Freeview: The DTT Thread

I'm currently in Australia and have spent the last few months here, and without being biased I am afraid to say that Aussie Freeview is, well, woeful*.

The reason there are so many 'half' channels on UK Freeview is purely because 1. There are more channels overall and so less space for them all and 2. unlike in Australia, where its basically split between the 5 networks, various different broadcasting entities own Freeview multiplex slots with different contracts and carrier fees and so unless all the multiplex owners co-operate, it would be hard to consolidate them all.

In terms of the choice, Aussie Freeview is pretty bad. You only get an extra channel from each network (or 3 extra from the ABC including the new HD news service) and 1 HD service from each (which, with the exception of Ten and ABC once their news channel launches, is basically a simulcast of the main channel).

When you think that the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, Sky and VMTV each have at least two (or as many as 6/7 in the BBC's case) 24hour slots, with the addition of extra channels from Discovery, QVC and Viacom, you can see why there just isn't space in the spectrum for the extra ones (like CNN) all to run 24/7. In Australia, because there are only 17 television channels (not sure where you got 22 from, unless you included the radio stations) its easier for them all to have 24hour slots.

In its defence, I do believe the Aussie Freeview should be given the allowance to add extra channels from outside the 5 networks and the 1 Community TV slot.


*with the exception of One HD. An HD free-to-air sports channel is just what Freeview UK is missing.

And about five years too late, shops officially stop selling analogue TVs:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/news/a239290/uk-retailers-stop-selling-analogue-tvs.html

But there's nothing wrong with analogue TVs at all. Providing it has a SCART connection (which all TVs made in the last 10 years or so have) you can connect a Freeview box to it no problem at all. Even a shiny-new HD-Ready TV with the ability to connect everything but the kitchen sink to it is total overkill for a lot of people who only want to watch EastEnders, a few other programmes and the odd-rented DVD from Blockbuster on it. You can get SCART splitters from any decent retailer for £5 if you need to connect multiple devices to a TV with one SCART socket.

But the other issue is, they've been sold. They'll be around in and in use for years to come. Taking them off the market doesn't mean they magically disappear into thin air or stop working.

There's nothing wrong with Black and White TVs either. They still sold those until recently.

Well if analogue televisions are taken off the market, I take it the once thought of 'local' television channels that were meant to be broadcast on analogue once the big five went off will no longer go ahead? I had heard rumours going around that local television channels would be broadcast across the UK, run by volunteers in small villages and so forth.

They're still messing about the ideas, Channel M has a Freeview mux, but from what I hear it is pretty weak and only realistically reaches a small part of the audience.