EuroBabes - Chat & Discussion

(15-02-2015 20:33 )DB83 Wrote:  Can anyone make any sense out of it ?

Yes. They haven't made up their minds yet whether they want to carry on with the UK broadcasts or not. That's the crux of it.

I think it's fair to say that ETV are not happy with the former arrangement and have no intention of returning to it. As I suggested in an earlier post I suspect they are only happy to continue broadcasting on SKY under a different arrangement. Don't put it past them to be looking to try out encryption, see how many customers are willing to pay and then take it from there.

Second plan might be as I also suggested would be to broadcast their channel as a bonus one to either Playboy TV or TVX subscribers. I would imagine they are behind the scenes as we speak trying to come up with a solution. For the time being I'm happy that they have ceased broadcast on SKY.

It just beats me why they even tried in the first place. Any company worth its salt will perform market research - get the opinion of current users as to the potential of its service in an, for them, 'alien' world. That market research should have been able to tell them, even before they put a foot in the door, of the pitfalls. Of course, no rival broadcaster, and you have to put Cellcast in that category, will tell them since they are potentially taking business away from them. So Cellcast were an odd bedfellow in the first place.

So I tend to agree that if they are going to have an even reasonable chance of success they must broadcast independent of any rival. But that is easier said than done since I can not see them investing in a transponder of their own AND an Ofcom licence even if they were to encrypt which, I believe, adds even more cost and no guarantees of success.

As to broadcasting on any encrypted service, that could only work if there is no alternative way of seeing the channel. So no more standard webstreams which are FTA. And they are, as they have shown these past few days, moving away from FTV.

ETV have acknowledged themselves that it's not just the broadcasting rules in the UK that are hampering the way they now do their shows but in other countries aswell. Italy was mentioned as was Germany.

When ETV first started to 2004 they used to be able to broadcast full nudity 24 hours per day but this changed towards to the end of 2008 when new rules came into force that no intimate details were allowed to be shown anymore until at a certain hour. Infact the dayshows used to be hotter than the nightshows at one point in their history.

ETV know that in the longterm that encryption might be their only option to operate on the TV platform successfully. Not enough people are remotely interested in paying for the exclusive show on the web when you can get better out there on the net for free.

The only question remains whether or not they wish to include the UK as part of their long term plans. I suspect at the moment a lot of behind the scenes talks between ETV and Cellcast are taking place.

I would agree with the above comments that the current experiment has failed. I can only imagine that the extent of the lack of calls must have been catastrophic to pull the plug after only three days on air. It's certainly a re-run of 2012 and I get the impression that ETV seems to charge in and do their due diligence afterwards, when it's all gone pear-shaped!

I was interested in their comment about OTT delivery. For those that don't know, this is delivering the show on the Freeview platform but via broadband rather than the TV aerial. OTT channels tend to charge a monthly fee and can be clear or encrypted.

Given that one of the Cellcast channels broadcasts on Freeview with a Dutch licence I would assume that ETV would not need to get an Ofcom licence, and their Austrian licence would give them a little more leeway in broadcasting hours and nudity levels. Most TVs and PVRs released in the last two years are OTT-enabled.

(15-02-2015 23:34 )Digital Dave Wrote:  I was interested in their comment about OTT delivery. For those that don't know, this is delivering the show on the Freeview platform but via broadband rather than the TV aerial. OTT channels tend to charge a monthly fee and can be clear or encrypted.

Maybe they will put their stream on Rampant TV, which is also available on Roku. OTT broadcast over freeview is done over a channel that is already on Freeview like Synapse TV or TVPlayer, these use ofcom licenses which would not work for them.

Sure. I am fully aware of the changes around 2008. I have said before that this was on the insistence of the German regulator since Germany was, and still is, the prime target audience.

Encryption has its own problems and Europe is no different than the UK in this respect - you need an appropriate receiver and a card. Choose the wrong type of encryption, even if they already have that technology available from the days of INXTC, and you lose even more audience than you can potentially gain. And, although I may be wrong with this, Germany has a law that outlaws such receivers and cards. Such broadcasts have to go through regular subscription services somewhat like UK Sky.

Even when I was talking to the studio boss via that chatroom - I think he was the author of that response. It has his style all over it - all those years ago he was forecasting the demise of satellite with the service going to IPTV. Methinks it is only the cost of the smart box to receive the service (which the majority of his paying customers would also detest) stops him.

They know the take up of the exclusive mix which now appears will be 5 days out of 7 from Monday. If that comes off then the next stage will be extension of that into the day or even internet only in the very near future.

(15-02-2015 23:34 )Digital Dave Wrote:  I can only imagine that the extent of the lack of calls must have been catastrophic to pull the plug after only three days on air.

It started on the 4th and was last seen on the 9th, so that makes 6 days on air rather than 3. Still a very short time though.

(16-02-2015 00:03 )DB83 Wrote:  And, although I may be wrong with this, Germany has a law that outlaws such receivers and cards.

No, we germans are allowed to buy a Receiver and Smartcards. We have Sky Germany and they even run a pornchannel.

So, it would be fine, if they do this, but who would buy a receiver a smartcard and wanny pay extra for calls and Exklusive Shows?