What Satellite & Digital TV Magazine

markmc2k9

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Ok I appreciate that this may not fit on this forum best but if not I apologies in advanced mods

Did anyone ever read this magazine? I have been reading it for a couple of years now and find it a fantastic resource and especially love the channel frequencies. Problem is it has vanished from every magazine subscription site and from Zinio where I get my digital magazines from. I just hope it hasn't gone away for good.
 
It's in the process of transfer to new owners/publishers.
 
It's in the process of transfer to new owners/publishers.

News like that makes me nervous.

A similar thing happened to PCAnswers a couple of years ago.

The new owners decided, in their infinite wisdom, to change format.

Howls of protest on their forum, but to no avail.

Magazine closed within 12 months. :(
 
The magazine is now published by "MyHobbyStore" but I think it is still distributed by Future Publishing, Market Harborough, LE16 9EF.
 
It's nice to have an industry magazine like an anchor, but I've not read anything in it for a long time that has impressed &/or that you don't see on the net & some of the 'expert' advice can be really iffy .... one of the last things I read was an expert giving advice on a reader's question about motorised & swapping from Diseqc 1.2 to USALS motor control & the reader [or any reader] would have been really messed up with the advice the 'expert' gave - he really didn't know his stuff & instead knew more about how to fill pages with words rather than what they are. That & there's always the worry about any bias towards some company's products - it's not easy with any publication I know .. you need advertisers.

Future Publishing has been around for decades & I've seen plernty of theior magazines come & go over the years as markets change but I hope wot sat keeps going as a mag & they have carried some better features lately.
 
I'm definitely happy that it is to continue being released but at the same time nervous about what direction the new owners take it in. While I appreciate most of the info it gives out is freely available online, I think it's a pretty good monthly resource and give a good platform to the niche market of foreign satellites etc..

Thanks guys for clearing this up.
 
Is it the same one that I used to take regularly in analogue days, with channel listings?
 
News like that makes me nervous.

A similar thing happened to PCAnswers a couple of years ago.

The new owners decided, in their infinite wisdom, to change format.

Howls of protest on their forum, but to no avail.

Magazine closed within 12 months. :(

What Satellite recently reverted back to a more technical oriented magazine instead of TV shows with satellite news, equipment and installation taking 2nd place, definitely for the better. First issue under the new owners is no different so far. :smashin:

I wish them all the best, my favourite magazine which I've even written for (Big whoop ;)).

Still looking for a decent price way to get my hands on a print issue of Tele-Satellite every two months.
 
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What Satellite recently reverted back to a more technical oriented magazine instead of TV shows with satellite news, equipment and installation taking 2nd place, definitely for the better. First issue under the new owners is no different so far. :smashin:

I understand that it will continue for a few more issues before they reassess its future. Obviously the new owners want it to be a success but it's a numbers game. People have to buy it.

I wish them all the best, my favourite magazine which I've even written for (Big whoop ;)).
Me, too. ;)

Still looking for a decent price way to get my hands on a print issue of Tele-Satellite every two months.
Write for it. When I was writing for it, I got a complementary issue each month.
I even used to write articles in German. But they had to get a native speaker to translate my "german" into something the readers could actually understand. :)
 
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I have to agree that it was a much more satisfying experience writing for Tele-Satellite magazine than for Wotsat.
Last time I wrote for Wotsat I had to fill in various forms to take care of legal and tax stuff; that put me off ever writing for them again.
 
M P - I hesitate - or maybe not - to say this - your articles must have been all Greek to them.:blush:
 
They can think themselves lucky that I wasn't trying to write in Greek! "Trying" being the relevant word. I'm currently struggling to achieve the vocabulary of a one year old. But the locals are determined to teach me. The latest "helpful" phrase is:

Ee Yeros tha pye ee apo pessimo ee apo hessimo. "The elderly will go (= die) either from falling or sh**ting."

That sounds cruder than it's meant to be. Basically, in the old days, the elderly usually died on the way to or from the "toilet", which was a hole in the ground as far from the house as practicable (because of the smell - obviously). So the long stumble across fields in the dark usually put paid to the "yeros" (which is where we get "geriatric" from).

That's a phonetic translation, of course. I could write it in Greek but most wouldn't be able to read it.

