[Brekkie]

Because it makes no commercial sense……
Is there a queue of channels wanting carriage on the platform?
Going T2 AVC AAC. Is about 15 SD channels more per mux …
And if the government intervenes to do the Vaizey plan say 12  years too late,
that frees a very expensive PSB mux …..
with no income for the remaining half of it contract ….

And linear viewing is reducing ….. so the number of channels will decline.

You'd look for some channels to go HD though - roughly speaking you can have 4 HD + 12 SD channels on a mux to replace the DVB-T SD muxes, and 6 HD + 6 SD on a PSB mux.    


However you look at it Freeview has completely screwed up when it comes to HD and the longer it goes on the less likely they can fix the issue.

[Technologist]

But as most channels seem to be happy with a sub SD static resolution
Are any of them going to pay for the bit rate for HD ?

Freeview has no control over what is emitted in uk DTT …..
But we only have HD on the platform by regulatory action ….

That action could have been repeated by the Vaizey plan or more
if it was felt to be in the public interest ….

But we have a system driven by economics ….. like DVB itself .
Do people want it …are they prepared to pay for it, can the techies get it to work?

[Spencer]

I’m amazed it hasn’t already. Why haven’t the mainstream channel joined the likes of Samsung TV Plus?

Not legit but… I’m in Dubai and have at a IPTV provider for many years now and it is near faultless. If these dodgy providers can do it, I’m sure the BBC can

Genuine question – does the country, and probably more importantly the broadcasters, have the capacity for everyone to watch all TV via IP yet?

There always seem to be issues when lots of people try to watch a major football match via a streaming service. If everyone watching via an aerial, dish or cable switched to the likes of iPlayer or ITVX, would the system cope?

[Technologist]

At the moment… the BBC is the only broadcaster to have its own CDN “bidi”
(as well as using the main commercial ones) it does seem to have acted on this more than most …
unlike the broadcasters who are domestic ISPs …..

UK has the ability for about the same number people to connect to broadband of greater than 30 Mbit/sec than get through the air reception ….
But I doubt if the ISPs have enough capacity everywhere for everyone to be steaming live.

Most issues seem to be inadequate or not rapid enough provisioning, and not being resilient enough against one CDN having problems,.,..

[cable]

Freeview has become the digital TV version of DAB radio. Quantity over quality. Why offer a service with about 24 hd channels when you can have lots of sun par sd ones. Market forces have decided that and if you did have less choice, the end of linear would probably come sooner.

Unless you count major events. Emissive platforms are no longer efficient for the audience they serve.

It is limited by broadcast standards of it time. MPEG2/4 when things have moved on considerbly. Streaming hardware can support various codecs at variable bit rates. This is likely to improve further going forward.

I feel we will end up with live channels offered through interfaces like Google TV - they already offer live channels in America. That way you offload bandwidth to particular platforms rather than serving content centrally.

---

[i.h]

At the moment… the BBC is the only broadcaster to have its own CDN “bidi”
(as well as using the main commercial ones) it does seem to have acted on this  more than most …
unlike the broadcasters who are domestic ISPs …..

UK has the ability for  about the same number people to connect to broadband of greater than 30 Mbit/sec  than get through the air reception ….
But I doubt if the ISPs have enough capacity  everywhere for everyone to be steaming live.

Most issues seem to be inadequate or not rapid enough provisioning, and not  being resilient enough against one CDN having problems,.,..

The BBC also was an early promoter of multicast IP, I remember trying to access their streams back in the day with my new Zen 2Mbit ADSL line.

It remains the perfect solution for live streaming though it requires each ISP to co-operate (but then, so does a CDN since it needs the ISPs to either host servers within their networks or to provide special connectivity).

Closest we seem to have got is the new BT TV Internet mode, but that's only available to BT TV subscribers (and for how much longer)

[Technologist]

How many linear channels will there be .... 16 ?
In the UK - lets say for PSB - a bit of a trim to the BBC but say under a dozen PSB TV
TV COBA channels i imagine that there will be an odd barker channel
for the BBC who cannot use PSB airwaves for UTKV Play , and WB/Discovery for D+
and may be Sky (News) ? as the Other PSB use PSB to promote "X" "all" and "my"

So if there were only 16 linear slots available on ANY platform for regular Linear
I don't think anyone would be too put out. (may be two dozen??)

Radio is very different! - i just don't want to go there!!!!

The other use of Linear TV is live Sports (and Events).
thus Sky may have its platform and Discovery/WB its own !
And the BBC may augment what it is doing on RB
(it may be worth considering why no other PSB has got RB or side-channels)

So we are looking at 4 platforms for Legacy PSB (assume BBC Carries National broadcasters)
one for UKTV, and then the Sports and Events Broadcaster have one each
But will the Rights holder have their own platforms???
- and this may include the Arts Council or Royal Opera or Glastonbury or Glasgow Fringe!

So how is Channel /Stream Discovery to work????
and how (if at all) do PSB get prominence?

The Broadcasters have a great emphasis on Open International Due process standards
particularly for PSB or for Broadcasters (capital B) who have public safety roles.
as this provide a level of interoperatiblity and stability with FRND IPR.
Failing that development of open specifications (which are likely to by consensus not due process)

The tech companies tend to like their own propriatry ways of doing things....
and seek tie in and upgrades ! ...... and often large fees on non FRND basis.

Lets look at how the BBC have addressed this
Firstly there is/was TAL - and this seems to have been adopted by many broadcast streamers
bbc.github.io 

Getting Started | Introducing TAL
Home Getting Started Introducing TAL Installation The Index Launch the App First…
  Source: bbc.github.io

It has supported hbbtv TS 102 796 and getting Freexxx Play ....(why is this with Platform not Spec body
www.etsi.org 

It developed Iplayer all be in on TAL but propriatory application all be it using more generally accepted specifications than it used to (as the web has caught up with video)

Have Policy on the distribution of its services according the the public interest
which means that they cannot freely distribute on hbbtv. (as hbbtv like broadcasting know nothing of the viewer)
downloads.bbc.co.uk 

........ and was involved in You view which has not been a success!

[Brekkie]

Narrative Entertainment are swapping Pop and Great Romance meaning viewers without tge local mux will lose Pop just as CITV is about to close too. Those who can get the local mux though will see Pop Max added.

rxtvinfo.com 

Winners and losers in next Great Freeview Channel Update > RXTV info
Freeview viewers may gain or lose channels on 19th July, depending on where they…
  Source: rxtvinfo.com

[Spin1038]

Narrative Entertainment are swapping Pop and Great Romance meaning viewers without tge local mux will lose Pop just as CITV is about to close too.    Those who can get the local mux though will see Pop Max added.

rxtvinfo.com 

Pop Is still on for me (at 12:06pm)

[gottago]

S4C Clic has launched UK wide on Freeview Play. The app's a little clunky, there's a show description which is longer than the paragraph space allows but there's no way of actually reading the rest of it. I expect most people in the know will just carry on using iPlayer but I guess this will help with a bit of publicity.