[Radio Ruderham]

Next Update; Thursday / Friday

ALL CHANNELS HAVE SYMBOL RATE OF 27.5 AND AN F.E.C. OF 2/3. EXCEPT WHERE LISTED.

I. D.…….………..Freq; ………..……..INFO

8305………………10.729 sr,22.000 fec 5/6 Showing E4
8389………………10.729 sr,22.000 fec 5/6 Showing E4
10075….…………10.758 V sr,22.000 fec 5/6. Bars & Tone
10101….…………10.758 V sr,22.000 fec 5/6. ITV Test, Blocked
10165…………….10.892 GHz H SR:22000 FEC:5/6. Showing Men and Motors Info(Thanks Otis)
51006..............11.662 H Showing Hollywood TV & Vegas 24/7{at times) and Info. (Thanks Digi man)
1871………………12.382 H showing The Community Channel
3310………………10.729 V Showing Black level in 16:9
50108……………..11.307 V For Matinee Movies, showing Movies and Shopping (Thanks Ian Cleverly)
50108……………..11.488 V For Matinee Movies, showing Movies and Shopping (Thanks Ian Cleverly)
50109……………..11.307 V For Bad Movies, showing Movies and Shopping (Thanks Ian Cleverly)
50109……………..11.488 V For Bad Movies, showing Movies and Shopping (Thanks Ian Cleverly)
50181……………..11.307 V Showing Simply Shopping 638**
50181……………..11.488 V showing duplicate of 52536 Showing Simply Shopping (638)
5719………………12.324 V Showing Boomerang (for +1?)
52567…………….11.426 V Showing The Adult Channel
52300…………….11.343 V Blocked
52345…………….11.343 V Showing Bars, Tone and Info (Thanks James Vertigan)
1837………………12.226 H showing Sky Mix (Thanks Ian Cleverly)
1840………………12.226 H showing Sky Mix (Thanks Ian Cleverly)
52107……………..11264 H S.R.22000 fec 2/3 Showing Life tv
9604………………10.744 H SR:22.000 FEC:5/6 Showing RTE (Thanks Otis)
9339………………11.508 H Blocked.
50686……………..11.585 H No Signal present.
51117……………..11.681 V No Signal present.
1430………………12.304 H No Signal present




{Blank}………… ..12.265 H with, 'Programme is not available' (Thanks Craigsteele2001)
7521….........………12.422 H Showing “William Road” Bars & Tone
3020……………….12.422 H Showing “William Road” Bars & Tone
cet…………………12.109 H. Sky Sports 2 Eire.

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These From swine1 in our “Coming Soon Section”…...

25th April
Bad Movies (Now Testing)
Matinee Movies (Now Testing)
Vegas 24/7 [Now testing]
Travel Channel 3

*****

May 7th
Discovery Home & Leisure Re-brand to Real Time

September
Faze TV (See story in Newsie bits Item # 15)

October
More4 (See story in Newsie bits Item # 16)

Autumn
Sky EPG overhaul (See story after Newsie bits)

New additions in The HiDef Section

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Newsie Bits

1. Digital Britain moves one step closer SwitchCo, the new government-backed organisation responsible for co-ordinating the UK's switchover to digital television, launched April 13th. Formed at the request of the UK Government to achieve a totally digital Britain, SwitchCo will be working closely with government departments, DCMS and DTI, and the media regulator, Ofcom. SwitchCo is funded and represented on the management board by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, Teletext and S4C and the digital terrestrial television multiplex operators, Crown Castle UK and SDN. (From :- c21media.net)

2. Jetix (formerly Fox Kids) is planning to launch a new kids channel in the UK. GXT, aimed at 12 to 17-year-old boys, will go live in Italy on May 1st. Should it prove popular, a UK debut will follow soon after. GXT's programme lineup includes reality shows, extreme sports, wrestling, Japanese animation, music and live-action. Full Story Here:-http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds20629.html

3. FX289 will lose the '289' this week as it moves EPG numbers on Sky. The entertainment station will move to channel 270 on Thursday (April 21), a spokesman has confirmed. (Full story:- http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds20621.html)

