http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/tv-bro...gn=multiplex-D


Hmm, didn't realise there was any spare capacity there although Multiplex C has been running with enough capacity for a 14th stream.... Hmm. Wonder if something else will be part time over the summer (e.g. BT Sport 2?)

I think one of the BT Sport channels on Freeview should become another BBC Red Button channel.

When they say Multiplex D, presumably they mean COM6/ARQ B, as per the pre-DSO 1, 2, A, B, C, D designations.

Yes. Despite introducing the new names, Ofcom don't actually use them.
COM7 is known to them as multiplex E, and the local mux as L.

lol so don't Ofcom have MUXs G H I J or K? I can see MUX F is COM 8 or ARQ D

and yet the for the recent snooker tournament there was no live 2 table coverage

Yes there was BBC2 LCN 301.

only 1 table at a time via red button.
2 tables were only online or connected tv.

It's all a bit illogical - the French call them Multiplex 1, Multiplex 2, Multiplex 3, ... Multiplex 6 (well the French version of - Resiuie or something similar)...

The missing letters leave room to grown later on <wishfulthinking> and the "Multiplex L" is obvious that it's purpose is "Local" and that allows Manchester to be "Multiplex M" if needed

It's also allowed Multiplex E and Multiplex F to slot in later on without the national ones having a local multiplex in the way!

Except the Manchester mux is operated under a tradeable usage-neutral WTA licence, rather than a proper mux one.

NIMux doesn't seem to have one (in fact, any published licence) either, unless it's hiding on Ofcom's site somewhere.

I suppose the NIMUX could be called MUX N.

Down to

a) Money (additional space would need to be rented AND set up

b) Maybe even the rights package

Wasn't it Arqiva A, not B, which carried 302 last year? I thought Arq B was pretty full.

Correct. I guess the move to Muliplex D is to highlight the temporary nature of the slot availability!

With Mutliplex D it's hard to see where the slot is coming from - unlike Multiplex C which has been running with spare capacity for a while Multiplex D has lots of radio stations which makes a 14th stream look unlikly and the only spare capacity of note is 05:00 - 08:00 (Rocks & Co / Babestation) and 22:00 - 08:00 (QVC Beauty).

The options they have are

1) A channels contract is due to end shortly up and Arqiva will have some spare capacity in the summer Auntie can use. BT Sport is speculated that it will close but June 30 would be too late for Wimbledon.

2) A service will be suspended for the summer. Can't really see this happening unless BT Sport 2 basically has no content for the summer months.

3) A combination of channels will go off air for a few hours a day to squeeze the stream in. Day time during Teleshopping this would be a possibility if enough money were paid, prime time - highly unlikely.

The nature of a slot being only temporarily available really do point to 1) or 2) though. Rocks and Co, Ideal World, and QVC Beauty are the only part-time channels available during prime-time and would be the favourites to go. Any of them leaving would create a 24/7 slot (QVC Beauty shares with nothing, if either one of the other two leave their adult channel can move alongside QVC Beauty).

WRT to QVC Beauty - they have 22:00 - 08:00 unused on their video stream - you really have to wonder why that hasn't become a 24/7 service OR shared with QVC Extra so that QVC have three LCNs near top of the EPG which can use the connected red-button streams when off air (as I believe QVC Beauty does) - QVC is currently hidden behind the red button and streaming only services are tucked down in the 200s.

and multiplex D isnt national is it, so anything the beeb put on there wont work for some parts the country, didnt think bbc were allowed to do that. so satellite is the only way (again) for us to get that content.

I haven't follwed what Ofcom have done in the past, but might they not be applying A to F to muxes so that A, B and C refer to the three PSB muxes, then D = Arqiva A, E = Arqiva B and F = SDN?

It has always been:
1 = BBC A, PSB1
2 = Digital 3&4, PSB2
A = SDN, COM4
B = BBC B, PSB3
C = Arqiva A, COM5
D = Arqiva B, COM6

And, more recently:
E = Arqiva C, COM7
F = Arqiva D, COM8
L = Comux, LOCAL (or L-LOCATION, but I don't understand why it needs a different name in different areas)

No letter designation:
Manchester, G_MAN, MTN
Northern Ireland, R_NI1, NIMux

Multiplex D is national, all the pre-DSO Freeview sites carry it, along with Multiplex A / SDN and Multiplex C - the later of which carried the last 302. They also broadcast on COM 7 which comes from even fewer transmitters.

For the last couple of summers satellite has carried more streams than terrestrial.

And the satellite SD streams have all had better picture quality too.

Most likely because the local multiplex is licensed by location rather than nationally. It makes more sense to actually refer to the location for the local multiplexes. Using outdated legacy names for the national multiplexes, however, is somewhat quirky.

No it's not. It's licensed nationally for the transmitters specified in the licence. It's the same multiplex all over the country.

There's no difference between it and mux 2, which also carries a different channel (ITV) in different regions.

It isn't the same multiplex all over the country. The very nature of this multiplex is that it is only available in certain locations. It was never intended to have national coverage.


There's a very big difference between it and Mux 2. Mux 2 is a national multiplex with regional variations. The local multiplexes are specific to certain locations. The fact that they also carry "national" channels is neither here nor there, Comux could just as easily have advertised the support channels by location.

I can see how you perceive it as simply a national multiplex but that is certainly not the way I perceive it. Clearly, by using the L-location naming convention, Ofcom is being careful to not treat this as a national multiplex.

our local mast didnt carry any freeview prior to digital switchover, it never carried analogue ch5 either. even now its only broadcasting freeview lite (half the chs), so no chs like quest or sky news, or drama. infact lots of tv masts in this part of wilts r like this.

It is just a case of using Arqiva B instead of Arqiva A. As they have previously done this on Arqiva A, it is clear that they are allowed to do this.

The fact that a small percentage of the country cannot receive these multiplex doesn't justify withholding the temporary additional service from the rest.


It's simply a case of the BBC making the temporary channel available to as many people as possible. There isn't enough spare capacity to do this on a PBS multiplex, so they have to use any spare capacity available on the commercial multiplexes.

I didn't say otherwise. "Nationally for the transmitters specified in the licence", means just that - it broadcasts across the UK from a specified list of transmitters.


They are both national multiplexes with regional variations. On mux 2, the regional variations are ITV London, STV, UTV etc. On the local mux the regional variations are Estuary TV, London Live, etc.


It would still be a national multiplex with local variations. It may have an entirely different set of channels from region to region, but it's still the same multiplex as there is only one licence.


Actually Ofcom don't use that naming convention. As far as they are concerned it is multiplex L. One licence, covering all the transmitters it is allowed to broadcast from - same as mux 2.