| Analogue Television In The United Kingdom |
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CHANNELS AVAILABLE NATIONALLY
FORMER SYSTEMS
Television broadcasting began on an experimental basis by the BBC in London in 1936 . Initially the service was operated using two competing systems, The earliest television broadcasts used the 240-line Baird system and the 405-line Marconi-EMI system on alternate weeks. However, the Baird system proved too cumbersome and by early 1937 had been dropped and the Marconi-EMI system became the standard. This system was later codified by the ITU as System A . Different broadcast stations across the country broadcast on different channels to avoid interference. Broadcast was suspended during the war but resumed in 1946 . The BBC was joined on this system in 1955 with the launch of commercial television in the form of the regional ITV network. This was the sole system in existence until the preparations for the introduction of 625-line transmission in 1964. It ceased broadcasting in 1985 . CURRENT SYSTEM
When it was decided to introduce colour television, it was initially intended to add the American system NTSC to the British system A for a system that would have been known as NTSC-A. However the government instead decided to standardise on the European 625 line PAL system. Rather than broadcast on the existing VHF channels under system A, a new system was adopted known as System I . As such, the UK standard is PAL-I. Broadcast on this system commenced in 1964 with the launch of BBC 2 . It was later joined by BBC 1 and the ITV franchises, however these channels continued to broadcast on the VHF system A until 1985 . BBC 2, Channel 4 and S4C (the latter two being introduced in 1982 ) only ever broadcast on UHF. The British channel numbering scheme divided the spectrum into 49 channels numbered 21 through to 69. These channels were allocated to the broadcasters to allow for four channels nationwide, two BBC channels, the ITV network and a proposed second network for ITV to be called "ITV 2". This last network was never launched (though a channel called ITV2 was eventually launched as a digital channel in 1998 ), but the channels it was to be allocated were allocated to the commercial broadcasters Channel 4 and S4C instead. As such, when Channel 5 launched in 1997 a massive retuning exercise had to be undertaken at the broadcaster's expense. Even after this is was still not possible to transmit Channel 5 to the whole of the UK. Due to the networks being nationwide, it is convention that television sets be tuned such that channel 1 is tuned to BBC One, 2 to BBC Two, 3 to the ITV network (later branded as ITV1), 4 to Channel 4 or S4C and 5 to Five regardless of what actual channel the station is broadcasting on. In addition to the 5 national networks, a limited number of local stations are broadcast to various towns and cities under what is known as a Restricted Service Licence . These occupy channels unused by the other broadcasters that can be used without causing interference in other regions. DIGITAL SWITCH-OVER The government is committed to switching terrestrial television broadcasting to completely digital by 2012 . A company called Digital UK (formerly "switchco") has been set up to handle the change. The switch will be on a region by region basis using the ITV regions as a basis. The schedule was announced by Secretary Of State For Culture, Media And Sport , Tessa Jowell on September 15 2005 at the Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention. No date was announced for the 15th ITV region, Channel Television , as this broadcasts from the Channel Islands, outside the jurisdiction of the UK Government. Under the original proposals it would convert last, after UTV. Some concern has been raised that the London region will be switched shortly before the city hosts the Olympic Games . Jowell said "I can assure you that I did not slog for two years to bring the games here just to see Londoners reduced to huddling round the wireless to find out who won the hundred metres, I am completely confident that our timetable is a sensible one which will ensure that digital services are delivered with no disruption to the viewing public during the Games themselves." It was also announced that a support scheme will be put in place to ensure that no one is left behind in the switch. It will provide help with equipment and installation and follow-up support for people aged 75 years and over and people with significant disabilities. The scheme will be funded by the BBC through the licence fee. Help will be free for the most needy, with a small change levied for others USE ON SATELLITE AND CABLE SYSTEMS Initially satellite and cable systems broadcast using standard (PAL-I) signals. though often Scrambled to prevent people watching the channels without paying a subscription. The major provider of satellite television in the UK, BSkyB launched a digital service (called Sky Digital ) in 1998 based on DVB-S . This allowed many more channels and was marketed with a smaller dish. Take-up was very successful and Sky discontinued the former analogue service in 2001 . Cable has not fully transitioned to the digital format ( DVB-C ) as some parts of the physical cable network are not suitable for transmitting the digital signals. It is not known when (if ever) analogue transmission will cease on these systems. In some parts of the network where digital cable is available, analogue transmissions have been ceased in order that the bandwidth may be utilised for more data for the digital platform, in others both systems run alongside each other, though often new channels will launch on digital at the expense of channels on the older analogue network, which encourages those users to switch. |
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