Loading ...Freesat have announced NHK World TV as the latest channels to join Freesat’s EPG, available from tomorrow, Tuesday 21st April 2009.
NHK World TV provides English language news, analysis and culture from a Japanese and Asian perspective to over 80 countries around the globe. NHK World TV is the international channel of Japan’s national broadcaster NHK.
NHK World TV will be available on channel 209, discounting the rumour that Sky News had already allocated that slot.
Emma Scott, Managing Director of Freesat commented
Freesat is committed to expanding our international news and current affairs offering and NHK World TV represents yet another high quality channel, which provides viewers with access to a high quality news service from an interesting new viewpoint.
Makoto Harada, Director-General of NHK WORLD TV added
The launch on freesat will offer viewers in the UK a new way to enjoy NHK WORLD TV’s unique, alternative perspective: your eye on Asia.
This channel will automatically be added to your Freesat EPG during the course of the day.
April 20th, 2009 at 11:31 am
another news channel !!! my life is complete
bobQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 11:41 am
If only Emma was as dedicated to expanding our domestic entertainment offering, like C4 HD, Fiver etc. ( a little harsh I know but couldn’t resit ).
Another Channel that shall never be viewed along with the other 99 news and shopping ‘fillers’. Still, if another £30k gives Emma scope to bring something worthwhile without filling all that bandwidth it has to be better than nothing, just.
samQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Well, I think this is great. I’m always keen to hear other perspectives on global current affairs, and having NHK World so conveniently available will save a bit of wear on my dish motor! Unlike the first two posters here, I don’t think we have enough news channels.
It would also be nice to have BBC World News on Freesat, too, but I know that’ll never happen due to the terms of the BBC Charter – but I’m all right, as I’m able to watch it anyway (I’m just thinking of others in the UK who don’t have dish motors or DiSEqC switches, etc!!!).
DaveiQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Great news! Plus Fiver and FiveUS will come sometime this year so it’s looking good. some people go on about 4HD, but is it not manly upscaled? when ITV upscale there is uproar.
Soul4realQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Anybody else lost Zone Horror? Seems to have dropped off my EPG…
Any ideas how I get it back?
Andrew CameronQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
I wonder what’s Freesat up to these days !! another news channel wowee!! thats all we need. How about giving us some decent channels for a change.
FrancisQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Somebody will watch this channel and that in turn will increase Freesat veiwing figures and so attract more broadcasters to this platform a good result for all i think.
justsatQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
justsat; i could not put ithat any better.
Soul4realQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Whoopee, another news channel. If only one of them was in HD !!!
OyodiQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
WOOOOO!!! I hoped this would happen.
FYI, NHK World is not a news channel as such. More of an informational channel. Yes, there’s news every hour. But you then have programs reviewing anime, manga and video games (imagine-nation) and a Top of the Pops style Japanese music show (J-Melo). Also, there’s often “learn Japanese culture/language” mini-shows too. Also, there’s no adverts on the channel other than trailers for their own shows.
I find it a great channel to add to the line-up! Admittedly I’ve been watching it on the Non-Freesat mode on my box, but this will save a lot of time (and the EPG will be very helpful).
In other news, I don’t see why you’re all having a go at the “Freesat” company. They only supply the platform. Channels PAY FREESAT to get on the EPG and get a channel number. If you want a specific channel to be on Freesat, hassle the owner of THE CHANNEL to A) broadcast without encryption, and B) pay £0.5m to Freesat to get on the channel guide.
Research before posting people!!!
PeterQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
The more the merrier. It all adds value to the Freesat platform. Now how about Sky News,Sky Three, Ch4hd ,etc.
Oh and can we have a proper ITV HD service. Not the sorry excuse for a service that we have now.
Tony HalesQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Thanks Peter, NHK sounds very interesting, particularly if there is video game coverage (something still lacking from UK TV).
JasonQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Great what another pointless channel
What they need to focus on is
1.) is getting 4HD
2.) Fiver and Five US
3.) Sky news & Sky Three (no doubt there will be loads of adverts in that to try and bring you back to sky)
4.) Making the FoxSat HD-R and little bit faster response, and stop cutting recorded tv channels at the end! ( I have had sooo many recorded tv programs and it cuts it off at the end, I thought it was meant to automatically extend it if it ran over!)
Please comment back if you have having the same problems to my point 4.
AlexQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
NHK World is a great channel. Ive been watching it since it appeared on 19E last year. Its more of a documentary channel than a news channel. OK its not something you want to watch for hours on end, but theres some interesting stuff on it to dip in and out of.
