General Various channels went off air tonight on multiple platforms

cheekyangus · 25-09-2021, 23:22

Various channels went off air tonight on multiple TV platforms for varying amounts of time. Affected the likes of Channel 4, More 4, Channel 5, S4C and others apparently.

C4 HD was definitely affected on Virgin Media as my recording of Bettany Hughes' Treasures of the World recorded a static screen for much of it. I'm watching it on VM Catch-up as I type this as a result.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-58694894

Media Boy UK · 25-09-2021, 23:29

London was on Fire

https://rxtvinfo.com/2021/channel-4-...entre-incident

cheekyangus · 25-09-2021, 23:30

Apparently the fire was at Red Bee Media according to this article. There's more details about how it affected various platforms rather than the rather unspecific BBC article.
https://cleanfeed.thetvroom.com/9502...t-tv-services/

epsilon · 26-09-2021, 01:02

Reducing the number of playout centres and centralising everything has, no doubt, saved a lot of money. Although at the expense of quite a few jobs. Situations such as this expose the weaknesses of the broadcast chain. Concentrating resources in known locations such as White City & Media City also put the infrastructure at risk to terrorist attacks. Weaknesses in the system can be devastating for viewers as the loss of the mast at Bilsdale West Moor has demonstrated.

Dude111 · 26-09-2021, 01:09

Wow I was gonna say maybe a sat went offline or something.......

pip08456 · 26-09-2021, 02:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by epsilon

Reducing the number of playout centres and centralising everything has, no doubt, saved a lot of money. Although at the expense of quite a few jobs. Situations such as this expose the weaknesses of the broadcast chain. Concentrating resources in known locations such as White City & Media City also put the infrastructure at risk to terrorist attacks. Weaknesses in the system can be devastating for viewers as the loss of the mast at Bilsdale West Moor has demonstrated.

So much for terrestial TV. Were streaming services or sat tv affected ?

epsilon · 26-09-2021, 04:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by pip08456

So much for terrestial TV. Were streaming services or sat tv affected ?

Anything played out from Red Bee's centre at White City, regardless of the end platform. Some Freeview services took longer to be restored as some of the Freeview distribution is handled at White City. Some channels are currently using backup playout. The Channel 5 family of channels will have a black / white square in the top right corner indicating backup facilities are in use.

---------- Post added at 04:00 ---------- Previous post was at 03:28 ----------

https://rxtvinfo.com/2021/investigat...frozen-screens

cheekyangus · 26-09-2021, 09:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by pip08456

So much for terrestial TV. Were streaming services or sat tv affected ?

Cable and Satellite and Streaming versions of the linear broadcast channels were all affected too, they all run through same playout centre, though Cable and Satellite were restored quicker as there wasn't the same regional system complexities as DTT. As I said in the first post, my recording on my V6 from C4HD didn't record anything of the show I was trying to record, an it was an hour in length.

Apparently Streaming of the linear broadcast channels were bottom of the queue to get restored according to reports I read late last night.

It didn't affect all of terrestrial, just those that use Red Bee Media for playout. The BBC's systems apparently switched immediately to Salford so viewers didn't notice except for the continuity elements of their regional channels.

The whole thing seems to have occurred around about 6.30pm. Though the place I read it wasn't exactly convincing, so maybe I'll find a more accurate account this morning.

epsilon · 26-09-2021, 10:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheekyangus

Cable and Satellite and Streaming versions of the linear broadcast channels were all affected too, they all run through same playout centre, though Cable and Satellite were restored quicker as there wasn't the same regional system complexities as DTT. As I said in the first post, my recording on my V6 from C4HD didn't record anything of the show I was trying to record, an it was an hour in length.

Apparently Streaming of the linear broadcast channels were bottom of the queue to get restored according to reports I read late last night.

It didn't affect all of terrestrial, just those that use Red Bee Media for playout. The BBC's systems apparently switched immediately to Salford so viewers didn't notice except for the continuity elements of their regional channels.

