BBC Charter renewal and future dtt and satellite broadcasts

[hexah]

Reading about Spain's UHD 4k DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television) terrestrial transmissions reminded me to post these links so anyone who is interested can see what a mess the UK is in.

It has been proposed to keep satellite broadcasts on 28e no matter what happens to the DTT network. The BBC calls satellite broadcasts a 'nightlight'. Obviously there is no other way to cover the country. There are many areas of Scotland and Wales that do not get a full service or reliable reception of terrestrial signals. Some posters on this forum have this problem.

Sadly these 'experts' seem to think the 28e satellite is all about Sky with a bit of Freeview! They don't seem to realise 28e also broadcasts to west and west central Africa. There are at least 10 muxes (TPs) today and that will likely increase in future. The size and remoteness of Africa outside the big cities means that satellite is the only way to cover the area. The beam covers Senegal to Nigeria to Angola which is a similar area to the 19e European beams. There will be demand for satellite broadcasts from 28e for many decades to come and probably into the next century.

OFCOM

Report: Future of TV distribution

Report: Future of TV distribution

BBC response

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets...e-future-of-tv-distribution/responses/bbc.pdf

Broadcast 2024+ response

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets...-tv-distribution/responses/broadcast-2040.pdf

Arquiva response

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/consultations/category-1-10-weeks/269636-call-for-evidence-future-of-tv-distribution/responses/arqiva.pdf

 

[hexah]

A new technical proposal is whether to switch off the DTT terrestrial network in 2034 or in 2044.

DCMS Watch this space: a new strategic direction for UK media - green paper and public consultation

Watch this space: a new strategic direction for UK media - green paper and public consultation

I laughed as I read this. Remember the analogue to digital terrestrial broadcast change? Remember the change from dial up to broadband? It took well over a decade to change. There is no way there is going to be a switch off in 6 or 7 years. The BBC has great difficulty learning from previous experience.

The government is also is confused, they refer to the DTT network as a 'nightlight' not the 28e satellite broadcasts 'nightlight' !

The other hilarious idea is the idea that the BBC should lead the change from broadcasting to internet only delivery.

This is a new level of crack pipe cretinism from the bong puffers at the BBC.

The BBC is a universal public service. The other public service broadcasters stopped being public service broadcasters long ago. As the last public service broadcaster the BBC is the 'last one standing'. That means they will be the last broadcaster to stop broadcasting if they ever do stop. They are expecting everyone to pay for the BBC so as a paid for universal public service like the NHS. That means they have to be available to all. Even if the other broadcasters stop broadcasting the BBC must continue because they are a universal public service.

This would also apply to Channel 4 as a public service broadcaster but they stopped being a public service broadcaster long ago, they are now a commercial channel which is designed to keep the management in jobs and their pensions paid.

If BBC television and radio broadcasts continue on DTT then it is very likely ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 would keep broadcasting some of their channels on DTT so they aren't left out and to compete with the BBC's commercial UK TV channels (recently rebranded as U&).

There has to be some terrestrial radio and DTT in case of national and local disasters. Remember the Bilsdale fire?

There is no mention of the SD mux, which is odd. I think they should stop the SD broadcasts as soon as possible and replace the SD broadcasts with the public services we have paid for without changing the modulation or constellation. HD 1080i h264, at least CBR 192 kbps AAC, DVB-T (not T2) broadcasts of BBC News HD, BBC Parliament HD (so we can see the baying barmy baboons), Red Button HD, BBC Alba HD, S4C HD, BBC Scotland HD and the existing BBC radio channels.

Britain used to have the best analogue transmission system in the world with grouped aerials. Now it is far behind most countries in Europe, including Ukraine which is up the creek and even some African countries. China now has a robot theme park in Guangdong with humanoid robot staff, robot guides and robot performers and this pack of incompetent retards can't manage something as simple as a broadcast network.

Spain is broadcasting one mux in UHD 4K while we still have dual redundant SD and HD muxes. 10 years ago who would have thought our DTT would be far behind Ukraine or Spain?

Post in thread 'tve uhd'

Sep 10, 2026

Nueva TDT UHD: todo lo que necesitas saber

Consulta qué cambia el 5 de noviembre, cómo resintonizar los canales y cuándo puede ser necesaria la ayuda de una empresa instaladora.

www.fenitel.es

• solly

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[hexah]

The latest news is that BBC management wants to focus on football.

The only way that this could make any sense is to take huge puffs of the BBC bong.

They have obviously forgotten they are the last public service broadcaster and that the other channels are not interested in being a public service.

The choice here is between football and ditching public services to pay for it.

