Terrestrial TV Usage.

[FrodoOne]

It somewhat amazes me that, in the UK (and USA), many people do not simply use the "Free to Air Services" which are available to them
but choose to use "Satellite" and other services, for which a fee is charged -
and
those "services" also re-distribute the "Free to Air" services !

(Such a related thread is https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/terrestrial-tv-antenna.632344/ )

The Country of "England" is about the same size as Victoria, Australia, which is serviced by 11 "Major" (Higher Powered Transmitter) Sites
plus a total of 77 other Sites,
many of which are quite low powered "repeaters" - serving small local (shadowed) areas.
(https://ozdigitaltv.com/transmitters/VIC )

From the time that TV broadcasting commenced in Australia (1956), it was specified that all transmitters serving a particular area be located within a small radius of a certain high "point".
After the introduction of UHF transmissions in the mid 1970s, when there were "shadows" in significant areas, re-transmission (on different UHF frequency bands) was introduced.

Apart from "Cable" Supplied Services, very few people in Australia use anything except the "Free to Air" services,
of which I count 41 in Melbourne
and most of which I would not watch (or record for later viewing.)

The reception of "Satellite TV" in Australia is mostly confined to those in "remote" areas
who are out of range of the transmitters in "populated" areas.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It somewhat amazes me that, in the UK (and USA), many people do not simply use the "Free to Air Services" which are available to them
but choose to use "Satellite" and other services, for which a fee is charged -
and
those "services" also re-distribute the "Free to Air" services !

I do not understand your point....

In the UK we have Free to Air services (FreeView) on the terrestrial transmitters, although - like it or not, we are forced to contribute to the BBC services. I understand there are some services, which are pay per view.

In the UK, we also have a satellite service, called FreeSat, which carries almost all the same services suggested above, along with some extra free ones.

At home I have access to both of the above, when away with the touring caravan, I also have access to both, although satellite tends to be receivable in many places, where terrestrial is not - which was why I originally bought a sat kit for it.

Channels available on Freeview, varies from transmitter, to transmitter, but locally, on the main transmitter for the area, I have around 141 TV channels, numerous radio channels. Freesat offers a similar, perhaps slightly higher number.

 

[Fred Blogs]

The problem is not that television services are paid for or free the problem is that whichever method you use to watch television all, without exception, broadcast crap programs and many many repeats and very old content and if you pay for sky, which I stopped doing a long time ago, you are paying for crap. I only my use my computer now for the very small amount of viewing that I do. I have much more choice and it is, mostly, free. I avoid anything I have to pay for in my viewing choices.

 

[ericmark]

UK satellite broadcast is broadly split into three, free to air often has a poor electronic program guide (EPG) the freesat I think requires a one off payment, and it has a much improved EPG, and Sky had an excellent EPG and you have to pay to get it.

The terrestrial TV as also split in two, commercial and non commercial, and some transmitters like Moel-y-Sant only broadcast the non commercial, so it depends on where you live as to how good freeview is, where I live, freeview is not worth bothering with.

People tend to expect all areas of UK to be the same, but that is not the case, and a terrestrial aerial needs to often be erected high up, where a satellite dish can be mounted a lot lower, so less worry about electrical storms.

Program count is pointless, as so many show the same programs at diffrent times, or complete rubbish. And often the attraction of Sky is not what is shown, but how the system is distributed around the house.

Without SkyQ most my TV's would stop working, and my internet would not work half as well, as the SkyQ boxes act as repeaters, and even allow me to plug may ageing PC into them.

Yes hard wired LAN on my to do list, but not done yet.

 

[foxhole]

UK satellite broadcast is broadly split into three, free to air often has a poor electronic program guide (EPG) the freesat I think requires a one off payment, and it has a much improved EPG, and Sky had an excellent EPG and you have to pay to get it.

The terrestrial TV as also split in two, commercial and non commercial, and some transmitters like Moel-y-Sant only broadcast the non commercial, so it depends on where you live as to how good freeview is, where I live, freeview is not worth bothering with.

People tend to expect all areas of UK to be the same, but that is not the case, and a terrestrial aerial needs to often be erected high up, where a satellite dish can be mounted a lot lower, so less worry about electrical storms.

Program count is pointless, as so many show the same programs at diffrent times, or complete rubbish. And often the attraction of Sky is not what is shown, but how the system is distributed around the house.

