Canis Media Two new 24/7 Freeview slots available
http://canismedia.co.uk/two-new-city-dtt-video-streams-deliver-access-to-10-million-dtt-home/
http://www.a516digital.com/2013/07/city-dtt-is-coming-two-new-freeview.html
What LCN will these channels be on we are getting very close to LCN 65.
This is good news i wonder who will get this space?
What channels would you like to get the spaces?
http://www.a516digital.com/2013/07/city-dtt-is-coming-two-new-freeview.html
What LCN will these channels be on we are getting very close to LCN 65.
This is good news i wonder who will get this space?
What channels would you like to get the spaces?
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Comments
Anything but shopping and slapper and of course +1
However, the 2 SD streams could be taken up as a 1 HD stream; therefore the channel would be located next to Channel 4 HD and the adult section bookend at LCN 105.
So a bit like how the American system works?
But who is going to be interested in broadcasting a HD channel when the BBC have tried 3 times to allocate the 5th HD stream without any takers.
Also are there not 10 HD slots soon to be made available in the 600Mhz band?
If the likes of CBS, the Horror channel, True entertainment, etc haven't taken up the SD slots that have already been available who besides the slapper shopping channels are going to take them?
http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/tv-broadcast-licences/local/awards/
Arqiva has put a proposal to OFCOM for the temporary allocation of spectrum in the 600MHz band
for the setting up of two HD muxes covering about 70% population
as it will be emitted from about the main 20 sites...
This action is supported the two Publicly owned PSBs ..
but not by any commercially owned PSB (or anyone else yet).
but these muxes have only say a two to three year life ..
It is worth noting that there is no shortage of channels lining up to pay for emission on the COM Muxes - but that many channels cannot afford this.
(and that the COM muxes cover 93% population which was commercially determined to limit to 84 sites )
So there may be a business case for a channel to get emission via the local Muxes for which is pays less and gets less coverage ..
even down to the point at which it may be that a second London service is broadcast to all local TV areas.
Even so, some of the larger city TV providers do seem to have a reasonable mix of programming based on their sample schedules and they would be a worthy addition to Freeview and much better than tat shopping or slapper channels.
We're almost certainly going to get Film4+1 and, as tomee has indicated above, we're likely to see the Travel Channel arrive on Freeview at some stage. I've got that channel on Freesat and it's an interesting mix of entertainment and documentaries related to travel and foreign locations.
They've even got Keith Floyd, a staple of Sky Travel
I'd beg to differ as to the definition of "Freeview slots". It's capacity for free-to-air digital terrestrial TV services. Capacity just for Manchester is legitimately referred to as "Freeview slots for Manchester". There isn't a restriction on the use of the term based on coverage. City DTT will - when fully rolled out - reach 10 million DTT homes, according to Canis Media. Elsewhere in the press release, they claim that's "around half of all the UK’s DTT homes." To compare, the proposed extra Freeview HD muxes are to reach just under 2/3rds of the population, exact details subject to confirmation at licence award.
At the moment, it's not certain what the channel numbers will be. A channel would not necessarily want to be allocated a channel number that it couldn't use in Manchester, Belfast and later on Limavady and Derry/Londonderry. Nor would Digital UK be inclined to do so. New channels, providing they are not associated with existing services, must be allocated a slot at the bottom of the General Entertainment section (or whichever section is most appropriate for the channels). Manchester and NIMux channel numbers were allocated at the same time, hence they got the same numbers.
The idea is for the channels to be quasi-national, carried on the whole Comux network and not for broadcasters to cherry pick locations at this stage in the process. The sale of capacity across the whole network is key to Comux's funding model, where revenue earned from this process is returned to the Local TV licencees. It is not in their interest to have extra services in lucrative areas and unsold bandwidth in smaller locations.
LCN 105 would most certainly be reserved for Channel 5 for whenever it does decide to go HD on Freeview. We are awaiting details of the outcome of the recent HD consultation, which will affect the way Digital UK will allocated HD channels in the future.
The press release does mention HD. That scenario would be interesting, as the mux is supposed to be using DVB-T. Of course, that would in turn result in many TV's being able to decode that particular HD channel, but not the DVB-T2 Freeview HD channels. Try explaining that to non tech-savvy people!
Some local TV stations have interesting plans, and the additional City DTT streams could easily house something a bit different on Freeview, given the lower cost. Shopping and adult channels rule the roost elsewhere simply because it's not financially worth some channels broadcasting on the commercial muxes 24/7.
Travel Channel is indeed an interesting station, and would certainly be popular on Freeview as it offers something a little different to many of the other channels. As it can count as an "associated channel" with sister channel Food Network, it is also likely to benefit from a better channel number in the long term. (Even if it launched behind the local mux channel numbers, it might leap-frog them when channel numbers lower down are vacated.)
Unlike the Comux, the Manchester Television Network Multiplex does allow broadcasters to cherry pick location and trial Freeview carriage. It would be sad to see Manchester Television Network axed. However, it could do with a boost in coverage. I would estimate that any future clearance of the 700 MHz frequency band would be more likely to trigger closure of the multiplex.
Wasn't one of the conditions of the BBC being involved in the local tv funding model that the local multiplex couldn't carry shopping or adult channels?
The existing HD slots have been on a fully national mutliplex with 1,100+ transmitter sites and so will be a darn sight more expensive than a local tv multiplex which covers only the major conurbations. Some HD channels might find this a more affordable slot. The 2/3 coverage multiplexes may well be popular for similar reasons.
I wonder if there will be some flexibility in the offer of the national stations - e.g. could Sony, for example, choose to use the slot for Sony TV in most areas, but switch it with Sony SAB in those areas with higher Asian populations. Obviously this would increase the cost a bit though.
I'm surprised Canis haven't picked up the Cardiff local mux tbh.
Why would it close? The two reasons for closure would be regulatory (it loses its licence to transmit) or financial (it ceases to be viable). Yes, those two channels could leave - maybe by becoming pseudo national, but then the slots will be there for others to take up. Even if noone wants to use the mux for a period of time it could sit dormant for a while until interest reappears - it wouldn't be its first dormant period, and it seems the licence somehow allows this - after all Cardiff has been permanently dormant and still seems to be a listed valid licence. Remember Manchester and Cardiff GI muxes have much more freedom in how they configure the mux and can get more bandwidth throughput albeit at reduced coverage.
The reason is because they are tradeable Wireless Telegraphy licences, not Digital Multiplex licences (although note that Digital Multiplex licence holders also need a Wireless Telegraphy licence).
There's no requirement for them to be used for TV, or even used at all. Until AIP comes in, there's no ongoing cost either AFAIK.