All posts by Ray Baldacchino
Below are all of Ray Baldacchino's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
I think there is some confusion because of the mis-use of the term 'Freeview'.
You cannot get freeview channels on a satellite receiver as freeview channels are terrestrial channels. To get freeview channels, you need a freeview receiver.
To get free-to-air channels, which is what people often mean when they refer to freeview channels, you can use either a freeview receiver, or a satellite receiver which could be a freesat box, or a Sky box. However, you will need to subscribe to get HD free-to-air channels on a Sky box.
You do not need to pay anything to get HD free-to-air channels on a freeview or a freesat box.
I hope this helps any confused people out there.
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Surely, you do not need to pay Sky anything to watch channels 4 & 5?
These are free-to-air channels which can be watched free of any charges on a freeview receive or a satellite receiver such as a Sky box or a freesat receiver.
If you want to watch them in HD, you can on a freeview box or a freesat box but you will have to pay to watch them in HD on a Sky box.
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I suggest that we should stop taxing people to pay for the TV licence, and it should be abolished and the BBC should operate like any other commercial TV broadcaster. For those concerned about commercial breaks within a programme, this could be avoided and advertising could be confined to between programmes.
When the BBC was formed, and for a long time after, it may have been appropriate to be funded by what is, in anybody's language, a tax. But these days, I would argue that people should not be forcibly taxed to provide entertainment which they may or may not want. To my mind, this is an abuse of Parliament's powers because it is unreasonable to tax people to provide entertainment. People are not free to choose on this issue - they should be.
I am sure, from the TV ratings, that the BBC can hold its own on advertising revenue, as it is a quality broadcaster. Reduce unreasonable taxation now!
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I am in favour of maintaining standards at the BBC but I cannot condone taxing people to pay for what is principally an organization which provides entertainment. Its wrong in principle to compulsorily force people to pay for entertainment which they may not use. The BBC can maintain its income by advertising between programmes, not during, since its high quality output should attract plenty of advertisers who may pay a premium to the BBC channels which have very good listening/viewing ratings.
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Well done Which? - they finally got at least one organization - Sky - to comply with the law of contract and stopped them from breaking existing consumer laws too. A lot of the telecoms companies have been increasing the cost of their services above that agreed at the onset of the contract.
A trick EE attempted was to charge me £18.25 from 3/7/15 to 2/8/15, when my contract for b'band and phone ended with them on 3/7/15 and I moved to my new supplier on 6/7/15 for the phone and 21/7/15 for the b'band! I cancelled my direct debit so they could not charge me a month's line rental (most of the £18.25) for 2 days - 4 & 5/7/15 - and refund me in September! I e-mailed them twice to explain my position because they continued to make demands despite my 1st explanation. They never did give me a final bill but if I had allowed them to take the £18.25, my relationship with them would have been extended by over 2 months after my contract expired with them holding onto my money.
SSE, my new supplier, were unable to transfer my phone and b'band on the same day - the latter was transferred 15 days later. This has happened before, in fact I think its always been the case when I have changed suppliers. It seems that in the UK, our suppliers are unable to do things properly and transfer both services on the same date, as they do in North America, who usually are more up-to-date than this country and not so prehistoric!
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Thanks for your e-mail which I received today, 13/3/2018, informing me that you were only given 2 days notice that Ch4HD will no longer be available on Freesat from 22/2/2018! Any TV broadcaster receiving money from the TV licence should make their channels available on both Freeview and Freesat; I understand that Ch4 does receive funding from the licence.
Other broadcasters do not show their HD channels on either Freeview or Freesat e.g. ITV2, 3 and 4, but they don't get TV licence money. There must be an incentive as to why they broadcast in HD on the Sky platform - I wonder what it is?
In my area, (Caerphilly), I would like to know why we don't get, on Freeview, for example, ITV4 or E4 in SD, and many other channels too numerous to mention, when we get duplications of other channels, e.g. we get on Freeview ITV in HD twice with nothing on one of them! We still have BBC3, twice (SD & HD), with nothing on them! Freeview is so poor in our area that most people have satellite TV.
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There's no such thing as free TV, as you have to pay for a TV licence to watch any channel, which cost around 155 a year, I think. Thus Freeview and Freesat are misleading and should be corrected. Most people watch satellite TV in my area (Caerphilly) because Freeview is so poor with few channels, although you can watch the Sewing Quarter channel and we get 2 X BBC3 channels but of course there is no information on them and several other 'no information' channels. It would not bother me if Freeview disappered from my area.
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MikeB: I know what you are saying but as far as I am concerned, I pay the TV licence because I have to, in order to watch any TV channel via Freeview or Freesat. That means its a cost that has to be paid.
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Tuesday 9 September 2014 12:43PM
I live in the South Wales Valleys (Caerphilly - a quite sizeable town) but we cannot receive many channels on Freeview e.g we don't get Ch 4seven SD, never mind HD. Nor do we receive BBC4HD but we do receive BBC3HD! We do receive ITV1 & 2 in SD but not Ch 2 +1, or any Ch ITV3 or 4. We receive More4 but not E4!
Cardiff, only about 4/5 miles away, get the full Freeview service.
That's why most people in the Valleys use Freesat. Advertisers should take note!