4. AXN Satellite has appeared at 11426 H V sr, 22.000 fec 5/6 They have a cracking website; www.axn.com The address given for AXN Europe Ltd is Sony Pictures Europe House 25 Golden Square London W1F 9LU Tel: 020 7533 1230. An English language version can be had at, www.sonypictures.com

5. Napster, the online pay-music service, is considering the launch of a UK digital TV channel.(From Media24/7)

6. Digital Spy are reporting that FX is to move EPG number, from 289 to 270 on Thursday 21st April(Thanks Digi Man)

7. Otis has noted that the in-vision ident for Motors on 413 is now saying "Motors TV UK"

8. ITV is planning to launch ITV4, to add to its existing portfolio of ITV1, ITV2 and ITV3.

9. UKTV Drama available on Sky EPG 147 will soon begin broadcasting 24 hours a day. The channel currently is only on air between 9pm and 5am. The change takes place on Monday 30th May From:- http://www.media247.co.uk/skydigital..._drama_set.php

10. Sit-up TV is launching a third shopping channel on Sky Digital and ntl.Speed Auction TV will stage auctions lasting for a maximum of four minutes, which the broadcaster hopes will attract a younger audience than sister channels bid TV and price-drop TV. Sit-up have disclosed plans to launch, Bad Movies (Channel Now Testing) offering some of the worst Hollywood has to offer when it launches on the Sky platform from this spring. SitUp is investing £5m in the channel and a second new channel Matinee Movies (Also Testing Now). From:- www.dtg.org

11. Steve Bennett CEO of the Factory Outlet group of companies has announced the creation of a Dedicated Diamond Channel that will launch between 4-8 weeks. (From:- Shopping telly.com)

12. Bridges TV, An American Muslim lifestyle station are looking into launching on SKY sometime in April. Details:- http://www.bridgestv.co.uk

13. India's broadcasting corporation Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati, which oversees Doordarshan, KS Sarma said, India's public broadcaster Doordarshan is planning a TV channel for people of Indian descent living in Britain.

14. Hot on the heels of Ofcom's digital switchover timetable being published, consumer electronics giant Sony has announced all its television receivers larger than 26 inches will be digital-only. Sony said consumers were continuing to purchase analogue TV sets, and they are buying them at twice the rate of any digital adapters needed to convert them.

15. Faze tv ( http://fazetv.co.uk/ ) a gay lifestyle channel is on the cards for a September Launch (From DTG & http://www.media247.co.uk/skydigital...ifestyle_c.php

16. Channel 4's new factual station More4 will go live in October across all digital platforms, not to compete with, but augment the main C4 channel, it will have a programming budget of £30millions possibly increased to £57 millions

17. Channel 4 is reportedly considering moving entertainment subscription channel E4 onto the free-to-air Freeview platform. E4 is committed to Sky until 2008 and also has carriage deals with cable operators NTL and Telewest, but is said to be looking at moving E4 perhaps as early autumn. By that time it hopes Freeview will be big enough to generate sufficient advertising revenues to sustain the channel. Broadcast magazine

18. Technology TV is coming in October. For Full details:- http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/b...technology.html and licensing details:-http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/tvlicensing/cs/806.htm (Thanks OTIS)

19. Sky is planning a new Sky One spin-off channel.

20. Fuel launch seems to have been put back to “Late Spring”, according to Media 24/7. I have also found an American web-site www.fuel.tv

21. Al-Jazeera intends to launch a new English language news channel by the end of this year.

22. India's religious channel Aastha TV is looking at launching in the UK later this year. Aastha broadcasts programming in Hindi, Gujarati and English. This year, the channel has plans to air locally originated programming as well. (From: www.media247.co.uk/skydigital )

23. VC; The company behind the two channels, (Horror Channel & Amore) is planning to launch at least one other new network, no further.details about the third service are known. Amore, may not now start till later this year and will be a stand alone service. (from TELE-satellite)

