Freesat - gripes (of course)

Big Aura

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Oct 13, 2008
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Why is C4 HD, and now E4 HD, only available on subscription services?

Does this not contravene C4's obligations, as a 'public service broadcaster' (under section 265(3) of the Communications Act, 2003) to ensure "the provision of a broad range of high quality and diverse programming which, in particular ... demonstrate innovation, experiment and creativity in the form and content of programmes"

If they have the High Quality (in form, not just content) of one or more HD sub-channels, which demonstrate this innovation, why are they not open to the non-Sky subscribing community? Does it cost any extra to allow Freesat to disseminate their broadcasts? I was under the belief that Freesat was merely a platform decoding the channels it is 'allowed' access to.

It seems to me that they're failing in their statutory duty.

Thoughts and views on this are most welcome.

BA
 

Big Aura

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Oct 13, 2008
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while there may not be an obligation to broadcast HD, once a broadcaster makes that decision, and it is a public service broadcaster, how can it justify making that service solely available to fee paying Sky/Virgin subscribers, and ignore freesat which (and please correct me if I'm wrong) could allow reception of C4 HD etc at no extra cost to C4?
 

daveh75

Well-known member
Again AFAIK, PSB obligations dont extend to all channels in a broadcasters line-up.

Look at Five for example, they have psb obligations and yet Fiver,Five USA and their +1's aren't on freesat either, and not so long ago ITV were considering removing ITV 2,3 and 4 from Freeview/Freesat and making them subscription channels.

With regard to C4 HD, yes there would be extra costs involved, for one the cost of an EPG slot on Freesat, plus the costs of encoding,uplinking and transponder space, which are services all currenty being provided by Sky as part of the "exclusivity deal".

But costs aside, the other reason 4 HD is not on Freesat is the current lack of capacity on Astra 2d, which is where it needs to be to broadcast FTA, and not Astra 2a where it currently broadcasts from.
 
A

Anonymous

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I did not realise that fiver and five usa are not on freesat. Thats not good. I watch those channels regularly and have been thinking about a switch to freesat as my aerial cant get freeview hd and i am having problems with the property manager in getting it changed.
 

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