How many people know that "extra" is a Greek word, pronounced exactly the same, with exactly the same meaning? Did you know that "ooranos" (Uranus) is Greek for "Sky"?
"Oora" is urine (this is not your cue to take the p***).

Hmm, have I drifted slightly off-topic again? There should be a special section for my fascinating drifts! ;)
 
Just a little - but the General Chat forum would probably welcome this sort of thing.:)
It's interesting, and can be confusing, that the modern language has stayed much closer to the classical than almost any other language, but that it has some substantial differences as well.
 
It's sad to see someone of Martin's calibre posting speculation about the future of What Satellite & Digital TV when he hasn't spoken to anyone on the editorial team.

The good news is that Wotsat is very much alive, and in surprisingly rude health thanks to our tech-focussed reboot in August. Future did sell us to MyHobbyStore, a small publishing house dedicated to magazines for enthusiasts of every flavour, from knitting to flying model aeroplanes. We're here along with Future's other AV titles, HiFi Choice and Home Cinema Choice, and it's a far better place for us than with a giant like Future, where specialist mags aren't a priority.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good-natured handover, with Future closing our websites and refusing to forward our email, but our future without Future is looking good.

We're planning to have a new website up very soon at our old address, with news, PDFs and competitions. The magazine will continue in the current format, with a small refresh every year as you'll find with most long-running magazines.

all the best,

Alex Lane
Editor
What Satellite & Digital TV
 
It's sad to see someone of Martin's calibre posting speculation about the future of What Satellite & Digital TV when he hasn't spoken to anyone on the editorial team.

Hi, Alex. I think you misinterpreted my post. I'm not sad at all. The message is the same as in my last BLOG.

For any magazine it's a "numbers game". If people don't subscribe and companies don't advertise, no magazine can survive. We are all keeping our fingers crossed for you and hoping that the subscriptions continue to roll in. I'm doing my bit for you by making people aware and urging them to continue to subscribe.

when he hasn't spoken to anyone on the editorial team. ... with Future closing our websites and refusing to forward our email

Which maybe explains why you didn't reply to my email.
 
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Welcome to the Forum, Wotsat! :smashin:

Alex, I hope you will read my Post #5 above as a dire warning.

The editorial team of PCAnswers took a "we know best" approach and paid the price!

Be advised that this reader likes your magazine exactly as it is. :thumbsup:

Good luck! :)
 
It's sad to see someone of Martin's calibre posting speculation about the future of What Satellite & Digital TV when he hasn't spoken to anyone on the editorial team.

The good news is that Wotsat is very much alive, and in surprisingly rude health thanks to our tech-focussed reboot in August. Future did sell us to MyHobbyStore, a small publishing house dedicated to magazines for enthusiasts of every flavour, from knitting to flying model aeroplanes. We're here along with Future's other AV titles, HiFi Choice and Home Cinema Choice, and it's a far better place for us than with a giant like Future, where specialist mags aren't a priority.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good-natured handover, with Future closing our websites and refusing to forward our email, but our future without Future is looking good.

We're planning to have a new website up very soon at our old address, with news, PDFs and competitions. The magazine will continue in the current format, with a small refresh every year as you'll find with most long-running magazines.

all the best,

Alex Lane
Editor
What Satellite & Digital TV
Thanks Alex for keeping us up to date. Glad to hear things are remaining the same and if anything the magazine will be put together with more passion. Good luck with the future and I'm looking forward to read the forthcoming issues.
 
We DO appreciate your help Martin, although you're not wrong about the reality of the magazines business, but sometimes such talk can lead people to assume you're dead before you are!

Talking of support from advertisers - how about a SatCure page in Wotsat? We give it a plug every month in Troubleshooter, and that's just for old times' sake :)

We DO appreciate your help Martin, although you're not wrong about the reality of the magazines business, but sometimes such talk can lead people to assume you're dead before you are!

Talking of support from advertisers - how about a SatCure page in Wotsat? We give it a plug every month in Troubleshooter, and that's just for old times' sake :)
 
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It's the story of our times! I'm on alex.lane [at] myhobbystore [dot] com, or DM me if AVForums allows that kind of thing
 
The problem is always that you can least afford to advertise when you most need to!
I have to rely on my friends here to advertise for me! :)

The following errors occurred with your submission:
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Hmm, this keeps happening and I just got rid of my old mouse, which kept double-clicking. So I don't think it's my fault. :cool:
 

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