Category: Satellite

News stories relating to satellite TV, including subscription platform Sky, and free-to-air platforms Freesat, and the unadvertised and similarly named Freesat from Sky.

GB News to Challenge Sky and BBC

Andrew Neil, a former BBC journalist and broadcaster, is to launch a new 24 hour news channel called GB News. The channel will rival long established BBC News and Sky News, and will be on all major platforms, although exact platform availability is yet to be revealed.

Andrew Neil has been appointed chairman, and will also host a flagship programme. The management team will also include Angelos Frangopoulos (ex Sky Australia) and John McAndrew (ex Sky News).

Discovery has been named as the lead investor of the channel, which is expected to launch in 2021.

Sky Sports Cricket on YouTube

From today (21st September 2020), Sky Sports is streaming all 5 matches of the T20 Women’s Cricket series between England and the West Indies for free.

The coverage is available on the Sky Sports YouTube channel, in addition to live coverage on the Sky Sports Cricket Channel.

This is the schedule:

  • 21st September: 1st Vitality IT20 at 6.30pm
  • 23rd September: 2nd Vitality IT20 at 6.30pm
  • 26th September: 3rd Vitality IT20 at 1pm
  • 28th September: 4th Vitality IT20 at 6.30pm
  • 30th September: 5th Vitality IT20 at 6.30pm

Sky Arts Now on Freeview

As previously reported, Sky Arts has now gone free-to-air. The channel is available on Sky, Freesat, Freeview, and Virgin Media, and shows arts and culture based programmes.

Sky Arts is now available on Freeview channel 11, and has achieved a prominent position on the EPG due to number swapping with other Sky owned channels.

This means that the channel is close to channels from public service broadcasters BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5, who already show arts and culture based programmes.

BritBox Added to Freesat

The BritBox streaming service has been added to Freesat. The app is now available on the latest generation of 4K compatible receivers. Availability on older devices is not known.

An internet connection is required to use the app.

BritBox allows users to access archive and premium content from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5 on-demand, for a monthly subscription.

ZEE TV and ZEE Cinema to Close

Asian TV channels ZEE TV and ZEE Cinema are expected to close at the end of the year. Both are currently available on Sky (satellite) and Virgin Media (cable).

The move is subject to the renegotiation of commercial contracts, as these don’t expire until 2021. Zee had already closed its other services, including ZEE TV HD and ZEE Punjabi

Like Disney with Disney+, ZEE is focussing its efforts on its online streaming platform, in this case ZEE5.

All September Premier League Matches to Be Televised

With Covid-19 still forcing matches to be played behind closed doors, it has been confirmed that all September Premier League football matches will be shown live on TV.

Sky and BT Sport had already selected to show 17 matches, with a further 11 to also now be shown. Of these, Sky will show a further six, BT Sport will show a further three, with Amazon Prime and the BBC to show one each.

The BBC have confirmed that they will be showing Leicester City’s home fixture against Burnley, on 20th September (2020) with kick-off at 7pm.

It has not been confirmed if more Championship, League 1, and League 2 games will be televised.

New Partnership Sees NFL on Channel 5

American football league National Football League (NFL), and ViacomCBS have agreed a three year deal that will see NFL coverage on ViacomCBS owned Channel 5. Coverage will launch on the 13th September.

The deal sees the return of Monday Night Football live on free-to-air TV. A new Sunday morning magazine programme called NFL End Zone will also air at 11.30am each Sunday, and will be filmed in a different US location each week.

The deal will also see NFL content air across MTVs digital platforms in the UK, with MTV also being owned by ViacomCBS.

Channel 5 was previously an NFL broadcaster from 1998 to 2009.

Court TV Launches Tuesday

Court TV is launching on Sky channel 179 this Tuesday (8th September 2020). The American channel owned by E. W. Scripps Company specialises in broadcasts from court rooms along with other legal related content.

The channel is currently broadcasting trailers ahead of its launch, and will only be available in standard definition (SD). There is no timeshift (+1) version. The channel is available in both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

The channel is free-to-air, and although it has not officially launched on Freesat, the channel can be manually tuned into Freesat boxes.

Sony Pictures Television are handling the transmission of the channel on behalf of E. W. Scripps subsidiary Katz Broadcasting.

Football Blackout Lifted

The Football Association (FA) has lifted the Saturday afternoon 3pm blackout for the upcoming football season, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The blackout was introduced in 1980s, preventing games with a 3pm kick-off from being shown live on TV. This is to encourage fans to attend matches, and promote participation at grassroots level.

The move should mean that all Premier League matches will be available on TV, although the platforms showing the additional matches are yet to be confirmed.

Games are still being played behind closed doors, although it is planned that limited numbers of fans will be allowed to attend from the end of October.

Sky Arts on Freeview, What We Know So Far

Helpfully, information has been rather drip fed, but more details have now been confirmed for Sky’s Freeview channels.

On Freeview, Sky Arts will be available on channel number 11, and will be broadcast on the COM5 multiplex, from the 17th September (2020) Sky Pick will move from channel 11 to channel 34, but will remain on the same multiplex. Depending on your equipment, a re-tune may be required.

It appears that Challenge is continuing, at the least for the time being. There is currently capacity on the COM5 multiplex, meaning that Sky Arts can be added without the need to close another channel.

Merit appears likely to close, once it has given Sky Pick the 34 channel number, but this has not been confirmed. Additionally, Sky Arts will also be available on Freesat channel 147.