Hi Tex, the simple fact is the freeview/DVB-T wireless allocated space is very limited compared to the cable and sat space available today, thats why you see several part time stations broadcasting for only a few hours, so the others can re-use that space.
thats one of the BIG problems with OFCOM sellig off the old analogue wireless space and not giveing some of that back to help expand the new digital DVB-T freeview for new channels and HD broadcasting.
for instance just today
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/televisions/...9294871,00.htm
"
Thursday 3 January 2008
Ofcom says: No space for HD on Freeview
Related entries:
Televisions
Tags:
money,
air,
hd,
government
We had
high hopes that with the end of analogue in sight, we would finally get some more bandwidth available for over-the-air broadcasting in the UK.
An increase in the available capacity would allow us to have
high definition programmes on Freeview and even add new services.
According to
ERT Weekly, a trade magazine for electrical retailers, Ofcom has decided to "take the money and run". Ofcom's Philip Rutman was quoted as saying, "There is no compelling case for the spectrum to be set aside for specific purposes." Meaning, he's unprepared to allow UK broadcasters to use the spectrum originally assigned to UK broadcasters.
So what does this mean for us HD fans? Well, it almost certainly rules-out
HD over Freeview, unless the broadcasters are prepared to stump up millions of pounds to buy the licences.
They would certainly be able to do this, if they thought it was worth it, but it's very hard to make money out of HD, and the sums of money involved would make it hard to recoup, especially via advertising -- we're pretty sure advertisers won't pay more for HD adverts, especially as fewer people will be watching the HD channels.
It's much more likely that the spectrum will be bought up by the mobile phone networks.
...
So thanks Ofcom and the government, you've just set us back ten years by failing to properly legislate the future of TV.
There was a time when Britain led the world, in not only the quality of programming, but also the transmission of TV.
These days, the Americans are showing us how it should be done -- they have free HD available over the air for all their main networks.
We'd love to hear how you feel about this -- feel free to use the comments section below or our
forums to voice your opinions. -Ian Morris "
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