[mythtv-users] Some readers may find the following UK events of interest was US Pay-TV loses subscribers for the first time ever

Nick Rout nick.rout at gmail.com
Wed Aug 25 07:59:52 UTC 2010


On Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 6:58 PM, Another Sillyname
<anothersname at googlemail.com> wrote:
> In the UK there are a number but linkable events happening that may
> well change the shape of TV delivery.
>
> To give people a frame of reference though a little bit of background
> may be useful.
>
> In the UK TV delivery can be broken down into 5 current delivery mechanisms.
>
> 1.  Analogue TV Delivery via your antenna.  This will be phased out by
> 2012 under what's known as Digital Switch Over (DSO).  Certain TV
> networks in the UK (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five) have a 'public service'
> remit and in return for that remit they are 'gifted' certain frequency
> allocation in return for guaranteeing a certain amount of their
> programming is news, documentaries etc....
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITV#Public_service_broadcasting
>
> This was historically the dominant form of TV delivery in the UK.
>
> 2.  Freeview via your antenna.  Freeview will replace analogue by 2012
> and provides about 30 'real' and then a further slug of infomercial/TV
> Selling, Community, specialist channels.  Freeview will also deliver 5
> HD channels under DVB-T2.   The vast majority of Freeview programming
> is non chargeable however via either TopUp-TV or ESPN you can also buy
> extra sports or general entertainment channels.  Freeview will be
> available to over 90% of the population by the time of DSO completion.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeview_%28UK%29
>
> 3.  Freesat via satellite dish.  Mostly the same channels that are
> available via Freeview above.  This stations are mostly sent FTA and
> are for individuals who for whatever reason cannot get Freeview.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freesat
>
> 4.  Virgin Media Cable.
>
> Currently has about 3.6m subscribers, in reality currently the only
> cable delivery service in the UK.  Cost for basic service and Cable
> Broadband delivery is about £60 ($90) per month for a full service
> delivery of a 20Mb Fibre Optic connection, phone line with unlimited
> evening and weekend calls to national landlines and 160+ Digital TV
> Channels including HD channels.   To add the main Sports Channels look
> to add about £20 ($30) per month.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Media#Virgin_TV
>
> 5.  Sky Satellite TV
>
> Currently has about 9m subscribers (although this is a bit of a fudged
> number).  They also own a Broadband ISP delivery company.
>
> Costs for TV only with a full package of Movie and Sport channels is
> about £60 ($90) per month, if you take phone and ISP bundles look to
> bump the price up to about £80 ($120) per month.  Sky again have an
> effective monopoly of TV delivery in the UK, they are Murdoch
> controlled.
>
> Sky aggressively control both the delivery platform and Sports rights
> to a large amount of UK sport, they in effect use Sports Rights to
> force consumers to buy their total package.  However due to recent
> rulings Sky are now being forced to offer those Sports rights to
> competitors at fixed prices.
>
>
> ----------------------------------------
>
> The change that's happening comes in two parts.
>
> 1.  Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) and Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) will
> be rolled out by British Telecom (BT) over the next 3-4 years.  This
> will allow the majority of households to access Broadband speeds of
> between 40 and 100 Mbps.  BT may well be forced to offer the
> infrastructure to other providers at a fixed cost so consumers even
> using a different ISP will have access to the technology.
>
> 2.  Project Canvas will be a new TV delivery platform using the
> Internet for IPTV delivery services, it could (and likely should) be
> argued that project canvas is an attempt by the non-Sky TV companies
> to break Sky's hold on the TV delivery infrastructure.  With bandwidth
> of 40Mbps you could deliver 4-5 HD channels simultaneously using H264.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Canvas
>
> So it's possible that from say 2012 there will start to be in place a
> new national TV delivery mechanism in the UK.  Now whether this will
> affect pricing remains to be seen, however it will allow content
> providers another route to market rather then the dominant
> mechanism(s) currently provided only by Virgin Media and Sky.


There are distinct differences between the UK and New Zealand, but
many similarities. Here too sport is tied to Murdoch/Sky. I espouse
freeview regularly, but am dismissed because they don't have the Rugby
Channel/Super 14/world Cup this or that.

Our freeview is available terrestrially (aerial) or via satellite.  It
has a number of good channels, but lacks the sport for those who are
enthused over such things (not me except occasionally). It is also
marginalised because all those channels are available on Sky, so why
not pay for Sky/Sport and get all the stuff that's on freeview for
free off Sky, and not have to buy and *gasp* set up a satellite or
dvb-t STB (and find a place to plug it in to your TV!!!)

Anyone wanna rent a house for an exorbitant amount during the Rugby
World Cup next year? It's our current national obsession: Will the
venues be ready? Where will people drink and party? What will Auckland
do with it's waterfront? Will the roads and public transport hold up?
Who ****ing cares. I was in France, by chance, for the last one. The
French by and large didn't care, and those who did, didn't sweat about
where everyone was going to party, they just got on with it and put up
with the South Africans)

Ooops did I say that?


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