channel lists for freesat & free sat from sky

[the-cable-guy]

free sat from sky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...UK_and_Ireland

freesat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freesat

---------- Post added at 23:34 ---------- Previous post was at 23:30 ----------

seems like freesat have left out alot of channels from their service. i would of thought that you'd be able to manually tune these 'missing' channels ? however if not i cant see the point in freesat why would anyone pay for a service that offers less FTA channels on the same satellites as a service that is cheaper to buy out right (if you buy a Sky receiver & minidish yourself from eBay & Amazon) & is also FTA ? seems pointless to me.

---------- Post added at 23:37 ---------- Previous post was at 23:34 ----------

btw if you cant align a dish yourself aslong as you put it up yourself, a local installer should only charge you £30-£40 to align it for you (any more & their ripping you off).

[v0id]

It seems weird that a selection of those free channels, are only available on the top VM package :/

[the-cable-guy]

yep i agree i have both Sky FTV & VM XL & 2bh i get more channels for free on Sky then i do from paying VM.

[altis]

Why not go to the horses-mouth:

http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=whatson.Main

http://www.freesatfromsky.com/?pID=3

[the-cable-guy]

aye according to all four links free sat from sky wins hands down with how many channels you will get.

[altis]

So you are happy for control of satellite broadcasting in the UK to belong to BskyB instead of a not-for-profit organisation owned jointly by the BBC and ITV?

[the-cable-guy]

if it means that you get less channels from the same satellites then yes. 2bh i couldnt care less where the channels come from (although in this case its the same place) & i brought my equipment myself for alot less then either Sky or freesat charge so im not that bothered to be perfectly honest.

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

aye according to all four links free sat from sky wins hands down with how many channels you will get.

What is this obsession with the number of channels you can get? Since when has quantity = quality? Among the gazillions of channels Sky boasts as being part of their service are such televisual gems as Propeller, JML Lifestyle and Celebrity Shop. Have you ever watched them for longer than it takes to press 'channel up'?

If there are channels you genuinely want to have, that are not available on Freesat, then Freesat is not for you. But if everything you actually watch is on Freesat, I can't understand why on earth you care whether all the other cr@p is available as well.

Having said that, in time I fully expect a lot of the cr@p will appear on Freesat as well.And, incidentally, all the Five channels will be on Freesat as soon as they have disentangled themselves from Sky's nastly little carriage contract.

[Ryan91]

I am suprised that speed auction tv, third falling price channel from sit-up tv ( Virgin Media Television) is not on freesat

[the-cable-guy]

Originally Posted by Chris T

What is this obsession with the number of channels you can get? Since when has quantity = quality? Among the gazillions of channels Sky boasts as being part of their service are such televisual gems as Propeller, JML Lifestyle and Celebrity Shop. Have you ever watched them for longer than it takes to press 'channel up'?

If there are channels you genuinely want to have, that are not available on Freesat, then Freesat is not for you. But if everything you actually watch is on Freesat, I can't understand why on earth you care whether all the other cr@p is available as well.

Having said that, in time I fully expect a lot of the cr@p will appear on Freesat as well.And, incidentally, all the Five channels will be on Freesat as soon as they have disentangled themselves from Sky's nastly little carriage contract.

there is channels that i watch that aint on freesat that are on free sat from sky. thats not really the point tho, i cant see the point in having a 'new' service thats using the same satellites but gives less channels regardless of whether i watch them all or not. ppl keep saying that Sky are controlling well so are freesat as not all FTA channels are on their service, which clearly means that their dictating to ppl as to which channels they will get.

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

there is channels that i watch that aint on freesat that are on free sat from sky. thats not really the point tho, i cant see the point in having a 'new' service thats using the same satellites but gives less channels regardless of whether i watch them all or not. ppl keep saying that Sky are controlling well so are freesat as not all FTA channels are on their service, which clearly means that their dictating to ppl as to which channels they will get.

