Bingo! Full House, all UK nationals are now FTA. UK TV channel Five now available free to air on Astra2D 10.773GHz Horizontal SR:22000 FEC:5/6 Label:6335.
Stop the lights. When will RTÉ join them? Why wont they. The UK TV industry has voted with its feet, walking out of encryption deals as far back as 2003 and they all now support public service broadcasting that is FTA by Freeview DTT DVB-T & FreeSat DTH DVB-S.
RTE is preparing to launch its new station in Britain by the end of the year, providing Irish-made programming to the emigrant population. The new station - RTE International - will be available on free-to-air satellite service Freesat. The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) is to examine a proposal from RTE on the station tomorrow.
RTE International will broadcast a mix of programming from RTE One, RTE Two andTG4. It will broadcast for 12 to 14 hours a day and will run Irish news and current affairs programming, as well as lifestyle content. It is also likely to show some Irish-made dramas such as popular soap Fair City, although programming rights will have a considerable impact on content.
It is understood that strict rights arrangements with the GAA, for example, mean that there will be little or no sports content on the new station. The detail of programming and the various rights issues are being worked on by the broadcaster. The station will primarily have a public service role and is not expected to accept advertising.
The costs of setting up a sales office would be high, given that little interest from advertisers is expected. It will cost several million euro annually to run and, although RTE had been seeking extra funding for the service, it is expected to come out of its existing coffers. RTE International is on track to launch later this year and will have a low-key launch.
A service for the Irish diaspora has been touted for several years, but legislation fast-tracked through the Dáil, in 2006, explicitly required RTE to provide this service. The act did not limit the service to Britain, although it is understood there is no pressure on RTE to make the station available in other countries.
(Source: Sunday Business Post via Medianetwork) bolding added by rte2fta
the Sunday Business Post has an article on RTE International.
we knew the following already.
Its to be called RTÉ International (not Diaspora), It will source programmes from RTE 1&2 (no mention of 3 or 4 or others), It will be FTA ! the article may put this forward as news but we knew this already. It fails to inform us that RTE Int. will be on air before the March 17th 2009 date. It tends to push FTA but never mention Freesat (how odd) and having read the article I wonder if RTE/Sky are thinking of not giving a free EPG listing to this service, clearly pitting it as a non domestic service, being FTA is one thing, being on Freesat is another and being FTA does not exclude a station from an EPG listing on Sky, but with no Sky International Genre section EPG access to Sky is weakened with Sky+ features unavailable and ‘other channels’ the poor mans erasable Monday method of tuning . This article fails to say how RTÉ International will be funded or if it will run adverts.
But in many ways it tell us that RTE TV without the programmes with rights issues, like GAA or imports will give us DVB FTA of RTE for the first time since Tara. Bar GAA & imports if RTE TV is FTA like its radio channels are, will I then archive this blog? You’re wondering now, what to do, now you know this is the end?
RTÉ International: It’s coming soon!
THE NEW Irish TV service for Britain is to be called RTÉ International, The Irish Post can reveal.
And the new channel could also be operational ahead of the previously scheduled date of March 17, 2009.
The service is set to be called RTÉ International and not Diaspora TV as originally thought.
The news will come as music to the ears of the 850,000 Irish-born people in Britain who have long sought for Irish television to be available to them outside of Ireland.
Now RTÉ is preparing to provide that link to those living abroad and viewers here can look forward to Irish news, sport and entertainment beamed directly to their screens.
This week the national broadcaster is also recruiting on its website for several positions relating to the new channel, which is dedicated solely to the Irish and those of Irish descent living in Britain.
RTÉ International is looking for applications for the role of full-time channel manager.
And the successful candidate, who is expected to possess a thorough knowledge of the Irish and British television markets, will be responsible for the scheduling and delivery of suitable content to the Diaspora community scattered across the country. The role of channel administrator is also being advertised on the RTÉ website.
The move to introduce a Celtic television channel in Britain follows a long-running Irish Post campaign to establish a dedicated service especially for the Irish in Britain.
