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ERT no longer openly available from NTUA


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Sumfwna me thn anakoinwsh sto

http://www.noc.ntua.gr/index.php?module=Co...id=178&meid=186

h ERT-world den einai dia8esimh gia to euru koino opws palia.

To pilotiko programma teleiwse.

Kai auta me apofash ths ERT.

Krima kai htan kalh epafh otan douleuei kaneis sto grafeio arga to bradi.

Arage apo ta 20 dollaria pou stazw ka8e mhna gia na thn blepw

sto spiti, posa pane sthn idia thn ERT,

kai den mporoune na sthriksoun to internet.

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Thanks for the pointer, but I can't make that thing work.

On linux+firefox it gives "no video",

and on Windows+IE it says "ready" but pressing play,

plays nothing.

The text has huge orthographical mistakes.

Couldn't they ask a person with some knowledge

of the language to write the text?

Even on their main page, they can't write the date properly.

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This unfortunately is the result of ERT being...well...ERT.

Here's some inside information:

The whole issue seems to have arisen out of Echostar complaining that its "exclusive rights" to broadcast ERT World in North America were being violated by ERT's online webcast.

This is a pretty laughable assertion for the following reasons:

1. ERT World is available free-to-air via another satellite in North America, NSS 806.

2. Local Greek television stations like WPSO in Florida and NGTV in New York broadcast portions of ERT World's programming each day, apparently with the permission of ERT World.

However, it seems that at ERT, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, unfortunately. This live stream was available since 1998 or 1999, I believe, was sanctioned by ERT, while ERT World has been on Echostar almost that long. Why this suddenly became a problem now, I cannot understand. Additionally, if Echostar does, indeed, have exclusive rights to North America, shouldn't those other programming streams mentioned above be scuttled as well? Moreover, why punish users all around the world? Echostar claims to have the rights to North America....but with this move, viewers in Europe, Australia, Africa, Asia, etc. are being punished as well. Was it so difficult for ERT and NTUA to filter users based on their IP range, like Nova Sport does for its live broadcasts?

The whole situation stinks and the decision seems to have been made hastily and without much thought put in as far as the potential consequences.

I think it would be a great idea for everyone to write to ERT to express their displeasure with this move. It's also not a bad idea to send e-mails to websites like www.satleo.gr (a Greek satellite broadcasting site that is very popular and is read by all the major networks in Greece) with your complaints....they often publish them right on their website. This actually only caught my attention a couple of days ago but I will be writing to both of them.

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Dish network has the exclusive rights to broadcast ERT World in North America .

The Greek government is trying to break the exclusive rights with Dish network so they can be FTA in North American and to any satellite and cable company can broadcast ERT for free

The Greek law prohibits any satellite or cable company in the world signing a exclusive deal with the Greek government.

The Greek government official that sigh the exclusive deal with Dish network is shout be prosecute by the Greek government

The point is government channels can not sign exclusive rights with anyone they have to be open to every one.

DKSat

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The point is government channels can not sign exclusive rights with anyone they have to be open to every one.

DKSat

Exactly right. Not to mention the subscription price we pay here. That's what the Greek tax payers pay for. Why should we have to pay double?

And hopefully if/when the channel is FTA, DirecTV will not charge extra to broadcast the channel. (Like in Australia) :gr:

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The whole situation is very muddled and confused. It seems likely that ERT did not carefully pay attention to the deal they signed with Echostar (Dish Network) a few years ago, and may have granted them exclusive rights when they weren't intending to!

Another possibility is that Echostar doesn't, in fact, have exclusive rights, but is trying to pretend that it does anyway. Apparently, it's been known to do such things with some of the other international networks it carries, and even Antenna Satellite. They've been on a witch hunt, going after anyone that apparently is breaking their "exclusivity" for both ERT World and Antenna Satellite.

The irony is that both ERT World *and* Antenna Satellite are not exclusive to Echostar in North America. ERT World, as I mentioned above, is also available totally and completely free-to-air on the NSS 806 satellite, whose footprint covers all of North America. It is also rebroadcast in part on WPSO in Florida and NGTV in the New York City area. And until a few days ago, it was available through ert.ntua.gr, a site which was sanctioned by ERT and which was online since the late 90's. ANT1 Satellite is also available on Time Warner Cable in the NYC area.

If ERT is trying to break its exclusive deal with Echostar (if indeed there is such a deal), it seems counterproductive to *stop* their online webcast. And even if such a deal does exist and they aren't allowed to stream to North America, why not just place a geographical restriction on the stream? It's not that difficult to do. Instead, viewers everywhere in the world are being punished over an agreement that, if it exists, covers only North America.