Well, first off, Freesat state that they will be carrying upwards of 200 channels by year's end. So pretty soon there should be no appreciable difference between the channel line up on FreesatFromSky and Freesat. I understand that the lack of channels available right now is to do with the need to get them on the Freesat EPG and in some cases, due to existing, exclusive encryption deals some channels have with Sky. So the only person dictating what you can't see on Freesat at the moment is James Murdoch.

Secondly, the 'point' in this new service - or points, as there are several reasons - is this:
(a) Freeview will never be able to offer a full HD service. And even when it does begin to carry some HD content, its users will require a new STB. Freesat offers BBC-HD right now, ITV-HD shortly, and 4-HD to follow, all guaranteed unencrypted and subscription free. Which is not the case with Sky. It is inevitable that one day -admittedly still a decade away at least IMO, but nevertheless - all channels will be HD, just as inevitably all channels went from monochrome to colour. And when that happens, you won't get them all on Freeview because terrestrial broadcasting doesn't have the bandwidth available to do so.
(b) Even if Sky did offer HD content FTA without charging you for their 'free' viewing card, the BBC and ITV quite rightly have nothing to gain by placing their HD fortunes in the hands of Rupert Murdoch, and everything to lose. If you want proof, then consider this: FreesatFromSky was only launched after the BBC and ITV announced their own Freesat service was being planned. That is the only reason it is possible today to get any kind of service from Sky without an ongoing subscription. So Freesat changed your viewing options, for the better, long before it even went live. Murdoch tried to head Freesat off at the pass by making it unnecessary but he has bargained without the HD effect. There are 10 million HD-ready homes in the UK, and a great many of them do not have Sky, and have no intention of subscribing to Sky. So where are they now able to go to get the most out of their new TVs?

Yup.

[the-cable-guy]

i dont & didnt pay Sky a penny so you dont have to pay Sky to use their equipment. the other point is that when/if the channel line up is the same (as it should be IMO) buying second hand Sky receivers (which dont require a subscription) is still cheaper then buying freesat equipment atm, however this may change in time when the price of freesat (or any FTA) receivers goes down. one thing i have been wondering tho the interactive services that Sky uses for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, S4C, Sky News etc will ppl also get these on freesat or ?

The Freesat box uses MHEG for interactive services, a similar implementation to Freeview. Sky uses OpenTV (which isn't, because it's theirs). The interactive services you get on Freesat should therefore be similar in look, feel and function to what you get on Freeview. This blog posting at the BBC is very interesting on this subject.

Fair comment that you can pick up a secondhand Sky box and not pay for any FreesatFromSky set up, but that still won't get you a full range of HD services and it doesn't guarantee you ongoing unencrypted access to its content ...

Another point, in the long term it should be easier for broadcasters to get on Freesat because it won't cost them an arm and a leg to get on the Freesat EPG, unlike Sky which makes a mint out of providing this 'service'.

[Arthurgray50@blu]

This might be a strange question to ask and say, but what is the point of having another Freesat, system come onto the market, as we are overcrowded with this system, we already have, FREEVIEW,via an aerial, VM free channels, via cable, FREESAT, via a dish and Freesat from Sky, so whats the point, if they all give the same channels, and please don't say the price.

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

This might be a strange question to ask and say, but what is the point of having another Freesat, system come onto the market, as we are overcrowded with this system, we already have, FREEVIEW,via an aerial, VM free channels, via cable, FREESAT, via a dish and Freesat from Sky, so whats the point, if they all give the same channels, and please don't say the price.

I think I answered this in post 11. However if you want Freesat's own take on it, you could read this interview with Emma Scott from Monday's Grauniad. She is Freesat's Managing Director, and previously did a lot of the work to launch Freeview, so if anyone's in a position to know why there is room in the market for another broadcast platform, it's her.

However, to sum up my view concisely, I think the main driver for people buying Freesat boxes is HD. And people are buying them, hand over fist. It's actually quite hard to get one if you go down your high street, they're selling that fast. So you may not understand the point of it, but somebody sure does.