Digital effects that aren’t getting a good reception
Saturday 20th November 2010, 2:57PM GMT.
ISLANDERS are missing out on receiving some digital channels because there are fewer frequencies available in the Channel Islands.
On Wednesday, Jersey’s analogue signal was switched off for ever, allowing Freeview digital channels to be broadcast across the Channel Islands for the first time.
But while Islanders are now receiving an additional 13 channels on top of the four that they had before, viewers in the UK are receiving significantly more than that.
Meanwhile, another effect of the digital switchover is that Islanders will no longer be able to listen to Five Live on the radio in the evenings. Previously, Radio Jersey’s medium wave signal carried Five Live in the evenings.
However, because Five Live is one of the radio stations that is available with the new digital television signal, BBC Jersey have decided to now instead carry regional evening broadcasting on MW – the same as they currently do on FM.
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“ISLANDERS are missing out on receiving some digital channels because there are fewer frequencies available in the Channel Islands.”
Someone has spun you a line there, because they are now only using 3 UHF channels of the 4 that used to be used! There’s room for another multiplex (group) of digital channels without using any more band space than they used to.
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“additional 13 channels” – of which two are news, 2 are childrens and 2 are gay – Doh!! sounds like a real bargain – NOT !!!
On top of which, I have retuned once as all channels were “lost” – bring back steam radio!!!
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Please remind me why i pay my TV license?
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#3, Mark G.
‘Please remind me why i pay my TV license?’
Because you and the rest of the mugs who pay it either think that it’s worth it or you haven’t got the courage to say “No, I’m not paying”.
The so called Television Licence is little short of legalised extortion on behalf of the BBC and the company which administers the collection.
Until such time as a fairer way of paying for state broadcasting, which in my opinion should have no other remit than to inform rather than compete for the entertainment market, I refuse to play their little game.
If you want change, you just have to go without watching TV until they change the rules. It worked in Australia.
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Does that go for Telecom too and broadband because all these companies could,nt get a signal
from the opposite end of my dining table… Get that hamster running faster round the wheel!!!
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I would like Five Live back on my radio, not on the family TV – the new alternative is sooo boring – dated pop music and cream tea stuff.
Helen,
fed up with this “improvement”.
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Does that mean that Islanders will be given a significant reduction in the cost of their TV license? Didn’t think so!
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Eh? What’s all this chat about TV licenses? Why do you want a reduction when you’re receiving 9 more channels than last week?
Whether you think the TV license is value or not is down to personal opinion. However I believe that the 40p a day each household pays is pretty good considering the quality of the BBC’s output (9 TV channels, 6 national radio stations, and a huge amount of online content) considering its the same cost as a JEP, and significantly less than it costs to drive your Chelsea tractor to town and back every day for work.
Surely if you’re that desperate to listen to 5 Live you can just tune into 5 Live’s own signal?
You have to love the victims of ‘rip-off Jersey’. Fair enough a lot of things are overpriced over here, but it doesn’t mean everything is.
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Fortunately I use the Freesat satellite service for most of my viewing. I now have a few of those channels repeated on Freeview which is fine as backup.
What I really miss is the Teletext service, called Ceefax on BBC, which was more interesting than most of the programmes. Some of the pages are still on Freesat and Freeview but they are not as easy to use or to read. The page that was most interesting was the one for letters from the viewers but that seems to have vanished completely. I used to read that every day and sometimes contribute to it.
As usual our “upgrade” was really a downgrade with a poorer service. No point in having more channels as I was quite happy with the ones I had. If I miss anything I can still watch it the next day on the internet using the BBC iPlayer service or the equivalents from the other broadcasters.
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No 8 – Yes I would love to listen to 5 Live Radio as I used to before the digital switchover, and I agree with No 6 – Helen, I would like it back on my radio.
I for one wasn’t aware that we were going to loose a radio station. Also, according to my guide which dropped through my door some weeks before the switchover, we were going to receive ITV2. Where is it? Well according to the roadshow at St Paul’s Centre this Friday gone, ITV2 decided to pull out at the last minute – how convenient.