One more added twist is that the ERT World being streamed was the feed directly from Greece, which was not a 100% duplicate of what was shown in North America by Echostar, since there were some football matches shown in North America that were not shown in Europe. So Echostar, in essence, would have "exclusive" rights to a different ERT World than the one being streamed.

Of course, the most outrageous part of this whole issue continues to be the fact that ERT World is a subscription channel in North America (yes, it is available on NSS 806, but that satellite apparently requires a large satellite dish to receive c-band frequencies, not a small dish of the kind used by DirecTV or Dish Network). Whereas in Europe, for instance, a smaller dish is enough to watch ERT World for free (not to mention other FTA Greek stations that are also available there).

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The irony is that both ERT World *and* Antenna Satellite are not exclusive to Echostar in North America. ERT World, as I mentioned above, is also available totally and completely free-to-air on the NSS 806 satellite, whose footprint covers all of North America. It is also rebroadcast in part on WPSO in Florida and NGTV in the New York City area. And until a few days ago, it was available through ert.ntua.gr, a site which was sanctioned by ERT and which was online since the late 90's. ANT1 Satellite is also available on Time Warner Cable in the NYC area.ions that are also available there).

Actually if I remember correctly, Ant1 signed a 10 year contract with Dish to be exclusive only to them a few years back. That is why all the new spin off channels showed up (Ant1 Gold, Blue, the radio stations). And it was also rumored that it was also one of the reasons Mega Cosmos and Alter Globe left. (Because Dish was bundling them with the Ant1 package only. There was no option to get them in there own package, or on a la carte by themselves).

Having said that, that 10 year contract was only for satellite broadcast. (I think) Hence why it was able to go onto Time Warner Cable.

But the exclusive contract that ERT World has with Dish Network is news to me. I thought a few months ago (or a year?) when discussing who owns what rights and such, that ERT World was not exclusive. I guess we were wrong. :ph34r:

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I don't know if Echostar and ERT World actually have an exclusive agreement. However, I can tell you, with 100% certainty, that Echostar claims to have exclusivity to ERT World in North America, and they are likely the ones that pressured ERT to switch off their online webcast.

Regarding Antenna Satellite: Echostar also claims to have the exclusive rights to that station as well (in addition to all the spin-off stations like Antenna Gold and Blue). Yet Time Warner has Antenna Satellite (not the spinoffs though). So it doesn't sound to me like they actually have an exclusive deal.

Echostar has been known to make similar claims about their rights to broadcast other international networks when, in reality, they do not reflect reality.

Whatever the case may be, it doesn't make any sense for ERT to be switching off its webcast of ERT World. Even if Echostar does have exclusive rights in North America, there's no reason why ERT couldn't continue the webcast with a restriction for IP addresses from North American ISP's, or to offer a separate online stream for North American viewers.

As for the NSS 806 satellite, based on this map (http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/maps/nss806_hemi.html) it indeed does not cover the west coast of the USA and Canada, so I do stand corrected....however, it does cover a VERY large chunk of the North American continent (all of the United States except half of California, most of Oregon, Washington state, Alaska and Hawaii. My point, however, is that there is an alternate method through which ERT World is available in North America, which would seem to contradict any "exclusive rights" that Echostar claims it has.

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Regarding Antenna Satellite: Echostar also claims to have the exclusive rights to that station as well (in addition to all the spin-off stations like Antenna Gold and Blue).  Yet Time Warner has Antenna Satellite (not the spinoffs though).  So it doesn't sound to me like they actually have an exclusive deal.

Like I said above, Dish seems to have the rights to Ant1 only for Satellite. So they are free to go to any cable platform they want. They just can't switch satellite platforms. ;)
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It seems PurelyAcademic is correct in that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing at ERT. Perhaps the left hand doesn't even know there is a right hand.. :LOL:

Just a little while ago DKSat posted that DirecTV was trying to add ERT World to their lineup which to me means that they are not under an exclusive contract with Dish or that the deal with Dish expires pretty soon. Also in discussions on this forum it was revealed that some company called Comart owns the distribution rights to ERT World for North America so what business does ERT have shutting off the online stream just because Dishnet told them to?!

This stream has been available for years so why all of a sudden is this a problem for Dishnet, something doesn't make sense here?! :blink:

As for the NSS 806 thing, ERT World is indeed FTA on this satellite but its a non-factor IMO because its C-Band! How many people would go to the trouble or even have the room for the huge dish you need in order to get this channel? If it was available on Ku band (don't know why the hell it isn't when it is everywhere else in the world!) then I could understand but with C-Band it doesn't really matter if its FTA or not.

On another note ERT World is now available on NEXTV (IPTV platform) which is available to subscribers both in Canada and the US, are they going to get them to remove the channel from their lineup as well??

