General : Does Virgin have access to Astra 4A?

[RichardCoulter]

A TV company in the Baltics is now providing a Ukrainian TV news channel with an English language translation:

https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2022...of-ukraina-24/

I'm thinking of asking the Execs office if Virgin would rebroadcast this channel to help keep refugees from Ukraine coming to the UK & Ireland. Maybe it might be better coming from an employee of the company??

I doubt that getting pay TV installed will be a priority for those fleeing Ukraine, but people all over the country are offering their spare rooms who may have Virgin installed and this would help their guests keep in touch with home produced content.

There would need to be some legalities to clear, but I think it could be doable, but it would be a waste of time if Virgin doesn't have the technical ability to obtain a feed from Astra 4.

[Taf]

..to help keep refugees from Ukraine coming to the UK & Ireland

You want them NOT to come here?

[epsilon]

Originally Posted by Taf

You want them NOT to come here?

Guessing he means keeping refugees informed. An unfortunate omission.

Astra 4A is, generally, receivable in the UK although if the service uses a Nordic beam, it would be tricky. There seems to be a lot of Ukrainian content on 4A on European (wide coverage) beams. Redistributing services from DTH satellites isn't ideal.

I think Virgin had a Ukrainian channel on the old Worldbox service, not that former services are really useful. It does show what can be done though.

[nodrogd]

Strictly speaking any channel wanting an EPG slot on the TV platforms in this country requires an OFCOM licence. VM cannot just rebroadcast anything they like. Would this news channel observe the UKs broadcasting rules on impartiality? Remember we have just removed a certain Russian news channel because it did not.

[epsilon]

Originally Posted by nodrogd

Strictly speaking any channel wanting an EPG slot on the TV platforms in this country requires an OFCOM licence. VM cannot just rebroadcast anything they like. Would this news channel observe the UKs broadcasting rules on impartiality? Remember we have just removed a certain Russian news channel because it did not.

It's easier if they are IPTV streams as was the case with Worldbox. Possibly prefixed with an Ofcom warning about content possibly not complying with UK regulations (as seen on Freeview streamed channels). That said, it's relatively simple to get an Ofcom licence.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Taf

You want them NOT to come here?

Oops, I omitted to place the word 'informed' at the end!

---------- Post added at 17:34 ---------- Previous post was at 17:13 ----------

Thanks for the info. everyone.

I've been speaking to people who work in the industry and satellite enthusiasts, broadly speaking, they have said much the same things as here, except:

- Astra 4A is only receivable from around the coast of Norfolk.

- According to Lyngsat, this channel is also broadcasting from Hotbird 13e and receivable with a Sky dish (not checked this & the article requesting redistribution doesn't mention this either)..

- It might be easier to get an existing channel to record, check and play out recordings from the channel. There would then be no need for an Ofcom licence, an EPG slot or extra capacity, uplinking etc.

- If the channel is taken as a separate stream, the BBC has capacity that 'isn't a channel'. I'm assuming that this is the Red Button capacity. If so, this wouldn't need an EPG slot either. Is the BBC Red Button currently, or imminently, being used for anything?

I think that the BBC will be the best broadcaster to approach as they have started a shortwave radio service to Ukraine to help circumvent Putins efforts to prevent news getting out to the people by blowing up TV transmitters and trying to shut off the internet.

I'm thinking that BBC Scotland and BBC Alba could be used for their capacity at no extra cost to the TVL payer as I believe that the former simulcasts BBC2 during the day and the latter a radio station. In a sense, it's unfortunate that BBC3 has re-opened when it has as it's evening capacity has laid idle since it closed.

[epsilon]

The Nordic beam is tightly focussed on Scandinavia and, as you say, would be difficult to receive other than at the eastern most extremities of East Anglia. The European beams are focussed on eastern Europe, but there is a large area of the UK well within the footprint. Actually, it should be receivable across most of the UK with an 85cm dish and I would think that Virgin would use something significantly larger than that. It's a long time since I've been interested in satellite, so I'm a bit rusty. Not to worry though, the footprint maps don't get any harder to read.


https://www.lyngsat-maps.com/footpri...urope-BSS.html
https://www.lyngsat-maps.com/footpri...urope-FSS.html
https://www.ses.com/our-coverage#/explore/satellite/330

---------- Post added at 19:49 ---------- Previous post was at 18:47 ----------

The reasoning behind the above post is that Astra 4A services Ukraine on the European beams rather than the Nordic beam used by TV3's retransmission to the Baltic States. There are more Ukrainian broadcasters on there than just Ukraïna 24. Including the 1+1 channel previously carried on the Worldbox app. Enough to built a small channel package for Ukrainian refugees.

[Media Boy UK]

I did pick up a Iceland base channel for one night using my old Sky + Box here in Central Scotland.

But it was broadcasting things likeBBC Parliament. I think it was called SVT1.

[Richardr]

The BBC Red Button has a full schedule, e.g. for tomorrow:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p069dk6p/2022/03/07

However, independent of that, it isn't for the BBC to use their resources to rebroadcast any third party channel - that isn't what the licence fee is for.

No other OFCOM licensee will rebroadcast something unless they are 100% sure it will comply, and not leave them with regulatory problems.

[epsilon]

Originally Posted by Richardr

The BBC Red Button has a full schedule, e.g. for tomorrow:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p069dk6p/2022/03/07

However, independent of that, it isn't for the BBC to use their resources to rebroadcast any third party channel - that isn't what the licence fee is for.

No other OFCOM licensee will rebroadcast something unless they are 100% sure it will comply, and not leave them with regulatory problems.

Does it even matter? Perhaps the European Convention on Transfrontier Television could be applied. The UK & Ukraine are signatories and have both ratified the convention.


https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventio...&treatynum=132

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Richardr

The BBC Red Button has a full schedule, e.g. for tomorrow:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p069dk6p/2022/03/07

However, independent of that, it isn't for the BBC to use their resources to rebroadcast any third party channel - that isn't what the licence fee is for.

No other OFCOM licensee will rebroadcast something unless they are 100% sure it will comply, and not leave them with regulatory problems.

It was on the BBC news today that Rusdia has taken off the BBC World News channel.

The BBC are already supplying news to Ukraine via shortwave radio.

I would hope that TVL cash wasn't being used, but that it would be by way of donating spare capacity, waiving EPG fees or broadcasting the material during channel downtime.

The TVL isn't just meant for and used for BBC domestic TV and radio services. Some of it has been or is currently being used for broadband rollout, research & development, World services, websites, funding journalists for local newspapers etc.

It wouldn't cost much, if anything, for the BBC to show this material to help people who have lost everything and are worried about those left who may be losing their lives.

The bulk of broadcasting costs arise from making material to show, which would be free. The actual costs of technically transmitting the material are usually dwarfed by the cost of producing programming.

For example, closing BBC3 allowed the BBC to drastically reduce it's programming budget and the savings were achieved by doing this as opposed to the costs associated with providing a linear channel.