Channel 5 HD, Channel 5’s high definition channel, has today moved from the European beam to the UK beam.
The move has been made from a Sky operated transponder, to a transponder controlled by Channel 5.
It joins the rest of the Channel Five group of channels, including 5STAR and Spike
There have today been changed for Channel Five on satellite.
As we reported a few weeks ago – https://www.satandpcguy.com/blog/2015/11/channel-five-satellite-changes-in-the-next-few-weeks/
Channel Five used to operate a number of different regional variations of Channel Five for different advertising in different regions of the UK. These advertising differences were stopped during mid 2015. And today there is now only one version, not the 5 regional versions, of Channel Five operating.
Is Channel 5 HD coming to Freesat soon?
What has lead to this speculation?
Well, on Friday on the Channel Five satellite transponder, 10964 H 22 5/6, new label has appeared.
This label is tagged as “7750”
Channel Five satellite changes in the next few weeks.
In the next few week, there will be some technical changes happening to Channel Five on satellite.
In the past Channel Five have operated five regional variations of Channel Five, for more specific advertising.
Earlier this year, since 1st August 2015, there has been just one national version of Channel 5, showing the same adverts.
Now in the next couple of weeks, four of the Channel Five regional variations will close, leaving just one feed covering the whole of the UK.
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Channel Five had operated five versions of Channel Five, for advertising purposes.
The five Channel Five regions were London, South/Central England and Wales, Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which enabled advertisers to target specific regions.
However, it appears that on the 1st August 2015, advertising on these five versions is the same. So all five regional variations of Channel 5 serving different parts of the UK on satellite are now simulcasting the same content.
Channel Fives new owners Viacom considers running these five regional variations financially unviable.
So what is happening to the five Channel Five versions on satellite?
Football League Tonight
Channel 5
Starts August 8
Channel Five is the new home for the Championship Football League and League Cup highlights.
The highlights show will be on Saturdays at 9pm, and promises to show all goals from all matches in the football league.
Channel 5 Christmas Eve and Christmas Day schedules are included below:
Christmas Eve
6:00 Milkshake
9:30 Gone with the Wind
13:50 The Adventures of Robin Hood
15:50 Scrooge – A Christmas Carol (B&W version)
17:35 Michael Buble’s Christmas 2014
18:30 My Big Xmas Benefits Blow-Out
19:20 Britain’s Craziest Christmas Lights
20:25 The Dog Rescuers with Alan Davies: Christmas Special
21:30 Greatest Ever Christmas Movies
Christmas Day
6:00 Milkshake!
9:10 Access
9:20 Andre Rieu’s Christmas Around the World
10:20 Scrooge
12:35 The Sound of Music – Live!
15:25 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
18:10 Michael Buble’s Christmas Songbook
19:05 Chas & Dave’s Xmas Knees Up
20:00 Britain’s Favourite Christmas Songs
23:05 Muriel’s Wedding
1:15 ABBA: Live in Concert
Discovery Communications and BSkyB are poised to announce a £350m deal to acquire Channel 5 from Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell.
Full details are not known, but Discovery is thought to have a 70% share of the deal with BSkyB taking the remaining 30% share, allowing it to add C5’s advertising inventory to its own sales operation.
The deal will mark a significant step for US media giant Discovery, which has been keen to ramp up both its international portfolio and its exposure to free-to-air broadcasting in key markets.
Richard Desmond bought C5 from RTL in 2010 for £104m. While he was reportedly hoping to attract bids of closer to £600m, he will be happy to have tripled his money in less than four years.
The acquisition would be the most significant deal in the UK free-to-air market since the launch of C5 in 1997.
The deal, which will still be subject to regulatory sign-off, will likely have a massive impact on the channel’s programming budget, with some sources suggesting that it will be more than doubled.
source: broadcastnow.co.uk/news/broadcasters/discovery-on-brink-of-channel-5-deal/5070716.article
Channel Five launched a new “catch Up” channel today – Channel 5+24.
It has meant a shuffle of some of their channel.
On Sky:
105 – Channel 5
171 – Channel 5 HD (subscription required)
174 – 5 USA
175 – Channel 5+24
176 – 5*
177 – Channel 5+1
219 – 5 USA+1
On Freesat:
105 – Channel 5
128 – Channel 5+1
129 – 5 USA
130 – 5 USA+1
131 – 5*
132 – Channel 5+24
So it looks like 5*+1 has been dropped for Channel 5+24.
Further to our previous post :
https://www.satandpcguy.com/blog/2014/01/channel-5-24-hours-channel-launch-february/
Channel Five will launch a new channel, Channel 5+24, on the 4th February 2014.
Channel 5+24 is a new +24 hour catch-up channel where between 7pm and midnight, the channel will broadcast whatever Channel 5 was showing the previous day. Hence the “+24”.
Channel 5+24 will be available on
Freesat channel number 132
and
Sky Channel number 175
replacing the Channel 5+1 service.
Channel 5 has confirmed that it is planning to launch its new 5 Later service this January.
The service will be available on Freeview, YouView, Freesat and Sky.
5 Later will be “a catch-up channel”, similar to Channel 4’s 4seven.
It will provide a chance to see a repeat of programmes shown on Channel 5 earlier in the day or in the past 24 hours
Channel 5 HD
It now looks like this channel is no longer “free to view”.
