Ofcom's latest news on commercial muxes after DSO

Ofcom have just released some news regarding sites that will carry the
three commercial muxes after DSO. In short it seems that SDN and NGW
have no plans to expand their output beyond the present 81 sites. With
the increase of power after DSO, coverage will expand from the present
73% to 90% of the UK population. This will be muxes COM 1,2,3 (at
present B, C, D) AIUI BBC 4 will be moving to share PSB 3 with C5 and
S4C.

Of course coverage of the three PSB muxes (BBC, ITV/4, and C5/S4C) is
still believed to be provided at all, or nearly all of the 1154 sites
after DSO, plus nine extra sites.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2006/12/nr_20061207

Mark Carver wrote:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2006/12/nr_20061207

Interesting (and the consultation on digital self-help) - thanks for
posting that.

So it sounds as if the plan for the COM muxes to be radiated from
approx. 200 sites has been shelved(?)

--
Andy

On 7 Dec 2006 08:25:34 -0800, "Mark Carver"
wrote:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2006/12/nr_20061207

"DTT, commonly known as Freeview"

Good to know Ofcom are on the ball!
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Andy Wade wrote:
Mark Carver wrote:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2006/12/nr_20061207

Interesting (and the consultation on digital self-help) - thanks for
posting that.

So it sounds as if the plan for the COM muxes to be radiated from
approx. 200 sites has been shelved(?)

It does look that way. I presume that the extra 'effort' to extend
population coverage beyond 90% isn't viable in terms of the extra
advertising revenue that would be generated ? It will leave a lot of
'unused' cleared allocations though.

--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

"Mark Carver" wrote in message
...
Andy Wade wrote:
Mark Carver wrote:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2006/12/nr_20061207

Interesting (and the consultation on digital self-help) - thanks for
posting that.

So it sounds as if the plan for the COM muxes to be radiated from approx.
200 sites has been shelved(?)

It does look that way. I presume that the extra 'effort' to extend
population coverage beyond 90% isn't viable in terms of the extra
advertising revenue that would be generated ? It will leave a lot of
'unused' cleared allocations though.

Cynically, if the commercial muxes don't appear on the relays, all it means
is that more people will get Freesat, and since they are likely to be the
ones with the most disposable income the channels will get the revenue
without the expense of transmission from the relays.

Bill

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...

"Mark Carver" wrote in message
...
Andy Wade wrote:
Mark Carver wrote:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2006/12/nr_20061207

Interesting (and the consultation on digital self-help) - thanks for
posting that.

So it sounds as if the plan for the COM muxes to be radiated from approx.
200 sites has been shelved(?)

It does look that way. I presume that the extra 'effort' to extend
population coverage beyond 90% isn't viable in terms of the extra
advertising revenue that would be generated ? It will leave a lot of
'unused' cleared allocations though.

Cynically, if the commercial muxes don't appear on the relays, all it means
is that more people will get Freesat, and since they are likely to be the
ones with the most disposable income the channels will get the revenue
without the expense of transmission from the relays.

If 10% of the population are going to have to rely on satellite then there is a
stronger argument for saying that the satellite broadcasts should be on the same
basis as Freeview, i.e. public domain EPG and 'interactive' technologies and no
encryption of public service (analogue) broadcasts (i.e. C4&5)

'They' could save much of the cost of upgrading the terrestrial network if more
use was made of satellite.


--

Michael Chare

Michael Chare wrote:

If 10% of the population are going to have to rely on satellite then there is a
stronger argument for saying that the satellite broadcasts should be on the same
basis as Freeview, i.e. public domain EPG and 'interactive' technologies and no
encryption of public service (analogue) broadcasts (i.e. C4&5)

'They' could save much of the cost of upgrading the terrestrial network if more
use was made of satellite.

The 10% will only be missing out on some channels. All transmitters will
carry the three PSB muxes, therefore digital versions of all BBC TV
services, ITV1-4, C4, M4, F4, etc and C5 will be available to all.

I can't remember the last time I watched anything on Muxes C or D.


--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

Mark Carver
The 10% will only be missing out on some channels. All transmitters will
carry the three PSB muxes, therefore digital versions of all BBC TV
services, ITV1-4, C4, M4, F4, etc and C5 will be available to all.

I can't remember the last time I watched anything on Muxes C or D.

According to DTG http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/dtt_channels.html
five and S4C are on Mux A and F4 is on Mux D, which won't be coming
to relay stations.

Ofcom really should insist on standard EPG and no encrypted PSBs on
satellite, but they don't seem to have the backbone to take on Sky.
--
MJR/slef
http://mjr.towers.org.uk

So it sounds as if the plan for the COM muxes to be radiated from approx.
200 sites has been shelved(?)

It does look that way. I presume that the extra 'effort' to extend
population coverage beyond 90% isn't viable in terms of the extra
advertising revenue

Extension of the service should be made a licence condition and
enforced. The extension of the UHF 625 line colour service to its
present 98.5% coverage using large numbers of small relays was not done
on economic grounds, but on the grounds of public service because it
was the right thing to do. As the sites and tehnology are there, it is
not unreasonable to expect national coverage from the digital service.

MJ Ray wrote:
Mark Carver
The 10% will only be missing out on some channels. All transmitters will
carry the three PSB muxes, therefore digital versions of all BBC TV
services, ITV1-4, C4, M4, F4, etc and C5 will be available to all.

I can't remember the last time I watched anything on Muxes C or D.

According to DTG http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/dtt_channels.html
five and S4C are on Mux A and F4 is on Mux D, which won't be coming
to relay stations.

Please read the post I opened this thread with, and the link I provided.

The post DSO muxes will differ to the present ones, there will still be six,
but arranged differently.

PSB 1 BBC Channels (inc BBC3, CBBC, N24 etc)
PSB 2 ITV and C4 Channels (inc ITV 2,3,4 E4, M4 etc)
PSB 3 C5, (S4C in Wales) BBC 4/Cbeebies

COM 1, COM2, COM 3: All the other non PSB junk

PSB 1-3 will be available from all existing 1154 analogue transmitters (plus
9 more possibly)

COM 1,2,3 only from the existing 81 DTT sites.

No one that currently gets the full range of DTT channels will lose out,
everyone who currently gets only four analogue channels will have a
significant increase in channel choice.

--
Mark
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