The whole thing seems to have occurred around about 6.30pm. Though the place I read it wasn't exactly convincing, so maybe I'll find a more accurate account this morning.

Only the Red Bee playout from White City. A BBC news report incorrectly stated that ITV channels were also affected but ITV use the old Technicolor playout facilities in Chiswick and Leeds. Red Bee and the former Technicolor facilities are both part of Ericsson. As you say, streaming services were at the back of the queue. Red Bee also manages the streaming services for Channel 4 and Channel 5.

BT Sport also plays out of White City but BTS 1 & 2 were live at the time of the outage so managed continuity from their own facilities. BTS 3 was affected by the outage.

The location of the C&M centres for Freeview is supposed to be secret but, following this incident, it's fairly obvious where D3&4's C&M is located.

The broadcasters seem to be keeping a lot of their eggs in one basket.

cheekyangus · 26-09-2021, 10:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by epsilon

The location of the C&M centres for Freeview is supposed to be secret but, following this incident, it's fairly obvious where D3&4's C&M is located.

The broadcasters seem to be keeping a lot of their eggs in one basket.

I have a vague recollection of reading the C&M centres for Freeview have changed recently as part of the preparation so they can implement regional HD for BBC and ITV on DTT.

---------- Post added at 10:58 ---------- Previous post was at 10:29 ----------

---------

Red Bee are investigating and not going to comment until all services are restored to normal and their investigation is concluded.
https://rxtvinfo.com/2021/investigat...frozen-screens

epsilon · 26-09-2021, 10:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheekyangus

I have a vague recollection of reading the C&M centres for Freeview have changed recently as part of the preparation so they can implement regional HD for BBC and ITV on DTT.

That will be the BBC B C&M's I guess. Individual multiplex operators will have their own arrangements.

cheekyangus · 26-09-2021, 11:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by epsilon

That will be the BBC B C&M's I guess. Individual multiplex operators will have their own arrangements.

One of the posters on Digital Spy said both BBC and ITV had changed, but that they had both implemented C&M at different points in the distribution chain.

---------- Post added at 11:36 ---------- Previous post was at 11:32 ----------

a516digital on Twitter has said UKTV must be relieved as they'd just changed their playout and distribution from Red Bee to SES recently. Too right!

Can't say I was aware of this deal.
https://www.ses.com/ses-signs-bbc-st...video-channels

epsilon · 26-09-2021, 11:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheekyangus

One of the posters on Digital Spy said both BBC and ITV had changed, but that they had both implemented C&M at different points in the distribution chain.

As far as I know, D3&4 C&M is centralised rather than regional. The BBC and the commercial PSB's will have to pool resources and share the BBC B multiplex for their HD channels.

---------- Post added at 11:47 ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheekyangus

a516digital on Twitter has said UKTV must be relieved as they'd just changed their playout and distribution from Red Bee to SES recently. Too right!

Can't say I was aware of this deal.
https://www.ses.com/ses-signs-bbc-st...video-channels

There goes Ericsson's monopoly.

Although Sky handle their own playout, so it wasn't really a monopoly.

As Red Bee also handle playout of GB News it's amazing that this channel, so famous for technical problems, seems to have escaped this one.

Itshim · 26-09-2021, 12:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheekyangus

Various channels went off air tonight on multiple TV platforms for varying amounts of time. Affected the likes of Channel 4, More 4, Channel 5, S4C and others apparently.

C4 HD was definitely affected on Virgin Media as my recording of Bettany Hughes' Treasures of the World recorded a static screen for much of it. I'm watching it on VM Catch-up as I type this as a result.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-58694894

Had S4C on from 7 till about 9pm didn't notice anything,if that was in the time frame

cheekyangus · 26-09-2021, 12:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Itshim

Had S4C on from 7 till about 9pm didn't notice anything,if that was in the time frame

S4C's problems last night were mostly limited to Freeview because it's distributed via Channel4 opt out. S4C was broadcasting E4 output on Freeview at one point I read, which makes sense as that is the only difference on the D3&4 Multiplex in Wales compared to rest of UK.