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Sky Sports HD launch is on its way


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Old 15-09-2015, 11:24
Jimmy_Barnes
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Though no truly official announcement has been made yet, one of BT's staff claimed on the TV community board this week that Sky Sports 1 and 2 HD are arriving "in the future", and more details will become available closer to the launch date.

Personally I'd still rather BT be allowed to carry all the Sky Sports range in SD before concentrating on HD, but nethertheless, this is still another step forward for BT TV.
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Old 19-09-2015, 02:56
tvmad-alan
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Sad news for those which are many that have BT TV for extra channels but not sports which have had 15 new channels SD HD and one UHD to the epg this year yet other channels are much lower.

What BT TV needs is to bring UKTV channels in HD and bring Sky Movies HD along with
other channels in SD & HD before any more sports which are 30 out of 88.
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Old 19-09-2015, 03:17
d'@ve
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Funny thing is, the BT Community Manager's comments came out of the blue in a long thread about getting SS1&2 in HD on BT TV, not in reply to a specific query.

So it must now be a done deal, with just the important matters of timing and pricing to be decided.
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Old 19-09-2015, 12:48
Jimmy_Barnes
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Sad news for those which are many that have BT TV for extra channels but not sports which have had 15 new channels SD HD and one UHD to the epg this year yet other channels are much lower.

What BT TV needs is to bring UKTV channels in HD and bring Sky Movies HD along with
other channels in SD & HD before any more sports which are 30 out of 88.
"Sad news", really? For one thing, Sky Sports 1 and 2 HD would hardly be new channels in the true sense of the term, just upgrades of the SD channels that are already available.

Also Alan, you seem to be the only BT subscriber in the country who is constantly hoping for HD versions of UKTV's range to be added to the BT Entertainment range (at no additional cost to you, presumably). Though I was pleased to see Good Food etc added to the EPG if only for the sake of completism, the UKTV selection is mediocre at best, and hi-def versions are way down on my wishlist.

The only UKTV channel I watch with any degree of regularity is Gold, and much of the content on their is so old, a HD option would be a waste of time. Besides, YouView multicast channels in SD are superior, vision-wise, to Freeview and even Sky SD so it's not like we are getting that much of a bum deal with a lack of HD.

Also don't forget TalkTalk have pretty much no HD channels in their additional bundles, whereas BT have quite an acceptable range. As for the UKTV channels on Freeview such as Dave etc, I think it'd be better if they were upgraded to HD via the DTT platform rather than being bundled in to a premium BT package.

Funny thing is, the BT Community Manager's comments came out of the blue in a long thread about getting SS1&2 in HD on BT TV, not in reply to a specific query.

So it must now be a done deal, with just the important matters of timing and pricing to be decided.
Indeed, it was about as low-key as an announcement can get, but the need for the BT employee's statement definitely signposts towards an official announcement sooner or later.
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Old 22-09-2015, 11:46
Sobeit
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As Sky has always opposed Sky Sports being on BT Youview and SS1 and SS2 are only there because Ofcom have forced them to wholesale them (in Standard definition only) this is all unlikely.


Sky allow Talktalk to retail its sports channels through Youview but even that has no HD option.

So I would be surprised if it comes to pass.

If it does happen it will be very expensive.
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Old 22-09-2015, 17:40
heedlessmunkey
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As Sky has always opposed Sky Sports being on BT Youview and SS1 and SS2 are only there because Ofcom have forced them to wholesale them (in Standard definition only) this is all unlikely.


Sky allow Talktalk to retail its sports channels through Youview but even that has no HD option.

So I would be surprised if it comes to pass.

If it does happen it will be very expensive.
I thought I read that ofcom forced them to sell them at a set price and added that the hd variants should also be made available at a reasonable price. That's probably the sticking point!!
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Old 22-09-2015, 22:35
ney
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As Sky has always opposed Sky Sports being on BT Youview and SS1 and SS2 are only there because Ofcom have forced them to wholesale them (in Standard definition only) this is all unlikely.


