HD on Digital Terrestrial - On Air

Timetable (Freeview HD signal availability commences at switchover unless otherwise stated)
ENGLAND
Area
transmitter group
Date
Manchester
Winter Hill
2 December 2009

London
Crystal Palace
2 December 2009

Advance network
Newcastle and Tyneside
Pontop Pike
February 2010

Advance network
Leeds / Bradford
Emley Moor
March 2010

Advance network
Birmingham
Lichfield
March 2010

Advance network
Liverpool, central Lancashire, Cheshire, north Staffordshire
Winter Hill relays
March 2010

retrofit
Exeter, parts of Devon, Somerset, Dorset
Stockland Hill
April 2010

retrofit
Bristol, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire
Mendip
April 2010

Devon, Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly
Beacon Hill
Caradon Hill
Huntshaw Cross
Redruth
August 2010
retrofit

Cumbria and the Lake District
Caldbeck
October 2010
retrofit

Then Freeview HD rolls out with the rest of the switchover programme, so:
2011 – Bedfordshire, Berkshire (parts), Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, East Anglia, East Midlands, East Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Humberside, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire (parts), Stoke-on-Trent, West Midlands (remainder), and West Yorkshire (remainder).
2012 – Berkshire (remainder), County Durham, Greater London (remainder), Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent,
Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Surrey, Sussex, Teesside, Tyneside.

WALES
area
transmitter group
date
Cardiff, Newport
Wenvoe
March 2010

Swansea
Kilvey Hill
March 2010
retrofit

west and central Wales
Blaenplwyf
March 2010
retrofit

Carmarthenshire
Carmel
April 2010
retrofit

rest of Wales
Long Mountain
Moel y Parc
Presely
Mid - June 2010
retrofit

Anglesey
Llanddona
July 2010
retrofit

Wales will have switched over to digital and the roll-out of Freeview HD will be complete by the end of July 2010.

SCOTLAND
area
transmitter group
date
Glasgow, central Scotland
Black Hill
February 2010
Advance network

Shetland
Bressay
May 2010

Orkney
Keelylang Hill
May 2010

Caithness, North Sutherland
Rumster Forest
Mid - June 2010

Lewis, Wester Ross, North West Sutherland, Western Isles
Eitshal
Skriaig
July 2010

Angus, Dundee, Perth, and parts of Fife
Angus
August 2010

Aberdeenshire
Durris
September 2010

Morayshire, Strathspey, and parts of Easter Ross
Knockmore
October 2010

South West Scotland
Caldbeck Scotland
October 2010

Inverness and the Great Glen
Rosemarkie
October 2010

South West Highlands and Islands
Torosay
October 2010

Scottish Borders
Selkirk
November 2010
retrofit

Then Freeview HD rolls out with the rest of the switchover programme so that the whole of Scotland is switched over to digital and will be able to receive Freeview HD by the end of Q2, 2011.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Freeview HD rolls out with the rest of the switchover programme so that the whole of Northern Ireland is switched over to digital and will be able to receive Freeview HD by the end of 2012.

OTHER AREAS
area
transmitter group
date
Isle of Man
Douglas
October 2010
retrofit

Channel Islands
Fremont Point
end 2010

It says the Emley Moor will start transmitting HD to Leeds/Bradford in March. I've heard somewhere that these pre-dso HD broadcasts will be in a certain direction only (Emley doesn't switch until September 2011). I'm in Sheffield and can easily get everything that Emley transmits currently, but will it be possible to get the pre-dso HD broadcast or is it just Leeds/Bradford?

One thing I find incredibly astounding is the fact that shops/retailers continue to sell Freeview boxes/built-in TV/Freeview combis in the knowledge that the people they are selling to will have to re-buy their equipment from as early as the beginning of next year in order to receive these Freeview HD broadcasts.

No wonder the older generation are struggling to understand the whole digital switchover thing when it's made so complicated!

My partners parents nearly bought a new TV the other day which had built-in Freesat HD - (already having Sky+) - because they wanted to experience HD broadcasts. If it wasn't for me pointing out the fact that Freeview HD was just around the corner they would have spent the best part of a grand on something which is near to useless for HD.

I don't understand why your partner's parents didn't go ahead with their purchase. DSat and DTT are two complately different methods of receiving broadcasts. I think your advice was ill-informed, to say the least.