24. That TV http://www.thattv.co.uk website has now been updated stating that the channel will be launching later this year. (Thanks Lunar)

25. H2o TV to launch summer 2005 .Details:- www.h2o.tv

26. Rapture TV is still hoping to return to UK screens. Complete with new programmes. (From :- http://news.rapturetv.com)

27. Channel East is set to relaunch and make a return to Sky Digital.

28. News channel Aaj Tak plans to launch soon.

29. D.S Reader, Abrardh1 Tells us that NSAT not returning for a further 6 months

30. D.S. Reader David McH tells of an email he received from Crime & Investigation Network in Australia. They say that they had launched in Australia on the 1st January, 2005 and were the first country in the world to premiere the channel. They also believe that BSKYB are considering launching this channel. A date has not been decided on at this point, however it is likely to be sometime at the end of 2005. More on the Channel :- www.citv.com.au

31. Ofcom's proposed analogue switch off timetable has BorderTV, Westcountry and HTV Wales regions completing switchover to digital in 2008, with all other regions completing the transition by the end of 2012.

32. The analogue Switch off is getting nearer, a full transcript of the Westminster Debate is available Here:- http://www.publications.parliament.u...50315h03_head0

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Sky's (EPG) overhaul

Sky's electronic programme guide (EPG) will get an overhaul. As the number of channels on the digital satellite platform has exploded, so too has the need to re-order and re-group them on the EPG. The 'old' EPG had 10 categories of programming in the main menu. The new EPG will re-group Sky's 480 channels—340 more than the number available when Sky Digital launched in 1998—over 16 categories, with new categories for lifestyle, religion, shopping, gaming and adult channels, and new separate categories for documentaries and radio stations.
The new EPG will have two menu pages instead of one. According to Broadcast magazine. Some channels will have to be re-numbered. Broadcast said channel providers would be able to review which category they are allocated over the summer before the new EPG line-up is finally agreed by the end of the year. Broadcast quoted a Sky spokesman as saying: "These enhancements are designed to improve navigability for viewers and to assist Sky to meet continued demand for EPG slots. Better sign posting will help make it easier for viewers to find the programme and channels that they want to watch."
The EPG menu will have two new genres; Lifestyle & Culture along with Gaming & Dating.
The confirmed EPG menu will appear as follows:

1 All channels.

1 Radio

2 Entertainment

2 Shopping

3 Lifestyle & Culture

3 Religion

4 Movies

4 International

5 Sports

5 Gaming & dating

6 News

6 Specialist

7 Documentaries

7 Adult

8 Kids
9 Music
0 More (next page)
*****

(From:- Broadcastnow.co.uk and DTG.)See also:- www.media247.co.uk/skydigita...ive_radio_3.php

Sky is beefing up the parental control facility on its EPG. Under the upgrade, which Sky says is the most significant enhancement to the facility since the launch of Sky Digital in 1998, parents will be able to restrict access to all channels, and remove listings from the EPG. The new parental controls will be available to all Sky and Sky Plus boxes by Summer 2005. The upgrade will not require any new equipment and will carried out by Sky for no additional charge. Sky says the new parental control features will be introduced in two phases:
Phase 1—Using the Sky remote control, parents will be able to restrict viewing to any digital satellite channel including free-to-air channels and un-rated programmes. They will be able to choose whether to restrict access at all times or to prevent viewing only after 8pm. To unlock access to a restricted channel, a household member will have to enter a unique four-digit PIN number using the Sky remote control.
Phase 2—For the first time, parents will be able to remove all listings for adult channels from the Sky Guide. To reinstate the adult channels to the Sky Guide, the four-digit PIN code is required. (From :- www.dtg.org , Also see these updates to the EPG :- http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds20466.html

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HiDef TV – HDTV SECTION

 British Sky Broadcasting has appointed Thomson as the initial manufacturer of the set-top box for its forthcoming High Definition Televisionservice and confirmed that it is on track to launch in 2006. Speaking at the DVB World conference in Dublin, BSkyB's Chief Operating Officer, Richard Freudenstein, revealed that Sky's HDTV box would feature a similar Personal Video Recorder capability to the existing Sky+ box. Freudenstein said that offering PVR capability as a standard in the HDTV arena will ensure that Sky+'s 6000,000 subscribers would continue to enjoy control and flexibility in association with the highest-quality programming. From :- Advanced Television .com

