[Keith]

The plan is for every region to go HD, if these macro regions are happening (and the phrase 'Clean Feed has confirmed' doesn't mean much) then they'll either be temporary or a bit of a bodge in the interim.

---

Surely more logical for 2 to be Plymouth (HD studio), 3 to be Southampton (HD studio), and 5 to be Saford (HD studio).

I'd have thought that if this is happening that the choice of region would be based on its importance and size of region and not the specs of the studio. 

Newcastle has an HD studio now too, but Salford is more logical because of it bigger population

I'm guessing when rolling out HD feeds for BBC One English regions its easier to initially roll out 5 new variations, instead of all at once. Rolling out one at a time would also be a bit problematic, as it would rely on retaining the red death screen during the local news until the last region had been converted and there would be complaints about regional favouritism. It presumably also makes it a bit easier to manage any teething problems.

Presumably once the split into 5 macro regions has been done the next step is for each of those macro regions to be split again into their proper regions. I wouldn't be too surprised if they did this one or two macro regions at a time over a few weeks to make the task more manageable.

[Stooky Bill]

I think "bodge" is an understatement. From a subjective view the "pan-northern" region has a slew of potential problems especially with ensuring the right news is transmitted.

I was meaning a bodge as in something that is something to get round a limitation that won't be there when the regions launch properly. 

For example at the moment PSB3 is split into those sort of macro regions for ITV, so maybe they can currently only use that many different IDs for the BBC regions and will add the others once it actually launches properly. 

Don't necessarily assume that what you see now is what it'll be like when it actually goes to air. Those who spotted this change might be onto something, might not be

[Former Member 406]

My understanding of the technical side of things is zero.

Will whatever is being done to create enough extra splits for full BBC One HD regionality be something that ITV1 HD can inherently then take advantage of, so that we *finally* stop getting Central West HD across both halves of the West Country?

[Stooky Bill]

My understanding of the technical side of things is zero.

Will whatever is being done to create enough extra splits for full BBC One HD regionality be something that ITV1 HD can inherently then take advantage of, so that we *finally* stop getting Central West HD across both halves of the West Country?

It should be. There's two seperate things - making seperate versions of PSB3 - that's done by the BBC. Then there's sending those different versions to different sets of transmitters - that's Arqiva's bit.

Each version of PSB3 needs each of its services encoded and multiplexed together,so doing that for 17 regions requires 17 times the number of services on it (currently 8?)  so to cover that many regions meant a big increase in the amount of kit needed at a big cost. Bear in mind that everything is resilient, so there's two of everything

My understanding is that part of the issue was who would pay for the new infrastructure - if ITV wanted to expand to full regionalisation then they'd pay and the BBC and Ch4 would be able to use it too. 

Not sure what has changed now in terms of the political side of things, but the system that did PSB3 has been replaced by a brand new one that is more efficient, does things differently and is easier to scale. Therefore they now have the capacity to do lots of variants, and also can squeeze more in, hence the addition of BBC4 HD last year. 

I've no idea how much needs changing in Arqivaland to enable this, but my understanding is that their distribution network is fairly flexible in terms of sending signals from their customers to the relevant transmitters

So I think that both ITV and Channel 4 will be fully regional soon, after all they have more of an incentive than the BBC - they aren't showing the right ads to the right viewers on HD DTT

[Former Member 406]

So I think that both ITV and Channel 4 will be fully regional soon, after all they have more of an incentive than the BBC - they aren't showing the right ads to the right viewers on HD DTT

It is weird getting adverts on ITV1 HD for things like car dealerships in Cannock or shows at the Birmingham Hippodrome theatre, here in the West Country.

Maybe not quite so bad where I live (Bristol), but must seem utterly bizarre to viewers in e.g. Devon & Cornwall.

[Nick Harvey]

It is weird getting adverts on ITV1 HD for things like car dealerships in Cannock or shows at the Birmingham Hippodrome theatre, here in the West Country.

Hehe! You might regret saying that when you start to get the utterly dreadful, and amateurish, adverts for Miles Morgan Travel!

[Stooky Bill]

So I think that both ITV and Channel 4 will be fully regional soon, after all they have more of an incentive than the BBC - they aren't showing the right ads to the right viewers on HD DTT

It is weird getting adverts on ITV1 HD for things like car dealerships in Cannock or shows at the Birmingham Hippodrome theatre, here in the West Country.

Maybe not quite so bad where I live (Bristol), but must seem utterly bizarre to viewers in e.g. Devon & Cornwall.

It's even worse on Channel 4 HD where you get adverts for TfL no matter where you live

[nwtv2003]

Even on Channel 4 HD on BT TV Internet mode, we still get London adverts. Though they aren’t that common. (They are mostly for TfL, Thames Water and West End shows.) Not sure what goes out on Sky Glass/Stream and Virgin Media.

[Former Member 406]

Hehe! You might regret saying that when you start to get the utterly dreadful, and amateurish, adverts for Miles Morgan Travel!

When I switch on ITV1 (SD) circa 17:55 or so, in readiness to watch ITV News West Country, I do indeed see the "college media student"-standard adverts for things like Miles Morgan Travel, Puxton Park, and Wookey Hole. All of which are seemingly produced on a budget of about 75 pence each. Cringe.

[Rijowhi]

Hehe! You might regret saying that when you start to get the utterly dreadful, and amateurish, adverts for Miles Morgan Travel!

When I switch on ITV1 (SD) circa 17:55 or so, in readiness to watch ITV News West Country, I do indeed see the "college media student"-standard adverts for things like Miles Morgan Travel, Puxton Park, and Wookey Hole. All of which are seemingly produced on a budget of about 75 pence each. Cringe.

The beauty of Regional TV…