Blaze - new Freeview channel from A+E Networks

It's strategic for broadcasters waiting for capacity to become available to get these channels on air at appropriate hours. UKTV have done it before, using Dave ja vu as a placeholder for Really and Drama, and ITV had been waiting to get sufficient capacity for ITV3+1. But it's of no benefit for the viewer, particularly if these channels only broadcast for an hour.




Freeview is almost at full capacity, and the only way SDN and Arqiva can squeeze more capacity on COM4, 5 and 6 is through encoding efficiency, though not by much.
Blaze's launch has demonstrated how constrained the current bandwidth system is on DTT.
By the time the switch to DVBT2 is complete we can see more channels appear on Freeview, particularly those available on Freesat.

I see Blaze is using a dual continuity style. (Two person conversation)

Looks like it got similar peak launch ratings to VICE.

And according to someone over on DS, Blaze+1 didn't even broadcast a +1 last night, it just continued showing Blaze's schedule (albeit on a different LCN)!

Found it out hours before it was reported. I compared EPG data for Blaze+1 with that of Blaze on Sky+. Absolutely blatant EPG squat.

YourTV does the same thing with the timeshift, showing nothing but teleshopping.

And I wonder why ITV think operating The Store is a good idea, it wasted valuable bandwidth until Blaze launched, and still squats on a valuable EPG slot. Surely they have a brutal tactic of channel closure that needs pulling off again!

Better to squat, than pay an absolute premium. All the channels that have been on Freeview from the start, have a good deal. Future proofing.

In case capacity is available on Freeview. LCN 39 is owned by ITV to operate the Store, and if there's capacity to run ITV4+1 at respectably suitable hours in the future, it could well move over to that slot, and possibly increase CITV and ITV3+1 hours on Freeview. I doubt ITVBe+1 would move to a higher EPG placement in the future even if hours are increased.
They've done it with ITV3+1, which started at LCN 63 but later moved to LCN 34 when it started running from 6pm.

Once that is the case I cannot expect ITV to even run The Store with the redundant role it has after Hochanda moved to LCN 85.

Update: Blaze+1 is actually transmitting a +1, and is broadcasting at 4am to 5am. Inaccurate EPG data claims that it airs at 3am, confirmed to be false.

As for The Store, inaccurate EPG data galore. Claims to show a Hochanda programme but all I've seen is a spinning roulette.

So The Store is now Jackpot LITERALLY 24/7?

Jackpot 24/7, between 3am and 4am, eating on the ITV2+1 stream.
Hence my earlier posts about why they should pull the Store off air.

http://www.a516digital.com/2016/11/blaze-added-to-freesat-line-up.html?m=1

Blaze has been added to Freesat on channel 162. Knowing the carriage situation on Virgin it will be a while before it arrives on that platform.

Blaze have launched a Free to use AppleTV app, sadly it has a fault and isn't loading at present. It promises an online feed of the live channel plus catch-up content.

It'll be fascinating to see it in action and might offer an HD version of the service offered OTA.

More when they've fixed it.

I've seen a Blaze stream in Kodi, clearly ripped from the website and it's 720p HD.