RossQuote
April 20th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Hi Alex
I too have had soooo many recordings cut short and know how annoying it is.
Surly if a news channel, and the same gos for a music channel, were to transmit in HD, it would trounce all the opposition into obscurity.
OyodiQuote
April 21st, 2009 at 6:55 am
The Sky channels are out of the question. Do you expect Sky to pay a direct competitor? Also, Sky Three isn’t in the clear and Sky is unlikely to change that as they will want people to join Sky.
Next, I’d like to see “World Movies” join the lineup. Or maybe the POP timeshift variants.
PeterQuote
April 21st, 2009 at 7:11 am
In response to the cutting off programs on the PVR – i had this problem at the very outset (unbelievably annoying) and changed the settings to +5mins on the end of everything and haven’t missed the end of a program since.
Not sure what you mean by faster response – I have the inside flap of a liquorice allsorts box in the front of mine to stop those rancid lights blinding me and it still reacts to my controller fine. It doesnt run at the same speed as the Pace Sky box but once you get used to it its fine – just slow yourself down, relax !
samQuote
April 21st, 2009 at 7:56 am
Hi Alex
I posted a few weeks ago about having recordings cut short but no-one replied so I assumed it was just me.
Having looked at it a bit more, I think that part of the problem is if you schedule 1 programme after another, then it tends to start the second recording early and it assumes that it is another channel (even if it is not) and chops off the end of the first programme.
MartinQuote
April 21st, 2009 at 8:27 pm
In response to sam, I find it slow flicking trough the pages on the EPG Guide, and after having sky+ for 3 years, it just worked so fast and had no problems.
Hopefully when the update comes out, it might actually fix some of the bugs and problems we have.
I’ve now changed my setting to record 5 minutes over like you said. I will now see how that goes.
Does anyone know what else we can use the ethernet port for at the moment?
AlexQuote
April 21st, 2009 at 10:44 pm
What they need to focus on is
1.) is getting 4HD
Not up to Freesat, that is a Channel 4 and Sky issue.
2.) Fiver and Five US
Not up to Freesat, that is a Channel 5 issue. They need to find space on 2D.
3.) Sky news & Sky Three.
Perhaps Sky News will come, as for Sky 3? That too could bea possibility, depending if Sky think that by spending the money on an EPG listing will eventually lead to customers leaving freesat for Sky.
Freesat is only the EPG, they cannot force any channel to join their EPG, all they can do is put forward benefits to joining Freesat. If a channel does not see those benefits, it will not join.
Irish MJQuote
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:27 am
Alex, I assume you are talking about the Humax PVR.
You mention an update.
Is there one scheduled soon?
Andrew MorrisQuote
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:42 pm
hello Andrew Morris.
Well i would assume there is going to be an update soon, as there has not been one from day 1. yes i am talking about the Humax PVR.
They will need to lunch an update for the bbc iplayer in autumn. We will just have to sit tight and wait.
alexQuote
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:27 am
As Freesat launched I was quite excited about it thinking that just like with digital revolution we would start having more and more HD content and more and more channels joining the HD bandwagon! But it seems that I was wrong. Freesat’s momentum has slowed down with respect to HD channels and of course the main contributors BBC and especially ITV are so slow in introducing more HD content that to tell you the truth I am losing interest.with Freesat. My default channel is still Freeview.(it has better picture quality and more channels such as virgin, dave, fiveUS , Fiver etc and less spam channels). To enjoy the beauty of HD in this lifetime I don’t think I am going to wait any longer. Sky seems to be the choice of the day and reluctantly I feel I am being pushed in to getting SKY HD and forget about Freesat altogether especially as the offers from SKY are becoming more and more attractive.
YASARQuote
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:12 am
Yassar after 11 months how many channels did Freeview have? I could ask the same for Sky. Feel free to go to Sky no one is holding your foot I thought you would have been with them from time, but you’ve go freeview because you do not want to pay the sub, i look forward to seeing you on the sky forums complaining about the price!
Soul4realQuote
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I must agree with YASAR, I too thought that now after 10 months after Freesat was launched we would have more HD channels, or more HD content, At least BBC HD has now increased its service, but ITV HD is almost non existent. Ch4 HD, even though I understood that it was a public service broadcaster, is locked in with Sky.
I now watch Freeview about 90% of the time because of Dave, Virgin1, Five US & Fiver and use my freeview+ most of the time to record and only use my Freesat HDR to record HD content. To me now I also feel that Freesat is filled with to many spam channels which are mainly broadcasting in 4/3 format which includes all of the film channels, except Film4 which to me make the films unwatchable.
