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Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV For the last six years, I have answered many thousands of personal emails that you have sent to UK Free TV.
Sadly, I am unable to offer this personal service at the moment.
Until I can restore this service, please can you leave any questions you have on an appropriate page, where they will be answered as soon as possible, or below, if you can't figure out where to ask.
I look forward to your questions!
Help with TV/radio stations?
In this section
Sunday, 28 August 2011
Les Nicol: Yes, it really gets me when you hear that very tired argument raised again and again. It was still the 1980s back then.
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Debbie9:35 PM
Hi,
I am about to move into a new house. There is a sky dish installed but no aerial.
If I was to purchase a freesat box, would this work with the sky dish?
Thanks
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Debbie: Yes, as long as the dish has not been moved and the cables still connected.
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Monday, 29 August 2011
M
Mike Dimmick1:06 AM
Rosie: You're in an overlap area between Tacolneston and Sudbury. Does your aerial point north-east to Tacolneston or south-west to Sudbury?
Digital UK's predictor reckons that you will ultimately get best results from Tacolneston, after it switches over in November, but you should be able to get good results on the Public Service multiplexes from Sudbury right now. However, the commercial multiplexes are likely to be unreliable.
The analogue channels are probably coming from Tacolneston, which suggests that the aerial actually points to Sudbury. There were no changes in February that should have affected your reception. It sounds like there's some ongoing deterioration in your aerial system - perhaps rainwater penetrating the cables. The power increases in July probably gave a short respite, but it has continued to deteriorate. Unplug the aerial cable from the back of the TV and check whether it's wet! If so, all outside junction boxes and connections need to be checked, and, if cables have been able to rub up against brickwork or tiles, you may need the cables replaced.
Do check that the aerial looks intact and does seem to point the right way.
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Mike Dimmick1:58 AM
Les Nicol, Briantist: Sky are required by law to carry the BBC's channels in their EPG, but I don't think there's anything saying that they have to do so for free. Sky in fact charge a healthy whack: http://corporate.sky.com/…ct09
EPG listing charge: £21,000 per TV channel per year, £16k per radio channel per year. The BBC list 11 TV channels excluding the 20 regional variations of BBC One and Two, and 18 radio channels. That's £231k for the non-regional plus £420k for the regional slots, and £288k for the radio stations, £939k total.
Then there's a 'Platform Contribution Charge' which seems to be set on viewership. For the BBC:
BBC News Channel £994,310
BBC1 £4,771,505
BBC2 £1,261,600
BBC3 £994,310
BBC4 £310,055
CBBC £342,130
Cbeebies £737,715
BBC Alba, BBC Parliament, BBC HD and BBC One HD presumably pay the £92k 'Other Television Channels' charge and the 18 radio stations the £6k charge. Total £9,887,625.
Then there's the regionalisation of BBC channels, which probably falls under section B4.2 as of course these channels don't all use the same channel numbers in the Republic of Ireland EPG as they do in the UK, or don't appear in the RoI EPG at all. BBC One appears at 101 in the UK but 141 in the RoI, BBC Two at 102 in the UK but 142 in RoI, BBC Three 115/229, BBC Four 116/230 (and that's petty, because 115 and 116 are not allocated). BBC HD is at 169 in the UK and 143 in RoI - BBC HD used to be 143 in the UK but this is now BBC One HD, which isn't in the RoI EPG.
BBC Alba, BBC One HD, BBC News and BBC Parliament aren't in the RoI EPG so that would probably fall under B4.2. Only CBBC and CBeebies are at the same channel number in both, 613 and 614 respectively.
The BBC are probably paying Sky in the region of £11-12m for EPG services.
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Mary5:17 AM
I live in a flat 7 floors I'm on 6th want to watch digital/freeview in bedroom but aerial socket in lounge no chance of running cable 'cos of layout of flat will an indoor aerial work as I want to move my sony 22" flatscreen to BR & get larger screen in LR. many thanks
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jb387:46 AM
Mary: As the question is based on reception then for any accuracy your location really has to be known, however in general terms the fact of you being at the 6th floor level puts you at a decided advantage, and so in theory an indoor aerial should work provided the window near to it is facing very roughly in the same direction of the transmitter, so have a look and see what direction any aerials located nearby are facing.
Trial and error usually always applies using these type of aerials, as so many variables attached to positioning applies.
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Les Nicol
8:25 AM
8:25 AM
Mike Dimmick:- This didn't come across at all at the point when Mark Thompson was interviewed by Andrew Marr. If Correct this seems to me to be an absolute abuse of the licence fee where the vast majority of the British public who are required by law to pay that licence fee - and where there exists the alternative platforms of "Freeview" and "Freesat" = are unaware that this legal requirement exists.
It's clearly time for the legal requirement for inclusion on the SKY platform of the PSB's to have a radical shake up - especially when there now exists a 5year cap on the licence fee which will clearly effect program content across the board for the BBC. Not to mention the loss of posts in the
PSB sector.
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Les Nicol
8:52 AM
8:52 AM
Mike Dimmick - Just to add if the financial saving that could be made by unlocking the cost of this "hamstrung" arrangement were to be realised this would go someway to impact on current current cut backs having to be made by the BBC and perhaps for Channel 4. As for the 30% of the viewing public who "Chose" to subscribe to SKY being unhappy should the PSB's have this legal requirement removed. Then this runaway "Cash Cow" ie:- SKY have clearly the resources to include the aforementioned in their EPG at no cost. There is clearly a commercial benefit to them in undertaking to do so.
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Mike Dimmick: Your figures make me cross. It's a bit like a newspaper charging the journalists to have their copy printed. Every other business has to PAY to use data, not CHARGE when they use it.
I can't help noticing that the cuts from the BBC FOUR budget could easily be made up by refusing to pay the highwayman.
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