ITV 2, ITV 3, ITV 4 IN HD ON SKY THIS AUTUMN

ITV today announced that it has reached a deal with Sky to launch 3 new HD services this autumn, exclusively on the pay-tv platform.
ITV 2HD, ITV 3HD and ITV 4HD will be additional HD channels, starting in October with ITV2 HD.
Following the precedent for encryption deals with Sky ( ITV One is encrypted on 2A south), it's virtually certain that the new services will not be on Astra 2D.

The move is a stab in the back for Freesat, the consortium of which ITV is a member.
Those familiar with the industry should not be surprised, as it follows the arrival of Adam Crozier as ITV chief executive, who has no previous experience of TV. Taking unsentimental decisions such as weakening Freesat will have lost him no sleep at all. His previous jobs at the Post Office and The Football Association were both characterised by taking unpopular decisions. ITV chairman Archie Norman comes from a similar non- TV background: Asda's Chief Executive, then Chairman and former Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells.

The broadcaster has made this move in the light of a long-term decline in advertising revenue, in the hope that diversifying its income will protect it from the huge changes in the way media are delivered and consumed. Retreating behind paywalls is becoming a trend amongst media organisations. (News Corp is hoping their wall and Apple's iPad and will save them from oblivion)
Expect to see more charging for previously free content, not less.

Sky have said that there will be 50 HD services by this autumn, and it looks likely this target will be reached. Less clear is whether the £10 HD surcharge will be dropped. Subscribers recently received e-mails informing of a change in the way the HD pack is allocated. An HD channel will now only be available if the pack it belongs to is part of the viewer's package. Previously, the HD pack allowed access to all HD channels on Sky. To receive Sky One HD, for example, it's necessary to subscribe to the entertainment pack.

With Sky making so much money (subscriber numbers and revenue up) it's hard to see this charge being dropped in the way that the Sky+ fee was removed a few years ago.
There will be 3-4 HD services in each Sky entertainment pack, enough to justify the HD surcharge.

Source: Media Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/03/itv-unveils-pay-tv-push

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FIVE HD LAUNCHED on Sky channel 171
Channel Five HD launched as expected on Sky on 13th. July. Five struck a deal with Sky earlier in the year, following its failure to agree a schedule with OFCOM for C5 on Terrestrial HD via Freeview. The channel is a simulcast with the standard definition channel on 105 in the Sky guide. As the new channel is on the south beam, it can be received easily in Spain with a 60 cm dish. Those who have had difficulty in receiving Five for the past year are recommended to tune to channel 171. It is 'Free To View', needing an active viewing card but it is not part of the pay packages on Sky. There are no plans yet to add Five HD to Freesat, but this is likely at some point in the future.

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Replacement satellites
SES Astra, which provides satellite delivery for all UK broadcasters, has announced replacements for the ageing fleet at 28.2 degrees east. Astra 2F will be the first to launch, with an expected date of Q4 2012, followed by 2E (Q1 2013) and 2G (Q1 2014). The Eurostar E3000 spacecraft, currently under construction by EADS Astrium, will provide much-needed extra capacity to the the UK and Ireland. The existing satellites, Astra 2A, 2B and 2D, are nearing the end of their projected lives. A number of E3000 satelites have been ordered by SES Astra. The first to be deployed was Astra 1M at 19 degrees east, serving mainland Europe customers. A key feature is the complete control of configuration in software rather than relying on hardware changes to adapt the satellite for different roles. The exact coverage of the UK spot beams will not be known until the new satellites are operating, starting in early 2013. What is uncertain is whether larger dishes will be needed in fringe reception areas such as Spain. Power output will be no lower than present, (there is only just enough now to guarantee reliable reception on 60 cm dishes in the UK), but the beam may have a sharper focus.
See SES ASTRA press release.

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News HD channels launch
ITV1 HD is to split into six regional vaiants in England. The new channels are:
ITV1 HD (Central)
ITV1 HD (Granada/Border)
ITV1 HD (London/LWT)
ITV1 HD (Meridian/Anglia)
ITV1 HD (Wales/West)
ITV1 HD (Yorkshire/Tyne Tees).
STV HD (Scottish TV in HD) is already on air on Astra 2D. All will be on channel 178 in the Sky Guide, 119 on Freesat. The region you receive will vary by postcode.
At least one of the regions is currently on the south beam, encrypted (needs Sky viewing card).

