more visitors per day than any other Freesat related site (other than Freesat’s very own site) so we feel you guys and gals have a right to know whats what.
We’ll keep you all posted, fingers crossed!
June 18th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
‘Nothing yet so we contacted them again this morning to be told they are chasing.’
there own tails.
glad to see you get so many hits, i look a couple of time a day to if theres any new, news.
June 18th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
It sounds like you missed the news about a few new coming-soon channels mentioned at http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=help.Question&id=3199
June 18th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Phil - well spotted.
“As well as the remaining BBC and ITV regional services, new services will include ITV2+1, Film Four+1, E4+1 and More4+1, Zone Horror and Zone Reality, Kix and BET as well as digital radio stations including Capital Radio, Virgin Radio and XFM.”
June 18th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Hey admin, out of interest, how can you tell that you get the most hits of all unofficial freesat sites? Just the google ranking?
Rich
June 18th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Rich - a few SEO based tools are available to help, although they obviously aren’t 100% accurate. We are receiving over 10,000 unique hits to the homepage each day, which we are very happy with. We just need Freesat to return the favour of helping us promote them!
June 18th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
10,000 hits a day thats good going, its alway been a good site, hope freesat see it that way and play ball.
Strange they didn’t tell you about the new stations when you rang, dos the left hand know what the right is doing. Its a good bit of gossip, its news to me and i read a couple of forums.
Its a good sign of things to come even if a few are +1 channels (they can be a life saver.)
June 18th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
luke - Freesat would be mad not to exploit our visitor figures, all we ask is some honest responses to questions we so desperately want answers for.
We didn’t expect Freesat’ PR to tell us about those channels to be honest, they are only acting as a middle man on our requests. Here’s hoping for something, anything!
June 18th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I suppose the main burning question is - and remains - ‘When will we see a PVR in the shops?’
I just can’t get my head around why the delay in producing one.
Freesat has been mooted now for ages. It isn’t as if it appeared by magic.
And now it is here, we have a situation that would appear to say that the industry just wasn’t ready for it.
June 18th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Please may I caution against pressuring an untimely release of the eagerly anticipated Humax HD PVR.
I’ve been using a FTA PVR (Inverto 7000m) for the past year. The initial software was just dreadful – it only recorded half of the programmes and was generally nasty to use. Six months ago I loaded a new version of the system software from a German website. The device is now superb – proving how important software and correct testing is to the overall user experience.
Remember the only thing that has changed is the software.
I like many others are awaiting the release of the Humax PVR – I suspect that more than anything else this box will define the Freesat user experience.
Please give Humax and Freesat the time to get it as right as they can for the important first release.
June 18th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
I have been in business for over thirty years. In that time I have started and sold on five different successful enterprises. I mention this not to blow my own trumpet but to point out that this was done in a real world where without publicity and a hard sell, none of these enterprises would have lasted a day. Is Freesat just too comfortable? It doesn’t have to show a profit, just use up a budget. Who at Freesat cares whether or not they are attracting viewers? Who at Freesat has the task of seeing we the great unwashed are fully informed and encouraged to be part of the Freesat revolution? Who cares if the correct products are available for purchase? I suspect the manufacturers care but they are probably as frustrated at Freesats’ lack of professionalism as the rest of us.
June 18th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Hi to all at “Join Freesat” admin.
I would like to thank you all for all the hard work that you have put in to date advising people like me about what was happening prior to and since the start of Freesat. You have been a great help during a period of no information from Freesat which without you, would have been very frustrating. Thanks again as I’m sure there must be others like me who really appreciate the hard work you have put in.
June 18th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Stephen - Thx for your kind words. We only wish we could provide more ‘breaking news’, but Freesat need to break their silence.
June 18th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Re the post from Jamie (number 10).
It hits the nail on the squarely on head.
Unprofessional, from the total lack of email responses to initial registration, through to the lack of promotion, and the lack of kit available at the launch, which in itself gave the appearance of a damp squib.
Unfortunately, having lived through both the BSB and ONdigital fiascos, I still have a very nasty taste in my mouth, which unfortunately appears to be getting stronger, again.
