Upcoming Satellite Problems for Sky TV

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kiwicom65

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#316129 18-Sep-2024 19:07

Sky are tightening their belt and dropping sports, axing channels, reducing the number of new movies on their movie channels (with a ridiculous number of repeats) etc. due to the huge expense of their Optus D2 satellite prematurely going out of service in May next year.
On top of that, the replacement Optus D11 satellite is way behind schedule in construction (won't now be available until 2027), meaning Sky will have to fork out lots of dollars for temporary use of another satellite.
Two changes of satellite = big financial hit to Sky.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/sky-tv-forced-to-move-to-new-satellite-option-sooner-after-supply-issue/ZKN3OZABPNAHVLHF25UIGUTHYI/

As a result, technicians may have to adjust some customers' dishes early next year:
https://www.thepress.co.nz/business/350383092/unexpected-satellite-issues-main-risk-brighter-sky-tv-outlook

"Sky had been planning to migrate customers to a new, more capable satellite, Optus 11, late next year, but the launch of that satellite has been delayed until at least 2027 due to manufacturing issues. The developments mean Sky will need to change satellites twice in just a few years. Moloney said it was possible its technicians would need to visit a small number of homes early next year and adjust satellite dishes to ensure they could get a sufficiently strong signal after Optus D-2 was turned off. One of the options Sky was looking at might mean it needed to make more use of software compression to deliver some programming, she said. Sky might not need to visit any homes, depending on the outcome of tests, Moloney said. “We'll know more on that in the coming couple of months.”

Sky TV in recent weeks have started sending emails to some customers (including me) asking us to conduct a satellite test ___________________________________________

Last month's Sky notification on its satellite problems to the NZX:
https://www.nzx.com/announcements/436387

A 2020 report from Sky on their future satellite plans which have now been somewhat disrupted:
https://www.sky.co.nz/-/mk_pressrelease_0207

Freeview share the same current Optus satellite as Sky so there must also be uncertainty about the continuation of Freeview's satellite capability.
______________________________________________

A big part of Sky's costs consists of securing satellites.
They paid out $NZ 200 million to Optus for a ten year satellite deal 2021-31:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/sky-tv-pays-200m-to-renew-satellite-deal/ADM7ZQOEZZMCJCK6JFZKFAGJEQ/

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10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3283709 18-Sep-2024 19:15

Sky TV's email to me last week asking for help in testing:

Kia ora

We’re writing to ask for your help with a quick Sky channel test, as one of our valued customers who currently uses an older black Sky Box.

As you’ll be aware, Sky is delivered to your home via satellite. From time to time we need to make changes to the satellites we use to deliver all your favourite Sky programmes, and we’re planning to do one of those changes next year. To make sure the change is a smooth one we’re doing some early testing, which is where we need your help.

If you’re able to spare a few minutes, please follow the steps below and let us know what you see on a test channel by midday on Monday 16 September.

What you need to do

1. If you have more than one Sky Box in your home, unplug all of them from their power supply at the wall, apart from the one black Sky Box you’ll use for this test.

2. Make sure the Sky Box you’ll use for this test isn’t in the middle of or about to start recording anything.

3. On your Sky Box, select Channel 888.

4. Click on the survey button at the bottom and tell us if you see a picture (picture example can be seen in the survey).

5. Depending on whether you see a picture, enter a few more details (see below).

6. Submit your form.

Don’t see a picture?

It’s not an issue if you don’t see anything – just enter ‘no’, answer one further question and end the survey form.

Do see a picture?

Stay on Channel 888 and follow these steps:

1. Press [Setup] button on your Sky remote.

2. Within ‘Setup’, use the [Up Arrow] and select ‘System’.

3. Within ‘System’, select ‘Diagnostics’.

4. Within ‘Diagnostics’, select ‘Test Signal’ with [Blue] button.

Within the survey form, tell us the Signal Quality value in dB (an example can be seen in the survey) and answer one further question.

Goosey

2829 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#3283712 18-Sep-2024 19:30

Yeh I got this email.

went to 888 and no signal.

i was gutted as thats the end of the survey. If I had a test pattern, I believe there were more questions.

i think I’m doomed…. But I’ve been procrastinating and haven’t ended my sky subscription…

Eitsop

583 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#3283725 18-Sep-2024 21:47

what satellite are they going to use? Measat 3a

JPNZ

1542 posts

Uber Geek

#3283780 19-Sep-2024 08:35

Goosey:

Yeh I got this email.

went to 888 and no signal.

i was gutted as thats the end of the survey. If I had a test pattern, I believe there were more questions.

i think I’m doomed…. But I’ve been procrastinating and haven’t ended my sky subscription…

I got the email too, test signal was fine and reported the Dba and some other number from the status.

