Britannist

harryaldridge

I have a few issues with the proposal

1) Why do people feel they have a right to HD on a free-to-air basis?

2) The spectrum is available for HD at present. Nobody is preventing an broadcaster from launching a free HD channel, so why are Ofcom butting in to enshrine it in the regulatory framework? Let the market decide

3) MPEG-4 means upgrading existing set top boxes

4) The HD proposed is still only 720p. By the time it is launched i expect we will have HD channels commonplace at 1080i or 1080p, meaning content will have to be downscaled for freeview.

__________________
http://vindicovindico.blogspot.com

Britannist

Harry - If the BBC run HD services they should make (at least some of) them available for viewing to all those who are forced to pay them them over £135 a year by way of the compulsory television licence fee, don't you think?

Why should I have to pay the BBC (through the licence fee) to make/buy and show High definition (HD) television programmes to others but not me?

In the years before 'Freeview' (the set-top box) emerged, the BBC were criticised for setting up and running 'BBC News 24' which cost a great deal of television licence fee payers' money to run but was actually available (in its early years) to only a very small number of those people forced to pay for it.

Britannist

Most viewers of 'Freeview' channels will be buying a new digital 'Freeview' box in the future anyway - but the box (two of them, in fact) will be incorporated into a DVD digital recorder.

If this MPEG-4 upgrade (referred to by Harry - above quote) has to happen, perhaps it should be co-ordinated with the 'migration' to DVD digital recorders in the years to come (i.e. to DVD digital recorders which allow the viewer to watch on digital ('Freeview') channel but record (at the same time) from another digital ('Freeview') channel.

In other words, the next 'generation' of DVD digital ('Freeview') recorders ought to include the (High Definition) upgrade to MPEG-4.

Most viewers who receive programmes via the 'Freeview' set-top box are going to have to purchase a new DVD digital recorder at some point in the future (if they do not already have one) should they wish to record from a 'Freeview' digital television channel while they watch another 'Freeview' digital channel. It would obviously be better if viewers can purchase a new DVD digital recorder which includes the high definition MPEG-4 upgrade.

Another point to consider is the emergence of Blue Ray DVD discs and the other new DVD disc system. Most viewers will not yet have machines capable of playing these discs but will want the next generation of DVD digital recorders to be built to play such discs as well as standard DVD discs.

Incidentally, Blue Ray DVD discs are currently ahead in popularity in the USA.

Britannist

All HD channels to be broadcast by the BBC should be 'free to air' (although I resent the BBC using the term 'free to air' because the BBC - unlike ITV - is anything but 'free').

The BBC would never have got away with setting up its first colour television channel (which was BBC 2 - the first colour television service in europe) and restricting reception of it to a small section of the population. BBC 2 colour was available when it was launched to anyone with a cololur television. The same should apply to BBC high definition (HD) channels. They should be available to all those with 'Freeview' (by 2012 the 'Freeview' set-top box will be the main way of receiving BBC television in the UK).

harryaldridge

That is a very good point. But then I would rather see the license fee scrapped and the BBC scaled down to either a few key services, or privatised completely!
But you are right that if the Beeb does an HD channel then all license fee payers should be able to see it.

__________________
http://vindicovindico.blogspot.com

Britannist

Thank you for your agreement, Harry.

I share your view that the compulsory television licence fee should be got rid of.

For less than the cost of a colour television licence fee I could pay for ten (probably more) 'Top Up TV' television channels which can be received through 'Freeview' card slot set-top boxes.

We all have to pay the BBC over £135 a year just to get the legal right to watch ITV. The compulsory television licence is a ridiculous system.

The Conservatives want the system to be changed. Labour only support it because the BBC is (like Labour) a part of the pro-EU 'broad left'.