Question about BBC ONE

Why oh why can we not view other regions on Sky, like we do ITV regions, through the services menu? I would early love to know, are they encrypted perhaps?

I would have thought that if it were possible, everyone would be doing it, but I've never heard anything about it mentioned. It would be great for me to have a nosey at the main BBC ONE Network feed, especially on nights like Children in Need night where our regional variations pale in comparison. I would have much prefered Terry Wogan to our local mob!!

I just think it would be a wonderful concept, especially with the other regions joining soon, bringing everyone onto Sky Digital.

Any ideas??

They havent the transponder space to broadcast all the regions, and the nations are encrypted via postcode

Would one way around this postcode problem be to access the installer's menu through services, using that number that gets you in (it's got a 4 in it, can't quite remember it, but got in once and there were some scary options, involving my epg and changing it etc, probably the regions thing) in which case we could all switch regions if we wanted to. It'd be great to have such a feature, oh so near yet so far!!

Isn't so much not having the space, it's the overall cost too

Yep - the BBC currently have three 'transponders' or transmitters on the satellite used for Sky Digital - though they rent/lease directly from the satellite owner, SES, not via Sky! (This is the same number as ITV also lease...)

Two of these transponders are used for real services and this allows the BBC to broadcast :

BBC One England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales
BBC Two England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales
BBC News 24
BBC Choice
BBC Knowledge

(11 Video services, covering 5 channels with national variations. BBC Parliament is broadcast separately not on a BBC transponer for some reason, possibly due to the fact it initially launched as 'The Parliament Channel' run by cable companies, not the BBC...)

These two ransponders are also the home to lots of BBC Radio Channels (1,2,3,4FM,4LW,5Live,World Service, Scotland, Wales, Ulster, Asian Network, World Service Extra + a few others if you know where to look )

The third transponder is for BBC Interactive, and hosts BBC Wimbledon, Open Golf, News, Walking with Beasts etc Interactive services.

The BBC English regions will use the space on this third transponder, initially, and will just broadcast the regions when they are actually showing different programmes, via an Interactive menu. Unlike ITV1 there is no need to broadcast 15 identical versions of BBC One for most of the time - whereas ITV have to cos they need to show adverts! (Which make the money which pays for ITV instead of the licence fee!)

I think that, much as I like the interest of watching other regions ITV, for the same amount (and therefore cost) of satellite space I'd rather have 5 separate TV channels, lots of radio, and the interactive services that the BBC offer, than just ITV1 and ITV2...

As for the Interactive regions - I suspect this will allow all of us to chose which region we want to watch from an interactive menu - the BBC has publicly mentioned this as an advantage/reason for putting the English regions on satellite!

This wouldn't by any chance include Network X, Y and 5 Live Sports Extra would it? When I emailed BBC digital radio a few months back asking if these (particularly the latter) would be coming to DSAT they said they would, but didn't give any firm launch date. Digital radio doesn't reach my area yet and the cost of the sets is so high I'm really not prepared to buy one.



If, as its been quoted, the BBC regional news service is going to use the same space that was occupied by Wimbledon interactive - is that space currently being used by Walking with Beasts - and is that why the regional service can't launch until January, when WWB has finished?

The cost isn't just transponders, it's also the cost involved to adapt switching centres and build new circuit runs within each region, who are currently on a drive to go fully 16:9 digital which is hugely expensive and time consuming.

TV isn't cheap & cost doesn't just involve the obvious


(Edited by Techy Peep at 2:27 pm on Dec. 8, 2001)

I believe that some, but not all, of the new digital radio services are available on the BBC Astra 2 Transponders, but not yet part of the EPG. Not sure which - I haven't had time to check for myself.

I understand that the initial BBC regions will be housed on the BBC Interactive transponder, in the same space used for other BBC Interactive video services.

The four interactive regions all need to have extra kit to feed their output back down to London in a form compatible with the BBC Interactive service and this takes time to install and test, and then there is the time needed to train people in how it operates and what to do if it goes wrong!

It is not just the video and the sound that needs to get to London, but also the live subtitles etc. This all takes time and people, especially as it is being done across the UK.

Techy Peep is also right, the BBC are also trying to upgrade the regions to full 16:9 widescreen production (rather than the fake 14:9 pillarbox currently used) and also need to move/build a number of regional centres - (Birmingham, Leeds, Norwich, Hull etc) This all takes time - there are only so many people available in Britain to do this kind of specialised work.