Foxtel WG
Foxtel WG (Foxtel Węstgeɍmanję) is the only pay television company in West Germania, operated by the Australian-American News Corporation.
History
On 31st July 2007, it was decided by the West Germanic Parliament that every housing block should be fitted with a 150cm satellite dish free of charge. Since at the time, there was no native broadcasting standard, many residents tried to set up their own dishes so that they could receive free-to-air European channels or used dubious methods to receive premium services from European companies such as Sky Digital, Canal, Premiere and Sky Italia. Much of the population, who did not have the know-how or couldn't afford to pay into an over-priced black market, often resorted to downloading illegal torrents. The Nationalist Party argued that the plan would cost a lot of money to implement and that the government should instead offer a service whereby people paid them for satellite installation in order to resolve the black-market situation. Despite the launch of an appeal, it was eventually agreed that West Germanic residents should be entitled to the same as in other countries, which broadcast free in terrestrial: West Germania has never had a terrestrial network.
On 28th October 2008, when the appeal came to an end, a compromise between the Nationalist, Liberal and Socialist Parties resulted in the creation of a two-tier television service. Between August 2007 and October 2008, every housing block had been satellite-enabled. The Activation Day (1st November 2008) saw every resident receive free, legal access to 'permitted' analogue, FTA broadcasts from Western and Central Europe in addition to the new national network WUS (Woɍųld ųmbę Us). The digital market was effectively privatised, but the interested party Foxtel was allocated a Compulsory Monopoly by the Communist Party to ensure that it would be the only such service. On 9th November, Foxtel would begin its encrypted transmission of digital, upscaled SD and HD services not only from WUS1, WUS2 and Europe, but also exclusive entertainment, film, sport and factual content plus PVR functionality. A controversy was sparked on this date when the nationalised fibre-optic broadband was capped at 10 Mbps speed and a 10 GB download limit with Foxtel providing a 'new' unlimited ISP to entice customers and increase revenue for the government.
Technical information
To decode the DVB-S/DVB-S2-compliant H.264 digital satellite signal and unlock the unlimited broadband, a monthly subscription is required. The broadcasts on Foxtel HD optionally include a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. VideoGuard encryption is used to prevent illegal use. Foxtel WG, in conjunction with the Communist Party, has a veto over which channels are included on the EPG, but has no control over a channel's content. Picture quality can be, to some extent, controlled due to channels' passage through the WUS Broadcasting Centre before it transmits to West Germanic viewers.
The Foxtel WG receiver is produced by Pace and is based on the TDS850 model (pictured) with triple tuners to record up to three channels at the same time or watch one while recording up to two others, push-VOD support allowing for true on-demand television, a 250GB hard drive for 60-120 hours of stored content, and picture-in-picture and software download capabilities.
There are no SD/HD simulcasts on the Foxtel platform. In contrast to the UK, for example, which has both Channel 4 and Channel 4 HD on its digital satellite platform, Germania has only SD channels on its analogue service and only HD channels (with upscaled SD programming) on its digital service.
Channels
Free
| No. | Channel |
|---|---|
| 101 | WUS1 |
| 102 | WUS2 |
| 103 | 123 Sat |
| 104 | 3A Telesud |
| 105 | Art Channel |
| 106 | ARTE Deutsch |
| 107 | Best of Shopping |
| 108 | Beur TV |
| 109 | BFM TV |
| 110 | Cash TV |
| 111 | Dan Tamil Oli |
| 112 | Demain |
| 113 | Direct 8 |
| 114 | EuroNews |
| 115 | Eurosport Deutschland |
| 116 | F Men |
| 117 | Fashion TV Europe |
| 118 | France 2 |
| 119 | France 24 Arabe |
| 120 | France 24 Arabic |
| 121 | France 24 English |
| 122 | France 24 Français |
| 123 | France 3 Corse Via Stella |
