Grk101

I don't think he was referring to the company's bandwidth, but the consumers bandwidth. Almost all ISPs today put a cap on the monthly bandwidth allowance for your account, with hefty fees or even termination of your service if you exceed it. It would be interesting to know home much average bandwidth the service uses in hour for example. I know my parents love to keep their box running for most of the day with the TV on in the background, I can't even begin to imagine how much bandwidth that would use. Regarding broadcasting rights, they work exactly the same over the net and over IPTV as they do in the traditional manner. In fact when FIFA sold rights for the 2010 world cup matches to pay TV providers, it included IPTV providers as well in that category. Try broadcasting the Olympics over your service to people outside of Greece for example on one of the channels, and see how fast the IOC will shut it down. Rights vary by region.

The Nova channels (even the HD sports channel) used to be on your site when you had a public view of the channel listings and your top package now mentions "cinema and sports 1, sports 2" and so on. If you do not carry them, sorry. A lot of the live channels straight from Greece are bound to have rights issues though. Those are the facts. They do not have international broadcasting rights for all of their programing, especially the foreign programing. That is why Skai for example blacks out their online webstream during shows they do not have international broadcast rights for. It is also the reason why the international sports rights go up for bidding separately. This is not even a Greece only case, it is the case worldwide. It is why the American broadcasters block out online episodes for those in other countries or why Vevo is blocked outside of the US and Canada for example. Also if your service is what you say it is, why is there no longer a public view of your complete line up anymore and other such details? It seems you are trying to hide something. Sorry just stating what I see, maybe you can improve this. Good luck in your venture though, I hope your service is what you claim it to be and wish you success as well. I may even try it in the future if there is every a clear endorsement. :gr:

Something is definitely up with them. They are offering channels straight from Greece as well as the Nova sports and cinema channels. For sure Nova does not have international rights. Also $220 is very steep for a receiver and no guarantee of their service.

It seems ERT World will be on RCN. Greek Media Group added ERT World to their site again, and it says it is available on RCN. http://www.greekmediagroup.us/GMG/ERT_World.html

The start up cost seems pretty big: about $285, includes 1 box + shipping, and first month's service. It also seems that there is no contract, everything is on a month by month basis.

I recently received an email from "Ellas TV sales" advertising a new IPTV service. (not sure how they got my email though) Anyway, here is what they are claiming in the email: Welcome To Ellas TV Ellas TV was created to offer professional Greek TV hosting services allowing Greek expats, travelers or simply Greek TV fans live access to their favorite television programming while traveling or living abroad. Ellas TV understands the frustrations of living abroad with virtually no access to your favorite TV shows. Our goal is to keep you connected to your TV receiver, no matter where you are! Subcription - The ELLAS TV package includes 20+ Greek TV Stations (Live from Greece & Eastern Standard Time), a variety of Greek Radio Stations and 100+ Video On Demand Greek Titles and much more... all for a low introductory monthly price of $49.99. HD Box - Ellas TV HD BOX supports High-Definition video up to 1080p resolution which offers a more exciting viewing experience, especially on large format TVs. Additionally, Ellas TV HD BOX features a myriad of popular information and communication services, including Web browsing, calendar, news, calculator, weather information and more. $220 per box Availablity - Ellas TV is available now. The boxes are available for ordering, please allow 3 -5 weeks, on receiving your box. The boxes come directly from Greece. To order simply call 877. ELLAS TV Anyone have any info on them? I am going to go out on a limb here and say it is not the most legit service? They do seem to have US "contacts" and "showrooms" though. Notice how they misspelled "Subscription" and "Availability" above though..... And I see this disclaimer on their website: "Ellas TV does not own your device nor does it own your TV subscription service, we are strictly offering: support, monitoring, hosting, bandwidth and most of all a great and reliable connection that will make you feel as if you're sitting in front of your TV in Greece." Here is their website: http://www.ellastv.com

Pointless in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, it is great they are finally starting to expand their availability. But Verzion Fios has effectively stopped expanding for a while now. (too high of a cost plus legal trouble)

This really sucks if true. This new company seemed ambitious, and I was really hoping that they would branch out to more cable and satellite providers. Why shouldn't a state owned channel be available on as many providers as possible? I too find it strange that we (here in North America) can't receive ERT FTA in the same manner as the rest of the world. I wish someone would raise the issue. Let's hope there is a change in the situation.

