Is satellite TV soon to be a thing of the past?

[Bletchleyite]

Call me old fashioned but I like all of my eggs in one basket On the Sky box, I have access to all of the channels live and access to Netflix and the catchup/streaming services. If I moved to NowTV, I presume I would have to use the NowTV stick and then the individual Players (if my TV has them, I'd need to look tbh)

Rather than using the NowTV stick, you could use something like an Amazon Fire stick and have all the services available to you on that, which is very similar to having them all on a Sky box.

 

[najaB]

If I moved to NowTV, I presume I would have to use the NowTV stick...

Not necessarily. You can stream NowTV on a Chromecast for example.

 

[plugwash]

The number of times that I've seen TV interviews with remote guests over the last five months have suffered from dropouts due to internet bandwidth problems (and similar for video conferences at work) suggests that the infrastructure in the UK is nowhere near reliable enough for all satellite TV to suddenly transfer to internet streaming.

One way streaming is much easier to make smooth than two way streaming, because the acceptable delay is much higher.

 

[Domh245]

Not necessarily. You can stream NowTV on a Chromecast for example.

The thing to be cautious of (and I don't know if this has changed recently) is cross-operator support. It certainly used to be the case that you couldn't stream youtube to a fire stick, nor amazon prime video to a chromecast, although I have been able to do the latter recently. Those currently without a dedicated piece of hardware should have pretty good support, but it's certainly possible that not all streaming services will talk to all streaming devices

 

[najaB]

The thing to be cautious of (and I don't know if this has changed recently) is cross-operator support. It certainly used to be the case that you couldn't stream youtube to a fire stick, nor amazon prime video to a chromecast, although I have been able to do the latter recently. Those currently without a dedicated piece of hardware should have pretty good support, but it's certainly possible that not all streaming services will talk to all streaming devices

That's true. I can stream YouTube/Google Films, NowTV, Amazon Prime, iPlayer, 4OD and ITV player to my Chromecast. I've not tried Disney+ but I believe that will work too.

 

[ainsworth74]

I've not tried Disney+ but I believe that will work too.

It works. I watched the Mandalorian on the TV using my Chromecast and Disney+

 

[thenorthern]

The main reason why it still exists is stability. Satellite television will reach almost every part of the country the only exceptions being buildings next to woodlands or hills that block the signal.

Many parts of the country have poor internet connections that is prone to outages. Also many parts of the country have slow internet which means a lot of buffering.

 

[Geezertronic]

Not necessarily. You can stream NowTV on a Chromecast for example.

My immediate response would be "what the hell is a chromecast?"

 

[JamesT]

Call me old fashioned but I like all of my eggs in one basket On the Sky box, I have access to all of the channels live and access to Netflix and the catchup/streaming services. If I moved to NowTV, I presume I would have to use the NowTV stick and then the individual Players (if my TV has them, I'd need to look tbh)

The NowTV stick can do iPlayer etc. https://www.nowtv.com/smart-tv-stick

Access loads of extra apps like Netflix, BBC iPlayer, BT Sport and YouTube*

Though if you have a Smart TV, potentially it has the NowTV app already available for it and you don't need any additional hardware? I know my 2018 LG has so my separate stick I used to use is now gathering dust.

 

[SteveP29]

Netflix costs £11.99 a month with 4K or £8.99 for HD, Amazon Prime is £7.99 a month, Now TV is £7.99 a month, £11.99 if you want Sky Cinema, and Disney+ is £5.99 a month, and even then you get no where near the channels Sky gives you.
I have the full Sky package which includes Netflix at a discounted rate and Disney+ and yes it costs me £60+ a month but that also includes Sky Sports.

So paying individually is hardly a fraction of the cost and not as many channels anyway.

Bold 1: Entertainment pack just went up on 1st September to £9.99 a month (you do get 17 channels though and all of Sky's premium channels, One, Witness, Comedy, Crime, Documentaries, Atlantic, History and Nature and others like Gold, Nat Geo, Fox and Discovery)
Bold 2: But nowhere near the number of useless channels that attract tiny audiences (shopping and religion anyone?)

Even the BBC, who have been the biggest champions of providing on demand content, including putting entire series online before being shown on TV, are now considering bringing back BBC Three as a linear channel.

Apparently at the expense of BBC4, which I do watch regularly.

