COM 8 to close: Changes from 22nd June 2020

I saw a message yesterday evening about the 22/6 re-tune whilst watching Forces TV, but this a bit savage. If I read things correctly, that’s the end of BBC4HD on Freeview. Not impressed.

Clem
 
The loss of any HD channels on Freeview is disappointing, even if they are of the +1/repeat nature.

Aren't the channels that are listed as ceasing (Ch4+1 HD, 4seven HD etc) on COM7 so it's that one that's closing, rather than COM8 ?

I think BBC News HD is also currently broadcast on COM7 so as it's not in the cease list, it looks like it might be moving muxes.

Also - as BBC Four HD and Quest HD are not in the list of channel that are ceasing, that implies to me that COM8 is simply moving, hence the re-tune advice. Fingers crossed !
 
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That’s the confusing bit on the Freeview page. It suggests to me that post 22/06, the channels will exist for only 3 days post event. The Freeview website seems a bit light on information to my mind.

Clem
 
It’s a bit academic even if BBC4HD does survive. If it moves to COM7 then it’s effectively gone chez moi. According to the Freeview website, where I live I shouldn’t be able to receive COM7 or 8, yet, according to my TV, COM8 comes in at 92% SS and 100% SQ. COM7, by comparison, is about 65% SS at best. Until now, that’s never been an issue, because there’s nothing on the mux that I watch. Until the re-tune event, I won’t know how this affects me. Although I have Freesat, I’d prefer to have it on both services.

Clem
 
As I read it, though it is far from obvious, most of the channels closing are on COM 7 and are making space for most COM 8 channels to move to COM 7. This would enable COM 8 to close. There are some exceptions to this, for example Shopping Quarter, currently on COM 7 is moving, but not closing - where to will become apparent when it happens

To try and get a better picture, it is necessary to compare the lists in
with
to see which Mux each is on now.
 
It looks like the COM8 channels are actually moving to COM7, so BBC Four HD and Quest HD (and others) will continue. I was sure that BBC News HD was on one of these muxes ?

Here's something I read on another forum.
________

Yep, COM8 is closing by the end of the month. Big news - though not unexpected.

Closing on 22nd June:
55 - 5STAR+1
56 - 5USA+1
67 - CBS Reality+1
69 - CBS Justice+1
89 - Together+1*
109 - Channel 4+1 HD
110 - 4seven HD
115 - TJC HD

Moving from COM8 to COM7:
64 - FreeSports
83 - NOW 80s
93 - PBS America+1
96 - Forces TV
106 - BBC FOUR HD
111 - QVC HD
112 - QVC Beauty HD
113 - QUEST HD
205 - CBeebies HD

Moving from COM8 to BBCB
74 - Shopping Quarter

Other changes:
71 - CBS Drama - moving to LCN 67

Channels that are moving on 22nd June will remain available on COM8 in the 780+ range until 25th June (the duplicate CBeebies HD service will be in the Kids genre).

(credit to lovinthetelly on another forum)
 
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BBC News HD (107) is on COM 7 and presumably unaffected by these changes.

Shopping Quarter currently on COM 7 but moving off there.

Quest HD is LCN 114, not 113 (113 is RT HD)
 
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BBC News HD (107) is on COM 7 and presumably unaffected by these changes.

Shopping Quarter currently on COM 7 but moving off there.

Ah, I see now. They're essentially removing the channels listed as 'closing' above from COM7 and moving the other channels listed as 'moving' above from COM8 to COM7, then closing down COM8.

So... while COM8 is closing, it doesn't mean that all the channels currently on COM8 will be lost.

Got it :D
 
Roll-on 22/06 ... Presumably though, COM7 will also get the chop at some point.

Clem
 
Roll-on 22/06 ... Presumably though, COM7 will also get the chop at some point.

