Freeview changes: 29th/30th June as COM7 closes

[Markymark]

Looks like the captions Mark mentions are now "official" - my Freeview box has a BBC Four HD on 106 here in COM7-until-a-few-years-ago land, showing "returns soon watch SD for now"

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They were actually fully compliant to DVB T standards, more so than some of the crap that was sold at the start of the Freeview era. All they couldn't decode was the proprietary 7 day EPG, which OnDigital never carried, and what killed them was the change at DSO from 2k FFT to 8k. When OnD launched 8k chip sets were not quite available, so the UK uniquely launched DTT at 2k. Every other country in the world who adopted DVB T used 8k

Not to mention that some of them were a bit pants. I don't think all the models got all the same firmware upgrades, and of course the Nokia ones were just unbearably slow. If I hadn't replaced it with Sky multiroom I'd have replaced it with a Pace DTVA or something. I'm not surprised that Carlton and Granada decided to let us keep them after all!

Yes. I had the Pace 735, it got relegated to the bedroom from about 2003 until DSO, slow, but it never crashed, and 'did the job'
It made a fantastic bedroom clock too!

[Inspector Sands]

I thought COM7 had gone off air last night as the EPG listings had been replaced by messages and there was no BBC4 HD etc. I hadn't rescanned my box* or anything but seems of I had I'd have found them up in the 900s for some reason.


*I have the problem that when I do a rescan it deletes all my scheduled recordings, so it's a massive faff

[Brekkie]

Is it fully going off air today or will it hang around a bit with messages advising to retune, forcing another retune down the line to clear the overspill?

[i.h]

Is it fully going off air today or will it hang around a bit with messages advising to retune, forcing another retune down the line to clear the overspill?

The licence as published on ofcom’s site suggests it expires today, so presumably it’ll go off air

EE won’t want to hang about with making use of the spectrum, seem to remember reading that their last new holdings were put into commercial use within hours of the licence being issued

[Rex]

Is it fully going off air today or will it hang around a bit with messages advising to retune, forcing another retune down the line to clear the overspill?

Already switched off at 11am, I'm afraid. 

Freeview capacity is now at an even bigger premium with both COM7 and COM8 out of the picture.

[Brekkie]

So from what I can work out MUX wise via XHXF:

Legend replaces Horror on COM4. CBS Reality remains on that mux, whilst Craft Extra has closed but not been replaced. 17 streams in total now (was 18).

Only change on COM5 is Together TV gets the 3-7am downtime of Smithsonian Channel (incidently the lowest rated channel on Freeview).

Two CBS channels have closed on COM6 and That's TV, Classic Hits (That's TV Music) and Quest Red+1 have appeared, but unconfirmed if all are 24 hours.

Reality Xtra is on the Local TV mux as a new 5th stream.

[Robert Williams]

So from what I can work out MUX wise via XHXF:

Legend replaces Horror on COM4.  CBS Reality remains on that mux, whilst Craft Extra has closed but not been replaced.  17 streams in total now (was 18).

Only change on COM5 is Together TV gets the 3-7am downtime of Smithsonian Channel (incidently the lowest rated channel on Freeview).

Two CBS channels have closed on COM6 and That's TV, Classic Hits (That's TV Music) and Quest Red+1 have appeared, but unconfirmed if all are 24 hours.

Reality Xtra is on the Local TV mux as a new 5th stream.

Classic Hits on 91 currently has an MHEG stating that it's on air from 1am-7am, with That's TV on channel 65 from 7am-1am.

Although Reality Xtra is a new stream on the local mux, I think Ideal Extra previously occupied a fifth stream there, but this disappeared a few months ago.

Legend appears to be a straight rebrand of Horror Channel, with no change in programming at all.

[gottago]

May have been mentioned but Together TV now automatically loads as an internet stream when it's not on after 7am. It came up on my box after about 5 seconds of a black screen but otherwise works well (though I suppose this is broadband and TV/box dependent).

This has previously been suggested by Ofcom or someone as a solution for delivering channels in Freeview Lite areas.

[i.h]

Just got a message on my BT TV box to say what we already know - channels disappearing, but won't need to do a retune. Looks like something BT sent out, it's not an MHEG style display

[Brekkie]

May have been mentioned but Together TV now automatically loads as an internet stream when it's not on after 7am. It came up on my box after about 5 seconds of a black screen but otherwise works well (though I suppose this is broadband and TV/box dependent).

This has previously been suggested by Ofcom or someone as a solution for delivering channels in Freeview Lite areas.

Surprised 4Music didn't go down that route, though C4 abandoned their extra online feeds via the channel a couple of years ago.

[JAS84]

Legend appears to be a straight rebrand of Horror Channel, with no change in programming at all.

It is.
https://twitter.com/Legend__Channel/stat...5851356161

[nbafan89]

Is it fully going off air today or will it hang around a bit with messages advising to retune, forcing another retune down the line to clear the overspill?

Already switched off at 11am, I'm afraid. 

Freeview capacity is now at an even bigger premium with both COM7 and COM8 out of the picture.

So from what I can work out MUX wise via XHXF:

Legend replaces Horror on COM4.  CBS Reality remains on that mux, whilst Craft Extra has closed but not been replaced.  17 streams in total now (was 18).

Only change on COM5 is Together TV gets the 3-7am downtime of Smithsonian Channel (incidently the lowest rated channel on Freeview).

Two CBS channels have closed on COM6 and That's TV, Classic Hits (That's TV Music) and Quest Red+1 have appeared, but unconfirmed if all are 24 hours.

Reality Xtra is on the Local TV mux as a new 5th stream.

what's happened to now 80s?

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Is it fully going off air today or will it hang around a bit with messages advising to retune, forcing another retune down the line to clear the overspill?

Already switched off at 11am, I'm afraid. 

Freeview capacity is now at an even bigger premium with both COM7 and COM8 out of the picture.

So from what I can work out MUX wise via XHXF:

Legend replaces Horror on COM4.  CBS Reality remains on that mux, whilst Craft Extra has closed but not been replaced.  17 streams in total now (was 18).

Only change on COM5 is Together TV gets the 3-7am downtime of Smithsonian Channel (incidently the lowest rated channel on Freeview).

Two CBS channels have closed on COM6 and That's TV, Classic Hits (That's TV Music) and Quest Red+1 have appeared, but unconfirmed if all are 24 hours.

Reality Xtra is on the Local TV mux as a new 5th stream.

what's happened to now 80s?

[Brekkie]

It's only available in the Manchester area now where the legacy Manchester mux seems to carry multiple music channels now.