This article is more than 1 year old

4K video on terrestrial TV? Not if the WRC shares frequencies to mobiles

Have your say with Ofcom now, before Freeview becomes Feeview

Crunch time

Freeview is facing a crunch anyway, as many of the temporary multiplexes around the country use some spare channels around 600 MHz. These spare channels can partially compensate for the loss of the 700 MHz band, so the temporary multiplexes will have to close when the 700 MHz band is finally cleared, expected around 2021-22. What does that mean to users? It probably means – but whisper it, as no one wants to admit it's coming – a second mini-switchover.

Ofcom 2013 UK TV fast facts

Ofcom Fast Facts 2013: with nearly half of the country equipped for HDTV and Freeview on millions of sets, putting a squeeze on the channels that can be delivered will be felt

To provide the same level of service, in terms of channels, that Freeview offers right now, with less spectrum means something has to give. You can only shuffle frequencies around so much before you run up against the same one in a nearby area. Sooner or later, to make the most efficient use of the space that will be left, there will have to be a migration to the DVB-T2 standard, and H.264 codec. Both are presently used for HD, but just as capable of broadcasting SD channels more efficiently, as long as your equipment has the right bits to decode it.

You'll find hints of this in Ofcom documents talking about the recent extra HD channels encouraging the take-up of T2/H.264 kit, but no one's saying it outright. It’s something of a contrast to the analogue switchover, which was talked about for years. If the 470-694MHz band is allowed for mobile use as well, of course, a second switchover will be a moot point and at best, there'll be a tiny rump of PSB channels available.

What of IP?

"So what?" some are bound to say, and this being The Register, someone will probably suggest we'll all be using IPTV by then, and it'll be even easier if all that spectrum is used for broadband instead of terrestrial television.

Back in the here and now, have you tried using the internet when everyone's watching Wimbledon on iPlayer? How many times have people complained recently about being unable to watch Game of Thrones on their streaming service, or the collapse of ITV Player? Even the usually rock solid Netflix has been sulking for me lately, at one point refusing to work on my Roku box for six out of 10 days, seemingly because of a weird DNS quirk.

IPTV has to improve a lot before it can replace Freeview – even broadband is still nowhere near that 98.5 per cent availability in homes. So it’s no surprise then that organisations like Digital UK don't believe IPTV would be in a position to replace DTT until at least 2030, leading Ofcom to state in its most recent PSB review that DTT should remain the main TV platform until then.

Ofcom 2013 UK TV fast facts

Have your say on frequency changes as you could pay the price some day

So, in the meantime, unless you want to pay for all your television viewing – and of course, if it's all delivered via mobile broadband in remote areas, you'll likely be paying twice over – I'd urge readers to respond to the Ofcom consultation on WRC-15, and make sure that the UK opposes the use of the 470-694MHz band for mobile.

Vocal response

The online document Ofcom consultation on the UK preparations for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) is where to go to submit a response by the 19 September – and you can just reply to the points that interest you.

The key decisions are agenda items 1.1 and 1.2, which could affect TV in the UK. To save you reading the whole thing, "Region 1" covers the UK, as it's Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Ofcom's key question for their respondents is question 11: do you agree it should oppose co-primary mobile allocation for 470-694MHz. You can also offer your opinions on the 700MHz band in question 12, though I suspect that's pretty much a done deal.

Question 3 asks if you agree with Ofcom's approach in general and, if such things concern you, you can offer your opinion on leap seconds via question 29.

If you value Freeview – whether for yourself, or for relatives who don't want to have to subscribe to pay TV – it's important to respond, and make sure there's still space for terrestrial broadcasting.

If you're thinking of buying a new TV, don't buy a 4K set expecting it to ever receive terrestrial broadcasts, and don't buy anything that doesn't have Freeview HD built in. ®

More about

More about

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like