Four-screen BBC News Multiscreen launched

The BBC have updated the News Multiscreen on Freeview. The service, available on BBCi page 1001 or via the red button, now carries widescreen News Headlines, News Extra, Sport and Weather loops.

Cartoon Network leaves Top Up TV

Cartoon Network has left the linear Top Up TV service. The encryption was removed shortly before 10:00 this morning (an hour before the scheduled finish time for the channel) before the broadcast ceased altogether a few minutes later. I know because I was watching it. Cartoon Network programmes are still available on Top Up TV Anytime. The linear Top Up TV service is now down to just 20½ hours per day.

Sport and Weather for BBC News Multiscreen

The BBC has confirmed that the News Multiscreen will be expanded at the end of February with the addition of sport and weather loops. The Freeview service will then have a total of four extra streams, compared to the full five-loop service (the fifth being Entertainment) on satellite.

Sky to launch subscription service on DTT?

Sky plan to launch a new subscription service on DTT in the summer. The capacity currently used by Sky's three Freeview channels (Sky Three, Sky News and Sky Sports News) will be used to broadcast an extra MPEG4 stream - meaning these channels will no longer be available on Freeview and that a new box will be required to view the content. A monthly subscription will be charged for content, likely to include Premiership football and premium content. The service is yet to receive the green light from Ofcom, and highlights how seriously Sky is taking the threat of rival pay-TV providers (such as BT, Top Up TV and Setanta Sports) taking away revenue from satellite subscriptions.

Top Up TV Promo channel returns

The Top Up TV Promo channel has recommenced broadcasts on Freeview. The promotional video, found on Freeview channel 43, broadcasts between 13:00 and 23:00 from now until the end of February, when the Setanta Sports channel begins broadcasts.

Teletext Games launches

Teletext's latest channel, Teletext Games has fully launched on channel 103. The text service allows viewers to play games on a pay-per-play basis. The channel is the first commercial games service on DTT since the closure of YooPlay.

Discovery Channel leaves Top Up TV

The Discovery Channel will no longer broadcast on channel 27. The Top Up TV channel has been removed to make way for the new Setanta Sports channel, which launches on March 1. Programming from the channel is available via the Top Up TV Anytime service.

Setanta Sports launches on March 1

Setanta Sports' new subscription channel, exclusively available on DTT, will start broadcasting on March 1. Viewers will need a Top Up TV box, Freeview box with a card slot, BT Vision box or IDTV with a CAM: they will also need a subscription card. The monthly subscription charge will be £10.90/month; a £10 connection fee applies, but there is no minimum contract period.

Broadcasters want HD for All

A coalition called HDForALL have launched a campaign for high definition TV to be made available on Freeview. Not suprisingly, it's made up of HD television manufacturers, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five.

2 million Freeview boxes sold in 2006 Q4

2,000,000 Freeview receivers were sold in the last 3 months of 2006.

Discovery Real Time leaves Top Up TV

Discovery Real Time will no longer broadcast on channel 42. The Top Up TV channel has been removed to make way for the new Setanta Sports channel, which launches on March 1. Programming from the channel is available via the Top Up TV Anytime service.

Top Up TV Promo to return

Top Up TV's Promo channel will resume broadcasting on February 8. The promotional video will be carried on channel 43, between 13:00 and 23:00. In other news, Top Up's linear television service (British Eurosport, UKTV Gold and UKTV Style) is no longer available to new subscribers.

TDN to be replaced by DMOL

The technical guardian responsible for co-ordinating changes to the digital terrestrial platform (including the allocation of channel numbers) is to be replaced by a new, more formal organisation. DTT Multiplex Operators Limited (or DMOL) will take over from The Digital Network (TDN), but will continue to be owned by the BBC, National Grid Wireless, S4C Digital Networks, ITV and Channel 4.

Changes afoot in February

There will be a few more changes to the channels broadcast on Freeview and Top Up TV in February, it would appear. Top Up TV have confirmed that their channel line-up will be changing: the Discovery Channel, Discovery Real Time and Cartoon Network will be dropped from the live channels service (programmes still available on Anytime), and British Eurosport moves to a morning slot (7:30 to 10:00). This frees up a slot between 9:00 and midnight for Setanta Sports. Meanwhile, the Film4 listings now cease at 4:00, all but confirming that a new channel will be timesharing with it between 4:00 and noon. Rumours suggest it could be financial channel Bloomberg.

