The terrestrial channels will be picked up automatically by those with cable or satellite television services but those of us who just tune in to the four channels will have to bin our rabbit-ears and buy a set-top box to receive the channels. So while RTÉ is providing this new DTT service free to air, as the current analogue service is, many will be paying for new technology to make it work. However, it is estimated the set-top box should not cost more than €100.

Cathal Goan, RTÉ’s director general, said the reason for the switchover to the new technology as it allows space for more content and for high-definition channels.

We want to ensure our viewers get the best value for money in the switch to digital television – more channels, more services and better quality pictures.

The BCI said the awarding of the contracts is subject to clarifications and the successful outcome of contract negotiations, which will take place in the coming months. Applying for the licences, Boxer had said it would offer prices below €10 a month and will allow viewers to top up their channel selections ‘a la carte’. It said there will also be a ‘pay as you go’ option for its pay channels

Sky HD, for which boxes currently cost between £199 and £249 with a Sky HD subscription, will be known as Sky+ HD from July 1. At the same time, the cost of a new box will be dropped to £150, the same as that charged for a standard definition Sky+, when taken with the £10 per month “HD mix”, the new name for the Sky HD subscription package.

Sky+ HD boxes will continue to cost £399 each when purchased without subscribing to the HD mix. Pricing for a standard definition Sky+ box will also be altered, with a new box costing £150 for new and existing customers except where it is taken with multiroom or broadband services, where the price of a customer’s first Sky+ box will drop to £75.

Sky+ standard definition boxes purchased without a Sky subscription will continue to cost £199.  Sky has made a concerted effort to push the Sky+ brand in a major outdoor, television and online campaign featuring a variety of celebrities, including Sir Michael Parkinson, explaining how they use its personal video recorder functionality.

The new EPG is designed to build on the simple user interface currently used across all Sky boxes with optimisations designed to take advantage of the technological improvements made possible by the newer hardware in HD boxes and make the transition from linear viewing and planner-driven timeshifted viewing more seamless.

See here for screenshots from DigitalSpy

Freesat has warned of a shortage of high definition set-top boxes available for sale “due to very high demand”.
In a message on its website, the new satellite service said: “Due to very high demand there is a shortage of Freesat HD boxes in the shops at the moment. We are working with Freesat retailers and manufacturers to increase supplies as soon as possible.
“In the meantime some Freesat retailers will allow you to reserve HD boxes for collection when stock comes in. The Freesat website will continue to give you updates.”

The plans unveiled yesterday detail a staggering investment of €165m, including €115m for networks, €30m for customer service and €20m for marketing. It emerged that much of the €115m networks investment includes the cost of leasing network capacity from RTE’s networks’ division over the next 12 years, an investment which will be borne by all three applicants.

Operationally, Boxer says it will make DTT set-top boxes available “free of charge”, with tariffs of €9.99 a month for seven channels or €22.99 for 18, with a €4.99 “kids package” upgrade, and a 50pc discount for multiple rooms. Drawing from the 329,000 users of analogue TV, the 1,056,000 watchers of ’second TVs’ and the 288,000 ‘churners’ who will change from existing digital packages, Boxer hopes to have 215,000 customers and revenues of €50m by 2012.

A joint venture by Communicorp, Swedish DTT giant Boxer and BT, the half-hour long presentation made much of Boxer’s history of delivering DTT in Sweden.

RTE and Liberty Global’s EasyTV was next up, with a high-tempo video kicking off proceedings. In measured tones, RTE finance director Conor Hayes then spoke of the €120m investment from RTE’s network division, which will enable the DTT switch over. “RTE is spending more than anybody else on DTT, we need to make sure it gets done right,” he said.

The EasyTV offering includes “future proof” HD-ready DTT boxes at “under €100″, for €8-a-month people can get a “soft” package of nine channels including UK terrestrial favourites BBC1, 2 and 3, Channel 4 and UTV. A “mid-pay” option with 13 “best-of-the-rest” channels will cost an extra €8-a-month, with premium sports and premium movies available at an additional cost. To roll out the platform, EasyTV is planning a marketing spend of €16m.

