LL
I'm sure Meridian E's region is more densely populated than Meridian W inc Thames Valley?
London Lite
Founding member
It'll be a cost/benefit thing. The regions with the largest advertising reach are presumably London, Granada, Central and Meridian ? I guess ITV plc have decided that the cost of providing the other regions in HD isn't offset by the advertising revenue they would generate?
I'm sure Meridian E's region is more densely populated than Meridian W inc Thames Valley?
MI
HD regions are based on ITV's existing advertising macro regions.
For example, this is the ITV North macro region. You'll receive ITV HD Granada throughout this area:
http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/index.php/download_file/force/1842/1644/
This is the Central, Wales, West Country macro region. You'll receive ITV HD Central in this area:
http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/index.php/download_file/force/1844/1644/
This is the South East macro region. You'll receive ITV HD Merdian in this area:
http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/index.php/download_file/force/1843/1644/
That leaves London, which, unsurprisingly has ITV HD London
4 macro regions - 4 HD variants.
For satellite and cable transmissions, ITV requires separate licences for each HD service. Yorkshire and Wales have licences, and it's possible ITV will tweak ad sales region to reflect this when the time comes to launch these variants.
For example, this is the ITV North macro region. You'll receive ITV HD Granada throughout this area:
http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/index.php/download_file/force/1842/1644/
This is the Central, Wales, West Country macro region. You'll receive ITV HD Central in this area:
http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/index.php/download_file/force/1844/1644/
This is the South East macro region. You'll receive ITV HD Merdian in this area:
http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/index.php/download_file/force/1843/1644/
That leaves London, which, unsurprisingly has ITV HD London
4 macro regions - 4 HD variants.
For satellite and cable transmissions, ITV requires separate licences for each HD service. Yorkshire and Wales have licences, and it's possible ITV will tweak ad sales region to reflect this when the time comes to launch these variants.
TV
As far as I am aware, there are 6 licenses for 6 macro regions, but only 4 are being used at the moment. There should be a TyneTees/Yorkshire macro, however this has never been used
RK
Could someone explain why they would need an HD license when the region already broadcast an HD signal? What currently airs on the HD feed during a news broadcast? An upscaled feed?
On satellite you get a different region, as there aren't HD simulcasts of every ITV region and sub-region on satellite. You are mapped to the nearest region to the one you live in. (The same reason that BBC One HD doesn't carry regional news in England)
The UK satellite TV platforms operate very differently to the US platforms. Over here the broadcasters - BBC, ITV, C4 etc. - uplink their channels themselves (though they outsource this usually) rather than the satellite platform providers.
They are provided "Free to Air" (not "Free to View" or Pay-TV) which means no subscription or viewing card is required, and this allows the same broadcast uplinks to be available on both the Freesat and Sky platforms (the broadcasters ensure both EPGs, Subtitling and Interactive TV standards are supported - as Freesat and Sky are different in this regard) As a result the broadcasters lease their satellite capacity, not the platform operator, and so the broadcasters take a decision of how many channel variations to provide.
The BBC provide 4 versions of BBC One HD (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) on satellite.
ITV plc provide 4 variations in England (London, Granada, Meridian East, Central West) In fact they are uplinking 5 at the moment - but two of them carry the same service I believe, though it is expected one will become ITV Wales HD I think.
Ulster TV and Scottish TV (UTV and STV) each provide a single HD feed of their ITV service (which isn't part of ITV plc)
So those six licenses that TV Matters are referring to are the HD simulcast feeds on satellite only? If a viewer was watching through FreeView HD would they get the upscaled SD broadcasts on the HD feed for their region?
Sorry if I sound like a newbie but I kind of am with the UK's system of broadcasting. I follow the news business closely and understand how it all works out in the US but I'm trying to expand my horizons to international broadcasting (aside from Canada as there basically the same as the US). There are some things you can read from other sources but then there are others you can only learn from discussions such as this.
Will we be getting an ITV HD Yorkshire anytime soon? IIRC - itv have 6 HD licences however currently only use 4. Also I remember Duncan and Jon discussing a while back when Emmerdale upgraded to to HD, they made it out the whole of ITV Yorkshire was going HD
Could someone explain why they would need an HD license when the region already broadcast an HD signal? What currently airs on the HD feed during a news broadcast? An upscaled feed?
On satellite you get a different region, as there aren't HD simulcasts of every ITV region and sub-region on satellite. You are mapped to the nearest region to the one you live in. (The same reason that BBC One HD doesn't carry regional news in England)
The UK satellite TV platforms operate very differently to the US platforms. Over here the broadcasters - BBC, ITV, C4 etc. - uplink their channels themselves (though they outsource this usually) rather than the satellite platform providers.
They are provided "Free to Air" (not "Free to View" or Pay-TV) which means no subscription or viewing card is required, and this allows the same broadcast uplinks to be available on both the Freesat and Sky platforms (the broadcasters ensure both EPGs, Subtitling and Interactive TV standards are supported - as Freesat and Sky are different in this regard) As a result the broadcasters lease their satellite capacity, not the platform operator, and so the broadcasters take a decision of how many channel variations to provide.
