Why are E4 and More4 free on FreeView but not on FreeSat?

[KennyVader]

I can get E4, E4+1, and More4 on my digital terrestrial FreeView box.

I used to have Sky but cancelled the increasingly expensive subscription so now it is FreeSat (http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/?pID=3) - so on the Sky box I still get most of the same channels that are on the FreeView box plus a few more rubbish shopping, movie, and scam-quiz channels. Although I do most of my viewing and recording off the FreeView signal it comes in quite handy sometimes to have the FreeSat available on the main TV.

But when I tune to the E4 / E4+1 / More4 / More4+1 channels on the FreeSat box it says that they are subscription channels and I have to call up to add them to my subscription.

So
- have I missed something here, is there any way to phone someone up and get an enhanced FreeSat card that includes these channels too?
- assuming that I can't do that, why are these free channels on FreeView but subscription channels on FreeSat? It makes no sense :(

Film4, which as far as I know comes from the same company, is freely available on both platforms, plus I get Film4+1 on FreeSat as well :thinking:

[mjr]

I believe it's due to C4 being tied into a carriage deal with Sky which means that these channels have to remain encrypted and not available with a FTV card until the deal is re-negotiated. Don't know too many specific details, but someone on the DigitalSpy forums (http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=27) could probably answer in infinitely more detail.

[kcxdev]

I think the Sky/Ch4 encryption contracts ends 2008.

[Steve Jackson]

Likewise, why is Sky Sports News free on Freeview but not Sky?

[SPB]

Likewise, why is Sky Sports News free on Freeview but not Sky?

When I asked this ages ago sky said:


Dear Simon

Thank you for your email regarding Sky Sports News.
Sky Sports News is only available as part of the subscription package on the Digital Satellite Platform and it is up to the individual broadcasters to choose how to make their channels available.

For instance, Sky Sports News and Sky Travel have always been part of the Sky Subscription Offering and we have no plans to alter our channel line up for subscribers. However, we decided to launch Sky Sports News and Travel on Freeview so that Digital Terrestrial customers could have some limited access to some of Sky's coverage.


Should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at the above email address. Alternatively you can contact our Freesat from Sky Customer Service helpline on 0870 850 0033 quoting your account number.

Kind regards


Which I think basically says : "because it is"

[soberion]

Mainly because FreeVIEW and FreeSAT are different offerings from different companies, so can offer what they like.

[KennyVader]

Mainly because FreeVIEW and FreeSAT are different offerings from different companies, so can offer what they like.

Well, yes, but they are both paid by Channel 4 to broadcast their E4/more4/film4 offerings, so it doesn't make sense that Channel 4 would chose a non-encrypted broadcast package on one medium and an encrypted broadcast package on the other, when they want to reach as many people as possible and thus get advertising revenue up.

I think mjr's comment about the contract is the key, the FreeSat one must have been drawn up a couple of years before the FreeView one, and Channel4's strategy has changed in the meantime, presumably when the FreeSat one comes to an end they will draw a new one up that is unencrypted.

[malcy]

Well, yes, but they are both paid by Channel 4 to broadcast their E4/more4/film4 offerings, so it doesn't make sense that Channel 4 would chose a non-encrypted broadcast package on one medium and an encrypted broadcast package on the other, when they want to reach as many people as possible and thus get advertising revenue up.

I think mjr's comment about the contract is the key, the FreeSat one must have been drawn up a couple of years before the FreeView one, and Channel4's strategy has changed in the meantime, presumably when the FreeSat one comes to an end they will draw a new one up that is unencrypted.

C4 negotiated there contract with Sky when E4 was still subscription on digital terrestrial via topuptv. I think C4 were suprised by how quickly Freeview took off so they wanted to make it available on Freeview to get a bigger audience. They were able to break their contract with topuptv (not sure if they paid to do this) but Sky would not let them out of it for satellite hence they remain encrypted until at least 2008. At that time I guess C4 will need to decide whether to go totally unencrypted but will be a problem given the number of US shows they screen. If they want to do so they will need to move transponders to the UK focused one which BBC and ITV use, but capacity on that is more limited because of demand.

The other freeview channels like UK History, TMF etc are encrypted on Sky as the channels get a discount from Sky if they remain encrypted and I guess they believe the extra non subscription satellite audience is limited so not making it worth their while.