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Will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters?

The short answer is no; as that seems unreasonable, here is a longer answer.

The short answer is no; as that seems unreasonable, here is a l
published on UK Free TV

The digital terrestrial service that is known today as Freeview, started life in Parliament as the Broadcasting Act 1996.

Part I act gave the regulator, then the Independent Television Commission, the authority to establish digital terrestrial television services in the UK, and paved the way for a "six multiplex" service. One multiplex was reserved for the BBC, a second jointly between the "Channel 3 licence holder", Channel 4, Gaelic programming in Scotland plus Teletext UK as the "national teletext provider"

One half of the third multiplex was passed to Channel 5 and the S4C Corporation, with the remaining three and a half being put up for a public auction. The ITC duly awarded the remaining three multiplexes to "British Digital Broadcasting" in 1997, which was a combination of two big ITV companies at the time, Carlton and Granada.

British Digital Broadcasting, ONdigital and ITV Digital

On Sunday 15th November 1998, the services was launched under the name "ONdigital", a mixture of free-to-air and pay services, and rather dwarfed by the launch six weeks earlier of the much superior Sky Digital service.

ONdigital renamed itself ITVdigital on 11th July 2001, but the woollen monkey toy in the adverts proved more popular than the service, and the service closed on 1st May 2002.

It became clear (especially to BBC director-general Greg Dyke, pictured right) that the digital terrestrial service was popular with viewers, but it was unsuitable as a pay-TV platform.

ITVdigital handed back three multiplex licences to the ITC, and the ITC then re-awarded one to the BBC and the other two to Crown Castle International, a company formed when the BBC's engineering division was sold off.

A company, DTV Services, formed to publicise the new service, which was now called Freeview.

Sky joined in, and purchased slots on the new service (from CCI) for Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Travel. Also there from the start of Freeview was Flextech Television "ftn", music channel TMF, UKTV's UK History and UK Bright Ideas, and shopping channel, QVC

Digital switchover process

When it was decided that the analogue television signals would be turned off, the BBC, as it funded by a universal fee decided that it must provide the two multiplexes of services to all homes.

Ofcom, now the regulator, decreed that the multiplex shared by Channel 3 and Channel 4 (called "Digital 3 and 4 Ltd") must also provide service to all homes that had analogue. This was because Channel 4 already provided this level of coverage, and as the licence holder for Channel 3 has "public service obligations", the broadcasting of multiplex 2 should also extend to all existing TV masts.

However, for the commercial multiplexes, Ofcom simply invited Crown Castle Ltd and S4C Digital Networks (SDN) to apply to extend their networks. Ofcom, having granted the multiplex licences already, felt it had no legal power of compulsion to insist more homes were served, and in December 2006 announced that no application had been received - at this point Ofcom no longer planned for additional frequencies for the commercial multiplexes.

Both commercial operators decided that the cost of providing the equipment, installation and ongoing operation of services from the 1,000 smaller transmitters would cost more than any additional revenue they could get from the TV channels that rent their broadcast capacity, as the work would only expand the actual number of homes broadcast to by 9%.

Since this time, S4C Digital Networks multiplex was bought by ITV plc, and Arqiva acquired the CCI multiplexes. For this reason the commercial multiplexes are known as SDN, ArqA and ArqB.

The map shows the locations where Freeview Light service is generally the only Freeview reception option.

See also: Where are the public service (Freeview Light) transmitters?









Help with Freeview, aerials?
How do I get a test card with Freeview1
I would like to know if it is possible to receive UK terrestrial Freeview servic2
I have been told I would receive too much singal from my Freeview tansmitter as 3
Can my Freeview box receive more than one BBC and ITV region?4
Is it true that my 87 year old mother is entitled to a FREE upgrade when the ana5
In this section
Should the UK close down the TV networks to allow for more mobile broadband? 1
UK Digital switchover ends - Northern Ireland completes on 24th October 20122
The last day of analogue television in the UK - goodbye PAL3
2 days left of analogue television - goodbye teletext4
3 days of analogue to go - goodbye to NICAM 7285
Changes to Saorview frequencies and power levels, 24th October 20126

Comments
Friday, 27 November 2015
M
MikeP
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

3:49 PM
Trowbridge

Gary:
We need some clear idea of where you live, best found by giving a post code on this website. Then we contributors would be able to see which transmitter you ought to be using and hence find out whether is transmits the multiplex carrying Motors TV.

link to this comment
MikeP's 215 posts GB flag
MikeP's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 20 December 2015
M
Mark gillespie
11:28 PM

So why should my TV licence cost the same as someone getting the full service?