If my calculations are correct, NowTV would cost me £63.97 p/m for the Entertainment, Cinema, and Sports pack. There's no mention of the ITV channels being available to stream live via NowTV, not sure about the BBC channels either

At current prices, that package would cost you £55.97 (£9.99 Entertainment, £11.99 Cinema and £33.99 Sports) Plus your monthly broadband cost (but you're likely to have a connection regardless of whether you have streaming services or not, and you'd need it for on demand stuff on Sky anyway)
However, once you sign up though and you're into your free trial period, they often offer you deals, eg, they currently have a deal for Sports for £25 a month for 12 months, Entertainment for £6.99 a month for 6 months to keep you using their service, and just like Sky, when you cancel, they do always offer you a cheaper deal on whichever package you're cancelling (and its all done online, so if you're the kind of person that can't say no to people trying to persuade you to stay when on the phone to cancel, you just tap or click on a button and that's it, done).

For the last 2 years we've had an Entertainment and Cinema deal for £99 for the year, once you took out the monthly price of the Entertainment pack, you were getting all the movie channels with access to the library on demand for £3 for the year.
BBC, ITV, All4, My5, etc are all available as apps within the stick or box (now phased out I believe as they don't advertise it on their site any more) and all offer live TV through it (they don't offer the +1 channels, though, so if you miss a programme, it's the On Demand option for you)


Personally, I'll never go back to Sky, they give you a great experience with SkyQ etc, but their broadband is sh*te and the TV Guide is filled up with hundreds of channels that I would simply never watch, 20 to 30 +1 and +24 channels and as mentioned above, shopping and religion

 

[Geezertronic]

Personally, I'll never go back to Sky, they give you a great experience with SkyQ etc, but their broadband is sh*te and the TV Guide is filled up with hundreds of channels that I would simply never watch, 20 to 30 +1 and +24 channels and as mentioned above, shopping and religion

I'm happy with Sky TV - I have Sky Q as well with the full Entertainment, Cinema and Sports package plus NetFlix. I have Virgin Media broadband and I am happy with that as well, especially since I rang up to complain about my bill so they upgraded me from their M200 package to M500 package with weekend phone calls (I never use the landline for outgoing calls so not fussed) for £10 less than what I currently pay

 

[Chester1]

The Digital Terrestrial network (Freeview) will probably go before satellite network. Its radio wave spectrum allocation is currently being shrunk to sell additional 4g mobile licences. Very few people cannot have a satellite dish. Flats almost always have a communal dish or are sufficiently small blocks that all flats have a south facing wall or roof. The planning limits for historic buildings could be eased. While its possible that Freeview could have 4k channels it would use a large amount of valuable spectrum. The main reason Digital Terrestrial is more common is cost and it won't maintain that advantage when fewer people watch live and expectations of HD and 4k viewing grow pushing those without fast broadband to satellite. The future is broadband but satellite will be the best alternative for those who cannot get fast broadband.

 

[radamfi]

The Digital Terrestrial network (Freeview) will probably go before satellite network. Its radio wave spectrum allocation is currently being shrunk to sell additional 4g mobile licences. Very few people cannot have a satellite dish. Flats almost always have a communal dish or are sufficiently small blocks that all flats have a south facing wall or roof. The planning limits for historic buildings could be eased. While its possible that Freeview could have 4k channels it would use a large amount of valuable spectrum. The main reason Digital Terrestrial is more common is cost and it won't maintain that advantage when fewer people watch live and expectations of HD and 4k viewing grow pushing those without fast broadband to satellite. The future is broadband but satellite will be the best alternative for those who cannot get fast broadband.

If they change from DVB-T to DVB-T2 then it should still be able to accommodate plenty of channels, particularly if they switch some of the multiplexes to single frequency networks which they already use on a temporary multiplex that will be switched off soon because it is in the frequency range required by 5G. I agree though that it is likely to be switched off before satellite. There will probably have to be a scheme similar to what happened at analogue switchover where vulnerable viewers get help with changing to satellite or broadband TV. By that point 5G will probably be good enough and affordable enough for SIM cards to be installed in set-top boxes or integrated into TVs so that the main channels can be delivered to those vulnerable people at minimal cost or for free.

The public broadcasters in Switzerland and the Flemish region of Belgium have already switched off their terrestrial TV, however they have very high cable penetration so few people relied on digital terrestrial, which is not the case in the UK where Freeview is still very popular, especially on second sets.

