Good Old Satellite

Hurrah! In the UK, the BBC and ITV have announced that they are to launch a satellite service to rival Sky. That's great new for those of us who live anywhere that the topography goes over 50 ft in the UK.

Where I am in Wales, you cannot get analogue, nor digital (inc Freeview). Your only option is paying Murdoch. There's broadband, but BT Vision doesn't work since it's based on Freeview (how stupid is that ?) and Home Choice (Tiscali) isn't available.

Indeed, the measure seems to be that you can either receive all services, or just Sky. Which seems dumb from a business perspective.

This may seem to be going against everything this blog stands for - the advent of new technologies using the internet, not old fashioned technologies such as DVB and satellites, but there is a wider manifesto behind IPTV Times.

It is that content should be made available any time, anywhere on any device (with the proviso that you might have to pay or consume commercial messages to do this).

So, in my book, this is all good news. It may also represent the second major chink in the Sky business model (after Freeview).

What the UK really needs is an online EPG that can be received over IP...

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