Interesting Survey: Help me out plz!

[prof]

Hi to everybody here!

I make a survey for a project I have for the uni, so I could appreciate any information you could give me. Until I found this site I thought I was hopeless, but it was great to drop to it!

I try to find out information about how Greeks abroad watch Greek TV.

I mean, do they actually see sports in this chanells listed in the Greek Sports section (Ertsat,ant1, teleantenna,etc.) or there are other which broadcast Greek sports? Do they prefer specific channels than other? Do they also watch news, politics,etc. or they like to follow sports only? Do, for example, older people prefer Antenna satellite, and yound ert?

I don't know where all guys that write here live, but if there are differences in US, Canada, Australia regarding TV broadcasting I would be more than interested to know!

[Ziaka]

Hello prof and welcome to our forums.

To answer your question. People that mostly write on these forums are from many different places around the World, and most of them (not all of them though) are of Greek descent. We have posters mainly from the US and Canada, Australia, Europe and Greece.

I am sure some of the posters would be happy to help out in your survey, including me. What specific questions do you have?

[prof]

Thanks for your reply Ziaka!

I figured out that they should be Greeks from many different places writing here.

So, in your case it would be great if you could mention where you live (US,Can,etc.) and which Greek channels (or channels with Greek content) you prefer to watch, in general terms. In more specific terms, do you watch Greek sports by Greek channels, and which do you believe have the best coverage (and journalists, commentators)?

I'm going to mention ERTsat, Antenna satellite profile too, and I know some stuff about them. However, I just saw that there is Teleantenna, too, which I had no idea it existed. Is it a channel, or just distributor of broadcasted shows. Is it popular in the US?

Also, do you have any idea how popular is Dish network? I'd like to know a objective view (like approximate number of subscribers) and a subjective view (do you like their service)?

I hope I have messed you up with all my questions!

[prof]

I just found out Odyssey Television Network, too. Is it a success at all?

[Ziaka]

OK Prof, I'll try and give you some answers. If you need additional info don't hesitate to ask.

First of all I live in suburb of Chicago in the US.

All my TV viewing is done through Dishnetwork's Direct Broadcast Satellite system. The reason I subscribe to Dishnetwork is because they carry the three Greek language satellite channels (ERT-Sat, Antenna Satellite, and Mega Cosmos), besides the usual US based television channels that are also available through cable systems or through DirecTV DBS. The last I heard, Dishnetwork had around 9 million subscribers. Dishnetwork is the number two satellite provider in the US behind DirecTV (around 15 million subscribers). Both satellite providers have approximately the same channels with the exception of the foreign based television channels. DirecTV does not carry any foreign language channels besides Spanish speaking channels. Dishnetwork provides a variety of foreign language channels besides the Greek language packages.

I do subscribe to all three Greek language channels on Dishnetwork. Unfortunately I don't have subscriber numbers for the Greek channels. The main reason I subscribe to them is because of Greek soccer game broadcasts. ERT-Sat shows an average 2 to 3 A' Ethniki games each weekend, while Antenna Satellite shows all of Olympiakos's home games live. ERT-Sat also shows other sports programming, such as basketball, track & field, and others. The other reason I get all three channels is that my wife likes to watch some of comedy shows as well as drama programs, mainly on Antenna Satellite and Mega Cosmos. I also like to watch the news on the three channels, but prefer the news on ERT-Sat, because they seem to be more news oriented. Antenna and Mega seem to prefer the sensasional news content, which I don't like. The only other program that I like watching is the satire show called Aman ta Katharmata, which airs on Antenna Satellite. Interestingly, Mega Cosmos never broadcasts any sports oriented programming, which is a big shame. So in order of watching the available Greek channels I would rank thems as follows: 1. ERT-Sat (for sports coverage and news), 2. Antenna Satellite (for some soccer game coverage and Aman ta Katharmata, and 3. Mega Cosmos (rarely watch it).

Additionaly, there is also Alpha Sat that is available in North America, but the problem is that the channel is not available through Dishnetwork. Alpha Sat would do themeselves a big favor by trying to join the Greek TV lineup on Dishnetwork. I would definitively subscribe to them, especially if they will carry soccer games.

TeleAntenna is sports programming distributor. They are located in Canada. What they do is distribute Greek soccer games to local bars and restaurants for closed-circuit coverage.

As for Odyssey television, they have two Greek language channels that are carried through Canada on cable systems and DBS satellites. They take programming from Antenna Satellite and Mega Cosmos and show it on their channels. I don't know how popular they are.