I can’t understand why Film4 is not transmitting in HD, when all its content is crying out to be shown in HD. I was one of there subscriber in the early days when they were at the forefront of broadcasting in widescreen, when Sky were still transmitting their films in 4/3 cut and cropped.
With all these 10’s of millions of HD TV’s out there, this absolutely astonishes me, because I would have thought the TV broadcasters would be falling over themselves in the race to transmit HD, especially in this recession when to attract advertisers surly its best to be one step ahead of the opposition.
OyodiQuote
April 23rd, 2009 at 2:14 pm
I too would like to see C4HD come to Freesat. But unlike some posters here, I think that NHK World is a worthwhile addition. It’s all a matter of personal taste: some see this as pointless channel, others as a great channel – I just see it as something worth having.
Also, unlike some posters, I think that Freesat has bedded in quite nicely since its launch. It is now a substantially complete service. Of course, it would be good to get some more HD content, but at present, unless you’re prepared to go to a pay TV operator like Sky, Virgin, Cifra+, Digit Alb, etc., then Freesat is pretty much the best option at present (well, practically speaking, it’s virtually the only option).
DaveiQuote
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:51 pm
This has been said many many times beofre both by myself and others. Freesat cannot make any channel you want join freesat, they also have no control over whether a channel is in HD or not.
The only incentive for a channel to join freesat is a larger market. If a channel does not feel it is a worthwhile venture, then they wont join.
With regards to C4 HD, they are tied into a contract with Sky. This is a well known situation. Once that contract is over, perhaps they will indeed join freesat. What is sure is that they will do what is in their best interests.
Will Film 4 launch in HD, who knows. Do Film 4 have the financial resources to do so? If they do, is there space on Astra 2D to be found for the channel?
Lest we forget, there is a bit of a financial crisis going on at the moment. The chances of any new FTA HD channels launching is, in my opinion, highly unlikely. The chances of any FTV or Encrypted channel going FTA and giving up a revenue stream from Sky is also highly unlikely.
IrishMJQuote
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
@Oyodi and IrishMJ: We will know if Film4 HD will be granted the fifth slot on Freeview HD within the next week or so (providing Ofcom stick to their timetable). The other applicant is Five HD. If Film4 HD launches on Freeview, I think it would be very likely to launch on Freesat as well.
However I should note that Channel 4 have said that due to their financial situation, even if they win the slot, Film4 HD wouldn’t start broadcasting until 2011 or 2012 (the capacity should become available in the second half of 2010).
AndrewMQuote
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Sorry, that should have said “…granted the fourth slot”; the channels at launch on Freeview HD will of course be BBC HD, ITV HD and C4 HD.
AndrewMQuote
April 24th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
let’s try the link again
http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/D/Digital_TV/4HD.html
Soul4realQuote
April 24th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/D/Digital_TV/4HD_faq.html
Soul4realQuote
April 26th, 2009 at 6:11 am
I think we need to remind ourselves as to the original idea of Freesat. It was as I understand as an alternative choice to Freeview and also an opportunity for those in areas with poor Freeview reception to able to recieve free digital TV.
Ok both services have a slighly different choice of channels but they are free.
As to the additional HD channels, yes it would be an advantage to have them but we knew when we joined Freesat that there were no guarantees as to future channel content.
Yes you can join Sky and receive a great choice of HD channels, but with the sort of monthly payment they are asking it should be a good choice. If it was anything less it would be a rip off.
Knocking the Freesat choice by some posters is a bit unfair to say the least. You are not comparing like with like.
Personally I like some other posters use both Freesat and Freeview and am more than happy with my choice of viewing. I have to say my most watched channel is BBC HD. I find it great viewing.
Still we all have our opinions and if some decide to go off and join SKY then that is their choice. I am sure there will always be enough satisfied Freesat viewers out there to justify the service.
Given time perhaps we can hope for more HD content, in the meantime I personally will continue to enjoy my viewing. For me personally it is the quality of the programme that is the main priority before HD and BBC is up there with the best even with there SD programmes. I also have to say that on my Panasonic TV many BBC programmes broadcast in SD are of a picture quality only a little short of HD quality.
DenisQuote
May 1st, 2009 at 3:40 pm
If we must have news channels I recommend DW TV the German equivalent of BBC World. I have contacting them to try to pursuade them to join freesat.
Perhaps we should have a wish list that people could add their names to, so that the viewers ideas could be shown to the broadcasters to chivy them up.
stephen BamforthQuote