BBC test 4-screen News Multiscreen

The BBC have been conducting tests for the expansion of the News Multiscreen on Freeview from 2 to 4 screens. Following the removal of the quarter-screen BBC Parliament video, channel 302 has been carrying four quarter-screens with audio in anticipation of the new service’s launch later this year.

BBC may be forced to carry C4 services

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has announced (as part of the BBC’s licence fee settlement) that she is still "keeping open" the idea of the BBC giving Channel 4 £14m and digital spectrum for a TV channel and three radio stations (on Freeview). Channel 4 currently uses capacity on three multiplexes, and the BBC also faces the prospect of finding Five and S4C post-switchover carriage.

S4C yn datgelu eu delwedd brand newydd

Mae S4C yn cyflwyno delwedd brand newdd fydd yn arwain y Sianel at yr oes ddigidol-yn-unig a thu hwnt. Mae’r brand newydd, a lansir ar 18 Ionawr, yn cyflwyno diwyg ac agwedd gyfoes a fydd i’w gweld ar wasanaethau S4C ar yr awyr, oddi ar yr awyr ac ar-lein. Mae’n cymryd lle'r brand presennol a ddefnyddiwyd ers 1993.

Freeview will win switchover battle

A report by Jupiter Research has stated the bleeding obvious, by suggesting that Freeview will be more popular than subscription platforms at digital switchover. The report suggests that there will be an extra 4.6 million homes with Freeview in the next five years, compared to just 1.2 million for satellite, 700,000 for cable and, interestingly, 1 million for TV via broadband.

Quiet news week

The quarter-screen BBC Parliament stream has finally been removed from channel 305: a full screen service has been available on channel 81 since last year. The capacity will almost certainly be used to add two further loops to the BBC News Multiscreen.

Movers and shakers

The new year has bought with it a few changes to commercial presentation programming on Freeview channels. Thomas Cook TV has moved from FTN to Five US, replacing iBuy. Following so far? Quiz Call has also abandoned FTN, replacing the Great Big British Quiz on Five US (and on Five Life on cable and satellite). Meanwhile, the future of ITV Play looks uncertain, following confirmation that Quiz Mania is to be axed and The Mint is under review… ITV could use the channel’s slot for ITV Movies.

Review of 2006

The end of 2006 marks the end of another exciting year for Digital Terrestrial Television in the UK. Not only have we seen changes to the channels and services themselves, but also witnessed the creation of a definite switchover timetable. What once may have seemed like a flight of fantasy will soon become a reality: the first major area to switchover will see analogue signals turned off in just ten months; the first regions to switch only have to wait until 2008. The switch will (no doubt) be plagued with problems, but is unlikely to be disastrous. Over 70% of households now have access to digital, and this figure grows with every set-top box bought; the Government has announced financial aid will be in place to ensure no-one gets left behind.

A major contributor to the success of digital take-up is the continuing popularity of Freeview. This year saw the platform go from strength to strength (albeit at the expense of other factors) in terms of its channel line-up and appeal. Let’s look back at Freeview’s 2006:

Freeview
Say hello, wave goodbye
The year began with a pretty bizarre tale: someone’s Freeview box managed not only to send a transmission signal, but also one on the exact-same frequency as the international distress signal! Coastguard helicopters were dispatched to trace the SOS call, only to find it had come from some poor Freeviewer’s front room… Despite being called a “one-off incident”, the same thing happened the next month in February!

Following the closure of the ITV News Channel in December 2005, ITV were able to launch the CITV Channel in March. The runaway success of the BBC’s children’s channels (CBeebies is one of the most-watched digital television channels) and ITV’s reluctance to show children’s programming on the struggling ITV1 led them to launching their own rival channel…

Advertising revenues have been falling almost continually on ITV1 since the launch of multi-channel television. To combat the loss of viewers on their flagship channel, ITV launched as many sister channels as possible: at least if people weren’t watching ITV1, they could still be watching ITV2. This tactic appeared to be working: it even prolonged the life of ITV’s Men & Motors channel (which had been expected to close with the launch of ITV4). Unfortunately, ITV’s coffers were still running low. After a hugely successful trial, they decided that a 24-hour quiz channel - ITV Play - was the way to claw back some cash. It replaced Men & Motors in April…

