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301 and 302 get epg listings

PowerJCPowerJC Posts: 1,038
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While channel surfing this morning noticed this, they now have listings for everything that is on.
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    EuphoricaLEuphoricaL Posts: 310
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    Well thats sodding fantastic. To be able to record events on interactive is a vast improvement. Still not a "BBC Events" channel that i'd prefer but about as close as we are going to get :D
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    russellellyrussellelly Posts: 11,689
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    They've had listings before (during Olympics). It seems there are some coming for 6 Nations, but the Elbow concert on 301 has no information (other than 'BBC Red Button'). The fact they can do it sometimes makes it all the more peculiar that it isn't done all the time!
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    albertdalbertd Posts: 14,366
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    Nothing on 4TV's listings for today.
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    SystemSystem Posts: 2,096,970
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    On my Hitachi I'm getting schedule info up to and including Tuesday...it's just 'Red Button' after that.

    Even 303 and 305 have some listings for Ski Sunday / Super League. :eek:

    I'll check my other boxes later.
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    mossy2103mossy2103 Posts: 84,309
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    They've had listings before (during Olympics). It seems there are some coming for 6 Nations, but the Elbow concert on 301 has no information (other than 'BBC Red Button'). The fact they can do it sometimes makes it all the more peculiar that it isn't done all the time!
    I thought that it had something to do with the fact that the BBC is not able to treat them as full-time channels (something in the Charter, or the fact that additional channels have not been approved by the BBC Trust/DCMS?)
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    John259John259 Posts: 28,547
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    This should have been done years ago. Spending money and effort on trailers for other channels while keeping the 301/302 schedules largely secret was always crazy and worked against the interests of viewers and programme makers while serving no purpose.

    BTW, there are schedules for the sports programmes on 301/302 here (click the "Red button" tab).

    John
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    John259John259 Posts: 28,547
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    mossy2103 wrote: »
    I thought that it had something to do with the fact that the BBC is not able to treat them as full-time channels (something in the Charter, or the fact that additional channels have not been approved by the BBC Trust/DCMS?)
    There have been claims of that but no proof, it seems to be an empire preserving myth perpetrated by BBCi.
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    Kevin1960Kevin1960 Posts: 5,640
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    John259 wrote: »
    This should have been done years ago. Spending money and effort on trailers for other channels while keeping the 301/302 schedules largely secret was always crazy and worked against the interests of viewers and programme makers while serving no purpose.

    BTW, there are schedules for the sports programmes on 301/302 here (click the "Red button" tab).

    John

    Those are the schedules for satellite and cable; not all of the events listed will be on freeview.
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    John259John259 Posts: 28,547
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    Kevin1960 wrote: »
    Those are the schedules for satellite and cable; not all of the events listed will be on freeview.
    Yes you're right. Also it doesn't tell you which channel each programme is going to be on so you can't set up a recording in advance with any certainty. It's better than nothing though.

    John
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    mossy2103mossy2103 Posts: 84,309
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    John259 wrote: »
    There have been claims of that but no proof, it seems to be an empire preserving myth perpetrated by BBCi.
    Why should that assist in preserving any alleged "empire"? In fact, I would have thought that it was likely to have a detrimental effect in some ways (as evidenced by some of the comments here).
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    soulboy77soulboy77 Posts: 24,518
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    With one of the 30X channels always showing sports events it wouldn't take much extra effort to launch a BBC Sports channel. I could accept that during the weekdays outside of major event coverage that there will just be stuff on loop, as long as there is proper programming evenings & weekends.
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    John259John259 Posts: 28,547
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    mossy2103 wrote: »
    Why should that assist in preserving any alleged "empire"? In fact, I would have thought that it was likely to have a detrimental effect in some ways (as evidenced by some of the comments here).
    BBCi might gain status from being nominally in control of some television channels. A farce I know but the way some suits might think.

    John
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    ProDaveProDave Posts: 11,398
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    Now all we need is propper channel numbers and EPG listings on satellite as well, then they can drop the red button rubish altogether and we can just watch the additional streams as normal channels.
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    mossy2103mossy2103 Posts: 84,309
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    John259 wrote: »
    BBCi might gain status from being nominally in control of some television channels. A farce I know but the way some suits might think.

    John
    Ah, I see what you are getting at.
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    John259John259 Posts: 28,547
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    I'm not stating it as fact, it's only a theory, but it does seem to fit.

    John
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    GaryBGaryB Posts: 4,259
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    mossy2103 wrote: »
    I thought that it had something to do with the fact that the BBC is not able to treat them as full-time channels (something in the Charter, or the fact that additional channels have not been approved by the BBC Trust/DCMS?)

    That was the answer I got when I posted a similar message on the BBC Message Boards after the EPG listings for the Olympics finished.

    Linky.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,605
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    Only listings today that I can see - loop of super League on 301 and just red button for 302. Difficult to set recordings for later in the week if we don't know what's on which of the streams?
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 220
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    Only listings today that I can see - loop of super League on 301 and just red button for 302. Difficult to set recordings for later in the week if we don't know what's on which of the streams?

    Hello there - at the minute, we only have a limited amount of EPG data being broadcast - a couple of days worth - as the data needs to be inputted into the correct systems. We could have waited until everything was ready, however it was decided to get something out in time for the Six Nations rather than wait. Hopefully you'll soon start seeing listings for seven days.

    For the time being, it will only consist of sport because their data is already available in a suitable format for immediate use.

    We will be adding in non-Sport data once we can get the various data in suitable formats.

    The process isn't quite as simple as linear TV programmes because our schedulers often schedule long blocks of content that is then repeated on a loop. There's no schedule for specific instances of the programme that's looped - so we know that the Super League Show is on for example in a time block, however the scheduler doesn't know how many times it will be looped, and what times each loop will begin.

    By directly tuning into 301 and 302, you may miss some of the advanced features, such as being able to chose your commentary - so don't forget to press red :)
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    John259John259 Posts: 28,547
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    Hopefully you'll soon start seeing listings for seven days.
    Excellent news, thank you.

    John
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    ProDaveProDave Posts: 11,398
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    Hello there - at the minute, we only have a limited amount of EPG data being broadcast - a couple of days worth - as the data needs to be inputted into the correct systems....

    Excellent informative post, thank you very much.

    Are there any plans at all now or in the future to make the BBCi streams into "propper" channels with a channel number on satellite like they are on freeview?

    Having them only available via the red button on a sky box means there is absolutely no way whatsoever to record them on a sky+ box. This would be cured if they had a channel number like they do on freeview. Even with no EPG data, they could be manually recorded.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 220
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    The Sky EPG has a method which allows the recording of interactive streams - Sky do this with Sky Sports for example.

    We've no immediate plans to use it as, unfortunately, it needs some metadata don't currently have.
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    digiwigidigiwigi Posts: 1,367
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    I'm not sure if its within your control but there is currently no listings information through the Top Up TV EPG. Is there any way of getting this added?
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 220
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    The Top Up TV box uses the 14 day EPG guide if I remember correctly? If so, I'm afraid it's outside our control
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    GaryBGaryB Posts: 4,259
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    Would you BBC chaps have any idea if there are any plans to simulcast any BBC1/2 programmes on 301/302 without the music tracks as you previously did with the Alan Titchmarsh programme?
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 5,258
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    The Top Up TV box uses the 14 day EPG guide if I remember correctly? If so, I'm afraid it's outside our control

    So other broadcasters are able to supply the correct data to both 4tv and other epg providers, but the BEEB isn't.... Go figure.. I am not suprised...

    I would say the BBC want to get their schedules running to what the epg say before trying to add epg data for channels that should be accessed via the red button.
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