Broadcaster BSkyB is planning to launch a free-to-air satellite package offering 200 TV and radio channels and interactive services. The service, to be launched later this year, will compete with Freeview, the free-to-air digital terrestrial service backed by the BBC and BSkyB - more (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3790127.stm)

Interesting development, I wonder how many people will be willing to pay more and have to put a sat dish...

How will it differ to my current Sky Digital though? And will I have to buy a reciever to be able to get the free channels (whereby making it not free with the cost of the gadget).

The receiver will cost £150, rich

That's a lot to pay, for 200 channels of Rupert Murdoch trash :loopy:

Originally posted by Abdul
The receiver will cost £150, rich

That's a lot to pay, for 200 channels of Rupert Murdoch trash :loopy:

Think I'll stick with my Sky Digital then... I ain't forking out 150 quid to watch endless re-runs of Yank stuff like Friends, ER etc, not that there's anything wrong with Friends or ER of course.

We already have a Sky Dish ready and waiting to go, from the old tennants.

Just need the box, would this reduce the cost of it? :confused: :thumbsup:

We were thinking of getting Freeview but with no guarantees of being able to get reception, and bad experiences by other people, decided against it :rolleyes:

Just buy a second hand sky digibox scatterheart, can get all the bbc digital channels, and a few more then.

obviously you all understand that you won't have to pay sky's monthly subscription and they say they will offer better channels than freeview..maybe they won't be so BBC orientated as freeview currently is.
Some people will no doubt question why you wouldn't get a second hand freeview box or something similar. I get the argument but I have to say that having seen freeview I much prefer the user interface on sky channels with the ability to set reminders etc. which when I last checked was unavailable on freeview..plus with Sky's you can still get various PPV upgrades..I say its about time!!

Originally posted by wibbles
obviously you all understand that you won't have to pay sky's monthly subscription
I'm not so sure...I think Sky would like to keep a steady revenue stream coming in. Look at the Pay Per View Sports Channels as an example. I suspect that once saturation point has been reached in the market, there'll be some sort of ongoing cost in future.

Originally posted by wibbles
and they say they will offer better channels than freeview...
Yayy! :clap: I'm really looking forward to that hilarious drama and entertainment channel. What's it called now... FOX NEWS, that's it! /sarcasm

Originally posted by wibbles
maybe they won't be so BBC orientated as freeview currently is.
Hmmm...interesting. A long term 'goal' of Murdoch has been to get one over on the BBC. He loathes that the BBC is funded by a licence (or tax, if you will) of which nowt goes to his broadcasting empire.

I personaly wish I had not botherd with freeview as the quality varies from night to night,and before I bought the box I checked on the web site and was told the area I lived in woul'd get great reception.
What a joke that is.

Freeview is a joke its full of shopping channels and travel channels ok BBC3 has some good things on it BBC4 finally had something worth watching last weekend stuff about 60's tv.....so Sky will have about 120 shoping and travel channels with a few god channels.

I have freeview but i only watch BBC1 BBC2 BBC3 ITV1 Channel 4 Channel 5..FTN is ok for Most Haunted.

I'd like to see the channels Sky are planning to show for free all crap i can imagine :rolleyes:

Skys plan is plain and simple.

£150 / 12 = £12.50 a month yeah.

Thats roughly the same price as their basic package anyway, they'll offer the basic package as an upgrade to people a year down the line, thus gaining more customers.

Which can only be a good thing, because more money for sky = more money into getting the TV infrastructure working properly as sky seem to be the only ones who give a damn about how we watch TV.

The japanese have had Progressive Scan/High Definition reception since the 60s/70s and we've yet to have ANY sets in the UK which arent plasma screens or projectors.

:rolleyes: this is what you get

116 TV CHANNELS

30 general entertainment
BBC1
BBC2
ITV1
Channel 4
Channel Five
BBC3
BBC4
Travel Channel
Travel Channel 2
S4C ~ Digital
Life TV
Overload
Game Network
You TV
BEN
Reality TV
Performance
Rapture TV
FRIENDLY TV
ACTV
L!VE TV
Nation217
Fashion TV
OBE
Game in TV
Hollywood TV
Get Lucky TV
Classics TV
S42 ~ 2
AVAGO

Nine news & documentaries
Sky News
BBC News 24
BBC Parliament
CNN
ITV News Channel
Euro News
CCTV9
Community Channel
Information TV

Four children's
CBBC
CBeebies
POP
POP Plus

Five music
Chart Show TV
The Vault
Classic FM TV
channel U
M-Channel


Five sports
Motors TV
Extreme Sports
Golf TV
i Sports TV
Wrestling Channel

One movie
The Horror Channel

Sixty-two specialist
QVC
TV Travelshop
TV Travelshop 2
TV Shop
Ideal World
Price Drop TV
Shop America
Travel Deals Direct
Simply Shop
Best Direct
Simply Home
Entertainment
Simply Ideas
TV Warehouse
Factory Outlet
bid-up.tv
Thomas Cook TV
Telsell
letsgoshop+
Auction World
Shop on TV
Thane Direct
ShopSmart
TVWarehouse
Shop 24/7
Stop+Shop
Yes
Screenshop
Phoneworld
Vitality
FO3
God Channel
God 2
Wonderful TV
TBN Europe
Revelation
UCB TV
TV Job Shop
Dating Channel
txt me
Gay Date TV
Escape
Create & Craft
Exchange & Mart TV
Teletext Hols
Broadband TV
Golf Pro-Shop
PCNE Chinese
mta- muslim TV
ATN
Islam Channel
FO2
JML Direct
Open Access
Abu Dhabi
Vectone Urdu
Vectone Hindi
Vectone Tamil
Vectone Bangla
SAB TV
Record TV
Chat Box