The final presenters of the day were OneVision, a group including TV3, Setanta, UK company Arqiva and eircom, which was the most forthright in the run-up to the hearings. The Fintan Drury-led group promised six channels free, with another 23 for €9.99 and a premium package at additional cost.

The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland is hoping to award the 12-year DTT contracts on July 21.

At long last, freesat has gone live across Britain, promising a wide variety of programming from the main terrestrial broadcasters, plus a selection of high definition content from the BBC and ITV. The satellite signals used by freesat will also be receivable in Ireland.

freesat was officially launched at a press event in London yesterday. freesat will offer a range of programmes via free-to-view satellite. The service is subscription-free, requiring just a one-off payment for equipment, plus optional installation. freesat is transmitted from the Astra and Eurobird satellites, meaning that 98% of the population should be able to receive a signal. From today, freesat carries around 80 channels, including a range of digital radio and TV stations (see end of article for full list). It is hoped that this number will rise to 200 or more by the end of the year. All of the free-to-air channels from the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 are available immediately. Five has a contract with Sky, so it’s not known when their channels will arrive on freesat.

High Definition

BBC HD is available immediately. ITV HD are rumoured to launch exclusively on freesat within the next few weeks. Details of ITV’s high definition programming will be available soon.

EPG

freesat uses an Electronic Programme Guide which is supposed to be much easier to use that other systems. It initially comes with ten genres of programming to make it easier to find specific channels.

Products

These products are already available, prices approximate:

Humax FOXSAT-HD high definition digital set-top box - £150

Grundig GUFSAT01SD standard definition digital set-top-box - £50

Grundig GUFSAT01HD high definition digital sex-top box - £150

Goodmans GDSAT100SD standard definition digital set-top box - £70

Goodmans GFSAT200HD high definition digital set-top box - £150

Bush BFSAT01SD standard definition digital set-top box - £50

Bush BFSAT01HD high definition digital set-top box - £120

Retailers

Additionally, Panasonic plans to manufacture three LCD HDTVs with freesat built in. 42 and 46 inch models will be available from June, with a 52 inch model coming in July. freesat equipment and installation booking can initially be done via Argos, Comet, Currys and John Lewis, plus some independent retailers. freesat is primarily being offered as an install product, though it is possible to use an existing satellite dish.

Once equipment has been bought, customers can elect to pay for an installer to come and put up the satellite dish. Retailers have been trained / scripted to ask the right questions to ensure this process is as pain-free for customers as possible. Every piece of hardware can be upgraded with new features as they become available, and will be fitted with an Ethernet port for possible future Internet / network connectivity, IPTV services, etc.

In addition, future functions may well include interactive red button services.

Branding and Exclusivity

Every piece of equipment authorised by freesat must pass strict DTG testing, and will carry the freesat logo. Non-branded equipment will not be able to receive the full range of channels or features. The system is based on open standards but with some proprietary encoding / software.

FREESAT CHANNELS AT LAUNCH (EPG numbers in brackets)
Entertainment (101-199)

BBC One (101)
BBC Two (102)
ITV1 (103)
C4 / S4C in Wales (104)
BBC Three (106)
BBC Four (107)
BBC HD (108)
ITV2 (113)
ITV3 (115)
ITV3+1 (116)
ITV4 (117)
S4C Digidol / C4 in Wales (120)
E4 (122)
More4 (124)
Zone Romantica (135)
Zone Thriller (137)

News and Sport (200-299)

BBC News (200)
BBC Parliament (201)
S4C2 (202)
Al-Jazeera English (203)
Euronews (204)
Movies (300-399)

Film4 (300)
True Movies (302)
True Movies2 (303)
Movies4Men (304)
Movies4Men2 (306)

Lifestyle (400-499)

