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Freeview 2020 vs 4G mobile - play Ofcom channel bingo

Ofcom is consulting about the long-term use of the broadcast frequencies used to provide Freeview. A large range of options are being considered from expanding Freeview to provide 50% more services, to reducing the service to three multiplexes by 2030 to make way for 4th Generation mobile broadband. However, new technologies, such as High Efficiency Video Coding (HVEC) and Internet Protocol Television, could provide a better television service.

Ofcom is consulting about the long-term use of the broadcast fr
Published on by on UK Free TV

Since the launch of "625 line" UHF television, broadcast television services in the UK have used a range of frequencies running from 474MHz to 867MHz, each in blocks of 8MHz.

To make the allocations easier to understand, they have been allocated "channel numbers" starting at C21 and ranging up to C69.

For around four decades the official allocations provided these channel numbers to the BBC, the ITV companies, then Channel 4 (or S4C in Wales) and eventually Channel 5 to provide analogue television services. The following "bingo card" shows the allocations are they were from the 1960s to the millennium.



As you can see, C36 was used for RADAR, C38 for radio astronomy, and C69 was used for "programme making and special events" (PMSE), which generally means the low-power radio equipment used at outside broadcasts.

In the late 1990s, low-power terrestrial digital television launched (as ONdigital, then ITV Digital), these services were squeezed into the existing plan in the UK.

When Freeview became a consumer success, it was decided that the analogue services would be switched off and replaced with just high-powered digital services. As part of this there would be a "digital dividend review" because the digital-only plan would free up some of the TV frequencies, as digital channels can co-exist more efficiently than the outdated analogue TV could. The plan looked like this:



However, it became clear during early 2009 that the 790-862 MHz frequencies would be co-ordinated over the whole of Europe for fourth-generation mobile broadband (www.ukfree.tv link icon Digital Dividend - changes to the 800MHz ). These new mobile broadband services are referred to as "4G" and "Long Term Evolution" (LTE). This left the plan as we find it today:



One of the effects is that some transmitters in switched-over regions are moving services from C61 and C62 into next year - www.ukfree.tv link icon 2013 - post-switchover changes to Freeview transmission frequencies.

What does the future hold? Part two: www.ukfree.tv link icon Ofcom channel bingo II - introducing the bands







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Mark Agius
Wednesday 25 April 2012 7:55AM Haywards Heath
Reducing the service to three multiplexes, would be the fair option. Then all transmitters would have the same number of channels.
But I expect that one or two people might complain.
david jackson
Tuesday 1 May 2012 4:11PM
I think I understand. Thank God that the powers that be have not arranged things such that any TV equipment that I might buy would not be made obsolete by this rearrangement
Ian
Wednesday 2 May 2012 9:37AM
Yes, our TV equipment will now soon be obsolete, due to lack of space for High Def.
Instead we will have the mobile operators fighting to give us the latest gimicks.
Josh Welby
Wednesday 2 May 2012 4:20PM
In this day and age after DSO1 we need more Muxes not less, all TVs currently sold are not compatible with the new MPEG4 H2.65 HVEC Standard, so either we buy a box/PVR that is or we have to buy completely new TV sets

Is this the new future where we buy replacements every one or two years, think about the environment and our money that we will be spending both require huge amounts of money and time?
wendy
Wednesday 2 May 2012 4:26PM
Does this mean that if there are only 3 multiplexes that we would loose half of the channels that are available now? that seems like a backwards step, or will they fit all the channels onto the 3 multiplexes.
Jamie
Wednesday 2 May 2012 6:14PM
A change to DVB-T2 (used for Freeview HD) or even its successor H2.65 is more than capable to be used to cram more SD services instead into smaller amount of space at current quality.

Problem is existing devices are not upgradable.

They should really considered doing what possible to put everyone on Freesat as standard and lobbied Virgin Media to create an 'Free' tier (Freesat/Freeview).
Ian
Wednesday 2 May 2012 6:20PM Hinckley
I give up, I'm sticking to satellite, It's much simpler.
Mark Fletcher
Wednesday 2 May 2012 6:38PM Halifax
Wendy.Yes that is a possibility more and ultimately all HD broadcasting on possibly three multiplexes,and when Ultra High Definition (UHD) becomes the norm by around 2050 possibly only one multiplex with up to and maybe over 1,000 UHD channels ?
KMJ,Derby
Wednesday 2 May 2012 9:05PM
Mark Fletcher: I can't help wondering if there will be no more free-to-air HD channels beyond the basic PSBs, albeit that the regional variants will probably be HD eventually.There is a general move among broadcasters to offer HD only on subscription channels. The government and regulators now seem to regard broadband as the "must have" service, no matter what happens to broadcast TV.- why are Ofcom so keen to break the control Sky have over new movies? Something to make broadband more attractive to TV viewers, perhaps? Personally I think this is changing over to pay TV by the back door, with Freeview and Freesat eventually offering very little by way of general entertainment.
KMJ,Derby
Wednesday 2 May 2012 9:31PM
Ian: Satellite has its fair share of complications. With so many different orbital positions being used by the countries that transmit free-to-air services it requires a receiver that supports Diseqc to switch between the LNBs. That is in addition to every tuner needing a cable back to the LNB. Then do you run the receiver in Non-Freesat mode to get all the available channels, or go for the EPG then fiddle about tuning in all the extras that Freesat don't give you, (like Sky News!) It makes diplexing a second aerial to receive the Freeview COM muxes sound easy.
TheLegend
Wednesday 2 May 2012 11:13PM
I was reading the Guardian piece on 4G interference. www.guardian.co.uk link icon  Freeview homes face digital TV interference due to new mobile services | Media | guardian.co.uk

