If you ruled Freeview

I'd have three major changes:

Ftn
Ftn would become F:tv a 24 hour channel and it's quality of programming would be far greater. It would start off with F:am (7-9) , a selection of news, chat and sport, kind of like RI:SE. Then would be F:daytime (9-2), which would show U.S. soaps from the CBS network: The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, As The World Turns and Guiding Light, as well as some lifestyle shows. Then would be F:news (2-3), an hour of news. Then would be F:kids(3-5), which would show kids programmes, cartoons and such. Then would be F:teens (5-7), which would be an hour of comedies in the style of Friends and Will and Grace. Then would be F:tonight (7-12) which would be a mix of dramas and comedies that are slightly more mature, like E.R. and Cold Feet. Then Would be F:late (12-3) which would be the adult programming, then F:music (3-7) which is just continuous music videos.

Sky Travel
Sky Travel would become Sky World, and would contain the entertainment programmes from Sky Travel as well as some from Sky One. It would also show the soaps from the NBC network: Days of our Lives and Passions, and alot less sales programmes.

Timeshare Channels
BBC3 and CBBC would share one channel, BBC4 and CBeeBies would share one channel.

If you were in charge of Freeview, you wouldn't be able to make such changes to channels.



They already do share channels, but they have diffrent EPG positions for very good reasons

And then when the channel closed down due to lack of viewers the last programme would be F:off?

I'd kick off any crap shopping channels and allow UK Gold to come on.

Just shut the whole lot down, although people to get all the free to view channels from sky for wot is it £40 a year, not bad in my opinion.
Or perhaps telewest and ntl should do one similar

and why should there not be a free digital terrestrial platform?

I would ditch ALL the shopping channels and the ones I think not worthy of a slot because of their truly dire programming (ftn, Sky Travel and UK Bright Ideas being three examples of channels that fit into this catergory)

Sky is NOT £40 a year - that's impossible whichever package is taken. Apart from having to be connected to a phone line, you have to pay £100 for installation, unless you pay £40/month (Minimum Contract, 1 year). Then if you want free channels you have to pay £20 for a card. And really, Freeview is more than adequate for most people. Perhaps they can get rid of ftn and UKBrightideas and fill it with UK Gold, but apart from that, what is going to be of use to the major public. Some would say BBCi is better, but I don't think many people are bothered about 4 more video loops - most people can access it online anyway. Why should people pay subscription when they can get somthing for a one-off fee - Currys are selling DTT boxes from £35*, interactive from £60, and most people need no aerial upgrade.

*Pre-Christmas Price

If they're £40 a year they aren't free to air are they?

Truely dire programming..... in your opinion

Also none of the shopping channels are under the juristriction of Freeview - QVC, TV Travel Shop and Bid Up are on SDN's space and Price Drop is on space sub-let by channel 4

Seriously, do you call a channel that shows stuff like an insight into the lapdancing chain Spearmint Rhino, what sex will be like in the future, some people buying an old banger doing it up and selling it on for some stupid price quality television?

However I'd rather have blank spaces than having to see these piles of (insert expletive here) whilst flicking through the channels.

I don't know what people think they are achieving by all these calls to banish certain channels from the platform. I'm the first to admit (being part of that rare group who most of the time actually has to live with DTT, rather than just imagining you do for the sake of a post, but actually curl back with Sky) that there are too many crap channels on the platform.

But removing them doesn't mean there will suddenly be an inexhaustible supply of quality channels looking to fill the void.

I really do wish UK Gold would make an appearance. I don't know why it isn't being seriously looked into, with it being the only 'killer' pay TV channel which could feasibly appear in a free environment. But it hasn't. And nor have any other half-decent channels.

It would be nice to be able to turn on your box one day and see the same lineup that was on ITV Digital just before it's collpase, but unfortunately this is the real world and you get what you pay for. If you pay nothing, then you are always going to get the dregs.

The shopping channels and FTN are not some vile creations which are keeping out the decent channels; the decent channels don't want to be there and you either have FTN, Price Drop.TV and the like, or you have nothing in those spaces.

And speaking as someone who also experienced the limbo period between ITV Digital and Freeview, that situation was a lot worse than the way things are now (summer 2002 on DTT gave you BBC digital channels, ITV2, QVC, TV Travel Shop, and 3 1/2 hours of ITN News Channel. That was it).

Freeview might have a crap lineup (admit it, it does), but you won't get any better for free.