Foxtel

i don’t think foxtel have any choice because the NBN now owns all the HFC cable

wrong :slight_smile: i got statelite and no channels will go:_) i had no problem got no idea what ur reaading

Oh yes they will. Cable has the full range of local TV stations on it. Satellite has none of the HD channels from the over the air networks, no 7Two, no 9Life, no One and a few others.

But all the Foxtel exclusive ones will be there obviously whether you’re on cable or satellite.

Although no service is immune from downtime every now and then, cable TV is generally more reliable than satellite from my experience.

I think only the three East Coast markets even get a selection of commercial FTA channels via Foxtel satellite, with everyone else only getting ABC & SBS services. Of course Foxtel could spend the money on additional satellite bandwidth + try and negotiate with the networks for retransmissions of all FTA services, but I doubt they’ll bother.

On the flipside, everyone will have the additional ABC radio channels (It varies by state but “City” and “State” Local Radio + RN, NewsRadio, Triple J & Classic FM) which are oddly available on satellite but not cable which only has Double J and ABC Jazz.

Indeed. When I had Foxtel satellite, it was very prone to outages in storms.

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We have an IQ3 at home, would this affect us ?

Are you on cable or satellite?

Cable…

If you’re currently on Foxtel cable, I’d imagine that you’d need a satellite equivalent of your current set top box.

Also, do we know if there’s an exact timeframe for the cable/satellite switchover?

so far no for timeframe what i been reading

what they are doing now is that if you have cable and want to make any changes to your service (upgrade to IQ3 for example) they are swapping you to sat at the same time.

I can see why foxtel is doing this - having one delivery method would simplfy so much for them - there would be one type of box, one type of installer and make things like scheduling easier,

With regards to capacity, Foxtel Cable on the other hand has 560MHz worth of bandwidth to play with (that’s about the same bandwidth as 80 standard digital terrestrial TV multiplexes). Foxtel Satellite has around 962MHz to play with as well (26 carriers @ 37MHz each).

Keep in mind that satellite has higher error correction (and thus less efficient encoding) due to weather and interference being a factor in reception, while cable will probably have very little error correction applied due to the superior direct wired connection which theoretically should not be affected by interference.

The big thing with satellite is that if local channels are to be carried, they need to have regional variations for every single region in Australia which has that channel. So let’s say that we have five channels for each of the five terrestrial networks that are to be retransmitted for each of the 17 TV licence regions. That’s 5x5x17 = a shitload. Then you have to add on the HD variations and all that rubbish.

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Although it most likely won’t happen, I’d personally like to see Foxtel replace the SD versions of the free to air channels currently available via satellite with their HD equivalents.

Since we’re now in 2018 and that more people probably have Foxtel HD compared to ten or even five years ago, surely such a move could now be made with limited complaints? Afterall, we are talking about the same Pay TV platform that ceased transmission of analogue cable TV services in the major capital cities years before the pin was pulled on terrestrial analogue TV.

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Well if its gonna cost us money and likewise it will we made the decision to get rid of it …

Now that Foxtel is shafting cable, I’d like to see the ABC and SBS satellite services shared between VAST and Foxtel subscribers. This would ensure those who are moving over to Foxtel satellite won’t lose any ABC and SBS services they currently get, plus Optus would free up some space for other services. Commercial services are another kettle of fish.

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What a fucking joke. If NBN delivered the originally planned FTTP there would be no need for any of this shit.

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Important to note, the iQ3 can pick up all FTA channels (except viceland HD for some reason) through your aerial, not a dish or satellite, and I expect this is the direction Foxtel will want to head down for its future set-top boxes. It’s certainly cheaper than paying for retransmission.

So yeah, the trustworthy and fully functioning iQ2 will probably be rendered obsolete, everyone will have to upgrade to an iQ3 or whatever’s next.

Interesting to note that Sky UK has gone the other way and will ditch the dish for high speed broadband. But guess which company didn’t want that infrastructure here…

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Does this apply to the iQ3 cable boxes too? AFAIK, all the FTA services come through cable. Or is that for iQ2/iQ1 boxes?

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AFAIK it is only the Satellite version of the IQ3 that has a FTA tuner. Metro units connected via cable don’t.

In addition, I know several people who use their Foxtel cable as the only way to view FTA and don’t have an antenna.

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Well that’s me.