Originally Posted by popeye13:
“Not in the slightest.
What IS the disgrace is the messing around Channel 5 has done in two previous space tenders, so why on gods green earth should Channel 5, after pissing around endlessly, still get to pick & choose their HD slot, should they ever finally pack in the stupidity and launch on DTT??
Fact is, if Channel 5 wanted to be in that 105 slot, they'd of been on DTT already and had two chances to do so yet decided to mess around.
First come first serve. I applaud DMOL”
They told DMOL as recently as May 2012 that they plan to launch on DTT within two to three years. (i.e. by Spring 2015)
Quote:
“Channel 5 strongly supports DMOL’s proposal to put HD channels in the 100s and for their order to mirror that of the established terrestrial channels. This would both free up space in the general entertainment genre and give HD channels listings positions that reflect viewers’ expectations. We also believe it is sensible to make this change now, when a relatively small proportion of Freeview receivers are capable of receiving HD signals.
If DMOL adopts this policy then we believe as part of it LCN 105 must be reserved for Channel 5 HD, in anticipation of the time it launches on the Freeview HD platform. There is a clear logic for the currently available HD channels to follow the established terrestrial order of BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1, Channel 4 – this logic also extends to the next LCN being reserved for Channel 5.
It would be perverse for DMOL to disrupt the current ordering of the HD channels in order to replicate the standard terrestrial order and not to apply the same logic in order to reserve LCN 105 for Channel 5 HD. DMOL’s proposal creates a precedent - for example, by placing BBC Two HD in second place in the LCN listing even though it will be the fourth extant HD channel to be launched – that should allow it to place Channel 5 HD at 105 whether or not it is the fifth HD channel to launch.
There have been sound regulatory and commercial reasons why Channel 5 HD has not yet launched on Freeview, but we have every expectation that we will do so within the next two to three years. It would clearly not be in consumers’ interests for Channel 5 alone, of all the main channels, to be out of position at 106 or 107 because of the sequencing of its launch, when the logic of DMOL’s proposed methodology (to follow the order of the established channels) is for it to be placed at LCN 105.”
http://www.dmol.co.uk/__data/assets/...7/78145/C5.pdf
Their arguments are entirely credible.
There is no sound justification whatsoever for the BBC being allocated 105.
C5's dithering over making 5HD available on Freeview HD is besides the point. The point is a first come first served policy makes absolutely no sense in this case.