Without SkyQ most my TV's would stop working, and my internet would not work half as well, as the SkyQ boxes act as repeaters, and even allow me to plug may ageing PC into them.

Yes hard wired LAN on my to do list, but not done yet.

No one off payment for freesat is required , don’t know why you pay for Sky when freesat is well, free.
And all other programs easily available for free via the web .

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

No one off payment for freesat is required , don’t know why you pay for Sky when freesat is well, free.
And all other programs easily available for free via the web .

Quite right! We paid for Sky, briefly, during their early days. Found what was on there, was no better, but often worse than what was on the FTA channels, and so decided we could manage well without. 90% of what is on TV, is rubbish. Once you accept that, you look harder for the 10% of gems. Nowt wrong with repeats, from the golden age of TV, when TV was there to properly entertain, rather than fill the time between the ads.

 

[Mottie]

I get Sky, Amazon Prime, Disney +, Netflix, Apple TV and much more through….oh, mustn't say.

 

[FrodoOne]

UK satellite broadcast is broadly split into three, free to air often has a poor electronic program guide (EPG) the freesat I think requires a one off payment, and it has a much improved EPG, and Sky had an excellent EPG and you have to pay to get it.

The terrestrial TV as also split in two, commercial and non commercial, and some transmitters like Moel-y-Sant only broadcast the non commercial, so it depends on where you live as to how good freeview is, where I live, freeview is not worth bothering with.

People tend to expect all areas of UK to be the same, but that is not the case, and a terrestrial aerial needs to often be erected high up, where a satellite dish can be mounted a lot lower, so less worry about electrical storms.

Program count is pointless, as so many show the same programs at diffrent times, or complete rubbish. And often the attraction of Sky is not what is shown, but how the system is distributed around the house.

Without SkyQ most my TV's would stop working, and my internet would not work half as well, as the SkyQ boxes act as repeaters, and even allow me to plug may ageing PC into them.

Yes hard wired LAN on my to do list, but not done yet.

While I did not get around to writing it,
all Australian State Capital cities have virtually the same programs on terrestrial TV - except for News Broadcasts, which have a "local" component, usually after the International News.
("Normal" programs are "delayed" for transmission in South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia, because of the Time difference between those areas and the Eastern States.)
All the main "Regional" areas have the same programs as the Capital City in their State - with some "local" news before or after the "main" News program.
In these 'Regional" areas, "local" advertising is inserted in the advertising "time slots" on the Commercial Channels.
The lower powered (usually unattended) "translator" transmitters just retransmit the programs from the main "Regional" location.

Hence, (virtually) the same programs are available in all locations across Australia - including the sparsely settled interior where there is satellite retransmission of Capital City programs - usually Sydney. (via AUSSAT)
The (free) EPG provided seems to me to be quite good and detailed, showing programs with a short "precis" for the next 8 days.

Cable TV was introduced in the 1990s but only in the larger State Capital cities. This has since been extended to "outlying" and country areas by the use of Satellite transmissions.
(No Satellite service similar to Sky has ever been introduced)

The underground Cable network has been "taken over" by the NBN (National Broadband Network) but it still provides both Cable (Foxtel) and Broadband services. (That cable network was "owned" by Telecom Australia/Telstra and was in their underground ducts.)
Of course, via the Broadband service one can get virtually any program that is available in Australia (and often other parts of the world !)
(Broadband service is provided via satellite in more "remote" areas. However, this service is not as "fast" as that provided by cable.)

The Australian Radio and TV license was modelled quite closely on that of the UK, but was abolished in 1974.
The Australian national broadcaster ABC and its smaller relative, SBS, are funded through general taxation instead, with SBS also running some advertising.
(Radio and TV license fees were seen to be a "Poll Tax", applying to the same extent on rich and poor alike!)

 

[Lucid]

freesat I think requires a one off payment,

No one-off payment. Just buy the gear to receive it - a Freesat receiver or recorder. or a TV with Freesat as well as the normal (for the UK) Freeview service provision.

Freeview and Freesat are two sides of the same coin. They're the UK's national broadcast platforms. The only payment is the annual TV licence fee, and that is payable by Sky-only and Virgin-only customers too. Anyone property where the occupiers watch live TV or use the BBC's iPlayer catch-up service are expected to pay the licence fee.

