ITV says "jump", OFCOM ask "how high?"

Yep - wouldn't life be easier if it was just BBC, Channel Four and Five on the PSB SD muxes (1 and 2), with ITV being a non-PSB commercial operation on Mux A (COM 1?)?

It would also mean that we could have more decent HD if ITV were kicked off PSB3 - the HD mux - and then we'd get Five HD more quickly (and be able to watch all their HD imports like CSI in HD!)

I don't get why the SDN mux isn't classed as a PSB mux. Originally it was gifted to Five and S4C as one of the three "PSB" muxes, but somewhere along the line when Freeview was created the second BBC mux seems to have taken priority.


Also, considering ITV's main argument for ditching CITV from ITV1 has been the CITV Channel (even though it's now not available on Freeview in Wales), surely that needs to be on a PSB mux too. Indeed as a viewer I don't expect to just get the five "terrestrial" channels as a minimum, but all of the services those PSB broadcasters provide - especially from the BBC and C4.

I think 1998-2002 it was classed as half a PSB mux, but you're right Mux B had its status altered when Freeview launched.

Suspect the BBC gaining Mux B - which carries entirely public service content - and Mux A being sold by SDN to ITV Plc (not the wider ITV) and continuing to carry Pay TV services from TopUpTV and allowing other broadcasters to buy space on the Mux commercially has reclassified it as a COM mux. It is very difficult to argue that it is anywhere near to a PSB mux these days - which is presumably why Five is being gifted some space on a PSB mux for the core Five service.



I can accept the argument for universal BBC PSB carriage. Whether all the C4 services are core-PSB is less clear - but as C4 as a whole is a PSB corporation I can see some arguments that could support that.

ITV2-4 and Fiver/Five US have few or no PSB requirements - and are purely commercial operations AIUI. It COULD be argued that the extra revenue generated by them helps fund the core ITV and Five services (or offset the supposed drain of PSB requirements) - but not sure that totally holds water.

The CITV case is interesting. ITV took a commercial decision to remove kids shows from the main ITV network (partially because of the junk food ban) and I'm surprised they've been allowed to get to a situation where CITV is not available nationwide...

Apart from CITV, I guess really the only thing where it would be to ITV's advantage to have at least ITV4 classed as a PSB channel is to screen the odd World Cup match which isn't going to be a ratings blockbuster for ITV4.

We know how little ITV - and indeed OFCOM - care about "PSB" status at the moment, but I've always felt that DSO shouldn't be an opportunity for ITV to ditch their PSB obligations, but they should be allowed to meet them across the ITV channels, rather than putting it all out on ITV1. However, if the digital channels aren't on a PSB mux, it's not going to be quite as clear.

Of course at the moment ITV1-4 are on a PSB mux, but CITV isn't - and ironically that's probably the only ITV digital channel of any PSB value at the moment.