Goodbye Sky???

[netibiza]

Is it true that in the New Year 2006 Sky TV is moving on to newer satellites which can be adjusted from earth, and so make a much smaller footprint, so us foreigners won't be able to receive it. If so, can some sweet boffin start to invent something so we can still watch it thanks.

[LeMarchand]

Hasn't someone already got a solution called P2P ;o)  ?

[spainlads]

I can't see Sky doing that for all programmes, after all Sky News is marketed throughout the world. And they took on, and won, a court case against the Netherland allowing them to broadcast to anywhere in the world. If they do maybe you'll just have to get a bigger dish. We're on Micro aeriels which just rebroadcast the signal recieved from Sky.

[netibiza]

Spainlads our dish is 2metres at present it's bigger than our house - how much bigger can we go???

[Buenchico]

I think (but I can't prove) that this is just one of those rumours which does the rounds from time to time. I've checked all of the press releases for the past 3 years for both BSkyB (owners of Sky TV) and Eutelsat (owners of the satellites which Sky TV broadcasts from) and there is no reference to this.

Every Sky (UK) dish points at the Eurobird 1 satellite, which has a location defined as 28.5 degrees East. Fairly obviously, Sky doesn't want to have to pay for all of those dishes to be re-aligned, so the rumour could only be true if one of the following applied:

1. Eutelsat have a second satellite at the same location. (There is only the one satellite at 28.5 degrees East, so we can ignore this possibility).

2. Eutelsat are planning to launch a second satellite for the same location. (Eutelsat have only 2 launches planned. Neither is for this location).

3. Sky are planning to use another company's satellite at the same location. (There are very few players in the satellite business. Eutelsat either own or lease all satellites with European coverage. Additionally BSkyB's press releases make no reference to a tie-up with any other company).

4. Eurobird 1 was launched with the ability for its broadcasting footprint to be modified from Earth. (This would appear to be the only possible way for the rumour to be true. However, I have no reason to believe that it is technically possible to 'tighten' this satellite's footprint plus, additionally, this would seem to be a bad move for UK viewers anyway since the actual centre of the present footprint is not over the UK but over Germany!)

So, as I've said, I can't prove that the rumour is untrue but I can't come up with any way in which it could be true!

Hoping this helps,

Chris

[Buenchico]

Just an afterthought:

Sky TV starts its new High Definition TV service in the new year. This supplements, but does not replace, its existing services. I suspect that, for technical reasons, HDTV won't be able to be received in 'fringe' reception areas (but the existing service will still be available).

Perhaps this is where the rumour started?

Chris

[netibiza]

But it's SES Astra that they are having a new contract with, with newer smaller satellites which can be controlled from earth, thus making a much small footprint.

[Buenchico]

Oops! Sorry! - they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing: I forgot about Astra 2A (28.2 degrees east -South beam)! Even if you're getting a feed from this satellite, I still don't think that you'll have a problem. The press releases on the SES Astra website refer to additional transponders for BSkyB at this location, not replacement ones. (The new transponders are, as I suggested, associated with HDTV).

Perhaps your best way of getting accurate information would be an e-mail to Sky: [email protected]. (I'm not sure whether 'national rate' phone numbers can be dialled from outside the UK but you could try: [phone]).

The satellite's footprint is here: http://www.ses-astra.com/market/british_isles/footprints _28point2.htm
(There is no indication that this is expected to change)

There is also an equiry form for SES Astra here:
http://www.ses-astra.com/market/british_isles/tools/cont act/index.shtml
(This page also includes the postal addresses of SES Astra, both in the UK and in Spain).

So, apologies for the previous inccuracies/omissions but I hope that this post will point you in the right direction for accurate information.

Chris