On Freeview the interactive streams are on channels 301 and 302 and can be reached by pressing red from a BBC channel however they are also directly tuneable and can be accessed like any other channel. I have also recently noted that they have EPG lisitings as well so you know whats on what stream and more importantly can set a recording for it.

So why not implement a similar scheme for Freesat and allow us direct access to the 6 or so interactive streams (and also provide EPG listings so we know what streams carrying which events). They could go up in the 900's with the local BBC regions if need be. Just a thought.

I can't comment officially because it's not my business. But perhaps one of many possibly reasons is because they would have to pay for each EPG slot?

I seem to recall that another reason is that with the older versions of MHEG that were used on some Freeview boxes, you needed to have LCNs so that an application could switch to a stream that wasn't on the same mux.

My understanding is that that's not necessary on more recent implementations of MHEG, and so it's not strictly necessary on Freesat. Though most Freeview boxes could manage with hidden streams, I guess they remain visible there for compatibility with older equipment.

Maybe because it would add to the number of channels shown in the listing and be confusing to users?

Agreed, as I don't believe it's currently possible to record from interactive. This is bad news for Motorsports fans (like myself) because Moto GP and F1 have live practice/qualifying sessions and additional coverage on interactive.

Id love to be able to record the F1 in the middle of the night so would like interactive slots to have a number.

Seeing as the BBC own freesat, I doubt they have to charge themselves for a slot.

What's wrong with recording it when it's on?

They almost certainly will have to, actually. Firstly, it's a joint venture, and secondly, when it comes to issues of EPG access, Ofcom is pretty strict that thing are done on a FRND (Fair, Reasonable, Non Discriminatory) basis.

Charging themselves a different amount would fall foul of that, and very likely result in a legal challenge from other broadcasters.

They would also need a new license for each channel as well as permission from the BBC Trust to launch "new channels".

These interactive channels can be recorded on most non freesat non Sky PVRs where the interactive streams show up as channels "Data stream 1" etc.

The problem is we don't know what stream is to be used until just before it happens.

Yeah but they are just paying themselves, its not really costing them anything.

I highly doubt 30k is is stopping them considering their budget.

It isn't always on during the day. Practise sessions for some of the F1 races are held at 04:00 in the morning. I should be able to programme the PVR to record it, without having to wait up until it starts just to tap the record button.

I don't believe the practise sessions are repeated, however qualifying and the race always are when the race is held in the early hours.

I e-mailed the BBC interactive team last night with a slightly abridged version of my opening post and received the following reply:-

Hi Richard,

Thank you for your email.

This is something that our technical development teams are definitely
looking at.

Unfortunately, we cannot achieve it in the short-term as there are a
number of technical, editorial and financial considerations to be taken
into account.

Kind regards,

<name removed>
BBC Sports Interactive

What I find frustrating is that the Humax PVR appears to be made to ignore the interactive channels when a scan is done in Non Freesat mode.

Panasonic Freesat TVs can tune them in- if Humax added this ability in the next firmware update that would at least alleviate the problem of not being to yet access via the red button (even if it would require a bit of channel fiddling to find the right stream).