The BBC provide 4 versions of BBC One HD (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) on satellite.
ITV plc provide 4 variations in England (London, Granada, Meridian East, Central West) In fact they are uplinking 5 at the moment - but two of them carry the same service I believe, though it is expected one will become ITV Wales HD I think.
Ulster TV and Scottish TV (UTV and STV) each provide a single HD feed of their ITV service (which isn't part of ITV plc)
So those six licenses that TV Matters are referring to are the HD simulcast feeds on satellite only? If a viewer was watching through FreeView HD would they get the upscaled SD broadcasts on the HD feed for their region?
Sorry if I sound like a newbie but I kind of am with the UK's system of broadcasting. I follow the news business closely and understand how it all works out in the US but I'm trying to expand my horizons to international broadcasting (aside from Canada as there basically the same as the US). There are some things you can read from other sources but then there are others you can only learn from discussions such as this.
LL
So those six licenses that TV Matters are referring to are the HD simulcast feeds on satellite only? If a viewer was watching through FreeView HD would they get the upscaled SD broadcasts on the HD feed for their region?
Lets take Norwich for as an example. On Freeview, they receive ITV Anglia, along with their regional news bulletin which covers the area on LCN3 in SD. They also get on ITV HD on LCN 101 ITV Meridian as the Meridian macro advertising region also covers the Anglia region. The network programming is in HD, while regional news which is the ITV News Meridian bulletin for Kent, Sussex and South Essex is upscaled.
Also worth remembering that two regional news bulletins are broadcasting in HD. London, which bar one package or two is full HD (although the EPG says it's upscaled HD) and Granada, which is HD for studio shots and weather.
London Lite
Founding member
So those six licenses that TV Matters are referring to are the HD simulcast feeds on satellite only? If a viewer was watching through FreeView HD would they get the upscaled SD broadcasts on the HD feed for their region?
Lets take Norwich for as an example. On Freeview, they receive ITV Anglia, along with their regional news bulletin which covers the area on LCN3 in SD. They also get on ITV HD on LCN 101 ITV Meridian as the Meridian macro advertising region also covers the Anglia region. The network programming is in HD, while regional news which is the ITV News Meridian bulletin for Kent, Sussex and South Essex is upscaled.
Also worth remembering that two regional news bulletins are broadcasting in HD. London, which bar one package or two is full HD (although the EPG says it's upscaled HD) and Granada, which is HD for studio shots and weather.
RK
So those six licenses that TV Matters are referring to are the HD simulcast feeds on satellite only? If a viewer was watching through FreeView HD would they get the upscaled SD broadcasts on the HD feed for their region?
Lets take Norwich for as an example. On Freeview, they receive ITV Anglia, along with their regional news bulletin which covers the area on LCN3 in SD. They also get on ITV HD on LCN 101 ITV Meridian as the Meridian macro advertising region also covers the Anglia region. The network programming is in HD, while regional news which is the ITV News Meridian bulletin for Kent, Sussex and South Essex is upscaled.
Also worth remembering that two regional news bulletins are broadcasting in HD. London, which bar one package or two is full HD (although the EPG says it's upscaled HD) and Granada, which is HD for studio shots and weather.
Seems kind of confusing. But what's stopping from ITV from correctly mapping the HD region to the SD region ?
Edit: I came across this list showing the differences between SD, +1 and HD. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ITV_regions
Using Meridian East as an example since they regions the same for SD, +1 and HD do they simultaneously work with both an SD and HD feeds or do they take an HD feed and down concert it for SD?
Also are the English regions of BBCOne regionalized in HD or is there a similar set up to ITV.
So those six licenses that TV Matters are referring to are the HD simulcast feeds on satellite only? If a viewer was watching through FreeView HD would they get the upscaled SD broadcasts on the HD feed for their region?
Lets take Norwich for as an example. On Freeview, they receive ITV Anglia, along with their regional news bulletin which covers the area on LCN3 in SD. They also get on ITV HD on LCN 101 ITV Meridian as the Meridian macro advertising region also covers the Anglia region. The network programming is in HD, while regional news which is the ITV News Meridian bulletin for Kent, Sussex and South Essex is upscaled.
Also worth remembering that two regional news bulletins are broadcasting in HD. London, which bar one package or two is full HD (although the EPG says it's upscaled HD) and Granada, which is HD for studio shots and weather.
Seems kind of confusing. But what's stopping from ITV from correctly mapping the HD region to the SD region ?
Edit: I came across this list showing the differences between SD, +1 and HD. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ITV_regions
Using Meridian East as an example since they regions the same for SD, +1 and HD do they simultaneously work with both an SD and HD feeds or do they take an HD feed and down concert it for SD?
Also are the English regions of BBCOne regionalized in HD or is there a similar set up to ITV.
Last edited by Rkolsen on 4 June 2015 6:05am - 3 times in total
DO
While there are 19 SD ITV regions, there are currently only 4 HD ITV regions. To provide every region in HD will be expensive, but until then, people will get different regions on the HD / SD feeds. Remember, every region has to be distributed on cable, satellite and terrestrial broadcasts, so there are significant additional bandwidth costs, for "channels" which 95% of the day are all broadcasting exactly the same content.
