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<blockquote data-quote="FRAZER" data-source="post: 17424" data-attributes="member: 175135">With regards to Mark's concerns about EU legsilature, rights issues, cross border competition concerns etc, why do the same points not apply already to German broadcasters who are readily available across Europe (thankfully, for half-Germans like myself), and show all sorts of sports events FTA? I presume this means they own the rights to broadcast on that satellite (and that the problem they had with the World Cup was that Kirsch were demanding too much money for them), which the BBC would no doubt have to have for Astra 28.2. As Rolf says, those people in mainland Europe who have had a fixed dish system installed as part of a subscription package- which must, I would think, be the vast majority- wouldn't be able to pick up the BBC channels anyway. As for RTE, I guess that for any programmes which the two channels share, the rights they negotiate to buy them in future would have to take into account those people in Ireland now able to watch on the BBC as well as RTE, wouldn't they?&nbsp; &nbsp; And aren't the present border restrictions wholly anti-competitive anyway? Why can't I choose a Premiere package over a Sky one if that suits me better?Of course, I understand that this is a right royal pain in the backside for ex-pats who have been bending these rights issues in order to pick up the BBC abroad (and nobody blames them for so doing). But I guess most enthusiasts within the UK will be glad for the chance to pick up all the BBC channels on the same box as they use for other satellites. Certainly I look forward to being able to record BBC programmes on my hard disk (as I don't own a video recorder).&nbsp;&nbsp; Frazer</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FRAZER, post: 17424, member: 175135"] With regards to Mark's concerns about EU legsilature, rights issues, cross border competition concerns etc, why do the same points not apply already to German broadcasters who are readily available across Europe (thankfully, for half-Germans like myself), and show all sorts of sports events FTA? I presume this means they own the rights to broadcast on that satellite (and that the problem they had with the World Cup was that Kirsch were demanding too much money for them), which the BBC would no doubt have to have for Astra 28.2. As Rolf says, those people in mainland Europe who have had a fixed dish system installed as part of a subscription package- which must, I would think, be the vast majority- wouldn't be able to pick up the BBC channels anyway. As for RTE, I guess that for any programmes which the two channels share, the rights they negotiate to buy them in future would have to take into account those people in Ireland now able to watch on the BBC as well as RTE, wouldn't they? And aren't the present border restrictions wholly anti-competitive anyway? Why can't I choose a Premiere package over a Sky one if that suits me better? Of course, I understand that this is a right royal pain in the backside for ex-pats who have been bending these rights issues in order to pick up the BBC abroad (and nobody blames them for so doing). But I guess most enthusiasts within the UK will be glad for the chance to pick up all the BBC channels on the same box as they use for other satellites. Certainly I look forward to being able to record BBC programmes on my hard disk (as I don't own a video recorder). Frazer [/QUOTE]

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