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It seems PurelyAcademic is correct in that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing at ERT. Perhaps the left hand doesn't even know there is a right hand.. :LOL:

Just a little while ago DKSat posted that DirecTV was trying to add ERT World to their lineup which to me means that they are not under an exclusive contract with Dish or that the deal with Dish expires pretty soon. Also in discussions on this forum it was revealed that some company called Comart owns the distribution rights to ERT World for North America so what business does ERT have shutting off the online stream just because Dishnet told them to?!

This stream has been available for years so why all of a sudden is this a problem for Dishnet, something doesn't make sense here?! :blink:

As for the NSS 806 thing, ERT World is indeed FTA on this satellite but its a non-factor IMO because its C-Band! How many people would go to the trouble or even have the room for the huge dish you need in order to get this channel? If it was available on Ku band (don't know why the hell it isn't when it is everywhere else in the world!) then I could understand but with C-Band it doesn't really matter if its FTA or not.

On another note ERT World is now available on NEXTV (IPTV platform) which is available to subscribers both in Canada and the US, are they going to get them to remove the channel from their lineup as well??

The only reason I mentioned the c-band satellite was just to illustrate an example of ERT World not being exclusive to Echostar in North America, even if it is via a medium that few people can/will take advantage of it.

I personally think that Echostar is really feeling a pinch in its subscriber base, between losing Mega and Alter, and the tough economy surely leading to many cancellations, as well as the increased ease to watch TV online (ERT World's stream notwithstanding) and they're trying to do whatever they can to cut their losses and shore up their subscriptions, even if it means claiming that they have the exclusive rights to channels which, in reality, they do not have.

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The point is government channels can not sign exclusive rights with anyone they have to be open to every one.

DKSat

If that is the case they why Echostar in the USA and OTN in Canada charging us for watching ERT World? :tdown: I pay 4.99$ a month for Ert and have no choice but to get Antenna with it . Because they know most Greeks will not cancel their subscription and get a C-band or even a ku satelite just for ERT.

Then my question what does ERT World charge distribution rights and if not then the distributor must be making a good profit from ERT world :angry:.

Because left to me Antenna is not worth the price (except for soccer)

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The point is government channels can not sign exclusive rights with anyone they have to be open to every one.

DKSat

If that is the case they why Echostar in the USA and OTN in Canada charging us for watching ERT World? :tdown: I pay 4.99$ a month for Ert and have no choice but to get Antenna with it . Because they know most Greeks will not cancel their subscription and get a C-band or even a ku satelite just for ERT.

Then my question what does ERT World charge distribution rights and if not then the distributor must be making a good profit from ERT world :angry:.

Because left to me Antenna is not worth the price (except for soccer)

ERT World is about $10.00 on top of the Ant1 package ($22.99 Ant1 package, $32.99 Ant1 package+ERT), but if you want to get ERT World alone (A la carte), you have to pay $14.99. :blink: Same thing with Ant1 alone.

But I agree with you. We shouldn't have to pay an extra fee to watch the channel, since its a government channel that the Greek tax payer pay for. :nono:

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If that is the case they why Echostar in the USA and OTN in Canada charging us for watching ERT World? :tdown: I pay 4.99$ a month for Ert and have no choice but to get Antenna with it . Because they know most Greeks will not cancel their subscription and get a C-band or even a ku satelite just for ERT.

Then my question what does ERT World charge distribution rights and if not then the distributor must be making a good profit from ERT world :angry:.

Because left to me Antenna is not worth the price (except for soccer)

I agree, why are Dishnet and OTN allowed to charge so much for ERT, its a public, state owned channel and we should not be paying $15 bucks a month (or in the case of us Canucks $20.) just to get this damn channel. :tdown:

I still have not received any response from these clowns at ERT about why the entire world can receive ERT World FREE-TO-AIR and North Americans have to pay for the damn channel?!? This is ludicrous, why do we have to pay when everyone else gets it free- Bastards! You should only have to pay if you are receiving the channel via cable or satellite because there is a cost to the companies to add the channel to their system... yada, yada, yada. RAI- Italy's state broadcaster and RTP- Portugal's state broadcaster both offer the channel FTA on Ku Band, why the hell can't ERT do the same?

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It's not nececerly all goverment channels that are FTA

Rtp international america is, rai only the usa is, bbc america or canada isn't, tv5 usa or canada isn't. But if the the law of the land in their respective countries.

Maybe what ERT can do is instead of giving us these gvt health ads like dekse ta xpwmata sou maybe they can go after north american sponsors or greek companies like misko and ion can advertise. That would definetly cover their satelite costs. :gr:

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