subject: Real Digital TV Coming to Ireland in Jan 2011 [print this page] Real Digital TV Coming to Ireland in Jan 2011
Far way from our little Island and slipping under the radar, an exciting development occured a couple of weeks ago in the courts in the UK which will affect everyone who watches Satellite TV in Ireland.
Real Digital TV won a court case against Sky, forcing them to sell them the rights to broadcast Sky Sports on their Digital TV platform. So in addition to being able to get all the UK and Irish free to air channels on one satellite receiver for the first time ever (without having to pay a subscription to Sky TV), you can now add in Sky sports to your pakage for a small monthly fee. The cost is yet to be announced but it will probably be less than what you currently pay, if not it will be exactly the same but you will not have to pay for the rest of the satellite tv package.
In these time of harsh austerity, saving money is the number one concern of most people in Ireland. While most are reluctant to give up luxuries (didn't seem to be a luxury in the good times), this new Real Digital TV service will enable people to retian the majoirty of their current Satellite TV channels and keep their Sky Sports but for a fraction of the cost.
It is estimated that a new Real Digital TV Satellite Receiver is probably going to set you back in the region of 200 plus euros. It sounds like a lot but it will be a one off payment. Sky at the moment for the basic package is over 20 euros per month, so in reality, after 10 months the real digital receiver has paid for itself.
It is such a pity that sky make this so hard for companies to start up gainst them to offer people a real alternative. I suppose it's understandable from the point of view that they just want to protect what they have worked hard to build up from scratch but on the other hand, it totally goes against competition in the satellite tv market.
The fact is that thet probably already knew what the outcome of the court case would be before it started. It's actually in the law that they have to sell their sports packages to rivals to counter actwhat may be percieved as a monopoly. But it seems what they want to do is just make it as awkward, time consuming and costly for other satellite tv broadcasters to enter the market place.
Thankfully, Real Digital TV has won the case and from January 2011 we will finally have a real alternative Satellite TV provider in Ireland.
