News from the sat and A/V world for yachts
Sky and BBC partner on tech and content
Sky and the BBC have announced a new partnership which will see the two UK broadcasters collaborate on content and technology.
The partnership means the BBC iPlayer OTT platform will be made available on the Sky Q service, giving Sky customers access to both iPlayer and the BBC’s red-button options.
The BBC already offers its channels and services on through an integrated on-demand service available on Sky Q and Sky+, but the new agreement will see an iPlayer app added to Sky Q.
The agreement also sees a number of CBBC – the British broadcaster’s children’s service – boxsets made available through Sky Q’s boxsets collection, including The Dumping Ground, The Worst Witch and Topsy & Tim.
BBC group managing director Bob Shennan said: “We’re thrilled that viewers who watch our programmes on Sky will now be able to enjoy the full BBC iPlayer experience and to access our full red-button service. BBC iPlayer is a fantastic way to watch the incredible breadth of programmes the BBC offers, including fantastic full series, terrific archive content, brilliant new dramas like His Dark Materials, landmark natural history programmes like Seven Worlds, One Planet and hilarious comedies like Motherland.”
The agreement goes beyond content, with the BBC “in early-stage exploration” of options to use PromoSmart, a platform underpinned by Sky’s targeting technology AdSmart, to offer more personalised promotional content to BBC viewers.
It would look to use the platform to offer different trailers for its content to different households depending on their interests. The BBC is looking at how to use this during breaks between programmes when watching BBC channels live.
Shennan added: “We’re also very much looking forward to experimenting with PromoSmart in the future. This agreement shows how the BBC and Sky can work together to give audiences the very best experience and support a strong UK media industry, and we look forward to continuing this relationship.”
In a statement to the press, Sky said the two broadcasters are also exploring a number of other ways they can work together, including the possibility of making BBC Sounds available on Sky and NOW TV.
Stephen van Rooyen, CEO UK & Ireland, Sky, said: “We are pleased to be working with the BBC on such a broad-ranging partnership – it is a great example of how UK broadcasters can work together for the benefit of viewers and the industry. We are continuing to explore, together with the BBC, how it could use Sky’s innovative technology to help it better connect with licence-fee payers for the long-term.“
Source: IBC
Business news channel CNBC HD simulcast has now joined Sky. As of today, Sky HD and Q users will see CNBC HD on channel 505, while the standard definition version has moved to channel 890.
CNBC carries the latest from the financial markets, with live programming Monday-Friday from Asia, Europe and the USA, plus executive lifestyle and sports programmes at the weekend, alongside NBC News shows Meet The Press and NBC Nightly News.
With the acquisition of Sky last year, Comcast has now own two news channels in the UK, CNBC and Sky News, along with a stake in Euronews. Sky News business operations are moving to CNBC’s HQ in London.
The channel is not currently available in HD on Freesat, though it can be added in Non-Freesat mode.
Manual tuning details:
Satellite: Astra 2E (28.2°E)
Frequency: 12012
Polarisation: vertical
Symbol Rate: 27500
FEC: 2/3
Mode: DVB-S2 8PSK
Service ID: 3902
DirecTV USA and Dish Network USA available now
Discovery Channels moved and now are difficult to receive in the Med
The Discovery group of channels, has changed frequencies and satellite beams.
They used to be on the European beam, allowing for easy reception across all of Europe. The UK beam, also known as spot beam can make things tricky for customers outside of the UK.
As a rule of thumb, if you can watch BBC and ITV, the changes should not cause any trouble.
The channels now are on:
12382 H
DVB-S
SR 27500
FEC 5/6
The channels affected by this move area :
Discovery Channel UK
Animal Planet Europe
Discovery Channel UK +1
TLC Ireland
Quest Red +1
Investigation Discovery Ireland
TLC UK
Discovery Science UK
Discovery History
Discovery Home & Health UK
Discovery Turbo UK
Discovery Channel Ireland
if you still want to watch Discovery via satellite in Europe, contact us because we offer TV platforms still carrying this family of channels.