[MikeS]

As an addendum to Ziaka's post, Odyssey 1 shows programming primarily from Antenna Satellite with programming from ERT-Sat sprinkled in. This means that Canadian viewers never know if/when soccer games from ERT-Sat will be broadcast on Odyssey 1.

Odyssey 2 is MEGA Cosmos by another name.

[prof]

Do bars and restaurants where Greeks visit have these network/channels? If yes, which is the most popular channel and the most popular network?

What's the channel most Greeks like? Relatively to their age (I've heard that older people tend to watch Antenna more, because of Foskolos series :wacko: )?

Also, do these networks show their own commercials, or they show original commercials coming from ERTsat, Antenna, etc. broadcast?

Are there a lot of companies being advertised?

Is it expensive to have this cable TV service?

Mike and especially Ziaka, really really thanks!

(Ziaka, too bad Katharmata stopped their shows :( )

[Ziaka]

I am not sure about how many bars/restaurants have the channels. I have seen the channels at few Greek based establishments, but not at many. I believe most people just watch these channels at home.

I would agree that women and older people like Antenna because of the Foskolos series (Lampsi/Kalimera Zoi) and the drama series. I would say that men and sports fans prefer ERT-Sat and Antenna for the soccer games. At least that is the case in our household. This is purely a guess on my part, but I would say Antenna is number one, followed by ERT, and then by Mega Cosmos as far as subscriber numbers are concerned.

As for the cost, this is what I know about the Dishnetwork satellite pricing:

Antenna Satellite only - USD $ 14.99 per month

Mega Cosmos only - USD $ 14.99 per month

ERT Sat only - USD $ 12.99 per month

ERT-Sat/Mega Cosmos combination - USD $ 26.99 per month

All three stations together - USD $ 36.99 per month

You also need to purchase the satellite equipment in order to receive the Dishnetwork programming.

None of these channels show the original commercials that are shown in Greece. Antenna and Mega to a lesser extent show locally produced commercials. ERT fills the space where commercials are shown in the Greece feed with filler material, such as music video or travel video.

Finally, yes it is bad that Katharmata stopped their regular production of shows, but today Antenna is showing a Aman ta Katharmata election special broadcast. :tup: :tup: :tup:

[prof]

By saying locally produced commercials, you mean business being advertised which are based in Americas on these channels, or Greek companies who address to people outside Greece?

Also, you mentioned soccer matches, sports news shows and Katharmata as popular for young (I can guess you must be young:) ) people. Are there any other shows that interest this part of people and are popular?

Have you ever heard how many Greek origined people have these TV services?

(quite to hard to know, I understand. Even a rough estimate could be useful, for someone like who has really no idea about the numbers)

Something more, too: In Europe, it is enough to have a satellite system to receive ERTsat. I guess this is not the case for outside Europe, right? You need to be registered to a pay service...

[Ziaka]

As far as commercials are concerned. They are mostly by businesses located in the US that cater to the Greek community here. You can see commercials by bars, restaurants, banquet halls, concert promoters, psychics (!!!), etc. To a lesser extent there are commercials by Greece based companies that are trying to sell their products in the US to the Greek community, such as food, beverage products. This mostly happens on the Antenna Satellite station. ERT-Sat rarely shows commercials, and Mega Cosmos does on very limited basis.

I like Katharmata (good show last night by the way) and the sports programming, but I would hardly consider myself young. Unless you consider somebody in his 40's young. :D I'd say I am middle age. What age span would you consider young?

I don't know about the numbers. Perhaps someone else might have that information. One figure I heard about 4 years ago was that ERT-Sat had around 10,000 subscribers. I would say that Antenna has the most subscribers, since they have been around the longest. My wild guess is that Antenna does not have more than 50,000 subscribers.

Yes, you have to subscribe to the service to get to see the channels. You have to buy the satellite equipment (small dish and receiver) in order to watch the Dishnetwork programming, which the Greek channels are part of. The signals are scrambled by the satellite company, and you will only be able to see the stations that you pay for. That applies to the channels on Dishnetwork.

Alpha-Sat, Mad TV and RIK Sat are presently available through another satellite (Galaxy 10R), and are unscrambled. All you need to receive these channels is the satellite equipment, which is different from the equipment needed for Dishnetwork. The reason these channels are unscrambled is that another company (TARBS) is trying to start a subscription service in the US, and untill they get that service started they are keeping the channels free to air (FTA). TARBS has been trying to start that service for over 2 years now, and it appears that it will never get off the ground.