Details of the new service released so far indicate that the channel will be a hybrid of RTÉ One and RTÉ Two with some additional programming from TG4.
The One, Six-One and 9 o’clock news bulletins will be carried live. It will also carry a range of h o m e g r own Irish programming that will be of interest to Irish communities abroad.
The introduction of the Diaspora channel comes on the back of last year’s Broadcasting (Amendment) Act. Enacted in April 2007, the Act gave national public service broadcasters, RTÉ and TG4, digital terrestrial television obligations. It also required RTÉ to set up a digital television channel for Irish citizens living abroad.
Commenting on the new service Ireland’s Communications Minister Eamon Ryan said:
“I know that many of these people have been looking for an RTÉ channel in Britain for some time.
“This new channel will provide the Irish abroad with a valuable link to home. “And I will be working closely with Minister Dermot Ahern to ensure that vulnerable groups in Britain will be supported in receiving the service.”
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clipped from boards.ie
Are we about to see Bubble Hits (Ireland)? testing now on 11527V 27500 2/3 is bubble hits with 50 second opt out ad tests. The new service name Bubble Hits (Ireland) (currently reads 50355) was licenced by ofcom in 11/2007
it comes from Ireland its sold back to Ireland is it Irish FTA? as we are looking for some Irish FTA we will pay close attention.
Today I went down to the westbury to see the 3 public presentations for the 3 commercial DTT mux that will join the states public service (not commercial entity) mux. What follows is all about style not substance - the fact that there was no questions allowed to be asked today must mean that substance is in the main documents submitted to the BCI beyond the exec summaries we could read in the press or the BCI website. Here follows my review of the styles of those glass slipper holders as they seek to find their Prince.
BOXER
Ending as they started with the very able Lucy Gaffney boxer put some meat on the bones of what they have to offer. Lucy then closed with a video which starred the DTT ‘champion’ character of Swedish DTT “Robbie” doing a rocky style run & shadow box to the tune ‘Gonna Fly Now’ (theme from rocky). I’m not so keen on robbie and I would drop him for the irish game. the big play here is, we have done it (Sweden / Denmark), can do it in Ireland, we are DTT champions. bhg scores 70%
EASY TV
Roaring out a distorted audio the Easy TV presentation began and went down hill from there. If the prizes were given based on quality of presentation today then Easy TV would be any easy 3rd place. To a format of, I stepped out and he stepped in again, the projected presentation slide cueing seemed difficult for the Easy TV pair of presenters to manage, on this basis I wouldn’t give them a DTT playground to play in. Easy TV should have been presented differently/better (like get the very talented Kate O’Sullivan from UPC to do it, too late now). Big play here was we are the big boys in this space we will be well integrated with the public mux, well integrated with RTE NL bhg scores 45%
ONEVISION
Opening with a video (no audio distortion here) the video looked like it was made by TV people which is more than can be said about the other two camps videos (which looked made by flash designers). To the sound of Queen - One Vision this slick video started off the best presentation of the afternoon. On cue out of the video no pause no fade Fintan Drury launched a Barack Obama sytle (ok I exaggerate for effect) “We have one vision” speech, introduced his team, explaining the investors etc. All speakers were very well coached and not over coached but delivered like people who wanted to a run TV platform. Big play here, we are Irish we are not big players in the media space so we wont own too much media. bhg scores 90%
All platforms proposed have a pay element. Based on my reading of this market (and I don’t want to make any money out of it) I would tend to think the player with the most FTA and least PPV or pay as you go will succeed. That player is OneVision. As RTE NL is involved with all 3 above the difference is the flavour of DTT not the ability to provide it. A Boxer slide said that they would provide a free box while later sides talked about the networks & chains that would be partners to sell boxes, i’m confused, but with Aldi UK selling MPEG2 freeview for £18 boxer might get a SD/HD MPEG4 box out for free but at some cost, if they are more about top up than subscription TV then the free kit for contract ain’t on offer, I would have liked them to have been asked about this.
