Channel 4HD on Freesat

[duncansbby]

At last things are looking up for freesat. Just received this on twitter

freesat_TV freesat Channel 4 confirms that 4HD will join freesat in April

 

[micks_address]

thats pretty cool.. hopefully they will add 4 music as well and film 4 hd

 

[Dave_]

Excellent news.

Also confirmrd on join Freesat. http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/index.php/c4hd-to-launch-on-freesat

 

[Dave_]

micks_address:hopefully they will add 4 music as well and film 4 hd

Not very likely! 4 Music is a subscription channel and Film 4 HD is still exclusive to virgin.

 

[micks_address]

hopefully they will join eventually.. that would make freesat a pretty decent lineup... it is already really..

 

[strapped for cash]

That's great news. Having not accessed C4HD, I wonder how much content is actually HD, rather than the upscaled version?

Anyway, it's pleasing to see Freesat's HD roster steadily growing. I always felt a little shortchanged given Freeview HD's slightly more impressive line-up, but this helps redress the balance.

 

[Dave_]

Having had time to think about this, i'm sceptical of the april launch!!!

Simply because, to go FTA C4 HD needs to move from it's current transponder on Astra 2A ( because of Astra 2A's pan-european beam and copyright issues) to a satellite with a 'UK only' focused spot-beam capability.

Currently only one of the four satellites at 28.2/28.5E has this capabilty, Astra 2D, and that has no spare capacity.

Astra SES will be launching a new satellite Astra1N (that will provide additional spot beam capacity @28.2E) however, as of yet there's been no confirmed launch date, just 'expected to launch in Q2 2011'.

So i'm currently wondering how they can launch on Freesat in april or where there the capacity has miraculously appeared from...

EDIT - Looks like it's going to be shoehorned onto the BBC transponder