 Further to the above article, Ahead of next year's launch, Sky has signed technology and equipment suppliers - Sony, Tandberg Television and Harris Corporation - to support its forthcoming HDTV service. There new stories at:- http://www.media247.co.uk/skydigital...igns_up_hd.php & http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds20662.html

 Sony has revealed that their 2004 range of "HD Capable" large screen LCD and plasma TV displays - which feature analogue component inputs instead of the "HD Ready" HDMI/HDCP inputs - will be able to be used with Sky's high definition television service when it launches. Press release::- http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds19787.html

 Sony, has forecast that 20m European households will have high definition TV (HDTV) sets by 2008. HDTV set prices – currently at £2,000 – would continue to fall, making them more of an attractive proposition to the mass consumer market. “Once you show HDTV people are hooked, says Chris Deering, Sony’s European CEO. (From Digital TV Group)

 European HDTV pioneer Euro1080 is to launch a second service, HD-2, in June 2005, with the emphasis on pay-per-event. Gabriel Fehervari, General Manager of Euro1080 also revealed that the operator would be using MPEG-4 encoding from that time. In addition to Euro1080’s involvement with SES-Astra, Fehervari confirmed that he had secured distribution deals on alternative satellites such as Sirius, Hellas Sat and Turksat, as well as some 20 cable networks. (From Advanced Television.com & Colin Mann in London)

 The EBU Technical Committee has recommended that Emission standards for HDTV should be based on progressive scanning: 720p/50 is currently the optimum solution, but 1080p/50 is an attractive option for the longer term. Although there are strong technical arguments in favour of progressive scanning for emission, the EBU Technical Committee recognises that some broadcasters might wish to broadcast 1080I-programme material. As consumer electronics equipment (e.g. set-top boxes and displays) will accept both 720p and 1080I formats, broadcasters will be able to select either of these formats * even on a programme-by-programme basis. Taking into account that production and emission standards do not need to be identical, further EBU studies on Production standards for HDTV in Europe are in progress. This work is not intended to result in a recommendation for a single standard for HDTV production. ( From TeleSatellite)

 As per the above the ASTRA HDTV Press releases are here:- http://www.ses-astra.com/products/br...tv/index.shtml

 Pace has announced plans to make high definition compatible set-top boxes available to satellite and cable operators across Europe. The DS840 digital satellite box offers an embedded Irdeto conditional access system to allow viewers to subscribe to the services of Euro1080, the HD channel launched in 2004. ( From Wotsat & D.S. Details:- http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds15751.html )

 NTL tests HDTV over ADSL2+ See story below in Cable Ends

 When SKY launches its HDTV service it aims to have 7 HDTV Channels broadcasting in total. (Thanks Andyk22k)

 bmsgharris found this for you to try:- www.hd-1.tv

 D.S. reader ginga has found this interesting article:- http://www.homecinemachoice.com/cgi-...ws.php?id=7347

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Other Stuff *

A full line-up of Sky’s EPG can be found
Here:- http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/satellite/epg/
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Get a free Satellite Locator poster here:-
www.globecast.com/
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
If you are into DTT as well as Digisat you might find this interesting.
http://www.dtt-tx-info.org/dso.html
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
If you are fed up constantly having to phone an 0870 or similar to Sky’s Subscriber Centre and you have the option of being able to phone any national number in your phone bundle in effect “Free” (Telewest and BT etc; Have similar call charges). Then Lakhvinder Baddhan over at www.media247.co.uk/skydigital has numbers that fall within your bundle and won’t cost you any more than you already pay
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[James Vertigan]

Don't I get a credit for 52345? After all I was the one who reported the bars/tone and EPG info!

<pouts>

[Radio Ruderham]

Originally Posted by James Vertigan

Don't I get a credit for 52345? After all I was the one who reported the bars/tone and EPG info!

