| |
|
| |
 |
| |
|
Download speed |
Monthly usage allowance |
Activation fee |
Monthly subscription |
| |
Base |
Up to 2Mb† |
2GB |
£40 |
FREE |
| *£26 combination |
Mid |
Up to 8Mb† |
40GB |
£20 |
£5 |
| |
Max |
Up to 16Mb† |
Unlimited** |
FREE |
£10 |
| |
Connect |
Up to 8Mb† |
40GB |
£40 |
£17 |
Base is the standard entry-level
Sky Broadband deal, connecting at a maximum speed
of 2Mbps, and giving users a 2GB monthly
allowance. However, after the initial £40
connection fee, there are no further charges for
using Sky Broadband Base – it is essentially a
free Broadband service alongside whichever digital
TV subscription you have with Sky.
Also included in the deal is a wireless router, a
free 12 month subscription to a security program
(customers are given a choice between McAfee
Internet Security Suite for PC users, and McAfee
Virex for Macs), and up to 10 email addresses for
Sky.com. All Sky Broadband users also get
exclusive access to extra Sky movies, sports and
entertainment content.
This deal is perfect for families and small-time
net users who only use the net occasionally, as
there is no additional charge for this simple
no-frills Broadband service.
FREE Sky broadband when taken with TV package.
Get super fast Sky Broadband for just £5 a month,
with up to 8Mb download speed† and a generous 40GB
monthly usage allowance – ideal for downloading
movies and music, as well as everyday browsing.
Plus we’ll give you a FREE Wireless Sky router††,
so you can go online anywhere in your home.
Up to 8Mb download speed†
Free Wireless Sky Router††
Free 12-month McAfee security
10 free Sky.com email addresses
40GB monthly usage allowance
Easy self-installation pack
*This combination of products for £26 is only
available to 70% of the UK population: customers
currently in our network area (50%) and those who
we will reach by July 2007 (20%).
**UK calls apply to 01 and 02 numbers only
(excluding the Channel Islands). 'Free' calls last
up to an hour, after which 0.8p per minute rates
apply for UK calls and Sky Talk standard
international rates apply for international calls,
or you can hang up and redial as often as you
like.
†Availability is subject to your location,
compatible line and equipment, and survey. Speeds
may vary significantly based on distance from
local exchange and line quality.
††If your PC or laptop is not wireless enabled you
buy the necessary equipment from Sky
Sky Digital is the brand name for British Sky
Broadcasting's digital satellite television
service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites
located at 28.2°E (Astra 2A/2B/2D) and Eutelsat's
Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E.
BSkyB's analogue broadcasts ceased in 2001, so the
service is now more commonly marketed as just Sky.
Sky Broadband is the brand name for British Sky
Broadcasting's DSL Internet Service that launched
in Summer 2006, after BSkyB bought out Easynet.
Sky Broadband provides Sky Digital customers with
Internet download speeds of up to 16Mbit/s (from
Easynet enabled exchanges, by means of LLU), using
ADSL and ADSL2+ technologies via an Openreach
copper landline.
Sky has introduced a free Broadband pack for its
digital TV subscribers within its LLU coverage,
This means anyone on Sky Digital can get 2Mb
Broadband (with a 2GB usage cap) for free, as long
as they live in a covered area and pay the
connection fees.
History
Sky Digital was officially launched on 1 October
1998, although small-scale tests were carried out
before then. For the first time, BSkyB used the
newly-launched Astra 2 satellites, which have
since come to broadcast exclusively to the United
Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. At this time
the use of the Sky Digital brand made an important
distinction between the new service and Sky's
analogue services. Key selling points were the
improvement in picture and sound quality,
increased number of channels and an interactive
service branded Open..... Sky Digital competed
with the ON Digital terrestrial offering.
New Astra satellites joined the position in 2000,
and the number of channels available to customers
increased accordingly. This trend continued with
the launch of Eurobird 1 in 2001.
Originally Sky Digital launched with a set top box
known as the Sky digibox, in recent years the Sky
Plus (Sky+) was launched. This digital video
recorder with internal hard drive allows viewers
to 'pause live television' (by switching from a
live feed to a paused real-time recording that can
be restarted at any point) and schedule programs
to record in the future. Sky launched HDTV
services in May 2006. The first photos of a
prototype SkyHD receiver began appearing in
magazines in August 2005. All SkyHD receivers
incorporate a version of Sky Plus using a 300GB
hard drive (of which 160GB is available to the
user) to accommodate the necessary extra data. The
rest of the hard drive is now used by Sky Digital
set top boxes to store up to 30 hours of Anytime
TV from the previous week.
Additionally, some channels occasionally receive
new numbering — However, in early 2006, the
majority of channels received new numbering, with
some receiving single digit changes, whilst others
received new numbers entirely.
Sky Digital's standard definition broadcasts are
in DVB-compliant MPEG-2, with the Sky Movies and
Sky Box Office channels including optional Dolby
Digital soundtracks for recent films, although
these are only accessible with a Sky+ box. Sky HD
material is broadcast using MPEG-4. Interactive
services and 7-day EPG use the proprietary OpenTV
system, with set-top boxes including modems for a
return path. Sky News, amongst other channels,
provides a pseudo-video on demand interactive
service by broadcasting looping video streams.
Provided a universal Ku band LNB (9.75/10.600GHz)
is fitted at the end of the dish and pointed at
the correct satellite constellation, most digital
receivers will receive the free to air channels.
Some broadcasts are free-to-air and unencrypted,
some are encrypted but do not require a monthly
subscription (known as free-to-view), some are
encrypted and require a monthly subscription, and
some are pay-per-view services. To view the
encrypted content a Videoguard UK equipped
receiver (all of which are dedicated to the Sky
Digital service, and cannot be used to decrypt
other services) needs to be used. Unofficial CAMs
are now available to view the service, although
use of them breaks the user's contract with Sky
and invalidates the user's rights to use the card.
BSkyB has no veto over the presence of channels on
their EPG, with open access being an enforced part
of their operating licence from Ofcom. Any channel
which can get carriage on a suitable beam of a
satellite at 28 East is entitled to access to
Sky's EPG for a fee, ranging from £15-100,000.
Third-party channels which opt for encryption
receive discounts ranging from reduced price to
free EPG entries, free carriage on a Sky leased
transponder, or actual payment for being carried.
However, even in this case, Sky does not carry any
control over the channels content or carriage
issues such as picture quality. Recent years have
seen the launch of numerous low-budget channels;
including foreign and shopping channels, often
with very poor technical quality.
Due to either limited regional availability of
certain channels, or conditions relating to their
must-carry status, Sky operate four regional
variations of their EPG for domestic customers.
The four different EPGs transmitted are: Republic
of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and
England/Scotland. The Northern Irish EPG has the
most listed channels, with the Republic of Ireland
having the least, the difference is major as Five
and BBC Radio are missing. Much of the missing
content for Irish viewers is available through
'Other Channels' but Sky + viewers cannot record
from 'Other Channels'. The missing channels is
quite a bone of contention for Irish viewers, who
are often forced to seek out Grey market UK Sky
cards if they want the missing channels. Each
viewing card or smartcard provided by Sky is
programmed with the customers postcode location so
when inserted into the users set-top box it
selects which EPG is used as well as determining
which regional variation of is allotted to the BBC
One, BBC Two and ITV1 channels for users of the
England/Scotland EPG. Following a disagreement
with the BBC after the launch of Sky Digital all
regional variations of BBC One and BBC Two are
available to all UK viewers on channels 971-992.
|
|
|
|
|
