Top Up TV Promo channel launches

Channel 26, which appeared on the EPG yesterday, is now broadcasting a video promotion for Top Up TV, including details of how to receive the service and highlights of some of the programming.

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Channel 26 placeholder appears

A placeholder named Channel 26 has appeared on Freeview channel 26 with a caption advising viewers a "new service [is] coming soon".

Top Up TV announce pay-TV channels

Top Up TV, a new pay-television service headed by former BSkyB executives David Chance and Ian West, is to launch on DTT. The company has launched its website with subscription details and channel line-up. The service will offer 10 timeshare channels for £7.99/month: E4, UK Gold, TCM, UK Style, Discovery Channel, Discovery Home & Leisure, UK Food, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Bloomberg. Television X is also available for an extra £9.99/month.
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BBCi: Perou's Photos

Prompt from BBC Three after pressing the red button

CBeebies games: 'Match the Pairs'

Government to begin Switchover push

MediaGuardian reports that the Government is to start a concerted campaign to encourage the public to switch to digital TV and hasten the switch off of the analogue signal. It is planning to hire Lambie Nairn, the design firm that designed the idents used on BBC Two and Channel 4, to design a logo for use in the campaign. The Government could start switching off the analogue signal within two years, and is setting a target to complete switchover by 2010.
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TV Travel Shop leaves Freeview

TV Travel Shop has ceased broadcasting on Freeview following the expiry of its contract with SDN, the operator or Multiplex A. Rumours suggest the channel's removal is making room for the rumoured new pay-TV service, "Top Up TV". TV Travel Shop is still broadcasting as normal on cable and satellite.
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BBCi: Richard II

Prompt on BBC Four after pressing the red button

BBCi: Dunkirk Countdown

Prompt on BBC One after pressing the red button

Off-air slides

Shown when BBC Three is off-air (7am-7pm)

Shown when BBC Four is off-air (7am-7pm)

CBeebies games: 'Find the Characters' and 'Build a Truck'

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:

Score interactive

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.
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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.
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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.
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