deeteetee.co.uk

Welcome to deeteetee.co.uk, a site dedicated to digital terrestrial television in the UK (that’s Freeview and all the other channels you can get through your aerial with a set-top box or digital telly)

14/05/08 13:10

BBC Parliament to take Olympic recess

The BBC will replace BBC Parliament with an extra interactive stream for the duration of the Olympic Games on Freeview. On digital satellite, up to eight individual interactive streams are available, but this number is limited to just two on DTT. As Parliament will be in recess during the Beijing games anyway, this will increase the number of ‘red-button’ video streams to three.

13/05/08 16:00

Sky’s Picnic postponed again by Ofcom

Sky’s plans to launch a subscription television service on DTT by replacing their three existing channels on Freeview with programming from Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky One have been dealt another blow by the media regulator Ofcom. Two separate consultations – on the state of the pay-TV market as a whole, and of Sky’s proposal – have already been carried out, but now a third has been announced to examine the impact the move could have on the UK television market as a whole. The consultation will last until the end of the summer, pushing any Picnic launch back to Summer 2009.

08/05/08 19:30

Rabbit hops on to Freeview

A placeholder for Teletext's new "chat and dating" service Rabbit has appeared on Freeview channel 102. The service, which replaces Teletext Cars, will allow users to set up profiles with pictures sent in by mobile phone.

06/05/08 11:00

Freesat launched

Freesat, the satellite television service with no monthly subscription, launches today. Backed by the BBC and ITV, the service is based on Freeview, but is available to a much larger percentage of the population – 98% compared to Freeview’s 75% coverage. Around 80 television channels are available from launch, including the High Definition service BBC HD; E4 and More4, both of which began broadcasting FTA on satellite from this morning; plus a wide selection of channels not available on DTT including Pop, The Vault and EuroNews. Visit the Freesat page, deeteetee’s new blog, or the Freesat website for more information.

03/05/08 15:00

ITV’s Grade attacks Ofcom’s HD plans

ITV chairman Michael Grade has attacked Ofcom’s plans to launch HD service on Freeview by re-arranging existing channels, rather than providing new, dedicated spectrum. Grade said that “closing the door to HD on Freeview would undermine [efforts to ensure] that everyone has access to the same quality of broadcasting and to the main public service broadcasting channels”. ITV are currently developing their own HD channel in preparation for its eventual launch on Freesat.

28/04/08 16:30

Five Life replaced by Fiver

Fiver launched on Freeview channel 36 this morning at 06:00, replacing Five Life. The channel is essentially just a re-jigged Five Life, with much of the programming staying the same, but with a new schedule and a few new acquisitions like series two of Dirt and the five-minute-episode My Space series Sofia’s Diary. Most digital receivers won’t need re-scanning, as only the channel name has changed. In other news, Teletext is now available from Channel 4+1.

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