Panasonic 65GZ1000, Onkyo RZ730, Atmos 5.1.2, AppleTV 4K, Nest Mini's, PS5, PS3, MacbookPro, iPad Pro, Apple watch SE2, iPhone 15+

openmedia

3324 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3283800 19-Sep-2024 09:07

Eitsop:

what satellite are they going to use? Measat 3a

Optus D3/D10 - the existing Dual LNBs should be setup already and Sky have an existing test signal

https://www.lyngsat.com/Optus-D3-10.html

It appears they've recently lit up an additional Mux.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

wellygary

8312 posts

Uber Geek

#3283809 19-Sep-2024 09:39

Two changes of satellite = big financial hit to Sky.

Not as bad as you think thou,

While there will be a significant disruption and initial cash flow cost to Sky, They have a contract( insurance) with OPTUS that will compensate them for their costs...

"24/08/2023, 08:30 NZST, ADMIN

Sky and Optus have agreed a variation to the Optus agreement that provides Sky with security of supply over satellite capacity through to the end of the current term in November 2031 and mitigates against further delays or a failure of the new software-defined satellite. Commercial terms have been agreed that, while confidential, provide financial support for Sky to undertake the necessary investment required to ensure a seamless transition across various satellites."

https://www.nzx.com/announcements/416941

Brents

16 posts

Geek

#3286899 27-Sep-2024 05:37

Maybe slightly off topic but will this have an affect on freeview satellite and commercial dish's running single lnbs? Thanks

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

Goosey

2829 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#3286903 27-Sep-2024 06:23

Well, I hope sky can just let me know the new LNB settings…or smart enough to push an update (as long as that update doesn’t also include anything else…it otherwise should be a quick and easy fuss free and possibly unnoticeable change).

openmedia

3324 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3286904 27-Sep-2024 06:24

Brents:

Maybe slightly off topic but will this have an affect on freeview satellite and commercial dish's running single lnbs? Thanks

Very likely as they won't pickup D3/D10 alternative feed as at 156.0°E

https://www.lyngsat.com/Optus-D3-10.html

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

Brents

16 posts

Geek

#3286905 27-Sep-2024 06:30

Wow! That's concerning as I've not say any news or anything on relevant websites to state this. Major clangger coming up for the average joe blog's using this system.

Spyware

3761 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#3286906 27-Sep-2024 07:07

And then when Optus 11 arrives they can point back to 160.

Spark Max Fibre using Mikrotik CCR1009-8G-1S-1S+, CRS125-24G-1S, Unifi UAP, U6-Pro, UAP-AC-M-Pro, Apple TV 4K (2022), Apple TV 4K (2017), iPad Air 1st gen, iPad Air 4th gen, iPhone 13, SkyNZ3151 (the white box). If it doesn't move then it's data cabled.

noroad

949 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#3286934 27-Sep-2024 10:13

I worked at Vector many years ago as part of the UFB fibre technical team. I remember going to see the Sky TV guys to sound them out about multi-casting their TV services over the coming fiber network. To say they were not at all interested as satellite was "good enough" is a bit of an understatement. They could see streaming was the future but were not really interested in it as they had a bunch of capital invested in satellite capacity and why bother spending money on improved services if customers will carry on paying for what they have now? It was pretty shocking how little they cared about what customers wanted. Eventually this keep squeezing the old technology attitude was going to bite them and I guess the day has finally come.

Spyware

3761 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#3286958 27-Sep-2024 11:13

Fellet used to claim that Discovery and Nat Geo didn't have to be HD because not many watched it - yes, because the picture quality was poor.

Eitsop

583 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#3302467 28-Oct-2024 13:06

I use Openvix for freeview with an old Sky Dish with Dual throat LNB..

How do I configure my Openvix for moving to 156? I have tried below, doesn't pick up any signals from 156?

Oblivian

7296 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#3302472 28-Oct-2024 13:27

Eitsop:

I use Openvix for freeview with an old Sky Dish with Dual throat LNB..

How do I configure my Openvix for moving to 156? I have tried below, doesn't pick up any signals from 156?

The Satellite name/slot in decoder settings is just a bookmark. Where you can store channels against it. It doesn't magically make you receive more by changing to it.

It still comes down the alignment, position of the dish and LNB settings. You could change it a name of something from the other side of the world and scan, and it would still find the same stuff unless it's aligned for the 2nd.

See the lyngsat link. Nothing but Foxtel on it and 2 test streams for aligning it currently. The important bits are there. 12707. Horizontal. The rest is where is is pointing.

12707 H
tp NZ16
New Zealand DVB-S
22500

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