I'm not saying it should be available nationwide, not even the entire viewing market the spillover area belongs to, just the area where one can receive the FTA channels in question reasonably with available equipment.
Back on the main topic of the thread - in France I believe there are certain laws about channels from neighbouring countries that are available via terrestrial overspill, being must-carry on cable networks in those border regions. This seems patchy or at least not 100% the case though. German, Belgian and Swiss channels are usually carried in this way, but you don't get British channels in the Calais region, or the Spanish ones around Perpignan or Biarritz. Maybe this is down to cable availability in those areas though.
Can UK channels be seen in Calais though considering the distance is 20 miles? Also, can one view French channels from Dover?
The Dover transmitter deliberately doesn't beam any signal over towards Calais, but it's not impossible to receive something.
You can also quite happily receive FM radio stations quite deep into France, I've had Radio 2 and 4 from Wrotham as far as Abbeville, and it's only then interference from French services that inhibit the reception, rather than a weak signal per se.
As said, French TV is receivable in parts of Kent. I've seen a couple of aerials for it as far inland as Ashford, but why would large numbers of people in Kent be particularly interested in it ?
As said, French TV is receivable in parts of Kent. I've seen a couple of aerials for it as far inland as Ashford, but why would large numbers of people in Kent be particularly interested in it ?
Over 22,000 French people live in South East England. Plus, my Nan is bilingual and fully English (as my Grandad was when he was alive). She has a lot of French students stay at her house as there's a language college as a part of Folkestone College.
If anywhere in the country is going to have an interest in French TV, London and the South East is going to be the place.
With regards to spill over signals, I am always surprised at how strong VHF and later some UHF signals were.
When it launched in July 1955, the BBC Divis transmitter in Belfast on their VHF service was so powerful that it was receivable in Dublin, and the picture quality was apparently very good.
However in October 1959, the Ulster Television transmitter at Black Mountain, next to Divis was not as strong, with complaints made by viewers in Dublin to Ulster Television in Belfast complaining of the poor signal quality.
For people in Dublin, I have read they also used the BBC and ITV signals from Wales, with the BBC starting transmissions in the west of Wales in 1958, and the ITV station commencing in 1962 - with Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford viewers pointing their TV aerials out to the Irish sea, and a good lot receiving a reasonable picture.
For some reason one can receive Finnish terrestrial TV in Tallinn although given that Tallinn and Helsinki are 30 odd miles apart, I am not sure how that is possible. Are there relay signals?
For some reason one can receive Finnish terrestrial TV in Tallinn although given that Tallinn and Helsinki are 30 odd miles apart, I am not sure how that is possible. Are there relay signals?
Take a look at Tallinn on Google Maps and you will see just how close to Finland they are. Only the Gulf of Finland separates them. Tallinn to Helsinki is around 50 miles.
For some reason one can receive Finnish terrestrial TV in Tallinn although given that Tallinn and Helsinki are 30 odd miles apart, I am not sure how that is possible. Are there relay signals?
Take a look at Tallinn on Google Maps and you will see just how close to Finland they are. Only the Gulf of Finland separates them. Tallinn to Helsinki is around 50 miles.
Working the other way, the Tallinn transmitter was very handy for the BBC when they were trying to beat ITV to be the first to get live pictures out of the Soviet Union. There was a problem getting them through Berlin (and the BBC thought ITV were stuck on that bit as well), so the Russians agreed to provide a link via Finland that would then get the pictures in to Eurovision.
However they were worried it wouldn’t be ready in time for what they wanted to show- the 1961 May Day parade in Moscow. So they sent an engineer to Helsinki to see if the pictures from the Tallinn transmitter would be good enough to use if it the link wasn’t in place. They were, just about. As they were arranging that Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. So the link was used to show his homecoming live, a couple of weeks before the May Day parade coverage.
Yes but that would not matter if there is a must-carry rule.
Wouldn't this be more of a 'can carry' rather than a 'must carry' situation ? (AIUI in the countries where the 'if you can receive it, you can distribute it' rules apply there is no mandate to carry, just an option to (*))
(*) North America may be different - but everything about North America is odd to a European in TV terms... (Apart from the French DVB-T stuff on St Pierre and Miquelon )
As said, French TV is receivable in parts of Kent. I've seen a couple of aerials for it as far inland as Ashford, but why would large numbers of people in Kent be particularly interested in it ?
I assume that until DVB came along, it probably wouldn't have been receivable by most British TV sets anyway, being SECAM?
As said, French TV is receivable in parts of Kent. I've seen a couple of aerials for it as far inland as Ashford, but why would large numbers of people in Kent be particularly interested in it ?
I assume that until DVB came along, it probably wouldn't have been receivable by most British TV sets anyway, being SECAM?
SECAM was the least of the issues. Positive going vision modulation (the UK and the rest of PAL Europe used negative) and AM rather than FM sound (and on a different sub carrier anyway) Apart from that, it was a breeze 😎
As said, French TV is receivable in parts of Kent. I've seen a couple of aerials for it as far inland as Ashford, but why would large numbers of people in Kent be particularly interested in it ?
I assume that until DVB came along, it probably wouldn't have been receivable by most British TV sets anyway, being SECAM?
SECAM was the least of the issues. Positive going vision modulation (the UK and the rest of PAL Europe used negative) and AM rather than FM sound (and on a different sub carrier anyway) Apart from that, it was a breeze 😎
The 405 line system was positive and AM, but of course was a totally different line standard, so those sets wouldn't have recieved French TV either (well, I guess they might have got the audio?).
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