Do we know how TV1 and 2 are going to implement wide-screen? I agreed with the method TV3 started using although I notice that on Telstra it seems to have kinda half reverted back which is disappointing. But are 1 and 2 planning to do the same thing?
Also speaking of Telstra are they going to go live with the feed as of tomorrow or will be be forced to wait?
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I had assumed that they would be switching to widescreen at the same time as going live with freeview... and to be honest I am still scratching my head as to what possessed them to not make the switch at the same time.
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Now that the freeview broadcasters have their own satellite capability and are obviously keen for it to be a success, why wouldn't they encrypt their channels to prevent Sky from broadcasting them? Perhaps freeview is currently far from compelling for viewers, but surely this makes sense as a longer term strategy?
I notice that it hasn't happened yet in the uk, I wonder why...
TinyTim: This NZHerald article from yesterday says they're encrypting the new channels:
TVNZ will be encrypting its new family and 24-hour news channel for the Freeview channels so viewers cannot pick them up on Sky.
Of course after reading this thread you may decide to take what this article says with a grain of salt.
Their STB's have no encryption capabilities and no CI slot or card slot so it'd be highly unlikely..
The real issue is whether Sky (and TCL) are allowed to include them on their platform without permission due to the wording of existing legistation. Sky would obviously want to keep customers happy by offering a full package of available channels.
I doubt freeview can encrypt anything so that it cannot be picked with a Sky STB without stopping FTA/FreeView STB's from recieving it. Further the Sky firmware does not allow the subscriber to manually scan and gain access to channels, only Sky control what streams their STBs see.
It is upto Sky and Freeview to come to an agreement to give Sky subs access to Freeview channels. But in the end what benefit is it to FreeView to block access, advertising expenditure is a function of screens it appears on, surely it is in FreeViews advantage to have 600,000 STB's in the market place from day one. Of course I am aware that this is at odds with what FreeView have stated (ie they dont want Sky subs having access to FreeView except for the current TV1/2/3/C4/MaoriTV) but that restriction makes no sense to me, FTA TV is FTA, no matter what you use to access it.
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