31 January 2004

How the News Multiscreen works

BBC Parliament is only available on Freeview in quarter-screen format because it shares its video stream with the BBC News Multiscreens. Channel 45 carries a video broadcast, shown below, made up of three separate streams. The two on the left are for the news service, whilst the larger video on the right is for Parliamentary coverage:


When you tune to BBC Parliament on channel 45, the two news screens are "masked" by a layer of MHEG – digital text – to show this screen:


To show the News Multiscreens correctly, your Freeview box will load a different "mask", showing the two news screens instead. The correct audio stream for each channel is selected by the code in the MHEG layer. Channel 703 does not carry any video itself, only MHEG:

24 January 2004

15 January 2004

Setanta launch postponed

Broadcast are reporting that Setanta Sports have postponed the launch of their proposed Freeview channel because they haven't been able to secure sufficient content to make the venture possible. Setanta joint chief executive Leonard Ryan said the company had failed to secure a key UK broadcast partner with access to premium content so had surrendered their capacity back to DTT multiplex operator SDN.
Story: DTT Boxes

11 January 2004

Daytime delayed

There is some confusion surrounding Disney's new channel Daytime, which had previously been "confirmed" as launching tomorrow (January 12). It now appears the actual launch date of the channel is still quite distant - Disney say it will not launch this month.
Story: DTT Boxes

01 January 2004

BBCi

Still of the video loop shown on the red button channels when not broadcasting any programming

BBCi: 'The Sound of Music' karaoke

Press Red prompt shown on BBC One

Prompt shown on BBC One after pressing the red button





talkSPORT to launch on Freeview?

UKRadio.com is reporting that sports radio station talkSPORT is planning to launch on Freeview this year. The station is already available on Sky, cable, DAB and AM - carriage on Freeview will make it available on all major platforms.
Story: DTT Boxes