Have your say & ask the experts

When I bought into Freesat Last year, There was a couple of promises being pushed on the Freesat platform.

HD channels without the contract. Excellent I have no problems with that.

New channels to be added every month either Standard or HD. rubbish!!!! Now I do have a problem with this.

Over the last six months I have started to get greeted with 'NEW Channels to be added' when I switch on my Foxsat HDR.

Only to find after the re-tune that one channel has been removed? And this is happening regular. I now have a growing fear that if I switch on the Foxsat HDR one day it will say EVERY BLOODY CHANNEL has been removed!

Its about time Freesat  pulled their fingers out and start fulfilling the promises they have made or consumers will vote with their feet and Freesat will be another dead duck floating on the pond of electronic history.

i also bought the bush freesat box then upgraded to humax hd pvr
a very good machine it is too, but the lack of hd channels is so frustating
but hey ho they have added 3 shopping channels in sd still none new hd channels
not even the promised c4 hd,, so i have now upgraded to sky hd
and this has taken my home cinema to another level and if freesat
dont start giving some new hd soon it will go the way of the dodo..
i am really pleased with sky there hd service is very good well worth it..

murg:

not only broken promises regarding new hd channels but on top of that they cut the bit rates and reduce the picture quality of the limited hd content they offer! Sky must be loving it

Freesat is a Platform/EPG provider not a broadcaster! So Freesat haven't cut bitrates or reduced PQ at all,that's down to the individual broadcaster's.

More importantly the channels that Freesat and Sky have in common are the same transmissions/signals so the BBC bitrate issue effect's both platforms.

They may not have promised lots of HD channels or CH4-HD but they did promise on the website new channels to be added every month. They did not promise to take channels away every month. And this is happening at an alarming rate.

Freesat is a joint venture with the BBC ITV and others. The reduction in bit rate is their responsability. The BBC have since gone on record stating the reduction in bit rate is because of hardware that has been supplied to them from an outside source.

Mmmmm. This outside source would have had to compete to win the contract from the BBC to provide the hardware. The problem of reduction in picture quality in HD came to light when complaints started to hit the net. And now the BBC are looking at the scapegoat they gave the contract too, Surely the BBC looked at the equipment to be supplied and agreed?

And the winners out of this situation? Sky and Virgin. They must be having a good old giggle at Freesat's expense.

swiftmick:

And the winners out of this situation? Sky and Virgin. They must be having a good old giggle at Freesat's expense.

As far as BBC HD is concerned, the bitrates have been reduced by exactly the same amount on Sky and Virgin I believe (definitely Sky, pretty sure about Virgin). How could Sky's BBCHD bitrate NOT be reduced? It's the same feed from the same satellite!

swiftmick:

They may not have promised lots of HD channels or CH4-HD but they did promise on the website new channels to be added every month.

You also need to consider the state of the economy has changed dramatically since launch,and a lot of broadcaster's who rely on advertising revenue alone aren't making any money so it's not viable for them to broadcast FTA at the moment.You cant blame Freesat for that...

swiftmick:

They did not promise to take channels away every month. And this is happening at an alarming rate.

swiftmick:

Freesat is a joint venture with the BBC ITV

Although funded/set up by BBC/ITV, Freesat is a completely  independant non-profit organisation.

So the bitrate/PQ issue's are nothing to do with Freesat.That is down to the BBC

swiftmick:

And the winners out of this situation? Sky and Virgin. They must be having a good old giggle at Freesat's expense.

As i said in my first post, Freesat and Sky receive the same transmissions/signals from the same satellite's so the BBC bitrate/PQ issues effect both platforms......

Totally agree with Swiftmick, Freesat is a big con, keep losing channels, no increase in hd channels which where implied at launch (though not promised). Bought a Humax Foxsat HDR back in Feb, keeps losing sound and now can't even get itv hd, going to take back (for the 3rd time), have a refund and put the money towards Sky Hd. Shame really!!!!

Alan 

al30tsm:

Totally agree with Swiftmick, Freesat is a big con, keep losing channels, no increase in hd channels which where implied at launch (though not promised). Bought a Humax Foxsat HDR back in Feb, keeps losing sound and now can't even get itv hd, going to take back (for the 3rd time), have a refund and put the money towards Sky Hd. Shame really!!!!

Freesat is no more of a con than any other free service

(Although I appreciate what you and other members have said about the paucity of HD channels, how can free public service be a con?)

The issues that you are currently having are surely problems with the box? I have the Humax HD PVR too and have no such issues...so it surely has nothing to do with the broadcast signal.

Sky HD boxes are also prone to many faults. A search of these very forums will show the myriad of problems people have had with recurrent breakdowns.