Five HD on Freeview 'postponed' to 2012

I think it's certainly being very badly managed. IMO, it should have been planned along with the DSO planning of several years ago so that each region gets its Freeview HD at the same time as DSO. Planning it in advance also would have allowed TV manufacturers time to get the necessary tuners in their sets and for STB manufacturers to develop Freeview HD-compatible boxes that are available in advance of the launch.

It would also have allowed broadcasters time to plan HD channels and produce/aquire programming to go on them.

And apart from anything else, from a PR point of view it is surely would have been much easier to market pre-DSO Freeview as 'old Freeview' and post-DSO Freeview HD as the 'new Freeview', pointing out that new equipment may be required to get the full benefits of the new service, and although it doesn't mean you need to throw old equipment away, you won't get the benefit of HD channels without replacing it.

What is happening does smack very much of a rush job. You've got DSO in progress without HD broadcasts, so in some areas which have allready switched you've got people believing that all their new equipment is future proofed when actually it will need replacing to get HD, you've got 'HD Ready' sets which have no HD-capable tuners in them, and you've got broadcasters struggling to find things to go on HD channels.

Even now, with the Freeview HD launch supposedly not being that far off, there is no suitable equipment widely available.

Channel 5's situation is an example of the 'seat of the pants' way this thing is being managed - HD on Freeview was something which OFCOM assumed they'd want to be a part of, which C5 thought they ought to be a part of, but when it's come down to it, they're just not ready. And arguably, it's only the larger size of ITV and C4 which have enabled them to put a brave face on it and tentalively launch HD services which won't have much HD. The prospect of the BBC coming up with a second HD channel when they don't have enough programming to fill the existing one or of ITV getting their hands on it and putting on 'ITV2 HD' which will actually contain only a couple of hours per day of HD content doesn't exactly fill me with confidence either.

The big problem with the Freeview HD planning has been that the model we've gone with was a last minute 'get HD onto Freeview' somehow compromise. All the broadcasters were hoping, and heavily lobbying, for some digital dividend spectrum to be allocated for HD on Freeview - ideally two nationwide frequencies to give us an 8 mux system.

This would have allowed us to continue with no loss of SD services (or drop in quality) - in fact an increase in services would have been possible with the 4x18Mbs muxes switching to 4x24Mbs. It would also have allowed for (at the time) 6 HD services (now 8 as DVB-T2 has improved as have encoders over what was predicted)

Instead, when it became clear that no extra spectrum was going to be made available, and HD on Freeview wasn't going to happen, the broadcasters and DTG came up with the current plan, of reducing some SD services (or quality) and converting one of the six existing muxes to HD.

This last-ditch plan came well after DSO planning and well after the work had been scheduled (and given the tiny number of people able to carry out the work require for DSO at transmitter sites - you can't just re-write the schedule - there aren't hundreds of people who can do this stuff...) so it has meant a double changeover in the early DSO regions (though later regions will be synchronised).

Additionally Ofcom finally came to the table with something - and allowed temporary 7th muxes to be operated to give the platform some form of viability in the early stages (meaning some pre-DSO analogue regions also get Freeview HD and don't have to wait for it until switch over)

Not ideal - but 4 HD services on Freeview - particularly if they are the most-watched terrestrials with decent amounts of content - is a lot better than it becoming an SD ghetto. It will be interesting to see how long it takes before we start talking about switching the other 5 muxes to DVB-T2 and H264.

That would mean we'd gone as follows :

OnDigital era - 6 x 24Mbs = 144Mbs
Freeview SD-only era - 2 x 24Mbs + 4 x 18Mbs = 120Mbs
Freeview SD-only DSO - 6 x 24Mbs = 144Mbs
Freeview HD DSO - 5x24 + 1x40 = 160Mbs (40Mbs DVB-T2)

Freeview DVB-T2 only - 6x40Mbs = 240Mbs

If you also take into account that all T2 receivers will cope with SD and HD H264 - that would allow around 30 HD services (assuming 8Mbs ends up being acceptable) or a mix of fewer SD and some HD. Of course this won't happen anytime soon - but it will be interesting to see if it is before 2020.