Rumours that a new channel might be using the space overnight that UKTV History has no use for were proved correct when trashy late-night television channel Smile TV appeared on April 26…

The new series of Big Brother in May saw an end to the broadcast of More4+1 on Freeview, in favour of a live stream from the house. This service was ended before the series finished, however: it was taken off-air in July to make way for the launch of Film4, which moved to Freeview on the 23rd. Channel 4 had announced the movie channel would become a free service in line with their ambition to be seen in as many homes as possible: they believe future revenues can be generated from on-demand content…

Also in July, the launch of Virgin Radio

The massacre of the existing Top Up TV line-up (more in a moment) was a result of Five taking back some of their channel slots from the pay-TV company. Five was lagging behind all the other terrestrial broadcasters, who each had at least 5 channels on Freeview (in comparison to Five’s 1), and needed to beef up its multi-channel presence. On October 15th and 16th, Five Life and Five US were launched…

BBC Parliament had only been broadcasting in quarter-screen 4:3 before November, when it became available in glorious widescreen, although at the expense of picture quality on it and the BBC’s interactive services…

Channel 4 started the Freeview quiz channel phenomenon with Quiz Call - but fortunately they saw sense and replaced it with Film4+1 this November. Cynics would tell you that Channel 4 were eager to get rid of Quiz Call because they feared upcoming legislation would cripple their channel’s ability to make tonnes of money, but whatever their motives it’s actions like this that have helped Freeview to become such an attractive proposition. Even FTN, who are notorious for showing rubbish shows and quiz programmes, are cutting the crap and launching a new half-decent schedule for 2007…

Higher up in the channel numbers, Teletext Games appeared and will launch fully next year, while December has seen the launch of 2 new radio stations, Heart (with regional variations, to boot) and the Radio Music Shop. The text service NHS Direct has also appeared on Sky Text page 800…


Subscription
The revolution will be televised (and available on-demand)
The decision by Five to take back capacity from Top Up TV could well have sounded the death-knell for the subscription television operator. Instead, they have capitalised on the fact that the unattractive overnight capacity on Freeview could be used to their advantage. By broadcasting content overnight to be recorded on to their new Anytime set-top boxes, Top Up TV have not only survived the change, but deserve to prosper from it. The channel line-up they currently show “live” is - make no mistake - poor: but their new service, especially when combined with Setanta Sports next year, is an exciting addition to DTT.

This year, DTT said goodbye to the live versions of Bloomberg, Boomerang, Toonami, Red Hot and UKTV Food: the hours of the remaining channels was severely reduced. Next year will most likely see further reductions to allow a 24-hour Setanta Sports channel to launch, bringing Premiership football to DTT for the first time since the collapse of ONdigital: by then the lure of Top Up TV Anytime should be attractive enough to see the company succeed.

The number of DTT-plus-broadband services looks only to increase over the coming years. BT fired the opening salvo with the launch of BT Vision: the content looks good, although as with all new developments, concerns over the technology still remain.


2007 and beyond
Switchover begins
2007 looks set to be another exciting year. As people grow increasingly familiar with Freeview (and new digital technologies in general) the opportunities for combining DTT with new services (such as BT Vision or Anytime PVRs) looks set to grow. Switchover will force DTT on to some households, but provided there remains a commitment to keeping the platform alive with quality services - a commitment that will be driven and policed by public demand - the UK looks fairly well set to embrace the digital switchover.

DTT receivers still flying off the shelves

The latest figures from Ofcom show that 1.4 million DTT set-top boxes and IDTVs were sold between July and September this year. The number of homes with Freeview now stands at just over 7 million (compared to the 6.4 million homes without any form of digital television): 73.3% of the population now have digital telly.

Switchover help to cost £600 million

The Government will spend £600 million on providing assistance to the elderly, disabled and disadvantaged with digital switchover. Those who receive income-related benefits will have the cost of converting one television set to digital television paid for them; those who do not will only have to pay £40 for the same privilege. The money will come from the television licence fee.

Heart begins broadcasting on Freeview

Heart has commenced broadcasts on Freeview channel 728 in England and Wales. The service is regionalised: listeners will hear either the London, West Midlands or East Midlands feed of the radio network, depending on their location in the country.