I don’t want to look/listen/text Rabbit, Gay Rabbit. I wanted a decent choice of programmes hence why I listened to the radio, at least there are some interesting topics on it.
If you look at the television listings in some national newspapers, we don’t get half of the freeview programmes which the UK get and we are paying the same licence fee. Come on, give us what we thought we were going to receive, and don’t water it down, after all we all pay for it through our licence fees.
Leaving on a good note, at least the picture quality has improved.
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http://www.tvcatchup.com/
you can watch them all on here live.
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You pay your licence fees for the BBC channels, and you now have four more BBC television channels than you had last week – BBC Three and Four in the evenings, CBBC and CBeebies in the mornings.
Channel Television (ITV1 Channel Islands) is paid for by the advertisements on it, as is Channel 4 (and associated channels), and Channel Five, which you didn’t have last week either. CTV is an independent company, despite taking ITV1 branding.
The commercial multiplex operators, which carry the rest of the channels, were offered the option to broadcast from more of the masts than they currently do (81 main sites in mainland UK). They declined, deciding it was too expensive. That means anyone in the UK who isn’t covered by a main transmitter is in the same boat that you are.
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You lot moan a lot you pay tv licence for BBC and s4c and what do you mean 2 gay channels it’s a txt page and teletext was mostly closedby thy daily mail a major selling paper in the islands
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I cant even recieve itv 1 or channel 4, just bbc channels, worse off than before.
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Really not happy. No 5 Live on 1026 mw.
For No.8 the signal for 5 live is appalling in the evening.
Where was the consultation.Who wants to listen to south west drivel when there are more important things happening i.e.champions league,olympics,ashes e.t.c.
BBC Jersey say they had no complaints.
If you agree that this is crazy please email them.
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But 1026 MW is BBC Radio Jersey and always has been they just switched it over to five live in the evenings because you couldn’t get five live normally due to poor reception. It was always a bit weird that they were putting a completely different radio station out on their frequency anyway.
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Why we not receiving the ITV2 and also many other channels???? Its not fair. I think this should get sorted! Thanks
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I was hoping for something decent to watch on tv.
But have ended up with gay bunny!
No chance of a 40th anniversary Goodies special to be found anywhere!!”shame” on you all.
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There must be far more annoyed listeners who are missing 5 Live than there are people listening to the boring Regional thing on MW instead of FM!
The BBC’s only excuse is that it allows people to receive BBC Jersey’s evening output if they don’t get good FM. Why should they get a special service like that? – what’s so special about BBC Jersey in that case, because it means they can’t get R1, R2, R3 or R4 either! They should sort themselves out with a proper aerial, they must be a small minority in any case.
Some time ago it was decided nationally not to “simulcast” the same programme in one area on two wavebands – that’s when R1 went FM-only, etc. It seems like a waste of radio dial-space to have the MW transmitter over here in addition to the FM service and broadcast the same content on both.
I hope Matthew Price reconsiders this strange decision.
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What about DAB?
When are we getting that?
Hopefully before they switch the FM trnasmitters off!!!!
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20.
DVB and DAB are completely different.
DAB is highly unlikely to come to Jersey. A few years ago the GWR radio group (big in the southwest) pulled out as it was unprofitable. If it can’t work in Swindon or Bristol its not gonna work here.
As radio transmitting is decentralised, there won’t be a national switchover like TV – Its up to the BBC and 103 to decide if/when to stop broadcasting in FM.
I’ve no idea why the coop are selling DAB sets over here.
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The French have stopped TV broadcasting in Band III where DAB operates in the UK, and the French will be using the band for DAB too, soon.
Seeing as the band will be for DAB in both countries, they really ought to be able to allow us to join in!
