Free-to-air services may be offered as one-off package

The market for satellite pay TV services may open up with the arrival of PanAmSat, but the commissioning of the new Optus D1 satellite will also see TV3 delivered via satellite for the first time.

The new Optus satellite will predominantly benefit Sky Television, which is using the extra capacity available to offer enhanced services such as Dolby 5.1 surround sound, extra channels and even high-definition programming.

But Government-owned network infrastructure provider Broadcast Communications has also secured transponder space on the satellite for digital TV broadcast and this is likely to become an important plank of the Government's digital TV strategy, which will be revealed later this year.

BCL will sublease transponder space to TVNZ and Canwest and TVNZ will move its current channels from the Optus B1 satellite to Optus D1, thus allowing all three free-to-air channels to be accessed via the same satellite dish.

TV One, TV2 and Maori Television are already available as free-to-air satellite channels for those equipped with a set-top box and satellite dish. The number of people accessing the service is understood to be in the low thousands. Sky subscribers can already access the free-to-air channels as part of their standard monthly subscription, giving free-to-air satellite service limited appeal considering the set-up costs.

But TV3's move to free-to-air satellite is seen as significant by satellite equipment vendors working outside the Sky camp.

Peter Escher of satellite equipment supplier and installer Satlink said the satellite free-to-air services could be offered as a stand-alone package with one-off set-up costs or in conjunction with the multi-ethnic pay-TV channels coming online from PanAmSat. Accessing both services would require two satellite dishes.

"I've got access to receivers that can handle two satellite inputs. So you could have a dish for free-to-air TV programming and another one for Globecast or SelecTV feeding into the one box," said Escher.

Canwest spokesman Roger Beaumont said a timeline for delivering TV3 and its sister channel C4 had not been disclosed.

"We haven't confirmed it further than the sub-leasing agreement," he said.