Local TV - V Media coverage
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV Now a look at the provision of digital cable TV services for each of the big population areas in the UK adds another level of possibilities for Local TV coverage.
I am unable to obtain figures for the number of homes in any particular area that have cable TV services (the so-called penetration rates).
This is a map of the "cable coverage areas".
Finally a combined table of the Freeview Interleaved and Cable coverage areas.
Looks like very bad news for local TV for Hull, Lisburn, Worcester and Oldham - without satellite.
| Interleaved | # | City | BBC region HQ | ITV region HQ | population | FV | VM |
| Angus | 2 | Dundee | 154,674 | good | no | ||
| Belmont | 2 | Hull | BBC Hull | 301,416 | no | no | |
| Bilsdale | 2 | Middlesbrough | 142,691 | part | yes | ||
| Bilsdale | 2 | York | 137,505 | good | yes | ||
| Black Hill | 2 | Glasgow | BBC Scotland | STV Central | 629,501 | good | yes |
| ..& Craigkelly | 2 | Edinburgh | 430,082 | poor | yes | ||
| Caldbeck | 2 | Carlisle | ITV Border | 101,000 | good | no | |
| Caradon Hill | 2 | Plymouth | BBC South West | 243,795 | no | yes | |
| Crystal Palace | 2 | London | BBC London | ITV London | 7,172,091 | good | yes |
| Crystal Palace | 2 | Southend-on-sea | 160,257 | no | yes | ||
| Crystal Palace | 2 | Slough | 126,276 | no | yes | ||
| Crystal Palace | 2 | Watford | 120,960 | no | yes | ||
| Crystal Palace | 2 | Crawley | 100,547 | no | yes | ||
| Divis | 2 | Belfast | BBC NI | UTV | 276,459 | good | yes |
| Divis | 2 | Lisburn | 110,000 | no | no | ||
| Durris | 2 | Aberdeen | STV North | 212,125 | good | no | |
| Emley Moor | 2 | Leeds | BBC North | ITV Yorkshire | 443,247 | poor | yes |
| Emley Moor | 2 | Wakefield | 316,000 | good | yes | ||
| Emley Moor | 2 | Bradford | 293,717 | no | yes | ||
| Emley Moor | 2 | Huddersfield | 146,234 | good | yes | ||
| Emley Moor | 2 | Rotherham | 117,262 | no | yes | ||
| Fenton | 2 | Stoke-on-Trent | 259,252 | good | yes | ||
| Hannington | 2 | Reading | 232,662 | no | yes | ||
| Heathfield | 2 | Eastbourne | 106,562 | no | yes | ||
| Hemel Hempstead | 2 | St. Albans | 130,000 | good | yes | ||
| Kilvey Hill | 2 | Swansea | 169,880 | good | yes | ||
| Lancaster | 2 | Lancaster | 135,000 | good | no | ||
| Leicester | 1 | Leicester | 330,574 | no | yes | ||
| Londonderry | 2 | Londonderry | 105,000 | good | yes | ||
| Bristol KW & IC | 2 | Bristol | BBC West | ITV W Country | 420,556 | good | yes |
| Mendip | 2 | Bath | 90,000 | no | yes | ||
| Nottingham | 2 | Nottingham | BBC E Midlands | 249,584 | poor | yes | |
| Nottingham | 2 | Derby | 229,407 | no | yes | ||
| Oxford | 2 | Swindon | 155,432 | no | yes | ||
| Oxford | 2 | Oxford | BBC Oxford | 143,016 | good | yes | |
| Pontop Pike | 2 | Newcastle upon Ty | BBC North East | ITV North East | 273,600 | good | yes |
| Pontop Pike | 2 | Sunderland | 177,739 | good | no | ||
| Ridge Hill | 2 | Gloucester | 123,205 | no | yes | ||
| Ridge Hill | 2 | Cheltenham | 110,320 | no | yes | ||
| Ridge Hill | 2 | Worcester | 93,000 | no | no | ||
| Rowridge | 2 | Southampton | BBC South | ITV Meridian | 234,224 | good | yes |
| Rowridge | 2 | Portsmouth | 186,000 | no | yes | ||
| Rowridge | 2 | Bournemouth | 167,527 | no | yes | ||
| Poole | * | Poole | 144,800 | no | yes | ||
| Rowridge | 2 | Chichester | 108,000 | no | yes | ||
| Rowridge | 2 | Winchester | 108,000 | no | yes | ||
| Salisbury | 2 | Salisbury | 115,000 | good | yes | ||
| Sandy Heath | 2 | Northampton | 189,474 | no | yes | ||
| Sandy Heath | 2 | Luton | 185,543 | no | yes | ||
| Sandy Heath | 2 | Milton Keynes | 184,506 | no | no | ||
| Sandy Heath | 2 | Peterborough | 136,292 | no | yes | ||
| Sandy Heath | 2 | Cambridge | BBC Cambridge | 113,442 | no | yes | |
| Sheffield | 2 | Sheffield | 439,866 | good | yes | ||
| Stockland Hill | 2 | Exeter | 106,772 | no | yes | ||
| Sudbury | 2 | Ipswich | 138,718 | no | yes | ||
| Sudbury | 2 | Colchester | 104,390 | no | yes | ||
| Sutton Coldfield | 2 | Birmingham | BBC W Midlands | ITV Central | 970,892 | part | yes |
| Sutton Coldfield | 2 | Coventry | 303,475 | no | yes | ||
| Sutton Coldfield | 2 | Wolverhampton | 251,462 | no | yes | ||
| Sutton Coldfield | 2 | Dudley | 184,619 | no | yes | ||
| Sutton Coldfield | 2 | Walsall | 170,994 | no | yes | ||
| Sutton Coldfield | 2 | West Bromwich | 136,940 | no | yes | ||
| Sutton Coldfield | 2 | Sutton Coldfield | 105,452 | good | yes | ||
| Tacolneston | 2 | Norwich | BBC East | ITV Anglia | 174,047 | part | yes |
| The Wrekin | 2 | Telford | 138,241 | good | yes | ||
| Wenvoe | 2 | Cardiff | BBC Wales | ITV Wales | 292,150 | good | yes |
| Wenvoe | 2 | Newport | 116,143 | good | yes | ||
| Whitehawk Hill | 2 | Brighton | 256,600 | good | yes | ||
| Winter Hill | 3 | Liverpool | 469,017 | good | yes | ||
