Exactly - who watches ads on a PVR? I watch hardly any live TV and consequently see hardly any ads. Programme sponsorship and product placement is the only way to go if you want to be noticed.

Viewing figures show that live linear TV watching is on the increase, driven by social media and dual screen watching. People are tweeting away the latest plot twists and things, so if you don't watch live but get the tweets all the plot twists are spoiled. Also you can't take part in the frenzied twittering yourself unless you watch live.

Personally I find this all a bit odd. I'm watching and listening to what's happening on screen, I do not have the spare concentration to do anything on my phone or any other device. If I try (eg. check a text from my mum) I find I have to rewind because I've missed something in the programme. Maybe some people don't mind missing half the programme because they're too busy tweeting?

Yes, it is a bit annoying to have to remember not to look too closely at Facebook and Twitter feeds and various websites and forums to avoid "spoiling" the programme, OTOH I am not as bothered as some by knowing the ending in advance - if a programme is worth watching it is still worth watching even when you know how it ends.

I have this problem too. Sometimes I put the TV on to watch something I'm not overly bothered about that is on before something I'm really interested in. The first show generally ends up with me picking up my laptop and checking emails/Twitter part-way through. This ends up being a mistake because I then effectively miss the rest of it or only have half an idea what is going on. I have to force myself to turn it off before the next show starts, or that's the whole evening wasted.

I quite like watching foreign language subtitled programmes for this reason - it's absolutely impossible to know what is going on unless you're paying full attention to the screen.

I've found this too. I really have to concentrate and stay focussed to read all the subtitles, and the effort seems to aid understanding the plot and enjoying it. BBC4 showings of Wallander, The Killing and The Bridge have been highlights, I can't wait for the next one.

The ONLY reason that it was change in the Channel Islands is that there IS no ITV1 +1 in the Channel Islands (even on satellite) - up until very recently, Channel TV was a separate company who owned the ITV franchise on the Channel Islands, and they never could afford to (or never wanted to) launch the channel. Therefore, it is replaced with ITV3 simply because otherwise there would be an empty space.

If only they could include ITV4 as well!

It is a bit tedious if you have to re-block a pile of channels after each retune. I block all the adult and some other channels and have to do this after each retune. I was able to delete channels on analogue but it is not allowed on digital - a shame.

It is 'allowed' it depends on whether your equipment has the functionality to do it or not.

In my experience, lots of Freeview boxes and TVs allow you to delete channels.

I agree with you on this but can't really comment on most of the rest as I do not understand it - especially all the abbreviations in the 'DMOL' document. They need a table of abbreviations so idiots like me can understand.

My comments if I had been consulted would be not to consult Sky as I'm sure they do not consult non sky broadcasters.

Keep the original analogue channels in their original channel numbers positions - this for the older generation who can't see a programme guide clearly.

I would like all the shopping channels to be kept together and if Sky has a presence on Freeview their channels should be with pay or internet tv stations, and not mixed in with free tv channels.

I am happy about the decision on the Adult channels though as I have complained to several bodies about the fact that I could not delete them. It seems that someone understands that they should not be mixed in with family channels. I would be happier still if I could prevent them appearing on my TV.

My two year old LG tv and my 6 months old Samsung does not. I phoned each manufacturer and they told me that it was not a feature on their TV and I should 'block' the unwanted channels instead. LG could not explain why I was able to delete unwanted (poor reception) analogue channels but the delete option was missing from the digital channel listing screen.

Make a list here of the ones you don't understand and we'll explain them for you.

I use either the EPG or the channel numbers. Maybe the ones that use the up/down buttons have a problem seeing the EPG, it can be a bit small on some TV's.

If each company/platform (or whatever you call them) has their own numbering system why on earth did sky and freesat need to be consulted. Are we consulted when they change their channel positions - I don't think so.

Not sure about Freesat, however Sky do have a number of channels on Freeview (Sky News, Challenge, Pick TV).

As for 101 on Freesat - this basically gives a more predictable experience than Freeview does. If Freeview had come along at the start (with all the radio) I dare say they would have gone for 3 digit numbers from the start.

On Freesat I press 101 the box switches to BBC ONE.
On Freeview I press 1, nothing happens, then the box switches to BBC ONE.
On Freeview I press 7 16 the box, but as I wasn't quick enough it goes to BBC Three - argh!!!

Freesat pvr all the way these days. From time to time I will tune into a live prog on freeview (eg the box is busy recording multiple stuff), sometimes i think well i might as well tune into IRT as I will be here anyway - then I regret the decision, ffs, how many breaks, an hour prog is only 43min long. I couldnt go back to that way of doing things, it would drive me mad.

Which is why commercials on the front of internet stuff even YouTube content really gets me - you have to wait for the skip option - a whole 5sec in some cases - and on some there is no skip at all.

Post #100


This sounds great but a pity the consultation was not communicated so broadly.

So what would you have had them do?

Leaflet every house in the country (when only a small percentage would likely to have had any interest or understanding/)?

Wouldn't an advert in the national press have done just as well and cost less?

A one page "We looking to improve the channel numbering on Freeview if you have any views etc. please write to etc."

I'm not saying everyone is all that bothered, I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't care as many TV's and freeview PVR's can autotune now but it would be nice if I felt that the country as a whole where given a say as we never really got one when Freeview popped up. At least I can't remember anything.

Everyone was consulted - it was a public consultation.

Also, Sky have channels on the platform and are shareholders in Freeview, so it would have been a bit weird if they hadn't been consulted!

On my two year old Samsung I can delete channels like this:

Menu -> Antenna -> Channel Manager -> Channels
Select the channel or channels you want to delete
Then: Tools -> Delete

On my TVonics DTR-HD500 you can "Hide" channels, so that the EPG only shows the channels you want.

Chris.

I block the adult channels and select my top 20 channels and put them in a favourites list and I can then view the 'favourites' channel. It is very easy to do this on LG but very long winded on Samsung.

Apart from the fact that the national (printed) press does not have much of a circulation these days (around 8.5 million out of an adult population of what, nearly 49 million), I would have thought that the vast majority of that readership would not bother even reading such an ad, and of the remainder there would be many who are already sufficiently interested in broadcast issues to already be aware of the consultation from other sources.

I don't know of anybody who knew of this 'public' consultation. How exactly were the public consulted? The first I knew was when somebody mentioned another channel retune coming up in September.

Why are Sky shareholders in Freeview. Is it just because they have channels on it. Have all the other channel owners also got shares in it.

This is getting very complicated. I wonder if Sky and Freesat consult all channel owners when they reorganise channels on their platforms.