This may be a great move from the BBC. BBC4 will be transmitting programmes from 6am everyday from Christmas Eve onwards. I'm not sure if this is just for the Christmas period or whether this will be a regular thing. I really hope it is.
6am? Who on earth will be watching at that time? 12noon or 2pm would be more sensible.
Personally I don't see why BBC3/CBBC and BBC4/Cbeebies don't follow the UKBI / FTN model and go 6am-6pm-6am. 6pm is officially the end of the afternoon, start of the evening so it should be the watershed for end of kids programmes, start of adult programmes.
The trouble with encroaching on daytime 301/2 is for things like Wimbledon and World Snooker when you need 2 interactive streams. Plus we've had the recent Gorillaz feature on BBCi and there's the whole Score thing on Saturdays. It wouldn't work. Things like 24-hour BBC3/4/CBBC/CBEEBIES will only be possible when all the muxes go 64QAM at 8k in a few years time, giving the BBC all the space they want for an extended BBCi and 8 24-hour channels.
Will the BBC go 64QAM? Wasn't this the method OnDigital used and everyone complained at how unstable it was? I thought the original Freeview consortium chose the current transmission standard because it was far more resilient and stabke and better suited to fringe reception areas than 64QAM which broke up whenever the fridge door was opened (or at least it did in my house 15 miles from Crystal Palace...)
I always assumed that BBC3/CBBC and BBC4/CBeebies only shared on DTT, and that they just ran tests on DSat during the downtime (as they have far more capacity).
However, I had BBC4 on in my bedroom one night and when the blue screen came up when they stopped broadcasting I couldn't be bothered to get up and switch off the portable TV.
In the morning it was showing CBeebies, but a BBC4 "Now & Next" banner on Sky.
I always assumed that BBC3/CBBC and BBC4/CBeebies only shared on DTT, and that they just ran tests on DSat during the downtime (as they have far more capacity).
However, I had BBC4 on in my bedroom one night and when the blue screen came up when they stopped broadcasting I couldn't be bothered to get up and switch off the portable TV.
In the morning it was showing CBeebies, but a BBC4 "Now & Next" banner on Sky.
Very odd!
Nope, there's only one feed: BBC3/CBBC is just considered to be one programme stream, and comes from the same playout position, likewise with BBC4/Cbeebies. Just before 6pm, the 'this channel returns at 7am' slide is faded up, then gets faded to black, and the 'BBC 3/4 slide gets going in a moment' slide goes out. Some time in between (hopefully when the channels are showing black), the various EPG switches take place.
It's possible that in your case, either the EPG switch didn't work properly in the morning, or your digibox got confused.
It used to be all one channel in the old days - called "CBBC on Choice."
Gorillaz feature - continuous playback of their concert performance. Think it was available in the evenings for about a week.
According to DS, at analogue switchover all muxes will go 64QAM but the signal will be more stable - something about 8k? I don't understand it much, so i've boiled it down to three simple concepts.
It used to be all one channel in the old days - called "CBBC on Choice."
Yes, although CBBC on Choice was pre-school programming. When the new channels launched 'CBBC' remained on BBC Choice during the day (albeit on a diffrent EPG number) and the pre-school schedule shifted to CBeebies/BBC4.
Nope, there's only one feed: BBC3/CBBC is just considered to be one programme stream, and comes from the same playout position, likewise with BBC4/Cbeebies. Just before 6pm, the 'this channel returns at 7am' slide is faded up, then gets faded to black, and the 'BBC 3/4 slide gets going in a moment' slide goes out. Some time in between (hopefully when the channels are showing black), the various EPG switches take place..
Yes, the beebs internal distribution treats BBC3/CBBC and BBC4/Cbeebies as single channels (sometimes known as Network 3 and Network 4) There is only 1 of each and allowing Cbeebies and BBC4 to broadcast simultaneously would take a lot more effort than just obtaining another space on a transponder, cable slot or DTT MUX.
