S4C after switchover

I know it's a bit of a way off with Wenvoe, the last Welsh transmitter to switch, not happening until March next year, but I was just wondering what will happen with S4C come the last analogue switch off...

Will they acknowledge it, particularly as it would mark the closure of S4C's analogue service (for those who dont' know, S4C Digidol is transmitted on Freeview, as C4 is already available in Wales via the service).

It would be interesting to see what happens to S4C analogue on switchover night, as switchovers generally happen around midnight-1am, but S4C analogue doesn't usually close until around 4am, so they could be broadcasting to nobody for a couple of hours!

And would this mean S4C Digidol would go 24 hours, or at least extend broadcasting hours by March 2010?

An interesting question is whether S4C will actually continue with the hybrid, mixed language analogue service right up until the wire.

The C4 output on S4C already gets a very small audience - viewers in Wales were more keen than most on going digital right from the start and well over 90% have already switched.

By the end of the year, only two main transmitters will still be broadcasting the analogue service. Perhaps one of our readers in Wales could confirm this, but I would imagine that the transmitter on the west coast covers a relatively modest number of people while Wenvoe covers an area with few Welsh speakers.

I wonder if by then, they might simply have moved to simulcast the full Welsh service on analogue - or have gradually cut out the remaining C4 output like Countdown, Deal or No Deal and the 1700 programmes whenever there's been a natural point to do so, eg a Countdown final and the end of the News at Noon.

Of course, if S4C analogue does continue until March there's no reason why it should not close down for a final time as it's a distinct stream from the digital service.

I think they will have to maintain the present format for S4C until the very end. Remember, the last Tx to switch will be Wenvoe, but this feeds dozens of relays, none of which will carry any form of digital output until the day after Wenvoe, (and themselves) cease S4C Analogue.

Therefore S4C must maintain a: Its Welsh output, and b: The C4 simulcasts and timeshifts to very end, although whether that will be until 00:00hrs or 04:00hrs on DSO night, I doubt anyone outside of this forum cares.

The Hybrid will continue albeit in a different form on S4C HD which will continue to provide some C4 HD content, S4C will be one of the HD Licencees on Freeview in Wales not C4.

Correct on both counts. I can't see them cutting out Channel 4 content completely, especially because it's the highly-populated south-east that switches off last.

Series that people will want to continue watching on Channel 4 post-DSO will probably stay, but I wouldn't be surprised if most of the morning fillers were replaced by a simulcast with Digidol of Cyw (the Welsh CBeebies, for want of a better description) till 1:30 after News at Noon goes.

I would have thought they'd close down early on the night of 30th March 2010, unless there's some rule that they have to keep broadcasting something till the signal is turned off. Whether they'll make anything of it, I don't know - probably not, but I'd hope that someone manages to record it if there is (I'm in the north, unfortunately).

Has there been any confirmation S4C HD will show C4 content? There was a big piece on it last week in the Wales on Sunday complaining about how C4 HD won't be available - and I think it's a valid point. The main selling point of digital in Wales has been the availability of C4 and S4C, and though both will be in SD, once again OFCOM's ill thought out HD plans cause problems.

Indeed they're causing problems for the SD S4C service too. If the original plan had remained with S4C moving to "Mux B", I'm sure Sbectel would have remained.

S4C's HD application enables C4 content to be shown when S4C Digidol isn't on air.

They could shut down early, at say 21:00hrs, and broadcast a video loop explaining what the all punters will have to do with their receivers next morning. In fact that might be a useful thing to do on one of the channels on DSO-eve night in all areas ?

Thinking further, as the majority of C5 anlogue transmitters do not have to surrender their frequencies for DTT use after DSO, it might also be useful for them to broadcast a 'barker loop' on analogue after DSO.

I think Wenvoe feeds Kilvey Hill (the relay for Swansea). Kilvey Hill has been broadcasting DTT from day one back in 1998.

Well of course it has. Kilvey Hill's not a relay - it was the first main Welsh transmitter to start the switch last week.

Indeed. It's a relay in analogue terms of Wenvoe, but the DTT transmitters are, as you imply, line fed, and have existed since 1998.

Ah, well I'll admit that I didn't know that it was originally an analogue relay - it's an interesting idea to use one relay to feed other relays in order to serve an area that wouldn't get coverage otherwise (tell me if I've still got the wrong idea!). Thanks for enlightening me about that.

EDIT: and I've just done some more research and found that this is actually a fairly widespread practice. I think I'd better stay quiet!