Channel 4 would like to turn Sky "retransmission fees" into programming
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV According to C4 breaks 'retransmission fees' silence - News - Broadcast, Channel 4's Dan Brooke told a VLV event that:
"At the moment, we don’t have a say in it – we are given a rate card, which is agreed by Ofcom and Sky. If that money wasn’t going out of the door we’d be delighted, and would put that money back into programming. Fees were introduced to give Sky a leg up when they first launched here – I don’t think anyone would say they need a leg up anymore. "
Brooke was joined on the panel by academic Steven Barnett, who pushed fervently for retransmission fees to be dropped, describing the current situation as “ludicrousâ€Â.
He called for existing "must offer" rules that apply to all the PSBs to be matched by "must carry" rules from platforms at "zero terms".
Help with Which system?
In this section
Thursday, 27 October 2011
P
p3tr3v4:56 PM
Hi Brian,
For HD Audio Freeview uses HE-AAC (5.1/2.0) and provides AD within the encoding when required. It is up to the Receiver/PVR to transcode HE-AAC to DD for output although not all machines released to market before April 2011 do so as this transcoding was not mandated until that date. Some still only output downmixed LPCM.
| link to this comment |
p3tr3v: The reference book for Freeview says
"The receiver shall be able to output any multi-channel audio, regardless
of the broadcast encoding, in one of the following formats, presenting
the same number of channels as broadcast:
AC-3.
DTS."
It also says of AC-3 "Audio codec. Also known as Dolby Digital."
| link to this comment |
Mike Dimmick: I'm sorry about the confusion, there was a period of time when there was only 2.0 digital audio on Freeview HD, whilst Freesat HD carried 5.1.
I wasn't sure if this problem had been resolved as there is no Freeview HD signal here for me to test.
| link to this comment |
P
p3tr3v10:47 PM
Hi Brian,
UK Digital TV Reciever Recommendations Version 1.5 stated "should" transcode. This was changed in V1.7 May 2010 to "shall" transcode.
The first boxes released in May 2010 did not transcode the HE-AAC stream. Some manufacturers did not know that the stream was not being broadcast with AC-3 audio as had been supplied to them for pre-launch testing. No PVR boxes had transcoding at launch. The DigitalStream box added transcoding via a firmware update in June 2010. The Humax launched in August 2010 with transcoding built in. Other boxes have slowly added transcoding over an extended period.
Whatever the guidelines state now the testing and certification process for boxes before Jan 2011 did not require transcoding. D-Book 6.2.1 came into force in April 2011 and boxes released after that date certainly have to have transcoding.
More information on the 5.1 debacle and Freeview HD equipment can be found . . .
Gone Digital | FreeviewHD and surround sound
Gone Digital | Transcoding surround sound for FreeviewHD
Gone Digital | The magic number: 6.2.1
(BA17BW)
| link to this comment |
P
p3tr3v10:50 PM
Bath
Sorry that should of course be "Receiver" in line one !
Just had to retype everything as first attempt got lost in the digital void. Please excuse any other typos !!!
| link to this comment |
p3tr3v's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
P
p3tr3v11:57 PM
Hi
from the BBC Blog
"However to help manufacturers develop products sometimes it is necessary to mandate certain features only after a suitable period has elapsed after publication in the D Book. So transcoding will become mandatory in all product launched after April 2011. In the meantime some manufacturers have already shown the capability of uploading this into existing deployed designs."
BBC - BBC Internet Blog: Questions around surround sound on Freeview HD
| link to this comment |
Friday, 28 October 2011
Monday, 31 October 2011
U
U2:05 AM
Reply to Briantist of Oct 26th re so called illegal retransmission of Sky Sports. Sky uk and Sky Deutshland have colonised markeyts in neighbouring contries in which no broadcating licence has been obtained,Namely Ireland and Austria.No vat is paid by thesem edia conglomerates country whose airwaves they have taken over.So I say good luck to any enterprising body who sells on their product at a reasonable price.Illegal is a word which can be interpreted as Is the so called offence a criminal act which impacts on society and is injurious to any individual.The Irish people have long ago decided that Murdoch and CO. are the people who make the rules to benefit themselves.Any Corporation that delivers Fox News as a benchmark for quality must have some braincells missing.There are cable systems in Ireland that appear on no documentation that are helping to restore the balance of payments re trade for all the lost euros being fleeced from our economy by Murdoch and his cohorts.Irish people know when a thief comes around to rip us off.Good luck to the Irish pubs abroad.
| link to this comment |
U: As Broadcasting territorial exclusivity with a decoder card is contrary to EU law | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice has shown, there is a single market in the EU for encrypted broadcasts, so Sky is allowed to sell decoders and cards in any EU country.
When I use the word "illegal" I use it in the sense of "against the law" not making a moral case for the law being correct or otherwise.
BSkyB is only partly owned by NewsCorp (39.1%), it is mainly a public listed company in the UK and the majority of the shareholders (60.9%) are not connected with NewsCorp.
| link to this comment |
Sunday, 15 January 2012
J
jane4:45 PM
Walsall
Can download multiplex 2 but when i switch off and on at mains i have lost it. Tried unplugging aerial on freebox nothing happens.Do i need to replace box? I am on sutton coldfield transmitter.
| link to this comment |
jane's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Select more comments
Your comment please