This is a trivial question that I wasn't sure about putting in Requests, but unless somebody finds something to discuss further, feel free for it to be moved.
As pres fans, chances are most of us have heard words uttered during classic idents such as "Tyne Tees Television, Channel 8" and "You're lookin' in on Channel 9, Granada!"
I know next to nothing about the technicalities of broadcasting, but I'm assuming it's owing to the transition from VHF to UHF, but at what point did we end up with the system of Channel 1 for BBC One, Channel 3 for ITV and so on?
The VHF Band was split into two, the initial Band I and Band III. Band I was used for the original BBC service. Band III was introduced to enable ITV to start.
Channels 1-5 were in Band I
Channels 6-12 (later 13) were in Band III
The rotary selector for VHF receivers were numbered 1-13, and the service was selected by rotating this to the channel assigned in each transmitter area.
There are numerous sources online that go into detail on the frequency plan and it's development from 1936 until 1971 when I believe the final VHF transmitter was introduced. Note a few VHF transmitters were still introduced as UHF was being built out.
LS
Lou Scannon
Just like Larry the Loafer I am also not very technically minded, so this may be wide of the mark...
My understanding/assumption has always been that those channel numbers such as Tyne Tees' "channel 8" etc are something to do with the signal/wavelength/frequency etc? (And therefore a truer/stricter sense of the word "channel" than what most of Joe Public understand a TV "channel" to be)
And therefore the LCNs (Logical Channel Numbers) that the average viewer-at-home deals with (e.g. pressing physical button number 3 on your television set to watch ITV, back in the day. Or, nowadays, going to LCN 3 or 103 of whichever digital TV platform you have) is merely the "end user interface".
I tend to separate out the terminology: I would call e.g. BBC One a "station", but would call e.g. LCN 101 a "channel". The fact that there are at least two stations with "Channel" at the beginning of their station name (4 and 5, obv), rather ruins this for me. Grr.
I suspect that BBC Two having the number 2 in its name, along with TVs with preset button tuning, rather than rotary tuning, helped us with the move from actual frequency channels (i.e. Tyne Tees, Channel to 'preset' channel numbers (i.e. the button on the TV you pressed).
In the days of a single rotary dial used for tuning - it made sense to use the actual RF channel - as it helped you find the station. Once TVs switched to pre-set push-button tuning, the concept of RF channels made no sense, but the concept of preset numbers did.
BBC One made sense for button 1, BBC Two made sense for button 2, leaving ITV left for button 3. UK sets even came pre-labelled with these preset allocations in some cases, with an ITV2 button on the 4th position in anticipation of the 4th national channel for the ITA/IBA to run.
It's also because we (in Europe) have national or regional networks that consist of multiple transmitters so using actual channel numbers would be extremely complicated - BBC1 was on ch 21, 22, 23, 24 etc depending on where you lived.
In contrast in the US where each TV station is one VHF/UHF channel (with sometimes a few low powered relays) so they do quote their actual channel number. The same in the early days of ITV when Tyne Tees would be on a single channel - 8 so could quote it
It's also because we (in Europe) have national or regional networks that consist of multiple transmitters so using actual channel numbers would be extremely complicated - BBC1 was on ch 21, 22, 23, 24 etc depending on where you lived.
In contrast in the US where each TV station is one VHF/UHF channel (with sometimes a few low powered relays) so they do quote their actual channel number. The same in the early days of ITV when Tyne Tees would be on a single channel - 8 so could quote it
Yep - the US is a different world in TV terms. The network-based structure of European TV definitely favours LCN-style presets rather than RF channels.
The US is now in a slightly bizarre situation that their on-screen channel numbers (and PSIP LCN-equivalent) often indicate the legacy analogue channel number they used to broadcast on, and don't reflect their current RF channel (though some managed to find a way of staying I think). This is further complicated by a repack process and the move to ATSC 3.0 which may finally see the US move to a more European model of multiple main stations on a single RF mux.
BBC, and, indeed, BBC 1 subsequently, never referred to channel numbers. But most local ITV stations did. For instance, Border Television used to proclaim, "You are watching Border Television on channels 7, 8, 11 and 13" Some of the local stations, like Tyne Tees and, after Yorkshire TV was created, Granada, had only one transmitter covering their area.
Another possible reason for giving the channel number was that there were substantial overlaps in coverage areas in the days of VHF television transmission. Many viewers could thus receive more than one ITV regional station. It probably made sense to stress that, if a viewer wanted to watch his or her "local" channel, they should have the dial at channel 8, rather than channel 10.
Many early UHF sets didn't have push button pre-sets so to go from BBC 2 to ITV or BBC 1, when they started on UHF, you had to tune the set like a radio.
In the days of a single rotary dial used for tuning - it made sense to use the actual RF channel - as it helped you find the station. Once TVs switched to pre-set push-button tuning, the concept of RF channels made no sense, but the concept of preset numbers did.
Bizarrely, the old analogue York TV changed its name in the mid 00s to 'York@54' in reference to its UHF channel number. I suspect this meant nothing to the vast majority of local people.
to 'preset' channel numbers (i.e. the button on the TV you pressed).