Sky allow Talktalk to retail its sports channels through Youview but even that has no HD option.

So I would be surprised if it comes to pass.

If it does happen it will be very expensive.
TalkTalk don't seem to offer any HD versions of any channels.
Although TalkTalk do have a better Sky Sports offering the BT service is far better as BT offer HD versions of channels plus BT also had both Eurosport channels and thevHD versions of Eurosport.
I can't see HD versoins of Sky Sports 1 and 2 coming to BT anytime soon as Sky and BT are rivals but that's not to say HD versions of Sky Sports 1 and 2 will never happen.
I never tane the Sky Sports add on with BT TV.

Darren
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Old 26-09-2015, 17:32
reg shaw
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I can't see HD versoins of Sky Sports 1 and 2 coming to BT anytime soon as Sky and BT are rivals but that's not to say HD versions of Sky Sports 1 and 2 will never happen.
I never tane the Sky Sports add on with BT TV.

Darren
Lol awesome. Is that your view as an expert or media commentator?

Broadcast (the trade paper) has said they are preparing to launch the HD channels and a BT emplyee has confirmed it on their own forums.

But Darren can't see it happening.
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Old 15-10-2015, 09:29
Jimmy_Barnes
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Sky Sports 1 and 2 HD are now on the BT EPG at numbers 437 and 438 respectively.

The package is also available to order, priced at £27 per month. Presumably ordering SS in HD would mean you also get the SD versions included, but hopefully someone who has ordered can verify this...
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Old 15-10-2015, 10:36
heedlessmunkey
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Sky Sports 1 and 2 HD are now on the BT EPG at numbers 437 and 438 respectively.

The package is also available to order, priced at £27 per month. Presumably ordering SS in HD would mean you also get the SD versions included, but hopefully someone who has ordered can verify this...

It states both versions are included on the order page. £21.50 just for ss1, probably upgrade on that as sd is pretty poor.
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Old 18-10-2015, 01:56
uno
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I presume that these new Sky sports HD channels are delivered as IPTV channels like with BT Sports they really are pushing lots more of the FTTC network good job it's multicast
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Old 20-10-2015, 15:50
seanyseansean
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I presume that these new Sky sports HD channels are delivered as IPTV channels like with BT Sports they really are pushing lots more of the FTTC network good job it's multicast
Just activated this - it is indeed multicast, but they've upped the stream bitrate to 12mbit, 50% than that of BT Sport. Picture quality is excellent.
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Old 25-10-2015, 00:45
paulhgc
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So if we already have bt and the hd pack what is the total cost to add sky sports hd ?
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Old 25-10-2015, 10:11
Jimmy_Barnes
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So if we already have bt and the hd pack what is the total cost to add sky sports hd ?
£27. Having the HD Extra bolt on doesn't bring about a price reduction for Sky Sports HD, unfortunately. Not that I expected it to,
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Old 25-10-2015, 10:22
smcbeath
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£27. Having the HD Extra bolt on doesn't bring about a price reduction for Sky Sports HD, unfortunately. Not that I expected it to,
If it had been £20 but with all the sky sports channels then i would have been tempted.
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Old 20-11-2015, 16:21
Jimmy_Barnes
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Do people expect a sudden and abrupt removal of some or all of the Sky Sports channels from BT following Ofcoms decision to remove the wholesale agreement between Sky and BT? Though Ofcom say they will monitor things still to ensure Sky Sports is provided "to other pay TV providers", the general feeling since the end of the WMO ruling is that SS1&2 might suddenly disappear from BT TV with barely any advance notice, should Sky now decide to raise their wholesale prices and BT refuse to pay.

I think the "best" outcome is that BT agree on a new fee with Sky, but then the cost of SS1&2 will shoot up. With both HD channels at an already costly £27, this wouldn't bode well for subscribers who are wanting these channels without having to leave BT TV or switch to the Sky platform.
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