| Winter Hill | 3 | Manchester | BBC North West | ITV Granada | 394,269 | good | yes |
| Winter Hill | 3 | Salford | 221,300 | good | yes | ||
| Winter Hill | 3 | Preston | 184,836 | good | yes | ||
| Winter Hill | 3 | Blackpool | 142,283 | good | yes | ||
| Winter Hill | 3 | Bolton | 139,403 | no | yes | ||
| Winter Hill | 3 | Stockport | 136,082 | no | yes | ||
| Winter Hill | 3 | Blackburn | 105,085 | no | yes | ||
| Winter Hill | 3 | Oldham | 103,544 | no | no | ||
| Winter Hill | 3 | St. Helens | 102,629 | no | yes | ||
| Winter Hill* | 5* | Chester | 118,000 | good | no |
Help with TV/radio stations?
In this section
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Phil: The cable companies didn't do themselves any favours when they did their installations. They dug up pavements, killed trees and blowing up the odd old lady's house.
Having local cable companies against a national satellite provider was never really going to work, and the rise of mobiles undid the ideas of profit from telephony.
Even in cities that "have cable" there are huge holes in the provision to this day.
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Saturday, 12 March 2011
Josh
8:49 PM
Scunthorpe
8:49 PM
Scunthorpe
Braintist: How typical do you think it is that the house where my aunty lives is so close to getting Virgin Media's services but can't because the cable thingy ends at their neighbour's house and Virgin Media refuse to extend it to her house dispite being just literally next door?
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Josh's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 14 March 2011
D
Des Collier7:05 PM
Brigg
BRIAN-Cable services around are also very hit & miss,parts of scunny itself has cable while the outlying villages(including where i live)have not even been wired up.
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Des's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Des Collier: Yes, this is very true. In Brighton and Hove, for example, Cable and Wireless were forbidden from doing installations in the "Conservation Areas", of which we have quite a lot.
The purpose of the table was to calculate the areas where cable coverage is non-existent (or in the case of Milton Keynes, out of date).
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Josh: Virgin Media have made a corporate decision not to expand their network beyond existing connected properties for financial reasons.
As I mentioned above, the cables networks are star-networks from the local head-end, so it isn't just a case of being able to "chuck a cable over the wall", but requires a connection back to the local box.
It is very frustrating in situations such as the one you list, but the current capital investment rules have lead Virgin Media to their current policy, however mad it might seem.
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P
Phil9:43 PM
Scarborough
Hi Brian, got my reply back from VM. Just thought I would share it.
Thank you for your enquiry regarding Virgin Media providing digital services at your home.
Unfortunately this area is too far from our existing network to be cabled by our infill activity.
To cable this area would require a major network extension. At this time, there are no immediate plans to extend the network into new areas if this requires main build - as this is very expensive. As we find new ways of serving areas such as this that are outwith the existing network, we will look at your request further and may be able to include this in build programmes in future years. However at this time, we will not be able to provide cable service to this area.
I appreciate this is not good news, but be assured our team have investigated this and will continue to look for other solutions that may help us achieve this in the future.
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Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Phil: What is more-or-less as I said. But not helpfully for you.
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Sunday, 20 March 2011
J
Jon5:54 PM
Hi Brian. Surely it's not as bad as you thought for Worcester? Most of the city is covered by Malvern, with good coverage predicted. The rest is divided between Sutton, the Wrekin, Bromsgrove and Ridge Hill.
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Monday, 21 March 2011
Jon: Not with the Interleaved Frequencies available for Local TV.
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J
Jon2:27 PM
Briantist: I don't understand... The Malvern map shows good coverage for Worcester. Would the local mux not go on C51, which is in the pre-DSO aerial group of C/D? What would be wrong with that? Sorry if I am missing something obvious -- I appreciate your time explaining.
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