Clem
COM7 will get the chop at some point. It and COM8 were only ever intended as temporary multiplexes to try and help boost the take up of Freeview HD, though it's questionable as to wherever that's been a success . Both multiplexes were given a stay of execution by being moved to the "guard band" area of the FDD LTE Band 28 spectrum (Frequency channels 55 & 56) on a national SFN that is also eventually planned to be used for supplementary downlink (SDL) bandwidth or for TDD use.

My local Freeview TX is Brougher Mountain, so I never received these two multiplexes in the first place, but it looks like the channels being sacrificed are all timeshifts bar TJC which I'd reckon few will mourn the loss of. So not too much being lost in reality, especially if BARB ratings are anything to go by, even if it means losing 4seven +1 and 4 +1.
 
It was a mistake putting some of the more desirable channels on these multiplexes, methinks. Yet another c**k-up that is UK DTT through and through. Whilst the +1 channels going is no real loss, it does mean, for those that can/could receive them two fewer HD channels. I do use the +1s occasionally, and having to drop back to SD for 4Seven is a retrograde step. It’s 2020, and the platform is still mired in SD quality. That says it all, in my book.

Clem
 
It’s 2020, and the platform is still mired in SD quality. That says it all, in my book.

Thats the level of quality most people watch. Is Freesat (which has a far lower watcher base) any different?
 
No, sadly. For some of the channels, jumping to HD makes no real sense, given the content that they offer, but I don’t understand why the BBC is happy to let viewers have only limited access to BBC4HD, whilst providing HD services to its core channels. I value BBC4HD but if I’m forced to watch only the SD version then I won’t bother. The quality drop is too pronounced, and iPlayer is not much better. In an age of 4K services, with 8K now firmly on the horizon, I think that we in the UK are getting a poor deal compared to other countries, who seem to have more freely-accessible HD services than we do.

Clem
 
The Government opportunity that the 700 MHz clearance project had was to mandate a switch to DVB-T2 and HD for the major TV channels (with, perhaps a single PSB SD DVB-T mux for legacy kit from all transmitter sites).

Instead they spent money on moving the temporary muxes to 55/56 and some support for new aerials for the public.

The first DSO had less take-up of the free STBs/aerials; so I'm reasonably confident a similar scheme could have been provided for DVB-T2 set supply (and lose the need for the -T mux altogether).

{Mind, the broadcasters HD kit in Code & Mux would be costly - and may be why it wasn't done?}

To be frank, many people still see no benefit for HD over SD; even if many here do!
 
It was a mistake putting some of the more desirable channels on these multiplexes, methinks. Yet another c**k-up that is UK DTT through and through. Whilst the +1 channels going is no real loss, it does mean, for those that can/could receive them two fewer HD channels. I do use the +1s occasionally, and having to drop back to SD for 4Seven is a retrograde step. It’s 2020, and the platform is still mired in SD quality. That says it all, in my book.

Clem
It's the channels themselves (outside of the BBC and the PSB obligations of ITV/STV, Ch4 & Ch5) that desire what multiplex they wish to be on. The BBC 4/Cbeebies HD and BBC News HD appearing originally on COM7 came about due to no space being available for them (at the time) for them to broadcast in any of the major six multiplexes. In theory, one of those two channels could now be squeezed in to PSB3 but only if TBN and (soon to be) Sewing Quarter were dropped off the multiplex.

While I wish there was a higher prevalence of HD channels myself, but DTT capacity is largely run on the basis of commercial market rates. There appears to be no incentive at present for Arqiva (COM5 & 6) or SDN to convert their multiplexes to DVB-T2 at present, while any plan for PSB1/BBCA to go DVB-T2 would almost certainly need government approval.
 
@Clem_Dye

The majority of people who watch TV watch it in SD not HD, so theres not really an impetus for it.

If there were then it would probably happen but there isn't.
 
Surprising, isn’t it? People spend shedloads of cash on the biggest screens that they can cram into their homes, then watch SD material without a murmur. A bit like buying a Ferrari and only ever driving it in first gear. I wonder if everything will still be SD in 10, 20 or 30 years time? It wouldn’t surprise me.

