Granada TV - On Freeview and DSAT

I don’t know if I’m just being a Drama Queen, but frankly I’m in a right state. Granada TV on Sky and Freeview is a total disgrace.

The Scenario
I have 2 TV’s. BOTH 4:3. One has a Freeview box connected to it, the other has Sky. On Freeview I can ONLY receive ITV1 Granada on Channel 3. On Sky I can only Receive ITV1 Granada on channel 103 (Don’t have 963/964 for Other regions). As I’m a 4:3 TV household, I have not much choice other than to have BOTH my Set top boxes set to 4:3 Letterbox made.

The Annoyance
For the past month or so, On Freeview, The Granada Region has this bloody annoying White, dotted, Half line at the top of the picture, just below the thick black bar. I think I’m right in calling this bugger, ‘Line 23’.
And now, to make me even more Pig sick, its just appeared over the weekend on the DSAT feed, which until previously has been Clean. Checking other regions (STV, UTV, ITV1 London) etc, I thought this might just be something to do with GMG North regions, but what do you know, Border, YTV, and Tyne Tees are as clean as a house once Kim & Aggie have been let loose in it.

So folks, I ask, what is going on with ITV1 Granada? ‘Line 23’ on DTT may have got me Irate, but on DSAT, which I watch so much more often than anything else, is now bugging me.
I know I can watch another region on DSAT, but frankly, why should I? Sky store the region on 103 for a reason, so I should not have to fanny about with 'other channels', just to watch ITV without a silly line.

Please can someone shed some light on this? Why has it been on DTT for ages, and only just now on DSAT??

Oh and is their an e-mail address for Granada or ITV1 which I can complain to?? Who’s most likely to listen to me? ITV1 or Granada?? Or is it worth contacting them both?

Hi This Is Granada

Out of region here, but occasionally see the same effect on other DTT channels (BBC News 24 is one, forget which others) and it is EXTREMELY ANNOYING, so i'll vote "yes"!

You are right, it's line 23, which is technically part of the visible picture and this is why most people don't like using it for widescreen switching (I'm not saying they are using for this, but it can be a switching signal). When the BBC English Regions were added to DSat this was a initially a problem but was quickly corrected. Get on to ITV and complain. Emailing the Duty Office via the webform on their website seems to result in prompt replies.

As far as I can see that dotted line appears at the start of every event (such as one trailer to another, or when the ECP appears and goes off) on items broadcast from LNN Transmission

Its particularly noticeable on GMTV as at the end of their adverts they put this horrible long freeze on them for about 5 seconds with the white dotted line

But why have Granada got it on screen all the time on DTT and Sky? It does not bother me when it appears at the end of a trailer before the ident, but on all the time is annoying!!

Well now for some reason I notice I've been given ITV London on 963 now, despite living 200+ miles away.

I don't like it there -- how do I make it go away?

I also get a visible line 23 on a few of my DTT channels.

I'm a wee bit shocked to know that it isn't strictly speaking necessary . I assumed that as I watch 16:9 letterbox on my 4:3 tv that my box was displaying a normally 'unseen' image.

Yes - lets get this sorted out if it can be.