 

[ericmark]

There is a massive difference in the price between Freesat and Free to Air. At one point you needed a card for the Freesat, glad that is no longer the case.

In January 2023, Digital UK changed their name to "Everyone TV" to mark the milestone of both free-to-view UK television providers, Freeview and Freesat, becoming part of the same venture. The rebrand was officially announced at the Outside the Box 2023 conference.

Seems I am out of date, also

Everyone TV Limited (formerly known as Switchco Limited from 2005–2006 and Digital UK Limited from 2006–2023)[1] is a British television communications company owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 that supports Freely (IPTV), Freeview (terrestrial) and Freesat (satellite) viewers and channels. It provides information about receiving terrestrial TV and advice on reception and equipment. The company also handles day-to-day technical management of the Freeview Electronic Programme Guide (EPG), allocates channel numbers and manages the launch of new services and multiplexes onto the platform. Everyone TV has been licensed by Ofcom as an EPG provider.

Note the bit about EPG provider, also these

it seems are not considered as freeview channels, so are not available from my local transmitter, so for me only option is satellite.

 

[Lucid]

It somewhat amazes me that, in the UK (and USA), many people do not simply use the "Free to Air Services" which are available to them
but choose to use "Satellite" and other services, for which a fee is charged - and those "services" also re-distribute the "Free to Air" services !

For the UK the range of channels available via subscription service (Sky satellite or Virgin cable) is much larger than the UK's Freeview and Freesat national broadcast platforms. That's the whole point of subscription TV. It's to have something that isn't on the free-to-air platforms.

For Freeview, when you strip out all the +1 and HD versions of channels then it boils down to something like 70 unique channels.

Sky carries around 300 channels. Within that there's the overlap with Freeview and Freesat. Everything available on Freesat is also available vis Sky's platform. That's unsurprising since both services use the same satellite transponders. There are a small number of F-to-A channels available on Freeview but not via satellite, and in reverse Freesat carries far more HD channels than Freeview. That said, there's still a heck of a lot of content on Sky that isn't on Freeview or Freesat.

Sky TV subscribers also get a full feature PVR with the ability to record up to four channels simultaneously. Although PVRs are now commonplace, at the time Sky launched its + (plus) service in the late 90s/early 2000s no rival platform had a digital PVR with the same capabilities.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

For Freeview, when you strip out all the +1 and HD versions of channels then it boils down to something like 70 unique channels.

My set was requesting another retune yesterday, and the total count now seems to be 154 TV channels, and 30 radio. Some of the minor channels, seem to change who promotes them, quite regularly, hence the need to retune.

 

[ericmark]

It is a hard count, shopping channels, religious channels, and all the regional channels there must be around 20 x BBC1's.

When I could get ITV 3 +1 on terrestrial TV I found it rather annoying when it would switch off at midnight halfway through a program.

The problem with SkyQ is I have no idea how I am watching TV, it may be satellite, but it may also be from internet, some stuff is broadcast, some is peer to peer, so all I can say it is not terrestrial.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It is a hard count, shopping channels, religious channels, and all the regional channels there must be around 20 x BBC1's.

I am able to receive, three separate main transmitters, due to my high altitude position. The actual count, appears to vary, as it scans each of the three. The finalise, is asking me to choose where I am located, so it picks one of the three - I don't think it offers a choice of all possible local BBC1's, just my local one, dependent on the local I set. Choose the wrong area, it settles on the wrong transmitter, and we get another area's local BBC1.

 

[Lucid]

I am able to receive, three separate main transmitters, due to my high altitude position. The actual count, appears to vary, as it scans each of the three. The finalise, is asking me to choose where I am located, so it picks one of the three - I don't think it offers a choice of all possible local BBC1's, just my local one, dependent on the local I set. Choose the wrong area, it settles on the wrong transmitter, and we get another area's local BBC1.

You can stop the requirement to retune by turning off the 'auto update' or whatever your TV manufacturer happens to call it. After that, you can manually scan the other region transmitter's muxes and add those to your main region channels.

This 'not getting your local BBC' was a bugbear of the HD services for a long time with Sky. The regions didn't broadcast in HD, so if you switched to say BBC-1 HD, you'd have been watching what folk in London were getting, and that included their regional news. This is all water under the bridge now.