Clem
 
Just done a retune and both Quest HD and BBC News HD have gone, Grrrrrrrr, I watch both of these and neither were mentioned in the change log. Wonder why they bothered doing one??

The loss of any HD channels on Freeview is disappointing, even if they are of the +1/repeat nature.

Aren't the channels that are listed as ceasing (Ch4+1 HD, 4seven HD etc) on COM7 so it's that one that's closing, rather than COM8 ?

I think BBC News HD is also currently broadcast on COM7 so as it's not in the cease list, it looks like it might be moving muxes.

Also - as BBC Four HD and Quest HD are not in the list of channel that are ceasing, that implies to me that COM8 is simply moving, hence the re-tune advice. Fingers crossed !
 
Just done a retune and both Quest HD and BBC News HD have gone, Grrrrrrrr, I watch both of these and neither were mentioned in the change log. Wonder why they bothered doing one??

BBC News HD is staying on COM7 and isn't moving, but other channels are being added to COM7 today. The process seems to be in stages throughout the day, so I would try again later.
 
My total disgust of this event holds no bounds,I am very,very angry,why should the greater television viewing public lose some of the few free HD channels we had so that the very few can use 5g and the government can make more money selling off the airwaves.My main gripe is the loss of channel 4 hd +1 and channel 47 HD at the same time,both of which showed channel 4 programmes at later times and were incredibly useful when trying to avoid recording conflicts.We should have been getting more HD channels,not losing them,And there is no mention of this event happening on news programmes,I'm pretty sure many more people will be very pissed off when they realise what has happened.I barely watch any old SD channels now and i thought we were advancing into a HD future (not even a chance of 4k then) but I guess i was mistaken.The future seems to be pay a fortune to watch anything,Aaarrgghh
Just read this from arquiva in 2018,the lying muppets in charge !!
" We’re not about to switch anything off. Instead, the challenging part for us is to retune these transmissions to new frequencies without impacting viewers – and seeing as our DTT network provides TV to over 19 million UK homes, it’s fair to say we’re under a lot of pressure to get it right"
 
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why should the greater television viewing public lose some of the few free HD channels we had so that the very few can use 5g and the government can make more money selling off the airwaves. My main gripe is the loss of channel 4 hd +1 and channel 47 HD at the same time,both of which showed channel 4 programmes at later times and were incredibly useful when trying to avoid recording conflicts.We should have been getting more HD channels,not losing them,And there is no mention of this event happening on news programmes,I'm pretty sure many more people will be very pissed off when they realise what has happened.I barely watch any old SD channels now and i thought we were advancing into a HD future (not even a chance of 4k then) but I guess i was mistaken.The future seems to be pay a fortune to watch anything,Aaarrgghh

It might be the 'very few' using 5G at the moment but, in a few years time, we'll all be on 5G. Someone has presumably weighed up the benefits of that vs losing what essentially amounts to a load of +1/repeat channels and the fact that some of them are in HD hasn't affected the (most-likely financial) decision, which is disappointing for viewers like us who are keen to see the quality of Freeview improve, not diminish.

Unfortunately though, Freeview has always been about quantity over quality and I'm amazed that some of the extremely poor SD channels (both in terms of the quality of the content and the picture) get enough viewers to justify their existence. I'd gladly swap 10 of those for 1 (decent) HD channel !

I would suspect that, over time, Freeview viewers who upgrade their TVs to larger size 4K sets will simply watch far less Freeview and will move over to the likes of Netflix, Prime and Sky, all of whom offer far more HD (and 4K) content than Freeview.
 
So why havnt they gotten rid of these crappy SD tv channels that nobody watches,I'd much rather have 25 good HD channels including main channel catchup services than 60 useless ones that nobody watches to allow for more HD.I have literally just caught the end of something on channel 4 HD which i would normally have been able to view on the + 1 channel but now that option has been stolen away from me,B******s
 

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