Grrrr.......

I really think Freesat now needs to think about the cam slot. This narrow beam issue is becoming a disaster for Freesat.

On Freesat by SKY I would now receive lots more HD programming.

But CH5 HD wont be on Freeview either. Clearly CH5 would rather earn some money from being exclusive to Sky!

I'd Atleast wait until it's broadcasting... they didn't really say exclusive and burn it in like they normally do.

How would I get C5HD with a Humax HDR?

They won't be earning anything! They will, however, be saving a rather large amount in Freeview transmission costs (especially, if is likely, they are getting free carriage by Sky for a while!)

Not sure £30,000 is a "rather large amount" in the world of broadcasting. It is actually about 1 hours hire of a TV studio.

While CH5 HD may be FTV they may well have done a deal with Sky to be Exclusive to the Sky platform. Money talks.

Im afraid not. It will be Encrypted using NDS VideoGuard.

Wouldnt they say that it would be exclusive though like they normally do? Virgin will probably announce it soon

You misread the post, he mentioned FREEVIEW and not FREESAT - and Freeview transmission costs are presumably well in the millions (and many times more than satellite costs).

Apart from you can't get HD Freesatfromsky unless you get a Sky+ HD box off ebay and then buy a FSFS card for it. You then realise that you have bought a PVR that you can't use for recording unless you pay Sky 10 quid per month! So then you think should I have spent the money on a Freesat+ HD box and recorded for free....

This is indeed a blow for all free platforms.

for the next couple of years, the only way to get channel 4 HD and five HD for free is with a sky HD box and a freesat from sky card. And of course with that combination you can't record those channels.

If you chose to buy a freesat PVR expecting to get lots of free HD channels that you can record for free, you will be disappointed.

If you were expecting to buy a freeview HD PVR soon, you will be dissapointed, and as a result of this, I expect freeview HD to be a flop.

I think the only decent thing sky could do now, having got the monopoly on the free HD "psb channels" is to allow freesat from sky users to use the recording functions of their otherwise crippled sky HD boxes. Perhaps they could do that by selling a slightly more expensive "freesat from sky+" card?

But of course if sky do that, it would probably be the final nail in the coffin for freesat, as free recording is about it's only USP.

It's a shame that Ofcom won't force Sky (and Disney/RTE) to move their encrypted channels off of Astra 2D, they don't need to be on the UK beam. Between them they are using 5 2D transponders. If Five could swap transponders with RTE then all their channels would be FTA!

You have a point, but how many of us Freesat users are ex SKY HD customers. I for one have my old SKY+HD in the garage.

Using the £10 per month arguement, it would take 2 years to pay for my FreeSat box, by which time I will probably be ready to upgrade anyways (knowing me)

Dont get me wrong, I am a fan of Freesat rather than SKY, but the case is getting slimmer by the day!

Well I was using a very old SD Sky digibox with a blue FSFS card and had to decide whether to buy a new card, put up with the limitations of not having a card or do something else. I did want to get the ability to receive HD programmes and I wanted to be able to choose which regional programmes I got. At the time Sky+ HD boxes were fetching high prices on eBay, so I decided to get a Bush HD box and looked at not having to buy a new Sky card as getting a £20 discount. I then went through the Harvard software download mess up, found out that the BBC red button isn't fully implemented on Freesat, found out that the EPG isn't as user friendly on Freesat (I miss using the blue button to scroll round favourite channels for example) and am still waiting for the promised BBC iPlayer support. I have to admit that if I had a Sky+ HD box I would have got a new FSFS card for it and still be moaning about not being able to record and whatever ITV region Sky had decided to feed me instead of the defunct Central South!

Edit: I've just remembered a quote about somebody having the ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I think this could be applied to Freesat!

I can now confirm it wont be on freesat due to rights issues

Sky have never used the word 'exclusive' in relation to C4HD.

If that is the case, it may be possible to access it using a Diablo 2 CAM and a white Sky card in the Humax HDR and Panasonic TVs (possibly others with a slot will work but no ones tested them yet).


We have been told by Derek, that C4 HD and E4 HD will probably be moved to the 2D transponder that is switching to HD-S2 (10936V).

any know freuqncy ch5hd will be ?

Will that mean they will go FTA?

If not, another wasted 2D transponder.

Presumably, otherwise there wouldn't be much point making an HD transponder on 2D.

Go to whatsat to see full report, anyone got thoughts on this

My thoughts are there are two threads running in the freesat forum covering this, no need for another in the freesat+ forum

Wish people would stop calling sky $ky.

This is being discussed on the Fr€€sat forum.

Dan

Do you want to explain to me how Ofcom, a British body could force RTE, an Irish Broadcaster, off the narrow 2D beam of a satellite onwed by SES Astra who are based in Luxembourg???