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Old 11-07-2019, 03:42   #417
RichardCoulter
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Re: One or two new channels coming to Freesat.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris View Post
Further to the above (and slightly besides the topic), Sky has been known to speculatively buy up much more sat transponder space than it actually needs. Whether it sub-leases I don’t know, but it has been blamed for the shortage of available UK spot-beam capacity in the past.
Sky actually helped to pay for one of the Astra satellites when Sky Digital started, in return they received discounts on capacity of up to 50%.

This would tie in with what you say Chris and could be the reason why they managed to persuade some channels to encrypt. They could have offered cheap capacity on their own transponders to keep channels off Freesat and require a Sky card, whilst still making a profit.

I've no idea how long the discounts were for, but i'd imagine for the expenses of paying for a satellite that it would be for a considerable length of time. Sky Digital launched in 1998, so if it was for, say, twenty years, this could be the reason why Sky are now no longer incentivising (bribing) channels to encrypt or help with exclusive HD launches.

Sky have recently been actually closing HD channels and kicking others out of the Sub Club, whilst at the same time moving third party channels off their own transponders and making technical changes to make more efficient use of their own capacity.

It all seems to tie in together.
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