In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

They was referring to when Sky first started up and only had 1 or 2 channels on a 3rd party Satellite which was called Astra, then up went another satellite and another and another ended up being called Astra 1a, ... 1d and then Sky sent up their own Satellite which was Digital to what we are using now.

Sky have never sent up their own Birds. They've always used third party ones, owned and operated by SES and Eutelsat.

The 3 birds currently in use at 28.2E/28.5E are all SES, Astra 2E, F and G.

2A is still located there but inactive having reached end of life. Eurobird 1 (later renamed to Eutelsat 28A) operated at 28.5E from the early 00s to last year when it was redeployed and renamed

If the BBC start requiring user authentication (issued with a TV licence) it could make it a lot more difficult. Of course userids can leak, but there are ways of combating that too by detecting too many simultaneous sessions, forcing password resets and so on. There are always workarounds for those that want to go to a of effort, but it's generally too much trouble for most people who will want convenience.

Ah the beauty of being over 75 and getting 3 year free licences

Being an avid demand user how will they legislate for Netflix and Amazon Prime?

NowTV could well require a licence.

One of the issues appears to be students. Their parents would likely tell them a password which they could use whilst at home or away. (Radio 4 this morning)

In reply to a post by 961a:

Quite right too

Encrypt BBC and i-player and let folk choose

Pay or don't watch

I agree... it has the same equivelent to watching Fox/Nat Geo on Sky.... yet without the encryption requirement.

Yes, and clearly any such system would have to have a limit on the number of simultaneous sessions per household (or licence) in order to allow mobile gadgets, smart TV and do on. But those students are presumably already using iPlayer already, so it wouldn't make things worse.

Perhaps the licence ought to be set out in two parts. A fixed base fee per property supplemented by a variable charge according to the number of simultaneous streams (or userids).

Of course it's tricky, but given there are commercial streaming services like NetFlix who get paid that way, I'm sure something can be worked out. Of course the BBC might not like this as it pushes the corporation more down the path of being funded by subscription and not by a hypothecated tax.

It would be relatively easy at the moment. TV broadcasters have a particular sort of licence (whether satellite or terrestrial broadcasters), so it's fairly easy where that broadcaster is offering catchup services. So Sky, ITV, C4 etc can all be clearly defined, especially where they stream content that they've previously broadcast.

The problem would come in the future if/when satellite & terrestrial broadcasting disappears and everything is streamed through the Internet. At that point it becomes very difficult.

nb. if it was done this way, it would mean that the catch-up services of the other broadcasters would have to be tied into an authentication system that comes with the TV licence.

In reply to a post by 961a:

Quite right too

Encrypt BBC and i-player and let folk choose

Pay or don't watch

How does encryption help if access via a number of portable devices using the Internet is allowed? Once some one has a key, they can share it with whoever they like.

I don't expect anything to change here, with me still able to watch output from EVERY worldwide pay provider for free. The BBC and their license won't alter the sites I use. All the encryption in the world will never stop folks sharing worldwide.

Edited by professor973 (Thu 03-Mar-16 11:50:01)

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

In reply to a post by 961a:

Quite right too

Encrypt BBC and i-player and let folk choose

Pay or don't watch

How does encryption help if access via a number of portable devices using the Internet is allowed? Once some one has a key, they can share it with whoever they like.

Sky, Netflix, Amazon... ect... they seem to be doing ok!

We going a bit too deep into this discussion...

IMO, If the BBC want to be a premium channel and keep there no advertisments policy then they sould become a Premium TV service that requires a subscription to watch, encrypt the live broadcast's, sign in's required for OD content and let people choose...

As it stand's, there's nothing on the BBC that I really watch, I used to watch BBC 3 frequently in the evenings, but that was more filling time before bed and it was content I'd already seen earlier from box sets or premium TV channels (2-5 years ago)

I used to listen to Radio 1 frequently but over the last 2 years it lost all its talent and now is just rubbish.... as we speak I'm live streaming Heart on my Sonos and if the advertisments get on my nerves I'll pop on something from Spotify Premium...

No way am I paying for less and less entertainment, if that means taking my aerial/dish and shoving it up some TV detectors .... then so be it.