Irish public broadcaster RTÉ carries the following announcement on its website:
We regret to announce that due to a business policy change by Worldspace, from 0000 UTC on 15th April 2005 our free to air service from WRN via the Worldspace satellite will cease. Our sincere apologies for this situation.
FROM THAT TIME RECEPTION OF OUR SERVICE FROM THE WORLDSPACE SATELLITE WILL REQUIRE PAYMENT OF A MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION.
RTÉ are in no way responsible for the imposition of this charge or for the Worldspace policy change.
We are very upset about the announcement of this new situation. We at RTÉ are examining our options and making some efforts to maintain the free to air aspect of our service. We will make an announcement regarding the outcome, as soon as possible.
This new policy also affects reception of Radio Netherlands and other international broadcasters which are carried on the WRN transponder. If you are currently listening to us on WorldSpace but will be unable to do so after 15 April, please E-mail us at media@rnw.nl.
on Mar 29th, 2005 at 16:08
World Space thinks the XM business model will work in Africa. Worldspace is wrong. Look at the other ANGRY letters in SW magazine that nearly all channels are going to be encrypted and there are all sorts of charges coming including a 10 dollar connection fee.
on Mar 29th, 2005 at 17:07
I got this response from BBC Worldservice last week, on asking them about the future of BBCWS Africa programmes carried on Afristar. It’s a great pity.
…………………………
We regret that we cannot guarantee that the BBC World Service will remain free-to-air on the West Beam of the AfriStar satellite for much
longer. WorldSpace have decided that they will become a subscription-only service and it is expected that the channels currently available free-to-air will move to subscription in the near future.
Regards
Audience Relations
BBC World Service
…………………………
on Mar 29th, 2005 at 17:31
Assuming that contracts were signed for the carriage of the stations on Worldspace, which of the following could apply in this situation?
a) The stations didn’t read the small print, or
b) Worldspace could be in breach of said contracts.
(Or doesn’t it work like that?)
on Mar 29th, 2005 at 18:10
I don’t know about the contracts. But I believe RTE, like us, doesn’t deal with WorldSpace directly, but through WRN. Interestingly, WRN’s website says “And don’t forget to mention WRN to receive a discount on your first year’s subscription.”
on Mar 29th, 2005 at 20:13
AWR Germany made a statement about this already some weeks ago. Gist:´It’s beyond our control.´
on Mar 31st, 2005 at 18:16
So another Worldspace channel is to be encrypted? I’m not surprised. I have a Worldspace radio but haven’t used it since they encrypted the Country station. The radios should be really cheap on the second hand market now.
on Apr 1st, 2005 at 03:46
Can’t the WRN feed stations do anything? The $10 monthly charge for all but India is rediculous - I can get 60 cable TV channels for less. The Worldspace web site is a joke - no news since last year!