[nwtv2003]

The end of an era, really. We only got the full regional SD service on DSat in January 2002.

It served its purpose well.

Technically the regional services were Red Button only in January 2002 and even then it was London, Midlands, South, North West and Yorkshire & Lincolnshire. It was only in the summer of 2003 when the BBC gained FTA space on Astra that all of the regions became available for the first time.

They probably could’ve got away with switching the SD services off sooner given the lack of take up and the closure date being brought forwards, more so if HD regions had been implemented earlier but it’s certainly more than served its purpose.