SD Sky Discovery (potential) switch-off (technical)

Onramp · 26-01-2017, 22:09

I don't watch TV but I'm interested from a technical perspective:

Assuming Discovery Networks were to disappear from Sky in February, would that mean that VM's feed is affected?

Or (more likely maybe) would Sky / Discovery leave the satellite signal active (so VM can continue to receive it) but send an entitlement management message to Sky's customer's cards to disable the channels just for Sky viewers in the short term in case dispute has been resolved?

Or maybe VM already receive those channels via fibre?

As far as I know, VM take their discovery channel feeds from the same Astra satellite that feeds the Sky service - and they use Sky viewing cards. If this is so, then in theory, anyone who happens to have a third-party Videoguard CAM that doesn't receive EMMs from Sky were to accidentally take their official Sky card out of their Sky box just before the decision is taken to stop broadcasting, then accidentally insert that card into their third party Videoguard CAM, presumably they might be able to continue watching Discovery for a few days...

theone2k10 · 26-01-2017, 22:20

Vms feed will be fine i believe VM use a sattelite feed then distribute that to their customers.
Someone more informed will know more about that than me.

BenMcr · 26-01-2017, 22:30

There will be no disruption http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...s/bc-p/3322835

nodrogd · 26-01-2017, 22:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onramp

I don't watch TV but I'm interested from a technical perspective:

Assuming Discovery Networks were to disappear from Sky in February, would that mean that VM's feed is affected?

Or (more likely maybe) would Sky / Discovery leave the satellite signal active (so VM can continue to receive it) but send an entitlement management message to Sky's customer's cards to disable the channels just for Sky viewers in the short term in case dispute has been resolved?

Or maybe VM already receive those channels via fibre?

As far as I know, VM take their discovery channel feeds from the same Astra satellite that feeds the Sky service - and they use Sky viewing cards. If this is so, then in theory, anyone who happens to have a third-party Videoguard CAM that doesn't receive EMMs from Sky were to accidentally take their official Sky card out of their Sky box just before the decision is taken to stop broadcasting, then accidentally insert that card into their third party Videoguard CAM, presumably they might be able to continue watching Discovery for a few days...

The majority of VM's HD channels are received line fed & uncompressed to the master headend near slough. Feeds can be added this way, not to mention several distribution satellites that VM also have dishes aimed at.

Onramp · 26-01-2017, 23:49

I see - I was under the impression that most of it came down from Astra via rack mounted satellite receivers. This used to be the case in the late 90's at least when I saw inside a hub site. Although the signals come from the master headend now, I had the impression that it was still fed via Sky for the most part - although this might be less and less true nowadays.

Stephen · 27-01-2017, 07:31

Its not been that way for years. VM get their channels directly.

nodrogd · 27-01-2017, 13:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onramp

I see - I was under the impression that most of it came down from Astra via rack mounted satellite receivers. This used to be the case in the late 90's at least when I saw inside a hub site. Although the signals come from the master headend now, I had the impression that it was still fed via Sky for the most part - although this might be less and less true nowadays.

Some of it no doubt comes from Astra, there is also a capability of receiving several other satellites & from Freeview DTT, as the attached image shows:

Onramp · 27-01-2017, 23:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by nodrogd

Some of it no doubt comes from Astra, there is also a capability of receiving several other satellites & from Freeview DTT, as the attached image shows:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08...r_to_the_sofa/

Well, part of my speculation was based on this from just over 2 years ago...

If Discovery is received via satellite, the signal is probably still there for VM to receive. The article also mentions that VM rotate their viewing cards (presumably so they receive EMMs through a standard Sky box since aftermarket Videoguard decoders don't apply updates to cards - although I'm not sure if that's true for Cisco ones).

I was always interested in how this stuff worked. Far more so than watching the actual content being broadcast ironically.

RichardCoulter · 28-01-2017, 16:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by nodrogd

Some of it no doubt comes from Astra, there is also a capability of receiving several other satellites & from Freeview DTT, as the attached image shows:

Well, i've been told that VM get their HD feeds by fibre and SD feeds via the satellite.

Can't remember if it was an SD or a HD channel that I was watching on VM last night, but the ticker advice for Sky customers appeared at the top (think it was Discovery Science).

I don't think that this has a HD variant, so perhaps this explains why the ticker is being shown to VM customers??

Could this mean that for technical reasons, as opposed to the Sky/Discovery dispute itself, that we will lose access to the SD Discovery channels from the 1st February??

---------- Post added at 16:32 ---------- Previous post was at 16:29 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenMcr

There will be no disruption http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...s/bc-p/3322835

Looks like VM may have contingency plans (assuming that what I was told was correct)...

Onramp · 28-01-2017, 17:24

Well, that's what I was asking - but I would imagine that the Astra satellite will still be used since it is a feed as well as direct-to-home. But since Sky don't have the contract themselves, they would need to disable their customers' viewing cards.

That's why I'm saying that if someone were to accidentally leave their card out of their box when it should be updated for Sky customers, a legitimage Sky card that didn't get the message for whatever reason might continue to work in a third-party Videoguard CAM that can't pass updates to the card. It would eventually switch off, of course.

Alternatively, the signal will disappear from Astra but VM has a fibre connection ready to go.

OLDGOLD · 28-01-2017, 20:12

I've just switched from Sky to VM - install a week on Monday. Having started watching snooker on Eurosport a couple of months ago I was really pleased with my decision as I would be facing the prospect of losing Eurosport should I have remained with Sky. I'm starting to get worried now having read this debate on whether or not VM will lose it.

spiderplant · 28-01-2017, 20:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by OLDGOLD

I'm starting to get worried now having read this debate on whether or not VM will lose it.

Worry not. They won't.

Onramp · 28-01-2017, 21:06

Yeah don't let my speculation worry you, they'll already have a process in place whatever happens.

alwaysabear · 28-01-2017, 21:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onramp

Yeah don't let my speculation worry you, they'll already have a process in place whatever happens.

If spiderplant says the Discovery channels will be in place on VM they will be!

nodrogd · 28-01-2017, 21:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by OLDGOLD

I've just switched from Sky to VM - install a week on Monday. Having started watching snooker on Eurosport a couple of months ago I was really pleased with my decision as I would be facing the prospect of losing Eurosport should I have remained with Sky. I'm starting to get worried now having read this debate on whether or not VM will lose it.

Perhaps this will convince you.

http://www.keepdiscovery.co.uk/faq/