Canarian Weekly
25-01-2013, 12:00
Many of us awoke on Wednesday morning to find our customary Sky News channel and many others blank.
We’ve been expecting some of our TV channels to disappear for months; it has been threatened for years, but none of us thought we would lose the Sky service.!
It was originally thought that the core ‘Free Sat Channels’, as they are known – BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 – would move.
The reason behind this was the launch of a new satellite called Astra 2F, which was launched by satellite operator SES on the 28th September 2012 on board an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou,French Guiana.
The new satellite was the first of three, 2E, 2F and 2G, which, ironically, was set to provide increased capacity for pan-European services.
It transpired that only Channel 5 moved in November 2012, available here now only on a large three-metre dish, albeit with a very weak, intermittent signal, while the others remained in place.
Last month the BBC said: “…there is currently some speculation about the timing of forthcoming moves of BBC services between satellites, and the reason for these changes.
“The quick answer is that, as a result of SES’s fleet replacement programme, BBC services will move in the second half of 2013.
“In February 2012, SES retired Astra 2D, and BBC services moved to a new, temporary home on Astra 1N. Astra 1N is due to take up its permanent position in 2013 (19°East), so the BBC’s services will move to their new, permanent home on Astra 2E (28.2°East) when that becomes operational.
“SES expects Astra 2E to launch in Q2 2013, so we currently expect to transition BBC services to it during summer 2013.”
The channels now unobtainable seem to be increasing by the day and, as we go to print, the current position is:
Channel disappeared Should now be available on
Channel 5 ** (hd) Totally unavailable
Sky News *(sd) Totally unavailable
Sky Sports News ** (hd) Totally unavailable
Sky Sports 1 *(sd) Sky Sports 1 *(hd)
Sky Sports 2 *(sd) Sky Sports 2 **(hd)
Sky Sports 3 * (sd) Totally unavailable
Sky Sports 4 * (sd) Sky Sports 4 ** (hd)
Sky Sports F1 ** (hd) Sky Sports F1 * (sd)
Pick TV & +1 Totally unavailable
Dave and Watch Dave and Watch * (sd)
Gold * (sd) Gold ** (hd)
Discovery ** (hd) Discovery * (sd)
Animal planet, Nat Geo, Eden Totally unavailable
*(sd) standard Sky box **(hd) High definition Sky box
If you possess a Sky HD box, then you should be able to locate the standard channel as opposed to HD.
Now that some Sky channels are not being received in theCanary Islands, it means that confusion reigns.
According to the transmission footprint, they should be receivable on a small one-metre dish. But at present they are not even functioning on a large dish.
A source toldCanarian Weekly, “It is thought that the loss of channels, (there may be more) will be temporary, lasting for possibly six months. All the lost channels have gone to another beam which we can not receive here inTenerife. Then, those channels will move to a new satellite, Astra 2E.”
More... (http://www.canarianweekly.com/shock-switch-off/)
We’ve been expecting some of our TV channels to disappear for months; it has been threatened for years, but none of us thought we would lose the Sky service.!
It was originally thought that the core ‘Free Sat Channels’, as they are known – BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 – would move.
The reason behind this was the launch of a new satellite called Astra 2F, which was launched by satellite operator SES on the 28th September 2012 on board an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou,French Guiana.
The new satellite was the first of three, 2E, 2F and 2G, which, ironically, was set to provide increased capacity for pan-European services.
It transpired that only Channel 5 moved in November 2012, available here now only on a large three-metre dish, albeit with a very weak, intermittent signal, while the others remained in place.
Last month the BBC said: “…there is currently some speculation about the timing of forthcoming moves of BBC services between satellites, and the reason for these changes.
“The quick answer is that, as a result of SES’s fleet replacement programme, BBC services will move in the second half of 2013.
“In February 2012, SES retired Astra 2D, and BBC services moved to a new, temporary home on Astra 1N. Astra 1N is due to take up its permanent position in 2013 (19°East), so the BBC’s services will move to their new, permanent home on Astra 2E (28.2°East) when that becomes operational.
“SES expects Astra 2E to launch in Q2 2013, so we currently expect to transition BBC services to it during summer 2013.”
The channels now unobtainable seem to be increasing by the day and, as we go to print, the current position is:
Channel disappeared Should now be available on
Channel 5 ** (hd) Totally unavailable
Sky News *(sd) Totally unavailable
Sky Sports News ** (hd) Totally unavailable
Sky Sports 1 *(sd) Sky Sports 1 *(hd)
Sky Sports 2 *(sd) Sky Sports 2 **(hd)
Sky Sports 3 * (sd) Totally unavailable
Sky Sports 4 * (sd) Sky Sports 4 ** (hd)
Sky Sports F1 ** (hd) Sky Sports F1 * (sd)
Pick TV & +1 Totally unavailable
Dave and Watch Dave and Watch * (sd)
Gold * (sd) Gold ** (hd)
Discovery ** (hd) Discovery * (sd)
Animal planet, Nat Geo, Eden Totally unavailable
*(sd) standard Sky box **(hd) High definition Sky box
If you possess a Sky HD box, then you should be able to locate the standard channel as opposed to HD.
Now that some Sky channels are not being received in theCanary Islands, it means that confusion reigns.
According to the transmission footprint, they should be receivable on a small one-metre dish. But at present they are not even functioning on a large dish.
A source toldCanarian Weekly, “It is thought that the loss of channels, (there may be more) will be temporary, lasting for possibly six months. All the lost channels have gone to another beam which we can not receive here inTenerife. Then, those channels will move to a new satellite, Astra 2E.”
More... (http://www.canarianweekly.com/shock-switch-off/)