Actually it’s a good time for it to come onstream.
Onboard from day one are all the BBC channels, all the ITV channels and all the Channel 4 offerings. There’s no mention of Five’s digital output, which is odd as I thought that these channels were broadcast unencrypted on Sky Digital. But then Five’s not part of Kangaroo either…
Much more interesting is the various channel’s HD offerings. Naturally BBC HD is there, but the soon to launch ITV HD will be “launching exclusively on Freesat.” Does that mean that ITV is deliberately withholding the channel from SkyHD and Virgin Media HD customers? If so, that seems like a strange attitude.
In fact initially ITV HD will be availble as a red-button service – a logo will appear when a programme is available in HD. I assume that this is due to the regionality of ITV meaning that having more than a dozen simulcasts is a mighty expensive issue. BBC HD doesn’t have this issue as it’s a separately programmed channel – effectively an HD version of BBC1/2 with repeats to fill the empty slots.
I assume that Freesat will have its own EPG, separate from that of Sky Digital, but it still seems a little odd that there’s not a spot of SkyHD for ITV HD. Perhaps it’ll be for a limited time?
We’re told that by the end of the year there’ll be upwards of 200 channels broadcasting on the platform, which means either that there’ll be an awful lot of shopping channels, or some channels that currently get some subscription revenue from Sky or Virgin Media, are going to be completely free-to-air.
I’ve already speculated that UK TV Gold, in whatever guise it comes in when it relaunches, is a sure thing for being completely free-to-air – that’s been the major part of the success of Dave. But could channels like National Geographic or Discover go down this route? We’ll have to wait and see.
Sky has been doing very well lately, with continued growth despite some serious digital challengers in Freeview and, to an extent, Virgin Media.
But Sky HD is in fewer than half a million homes. This chart suggests that a free-to-air HD offering could be successful.
Source: BSkyB plc
The biggest concern that Sky must have is churn of current subscribers. With the credit crunch likely to make people reappraise their bills, and with a relatively inexpensive box available which won’t even mean a new dish installation, downgrading to a free offering could be quite attractive for a lot of people.
In the short term, the channel list is a little sparten with no UKTV channels, no Discovery channels, no EMAP or MTV music channels and of course, no Sky channels. The news offering is a little light just now – you’d expect CNN to be there for example. Sky News is probably politically a no-no for BSkyB.
What’s most exciting is that the spec of Freesat means that the return path for interactive services is via an ethernet connection. Sky boxes use an internal modem and the phone line for interactive gaming, shopping and paying for films or sports events. Ethernet seems a very 21st and sensible solution. And most excitingly, it opens the door for the iPlayer to be available via the service.
Once there are a few more channels on board, Freesat is going to be a very compelling offering.