I got wondering earlier this evening in England if you buy a freeview box plug it in without any form of payment (assuming you've paid the TV lisecene). How many channels to you actully get coke thru just like that? Actully channels showing actully programming of sort.
This is my count. Some channel's clearly time share so I'm taking those as a single 24 hr bandwith. Working out the actul number of 'bandwith slots' there actully are. I'm sure ive made mistakes but I make it 31.
BBC1
BBC2
ITV1
C4
Five
ITV2
CBBC/BBC3
Cbeebies/BBC4
ITV3
Sky 3
UKTV History/Smile TV
More 4
E4
ABC1/
TCM
QVC
The Hits
UKTV Bright Ideas/FTN
TMF
Ideal World
Bid TV/Screenshop
Price-Drop-TV/Screenshop
CITV/ITV4
FilmFour
E4+1
ITV Play
Quiz Call
BBC News 24
BBC Parliament
Sky News
Sky Sports News
Community Channel
BBCi/Teachers TV
BBCi
ABC1 timeshares with TCM, not UKTV Style (these are both top-up TV channels). Nor does Teachers TV timeshare with the Community Channel. Community apparantly timeshares with Channel 302.
Screenshop isn't a separate channel in itself, more rather its essentially filling six hours worth of non-shopping time on the Sit-Up channels.
Technically channels 301 and 302 are "free" as well, just not advertised. Channel 305 is used for Big Brother, this will becom Filmfour by the end of the month.
There are 37 "channels" on Freeview at the moment without the need to shell out for Top Up TV. Some of these timeshare as you've noted. You are right when you say that 31 channels are available, BUT note that there is no Freeview replacement when ABC1 goes off-air at 6pm until Teacher's TV starts at midnight.
Therefore it would be right to say that one can get at least 30 channels at all times, and 31 between midnight and 9am.
Hmm...havent seen one of these threads in a while.
Edward is right - TUTV is not freeview - both companies just use the DTT platform. Sky have a monopoly on the DS platform cos they own it and NTL/Telewest run on DCable.
Don't forget that TUTV is closing/changing now this autumn, so that FiveUS and FiveLife can launch - and no doubt we'll be seeing ITV2+1
Interestingly, most of the relay transmitters won't be equipped with all six DTT multiplexes...all but around 200 or so will only carry three, so the choice of channels will be more limited
To put it simply, the number of "streams" (24 hr TV channels) in total is 37, with 4 on both BBC muxes, 8 on the ITV/C4 mux, 9 on SDN, 5 on one of the Crown Castle muxes and 6 on the other.
4.5 of the streams on the SDN mux are Top Up TV - so in theory thats 32.5 free channels (though three of the BBC channels are interactive, one being split between BBC Parliament and News Multiscreen)!
Should be a few more in the Autumn when Five US and Five Life launch, replacing current Top Up TV streams.
ABC1 timeshares with TCM, not UKTV Style (these are both top-up TV channels)
So that's why it doesn't broadbast 24.7 unlike Sky. Thanks for that.
ABC1 never has broadcast 24hrs on Freeview and at present has no ability to do so (though I understand Disney have plans for this channel and depending on what happens with the changes due to come to TopUp TV and the bandwidth it currently takes up, a 24hr slot may arrive in due course).
Hypothetical expansion of Freeview post TUTV-On Demand
Old TUTV Streams 1 & 2 - FiveUS & FiveLife
Old TUTV Stream 3 - Setanta Sports 1
Old TUTV Stream 4 -
New channel 1
Current ABC1 / TCM Stream - ABC1 24-hours (with TeleG being bumped over to Mux B or taking FTN's Thomas Cook TV time in Scotland)
Add to that the two extra streams you can gain from taking E4+1 off air and adding a 6th stream to the other Crown Castle Mux, and thats a possible 3 extra channels.
Hmm...havent seen one of these threads in a while.
Edward is right - TUTV is not freeview - both companies just use the DTT platform. Sky have a monopoly on the DS platform cos they own it and NTL/Telewest run on DCable.
Don't forget that TUTV is closing/changing now this autumn, so that FiveUS and FiveLife can launch - and no doubt we'll be seeing ITV2+1
I am a Top Up Tv customer....does this mean that I will be unable to receive UKTV Gold from the Autumn or or they just changing muxes? I am very confused because I haven't heard anything.
TUTV is changing from a linear TV subscription service to an overnight-download-into-a-PVR-type service so yes, unfortunately we TUTV subscribers will lose UKTV Gold, Discovery et. al. unless they relaunch on Freeview.
TUTV is changing from a linear TV subscription service to an overnight-download-into-a-PVR-type service so yes, unfortunately we TUTV subscribers will lose UKTV Gold, Discovery et. al. unless they relaunch on Freeview.
Not necessarily - there will still be a limited service available/compatible with the existing boxes. However, you are correct in that it's more likely that UKTV Gold and Discovery will be download-only and the sports channels will continue to broadcast as "normal"