It mentions that those within 2KM of a 4G mast will be affected. Surely that distance is inaccurate? I'm certain I read a piece previously that it was going to be somewhere in the region of 400m. Does anyone know the exact situation? (AL35RQ)
woodface
Thursday 10 May 2012 12:32AM
@Briantist: The end of this excellent article promises "Part two follows tomorrow."

Did that appear, cos I haven't been able to find it?
Briantist
Sunday 20 May 2012 5:16PM
TheLegend: As it says, I think, in the post I wrote back in 3rd June 2011, www.ukfree.tv link icon Ofcom moves to protect Freeview interference from 4G mobile devices | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice - the problems locations are a function of

a) how close you are to the 4G mast
b) how far you are from your Freeview transmitter;
c) if you use boosters or amplifiers in your system.

So, if you have an amplifier and you're close to the 4G transmitter and you're on the fringes of Freeview reception, you may have to take action.

I have spoken to people who have been modelling this and I think the answer to the question of "who will be effected" is "it's more or less random".
Len Dixon
Sunday 1 July 2012 9:55AM
Why place 4G so close to Freeview frequencies?
Why so many expensive Freeview transmitters?
Why not have everyone on satellite reception?

A baffled technician and Radio Ham.
Dave Lindsay
Sunday 1 July 2012 11:32AM
What about 5G, 6G etc; where are they going to go?

Or is the frequency plan to keep getting changed every five or ten years? That is, we make a plan and then in a few years time it is (partly) torn up and re-written and therefore many people incur additional expense and inconvenience.

At the end of the day, where a plan is made, it should be stuck to and not changed simply because we are unable to think any further ahead.
KMJ,Derby
Sunday 1 July 2012 12:33PM
Dave Lindsay: We are now in a situation where technology is changing so fast that there does not seem to be any answer to the problem of constantly having to buy new equipment. Some people moan about needing a new Freeview box or a new aerial every few years, but happily accept a situation where a new mobile phone is needed every couple of years or a computer costing hundreds of pounds is required to use BBC i-player because the BBC have decided to make it no longer compatible with IE6 or older windows systems. I sometimes wonder if the planners were already aware of plans to use more spectrum for 4G, but delayed the transfer of transmission of the COM muxes in group A because DVB-T2 would need to be employed and too few people have the necessary receivers at present.
Dave Lindsay
Sunday 1 July 2012 1:01PM
KMJ,Derby: I'm thinking from the point of view of frequency planning. The plans keep getting changed and thereby force some to take action by changing their aerials in order to continue receiving TV.

The fact that there will be further generation mobile services in the future is surely a given. So where might they go? When might GSM be turned off, and therefore the frequencies thrown free for later generation services?

Am I right in understanding that the reason that the 800MHz frequencies are needed because 3G only uses the 2100 band and that this doesn't provide as good a service due to higher frequencies not travelling as well (walls attenuating signals etc)?
KMJ,Derby
Sunday 1 July 2012 1:05PM
Len Dixon: The planners are so keen to utilise every possible bit of spectrum that it is inevitable that frequencies are used close to those of broadcast transmitters. It is somewhat alarming that there is talk of trying to use frequencies in between those of the TV and radio transmitters in areas where there is any space. What will the band II (FM) frequencies be used for after transfer of national and regional radio to DAB? It is fair to say that Freeview is a more user friendly system and is very cost effective in built-up areas. In fact satellite transmission would need terrestrial back up in urban areas to achieve the same penetration as the current Freeview network. I think it was more of a political rather than practical decision to convert every relay to digital rather than utilise satellite in the more remote areas. The question of 4G interference is really one of viewers needing aerial systems that incorporate good quality screened cable (including fly leads), and as a first line of defence using a group A or K aerial in those areas where this is appropriate to give best possible gain on the required frequencies. Manufacturers of masthead amplifiers could produce a range that incorporate a suitable filter, removing the need for additional equipment to be fitted to viewers installations.
KMJ,Derby
Sunday 1 July 2012 1:30PM
Dave Lindsay: I don't know whether the 800Mhz band was sought because it goes through walls better, or whether it was a case of additional frequencies being required to accommodate the growing use of mobile broadband and the bonus of improved propagation on the soon to be available spectrum became an important factor in making the provision more cost effective for rural areas. It was becoming increasingly obvious that government targets for broadband provision could not be met economically with BT fibre optic cables, so 4G is now the flavour of the year!
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