Government Finally Reveals When It Wants Freeview Gone

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@Owen Smith, me too (obvs, not the weird 4k stuff).

I was also happy with these snippets (anyone who went through the online survey, which worked in SeaMomkey 2.53.24, kudos to Qualtrics, can guess what question was being answered):

Instead of abandoning the existing efficient high-bandwidth broadcasting system, with its built-in privacy among other desirable features, the life of the system should be guaranteed for the indefinite future. Broadcasters could then be confident in the system and should be encouraged to treat it as a first-class distribution system rather than as at present hoping not to be the last user to turn out the lights.

If there is an economic failure, it is that each of many players is incentivised to create too much look-alike content that many potential viewers cannot find, or cannot access, or don't have time to watch.

It turns out that we are prepared to institute our own regulations on matters like age verification, content and user curfews for internet platforms regardless of domicile. Whether or not you agree with these steps towards a North Korean internet, the door is already open, if not to seizing content from Amazon Prime or Netflix, then certainly to encouraging or forcing such companies to participate in the UK broadcasting system.

And as to the question about environmental impact of a hypothetical "switch-off", s/t like

Surely this is exactly what civil servants are paid to work out? Or forward your ITT for consultancy services.

 

[EEPhil]

Not always convinced by Cordbusters, but this popped up on a social media feed.

Freely Hit By Major Outage As Viewers Lost Most Channels | Cord Busters

Freely channels went down for two days with error ETV6056 - and some Pleio and Aero owners still need a factory reset to get them back. Here’s what to do

www.cordbusters.co.uk

Feed that failure into the Green Paper discussions!

 

[trog]

Not always convinced by Cordbusters, but this popped up on a social media feed.

Freely Hit By Major Outage As Viewers Lost Most Channels | Cord Busters

Freely channels went down for two days with error ETV6056 - and some Pleio and Aero owners still need a factory reset to get them back. Here’s what to do

www.cordbusters.co.uk

Feed that failure into the Green Paper discussions!

Still more questions than answers but at least the EZ got a mention and Humax might even sell a couple of boxes if they can play on it also having Freeview as a backup when Freely fails though if it now needs a factory reset and it wipes any recordings we should see a few more appearing on Amazon and Ebay.

 

[trog]

156,000.000 reasons why the fight to keep Freeview looks like a lost cause.

Freeview’s £156m Problem - And Why Freely Is The Fix | Cord Busters

New Everyone TV research reveals what Freeview’s transmitters cost - and why the broadcasters want your aerial switched off by 2034 in favour of Freely

www.cordbusters.co.uk

 

[Black Hole]

Anyone costed Internet delivery??

 

[EEPhil]

The BBC has done some costings on energy usage. https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/2025-09-sustainability-energy-streaming-broadcast-television
A year out of date, but at the moment internet costs more than broadcast. Inconveniently for us it looks as though that might change in the early 2030s. Funny that!

 

[Owen Smith]

Unfortunately losing Freeview will probably kill FM (and DAB but I don't care) radio, because radio won't be able to support the costs of running the masts. TV covers most of the fixed maintenance costs.

 

[Black Hole]

at the moment internet costs more than broadcast

Energy? What about all the infrastructure!

 

[Owen Smith]

156,000.000 reasons why the fight to keep Freeview looks like a lost cause.

Freeview’s £156m Problem - And Why Freely Is The Fix | Cord Busters

New Everyone TV research reveals what Freeview’s transmitters cost - and why the broadcasters want your aerial switched off by 2034 in favour of Freely

www.cordbusters.co.uk

To quote that article:

BBC income is around a quarter lower in real terms than at the start of the current Charter, a drop of about £1.2 billion.

The above is easily fixable by restoring the BBC licence fee to it's previous value in real terms ie accounting for inflation.

 

[EEPhil]

Energy? What about all the infrastructure!

That I don't know. I'm just pointing out what I currently know.

 

[Black Hole]

The above is easily fixable by restoring the BBC licence fee to it's previous value in real terms ie accounting for inflation.

And/or close the loophole that allows people to opt out.

People argue against the idea of having a licence fee at all, but the alternative is American TV.

 

[Owen Smith]

People argue against the idea of having a licence fee at all, but the alternative is American TV.

Anyone arguing against a licence fee should be made to watch American TV for a week, that will make them change their minds. And I mean US network TV (cable and broadcast), not streaming.

 

[aekostas]

What a mess…

 

[Owen Smith]

What a mess…

My 85 year old aunt is one of the people with no broadband. She has an analogue landline and a Humax HDR Fox T2. She is totally incapable of operating technology, it took her years to get used to operating the HDR Fox T2. When she phones her GP to make an appointment she is told to do it online, and they ask for her mobile number so they can text her. She then turns up in person to make an appointment, and basically has to fake a near mental breakdown to get an appointment booked in person.

 

[aekostas]

Judging by what happened in Midlothian, the analogue line may not be available for much longer. I managed to get FTTC and VoIP and my latter supplier sold me a device to use my analog (well, DECT) phone-device. It was not obvious to achieve even with a very willing broadband supplier, so she may need help to get to that point, but the set-up is similar to analog phone.

 

[Owen Smith]

Judging by what happened in Midlothian, the analogue line may not be available for much longer. I managed to get FTTC and VoIP and my latter supplier sold me a device to use my analog (well, DECT) phone-device. It was not obvious to achieve even with a very willing broadband supplier, so she may need help to get to that point, but the set-up is similar to analog phone.

I'm aware of that. Myself and my parents both have VOIP landlines on our prior analogue numbers, using the same model of DECT phone from Gigaset that my aunt uses which can do both analogue and VOIP. The problem is my aunt does not have broadband so there's no easy way to migrate her unlike for myself and my parents. BT wrote to her in January 2025 to say she would be migrated in the spring, and that is the last we've heard. Currently the deadline for analogue landline switch off is end of 2026, but I don't see it happening by then. She wants to keep her number and she can't tolerate loss of service for more than about a day, so we just have to wait and see what migration options BT eventually offer her.

 

[EEPhil]

People argue against the idea of having a licence fee at all, but the alternative is American TV.

Many countries that no longer have a licence fee fund a public broadcaster through general taxation by a direct grant. Great, a government can suddenly decide to pull funding. Apparently in Germany you pay the fee per household even if you don't have a tv. A similar idea here with a fee added to council tax might work, until someone changes local council/police/fire funding (a poll tax or rates maybe - they both worked well!). Current council tax rebates could apply and, the added benefit, the BBC wouldn't be responsible for debt recovery. Set the fee correctly and it might cover BBC costs with some money left over that could be bid for by other public service broadcasters.