Wedding TV (402)
Overseas Property Channel (411)
Men and Motors (450)

Music (500-599)

Chartshow TV (500)
The Vault (501)
Scuzz (502)
Bubble Hits (503)
B4U Music (504)

Children (600-649)

CBBC (600)
CBeebies (601)
CiTV (602)
POP (603)
POPGirl (604)
Tiny POP(605)

Special Interest (650-699)

Teachers TV (650)

Radio (700-799)

BBC Radio 1 (700)
1Xtra BBC (701)
BBC Radio 2 (702)
BBC Radio 3 (703)
BBC Radio 4 FM (704)
BBC Radio 4 LW (705)
BBC Radio Five Live (706)
BBC Radio Five Live Sports Extra (707)
BBC 6 Music (708)
BBC 7 (709)
BBC Asian Network (710)
BBC World Service (711)
BBC Radio Scotland (712)
BBC Radio nan Gaidheal (713)
BBC Radio Wales (714)
BBC Radio Cymru (715)
BBC Radio Ulster (716)
BBC London 94.9 (718)

Shopping (800-849)

QVC (800)
Price Drop TV (801)
Bid TV (802)
Pitch TV (803)
JML Lifestyle (810)

Interactive (900-949)
BBCi

Regional (950-999) also accessible via BBC
One/BBC Two
BBC One London (950)
BBC One Channel Islands (951)
BBC One East (W) (954)
BBC One Northern Ireland (957)
BBC One Scotland (960)
BBC One Wales (964)
BBC Two England (968)
BBC Two Northern Ireland (969)
BBC Two Scotland (970)
BBC Two Wales (971)

ITV regionals accessed via ITV1 London (not listed separately)

Ulster
STV Scottish East
STV Scottish West
ITV1 Wales
ITV1 Border England
ITV1 Central West
ITV1 Granada
ITV1 Anglia East
Channel TV
STV Grampian North

(via hdtvuk.tv)

The “mini-tv viewer:

Here are two more (larger) images of the new epg:

• Search and Scan banner
• Sky Anytime

The current four top-level menus will be replaced with 10, which users can scroll through from left to right - and though you won’t able to see them all at once, you’ll be able to jump to them using number shortcuts.
The new top-level menus will be: TV Guide, Planner, Anytime, Box Office, Interactive, Search, Parental Control, Options and Settings.

Selecting TV Guide will access a horizontal-scrolling list of genre tabs, which then give access to the main channel listings. Users can also choose to have a mini TV displayed in the upper right corner at one-eighth size, which will change if they select a different channel on the EPG. With mini TV, you’ll be able to see six channels per page, without it you’ll be able to see 12 channels, with the two-hour display and browsing controls maintained from the current guide. But on radio and interactive menus there will be 12 or 24 items per page (with or without mini TV), so you can scroll through much faster.

When you make a recording, the series link option will be automatically offered if it’s available, and a new search form will let you enter up to 10 letters or choose from a particular programme genre or sub-genre.

Search results will also cover a full seven days, and will list multiple showings (like The Simpsons) as one result, which you can then select to see more details - unless they’re on different channels.

Finally, the Search & Scan banner will offer synopsis information for any programme you browse to, not just the current programme, and it will show the start time of the programme you’re watching.

See also http://blog.wotsat.com/ and http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/

The BCI has indicated that it will consider applications for all three licences and for individual multiplexes. The regulator said it had an open mind at this stage as to how the DTT multiplexes should be operated. The consortium combines Eircom’s network infrastructure and telecoms expertise with content provided by both TV3 and Setanta, which has a large portfolio of pay sports channels, including live rights to Premier League football in England.

Still frames from the likes of Blood Diamond, Déjà Vu and the documentary Hunter Hunted are used, including scenes of tigers fighting in the snow, and Leonardo DiCaprio ducking out of danger in Blood Diamond.

They were created by “Brothers and Sisters” using After Effects technology.

Sky HD advert: