FishTank TV and new duplicate channels

[SwannyD2]

Hi all, 

For anyone interested, a new stream has popped up on EE TV’s multicast range this week - “FishTank TV HD”, provider is 'IPsky'.

There are actually two of them -  both encrypted and previously carrying duplicates of Sky Cinema Family HD until a few days ago. 

Guessing it might be a landscape-type channel? I can't find an existing channel with that exact name. 

Also in the last week, duplicates for these channels have appeared on separate addresses;

• BBC One East HD
• BBC One South HD
• Boomerrang SD
• Cartoon Network SD
• MTV SD

I haven’t drilled down into the stream data yet, but the ‘display name’ (not used on the guide), starts with ‘IPbbc/IPsky’ and ‘BT:IPbbc/BT:IPsky’.

Unless Sky are renaming Sky Cinema Family, it looks like we may be getting a new channel soon... and maybe a few other changes?

I'll dig down into the duplicate stream data later, see if they're actually carrying the same video streams.

[Profile closed]

🤐

[Midnight_Voice]

@Garethrprice 

Are EETV about to put the Sky in risky?

[SwannyD2]

I don’t think it’s a secret code name.

I was curious myself… maybe it’s an inside joke or an engineer trying to spice things up a bit.

But their multicast network isn’t super hidden, it’s just not as obvious as satellite would be. And even then, they use numbers before a service is added to the EPG.

Also, the last scan I did had a Sky Cinema channel on these ports - and it was named that way. The other duplicates seem to be new.

I haven’t been able to dig into the stream stats in more detail, but even though they’re encrypted, it’s still possible to make out a bit of a picture and see that it’s got a subtitle track.

It looks like they’re showing something that’s not moving too much - could be a captain, I suppose… or maybe an aquarium.

Yesterday, there was definitely moving video that matched the breakup and subtitles of Sky Cinema Family.

On a separate note, the duplicates suggest something is happening. There’s no way the BBC would be launching a new channel, and Sky too?

My guess is they’re testing something technical. Sky and the BBC are the two biggest contributors to EE TV, so they both might have a stake in whatever’s going on.

Also, the EE Test Channel has been renamed to add a ‘1’ at the end, you’d need to be pretty OCD to add that unless you’re expecting a few more to pop up. The old AMC SD stream has been carrying More4 for months, and the test channel flips from ITV 1 to Channel 4 pretty consistently.

I’ll keep an eye out, but we might have to wait for the Cod Father to make an announcement to get any real answers.

[DarrenDev]

The "FishTank TV" name has existed for a few years - if I remember correctly it was first created during COVID and just streamed footage from a fish tank in the home of one of our headend engineers.  It was used to demonstrate a new process, giving us the ability to spin up channels on demand (previously a task that took many people a great deal of effort).

I've not been made aware of any new channels coming soon, but that's not entirely surprising given my pending exit.

[Weerab2024]

@DarrenDev I'm sorry to hear that, you've been such a big help to all of us 

[SwannyD2]

Thanks @DarrenDev, you’ll be missed.

I think on this occasion we can rule out any nautical additions to the guide. 

As of yesterday, one of the Fish Tank channels is running unencrypted audio from what appears to be ITV Be.

However, it’s not carrying the same programming as the main ITV Be or +1 channels - it’s playing out a show that last went out over the weekend. So it’s either a different version, or a seriously delayed relay. 

[Weerab2024]

Hopefully one of the other versions will offer something new potentially