Hi is there of receiving these two? ~If not does anyone know if and when they will be joining Freesat?

Thanks

There is currently no way to receive 5* or 5USA on Freesat, you'll need a Sky stb and Freesat From Sky Card or view them on Freeview.

There is talk that they will be joining Freesat by the end of the year, presumably when Astra 1N moves to its temporary home at 28e.

Roland

1N will be up and running next month, all going well, so it depends how fast Channel 5 want to move after that to get their channels on there. I presume they will move all their channels onto 1N and put them FTA, as will ITV and the BBC (keeping all their channels together and also moving FTA from FTV). Channel 4 may also be using 1N to move on to and may also be able to launch their HD channels for Freesat too. Who knows what other channels might want to join Freesat as well...

All in all it's looking very good for Freesat at the moment!

I hate to be pessimistic but broadcasters may not want to move to transponders temporally due to costs. Just a thought.

Would there actually be any significant costs? What about savings from using a spot beam rather than paying $ky for their encryption services on a wide beam?

If there was no demand, Astra would not be putting the satellite here. Rest assured enough people will want to move their services onto it. The question is whether or not those services will end up joining Freesat.

I can't remember if it was a rumour or not, but don't channels get a discount off the EPG listing if encryption is taken? Without encryption, the price for the EPG listing on Sky goes up. So it may be the case, as with the charging fiasco with the Sky magazine, you either take encryption or you don't but the overall price you pay remains the same.

AFAIK channels within the SkyHD package mostly get free uplinking by Sky (a not insignificant saving), free encryption PLUS a share of the subscription incomes each month (and it is the latter which really counts if they consider going FTA). ITV2/3/4HD deliberately chose the benefits of going with Sky for example.

EPG fees are OFCOM regulated and I doubt that they can be discounted directly. - so the situation you suggest should not occur!

Maybe moving transponders may trigger changes in the contract cost of leasing the transponder. In these uncertain times continuing with a partly expired contract on a transponder could be seen as a positive financial advantage rather than taking out a fresh long contract whilst having a partly expired contract on another transponder - if I was Astra I'd be looking for some of the costs of the old transponder to be covered whilst it remains unused, after all who will want the old transponder if the new ones are so attractive. Not a simple technical decision once the accountants get involved.

If it is only temporary,where will the permanent home for the likes of 5* and 5USA be located?

I believe the plan is that Astra 2F will replace Astra 1N once it launches in Q4 2012, so presumably it will just be a direct switch from 2F to 1N.

Then 2E (which launches later than 2F, oddly enough) will replace 2A, and presumably 2G will replace the rest.

Yes, that used to be the case. FTA channels were charged £75,000 while encrypted channels paid around £35,000.

Sky changed to a far more complex system a few years ago in which they appear to charge broadcasters (FTA or encrypted) a figure of their own choosing (i.e. over £4m for BBC One)

http://corporate.sky.com/documents/p...hed_Price_list

ITV2/3/4HD didn't choose anything though. Their hands were completely tied, because, as others have explained, there is currently no further narrow-beam capacity at 28.2E

The very fact that narrow-beam demand so exceeds supply at this location, is why Astra 1N is heading there in the first place.

Have a look at the listings and you will find quite a number of wide beam slots available and a very large number of encrypted services on narrow beams. It is not pure supply and demand.

It looks like Sky are abusing their predominant market share and contracts with Astra to exclude FTA narrow beam transmissions. This is a complex matter requiring an understanding of monopoly law and (even if basic) of transmission arrangements which I doubt the civil servants in the relevant government departments have got their heads round the implications of this. There would seem to be a case for erecting a "Chinese walls" between the Sky transmission facilities, production and their subscription television services.

As you sort of came to realise in your second paragraph. Those are Sky's transponders. Any hosting of encrypted services on 2d could just as well go on one of the wide-beam satellites. They've been accused of squatting on Astra 2d in this forum for ages, allegedly merely to thwart Freesat.

It's exactly supply and demand. There is no more supply, yes partly because of Sky's shenanigans (allegedly), but they wouldn't be able to do this if there wasn't such a limited supply of narrow-beam capacity.

Anyway, by next month the situation should be different.

Judging by the allegations of illegal behaviour by News Corp in the USA, which are well worth reading, this is the minimum of what you would expect from any Murdoch company.

Be that as it may ITV2/3/4/HD were announced as being an experiment (by ITV) to see how subscription income would work out - at a time of falling advertising revenue.

Indeed, Rolandh, and if I remember correctly, Channel 5 themselves said that they'd like to see 5* and 5USA on Freesat so that indicates that it is likely to happen though they didn't specify a timescale.

I phoned Channel 5 (0208 612 7700) and was told, 5* and 5 USA will be available on Freesat later this year .

http://about.channel5.com/customer-s...ontact-details

Excellent hopefully the +1s will come too.

Excellent news and 10/10 NEWLINEtv for investigating this matter and reporting back.

on official web site no write any information about move to astra 1n

Excellent news.. Good work..
But they do need to make this public on the website for all to see...

I think it's best not to make it public on the website until they have a definite date, otherwise there's a danger of disappointing people.

Is Astra 1N UK-restricted like 2D? What about the future replacements 2E & 2F?