Er, yes how else would they do it? It's HD, no matter what 'standard' they used, SD set top boxes wouldn't be able to do anything with it

What cwathan and noggin said (completely agree with you both) - badly managed with huge compromises. It wouldn't be so bad if as originally planned the three PSB muxes had been SD, which could easily accommodate all of the BBC's channels, along with ITV's, C4 and Five - with a few channels being switched for channels on the Arquiva commercial muxes, which could accommodate them all across two muxes, with the remaining non-PSB mux then used for HD (it would only have 90% coverage, but I personally think it's more important to get the PSB's full range of SD channels nationwide coverage than the HD channel.)

And we're still to see any sign of companies desperate to buy up the free space released - and if the public were axed, I'm sure the vast majority would favour that space be used to enable a decent HD service on Freeview rather than watching video on mobiles.


It all comes down to how Freeview is ran as basically companies fighting for every last bit of space, with any new space sold off ASAP rather than thought put into how that space might be needed in the near future to enable Freeview to offer new services.


Nothing would surprise me - Ideal World got yet another channel on Freeview - how on earth they afford t all is beyond me - shows how much they must rip their customers off! Comes back down to management as once again new space has been created but despite the BBC losing a valued stream just a few months earlier they have no chance of getting new capacity.

That's slightly unfair. The rest of Europe that have already gone HD OTA have gone for HD DVB-T using H264. Therefore there are DVB-T H264 HD sets knocking around already - it's what Sweden, Norway, France, Ireland etc. are using for HD (and in Norway and Ireland's case SD, and in France SD Pay-TV)

There have been a number of HD H264 DVB-T sets on sale in Britain for a little while now - that will work fine in HD elsewhere in Europe - but not in the UK where we're the first to use T2.

Though you're dead right about set-top boxes, IDTVs are a bit different, and more and more people use IDTVs for Freeview these days.

I still maintain my initial 'reading between the lines' analysis. The capacity is being returned to the BBC - AIUI Mux B is remaining a BBC Freeview frequency with them providing capacity for ITV1HD and C4HD under Ofcom licence. The BBC regaining the space previously reserved for Five would allow them to launch a BBC One HD Simulcast relatively quickly (if it doesn't require trust approval in the same way as a separate service?) - which would also make major sense with the impending summer of HD sport - where Wimbledon (one or two simultaneous matches) and the World Cup would all be fighting for a single HD slot on BBC HD?

My understanding is that all the major BBC One peaktime shows are gearing up very quickly for HD production - making an all HD BBC One in peak-time a very real possibility sooner rather than later. Basically - as old kit is being retired it is being replaced by HD kit at little extra cost - and most commissioners are asking "why aren't you shooting HD", not "why are you shooting HD"...

I think that's the way it'll go with Freeview HD too - customers won't be rushing out to update their boxes, but will buy HD when the time comes to replace their set to boxes. I'd certainly wait to see what happens with Project Canvas and the on-demand services before buying something that might need upgrading again within the year.

I'm sure that Five HD will turn up as a pay channel on Sky/Virgin sooner rather than later.

Announced today!! Five HD on SkyHD from July.

Question is - will it be FTA, FTV or Pay-TV? If Sky are freeing up a 2D transponder to switch it to S2, that would be a perfect home for ITV HD (which is already Freesat and just needs a 2D transponder home to allow it to broadcast properly) and C4HD and Five HD if they were on Freesat HD as well as Sky HD?

Or do we think C4HD and Five HD are still going to be subsidised by Sky (if they are ?) and thus remain either FTV or Pay-TV. My gut would be FTV as they are PSBs - rather than E4 which isn't?

It's going to be FTV - so no doubt Sky are helping to pay the bills. ITV HD is moving from Eurobird to 10832H on 2D already leased to ITV.

Considering a day or two later it's confirmed for Sky, it's just another example of the mismanagement of Freeview by the broadcasters and OFCOM - though to be honest wasn't it always intended that Five HD would launch sometime after BBC HD, ITV HD and C4 HD?