BBC ITV etc phasing out SD services on satellite in 2023

[lovinthetelly]

Hi guys, pertinent news if you're relying on fringe reception for 28E:

The BBC will begin to close its standard definition regional services on satellite next year, followed by the closure of their remaining SD channels at a later (currently unspecified) date. All of the BBC's services will be available in HD, so the only way to continue viewing BBC TV on Sky/Freesat/FTA boxes will be via HD-capable equipment.

SD-only viewers will initially receive the network 'red screen' version of BBC One in early 2023; essentially an inversion of the current situation with respect to BBC One HD in England.

Viewers will be directed to a website for more information (not yet live) or a channel to test their device's compatibility.

 

[ozumo]

What's the source for this news?

 

[lovinthetelly]

Platform testing- nothing publicly announced yet.

 

[Analoguesat]

So the news has come from DS forum - Ive just seen the posts over there. And at the moment is completely unverified apart from the claim by the op on DS. (Although I think we probably all agree its long overdue.)

 

[Channel Hopper]

Coincidence the tail wags the dog the same day the Germans complete HD ops on 19.2E

 

[rodscha]

and what is the "DS Forum"? what I get from Google is for De Gaulle's favorite carriage (black of course)

 

[manic01]

and what is the "DS Forum"? what I get from Google is for De Gaulle's favorite carriage (black of course)

Digital spy

 

[rodscha]

thank you,I should have guessed...

 

[astra19]

Speaking of Digitalspy, I was trying to reactivate my dormant account and it wouldn't let me. Then I tried to set up a new account, tried three different email addresses and never received a confirmation email. Oh well. Wonder if they've spotted they haven't got any new users. Site isn't what it used to be anyway.

 

[AndyX]

Speaking of Digitalspy, I was trying to reactivate my dormant account and it wouldn't let me. Then I tried to set up a new account, tried three different email addresses and never received a confirmation email. Oh well. Wonder if they've spotted they haven't got any new users. Site isn't what it used to be anyway.

seems more and more news sites require email registration at the moment. More opportunities for our details to be compromised through site hacking. I am glad this site has had no breaches recently. I used to use DS a lot at one time,

 

[Fisty McB]

Looks like the wheels are about to be oiled to go in motion? Three screen slots just appeared on the Freesat home transponder to indicate Freesat receiver capability.

BBC to switch off SD channels on Sky and Freesat - RXTV

Standard definition BBC channels on satellite will close next year as part of an HD switchover across all BBC channels and regions.

rxtvinfo.com

 

[dvdfilm]

Looks like the wheels are about to be oiled to go in motion? Three screen slots just appeared on the Freesat home transponder to indicate Freesat receiver capability.

BBC to switch off SD channels on Sky and Freesat - RXTV

Standard definition BBC channels on satellite will close next year as part of an HD switchover across all BBC channels and regions.

rxtvinfo.com

What will this mean for the Satback service on Intelsat?

 

[Adam792]

What will this mean for the Satback service on Intelsat?

Shouldn’t mean anything unless something similar is announced for the UK terrestrial platform, which seems unlikely for the moment.

 

[william-1]

Shouldn’t mean anything unless something similar is announced for the UK terrestrial platform, which seems unlikely for the moment.

UK Terrestial has lost a lot of frequencies thanks to mobile broadband 4G & now 5G,
This gives freeview limited scope for any expansion with the limited spectrum now available,
Most HD is on such low power as to be useless,
Still getting high power BBC-1HD,BBC-2 HD,ITV-1 HD Meridian & I live in Essex
Ch-4HD,Ch-5HD,BBC-4HD,BBC-3 HD,
We did have BBC-News HD & few others but when 5G came along we lost 6 other HD channels due to the much weaker signal,

 

[Channel Hopper]

UK Terrestial has lost a lot of frequencies thanks to mobile broadband 4G & now 5G,
This gives freeview limited scope for any expansion with the limited spectrum now available,
Most HD is on such low power as to be useless,
Still getting high power BBC-1HD,BBC-2 HD,ITV-1 HD Meridian & I live in Essex
Ch-4HD,Ch-5HD,BBC-4HD,BBC-3 HD,
We did have BBC-News HD & few others but when 5G came along we lost 6 other HD channels due to the much weaker signal,

Since the BBC confirmed only Freeview Play would be capable of 4K, the HD platform via terrestrial means was always under a self imposed guillotine.

