Galaxy 19 (97W) Ku-band channel guide -- Dec. 16 update

[northgeorgia]

A few of ViewSat's channels have gone dark. RTS 1 out of Senegal is looking really terrible these days (looks like a very slow internet uplink from their end with all the digital artifacts on screen, but audio is ok). Globecast's World TV continues to consolidate channels to start 2014 with fewer transponders.

 

[Keith Brannen]

I saw on another website that Globecast has posted on their website a list of the channels that are being removed:


http://www.globecastwtv.com/channel_removals2013.aspx

 

[northgeorgia]

What I find interesting is that not all of their current pay TV channels are listed there (although certainly the list includes the majority of them). I wonder if some of those may go ITC. I had no idea their customer service center was located in a rural town north of Spartanburg SC and halfway between Asheville and Charlotte NC. Ya learn something every day!

 

[skysurfer]

What I find interesting is that not all of their current pay TV channels are listed there (although certainly the list includes the majority of them). I wonder if some of those may go ITC.

I have thoughts that the pay service programmers that are continuing on Globecast might have enough paying subs to be viable by continuing to pay Globecast for transmission/conditional access services.

If they did go FTA, how do they fundraise to pay costs to be transmitted over Galaxy 19? Beg-a-thons?
Donation lower third scrolls?

 

[Titanium]

Globecast is adapting with the changing market demographics. I understand that they have performed a subscriber analysis which showed a large percentage of the customers subscribing to specific services had broadband. The new customer cost and content delivery cost is considerably lower with IP. IP opens a new market in large population areas that may have not allowed a dish installation. Starting a new customer is as easy as shipping a $75 box instead of rolling an installer and providing a dish, lnb, distribution, set-top box and access card. Service calls are all but eliminated and enables delivery of new content like PPV and on demand.

Doubt that any of these channels would change from subscription to FTA. This shift isn't about about Globecast terminating their subscription platform on G19, it is about reliably providing the content to the most potential subscribers at the lowest cost per sub.

Globecast is the subscription mechanism for these encrypted channels and this management service is not going away. If the encrypted channel moves to another uplinker, they would need a service to manage the CAS and viewer payments. This sideways move is always possible, but Globecast has a proven worldwide mechanism for cost effective subscription management. If satellite delivery is reaching the encrypted channel's demographic, I would expect them to remain encrypted with Globecast on G-19.

Globecast is currently load balancing and getting rid of unused bandwidth to minimize leased transponder costs. Remember, this channel movement is only visible to FTA boxes as Globecast STBs are automatically updated. Outside of the subscribers moving to IP, most of their subscribers are likely unaware that this realignment is happening.

 

[DJdish]

Nile TV has been in color bars the last couple of days or so, mmm.