So far the only advertising I’ve seen, has been reference to the service, in the Panasonic TV adds, and a couple of adds in the press.
Where is the in store promotion ?
In business, you don’t get too many chances to get things right, they have already used up at least one.
I really do hope things get sorted and that FREESAT is a success, but they appear not to have the hunger needed to make a successful business.
I’m waiting for an HD PVR, with the capability to watch one, record another, as an absolute minimum and as ‘brusselsman’ says “…..I suspect that more than anything else this box will define the Freesat user experience.”
June 19th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Hi all at joinfreesat.co.uk, what a great job your doing for the freesat community.
I don’t see what the big secrecy is about freesat and why they don’t welcomely provide you with information. The more people that know about FreeSat the better I would have thought. I can only guess that the secrecy and strict NDA’s must be to stop Sky finding out and trying to bribe the channels not to move to FreeSat.
I would also like to see a PVR in the shops for FreeSat, I only have an SD box at the moment until a HD PVR is available.
However the thing I would love to see 1st of all would be iplayer on the boxes, I think this could well be the making of FreeSat, especially if the content can be downloaded on the PVR boxes like the PC version, I see the future of TV being on-demand. The only other boxes to have this are the cable ones and the BT Vision box. The cable ones are restricted to box is cable areas and the BT Vision box is restricted to BT Broadband users. FreeSat would have the advantage that anyone with a broadband connection could potentially recieve the service. I see this as possibly the biggest selling point for FreeSat, integrating the TV and the Internet for a truely interactive service.
June 19th, 2008 at 9:07 am
All - we have a telephone meeting set for tomorrow with Freesat, who will answer some of our questions. They have said though that there might be some questions that cannot be answered, but we can appreciate that. Will report back what we find out, hopefully some good news on various services.
June 19th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Excellent news about the Freesat telephone interview, you deserve it for all the work you have put into this site. It also shows Freesat listen to public demand…sometimes…
June 19th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I went into my local Curry store last week to view their Freesat offering. They had plenty of hardware but the only HD content on display was Sky! When asked they said Sky paid for their dish and installation but Freesat wouldn’t. Admin - please tell them if they are to compete with Sky they must promote at least as well.
BTW - I see the main reason for Freesat to be HD content (despite the slow start). Streaming HD over the internet is a recipe for disaster (or at least dropouts) for the foreseeable future. A good HD PVR is the No 1 priority.
June 19th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Dave - we’ve submitted our questions to Freesat for answering. There’s quite a few but hopefully cover most subjects. We’ll see what comes back.
June 19th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Hi Jamie (Post #10)
Good to hear about your successful career, I think the UK needs to support entrepreneurs much better than we do at the moment. Your post is slightly unfair though, I would bet that none of your start-ups were within the pure media sector, where Freesat is, and I’d bet that none of your start-ups were non-profit or partly publicly funded, or jointly owned by companies that have to report to parliament (BBC & ITV by different degrees, I accept). So, none of your start-ups will have had:
a) High levels of pre-launch public interest with positive and negative expectation
b) Internal and external regulatory restrictions, e.g. enough to delay the launch of your product by over a year - complicated internal pressures e.g. the BBC Trust has to consider the perspective of what is in the public’s interest and I bet you never had to worry about the government removing your source of funding because you spent too much on posters.
c) Technical and commercial relations with your no. 1 competitor that are essential to the delivery of your product/service
d) Plus, the same main competitor being a monopoly player with a budget that you could regard as unlimited and a history of being shrewd and aggressive (e.g. buying 19% of ITV to collapse merger talks). A competitor who can massively subsidise to win contracts (e.g. the DSO helpscheme) or can pay to install dishes on all 400 odd Currys stores in the UK (ref. Dave F, post #17)
Your questions, when viewed in light of the above (which is only a snapshot), seem a bit off-the-ball. “Who at Freesat cares whether or not they are attracting viewers?” – I would assume everybody, because even the Prime Minister gets briefings on how the BBC spend their money. Certainly Emma Scott MD, who launched Freeview, now a much lauded success.