 

[Fisty McB]

Pretty much now confirmed by the BBC that all the English regions will be available in HD on satellite & terrestrial by this coming April.

Closure of BBC SD channels on satellite | Help receiving TV and radio

We have now closed the SD versions of all our TV channels on satellite – this closure took place on the 8th of January 2024. If you are seeing a ‘channel closed’ message on your screen, you are using SD equipment and need to upgrade.

www.bbc.co.uk

Goodbye red slate. Hello BBC One in HD for everyone...

Rollout of BBC One HD for the English regions on TV platforms

www.bbc.co.uk

To summarise, on satellite (28E)...

* A phased switch over will take place whereby the BBC One English regions variations will become available in HD between mid-January & the end of March.
* The January to March time period will also see the formal launch on satellite of BBC TV services that are currently SD only - this will include BBC Two NI (already on satellite but not on any Sky or Freesat EPG at present), BBC Alba, BBC Parliament & BBC Red Button.
* With the introduction of BBC One English regions, these will default to channel 101 on Sky & Freesat HD capable receivers in place of the previous SD version.
* During this period the SD English regional & "national" regional services of BBC One & BBC Two will also be cut on a similar phased time scale to allow capacity to be refarmed for HD services.
* Viewers with SD only receivers will have to rely on a UK-wide version of BBC One & Two from April 2023. During times that regional news programmes usually appear such viewers will be presented with a "Red screen" currently enjoyed by BBC One England HD viewers, advising them to upgrade their receiver for HD reception.
* Alongside a UK-wide version of BBC One & Two, SD versions of all other BBC TV channels will be maintained until the end of March 2024, as well as all current radio services (this suggests that all radio services in that time period will remain on a DVB-S transponder alongside SD TV channels).
* From April 2024, viewers that haven't upgraded their satellite reception equipment to HD (presumably capable of DVB-S2 with MPEG4 HD video) will no longer be able to receive BBC TV & radio services from 28E. By this stage all BBC TV service transmissions via 28E will be in HD only.

For terrestrial reception, the BBC One English regions will become available in HD by April 2023 on the PSB3 multiplex in place of the BBC One England HD service that advises viewers to change to the SD service on LCN 1 during local news. The SD version of BBC One locally available will continue to exist - no retuning or equipment upgrading should be necessary.

Freesat viewers are advised to check channel 799 to see if the caption on that channel suggests wherever that you need an equiptment upgrade or not (I'd imagine the vast majority of Freesat viewers won't need to). Apparently a channel 799 advise service is also on Freeview (for some reason?) but I haven't checked this out yet myself. Sky viewers will be communicated in due course.

Homepage | HD Satellite Upgrade

www.hdsatelliteupgrade.co.uk

 

[dvdfilm]

So will the Satback service carry local news in HD? (currently Red screen)
And what region will that be?

 

[Adam792]

So will the Satback service carry local news in HD? (currently Red screen)
And what region will that be?

Probably not in the medium term, but if the launch of this happens before the new Bilsdale transmitter is in service, it's likely to carry BBC One North East & Cumbria HD at first (like it does in SD at the moment). ITV HD may also switch to the North East version for the same time.

 

[dmaavrigdo]

As I can't now see any BBC HD channels I'm going to be investigating horn antennas.

 

[Fisty McB]

So will the Satback service carry local news in HD? (currently Red screen)
And what region will that be?

Satback is essentially a last-resort fall back system for the PSB1 & PSB3 multiplexes where all other sources of being able to try and transmit the multiplex (optical fibre, micorwave or RBR) fail. Given the rarity of how often this fall back should be implemented (current issues concerning the Bilsdale DTT service area notwithstanding), having every BBC 1& 2 regional service let alone ITV HD regions too is unlikely to be economically justifiable. Instead, if a localised long-term issue occurs like Bilsdale, they can centrally reshuffle Satback to provide those regional services with the capacity available - if say another small relay at the same time were to have an issue requiring them to be fed via Satback, then those viewers will have to grin & bear the loss of regional news/programming (at least in the short term).