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I think that comment 1, Mr Logic, was right. Currently only three of the four possible multiplexes are in use. The fact that one commercial mux was allocated to companies that didn’t have an interest in the CI is irrelevant. There is plenty of room for Film 4, ITV3 & 4 plus more if we just did not have the standard UK configuration. Wales has a different configuration so why not the CI and make proper use of what is available? ITV HD on Freesat would also be good. We are being short changed.
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Ive got 9 channels in total now, 2 of which are gay rabbit and just rabbit…whatever they are! Radio Heart doesn’t play any sound and the we have a plus 1 for channel four so what we’re actually left with is 3, 4 and 5, more 4 and e4…..no bbc channels at all! So that obviously means no tv licence seeing as all the channels I can get arent covered by the licence!
Three choices here….either I can watch online – fair enough but a bit of a pain on the backside, or pay someone to come and have a look at the arial and tv (bet they’re making a bomb at the moment) for them to not actually solve anything, or I could pay money to sky to get repeats. Personally, I think I’ll not bother, the tv goes off and I’ll turn back to good old music and conversation! Maybe In won’t miss that goggle box at all and even go out and get some fresh air!
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5 Live back please…now! If I wanted to listen to parochial rubbish I would tuen in to 103.
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If you’re on Sure Broadband you can get Sure TV (currently just on your computer) though which has ITV 2 3 and 4 and a few other channels not available on the limited digital freeview range!
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#24 – you could get Freesat – you just need a dish and a box – no subscription and you’ll get lots more channels than are available on Freeview.
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If you are watching BBC via their IPlayer feature and not watching it live you don’t need a TV license
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@ 28 – Hew, how you get away with your pseudo I’ll never know.
You need a T.V. license if you have a T.V. in the house irrespective of whether you watch it or not. So, you are nearly right. I can’t think of many people who have a computer and not a T.V.
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I have watched Hew’s appearances with amusement but did not say anything
It is a bit naughty but on the Mrs Slocombe’s pussy scale of things!
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I like the comments of Mr.Logic. Perhaps someone “in the know” could investigate this. With the matter of paying tv license, the licence is imposed by the UK gov. It is a license to OPERATE A TELEVISION and includes permission to operate a RADIO both portable and in your car. The fact that the UK gov. give it to the BBC to provide free to air broadcasting does not have any influence on commercial broadcasters. There was a time when you had yo buy a license to have a radio in your car, this was extra to your domestic license!!
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#27 Yep, we didn’t even bother trying to switch, just stayed with freesat.
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I’m appalled at the low quality of the new digital service. I now have twice as many channels, but with an amount of interference across the space of one week that I would normally experience over a number of years on the analogue system.
All this afternoon it’s been like watching an online movie needing to constantly buffer, with stuttering sound and jerky pixellated images.
This evening it’s like a slide slow with an audio track. Is this what I can expect every time it rains heavily!?
It’s disgraceful.
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@R B BOUGOURD
So, I’m a mug, and everyone else who pays a tv license is a mug. I assume from your extremely “Citizen Smith” comment that you sit at home and read by candlelight as you’re no mug and aren’t giong to pay for a TV license, electricity, gas or any other service you’ve had thrust upon you.
Think before insulting the vast majority of the population.
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You do not need a licence if you have a tv in the house but you don’t use it.
The licensing “authority” might argue otherwise in its often aggressive letters from Bristol but it will only argue that in order to make the job of taking the fee easier. The onus is on the “authority” to prove that you are receiving contemporaneous television signals without a licence and a householder is under no obligation to answer any correspondence or questions. In fact, one is best advised not to engage with the “authority” at all.
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‘So, I’m a mug, and everyone else who pays a tv license is a mug’(Deep, #34)
Only you can tell us whether you think that the licence is good value in your individual case.
I wrote: ‘Because you and the rest of the mugs who pay it either think that it’s worth it or you haven’t got the courage to say “No, I’m not paying”.’
This was in reply to Mark G who asked:
“Please remind me why i pay my TV license?”.
