Swiss pay TV company using local retransmission regulations to rebroadcast the BBC youth channel via Eutelsat Hotbird.
Kabelio has today added BBC Three and its timeshare partner CBBC to its bouquet of satellite pay TV channels. They are receivable throughout Europe on Eutelsat Hot Bird 13C at 13°E.
It’s the latest UK service to be added to the platform, which first launched in 2020. Kabelio also carries BBC One, BBC Two, ITV London, Channel 4, Channel 5, BBC Four/CBeebies as well as FreeSports.
Swiss laws permit the retransmission of free-to-air channels, providing they are receivable with a domestic sized satellite dish or TV aerial within Swiss territory. UK channels can be received in the north-west corner of Switzerland, as it’s right on the edge of the Astra 2E/F UK spotbeams.
This means cable and IPTV providers can carry the channels, regardless of whether they have a broadcast licence covering Switzerland or not. The retransmission can occur even if the broadcasters themselves don’t want their services to be retransmitted. However platform operators are obligated to compensate rights holders for retransmissions.
Kabelio is the first Swiss operator to retransmit such a service via satellite. Legally, the service is only available to users with a connection to Switzerland and a Swiss address. Technically, the channels can be received across the whole of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East through Hotbird.
Services are broadcast in HD, but are highly compressed across its transponders.