EIGHTY-ONE RADIO CHANNELS:


BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 4 FM
BBC Radio 5 Live
Classic FM
Virgin Radio
Classic Gold
The Storm
Planet Rock
Core
Capital Gold
XFM
BBC World Service
BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Wales
BBC Radio Ulster
BBC Asian Network
BBC6 Music
The Mix
WRN Europe
Premier Radio
Heart 874
UCB Europe
Cross Rhythm
OneWord
SBN
Solar Radio
Panjab Radio
BBC 7 service
PrimeTime
Sunrise Radio
UCB Insp
BBC 1Xtra Radio
Transworld Radio (TWR)
UCB Bible
UCB Talk
RTE Europe
BBC Radio 4 LW
Radio 5 Live Sports Extra
Club Asia
Real Radio
EWTN
Sukh Sagar
Asian Gold
BBC World Service Extra
BBC Radio Cymru
BBC RnGael
CalvaryRadio
Gaydar Radio
Family Radio
RTE Radio 1
The Arrow
Capital Disney
Apple FM
RTE 2FM
RTE Lyric FM
RTE R na G
Jazz FM
Akash Radio
Desi Radio
The Hits
Galaxy FM
Smash Hits
MeanCountry
Century Radio
Capital FM
Amrit Bani
LBC Radio
Kiss
Heat Radio
Magic
Q
Mojo
Kerrang!
**** FM
Spectrum 1
Liberty Radio
Yarr Radio
Pure Dance
Choice FM

Definitely a case of quantity over quality.

PS. Where's ITV2 on that list? It may be absolute rubbish, usually consisting of 24/7 American Idol, but one would expect it to be on that list.

:D maybe ITV2 thinks its better then all the other crap on the line up on FTA and stayed with freeview....well FTA will be the end of TUTV (top up TV) :rolleyes: £7.99 a month for more rubbish

Originally posted by Jon
:rolleyes: this is what you get

MOD: List removed as it was long and just repeated post by Jon. (Sorry wibbles)

You sure?? I'd have thought with it being a SKy package that you would at least get Sky One as well as Sky Sports News. I also heard you get 200 channels

Originally posted by RPG
.

Which can only be a good thing, because more money for sky = more money into getting the TV infrastructure working properly as sky seem to be the only ones who give a damn about how we watch TV.



Cannot agree with this.

Sky ( or more accurately their subscribers) are responsible for the loss of most major events to terrestrial TV.

Stop payig the subscriptions and everything would be back on free TV through an ariel.

Andy

Originally posted by Jon
:D maybe ITV2 thinks its better then all the other crap on the line up on FTA and stayed with freeview....well FTA will be the end of TUTV (top up TV) :rolleyes: £7.99 a month for more rubbish

I dont see the point of top up tv, talk about a backward move, cant even pick it up with most freeview boxes, whats the point of broadcasting ? Can be picked up with an old on digital box with smart card slot, cant see it being around in a couple of years time.

There seems to be a high proportion of 'shopping channels' on the list.

Originally posted by Andyman
Cannot agree with this.

Sky ( or more accurately their subscribers) are responsible for the loss of most major events to terrestrial TV.

Stop payig the subscriptions and everything would be back on free TV through an ariel.

Andy

No, we'd just not see them at all because neither ITV or the BEEB can afford the crazy amounts the event hosters want for em.

Originally posted by RPG
No, we'd just not see them at all because neither ITV or the BEEB can afford the crazy amounts the event hosters want for em.

You miss the point.

Only Sky pay the big fees. No Sky sensible fees....

It is called free enterprise.

No Challenge TV then? It would be worth getting just for Takeshi's Castle.

Originally posted by Sidla
No Challenge TV then? It would be worth getting just for Takeshi's Castle.

No Challenge TV, no Cartoon Network, no Disney Channel, no Sky Sports,,,,, Means no sale unfortunately, as those are the main channels I bought Sky Digital for in the first place :loopy:

Especially the sports channels as I'm a big fan of the WWE wrestling (and yes, I am fully aware that it is all fake before anyone points out the blitheringly obvious)

Originally posted by Andyman
You miss the point.

Only Sky pay the big fees. No Sky sensible fees....

It is called free enterprise.

Hmm, im not convinced.

and more to the point I was talking about the actual physical television network, not the programs on it

Don't be fooled

http://business.scotsman.com/media.cfm?id=662442004

All along Murdoch has played the game where he draws you in to crush the opposition and then he has you all by the b*lls. Why do you think all sport has moved there. Once he has the lot it will be pay per view for everything.

Me. I wouldn't have Sky if you paid me.

Rupert Murdoch is a very clever man. Not that that's an excuse.

why the paranoia about this service only being free for a while.

The intention is to get people who currently have no kind of digital tv onboard with sky rather than with freeview. That way when they get bored of having 120 channels of trash in a few years time it will be natural for them to upgrade on the sky route.

Now that this has now been lauched, is anybody considering getting it?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3762910.stm