I have presented before the IRTC in the past and it is nerve wreaking. The best pitches do not always win but this is a BEAUTY contest. And I know who the ugly sisters are, and who Cinderella is. Remember Cinderella didn’t always get to go to the ball but after a while she met her Prince. I would still bet on an ondigital meets freeview future for Irish DTT, why? its MPEG4 (that’s good, that’s also problematic) & there is plenty of PPV euros wanted by all the entrants in a saturated carrier market, and today was about the last and smallest entrant. RTE on Freesat would kill DTT dead and that’s not going to happen either. Roll on July 31st when the BCI decide.
Media Network Blog sourcing RTE states
Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said that the country’s public broadcaster RTÉ should be able to transmit a dedicated Dáil channel on television. Mr Ahern said that he had assisted the station with a healthy package of a licence fee for public service broadcasting and that if showing the Oireachtas (parliament) and its committees was not public service, then he would give up.
He insisted that RTÉ should be able to carry such a channel within the public service remit. He said compared with ‘a lot of tripe that is on TV’, the Oireachtas channel would be far better and very interesting.
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Dáil TV services are not televised by RTE (its under contract to a private company) the service falls under the remit of the leader speaker of the house (Ceann Comhairle) and should not be interfered with by party political of governmental influence. RTÉ international may well carry Dáil proceedings in the future but independent TG4 carries more Dáil hours than RTÉ does at the moment.
Bertie lets get the smoke and daggers out and get RTE & TG4 FTA and Dáil TV may well happen, but stop interfering in day to day Irish TV.
in anticipation of RTÉ going FTA under the direction of Dail Eireann to provide RTÉ International, I have decided to post a very basic howto on Digital DVB Direct to home Free To Air setup.
1. find out what is free
http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/Europe.html
notice Ireland has NO FTA the Sky News
Ireland wasn’t really Irish and it has now closed.
2. get your kit
satellite kits sell from €80 upwards (often in Lidl) 80CM dish with LNB FTA receiver and cable and F connectors Think of out of contract Sky kit as worthy of use including old mini dishes
3. point you dish at your target content
28E UK / Ireland
13E France / Italy / Poland
05E Russia
[this is a very stereotypical representation]
how to align your dish http://url.ie/69c
4. tune in
tune your FTA box to a known service for example using Lyngsat for 28East go to http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html get Film 4 at 10729 V SR 22000 FEC 5/6 enter these details into your set top box (STB) and scan this transponder to find FTA channels
Tips: keep dishes low and clear to the sun in the south east at 11am. Low helps the dish stay out of the wind and stop dish wobble. Fix dishes to poles, 100mm traffic light poles in a concrete base are best. 50 or 60mm poles will have too much give. Fixing to walls is popular but dish alignment and alterations can be easier on a pole no higher that 3 meters. Shorter cable runs make for better signal but if long runs are needed invest in good satellite cable.
I was questioned over on my personal blog as to how much research i had done re RTE2FTA. A commenter with a mistaken email address or one that never worked pointed out to me that if RTÉ go FTA imported TV shows will cost more. Not that they would be blacked out but cost more no less no more - more.
and this was my reply
RTÉ is available in Northern Ireland.? border spill analog. RTÉ is available in Northern Ireland digitally on the Sky EPG also. so they pay more to rights owners ?
BBC ITV C4 SKY are in Ireland via DTH DVB Satellite do they pay more? they get paid by NTL & Sky to be here. RTE will go International as they have been re regulated to do so. This will bring RTE output to the DTH DVB satellite in the UK. While I personally am not so keen on Hollywood TV, there could be a case to park that type of import on Analog Terrestrial for the next say 7 years before switch off.
There is a very valid case for free to air RTÉ
And after 7 years on bunnies ears, desperate housewifes would be lost and would return to Irish digital programmes made by Irish people for Irish people. in 7 years, or next year you will be able to buy these shows long before transmission here from apple TV, so no big sponsors like ER hadn’t last year and the shows will become extra terrestrial, time to phone home, anyone know the area code for Donnybrook Dublin 4.
in the UK where FTA signals have been available from Satellite and DTT for years the and campaigning for FTA continues. High Definition FTA is a demand of hdforall.org.uk
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