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BBC "Delivering Quality First" changes to transmissions

There will be changes to satellite, BBC HD, Medium Waves and Long Wave services at the BBC due to the "Delivering Quality First" cuts

There will be changes to satellite, BBC HD, Medium Waves and Lo
published on UK Free TV

Here is a quick overview of the services that are going to be cut back.

BBC TWO England HD to replace BBC HD channel

The BBC proposals say:

Closing the BBC HD channel and replacing it with a single version of BBC Two in high definition.

We will continue to invest in high-definition broadcasting, including through the replacement of BBC HD with a single version of BBC Two HD. The variants of BBC One in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would be broadcast in HD from 2012.

Launch a single version, with no variations in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, of BBC Two in HD in 2012 to replace the current BBC HD channel. Nations variations would continue in SD

Some BBC One regions to be culled from satellite

The BBC proposals say:

We are reviewing the number of regional variants in England we carry on digital satellite and intend to reduce this to enable savings in distribution costs, though these programmes would continue to be transmitted on Freeview

Red button to be cut to single screen on satellite and cable after Olypmics

The BBC proposals say:

Reduce the number of video streams available on satellite and cable from nine to one to provide a more consistent service across all TV platforms. This would take place towards the end of 2012, after the Olympic Games

Close the news multiscreen service

Medium Wave and Long Wave to close

The BBC proposals say:

Reductions to Medium Wave transmissions for local radio in England in places where coverage duplicates FM

No re-investment in Long Wave once the current infrastructure which relies on technology that is no longer being manufactured has reached the end of its life. In the long term, this will result in the end of Radio 4 on LW, although we do not expect the transmitters to fail in the current Charter period. If they do fail suddenly, we are committed to safeguarding the programming on Radio 4 LW and will use our analogue services to provide continued coverage.

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Comments
Monday, 10 October 2011
Mark A.
sentiment_satisfiedGold

2:47 PM
Haywards Heath

MCMLXII:
On satellite,
1 red button video stream can hold 4 or 6 videos, depending on the resolution.
Some of the current video streams have just 1 sound channel and some have up to 6 sound channels.

So if the BBC remove 4 regions, then the red button could be used at 6:30pm to 7pm to show the local news. (Veer the red button)

If the BBC remove 6 local stations, then they can still do this but at a lower resolution.
Before 6:30pm and after 7pm the video streams can return to showing other videos.

Just an idea.

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Mark A.'s 374 posts GB flag
Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:29 PM

Des Collier: It is probably worth point out two things.

1) As all the BBC services are carried on digital multiplexes, there is nothing to be gained by closing a service at night, as you can't close "part" of a multiplex.

2) It can be argued that people who work unsociable hours (or people with insomnia) have to pay their Licence Fee as much as anyone else.

3) Some overnight services provide in-vision signing or are at least "narrative repeats" that are useful for people with PVRs.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:36 PM

Mark A.: You seem to have your wires crossed here somewhere.

On satellite the interactive services are provided using indivdual MPEG2 encoded streams. They have their own PIDs (5300, 5300, 5500, 5600 and 5700).

There isn't really any limit to the number of audio streams (beyond the capacity of the satellite transponder) and any APID can be selected by the OpenTV/MHEG5 software to show alongside a video stream.

Sadly the Sky OpenTV software is incapable of switching PIDs during the normal running of a broadcast because it would be very sensible of the BBC could supply a "BBC One England" service in MPEG2 at very high quality and split it into lower quality regional services when required.

I rather suspect that the removal of "small" regions will get booted into the long grass as the relevant MPs will probably get wind of it.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:39 PM

michael : I wonder if there are any figures on the usage of Medium Wave - I can't see that BARB breaks the figures down into different platforms.

I suspect that if you look at the cost-per-listener for the MW and LW services it probably doesn't justify keeping them running for ever.


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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:41 PM

michael : I agree that responding to the consultation is a good idea, but the BBC Trust have pointed out that if you want to say "no" to a proposal then you need to make it clear where you think the money should come from.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:42 PM

Alvin Pritchard: In the word of technology, due to Moore's Law, things keep changing. No one will ever "leave things alone".

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:43 PM

Ian Smith: The BBC Trust have indicated that there will be no changes to the regional structure of BBC One.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:53 PM

It's probably worth seeing which BBC regions would get shunted from digital satellite:

Channel Islands - 48997 homes
Oxford - 415699
Northern Ireland - 647578
East Yorkshire/Lincolnshire - 715399
South East - 725392
South West- 770075
East - 848197
East Midlands - 887298
West- 909183
Cambridge - 965700
Wales - 1234236
South - 1421192
North East - 1585975
North - 1936494
Scotland - 2407092
West Midlands - 2883382
North West - 3095483
London - 4854895

So, Oxford then and East Yorkshire?

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:54 PM

trevorjharris: Re BBC TWO HD - the article was only covering the service changes, not programming changes within the channels.

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