To any one who is not puffing the BBC bong the solution is simple. Don't ditch the public services because that is the purpose of the BBC, it is a universal public service. Sell their football rights to ITV and Channel 4 so they can broadcast it free of charge to the general public. ITV and Channel 4 have been complaining about the lack of money from advertising and the advertising around football will keep them going.

They should also look at the payroll and cut down on the amount of presenters. Apparently the BBC has a reporter for each big football club. That is obviously a waste of money. The sport department could use AI to summarise the press releases and results at a fraction of the cost.

The BBC could keep the highlights programme as long as the clips are provided free because it is free advertising for the football clubs and their broadcast and sport channels.

Arts, theatre, drama, music, children's, science, technology vs football. What kind of nutter would think a public service organization dumping public services for football is a good idea?

The BBC bong puffers, who else!

 

[Lazarus]

I now use Freely as my "Terrestrial" means of viewing - we are amongst those who have never benefited from full and effective DTT.

Freely is actually very good - apart from the issue of unrecordability - but the backwards EPG and better instant/recent availability of programmes via the associated Apps goes a good way to offsetting that.

But the news that 28E is going to be supported for a good while not only gives a backup to Freely but also freedom to record at will.

Of course, Freely relies on a fast (ish) Broadband connection and even we isolated yokels now have FTTP.

All good

 

[hexah]

I mainly use 28e and a computer for iPlayer as I don't like all the remote control key presses needed on the Freeview / Freesat / Freely boxes.

Having set up a few Freeview / Freesat / Freely boxes I find the wifi performance to be variable. It would be good if they all had a rear connector to add a wifi aerial, I think it would be a great help for many people. I have found it is possible to go from zero or one bar to three or four bars by adding a dongle with a wifi aerial to a laptop with inbuilt wifi.

It would be good if all Freely televisions could use the satellite input in hybrid mode with Freely, that would make life easier with fewer boxes.

 

[Lazarus]

^^

I ran a couple of CAT 6 cables to the rooms where I have Freely kit. No glitches at all, compared with WiFi.

 

[hexah]

Wired is always best.

I wired up with CAT 5 long ago. I will replace it with CAT 8 because the whole cable is shielded. It will be faster but I find the existing CAT 5 fast enough for my very basic intranet.

 

[Analoguesat]

Channel4 have already indicated they are thinking of switching to online only distribution for several of their channels & have aspirations to be the UK's first digital only major service provider.

This could come sooner rather than later with the announcements there are plans to include C4 content in BBC Iplayer.

 

[hexah]

Channel 4 is the other PSB so I would be surprised if the main channel goes digital only. The government may decide that is against the universal availability expected of PSBs and the main channel may have to be broadcast.

S4C programmes have been on iPlayer for a while so that might be why Channel 4 like the idea of more Channel 4 programmes on iPlayer. The BBC is used to buying and serving ads, they do it for UKTV channels and overseas versions of BBC channels.

The real problem is that Channel 4 had comedy and music programmes (with ******* bad language!) when they started but now they only make a limited range of programmes, like a commercial channel would. The government should force them to make an effort to make a wider range of programmes.

 

[Miika]

I think they should stop the SD broadcasts as soon as possible and replace the SD broadcasts with the public services we have paid for without changing the modulation or constellation. HD 1080i h264, at least CBR 192 kbps AAC, DVB-T (not T2) broadcasts of BBC News HD...

Best solution is going to use DVB-T2 with suitable modulation and error control depending of terrain and SFN-requrement. It simply free bandwidth and be more efficient - less networks, still same amount of channels with better picture quality. As it is known DVB-T2 is much more robust compared to DVB-T. Secondly, every channel provider should have freedom to choose what codec and resolution they want to use, so H265 should be a option if desired.
But, one mux with (almost) 100% coverage and autonomous power supply should be stay to use DVB-T carrying main channels, even if it's SD until there is tiny amount older STB and TVs without DVB-T2 left. It then can provide services during crisis. Like Ukraine showed if there is a major crisis, there will be only handful of tv channels which all cover the same subject.

In Estonia we have DVB-T SD multiplex and DVB-T2 HD multiplex working side-by-side for public service both having 99,99% coverage. There were several attempts to close SD public channels but government still subsidies the transmission as transmitter company also support the idea. We have no legislative authorothy which tells what resolution, codec etc channel must use, everything is regulated by market and demand itself.
Right now SD is just for old TV-sets keeping them working on, but in case of very major emergency other networks shuts down and this DVB-T network start carrying necessary content under the brand CrisisTV. It will be on air regardless of power grid supply (hence many small gap fillers) and signal can be feeded into it from multiple ways.