Freeview V Freesat...

[janzman]

...I have Freesat at present but I'm considering going over to Freeview.One particular channel Mrsjanz and me like is ITV3 and the handy +1 service is useful on Freesat,but its not available on Freeview, can anyone tell me why.

[sunny-dave]

Not enough capacity on Freeview for all the +1 channels.

May get better when the next tranche of frequencies is rolled out next year (but I think this will mainly be used for more HD channels on Freeview).

[janzman]

Thanks sunny-dave.Its a pity they can find room for trash tv like ITV2 and its +1 service though,IMO

[sunny-dave]

I'm waiting with increasing irritation for the HD version of BBC4 (either on satellite or terrestrial).

It has some of the best arts/culture/science programmes made by the BBC, yet there is no way of watching them other than with a terrible SD signal after the BBC HD channel was morphed into BBC2HD.

[puternut]

According to something from the BBC they are going to do BBC3. BBC4, BBC News, CBBC and CeeBeebies ALL in HD soon

Qeustion why they have to do News as most of their foreign feeds and items are non HD.

[Buenchico]

As well as available capacity, it's worth remembering that broadcasters have to pay to access the Freeview and Freesat platforms. They hope to recoup their outlay through increased advertising revenue (with the obvious exception of the BBC, of course). ITV may regard it as uneconomic to put ITV3+1 onto Freeview. (Similarly, UKTV seems to regard it as uneconomic to put channels such as Dave and Yesterday onto Freesat).

[johnny37]

Sorry to be a bit cynical but why do we need so many channels? Sometimes I page right to the bottom without finding anything worth watching. Most are repeats. Some seem to play American soaps end to end. What on earth are people doing that have the inclination to watch Kojak and Magnum on a sunny afternoon. Ive just taken out a new deal with Talktalk which includes a free Youview box. Havn't even set it up yet but I got loads of discounts on my bill. I think they will have to upgrade in the future to compete with Sky and BT , especially on sport.

[gingejbee]

johnny: nobody NEEDS any channels. It's a choice we are lucky to have in this country - if you want a huge choice, you pay for it. If it's not important to you, you don't have to have it.
I just have Freeview which is quite enough for us.

[2sp_]

We have a freeview plus box, so the +1 channels aren't so important anymore.

[quizzywig]

we have both, we watch freesat and record on freeview - that is when things clash which they sometimes do. we had both before iplayer and the others were popular or even around. if one should break we wouldn't replace it.