Any updates on the negotiations? Really hope the deal gets done, though I am wondering what the package prices will be like. Especially now that Dish is lowering their Greek package....

Sad to hear there has been a snap. Hopefully it will be resolved asap! I wonder what the snag was exactly though. Money?

ERT goes Digital, although initially with MPEG2 but will soon transition to MPEG4. (Which the other channels are using)

With the radio stations being offered FTA as well, does this give us a better chance of DirecTV picking them up as well? Or is it unrealistic since they could put that bandwidth to better use?

Yeah and 27.8 means that 72.2% were not interested in that show either. You make it seem like a 30% share is so much higher than a 20% share. And thus Greek TV has gone down hill. Look at the other ratings around the same time period you gave me as well. They are all mostly 20% and below -- very comparable to today's. So don't make it seem like TV has gone down hill so dramatically. Of course every once in a while you get an absolute hit TV show that draws everyone in. Here is another example of that in 2006 even:

I personally have had no problem in the quality of some of the shows. There are some good ones, and some bad ones. That happens everywhere. For the record, even some American TV shows are foreign adaptations. As long as they are done well (and/or substantially re-written in some cases), I don't see a problem with them. An idea is an idea after all. Big deal. It's not like a majority of the "original" shows on TV today world-wide aren't similar to other shows in one way or another. Where I personally draw the line is with foreign subtitled or dubbed shows. Like the turkish telenovella on ANT1 (subtitled), and Patty on Mega (dubbed - which is aimed at kids btw). That is when it becomes a joke to me. I could see some merit in them if they re-did them as a Greek production, but just subtitled and dubbed are a joke. And the public is loving this Turkish show on ANT1. Even before, when it was on Macedonia TV, apparently it was getting all sorts of buzz. It end in October, and they are planning to air another Turkish show after that..... :ph34r: Also I understand how ratings and shares work. And shares are a huge part regardless. And while the shares are high, the ratings are not bad themselves. Take a look on a random date:

And again, like I said, it has been limited each year. I never said it just started. And they never aired on Mega Cosmos. I don't think it has to do with rights either in this case. I doubt after all these years, not one of those shows had international rights......Alpha tv has a number of reality shows and airs them here, I doubt they specifically ask for int. rights. Honestly, I don't think they even think of us. I think we are just an afterthought for them IMHO. But that is another story.... Mega's emphasis for prime time for a while now has always been on quality scripted shows. Which is why they excelled these past few years imo. And as I said, some of the shows based on a foreign script are done very well - some even to the point where the entire script is re-worked, only using the series idea. They do air "I zoi tis allis" and have from the start on Mega Cosmos. In fact this show in question was the number one rated show daily in Greece almost all last season. (Sometimes switched spots with the orig. scripted "Ta Mistika Tis Edem" which was usually 2nd.) And not just so-so numbers. If I recall correctly, it was hitting close to 50% daily on AGB.

ANT1 has, but not Mega. On the contrary, Mega had some super-successful series, and has constantly surpassed ANT1 (and all of the rest of the channels) as the top-viewed channel in Greece year after year for the past few years. The AGB numbers don't lie -- multiply filling in the top 10 daily. If you mean adaptations, then you are partially right. But it has been going on for years, (not the mention that it doesn't represent their full offering) and some of them are actually done great. For the record, their nightly news program is also the number 1 news broadcast amongst the "war of the news broadcasts"......but the news-is-news anyway imo. Only this year does it look like Mega is following the other channels and going "deeper" with more reality. (in the past they have had maybe about 1 or so a year.) I am interested to see if they will broadcast any here to fill in the schedule or if they will have enough new original programing this season to fill in prime-time. Ever since I started subscribing to Mega (back on Dish), Mega Cosmos has never once broadcast a reality show. Must be a policy or something, because I am sure they would at least have international rights for some of those shows. As for ERT beating ANT1, I am not surprised. I admit, I ditched ANT1 myself this past year and kept only ERT as their programing went way down hill. At the end of the day, it was mostly only reality and old tv shows. <_< I had to sacrifice some sports, but it saved me about 20 or so dollars a month. I hope they do improve in the future again, but it doesn't look like it unfortunately. I was very close to ditching ERT too, but decided to keep it for various reasons. As it has been discussed many times, they are in long need of an over-haul though.

