All posts by Briantist
Below are all of Briantist's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Dave Lindsay: I have had other people say that Film4 has moved to PSB2, with Film4+1 being listed for the service on COM6.
I would love to confirm it, but I only have a YouView box and it won't let you see changes until YouView approve of them.
I don't know if they are going to just squash Film4 into the existing capacity, or if Channel 4+1 is going to be ejected (or something).
Digital UK Industry - Listings shows nothing as yet (of course).
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Mike Dimmick: I have updated the system to use your new email address - News headlines | ukfree.tv - 11 years of independent, free digital TV advice .
The comments are cached for few days and make take a while to update the number of overall posts.
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Mike Dimmick: And the first thing this page does is correct your number of posts from 6 to 2,454...
Yes, there will be voice-over-LTE solutions, (as well as versions such Skype and Facetime Voice) but as I understand it the 2G and 3G networks are expected to both fall-back and fill-in for some time to come.
One service that I didn't know about, and find utterly facinating is GSM-R GSM-R - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia which is used for controlling trains thoughout Europe. There seems to be a long-term commitment to this version of 2G at least.
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Mike Dimmick: Thanks very much for the links.
I was rather hoping that the information would turn up in the http://www.ofcom.org.uk/s….csv file.
I have had a look at the documents and I see I will have to get to work - again [1] - entering radiation patterns!
Thankfully most of the information looks like it is the same as the bid process, which is in the database already, but suppressed.
And as Ofcom have called them all "Mux L", I am going to prepend the POSTCODE of the main service area to them, ie
LBT for Belfast
LB for Birmingham
LBN for Brighton and Hove
LBS for Bristol
LCF for Cardiff
LEH for Edinburgh
LG for Glasgow
LDN for Grimsby
LLS for Leeds
LL for Liverpool
LW for London
LM for Manchester
LNE for Newcastle
LNR for Norwich
LNG for Nottingham
LOX for Oxford
LPR for Preston
LS for Sheffield
LSO for Southampton
Or is this too confusing?
[1] Want to see the extended Freeview HD coverage areas? See the UK Free TV maps | High definition | ukfree.tv - 11 years of independent, free digital TV advice
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trevorjharris: Actually, the law says that the whatever channels the Secretary of State decides are PSB channels, plus those provided by the BBC have to go at the top of the EPG.
Sky was not permitted to charge for the commercial value of the slot, but as "service fee" for the operation of the EPG.
Sky have excellent lawyers and did a great job of loading costs onto SSSL, such as the free-dish-and-box-offer and marketing costs.
It is clear from all the figures that PSB channels subsidize the Sky platform, not the other way around.
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trevorjharris: The BBC have spend CONSIDERABLY more than £100m on the refurb of Broadcasting House. It's more like £1bn[1]
As for your DAB comment, didn't I read that "the share of all radio listening via digital radio now stands at 36.8 compared with 34.3 last quarter. The share of analogue listening in the UK is now at its lowest ever" today - oh yes, I did [2]
[1] The new BBC Broadcasting House: So what does £1bn buy? | Art and design | The Guardian
[2] Digital Radio listening continues to rise : Radio Today
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Les Nicol: I guess the point is how you define "public service broadcasting"?
There is what one might describe as the "American position", which is one of "market failure": that public broadcasters provide only what the market can't.
The "British position" is somewhat different. It encompasses the idea that public service broadcasting is a good to be enjoyed by all citizens.
The UK has several different models of broadcaster:
- a full-service corporation that provides services in exchange for a fixed level on households with a television set. This entity is prevented from using advertising to generate additional income.
- a network (of three now) broadcasters who provide a range of defined public service programmes (now limited to news and regional news) in exchange for EPG prominence, but historically were granted exclusive rights to a limited spectrum. These broadcasters generate revenue from spot adverts.
- a corporation that is ad-funded and gets free access to the airwaves, but must provide a range of programmes not provided by the above two entities.
- a fifth national network in the vein of the second above listed which gets slot 5 in exchange for a news service;
- and (for historical reasons that have nothing to do with arson attacks on holiday homes) a service for Welsh speaking viewers;
The various laws define the above as "public services" and they are mostly in good health as they, together, account for over 75% of viewing.
Quite why Sky News isn't provide something for it's efforts is a good question.
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... another definition of "public service broadcasting", which is of little interest to rich people in cities with Sky subscriptions, would involve seeing that a high-quality service is provided to all citizens in the country...
People with "Freeview light" might think that they get a poor deal, but they do get a high-quality service of programmes.
This is an very expensive cross-subsidy, and would certainly not exist if markets decided.
If you don't think so, just channel Richard Beeching...
http://joycewhitchurch.zx….jpg
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Thursday 1 August 2013 8:17AM
Ian from notts: It won't be an "illegal broadcast" if the signal stays inside an RF cable.
Virgin Media's cable system overlaps with Freeview already, and that's perfectly legal.
It's a question of how good the cables, connectors and connections are in a domestic install.
I've seen plenty of instances of RF outputs being attached aerial downlinks, thus sending the signal out of the aerial, or of unscreened cables being used.
And how many broken fly-leads must there be in the UK?