Digital Dave
Retired
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REAL Digital TV - coming soon
Some of you will know that there's been a rival satellite broadcasting system to Sky and Freesat in the works for a while. They've now soft launched but as yet have still not got their reciever boxes into retail stores. Apparently this will be by spring this year, starting with Maplin.
It's called 'Real Digital TV' and seems to be a combination of Sky and Freesat as it offers all the channels that Freesat offers (ie FTA) plus an additional free HD channel and a selection of pay TV channels that will be cheaper than they are on Sky.
I was just looking at their latest channel list and I noticed that unlike Freesat they carry all the babe channels in the EPG. With Freesat you have to tune them in manually and you can't record them.
On Real Digital they are PIN-protected but still free to view. This is something we've been discussing on here for a while as a possible way round Ofcom's apron strings, so it will be interesting to see what kind of PIN implementation it is and whether this could tempt the babe channels to offer something more risque on Real Digital than they can on Sky or Freeview? If it worked well on Real Digital then it would make sense for Sky to implement a similar system.
http://realdigitaltv.com/entry008_channels.html
(Scroll to the bottom of the page for the babe channels list)
(This post was last modified: 28-01-2012 03:53 by Digital Dave.)
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28-01-2012 00:31 |
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StanTheMan
Banned
Posts: 3,790
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RE: Real DigitalTV coming soon
(28-01-2012 00:31 )Digital Dave Wrote: On Real Digital they are PIN-protected but still free to view. This is something we've been discussing on here for a while as a possible way round Ofcom's apron strings, so it will be interesting to see what kind of PIN implementation it is and whether this could tempt the babe channels to offer something more risque on Real Digital than they can on Sky or Freeview? If it worked well on Real Digital then it would make sense for Sky to implement a similar system.
Interesting, as HoneyRocks says. As for the PIN-protected stuff, harder content would of course mean the channel concerned having to set up a separate broadcast to their Sky one, as BS have done with BSX, but I can't imagine that would be too much of an issue. They would also have to (initially at least) tread carefully as I'm not aware of Ofcom making any provisions for soft-encrypted, fta adult channels.
(This post was last modified: 28-01-2012 01:44 by StanTheMan.)
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28-01-2012 01:41 |
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eccles
custodes qui custodiet
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Joined: May 2010
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RE: Real DigitalTV coming soon
About time there was an alternative to the emerging Sky monopoly - they host 10 times as many channels as the BBC, ITV, Four and Five combined.
Encryption could be difficult if broadcasting on Astra and providing another route to channels available on Sky. Sky boxes use proprietry encryption and none other, as an anti piracy measure. (There is no legal reason for unauthorised sales of compatible decoders). So the system could use "encryption" that is really nothing more than an easily bypassed flag. If non Sky encryption is used the channels would not work on Sky boxes. If Sky encryption was used it would have to be licenced from Sky, raising all sorts of questions about independence and encryption costs.
My guess is that they are licencing Sky encryption but only using it for pay channels, most of which will also be available via Sky. That avoids duplication in channels and overheads. Sky Sports 1 and 2 must be made available to competitors under anti monopoly law - remember the big spat with Virgin?
So what advantage does it offer? It offers the full range of free channels and more, cuts out the basic Sky rental, and offers some pay channels, without having to pay for all the dross that Sky forces people to pay for even if they dont watch it.
However using Sky encryption is not free, even if all that is required is a PIN. I seem to remember it costing about £50k which is one reason why channels dont use it. Simply requiring a PIN might be cheaper. Interesting to see what 0fcom make of it.
It does open up the possibility of proper hard pay channels that Sky might refuse to list, particularly foreign registered ones.
Gone fishing
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28-01-2012 02:43 |
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shylok
Senior Poster
Posts: 234
Joined: Nov 2011
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RE: REAL Digital TV - coming soon
Thanks for the extra info Dave.
I only have experience of FTA receivers so I can't comment on the FREESAT PVR's. Bit of a limitation though if its true.
BTW I have scanned the RD TV transponder and it's live but no channels are up yet (today anyway). 12688H symbol rate 22000 DVB-S
S
(28-01-2012 13:25 )Digital Dave Wrote: Ah, thanks for the correction. I made that point based on the experience of a friend of mine who bought a Freesat PVR when they first came out and found that he couldn't record any channel that wasn't on the actual epg (ie manually-added channels).
If that's no longer the case then it's good news!
NB By Freesat I mean boxes with the branded seven-day Freesat epg, rather than generic FTA receivers that only tend to have now/next programme info.
Join OFCOM today we offer decent salaries + a company bonus scheme (based on how much pain you can inflict on the British public) - http://www.ofcom.org.uk/files/2011/05/sa...e-2011.pdf
(This post was last modified: 28-01-2012 16:24 by shylok.)
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28-01-2012 16:23 |
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