Sky drops BBC EPG listing fees
According to Sky drops BBC retransmission fees - News - Broadcast:
Sky is to drop the retransmission fees it charges the BBC and ITV after agreeing fresh terms with both broadcasters.
The agreement brings to an end the long-running feud between Sky and the BBC and will save the corporation around £5m per year. ITV will benefit from around £2m in savings.
The BBC deal was struck after it guaranteed it would continue to provide Sky with its portfolio of channels, along with their HD versions, as well as the iPlayer.
A joint statement issued by the BBC and Sky confirmed the arrangement.
"Sky and the BBC have reached an agreement which reduces the BBC's payments for platform services to zero. Alongside this, both parties have reached an agreement that secures the long-term availability of BBC channels and the BBC iPlayer on the Sky platform. We will also continue to discuss opportunities that offer Sky customers new and innovative ways to discover and consume BBC content."
I'm VERY happy about this!
More shortly...
11:23 AM
Doncaster
About time Sky woke up and smelt the roses. Lets faces it most of the subscribers to sky still want to watch terrestrial channels as well. So they want the tv listings as well.
| link to this comment |
john's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
What benefit will the consumer receive as a result of these new arrangements. ?
| link to this comment |
9:08 PM
Alvin Pritchard: The BBC gets £4.5m extra to put into programming, with the other channels also saving some money. Sky is very slightly poorer, but since it benefits from its subscribers being to watch all channels on its platform, it should think itself lucky it got away with it for so long.
| link to this comment |
11:31 PM
Hinckley
Bigger pay-offs for ex employees !
| link to this comment |
Ian's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
I suspect there will be one clear benefit. The BBC One Oxford feed won't get pulled for satellite - as DQF threatened.
So the Prime Minister will be able to watch his local news on satellite.
| link to this comment |
Another possible benefit is that the BBC is now in a position to "sort out" the "England Problem".
The BBC did say they were looking at dealing with the technical problems of providing regional news in England on satellite.
Given the low proportion of HD viewers and the cuts to BBC budgets in real terms, the BBC can't afford to stick all the BBC One England streams on satellite.
However, they could use a technical solution to allow a MPEG4 "HD" stream to switch to several "SD" streams when the regional news is on.
This would then solve the problem of BBC ONE HD not being where it should be - at 101 on Freesat and Sky.
| link to this comment |
11:18 PM
Its about time regional tv was in HD in any case.
@Brianist What about the BBCs plan to drop one of it channels?
| link to this comment |
3:44 PM
Brian,
I presume this means that the ITV regions can be accessed without going through the "Other Cannels" palaver.
| link to this comment |