I stand corrected. Vijay.
On 06/11/2007, Richard Cartwright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On 6/11/07 18:29, "vijay chopra" <[EMAIL > PROTECTED]<https://mail.google.com/mail?view=cm&tf=0&[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> > wrote: > > I notice Ashley's misleading people again. From his blog-post: > "We do maximise the reach of our services by distributing our content via > closed or prioprietary networks (Virgin Media, Sky, Tiscali TV/HomeChoice, > mobile platforms, etc.)" > > The BBC doesn't distribute programs via Sky, it distributes them via the > Astra Satalite using the DRM free DVB-S standard; I don't have to get a sky > subscription to view the BBCs digital satalite content, just a satalite dish > and a decoder box. > Similarly with Virgin Media IIRC the BBC signal can be picked up using > any old DVB-C decoder. It's not encrypted in either case. I can't comment on > the other platforms he lists, but if he's wrong about the first two why > should I believe him about the others? > > Virgin Media and Sky are proprietary networks because a user requires a > Sky or Virgin proprietary receiver to take full benefit of all of all of > their services, not just video/audio. For example, EPG, channel list, > interactive services, pay-per-view content etc.. The DVB parts of the > network are open but a significant amount of the rest of the platform is > closed. For the average user, this extra network data is important as, for > example, they don't want to be typing in a transponder frequency just to > change channel. In the case of the Sky network, Sky network-specific data is > carried in the BBC transport stream that is up-linked via Astra alongside > the open video and audio streams. > > The BBC distributes EPG data and interactive services to both Sky and > Virgin according to the network's proprietary formats. To contrast this with > an entirely open and non-proprietary network, look at the differences > between Sky and Freeview (DVB-T). > > I believe Ashley Highfield is correct here because he uses the word > "network". > > Richard > > -- > *Dr Richard Cartwright > *media systems architect > *portability4media.com > * >