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Bad weather affects reception
Heavy rain and snow have plagued satellite TV viewers in many parts of Spain recently. Weak signals from Astra 2D are affected badly by the phenomenon, which is known as 'rain fade'. The channels most likely to go are BBC One, Two, Three, Four, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC HD, ITV (all versions), Disney, Channel Four, More Four, Film Four, E4, and one Channel Five region used by some Sky boxes and all Freesat boxes..
Why does it happen? Water droplets in weather systems absorb the satellite signals. The more numerous and heavier the drops are, the more signal is stopped. Astra 2D's signals in the microwave range of frequencies are very weak in Spain, only 39 watts in power (less than a normal lighbulb) and very easily stopped by moderate to heavy rain.
The absorbtion effect can be seen by placing a glass of water in a microwave oven. The water heats up to boiling point very quickly, showing that a large amount of microwave energy is easily absorbed.
If there is a large area of rain near to you, in the line of sight to the satellite, signal can be lost, even if it is not raining at your location. The classic example of this is a large thundercloud with heavy rain and hail rising to the south-east.
How to prevent it? Thre's very little you can do apart from wait till the weather improves. If you have a 1.2 metre dish, consider upgrading to a 1.8 metre, as the larger size will be much more resistant to rain fade (but not completely immune). Our installers can fit an "LNB umbrella' which will keep rain off the face of the most important part of the dish. If there is snow covering the dish, carefully brush it off with a soft broom.

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Sky 3D service starts in April
The ground-breaking new 3D channel is scheduled to begin next month. In a test in January this year, Sky carried live 3D coverage of a Premier League game between Manchester United and Arsenal, which the first of its kind anywhere in the world. The new service will be rolled out to pubs initially, then to home viewers later in 2010. 3D will work on any existing Sky HD receiver, but needs a new televison to view the pictures. LG, Samsung, Sony and Panasonic have all announced 3D - ready TVs to go on sale in 2010, all of which will be compatible with Sky 3D. The system uses IMAX polarising 3D technology similar to that used in cinemas and requires the viewer to wear glasses. The early LG LD920 3D TV, which was used in the January test, will not be available to the general public. Sony's Signature models KDL-40LX903 and KDL-60LX903 will go on sale soon in the UK, both of which are 3D ready.
See also BBC News story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8558152.stm

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TT on 4 removed
One of the last ways Channel four viewers with small dishes could watch the channel without a Sky card and box has been removed. The free channel TT on 4 using frequency 12480 V was unencrypted and could be seen in Madrid with a 1.0m dish. It's still possible to see the Irish version of C4 but this requires an active Sky card. Completely free versions of Channel four now need a 1.8 metre dish in Madrid and some other parts of Spain.

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BBC to start testing iPlayer on Freesat
CLOSED BETA THEN ROLLOUT TO HUMAX HD RECEIVERS The BBC has announced that testing of iPlayer on the Freesat platform will begin on December 7th, followed by a slow rollout to high definition users, if successful. The service will be available via the red button at first, but that could change in the future. The service will be in standard definition, despite being only available on HD receivers. HD will be added at some point in the future. The service requires the Humax box to be connected by cable to an ethernet port on an external router for internet access. Humax HD receivers have had this faciility since the start of Freesat, but it has been disabled until now. There is no Wi-Fi. The bitrate (amount of data- higher bitrates are better) will be 800 kb/sec and 1.5mbit/sec. This higher figure is similar to many digital channels currently broadcasting, such as ITV 2 & 3, but is about half that used by normal BBC channels. Intergrated Freesat HD TVs will also be able to access iPlayer but standard definition boxes, such as those made by Grundig and Goodmans, will not.

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New Invacom Optical LNB
LONG AWAITED FIBRE OPTIC LNB DISAPPOINTS The new LNB from leading maker Invacom is not suitable for fringe reception, we have discovered after tests. Performance was so poor we decided we returned the unit to the distributor. The LNB uses fibre-optic cable to connect to the receiver instead of traditional copper cable. The new technology enables it to be used in community installations with no loss of signal even on very long runs of cable, up to a 10 km radius. There is no C120 version with a separate feedhorn as yet.