“Who at Freesat has the task of seeing we the great unwashed are fully informed and encouraged to be part of the Freesat revolution?” – that’s a simple misunderstanding of where Freesat is coming from. What revolution? The government-sponsored overthrow of a private company? Anyway, leaving aside my facetiousness there, the answer is actually more related to your next question:
“Who cares if the correct products are available for purchase?” I suspect the manufacturers care too, but I also suspect that Freesat are caught in the middle of a delicate balance of production, logistics and retail between manufacturers not building too many boxes without orders, retailers not buying too many boxes without demand, and Freesat unable to promote without guaranteed stock levels.
I don’t mean to put down your success, it’s great that you’ve done well (I bet you have some good stories about red tape and stealth taxes!) but Freesat is a different beast to most people’s experience, and I think people should take more care to look into how things work before saying “I could do better”
Rich - proud but realistic Freesat supporter!
June 19th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Hi admin (post #5)
10,000 a day, good stuff. Thanks for response.
Rich
June 19th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Been following the comments about Freesat PVR with interest as this is the route I will probably take.
Somebody will probably tell me the answer to this one but having looked around it seems that there are a number of FTA HD receivers incorporating hard disc recording. They are listed on the satellite providers Web sites as available and from the comments on some of the forums it would seem that they are capable of receiving all the Freesat transmissions (HD included obviously). They also receive a whole lot more stations that just the Freessat ones. The only snag thet I can see is that they cost upwards of £200 depending on the size of the hard disc. I assume that I can use this type of equipment for Freesat.
Any comments ?
June 19th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
pete - just bare in mind that non-freesat boxes are unable to access the Freesat EPG, which in turn means you’ll not get a 7 day schedule, only a ‘now and next’. This makes PVR’s quite pointless, as you cannot schedule recordings more than the next programme in advance. PVR’s require a good quality 7 day TV Guide to work best. Suggest hanging on.
Incidently, Freesat’s PR today told us that the PVR is due in the Autumn, but we’ll wait on confirmation of this tomorrow.
June 19th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Pete - I am afraid that I have a slight difference of opinion with admin on this one. With a FTA PVR you can programme more than ‘now and next’. The only problem (and it is a problem), is that you have to do the whole thing manually -just like using a VCR before Videoplus and PDC. Having used a Freeview PVR when I was in the UK I see the 7 day EPG (plus HD) as the key benefits that Freesat can bring to consumers.
Your other point is on the HD standards. I believe that there only a couple of FTA HD PVR machines that support the new transmission standard that ITV HD has currently chosen to adopt. I would be surprised if ITV did not consider removing the Red button access and changing to the MPEG4 H264 standard more commonly used some time soon. As I understand it there are some 500,000 Sky HD viewers who cannot watch the ITV HD material. If I were an advertiser during Euro 2008 I might be slightly disappointed by this state of affairs……..
Admin – good to have the update on the PVR release date.
June 20th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Off topic, but I cancelled my Sky Subscription this week after 10 years as all decent channels are free to air now, and I feel strangely liberated. Now waiting for further developments before I buy a freesat box.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:59 am
This is the reply that I got from Channel 5 on 10th June when I asked for an update re getting Channel 5 on Freesat :
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Your Reference: VA/219872/TD (Please quote this reference in all further correspondence)
Date: 10th June 2008
Dear Nik
Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding our channel.
Five fully supports Freesat and is committed to being on the platform this year. Unfortunately, we do not have a timeframe that we can provide you with at this time.
You might like to contact us again later in the year, when we should have further information.
Unfortunately, due to lack of narrow beam capacity only Five will be available. Five US and FIVER will not.
If there is anything further we can help you with, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for your interest in Five.
Yours sincerely
Terry
VIEWER ADVISOR
Please note that the contact details for Five Customer Services are as follows:
Telephone: 0845 7 05 05 05 / 020 7421 7270
Text telephone for use by deaf people: 0845 7 41 37 87
E-mail: customerservices@five.tv
Fax: 020 7836 1286