12-06-2023, 08:30 AM
SES (Luxembourg) owns the satellites and charges rental fees to its users. Astra 2 happens to have become a largely UK + (Sky) Irish system but of course their other orbital positions are more varied. (I have it in my head that some of the satellites have an African beam too?)
Provided they don't get out of the business by then, as there'll probably be a reduced though not eliminated market for services, then there's nothing to stop Freesat and the PSBs to continue renting the handful of transponders needed for their services. Of course if Sky continues to offer a satellite service then this helps too.
I suspect it'll be a lot cheaper to do this than to maintain the national transmission network to current standards (might be an argument for keeping the main transmission sites going, but as for all those relays....)
Provided they don't get out of the business by then, as there'll probably be a reduced though not eliminated market for services, then there's nothing to stop Freesat and the PSBs to continue renting the handful of transponders needed for their services. Of course if Sky continues to offer a satellite service then this helps too.
I suspect it'll be a lot cheaper to do this than to maintain the national transmission network to current standards (might be an argument for keeping the main transmission sites going, but as for all those relays....)