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
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Phil7:45 AM
Scarborough
Hi Brian, not sure how accurate that Virgin Media coverage map is. It indicates they cover Scarborough, when they most certainly don't.
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Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Phil: It was supplied by Virgin Media. I have not used it to compile the above table, which I used the Virgin Media Postcode checker system to check.
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Phil8:08 AM
Scarborough
Hi Brian, yes I just looked on Virgin Media's site and they have the same map.
Thinking about it years ago one of VM's predecessors Cable & Wireless cabled the town and then decided not to offer any cable services. They were digging the roads up from months and gridlocked the whole town. Maybe that's where the mistake is coming from?
When they completed their cable laying and then didn't offer any services there was a rumour that it was all a ruse just to get cable up to the Middlesbrough area. Not sure if there's any truth in that though?
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Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Phil: That makes no sense at all. Cable services are fed from head-ends, not "via" streets in other towns.
I can't understand why Cable and Wireless would put in all the street ducts and then not use them to provide a service.
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Phil8:29 AM
Scarborough
Oh right. Well it was only a rumour at the time. It is very strange.
They didn't just lay the cable in the town they did it in a lot of outlying villages as well. There was even an article in the local paper at the time saying we were about to get cable, but after months of traffic gridlock it never happened.
At a guess I'd say they are missing out on around 70,000 potential customers.
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Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Phil: They don't actually lay "cable" when they dig the roads up, they dig ducts that cables can be fitted into.
In the jargon these become "homes passed". The actual cable only gets installed when a customer requests service, usually this is dual cable - half coaxial for the TV and broadband services and half twisted pair for a phone line.
The cables go to the nearest "headend" which is usually a box in the street, sometimes a box in the ground.
The networks are "star networks" from the headend to the homes. The headends are connected back to the "central office" in the town using fibre-optic.
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Phil9:22 AM
Scarborough
Oh right. Any idea why they'd dig ducts and not offer the service? Maybe they ran out of money half way through?
What would VM have to do to start offering their service then?
| link to this comment |
Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Phil: I think when the companies consolidated they decided not to extend their network any more.
It could be that the work was incomplete and was abandoned at a point where the capital costs to provide customer service were more than the possible profits.
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Phil1:28 PM
Scarborough
Yes, you could be right. Just a shame they half did the job and then gave up.
I have just emailed the VM cable my street department to ask. Obviously they know about it at some level, as their coverage map shows. We'll see if they get back to me.
Thanks for all the info. You have taught me a few things I had no clue about regarding cable.
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Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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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