Nick_UK said:
And I think you should switch off your obvious hatred for Sky for a few moments, and stop posting such drivel !!
First, Nick, I don't "hate " Sky. I've been a subscriber to the full package for well over a decade. I have however come to strongly dislike their attitude to the consumer and anti-competitive practices, not to mention the ever-increasing price of their offering. If they charged more realistic prices and offered decent customer service I'd be much better disposed towards them.
Second, I didn't post 'drivel'. Its a fact that if you want to watch the baseline package of analogue terrestrial channels on satellite (BBC1/2, ITV, C4 and Five) you MUST do so through a Sky box. That immediately cuts out the possibility to use a lot of much more technically advanced and capable kit, or the ability to use really cheap bog-standard DSAT boxes.
If you want to watch the full baseline of digital terrestrial channels on satellite, you not only need a Sky box but you also need a basic Sky subscription. About a tenner a month.
[EDIT: Just checked the Sky website, it's 15 quid a month for the lowest sub.]
... and if you want to use your expensive HDD Sky+ box (you only have a 'choice' of what gear Sky mandate) to record those 'free' channels you need to pay *another* tenner to Sky.
So if you want to watch via digital satellite and have a twin-tuner digital HDD recorder - which most people would regard as a resonable requirement for digital viewing and recording in this day and age - that can record the lowest baseline of 'free' channels (the range of analogue ones) you're looking at paying a tenner a month to Sky. [EDIT: 15 quid]
If you want to be able to view/record the DTT 'Freeview' baseline you're looking at around 20 quid a month to Sky. [EDIT: 25 quid] Not for the hardware, which you must also pay for, but for the privilege of using your bought and paid for kit to perform the basic function of viewing and recording 'free' digital channels.
Bear in mind that with the analogue switchoff looming, this will leave people who choose/have to use digital satellite in the UK having to pay Sky 20 quid [EDIT: 25 quid] a month just to watch and record the basic digital TV services.
That's simply outrageous and any consumer who would defend it would go down in my book as a complete idiot. Things MUST change - the full range of 'free' digital channels should indeed be available free of charge to the UK consumer to watch and digitally record off of satellite. If Sky want to peddle their poor-VFM service as a luxury product then by all means let them do so and see how many people are prepared to pay 45 quid a month for what they offer.
Well done ITV for having the guts to join the BBC and break from Sky's proprietary system. Here's hoping that the C4 and Five join them so that the consumer can have a real choice of hardware.
Nick_UK said:
I have a reciever here on my desk capable of receiving lots of channels from the Astra 28.2 satellites, but it's not a Sky box - it's a DVB card in a PC. It receives BBC1, BBC2, BBC 3, BBC4, CBeebies, ITV, ITV3, BBC Parliament, including all the BBC and ITV regional variations. Now, the fact that I can't receive any of the other channels has nothing to do with the Sky EPG. It's because those channels have decided to encrypt their signals. That is the choice of the broadcasters, and nothing to do with Sky.
It's EVERYTHING to do with the way Sky muscled their way into the position of 'monopoly' broadcaster in the UK satellite market. if you want to broadcast a channel on DSAT to the UK and have a reasonable chance that anyone will watch it, you need to be on the Sky EPG.
And Sky used that position of power to coerce companies into encrypting using their system which doesn't offer a CAM ... locking you into their hardware (which doesn't have even have a connection for a CAM for other systems). They also managed to get some channels to go onto a Sky sub, even though they're free on DTT and have said they'd prefer to be free on Sky.
The BBC are big enough that they can afford to stay on the Sky EPG under favourable terms and broadcast free to air. ITV have decided to make the break now too. C4 and Five will hopefully follow suit.
Nick_UK said:
You don't need an EPG to watch Sky, and you really should realise that Sky is a company, whose aims are the same as every other company - to make profits for its shareholders. It's not a charity !
I don't resent companies making profits. I resent them using monopoly positions to throttle the market and milk the consumer.
Gav