The Freeview Thread

More4. I'm sure that was reported late 2004 early 2005 not early 2004.

And I haven't read anything about Disney joining forces with CITV/ITV Kids etc. Unless I missed that report.

Sorry about that!!

I disagree. Non-premium channels do not actually make that much from subscriptions - the majority of their revenue is generated from commercials. Subscriptions exist mainly to enable negotiating lucrative first run pay TV rights; the money is made from the programming rather than directly from subscriptions itself. In the case of UK Gold, it enjoys being part of a strong portfolio of channels, and the nature of it's content makes it much less lucrative in terms of pay TV deals (there are no first run American imports to worry about; everything is repeats. Any pay TV only issues could doubtless be easily and affordably resolved). And if it appeared on Freeview it would be the only really strong channel on the platform - it's viewers would literally increase by 2 million overnight. That would attract advertisers and make advertising more lucrative. Having UK Gold on Freeview would probably make more money for UKTV than plodding on as a pay TV only channel. It was tentatively mentioned in the past, and I can't believe that they have never seriously tried to make it happen by now.

UKGold would be fantastic for Freeview, it would bring in many new views - they would probably double in the space of a few days if people knew it was there. I can't see why the BBC haven't already put it onto Freeview!

BTW, does anyone know when the new BBCi will fully launch yet?

Thanks,
Joel.

Aswell as being fantastic for Freeview, it would also be fantastic for UK Gold. As a really strong channel, it would doubtless become Freeview's top rated channel overnight. Seeing a sudden increase in viewers by 2 million would make the analogue terrestrials happy, seeing it on a multichannels channel would be nothing short of amazing. There probably are rights issues which stop them from just putting it on there right now. But as I've said at least 3 times in this thread, I refuse to believe there is anything on there which can't be renegotiated at little or no extra cost. When everything is repeats, and the newest material on there comes from the BBC anyway, UK Gold is entirely feasible.


I imagine they're holding out for the new version of MHEG later this year. What they're doing now has really reached the limit of the current engine. They could make cosmetic changes yes, but not really any functionality changes.

The BBC have said that they will not be making anything which doesn't work on the ITV digital boxes, which more or less rules out any exciting MHEG 1.06 applications. Anyway - I thought 1.06 wasn't going to happen anymore?

so will the Disney made station be showing ABC shows like General Hospital, All My Children and One Life To Live, because if it is then I'll be buying Freeview.

Disney owned network ABC has lots of great shows that we rarely get to see...but check on the website.

Is this of interest to anyone ? Apparently you will be able to choose your radio channel whilst playing the Freeview games :

Emap Performance has signed a deal with F2P Games to allow music fans hooked up to Freeview to select which Emap Digital Radio service they want to tune in to while they play.

The deal, which starts on October 31 means Freeview users will be able to listen to Smash Hits, Kiss, The Hits, Q, Magic or Kerrang!, whilst playing Tetris, Frankenrobbie or Binko.

Andrea Kilbourne, managing director of Emap Interactive, said: “The way people want to listen to radio is changing. This is another example of how digital radio can help enhance other activities.”

Now, wouldn't it be better if Teletext came up with a similar idea ?

Oh, so Is this exactly the same as what Jazz FM are doing now? When you go into F2P, in the main menu, press red, and that goes to the select radio page.
Anyway, When I was listening to Jazz FM while playing Tetris, at the end of the game my ITV digital box crashed for the first time since ITV digital ended. I wonder if it were some F2P bugs doing that?

It is indeed a bug. Crashes my Pioneer too.

I think that Teletext should use a microscopic fraction of the extra Channel 4 bandwidth (aren't Teletext doing 4Text soon anyway?) and have their own radio channel that plays wordless music like on the sky EPG.

Speaking of Freeview, has anyone seen that BBC advert with that woman saying you will get "new" BBC channels?

How exactly can these channels be new? News 24, BBC Four (Knowledge), BBC Three (Choice) have been around for ages on DTT, Satellite and Cable

Oh and next time, take a close look at the back of the Freeview box on top of the TV when she goes to plug in the scart lead. I think you'll find that you need an aerial to receive Freeview - and there is no aerial lead plugged into the box.

So much for getting your extra BBC channels.

I think this Freeview ad is very imformative and quite interesting. More informative than the old ladies at the bus stop.

BTW - Has anyone ever called the number for a free guide? I did ages ago and My guide has BBC CHOICE as one of the bbc channels and has the old BBC NEWS 24 logo in it to. Has anyone got one of the new guides? Are they any good or pointless? If I phone up again, will they have it on record that I already have requested a guide in the past so wont need one, or will they still give my one??