 

[SteveP29]

and just like Sky, when you cancel, they do always offer you a cheaper deal on whichever package you're cancelling (and its all done online, so if you're the kind of person that can't say no to people trying to persuade you to stay when on the phone to cancel, you just tap or click on a button and that's it, done).

For the last 2 years we've had an Entertainment and Cinema deal for £99 for the year, once you took out the monthly price of the Entertainment pack, you were getting all the movie channels with access to the library on demand for £3 for the year.

Our £99 for the year deal ran out last night, went through the cancellation process and have now got Sky Movies for £5.99 per month for a year.
Also took got the deal for Sky Sports for £25 a month for a year.
Entertainment pack deal runs out today, will be looking at what deal they give for us to keep the pack.

 

[najaB]

The public broadcasters in Switzerland and the Flemish region of Belgium have already switched off their terrestrial TV, however they have very high cable penetration so few people relied on digital terrestrial, which is not the case in the UK where Freeview is still very popular, especially on second sets.

It used to be the case, and likely still is, that the UK has the highest percentage usage for digital terrestrial TV globally.

 

[talltim]

Netflix costs £11.99 a month with 4K or £8.99 for HD, Amazon Prime is £7.99 a month, Now TV is £7.99 a month, £11.99 if you want Sky Cinema, and Disney+ is £5.99 a month, and even then you get no where near the channels Sky gives you.
I have the full Sky package which includes Netflix at a discounted rate and Disney+ and yes it costs me £60+ a month but that also includes Sky Sports.

So paying individually is hardly a fraction of the cost and not as many channels anyway.

How do people find the time to watch all that telly? We only have Freesat, which now never gets used and Netflix and still have a huge backlog of stuff we want to watch.

 

[radamfi]

How do people find the time to watch all that telly? We only have Freesat, which now never gets used and Netflix and still have a huge backlog of stuff we want to watch.

The vast majority of what people actually watch is available on Freeview channels. According to Freeview advertising, 95% of the UK's favourite TV shows.

 

[Class465pacer]

The vast majority of what people actually watch is available on Freeview channels. According to Freeview advertising, 95% of the UK's favourite TV shows.

How long have they been advertising that 95% claim? If it’s from before Prime Video and Netflix it must be out of date

 

[najaB]

How long have they been advertising that 95% claim? If it’s from before Prime Video and Netflix it must be out of date

Depends on what they are counting as "favourite TV shows". I suspect they mean on linear TV platforms.

 

[birchesgreen]

How do people find the time to watch all that telly? We only have Freesat, which now never gets used and Netflix and still have a huge backlog of stuff we want to watch.

I often wonder, i listen to some colleagues who always seem to have seen the latest "hot" shows. I suspect they do a lot of fast forwarding.

 

[Howardh]

If my calculations are correct, NowTV would cost me £63.97 p/m for the Entertainment, Cinema, and Sports pack. There's no mention of the ITV channels being available to stream live via NowTV, not sure about the BBC channels either

When you cancel after your monthly sports sub, click "can't afford it" and they will reduce the next three months' payments significantly (for me last month, £20/month for three months), as for ITV (I need to check) I think it is available as an app on their (Roku) stick. Don't quote me, I need to have another look, as I watch ITV about once a month. If that.

EDIT there IS an ITV hub on the NowTV stick, looks like it's catch-up only.

 

[radamfi]

How long have they been advertising that 95% claim? If it’s from before Prime Video and Netflix it must be out of date

If you include streaming services, including live streams of live TV channels, I wonder what percentage of viewing is possible only on satellite? The most popular subscription channels are available through BT TV or Now TV. Free international channels often have internet streams, often on YouTube.

 

[Envoy]

The trouble with catch-up services that very often people forget what they want to catch-up - hence, it is best to have a recordable box that you can set via an EPG all the stuff you wish to view. For those not interested in sport or movies, I just can't see the point of paying fees. Sky & Virgin recorders you are effectively renting plus paying for the delivery of channels. They usually come in with cheap offers that last a year to get you hooked up and then the price hikes arrive.

I have a Freesat HD recorder that can do 2 channels at once and it has been excellent. I put up my own dish and found that you need to carefully align it with the satellite as even being slightly off target will give a loss in the event of bad weather. You can check using the meters that appear on screen via the set-up menu and check the main channels as they can be different. I never get a loss of picture in bad weather. The only complaint that I have is that CH4 removed their HD version from the EPG because they refused to pay the fees to be listed thus leaving only the SD version available for timed recording. Goodness knows why Freesat charge more for HD listings than SD as it has also presumably discouraged CNN & CNBC from having their HD versions listed on the EPG with only SD available - though in the case of all these channels, you can watch the HD version if you tune in the Freesat box in non Freesat mode - which pulls in all non encrypted channels from the same satellite.