All ITV regions come from one of two control centres, one in London and one in Leeds. During normal programming the regions are fed directly from there. During local opts, the regional studio centres are fed to their local transmitters via these two centres. This means the local region can run at one resolution, with the HD/SD conversion being made at the control centre.
There are no BBC English regions broadcast in HD. Some have been fitted with HD equipment in their studio facilities, but the BBC has not yet spent money on distributing any regions in HD. The BBC works slightly differently, in that the local region itself controls when it is on air, with the network BBC signal otherwise just passing through their facilities to go to the transmitter. However, as all regions have to be sent back to the BBC's central coding centre anyway, there are numerous rumours that they too will eventually go the same route as ITV, with the opting being done centrally - and likely as a result of implementing HD regions, as it means they don't need to upgrade every local facility with an HD opt circuit.
Seems kind of confusing. But what's stopping from ITV from correctly mapping the HD region to the SD region ?
While there are 19 SD ITV regions, there are currently only 4 HD ITV regions. To provide every region in HD will be expensive, but until then, people will get different regions on the HD / SD feeds. Remember, every region has to be distributed on cable, satellite and terrestrial broadcasts, so there are significant additional bandwidth costs, for "channels" which 95% of the day are all broadcasting exactly the same content.
Using Meridian East as an example since they regions the same for SD, +1 and HD do they simultaneously work with both an SD and HD feeds or do they take an HD feed and down concert it for SD?
All ITV regions come from one of two control centres, one in London and one in Leeds. During normal programming the regions are fed directly from there. During local opts, the regional studio centres are fed to their local transmitters via these two centres. This means the local region can run at one resolution, with the HD/SD conversion being made at the control centre.
Also are the English regions of BBCOne regionalized in HD or is there a similar set up to ITV.
There are no BBC English regions broadcast in HD. Some have been fitted with HD equipment in their studio facilities, but the BBC has not yet spent money on distributing any regions in HD. The BBC works slightly differently, in that the local region itself controls when it is on air, with the network BBC signal otherwise just passing through their facilities to go to the transmitter. However, as all regions have to be sent back to the BBC's central coding centre anyway, there are numerous rumours that they too will eventually go the same route as ITV, with the opting being done centrally - and likely as a result of implementing HD regions, as it means they don't need to upgrade every local facility with an HD opt circuit.
RK
While there are 19 SD ITV regions, there are currently only 4 HD ITV regions. To provide every region in HD will be expensive, but until then, people will get different regions on the HD / SD feeds. Remember, every region has to be distributed on cable, satellite and terrestrial broadcasts, so there are significant additional bandwidth costs, for "channels" which 95% of the day are all broadcasting exactly the same content.
All ITV regions come from one of two control centres, one in London and one in Leeds. During normal programming the regions are fed directly from there. During local opts, the regional studio centres are fed to their local transmitters via these two centres. This means the local region can run at one resolution, with the HD/SD conversion being made at the control centre.
t.
ITV sounds like the way NBC's owned stations handles it where for the better part of the day the stations operations are handled by the hub. During newscasts the hub receives NBC's HD's newscast feed where they cut it into the program stream. The hub then sends the HD feed to transmitters and cable/satellite companies. The cable and satellite companies then have to down convert it based on the format descriptor which should be automatic.
Who handles the actual multiplexing of the signal to the transmitters? Arqiva?
I proably should start another thread.
While there are 19 SD ITV regions, there are currently only 4 HD ITV regions. To provide every region in HD will be expensive, but until then, people will get different regions on the HD / SD feeds. Remember, every region has to be distributed on cable, satellite and terrestrial broadcasts, so there are significant additional bandwidth costs, for "channels" which 95% of the day are all broadcasting exactly the same content.
All ITV regions come from one of two control centres, one in London and one in Leeds. During normal programming the regions are fed directly from there. During local opts, the regional studio centres are fed to their local transmitters via these two centres. This means the local region can run at one resolution, with the HD/SD conversion being made at the control centre.
t.
ITV sounds like the way NBC's owned stations handles it where for the better part of the day the stations operations are handled by the hub. During newscasts the hub receives NBC's HD's newscast feed where they cut it into the program stream. The hub then sends the HD feed to transmitters and cable/satellite companies. The cable and satellite companies then have to down convert it based on the format descriptor which should be automatic.
Who handles the actual multiplexing of the signal to the transmitters? Arqiva?
I proably should start another thread.
RE
Or ITV Yorkshire HD.
ITV plc provide 4 variations in England (London, Granada, Meridian East, Central West) In fact they are uplinking 5 at the moment - but two of them carry the same service I believe, though it is expected one will become ITV Wales HD I think.
Or ITV Yorkshire HD.
SF
Selwyn Froggatt
So it's the start of a new week for Calendar tomorrow, what are the chances of it being broadcast from the studio and not the newsroom?
SF
Selwyn Froggatt
GMB bulletin was from the newsroom. What is taking so long? It's getting ridiculous now