ITV HD Regions on Freeview

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/itv-service-changes-october



ITV apparently shutting down a number of their SD services on satellite at the same time. There's going to be some significant holes... especially in Yorkshire (where only Yorks West will remain, with no timeshifts).

Sky still mentioning the ITV Hub as "ITV Player".



Couldn't be as worse as Demand 5 still existing on a few TVs.

Regarding +1's, what will be left after next Tuesday?

I'm guessing everyone in Northern England will get Granada+1, and Central+1 will be in Wales, HTV West and Westcountry regions?

Freeview only has limited +1 regions, maybe trying to replicate these on satelite?

Freeview has had the all *available* +1s (there never was the full set of +1's down to micro regional level on any platform)

This is a reversion to the macro regions

Northern Macro - Granada, Yorkshire, Tyne Tees [Carries Granada]
Midwest Macro - Central, Wales, West Country (incorporating the old 'west' region) [ Carries Central West micro.]
South East Macro - Anglia and Meridian [Carries Meridian E micro]


It'll mean the +1's will cover the same areas as the macro HD regions on Freeview.

This means that some satellite viewers who haven't got access to HD services won't be able to view their correct region, and if satellite is their main or only means of tv viewing (i.e. they either don't or can't access freeview), they may not be able to view their correct region at all.

Are ITV allowed to do this, given their PSB status and franchise/licence commitments?

It's a bit of a backwards step, like the days when ITV wasn't available on Sky at all, and had to watch it via analogue terrestrial tv.

I think you've answered your own question. If they weren't required to be on Sky then, I doubt they are now.

With all the removals, ITV can either
(i) shuffle remaining SD services, then move the ITV HD variants currently using Sky capacity back on to one of its transponders
(ii) shuffle remaining SD services around and hand back a transponder

It would be nice if option (i) was chosen, and they could accommodate extra free-to-air STV HD regions in the same way they carry STV SD regions - but the availability of STV HD regions on Sky is linked to an earlier carriage deal they made, which bundled extra HD regions with inclusion of the STV Player - so it would depend how long that agreement had to run. Clearing one more transponder for HD would allow ITV to carry 3x ITV HD, 2x STV HD and perhaps ITVBe HD (currently not on Sky).
But given the current economics, option (ii) would simply save ITV plc money, given that subletting capacity for three ITV HD regions on Sky transponders is likely to be less than the cost of one transponder.

I'd love to know how many people still have SD only Sky boxes these days. Presumably still a sizeable number given that C5 for example, which has been a non-regionalised service for years, hasn't switched off its SD stream.

There are no PSB requirements for any PSB broadcaster to be on satellite. It's only if they are, they must receive the appropriate EPG prominence. Which is why 1998 to Nov 2001 Sky had to fill Ch103 with a holding banner

I suppose they take the view one stream for UK coverage of remaining SD punters is good value still. More baffling perhaps is C4 persisting with their 6 LEMNUS regions in SD on satellite (particularly as they (and C5) are exponents of Sky's 'Ad Smart'?

Well those streams are also used for Freesat viewers, but Channel 5 took the view that 1 national HD channel was more important than sustaining several regional variations in SD.

Put simply, C4 must believe that the LEMNUS model is still profitable.

That's changed: Part 2, 1E of the regional Channel 3 and national Channel 4 and 5 licences:


https://www.ofcom.org.uk/manage-your-licence/tv-broadcast-licences/current-licensees

It doesn't stipulate how this is done, SD or HD. Until now, broadcasters have fulfilled the criteria through distributing their SD versions.