<pouts>

Keep watching and reload the page in about 1 Min

Apologies

[James Vertigan]

Thank you!

[James Vertigan]

3310 - Now showing colour bars with tone and "CH4 LONDON" ID - A Channel 4 service, presumably? More4 perhaps?

(Edit: or looking at the "coming soon" list, maybe not!)

Maybe something for Big Brother... or another Channel 4 "region"?

[Scalper Jack]

October More4 (See story in Newsie bits Item # 16)

Fight+ launches simultaneously in the UK and Scandinavia this coming October.

[si.stanhope]

whats this AXN channel the web site looks pretty good is it launching on sky digital, or is it testing at the moment?

[skyisthebest]

Any ideas what religious channel is testing on "52345" yet? It was showing EPG information for a religious channel yesterday.

[zoton2]

51006..............11.662 H Showing Hollywood TV & Vegas 24/7{at times) and Info. (Thanks Digi man)

At the moment its showing a black screen

[Scalper Jack]

Originally Posted by skyisthebest

Any ideas what religious channel is testing on "52345" yet? It was showing EPG information for a religious channel yesterday.

It appears to be for "LoveWorld Christian Network". The Sky EPG data for the name of a Pastor Chris matches the name used in a on-screen email address currently displayed on its Hotbird transmission.

[plymouthbloke1974]

What's going on with the Men and Motors test? There's a different programme running, and the logo keeps going on and off repeatedly.

Men and Motors 2 perhaps?

Simon

[weebit]

perhaps they're planning on relaunching the channel on a separate frequency for some weird reason.....

[Scalper Jack]

Originally Posted by si.stanhope

whats this AXN channel the web site

edit I just noticed this on the "newsie it" - I never read it much - it's a bit too big.

AXN is available in many places. Action and Adventure Television apparently, owned by Sony.

FX289 will lose the '289' this week.

It already lost the 289 some months back AFAIK.

Related article:
Bonanza Bonanza

[plymouthbloke1974]

Originally Posted by weebit

perhaps they're planning on relaunching the channel on a separate frequency for some weird reason.....

But why have a different stream running? Surely if this was the case they'd be better off just putting M+M through this tp.

[Chris E]

I THINK the test is for the upcoming Freeview version. Note it goes off air at 11pm, so there's no porn, just like they intended for ITV4...

[daniel99]

Originally Posted by skyisthebest

Any ideas what religious channel is testing on "52345" yet? It was showing EPG information for a religious channel yesterday.

I'll put my money on it being the Charch Channel.

[daniel99]

But why are they testing the Freeview Version on SKY?

[Phil Owens]

Originally Posted by daniel99

But why are they testing the Freeview Version on SKY?

Some sort of downlink maybe?

[weebit]

perhaps they are testing to see if they can playout two channels from one place....

[plymouthbloke1974]

Just noticed something as well.....

The ad breaks are in 16:9, with correct DOG placement!

Maybe they're testing out a new playout suite for the channel?

Simon

[Paddy C]

"9604" at 10.744 - H - 22.0 - 5/6, is no longer showing RTÉ, just coloured bars in 16:9. May be used for TV 3 widescreen tests in the future, but for now, it's nothing.

Paddy

[Lunar]

Game In TV (Ch.226) is now looping a promo stating that Poker Zone will be launching there from Friday April 29th

[robbi]

Any chance the list could include information for FTA or FTV as would make it easier for many FTA viewers thanks

[lnp]

Originally Posted by simax

What's going on with the Men and Motors test? There's a different programme running, and the logo keeps going on and off repeatedly.

Men and Motors 2 perhaps?

Simon

It's the neutered version planned for freeview. The soft porn content isn't shown and the yellow information screen appears before 11pm instead.

Don't get why the testing on Satellite unless it's to test out the 16x9 capability. Maybe all platforms will get this version at some point.

[Analoguesat]

Flysat are reporting "Wonderful World" on 11307V. Anyone got any info on this - Im at work and cant look!?