The continued success of Freeview has increased the value of what is probably the last free-to-view 24-hour DTT TV channel.
To provide viewers with more programme choices Crown Castle is considering splitting the slot into a number of smaller time-shifted channels allowing several broadcasters to share the channel; maximising the content range of channel 22 for viewers.
Berwyn Roberts, director, sales and business development for Crown Castle commenting on the announcement said: "Freeview continues to go from strength to strength and is now available in almost two million homes across the UK and the exciting and diverse range of programming has been a significant driver behind its success. We believe that there will be a large degree of interest in this unique opportunity to join Freeview."
I know it's unlikely, but lets hope Sky and BBC/Flextech follow suit and put one of their more popular channels on the platform in place of Sky Travel and UK History.
There was rumour of Sky Travel becoming Sky One or Sky One Mix some time in the future - yeah right - like thats gonna happen!
I'd quite like to have seen Eurosport make an appearance on Freeview, but I suppose Setanta covers that genre. I think we could now do with a film channel - and with Turner we'd probably get TCM in the evenings.
Mostly everything on Freeview is a load of crap. It's ok if you want to upgrade to digital, or for widescreen, but anything after channel 005 are just space fillers.
I don't think the BBC or ITV are up to it to be quite frank. They don't have anything decent to show on their basic channels, so what the hell they are thinking with BBC THREE, ITV2 etc I shall never know.
The only channels that could work now for Freeview would be 'Gold' channels. Lets face it, you're not going to get a high grade Film channel, nor are you going to get decent sports coverage. There is nothing else / cheap enough to put on except for to dig out the good stuff from the old archives.
It all depends really. Hopefully they'll attract a big company who are willing to spend a bit of money. I was thinking of someone like Disney, because surely it would be a good investment getting in there now - everyone will be able to receive it in the not-too-distant future.
Maybe if a decent production company like Endemol or something wanted to branch out into owning a channel, it would be good. They have the resources to produce decent programming. Or maybe someone like Chris Evans or Richard Branson would be interested?
But no, it'll end up being a cheap Friendly TV clone
at the very beginning the BBC were pestering ITV to launch ITV Gold... perhaps ITV will grab the opportunity, grab the last space and make ITV Gold happen?!
It already exists, it's called Plus (formerly Granada Plus)