If I recall correctly, DKSat had written that they initially had a deal with DirecTV, but Star was asking for too much money so they backed out. That could very well be the case with RCN as well, we don't know. Maybe the price to carry it outweighed the amount of audience the channel actually attracted on RCN. And of course, the economy also most likely had a part in it. That is why I am interested how Direct will handle the pricing for ERT. Currently their top Greek package with 4 channels costs $34.99. Comparing some of the other top language packages, (and it is comparable on Dish) shows just how greedy the Greek channels are...... Filipino - 10 channels - $34.99 Korean - 9 channels $31.99 Russian - 8 channels - $39.99 Vietnamese - 7 channels - $29.99 I also wonder what this "Greek Media Group" plans to do. It seems they have really dropped the ball. Star failed, and as I elaborated in my other post, GMTV has not been updated in ages. I was hoping (more like dreaming) that DirecTV would dump GMTV in favor of MAD World, but I don't see that happening. Greek Media Group probably charges next to nothing for the rights to GMTV. And that reflects in their handling of the channel in my opinion. END OF RANT :P By the way, from what has been written, Star International isn't too bad. It is more of a life and style channel, which you are right, appeals to certain groups. But like you said, to each his own. And who doesn't want to see Petroula's weather report -- regardless of the fact that we don't actually need to know Greece's weather here? ;) :LOL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oby8RIykiww

DK, thanks for all your information. It is really appreciated. Any rough time line on when we could expect ERT to launch on Direct? I hope they also start closing some cable deals as well. Also anything about my theory of Direct adding more Greek channels? (Not that there are many left anyway) I know they were looking at doing so a few years ago. Or is the current climate just too bad/not worth it. Thanks.

Anyway, back on topic, with ERT moving to be offered on DirecTV and other platforms, Dish Network is looking more and more like an unattractive deal. (at least IMO) The only thing saving it I think is the fact that ERT and ANT1 jointly bid on sports rights for this upcoming season. (I think I had read that?) If ANT1 looses those rights next year, and their programing approach stays the same, Dish is done in my opinion. Any news on when we can expect to see the channel added to the other platforms?

The formula of Greek channels adapting foreign shows has been going on for a while. Some of them are very bad, but some of them actually do very well. Ironically, last year an episode of the popular "H Polikatikia" on Mega made fun of the fact that Mega (and other channels) were chasing Spanish format shows, a play on the fact that "H Polikatikia" itself is actually taken from Spain's "Aqui No Hay Quien Viva". :LOL: A pleasant surprise for this upcoming season in between all the reality shows, cheap productions, and foreign subtitled shows (Turkish) seems to be Mega's upcoming series "To Nisi". It is an adaptation of the best selling book "The Island" by Victoria Hislop, and it apparently has a budget of 4 million euro. They have begun airing trailers for it, and it actually looks quite cinematic. http://www.megatv.com/tonisi/

You should take a look at the programing for the new season from the other Greek channels. They are all taking on this model. What's worse, is that there are now even going to be competing knock-off format shows. (Like TopChef (Ant1) vs Masterchef (Mega)) The only one that it looks like seems to be offering a few scripted shows for the next season is Mega, but even they are scaling them down and adding a lot of reality.Alpha itself actually has some OK reality shows: Greek Idol, Efialtis Stin Kouzina (Kitchen Nightmares), Pame Paketo (which is actually top rated on its night), and they bought the rights and are reviving Big Brother, which apparently got a record 6,000 submissions. Also they have Lakis Lazopoulos' show, which is top rated on its night, as well as the well rated morning shows. (Kafes Me Tin Eleni on Weekdays, and Mes tin Kali Hara on weekends)

What great news! Let's hope it really is available on more platforms, and at a competitive price at that! :tup: Let's hope this new company signs a number of deals on various platforms, and not just "exclusive deals". So with this move, if they do in fact go to Directv as well (I'm sure D would be interested to pull in viewers?), Antenna will effectively be the only channel left that is exclusive to Dish Network. Any chance we will also get the online stream back now?