All posts by Chris.SE
Below are all of Chris.SE's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
There's been a lot of out-of-date, poor and mis-information around about COMs 7&8. Here is a prcis of the current situation -
OFCOM have updated the Arqiva licence for COMs 7&8 to be consistent with the forthcoming auction of the 700MHz frequencies (date TBD). Whichever MNOs (if any) buy the centre frequencies in which these two muxes reside, then they may give 3 months notice for closure, or there's an endstop date of 30th June 2022 whichever is sooner.
See https://www.ofcom.org.uk/….pdf
The recent decision to close COM8 was a commercial one made by Arqiva -
Quote -
"The initial licence period comes to an end in June and Ofcom has issued revised licence terms reflecting the fact that the services may have to terminate at short notice if the spectrum is needed for mobile data services. Given this uncertainty, and through discussions with the channels on Com 7 & 8, Arqiva has taken the decision to rationalise the services onto one multiplex.
The Covid-19 crisis has caused some uncertainty over the precise duration of the licence for some of the channels using Com 7 & 8. This has meant that there was not enough demand to make it financially viable to maintain two multiplexes.While channels are closing and we do appreciate that this may cause concern, a lot of work has taken place to ensure that viewers will still have access to the same content via main channels and on demand services."
In practical terms, the earliest COM7 would be likely to close would most likely well into 2021 or later. The 700MHz frequency clearance has to be completed (postponed because of Covid-19), currently suggested to be early 2021 and the auction has to be held. Encoders to use SDL on the centre frequencies need to be developed (and installed) as well as handsets. It's not going to happen in a hurry.
In summary -
1) OFCOM have actually got round to updating the Arqiva licence in preparation for the forthcoming auction (date TBD) selling off the 700MHz frequencies for mobile use
2) The fact that COM8 was closing now was a commercial decision by Arqiva with an explanation of the reasons
3) A bit of speculation about closure of COM7 not until well into 2021 at the earliest because of the factors mentioned, but in any event by 30th June 2022 as stated in the updated licence.
Of course there is one uncertainty, if advertising revenue/income drops or broadcasters pull out, Arqiva could make a decision to close COM7 at any time.
| link to this comment |
David McKay:
It's not so much which programmes are transmitted from a specific transmitter, it's a case of which programmes are carried by a particular multiplex. There are 3 PSB (Public Service Broadcast) multiplexes, 3 main COM (commercial) multiplexes, and now only one temporary HD COM(7) multiplex.
There are some Local multiplexes which broadcast to a number of large urban areas generally with high population density, they carry a local channel and a handful of other commercial ones.
For technical and financial reasons COM7 is only broadcast from 25 main transmitters in the UK.
The 3 PSB multiplexes are broadcast from every main and relay transmitter in the UK.
The 3 main COM multiplexes are broadcast from just over 80 main transmitters in the UK, plus a very small number of "relay" transmitters in major urban areas.
Local multiplexes have much smaller coverage than main multiplexes.
The Broadcasters on the PSB multiplexes are covered primarily by legislation.
There's PSB1/BBCA which carries all the main BBC TV and Radio stations, and Local BBC stations in the relevant areas
There's PSB2/D3&4 which carries the main ITV, Channel 4 and Five programmes and some of their +1s
There's PSB3 which is the BBCB HD multiplex (for which your receiver must have a T2/HD tuner) carrying the PSB broadcasters' HD channels plus a small commercial space for an extra SD channel or two.
It is highly unlikely that any individual will have any influence whatsoever over which commercial broadcasters are carried on which commercial multiplex (or part thereof). It is a commercial decision between the broadcaster and the multiplex operator. It also a commercial decision about whether there would be any COM multiplexes on any given relay transmitter. In most cases, relay transmitters do not cover a large enough population to make it commercially viable to pay for such equipment at a transmitter.
A while ago Channel 4 decided they no longer wanted to have Film4+1 on the PSB3 multiplex (a commercial decision), it moved to COM5/ARQA. Also TBN negotiated to move from a COM mux to PSB3. Recently Shopping Quarter has moved to PSB3 (LCN74 in the EPG).
Unfortunately, you live at a location that is only reliably served by a relay transmitter (Ripponden). Although there is some poor reception predicted from the main Emley Moor transmitter, it would likely be quite unreliable. If you want a greater choice of channels, you would probably be best going for Freesat if you have a clear line-of-site to 28deg.E A lot of modern TVs have a built-in satellite tuner so you'd only need a dish and LNB if that was the case.
For a list of which Freeview channel are on which multiplex, see Channel listings | Freeview
| link to this comment |
Roy:
As per the various pages on Platform management | Freeview and help pages, that is precisely what BBC4 HD have done.
In addition to the pop-ups that have appeared on each COM8 channel that was moving, telling you to retune to continue to receive them -
See Platform management | Freeview /channel-listings
See also 22 Jun 2020 - Important channel broadcast changes | Freeview
| link to this comment |
Rupert:
I agree with you, it is a shame it's not being maintained, there's info here that you'd struggle to find anywhere else, if at all!
| link to this comment |
js:
As a result of reading some stuff elsewhere, question, out of curiosity what is your EPG showing for the moved COM8 channels? Are any showing a programme guide or are they showing retune and moved messages - in the EPG mind, not the on-screen captions.
| link to this comment |
Js:
To add to the above, that's just the "moved" channels. I've noted that C4+1HD and 4SevenHD still residing in their original LCNs on COM8 still have programme guide data, and funnily enough so do the moved 4Music and 4Seven from COM6 a while back still carry programme guide data. All do have on-screen cease/retune captions as relevant.
| link to this comment |
Mary Ward:
The signal doesn't come from ourselves, but that aside Seagry Court is a relay transmitter in north Swindon. Is it all channels that you are losing signal or just some, if so which ones? Clearly there's some issue if you keep losing signal, I don't know how much of your system in the flats was checked out, but to look at predicted reception for your location we need the full postcode.
| link to this comment |
Mary Ward:
Sorry, I missed it before I posted, I also meant to ask how long has this been happening? And, the Seagry Court transmitter is currently listed for Planned Engineering with "Possible service interruptions".
| link to this comment |
This transmitter is listed for Planned Engineering with "Possible service interruptions" w/c 29/6/20
| link to this comment |
Sunday 28 June 2020 4:55PM
Roy:
I'm sorry you didn't find the information in my post that I linked to on the Sandy Heath page clear, I thought it was.
It explained that
1) OFCOM have actually got round to updating the Arqiva licence in preparation for the forthcoming auction selling off the 700MHz frequencies for mobile use
2) The fact that COM8 was closing now was a commercial decision by Arqiva with an explanation of the reasons
3) A bit of speculation about closure of COM7 not until well into 2021 at the earliest because of the factors mentioned, but in any event by 30th June 2022 as stated in the updated licence.