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The possible new channels on Freeview...

...ITC comment on SDNs variety. (January 2003)

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MT
Meridian TV
A Digital Spy Forum has more details:Digital Spy Forum

The ITC told me:

Thanks for your e mail. We would argue that it is possible to have a degree
of variety within a genre such as home shopping. QVC and TV Travel Shop
cater for different markets for example. We believe that such channels do
add to the range of services available on DTT across the six multiplexes and
they are popular, so they may well add to DTT's appeal. Naturally we hope
that SDN will be able to widen the range of services on its multiplex in due
course but this will depend on whether channels are willing to join the DTT
platform on a free to air basis.

So the ITC want SDN to have more variety but also think that Bidup.tv and are good for DTT.

SDN also wish to add Simply shopping to the line up!see this Digital Spy Forum
CH
chrisb
Ooooh I wish SDN would find some decent channels. I know there'll be some forumers who say "oh but BidupTV is different from QVC" but the fact remains that it's just a shopping channel.

Why can't they find somebody decent? I remember Eurosport were interested...
WH
Whataday Founding member
I'd love to have Simply Shopping on Freeview, if only for the heavenly Debbie Flint!
NG
noggin Founding member
Given that a channel apparently has to pay Crown Castle approx £3m / year for carriage on the two CC muxes, I would imagine SDN are charging a roughly similar amount.

At its most basic a channel that is 24/7 advertising (i.e. home shopping) is likely to prove more profitable than one with just short ad breaks?
CW
cwathen Founding member
Quote:
SDN also wish to add Simply shopping to the line up! see this Digital Spy Forum

Simply Shopping very nearly was on DTT from it's inception. All the Simply channels were born out of a now defunct financial information channel called Simply Money, which was carried on DTT in the mornings on SDN. When the channel gave up on financial information and decided to restructure into a shopping channel (in late 2000), it was at first going to get morning carriage on DTT under the same arrangement, but they eventually decided not too and pulled out.

It's rather ironic that they might be coming back to SDN now.

Re: the ITC's email, what you can basically interpret from that is 'yes we know that DTT is getting filled up with crap, but not that many channels want to be in on an FTA platform and so we have to let SDN take what they can get'
BB
BBC Joel
I've just looked at DigitalSpy and at UKDTT, and it says...

UKDTT posted:
UK-DTT-TX can exclusively reveal that the first new television service to be carried on the SDN Multiplex will launch in the second week of January 2003. Sources close to UK-DTT-TX report that the service will be "Bid Up TV" which already has carriage on DSAT and DCAB platforms.


So, is that correct?
Joel.
BB
BBC TV Centre
BBC Joel posted:
I've just looked at DigitalSpy and at UKDTT, and it says...

UKDTT posted:
UK-DTT-TX can exclusively reveal that the first new television service to be carried on the SDN Multiplex will launch in the second week of January 2003. Sources close to UK-DTT-TX report that the service will be "Bid Up TV" which already has carriage on DSAT and DCAB platforms.


So, is that correct?
Joel.


Well if is true then it will be yet another blow to DTT as a free-to-view platform. I know this is a "free" service but to have 3 shopping channels, 2 music channels that only seem to have Nelly & Kelly on their playlist, a handful of news channels and radio services chucked together with a basic interactive service and all of the "core" BBC channels isn't really going to make it appealing to future purchasers of digiboxes.

With this recall of ITV digiboxes by Malcolm (I want my box back Crying or Very sad ) Shierson the audience for the DTT platform will diminish so as far as I am concerned, DTT needs all the help it can get, without turning it into a tacky replacement with castoffs from SKY and cable.
CW
cwathen Founding member
Quote:

Well if is true then it will be yet another blow to DTT as a free-to-view platform. I know this is a "free" service but to have 3 shopping channels, 2 music channels that only seem to have Nelly & Kelly on their playlist, a handful of news channels and radio services chucked together with a basic interactive service and all of the "core" BBC channels isn't really going to make it appealing to future purchasers of digiboxes.

I totally agree, which is why I was quite harsh on Freeview the other day. It's really not that good. And it's another reason (apart from those I've allready given) for why I think Freeview as a brand name shouldn't exist. Having all those channels on DTT wouldn't be half bad, but having them on Freeview, a supposed complete service, is pretty crap. Although to be honest anything which is mainly driven on the premise of 'more BBC' I didn't think would be too great anyway. There might well be more BBC, but there's precious little else.

With this recall of ITV digiboxes by Malcolm (I want my box back ) Shierson the audience for the DTT platform will diminish so as far as I am concerned, DTT needs all the help it can get, without turning it into a tacky replacement with castoffs from SKY and cable.

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