It has now joined the Sky pay service, and requires a Sky subscription to the “Entertainment Extra+” package.
“Channel 5’s twitter account says they have now joined the HD pack ”
Also “Channel 5’s Customer Service have confirmed that Channel 5 HD changed it’s encryption package from Noon today”
Is Channel Five HD coming to Freesat soon…?
Currently Channel Five HD is available on frequency 12266 H SR 29500 FEC 3/4 on transponder 29 on Astra 1Ns European beam, whose reception is very good in many areas of Spain. It currently requires a Sky viewing card, but is available no subscription, to watch this channel.
However, since the main channels, Five, Five USA and Five* all became “free to air” (ie do not require a viewing card) a year or so ago, there has been speculation when Channel Five HD would also go “free to air”.
Well, the answer could well be “soon”.
Why?
Well, recently a Channel Five HD channel has appeared on a BBC transponder on Astra 2F.
The frequency is 11023 H SR 23000 FEC 2/3 and is on transponder 61 on Astra 2F.
This could be for a future launch of Channel Five HD on Freesat, or simply some form of test – so nothing is as yet confirmed, and this is simply speculation.
This could mean that the BBC are “loaning” their frequency to Channel Five to assist with the launch on Channel Five HD onto Freesat. The BBC did this previously, putting a Channel 5 region onto one of their transponders to allow Channel Five onto Freesat.
The downside of this is that the frequency of 11023 H SR 23000 FEC 2/3 and on transponder 61 on Astra 2F is on a UK beam, and this may mean that the reception for Channel Five HD may soon change in “fringe reception areas” like southern Spain. So it may be that if you live in an areas that lost reception of Channel Five back in December 2012, when they moved from their previous satellite Astra 1N to Astra 2F, then this move of Channel Five HD to Freesat may also result in the loss of Channel Five HD. If you can currently receive Channel Five , Five USA and Five*, then hopefully your reception of Channel Five HD should not be affected.
December 2012 Update : Channel Movement From Astra 1N to Astra 2F
On Tuesday 4th December 2012, a number of UK satellite TV channels and frequencies moved from their temporary satellite home Astra 1N, to their new home on Astra 2F.
The channels and frequencies affected are :
10.964 H SR 22.000 FEC 5/6 (CH5/5USA/5*/Channel 5+1),
10.994 H SR 22.000 FEC 5/6 (ITV 1 Granada HD/ITV 1 Central South West SD/ITV 1 Anglia West SD/ITV 1 Meridian North SD/ITV 1 Yorkshire East SD/ITV 1+1 Yorkshire SD),
11.052 H SR 22.000 FEC 5/6 (ITV 1 Central South SD/ITV 1 Central East SD/ITV 1+1 Wales SD/ITV 1+1 Westcountry SD/ITV 1+1 Tyne Tees SD)
11.126 V SR 22.000 FEC 5/6 (Channel 4 HD/4Seven SD)
There have been many reception reports for Astra 2F in Spain.
The initial indication are that there are areas of Spain that are now experiencing “no satellite signal” messages for these channels are the southern areas of Spain, like Andalucía, Malaga, Marbella and the Costa Del Sol.
Previously these areas benefitted from “bonus” reception due to a “side lobe” on Astra 2D, meaning they could receive most of the main UK TV channels on a “medium” sized satellite dish – such as a 1.25m satellite dish
However, with the change of these channels from Astra 1N to Astra 2F, these dishes are now simply too small to receive Channel Five and Channel 4HD.
A larger satellite dish will be required to be able to receive these channels again. What sized satellite dish to be able to receive these channels is currently debateable, as there are numerous conflicting reports for these areas.
However, it may be best to wait until the main bulk of the UK TV channels, like BBC and ITV move to their new satellite, whenever this may be. Only then can you be sure what sized satellite dish you will need to be able to receive these channels. There is no point in buying a 1.4m satellite dish today, if it is unknown and not guaranteed to receive the BBC channels when they move to their new satellite!
And at the moment, no-one knows what that will be.
Astra 2F UK Satellite changes:
A few (not all!) channels and frequencies moved from their old satellite to the new Astra 2F satellite last night.
The channels and frequencies affected are :
10.964 H SR 22.000 FEC 5/6 (CH5/5USA/5*/Channel 5+1),
10.994 H SR 22.000 FEC 5/6 (ITV 1 Granada HD/ITV 1 Central South West SD/ITV 1 Anglia West SD/ITV 1 Meridian North SD/ITV 1 Yorkshire East SD/ITV 1+1 Yorkshire SD),
11.052 H SR 22.000 FEC 5/6 (ITV 1 Central South SD/ITV 1 Central East SD/ITV 1+1 Wales SD/ITV 1+1 Westcountry SD/ITV 1+1 Tyne Tees SD)
11.126 V SR 22.000 FEC 5/6 (Channel 4 HD/4Seven SD)
People in some areas may notice loss of these channels on smaller 80cm or 1m dishes (especially if they are not aligned properly!)
But this does not mean the other channels (BBC ITV C4s) will not be moving – it is simply a question of when!