A TV with built-in Freesat HD would be fully functional now as they already have a satellite dish installed. It also means that they would be able to pick up all the FTA HD channels, and more than ever will be available on Freeview HD. It will also continue to work regardless of the introduction of DTT HD broadcasts.

Unless they are also running DTT (Freeview) on some HD TVs in the house, then the arrival of Freeview HD will have no effect on them whatsoever.


Not just the 'older generation', is it?

Freesat HD is currently a waste of time money and effort in my opinion. Loads of channels nobody wants, loads of cabling that isn't needed. ONE HD channel and one part time HD channel. They already have Sky+, and we have Sky HD in the same house. They'd then have to run another cable from the dish into the back of the television. Hence why I told them to wait for Freeview HD.

Freeview HD will piss off the majority of the country that have been told "they need to buy a digital set-top box to continue to receive TV after digital switch-over", as they will believe they are future-proof when that is not the case.

As the Freesat HD receiver was built into the new TV (at probably minimal additional cost), then I wouldn't really describe it as a "waste of money" for someone buying a brand new HD TV. The cost of running an additional cable from the LNB to the box is quite small, for what is thereafter a 'free service'. All the services which are intending to eventually launch on Freeview HD will be available on Freesat HD.

If they want to watch Freeview HD, then they will need to invest in a seperate DVB-T2 receiver and/or TV-combo. I don't see the difference between that an what you've just dissuaded them from buying.


It will only "p*** off" those people who bought their equipment expecting to be able to watch Freeview HD, which was never even considered when Freeview launched.

They can still receive all other Freeview broadcasts. In that sense their equpment is 'future proof' as far as DSO goes. It won't suddenly cease to function because of Freeview HD.

The point I'm trying to make is that Joe Public will buy a new HDTV with built-in Freeview, believing that when Freeview HD launches they will be able to enjoy HD broadcasts when this is not true.

Freesat HD doesn't have Channel 4 HD does it?

If that was indeed the point you were making, then you didn't explain yourself very well. Your first post indicates that you:
Advised somebody against a Freesat HD/TV combo because it would be next to useless, and
That Freeview boxes would cease to work after the arrival of Freeview HD broadcasts.

Both of which were incorrect.

No, C4 HD is not currently available on Freesat, or Freeview for that matter!

The UHF allocation for the HD mux from Emley is Ch 39. That's used for the BBC Mux at Crosspool (aka Tapton Hill, aka Sheffield relay), so it's very unlikely Emley will beam the mux in Sheffield's direction. You'll have to wait until the YTV region DSO in Sept 2011, to get any HD services. In fact Ch 39 can't be beamed towards Jodrell Bank either, because Ch 38 is a clear radio astronomy channel, so it looks as if Emley's pre-DSO HD service will be very restricted.

I didn't say it would be "next to useless" - I said that it would be pointless faffing around with Freesat which has no benefits whatsoever over Freeview HD, especially when you have to install yet another cable into the house.

I also never said Freeview boxes would "cease to work", I said people currently buying Freeview boxes and Freeview TV's were wrongly thinking that they would be future-proof because they are under the impression Freeview HD will just work with their existing set-up.

And they were, indeed, the points I was making.

My apologies, you did indeed say " near to useless", and there is a world of difference, I'm sure.

Ultimately there will be very little difference between the HD offerings on Freeview and Freesat. However, at present one is already broadcasting with receivers available; the other isn't!


You can't really blame retailers for their customers' misconceptions. 'Freeview HD' receivers and/or TV combos will be clearly labelled as such when they go on sale.

Since none are available in the shops then I don't understand how anyone has been misled. They will have bought equipment labelled as having a Freeview receiver, and that's exactly what they have.

Their gripe, if any, is with Ofcom for having sanctioned the use of DVB-T2 for the transmission of DTT HD broadcasts, not the equipment manufacturers/retailers for being unable to see into the future.

I guess its down to personal preference re: Freesat / Freeview HD. I'd prefer them not to have to pay to have another wire installed into the house. As a Sky HD customer it's probably snobbery more than anything towards Freesat.

People - particularly elderly people - find the whole thing very difficult to get their heads around (as do some younger people too!).

Certainly it would seem logical to the majority of people that when you buy a brand new HDTV with built-in Freeview, that when Freeview HD launches it should just work, when that is not the case!

People buying a state-of-the-art HDTV with built-in Freeview today will have an out of date product next month. I know technology moves on, but you have to admit it is a bit naughty that the fact that Freeview HD isn't even pointed out as 'coming soon' anywhere in a retail shop.