All posts by Mike Dimmick
Below are all of Mike Dimmick's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Tim C: The BBC cares about when they shut down. The commercial channels don't. I'd bet on 01:30 for BBC One to shut down; the commercial channels will probably already be off - though they might still go off at, or shortly after, a programme junction, as they did for Crystal Palace's power tests.
Usually it takes a while for things to be reconfigured for the new transmissions, but at Tacolneston, the new services will be on the new mast, so everything will already be set up.
| link to this comment |
Sandra Wright: If you stop subscribing to Sky, you can still watch the free-to-air and 'soft-encrypted' channels - see Compare Freesat and Freesat-from-Sky TV | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice for the list of services on 'Freesat-from-Sky'.
However, Sky will disable the recording and time-shifting features of the box, and you won't be able to watch anything you previously recorded. It's possible to transfer recordings of free-to-air channels to a PC using a tool called +Extract - +Extract - free software that rips free-to-air recordings from a Sky+ hard disk .
These are software limitations but I'm not aware that anyone has taken the trouble to write new software for the boxes that would remove these limits. As far as we know, the only way to get recording without paying Sky any money is to buy a different box.
Generic free-to-air recorders are also available, but Freesat-branded boxes will have a full Electronic Programme Guide, series link, accurate recording, etc - all the features you're used to from Sky+.
The link above does show a relatively small number of channels that are in Sky's service but not in Freesat's. Note that 5* and 5 USA, and their +1 time-shifts, will be joining Freesat on 8 December, according to Generic FAQ F to J | Channel 5 . Pick TV and Sky News are unlikely to ever come to Freesat as they are Sky-owned channels.
| link to this comment |
Ian: I'm afraid it's not very likely. It's expected to roughly double the cost of transmission to broadcast from all relays, which would only increase the overall coverage by 8% of the population. There also aren't that many spare frequencies, although Scotland is better off than elsewhere as you're not that close to other countries! If the broadcasters do extend coverage it's most likely to be at transmitters that cover a large number of households with low power, and that are easy to feed. Penicuik is predicted to cover 9,900 households, joint 50th (of approximately 1000 'Freeview Light' relays not carrying all muxes).
If you provide a full postcode, we can see whether another transmitter is likely to give reliable results; however, I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope, as Penicuik is quite a distance from the edge of the old analogue coverage areas of Craigkelly, Black Hill and Angus (which does have some overspill into Midlothian, around Dalkeith, but not as far south-west as Penicuik).
| link to this comment |
James Lowther, John: UKTV, which runs Yesterday, say:
"Are you planning on putting any UKTV channels on Freesat?
Dave, Really and Yesterday are available "free-to-air" through Freeview only at present, and we currently have no plans to launch any channels on Freesat."
You can send them a message at Contact us .
There are suggestions that Sky may be subsidising their carriage on satellite, though I note that all of UKTV's standard-definition channels are on two transponders, which don't carry channels from anyone else, so they could be leasing the transponders directly. It's likely that, like Channel 5, they would have to lease new transponders on the 2D or 1N satellites, with a UK-only footprint, before they could move to Freesat.
The HD variants are sharing transponders with channels from other providers.
| link to this comment |
Robert Lee: Briantist is definitely talking about Bangor in Wales, which is near the transmitter at Llanddona (on Anglesey), while Jordy is talking about Bangor, Northern Ireland, for which no spare frequency is available.
Briantist's assumption must be correct as Ofcom's list of sites is based on main transmitters - carrying all six multiplexes - only.
| link to this comment |
Adrian, Ian: The detailed study on which sites are viable, and why, is at xhttp://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/tvops/ArqivaReport.pdf . Basically, there's no channel available to serve Derby.
"Spectrum in central England is limited and available channels are restricted."
Just squeezing in the Derby relay was difficult enough, with the digital services initially starting up at Waltham DSO 2 on former analogue channels and only moving to final channels after Sutton Coldfield DSO.
| link to this comment |
Arqiva's Reference Offers for Transmission Services and Network Access have now been published at Useful documentation .
| link to this comment |
Ian: You can only make a red button service available where there's capacity to run the stream! The red button really only saves getting a Logical Channel Number from DMOL for the service (and BBC Red Button interactive stream actually has one - it's on 301). I don't think DMOL even charge for this. On the other hand, the MHEG program to handle the red button and switch to the alternate video stream would have to be carried by whatever the entry point service was - so you're basically asking the Nottingham service to advertise its competitor!
Local TV has to be carried on a new multiplex from somewhere, or Ofcom have to force a PSB multiplex to free up several slots to carry enough regional services from each transmitter. The PSB multiplexes are already full up, except a small chunk of D3&4 that ITV plc are likely to reclaim, once the squatting Rabbits are kicked off and the capacity is big enough to run a full channel. The COM muxes are not set up to run different regional content (except SDN in Wales).
| link to this comment |
Tuesday 22 November 2011 4:13PM
Brian: The SDN/Mux A multiplex remains on C31 until 9 May 2012.
C51 is the final location but it is currently in use at Hemel Hempstead and can't be used until after the London switchover is completed on 18 April. I'm not sure what the reason for the three-week delay is. Possibly the programme of Olympic test events between 18 April and 8 May (the broadcasters are likely to need a degree of stability to test their equipment before the Olympics proper start at the end of July).