Local TV on Freeview - table of winners and losers
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV The table below details the areas covered (and not covered) by the new proposed local television on Freeview. Some of the most populous areas London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff, Southampton and Bristol already are BBC and ITV regional centres, shown "BBC" and "ITV".
I have noted "Poor coverage" for cities and towns that have a proposed "interleaved frequency" where the population covered is below two-thirds. The predicted coverage is shown as the second column.
The "no transmitter" areas of Leicester, Coventry, Bradford, Wolverhampton, Derby, Salford have large populations, but no suitable transmitter for an interleaved frequency.
| Location | % | Population | Notes | |
| London including Greater London area | 97% | 7714048 | BBC ITV | |
| Birmingham including Greater Birmingham area, part o | 100% | 2892768 | BBC ITV | |
| Leeds including Dewsbury, Halifax, Huddersfield, Wak | 91% | 2651704 | BBC ITV | |
| Manchester including Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale | 100% | 2651704 | BBC ITV | |
| Newcastle including Gateshead, South Shields, Sund | 90% | 2410640 | BBC ITV | |
| Liverpool including St Helens, Widnes, Wigan, Wirral | 99% | 2121363 | 1st | |
| Glasgow including East Kilbride, Motherwell, Paisley | 88% | 1807980 | BBC ITV | |
| Edinburgh including Dunfermline | 48% | 1470490 | 2nd | |
| Cardiff including Newport, Bridgend | 74% | 1205320 | BBC ITV | |
| Falkirk including Stirling | 74% | 1108894 | 3rd | |
| Southampton including Eastleigh, Fareham, parts of Is | 54% | 1108894 | BBC ITV | |
| Dundee including Arbroath, Perth | 38% | 940150 | Poor coverage | |
| Bristol | 87% | 916043 | BBC ITV | |
| Reading | 39% | 867830 | Poor coverage | |
| Preston including Blackpool | 97% | 843724 | 4th | |
| Nottingham | 94% | 747298 | BBC | |
| Middlesbrough including Hartlepool, Stockton on Tees | 76% | 699086 | 5th | |
| Grimsby including Parts of Kingston upon Hull | 100% | 650873 | 6th | |
| Belfast including Lisburn | 96% | 626766 | BBC ITV | |
| Maidstone | 64% | 530341 | 7th | |
| Sheffield including parts of Rotherham | 63% | 458022 | 8th | |
| Guildford including Parts of Woking | 29% | 433915 | Poor coverage | |
| Ayr including Kilmarnock | 65% | 409809 | 9th | |
| Norwich | 96% | 373649 | BBC ITV | |
| Brighton and Hove | 65% | 361596 | 10th | |
| Stoke on Trent including Newcastle under Lyme | 80% | 361596 | 11th | |
| York | 47% | 361596 | Poor coverage | |
| Gloucester including Cheltenham | 93% | 337490 | 12th | |
| Lancaster including Morecambe, Heysham | 30% | 337490 | Poor coverage | |
| Telford | 52% | 337490 | Poor coverage | |
| Leicester | 0% | 330574 | No transmitter | |
| Aberdeen | 100% | 313383 | ITV | |
| Coventry | 0% | 303475 | No transmitter | |
| Hull | 0% | 301416 | BBC | |
| Bradford | 0% | 293717 | No transmitter | |
| Burnley including Nelson, Colne | 68% | 289277 | 13th | |
| Carlisle | 62% | 289277 | ITV | |
| Reigate including parts of Crawley | 62% | 289277 | 14th | |
| Swansea including Llanelli | 61% | 289277 | 15th | |
| Hemel Hempstead including Parts of St Albans | 34% | 265170 | 16th | |
| Oxford including Abingdon, Didcot | 100% | 265170 | BBC | |
| Wolverhampton | 0% | 251462 | No transmitter | |
| Plymouth | 0% | 243795 | BBC | |
| Derby | 0% | 229407 | No transmitter | |
| Haywards Heath including Heathfield, Uckfield | 67% | 229011 | 17th | |
| Plymouth | 106% | 226600 | 18th | |
| Salford | 0% | 221300 | No transmitter | |
| Mold including Denbigh, Ruthin | 28% | 214547 | Poor coverage | |
| Basingstoke | 73% | 212136 | 19th | |
| Cambridge | 99% | 202494 | 20th | |
| Bromsgrove | 35% | 200083 | Poor coverage | |
| Luton | 28% | 195262 | Poor coverage | |
| Keighley | 43% | 190441 | 21st | |
| Malvern | 63% | 190441 | 22nd | |
| Northampton | 0% | 189474 | No transmitter | |
| Portsmouth | 0% | 186000 | No transmitter | |
| Dudley | 0% | 184619 | No transmitter | |
| Milton Keynes | 0% | 184506 | No transmitter | |
| Sunderland | 0% | 177739 | No transmitter | |
| Inverness | 69% | 173566 | 23rd | |
| Walsall | 0% | 170994 | No transmitter | |
| Bournemouth | 0% | 167527 | No transmitter | |
| Stratford upon Avon | 43% | 163924 | Poor coverage | |
| Southend-on-sea | 0% | 160257 | No transmitter | |
| Swindon | 0% | 155432 | No transmitter | |
| Bedford including Sandy | 100% | 154281 | 24th | |
| Tonbridge including Parts of Tunbridge Wells | 73% | 149460 | 25th | |
