The BBC Freesat boxes are under BBC control and 101 could be BBC
(your region) One HD and 1 02 BBC (your nation) Two HD.
Actually, Freesat boxes are ultimately under the control of Freesat (UK)
TV, which is a joint venture between BBC and ITV plc - subtle difference
;) Perhaps most importantly though, the specification for launch was
made months ago, because people do need something in order to make the
boxes. I have no idea if such functionality is included - but if it's
not, it won't get there quickly.
I have a Freesat connection in that I'm working on the BBCi version of
Freesat (I should be deciding on weather map designs right now -
whoops!)
What I do know is that changing a channel's
configuration on the fly isn't that easy and simple - in the world of
interactive TV we'd love to have the options to suddenly close down one
of our video streams and replace it with (say) 10 audio streams, just
like that. But we don't. It requires just a bit more thinking about
and configuration.
Sky does the BBC and ITV regions by broadcasting many different
EPGs structures. It's not a massive change to make the HD boxes do this
kind of thing, but it is an ask.
Each region however has its own, permanent, dedicated video stream which
broadcasts 24/7. I can't think of any channel on Sky which reconfigures
its video configuration on the fly (e.g. bandwidth, bitrate, number of
audio channels etc)
Ah well, I suspect people are in agreement there - the
amount of promotion the BBC HD brand has had since it launched has been
almost minimal.
It's actually none, isn't it?
Probably, but if I'd said "none" then someone is bound to have seen
some.
Almost all of the BBC's content is on Astra 2D because
it's beam is focussed on the UK, thus allowing programmes to be
broadcast without the encryption which would be required otherwise due
to rights issues. ITV similarly use this same satellite for the same
reasons.
But it's not a requirement for BBC services to be on Astra 2D.
BBC News 24 and the radio channels have just moved to Astra 2A.
Yep - those with without rights problems. You can beam Chris Moyles
around the world and no one is really going to mind. However Five Live
and Five Live Sports Extra remain on Astra 2D - both of course carry
sport. For radio, this is where geographically-based rights to
broadcast come into play.
Similarly, the BBC TV channels on Astra 2A are BBC Parliament, BBC News
24 and some BBCi streams. None of these channels have any rights
implications - which will be why they are there. Don't expect much else
to move to 2A any time soon.
To use Astra 2A/B/C/Eurobird 1 (which have a
pan-European footprint) would therefore require encryption (we could
debate this individual point til the cows come home, but I won't because
frankly it wouldn't change anything - the BBC and ITV went in the clear
by moving to Astra 2D in the first place, and any move back to 2A/B/C
would either be costly or require encryption). Encryption is, by its
very nature, not feasible with Freesat, so any broadcasting a Freesat
service would either need pan-European rights for all their content (or
at very least, not have content where it matters!) or be on Astra 2D.
No encryption is required under the EU Council Directive
(89/552/EEC of 3 October 1989)
Never said the EU mandated it. Rights holders on the other hand, are a
bit more picky. Sports rights holders in particular are the
problematical ones - hey, BBC Scotland even had to blank out Scottish
football matches on satellite, because it didn't have the rights to show
the matches in England.
The FA, UEFA, Olympic Authorities etc, like to sell their rights on a
territorial basis - and they don't want signal overlaps getting in the
way of the money. This is also why geographical blocking is used on the
BBC website when showing sport in video for example. The BBC only has
selected, geographical rights (yes there's ways round such things,
overlaps are bigger than people think etc etc - it's about accepted
risk)
And then there's the film right owners, imported programming etc and so
on.
