Channel orders...

How are we going to sort out the numbers on our remotes? With several channels competing for the same numbers it's not going to be easy. So I'd be interested to see how everyone is going to figure it - let's assume the analogue system has been shut down and we just have the free-to-air digital channels...
BBC ONE; BBC TWO; BBC THREE; BBC FOUR; BBC NEWS 24; BBC PARLIAMENT; ITV; ITV2; Channel 4; Channel 5; TeleG ; Shop!; TV Travel Shop and ITN News Channel.

I personally would figure it as:
0 - Video Player
1 - BBC1
2 - BBC2
3 - ITV
4 - C4
5 - C5
6 - ITV2 (because it is 2 x 3 the original number)
7 - ITN News Channel (Grouping it with ITV2)
8 - Shop!
9 - TV Travel Shop (Grouping the shopping channels)
10 - TeleG!
11 - BBC News 24
12 - BBC Parliament
13 - BBC3
14 - BBC4

Does anyone else have any ideas how to solve this dilemma?

Well, we won't be needing BBC3, ITN News or ITV2 Because If they're as bad as they are now (so I hear - I can't watch any of them on a regular basis but I've never like ITN news, and the schedules on ITV2 and Choice look pretty awful) we won't want to watch them.

Just to throw the spaaner in the works....

When the analogue system is shut down, more channels will become available.... therefore more choice. There is potential to approximately double the amount of channels on DTT.

Err, I don't think there is - ITV Digital are severely restricted by capacity - they don't have room on the multplexes for many more channels.

Sky, on the other hand, can keep on using new Astra satellites (though there is of course a limit).

On the channel numbers point - Sky had a good idea. All new channels are given a number 3 higher than the previous (106, 109, 112, etc) so new channels can just be slotted in. However, it's BBC ONE - Channel 5 on 101 - 105, so I expect they'll just replace THREE and FOUR with CHOICE and KNOWLEDGE respectively, and shove ITV2 etc. at the end somewhere!

But when analogue is switched off we won't need the analogue signal and that can be used to carry digital. So we have double the bandwidth

Hi I don't want to sound rude but can't we just keep them as they are? Personally, I just flick through the channels to get the channel I want! It's much quicker!

On Telewest though, they clump the channels in categories - like entertainment, news etc, and the channels you've not paid for are not even on the screen. They get added when you pay for them so it's much easire to find individual channels.

Also, does anyone have a favourites button on their remote? You could put the channels in clumps to suit you there!

'On Telewest though, they clump the channels in categories - like entertainment, news etc'

So do Sky Digital.

'and the channels you've not paid for are not even on the screen. They get added when you pay for them so it's much easire to find individual channels.'

Admittedly, Sky Digital doesn't do this however it shows you a nice synopsis of what the channel has to offer, and also there are usually freeviews of subscription-only channels too

'Also, does anyone have a favourites button on their remote? You could put the channels in clumps to suit you there!'

Yes. Sky Digital does. You can choose 20 channels to be marked as 'favourite'. Then you can tap the BLUE button to scroll through them.

Not that I really like Sky Digital.... it does have many disadvantages - like a totally buggy EPG system but we won't go into that now shall we

(Edited by j2k at 10:34 pm on July 13, 2001)

On Telewest, you can choose all your channels if you want - and put them in the order you want! That gets rid of you having to put, e.g. 124 for UK Gold - you could put 7, if you programmed it to channel 7.

On Telewest, you can choose all your channels if you want - and put them in the order you want! That gets rid of you having to put, e.g. 124 for UK Gold - you could put 7, if you programmed it to channel 7.

Like I say.. Sky Digital has it's flaws as well, it can't do that - maybe in the future ... But not at the moment

But lets not let this get into a Telewest vs Sky debate for God's sake! :

I didn't mean to start a company fight! I was just telling you the aspects of Telewest, as you did for Sky Digital.

(Mike Begs for Forgiveness) Is that how you spell it? Lol