Some installers have placed dishes on the facade of buildings when they could easily be placed in a less obvious position. Perhaps Sky have told them to do this or they just want to save a few bucks on the cable - which is only 30p per metre if buying in a shop. You also don’t have to go up high to place the dish.

Another advantage of Satellite is that you can get all BBC regions/nations (ITV also in non Freesat mode - although London SD is available via the EPG). This means that if you live in an area where via terrestrial TV you get the ‘wrong’ region, you can get your favoured region or in border areas, watch regional programmes from BOTH areas/nations. (The postcode input on set-up on Freesat determines what region goes on 101 etc.) . Welsh speakers across the UK can also have S4C HD wherever they live. Even in Wales, it is only in SD via an aerial. Satellite TV will always be needed in for those remote areas where broadband is impossible as is a signal from a land based station. Only last month, I was in a remote valley with no mobile phone signal, no terrestrial TV but everybody had a dish.

Having said all that, for live viewing I use Freeview. I do this because I have deleted all those SD versions of BBC, ITV, Ch4/5 and moved the HD versions from 101/102 etc to 1, 2, 3 etc. and can choose what channel goes on what number. All other providers have the channels numbers fixed and you have no way of moving them. For example, on Freesat, my ITV HD region is on 111 & CH4 on 120. How daft is that? I also keep finding people who have Freeview HD televisions watching the main channels in SD because they don’t know they are on 101+.

I now see that the new Freesat recorder is ready for Ultra HD and can do 4 channels at once:> https://wwwprod.freesat.co.uk/get-freesat

 

[JamesT]

I usually end up with BBC1 in SD on Freeview because they still haven’t sorted out having the regional news in HD. So you end up irritatingly having to switch back and forth between 1 and 101.

 

[najaB]

I usually end up with BBC1 in SD on Freeview because they still haven’t sorted out having the regional news in HD. So you end up irritatingly having to switch back and forth between 1 and 101.

That seems to be, ironically, a regional thing. Up here Reporting Scotland is in HD too.

 

[Envoy]

Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland indeed do have BBC 1 in HD because they have more local programmes than the English regions. In Wales, BBC 2 Wales is also in HD along with S4C and in Scotland BBC Scotland is in HD. Via satellite, these UK nations can also receive the same HD version of BBC 1 & 2 that you get in England.

ITV has some regions in HD but where a regional studio is not HD equipped, the local news is likely to be from the nearest region that is HD equipped in the studio. So, for example, the Bristol studio of ITV is not HD equipped so if you watch ITV HD from the Mendip transmitter for the 6pm local news, you will get the Central news from Birmingham. In order to see the Bristol West Country news via an aerial, you must use the SD channel 3. Another thing of note here is that ITV in a cost cutting exercise closed their Plymouth studio which served Cornwall & Devon. So, if you live in Cornwall & Devon your ITV news is in fact coming from the Bristol studios but to fool you, they will have a Plymouth scene in the background. Now, it is obvious that you can't have the same newsreaders doing the West Country news along with the Devon & Cornwall news at the same time - so it would appear that the ITV news is in fact a recording. (Funny how ITV can find loads of money to pay their so called stars yet can't afford to run Newsrooms in various parts of the country or indeed a HD service).

 

[LAX54]

Beats me why you'd pay £40-60+ pet month for a Sky subscription when you can get all of Netflix, Prime, NowTV, Disney Plus etc for a fraction of that price.

Because a lot of the UK does not have the speed required to handle it . as others have said you only have to look at the abysmal 'on line' TV interviews that have been done during the C19 issue.

Beats me why you'd pay £40-60+ pet month for a Sky subscription when you can get all of Netflix, Prime, NowTV, Disney Plus etc for a fraction of that price.

Think just those will come in at about £35+, and then they will only work if you have a good connection.

I'm assuming that's something that the consumer cannot fix themselves? It doesn't happen often but we do occasionally lose signal when there's very bad weather overhead. Of course back in the "good old days" when Sky was still analogue rather than digital you could continue watching but the picture quality just got more and more "snowy" as we described it

'sparklies'