More Freeview broadcast capacity 2012 - 2016

[nodrogd]

It appears that Ofcom is releasing UHF Channels 31 - 37 that were to be sold off in the "digital dividend" and are now retaining them for broadcasting. This brings about the possibility of a major increase in capacity, especially if single frequency networks are used, and could bring up to 35 HD channels to the main 80 Freeview transmitters by 2016.

Story on UK Free TV

Argos TV HD, yessssss!

[haydnwalker]

Originally Posted by Jameseh

Argos TV HD, yessssss!

[toonlight]

Originally Posted by nodrogd

It appears that Ofcom is releasing UHF Channels 31 - 37 that were to be sold off in the "digital dividend" and are now retaining them for broadcasting. This brings about the possibility of a major increase in capacity, especially if single frequency networks are used, and could bring up to 35 HD channels to the main 80 Freeview transmitters by 2016.

Story on UK Free TV

Freesat has still got more than enough to put out any freeview efforts to make up it's shortfall/shortsightness by design..... just wondering how much are they willing to sink into freeview before they throw in the towel for a better platform of broadcast (freesat). Waste of money in my eyes full stop.

---------- Post added at 21:50 ---------- Previous post was at 21:47 ----------

Originally Posted by haydnwalker

humm another shopping channel... as like the rest There not enough time time in the day watch them all hehe BTW I never have time to watch them, too busy doing everything else

The problem with Freesat right now is that it is being undermined by one of its owners (ITV). They set the cause of free-to-air satellite in the UK almost back to square one when they signed an encryption deal with Sky for their HD 2/3/4 channels.

Mind you, Freeview has had problems of its own, as OFCOM has been insisting for years that it was going to flog off the analogue spectrum to the highest bidder, effectively rendering the platform futureless thanks to there being no capacity for the inevitable day when all the channels need to standardise on HD.

I wonder whether the dog's breakfast ITV has now made of Freesat is what finally convinced OFCOM that the UK is going to have to stick with terrestrial broadcasts in the long term, rather than moving to the far more sensible solution of standardising on free-to-air satellite.

[danielf]

One thing that struck me about the original article is that it states that you need a wideband aerial for the new frequencies. I'm not sure what's on my roof, but I figure that if I need to have a new aerial installed, it might as well be a dish. Actually, as I need to buy a new box to receive HD anyway, I'll be moving over to Freesat as soon as I can justify replacing my existing Freeview PVR.

I see little point in investing money in a platform that's inherently limited when I can go freesat for the same money.

If you didn't have to change your aerial when you started getting Freeview, it's probably not a wideband aerial. Terrestrial transmitters in the UK are organised into UHF channel groups so that they don't interfere with each other. But when Freeview and analogue were running side by side, sometimes it was necessary to put the Freeview muxes on a channel that was outside of the transmitter's normal channel group. Therefore, in order to receive Freeview from that transmitter, it was necessary to switch your aerial for one that was capable of collecting signals from any of the UHF channels, and not just the ones from within the group allocated to your transmitter.

I believe the intention was that, once digital switchover was complete, all transmitters would revert to making all their broadcasts from within group, but under this new HD rollout plan it looks like that's no longer going to be possible.

[nodrogd]

Originally Posted by Chris

I believe the intention was that, once digital switchover was complete, all transmitters would revert to making all their broadcasts from within group, but under this new HD rollout plan it looks like that's no longer going to be possible.

The origional plan only really ensured that viewers would receive at least the PSB muxes with their existing aerials. Under the new proposals only people with group C/D aerials will need to make any changes, as Groups A & K cover the channels and Groups B & E can usually be pushed down to CH33 without too much loss. A bit of nifty frequency planning should ensure most people get reception.