A question for Freeview user in Scotland
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV Until 13 November 2006, the BBC Parliament channel used to be carried as a quarter screen service on Freeview, because as the BBC said at the time:
"It is felt to be a more efficient use of space to display BBC Parliament within a text format, with the picture a quarter screen, thus enabling the broadcast of other services.
This is only possible because the majority of camera shots are of one person talking."
In Scotland, during the hours that BBC Alba is on air, the BBC have removed ten radio stations: Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, 4 Extra, 5 Live Sports Extra, World Service, Asian Network, Radio Scotland and Radio nan Gaidheal.
There have been some questions about the consultation.
One question that was not asked: could BBC Parliament be returned to the "quarter screen plus text" service during the BBC Alba transmission hours, so that the ten radio stations could continue to broadcast?
All questions
In this section
Sunday, 3 July 2011
J
John Robinson9:52 AM
Edinburgh
My father discovered that Radios 3 and 4 had disappeared and thought the switchover re-tune had gone wrong. His eyesight is too poor to read the text that is shown on the radio stations' channels and in any case it makes no mention of the reason that they're off-air in their off-air hours.
While he has a radio, he has now asked me to find him a radio that he can use with preset buttons on it as he can no longer use a manual dial, nor will he be able to use one of the DAB radios with a tiny LCD screen, and it will probably have to be a good one to achieve the sound quality that his TV's built-in speakers do so that he can listen to music properly - his choice of TV was influenced by wanting to listen to Radio 3 on it. Clearly such a radio will not be cheap.
I for one would support reducing BBC Parliament back to a quarter screen in order to reinstate the radio stations.
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John's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
W
Will12:43 PM
I would prefer to have a quarter screen BBC Parliament over the loss of the radio stations. It would be interesting to see the viewing figures for BBC Parliament. It should be prescribed by doctors as a cure for insomnia.
I don't want to sound arrogant or disrespectful to Gaelic speakers but is there really a requirement to broadcast BBC Alba across Scotland. Only 1.2% of Scots speak the language (2001 census) and from the link below, it can be seen that it is mainly spoken towards the west of the country.
File:ScotlandGaelicSpeakers2001.gif - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I live in the east of Scotland and as far as I'm aware, Gaelic was never widely spoken here if at all. Why can't BBC Alba just be broadcast in the areas where Gaelic speakers are concentrated? I have a feeling that the roll out across the country was to allow self righteous people at the BBC to claim that they are single-handedly saving a language.
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J
John Robinson1:37 PM
Edinburgh
Will: I personally agree with your scepticism about the need for BBC Alba across the whole of Scotland, but Gaelic is an official language of Scotland and the decision on BBC Alba has been taken for whatever political reasons that I don't think we need to argue here; let's just get our radio stations back!
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B
Bill Girvan6:32 PM
I don't speak Gaelic and have no interest in BBC Alba. This is another example of decisions being taken on our behalf for the benefit of a minority. Bring back the radio stations.
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Monday, 4 July 2011
M
Mike2:38 PM
I too would support the return of the radio stations. Reducing BBC Parliament to a quarter screen is a price I would happily pay!
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P
P D Hay6:01 PM
While I do not speak Gaelic I do enjoy Celtic music and the Football that is shown on BBC Alba. I would support the idea that BBC Parliament go to Quarter screen in order to retain the radio stations
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Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Iain
1:49 PM
Kilmacolm
1:49 PM
Kilmacolm
Brian: Trust you enjoyed your break. My answer to your question is 'emphatically yes'.
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Iain's: mapI's Freeview map terrainI's terrain plot wavesI's frequency data I's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 7 July 2011
C
Chris3:05 PM
Tranent
BBC Alba may have a place but the price is far too high. As for the consultation the first I knew about it was when my wife asked me what happened to Radio 4 on 15th June. We listen or should I say listened to Radio 4 and The World service on Freeview in the evening. DAB reception is not very good indoors where we are in Pencaitland whereas the TV reception is good. If BBC Parliament quarter page can solve this problem and lead to the reinstatement of evening time radio transmission then it should be pursued. Question is how to make it happen?
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Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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Ian GEC10:07 PM
Having just watched an enjoyable black and white programme about Barra I do enjoy some of the BBC Alba output - its a bit like regional itv telly used to be about 25 years ago...but having just read this I now understand where, and why, my radio stations went awol. BBC Parliament - put it in a little box...i'd settle for a an eighth of a screen - and give me my radio stations back
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Friday, 8 July 2011
I
Iain7:34 PM
There's only one short answer to this - yes. The situation we have at the moment is utterly ridiculous - main BBC radio channels unavailable throughout Scotland and replaced by tartan & shortbread ad infinitum..
There is absolutely NO justification for such a stupid and (licence payers money)wasteful decision. Yet another example of the BBC ineptness. The irony is that a lot of BBC Alba programmes have subtitles in English - further proof of how narrow minded this decision was.
The sooner this mess is sorted out the better!
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