http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...990937,00.html

"Mark Carver" wrote in message ...
http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...990937,00.html


Well if the figure for the cost of issuing and administrating the FTV
scheme is accurate (£8 million spread over nearly 5 years) then as a
reluctant license fee payer I consider that an excellent use of that money.
Over that time period the BBC have been given around £8 billion from
the TV owning people of the UK which puts the whole FTV and encryption
costs into perspective.

If SKY and the remaining commercial channels can not or will not fund the
FTV scheme based on a estimate of £12 per card then they should be ashamed of
themselves and OFCOM when it starts should force them to do so or at the very
least accept that people who pay the BBC £116 a year should not be required
to pay again to decrypt the other "free" terrestrial channels on dsat.

It would be a great day if as a dsat viewer I could buy my own smartcard for ITV1,
ch4 and Five for a simple one off £12 payment and keep the £116 I am forced to
give the BBC. If other EU citizens with a suitable dish can watch the BBC channels
FTA then I can't see why I have to pay for them, wish I had the time/money and of
course the inclination to take that argument to the court of human rights, they seem to
specialise in this sort of minor yet high profile cases.

Mike C

"Mike_C" wrote in message
...

............. wish I had the time/money and of
course the inclination to take that argument to the court of human rights,
they seem to
specialise in this sort of minor yet high profile cases.

If that was really so, they would have been inundated with cases from
British citizens who happen to live in other parts of Europe who have been
denied (up to now) the right to watch UK domestic channels (legally) however
much they were willing to pay for it.

j.tull wrote:
"Mark Carver" wrote in message
...

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...990937,00.html


"Digital satellite viewers who have been sent a free-to-air card but have
not yet activated it should do so before July 9 or risk it not working, a
BBC spokesman said."



It's still not clear if any V2 cards already distributed and activated will
continue to work or not, although it doesn't look promising L.



I think the idea of a modest one-off fee for a card for FTV stuff (and
that should include ITV2) sounds very reasonable. I'm sure Sky would
jump at the chance, especially if the cards could be upgraded to handle
packages at some point in the future.

I think that the £12 quoted for an FTV Solus card is way over the top,
especially judging by how many cards are [obviously] in circulation.


Clem

"Clem Dye" wrote in message
...
j.tull wrote:
"Mark Carver" wrote in message
...

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcas...990937,00.html


"Digital satellite viewers who have been sent a free-to-air card but
have
not yet activated it should do so before July 9 or risk it not working,
a
BBC spokesman said."



It's still not clear if any V2 cards already distributed and activated
will
continue to work or not, although it doesn't look promising L.



I think the idea of a modest one-off fee for a card for FTV stuff (and
that should include ITV2) sounds very reasonable. I'm sure Sky would
jump at the chance, especially if the cards could be upgraded to handle
packages at some point in the future.

I think that the £12 quoted for an FTV Solus card is way over the top,
especially judging by how many cards are [obviously] in circulation.


Clem



I doubt it. Sky director's get a bonus for ARPU - Average Revenue Per User.

They do not want 500,000 low value customer buggering up their ARPU ratio
figures. If you're not paying £348 per year, they don't want you.

On Fri, 4 Jul 2003 11:45:01 +0100, "Mike_C"
wrote:

If SKY and the remaining commercial channels can not or will not fund the
FTV scheme based on a estimate of £12 per card then they should be ashamed of
themselves and OFCOM when it starts should force them to do so or at the very
least accept that people who pay the BBC £116 a year should not be required
to pay again to decrypt the other "free" terrestrial channels on dsat.

It's worth bearing in mind that the situation in Ireland is similar to
ours. They have never had a Free-To-View card, and their four
terrestrial channels are available on satellite only to those with a
subscription.