| Bolton | 0% | 139403 | No transmitter | |
| Ipswich | 0% | 138718 | No transmitter | |
| West Bromwich | 0% | 136940 | No transmitter | |
| Peterborough | 0% | 136292 | No transmitter | |
| Stockport | 0% | 136082 | No transmitter | |
| Limavady including Parts of Ballymoney, parts of Cole | 65% | 132585 | 26th | |
| Slough | 0% | 126276 | No transmitter | |
| Dover including Parts of Folkestone | 81% | 125353 | 27th | |
| Gloucester | 0% | 123205 | No transmitter | |
| Carmarthen | 78% | 122943 | 28th | |
| Poole | 41% | 122943 | Poor coverage | |
| Watford | 0% | 120960 | No transmitter | |
| Elgin | 58% | 120532 | Poor coverage | |
| Chester | 0% | 118000 | No transmitter | |
| Rotherham | 0% | 117262 | No transmitter | |
| Newport | 0% | 116143 | No transmitter | |
| Greenock including Dunoon | 74% | 110889 | 29th | |
| Shrewsbury | 96% | 110889 | 30th | |
| Lisburn | 0% | 110000 | No transmitter | |
| Chichester | 0% | 108000 | No transmitter | |
| Winchester | 0% | 108000 | No transmitter | |
| Exeter | 0% | 106772 | No transmitter | |
| Eastbourne | 0% | 106562 | No transmitter | |
| Hereford | 98% | 106068 | 31st | |
| Scarborough | 75% | 106068 | 32nd | |
| Blackburn | 0% | 105085 | No transmitter | |
| Colchester | 0% | 104390 | No transmitter | |
| St. Helens | 0% | 102629 | No transmitter | |
| Salisbury | 74% | 101247 | 33rd | |
| Crawley | 0% | 100547 | No transmitter | |
| Derry / Londonderry | 90% | 96426 | 34th | |
| Worcester | 0% | 93000 | No transmitter | |
| Bath | 0% | 90000 | No transmitter | |
| Kidderminster | 63% | 84372 | 35th | |
| Barnstaple | 94% | 81962 | 36th | |
| Haverfordwest | 96% | 60266 | 37th | |
| Bangor | 77% | 53034 | 38th |
Help with TV/radio stations?
In this section
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
B
Bill Bullock10:26 AM
Is it known yet when the London BBC local area will be transmitted on Freeview HD to avoid having to change back to channel 1
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S
Steve P11:06 AM
Wrexham
Is there any way of locating oneself in that list? I am at LL14 5HD - in Wales by 100 yards - but I can't tell which I fit into. Shresbury/Chester/Bangor?
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Steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Bill Bullock: Perhaps in 2013/4? There are no plans at the moment, and the BBC is having to make cuts.
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Mike Dimmick2:04 PM
Trust me, Reading does not have a population of 800k. 250k if you include the whole conurbation, about 150k in the borough boundaries. The whole point is that it is a local service, otherwise you might as well do a single service from Hannington for Reading and Basingstoke rather than Ofcom's 'petal' idea.
The coverage map looks fine to me - little spotty in Woodley (south-east of town centre) and Tilehurst (west Reading). I'm surprised they think the coverage in Caversham (north of the Thames) is that good, considering that is where the Hemdean relay is.
Actually I'm a bit surprised Hemdean isn't included, considering that C51 would be in-group for that relay as well. Perhaps it would interfere with the Basingstoke petal. Or perhaps Arqiva just don't want to run a line feed for it (there's too much reprocessing delay to do an off-air SFN even with a 1/4 guard interval).
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Dave Lindsay
2:17 PM
2:17 PM
Coverage maps are all well and good.
However, are people really going to fork out for another aerial where it's needed?
Take York as an example. It currently has York TV whose transmitter is on the Askham Bryan water tower. This is to the south west of the city and the general direction that aerials are pointing for Emley Moor (Yorkshire).
However, the Ofcom map shows the transmission site to be Bilsdale with the signal directed to the south only. This is the southern-most transmitter for Tyne Tees and as such many in Yorkshire want to watch Yorkshire TV (Emley Moor) where it is receivable, even where the Bilsdale signal might be stronger.
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Dave Lindsay: That's why it says "47% Poor coverage" above.
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D
David5:41 PM
Do no not understand Bradford having no transmitter as it has the Idle site.
Anyway Leeds is so near it should be a joint station.
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Steve P7:17 PM
Presumably that transmitter does not work very hard?
I'll get my coat.
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