Why is Sky allowed to prent UKTV broadcasting on freesat (which dies have full UK coverage)

Both of these seem rather like the consumer is getting a raw deal

link to this comment
Mark gillespie's 1 post GB flag
Monday, 21 December 2015
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:16 PM

Mark Gillespie:

For the simple reason that the TV Licence is to authorise your use of a TV to receive and watch TV programmes from any source available. The number of services provided in any particular locality is quite irrelevant to the need to have a licence for the TV.


link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Monday, 28 December 2015
M
Mark
11:58 PM
Bridgend

Will we ever get full coverage in Ogmore Vale CF32 7DS because of the mountains around the valley we have a sub transmitter and can't get a direct signal from Wenvoe

link to this comment
Mark's 1 post GB flag
Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 30 December 2015
Mark A
sentiment_satisfiedGold

3:48 PM

Freeview Light National service.
Will there be more services on Freeview Light? Yes.

Some more channels have been added over the years,
when space is made by old channels closing down
or new technology using less bandwidth with the DVB-T2 system.

Film 4 on channel 15 (Added in August 2013)
Film 4 +1 (SD, if you have a DVB-T2 HD receiver) on channel 45 (Added in November 2014)
ITV 4 on channel 24 (Added in August 2015)
Freeview information page * on channel 100 (Started on December 2015)
* This is not a proper TV channel, just a caption with Freeview information.

Some more channels may be added when BBC 3 SD, BBC 3 HD and the Red Button channels close down next year.
This will depend on what the BBC do after the channels close.


link to this comment
Mark A's 374 posts GB flag
Friday, 12 February 2016
V
Victor M
3:56 PM
Newton Abbot

Will I ever get full coverage in Kingskerswell TQ12 5DW because I live in a low point so cannot access the beacon hill transmitter but have a good signal from the local Kingskerswell transmitter

link to this comment
Victor M's 1 post GB flag
Victor's: mapV's Freeview map terrainV's terrain plot wavesV's frequency data V's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 3 March 2016
W
wendy morrison
12:02 PM

will we ever get more channels in Llandrindod wells as i find the channels provided are not to my taste

link to this comment
wendy morrison's 1 post GB flag
Sunday, 27 March 2016
J
Jacqueline Saunders
2:40 PM

This system of some areas not receiving full coverage is unjust . I still have to pay the same ,albeit to the license or any other organisation involved . Please can this be sorted out for the people affected by this.

link to this comment
Jacqueline Saunders's 1 post GB flag
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

4:25 PM

Jacqueline Saunders: there will never be universal coverage of all services on all platforms. Contrast a group of cottages in a remote part of Scotland with a road in central London. How could there ever be the same number of radio and tv stations broadcasting to both locations. Satellite services are the closest you will get to near universal coverage as the same signal is able to cover both areas without additional expense, even then however, the footprint concentrates the strongest signal over the area with the bulk of the population. Mobile phone companies and broadband providers too aim to have a monopoly over remote areas in order to reduce costs, whilst they queue up to compete in populous areas. Some observers would argue that providing Freeview light transmitters to serve small numbers of viewers is a waste of licence payers money, suggesting that it makes more sense for affected viewers to use satellite, the monopoly broadband provider or purchase a larger aerial pointing to a Freeview main station where signals are available. The growth of on demand viewing is already leading to some broadcasters with the smallest audiences deciding to transfer to cheaper multiplexes, such as COM7, or change completely to online delivery.

link to this comment
KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Sunday, 24 April 2016
M
Michael Towler
3:52 PM

Could you please tell me when we will be able to receive ITV 4 from the Austwick transmitor
as we seem to be missing out on such a lot, now the tour de Yorkshire is to be shown on
to be shown on this channel and local people are unable to watch

link to this comment
Michael Towler's 1 post GB flag
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