12-06-2023, 07:21 AM
(11-06-2023, 09:10 PM)Keith Wrote: Broadband coverage may be all well and good, but not everybody can afford it. Be that the monthly cost of broadband, or buying/replacing TV tech so that all TVs in the house can receive it via the Internet.
In my opinion that is likely to prove a big sticking point for any complete closing of Freeview via aerial.
I can however envisage a hybrid system, where PSB channels are still required to broadcast via aerial, but most other channels & services arrive via Internet. Arguably the BBC radio stations could already be delivered entirely via the Sounds app that is on connected TVs, with non-connected TVs having to use radios (as per pre-DSO) or their mobiles.
I'm not sure anyone whose finances are *that* tight would be paying for a TV licence, and those pensioners who still get a free licence would qualify for social tariffed broadband as mentioned already (you need to be receiving pension credit).
as an example, BT does 40Mbit broadband and a landline with a few hundred minutes for £15/month, or in other words £5 more a month than their social tariff landline only service. You can have 80Mbps and unlimited minutes for £20.
if the very vast majority of people are using other means to watch TV, then that places a huge question mark over the future of maintaining the existing freeview transmission network, which is not a cheap endeavour. Presumably that is where Freesat comes in.