From the tone of his post, he didn’t appear to be altogether satisfied with the arrangement.
I am not satified with it either. In the days of Savoy Hill wireless and subsequently Alexandra Palace TV the licence was for receiving BBC programmmes. Later we were sold Broadcast Receiving Licences by the GPO and then Offcom. That licence was a general permit to receive all legitimate broadcasts, television and radio or radio alone, including from overseas, and there was also an obligation for the authorities to sort out interference problems when using primary services for one’s area.
Nowadays the BBC blatantly infers that the licence is needed to pay for all their wonderful entertainment and even if you only ever watch content from other providers that is tough, you are committing a crime and their enforcers will soon be around to feel your collar.
Particularly, it behoves the notional householder to stand in the firing line for prosecution even though s/he may well not be the main consumer of broadcast entertainment. In many cases the so called breadwinner (the real ‘winners’ are the all consuming family members who sit around waiting for the bread) has far less time to watch than anyone else in the household. An equitable form of extortion?
Mugs, because they are letting it happen that way, including the ones who don’t mind every household being charged the same fee regardless of consumption. I did offer readers the opportunity to align one way or the other.
You quipped:
“I assume from your extremely “Citizen Smith” comment that you sit at home and read by candlelight as you’re no mug and aren’t giong to pay for a TV license, electricity, gas or any other service you’ve had thrust upon you.”
I had to look up ‘Citizen Smith’, Deep, so you can gain some satifaction from giving me a rather pointless task to waste a little more of my time. It turns out to be a television series which is why the comment was lost on me! I didn’t have the time or inclination to dig any deeper.
Television, for most people, is considered a necessary utility like electricity and gas but the metering and payment of the latter are not carried out in quite the same manner as the so called TV licence. So, witty as the put down may seem to you, you cannot safely assume that just because I don’t partake of the television ‘deal’ that I won’t either need, or be prepared to pay for, gas and electricity.
However, unless I connect to the pole with croc clips or tap into the gas pipe, I won’t end up with a criminal record for not agreeing to pay a fixed annual charge for using my equipment even if I make other supply arrangements, for instance buying bottled gas and a generator. Not that the latter would necessarily save money any more than having a Sky subscription would. But would I expect to be taken to court for not paying for electricity and gas I neither want nor use?
Quite possibly most of us are being taken for mugs by the fuel and power providers as well as by the BBC and if we allow that to happen without question, as we apparently do with television, then we could be taken for even bigger mugs in future. There is such a thing as testing the water where prices are concerned.
So, if any of you vast majority believe that you are being treated as mugs by the BBC, then do something about it. The ‘vast majority’ of Australians rebelled and got rid of their licence, but they have a different mindset. They would have no hesitation in calling mugs mugs even if the mugs comprise the ‘vast majority of the population’.
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@ Mike Hunt and others.
I emailed Matthew Price to complain. He seems to think that sitting at a computer listening to Five Live is as good as having it on a small radio.
No no no, I don’t want to be lugging a computer everywhere I go!!!
Yes please do let us complain. The computer alternative is absolutely unacceptable.
Helen.
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Er hello people, this is Jersey….what do you expect??!! Yet another thing that Jersey can’t do properly. Why don’t all of you who are moaning just get sky instead?
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No. 37 Well done Helen.I emailed Mathew also but he doesn,t seem to want to change. I thought he would have been snowed under with complaints. Most people are probably not aware that he is to blame.If I new more about facebook I would have started a campagn on that. But it maybe that the non techno people are more affected. I have a smartphone that can stream 5 live but I want to stand up for everyones right to listen to live sport commentary. I will email the guy every fortnight
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How about complaining to 5live for not broadcasting a strong enough signal in Jersey instead of complaining to BBC Jersey for not broadcasting a completely different radio station on their space.
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Complain to bbc about signal quality. Done that.
Got a link back that explains what causes interference. i.e. weather,night time atmospheric conditions,close proximity to France.The latter could be rather difficult to resolve.
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