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Bush, goodmans and Grundig Freesat boxes fixed, new firmware issued.
Harvard fixes broken Freesat receivers The automatic software update of October 13th, version 1.7.48, which was sent over the air to Bush, Goodmans and Grundig HD boxes (from the same manufacturer, Harvard International) has been acknowledged to have caused severe problems for some Freesat viewers. In many cases the box re-booted itself every few minutes, with loss of channels and audio, and inability to change channel. Harvard initially denied there was a problem, then embarked on a damage limitation excercise after reports appeared in the press. An update to 1.8.1 has now been sent OTA (over the air), which seemed to have cured the issues. The manufacturer had to replace a number of receivers under warranty. The fiasco has been extremely damaging both to Harvard International and the Freesat brand. It's hard to understand why the software went out to users without first being fully tested. Humax Freesat boxes were not affected.

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Sky card security upgraded
No more card sharing : In the past it was possible to use a Sky viewing card in a CAM (common access module) inserted into a free-to-air receiver, sharing one Sky card amongst a group of people. These options have been closed off by the recent Sky card re- issue. Card chip security (provided by NDS) has been tightened to such an extent that it is no longer worth the hackers' time to try to break. This was one of the intentions of the white Sky card swap-out. NDS have had almost six years to improve security and almost certainly have at least one reserve system waiting in the wings should the current one be hacked.

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Software Update for Humax Foxsat HD and HDR
Foxsat HD: goes to version1.00.23
Support for BBC iPlayer service (when launched-UK only)
Resolved lip-sync issue resetting after a power cycle
Improvements for HD subtitles
EPG Genre screen now appears in two columns
Aspect Ratio resolved when exiting the Guide on a 16:9 programme
Resolves issue when right arrow has to be pressed twice to view the next programme on the i-plate
Resolves issues during the Installation Wizard when using a DiSEqC switch.

Humax Foxsat HDR: goes to version 1.00.11
Support for BBC iPlayer service (when launched- UK only)
Ability to delete recorded programmes from the Media List while recording or playing back.
Auto delete function included
Series folders will be removed when the last recording in the folder is removed
User created folders will be removed when the last recording in the folder is removed if the folder was created prior to the software update. User created folders after the update will not be removed
Resolved ITV HD Schedules disappearing after a freesat channel scan
Freesat schedules no longer removed after a manual tune
RGB output available via the TV Scart connection on HD content (live TV and recordings)
Resolved issues playing back encrypted HD content from an external device
Resolved issue with subtitles appearing when use time shift recording. Resolved issues with series schedules failing to record
Now able to access the Guide while playing back a recording or viewing Live TV without the programme continuing to play
Diagnostic Menu now displays the signal levels for both tuners correctly
NEW icon now appears in the Media List (Simple view) on folders with new recordings
Resolved Lip-Sync issue resetting after a power cycle
EPG Genre screen now appears in two columns
Resolved incorrect character appearing on postcode in the Diagnostic menu
Resolved lockup issue when recording 2 TV channels and changing to a radio channel
Resolved intermittent lip-sync issue when accessing ITV-HD
Changes made to some on screen messages regarding conflicts

A small number of users have reported loss of channels after the upgrade. It appears a factory re-set will mostly cure the issues. It's possible the Humax HD boxes may be 'allergic' to some LNBs. This is an issue which used to affect older Panasonic Sky boxes some years ago, so it is surptising to to see this re- appear on a modern design such as the Humax HD.
There are still problems with green screen on some displays after the upgrade.The affected models include some Sony and Pioneer models. It is caused by HDMI 'handshake' incompatibility (falure to recognise the display by the Humax receiver)

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Rollout of new SKY HD EPG nearly complete
EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) gets mixed reception.
New software for Sky HD receivers has now been sent to nearly all users. The update was sent much later to Samsung and Amstrad Sky HD boxes owing to bugs which emerged in the earlier roll out to Thomson and Pace receivers. That's not to say this version is bug- free, however. There is a problem with the front display on Samsung Sky HD receivers which causes the indicator to keep rolling around at all times. It can be disabled in the settings menu. Also on Samsung, the red button is inoperative on some models. After pressing red, the screen goes blank, then the channel re- appears without entering the interactive service. The new EPG has been subject of much adverse criticism on user forums. The biggest complaint seems to be the increased number of button presses to move around the menu system. Other issues have been allegations that Sky boxes have been 'bricked' by the new software, and general slowness. The colour scheme seems to be based on the road signs around London's M25.

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Top Gear in HD on the BBC
Top Gear speeds onto screens in top quality
BBC motoring programme Top Gear gets an upgrade to high definition. Series began on Sunday 15th November at 21:00 on BBC HD (and BBC2).
See the Top Gear website: http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2009/11/05/the-new-series/
See what's on in the BBC HD schedule.

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