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Sky & Freesat fringe reception
BBC ITV etc phasing out SD services on satellite in 2023
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<blockquote data-quote="Fisty McB" data-source="post: 1138596" data-attributes="member: 389824"><p>If money was no object, I'm sure the BBC would have no reason not to continue current SD services for the foreseeable future and simply rent out additional capacity from SES at 28E (there's a good bit going spare up there ATM).</p><p></p><p>However, money is an object and the BBC are currently in the process of making savings. Two English regions (Cambridge aka East (West) & Oxford) are closing down in the next few weeks with Cambridge merging into a single East region, can't remember where Oxford is going to merge into (sorry!)</p><p></p><p>I'm only guessing here, but there might also be an issue with the satellite uplinking/playout system for SD that is reaching nearly or at end-of-life.</p><p></p><p>At present, all BBC services at 28E (with the exception of the BBC Two NI HD test service) is spread across six transponders as follows (those with an asterik beside them have a HD simulcast) with BBC Three & CBBC plus BBC Four & CBeebies counting as one stream each as they timeshare...</p><p></p><p><strong>BBC One English Regions </strong></p><p></p><p>Channel Isles</p><p>East (East)</p><p>East (West)</p><p>East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire</p><p>London</p><p>North East & Cumbria</p><p>North West</p><p>Oxford</p><p>South</p><p>South East</p><p>South West</p><p>West</p><p>West Midlands</p><p>Yorkshire & North Midlands</p><p></p><p><strong>BBC One "National" Regions</strong></p><p></p><p><em>England (HD Only)*</em></p><p>Northern Ireland*</p><p>Scotland*</p><p>Wales*</p><p></p><p><strong>BBC Two Regions</strong></p><p></p><p>England*</p><p>Northern Ireland</p><p>Wales*</p><p></p><p><strong>BBC Scottish Channels</strong></p><p></p><p>BBC Scotland*</p><p>BBC Alba</p><p></p><p><strong>BBC UK-Wide Channels</strong></p><p></p><p>BBC Three/CBBC*</p><p>BBC Four/CBeebies*</p><p>BBC News*</p><p>BBC Parliament</p><p>BBC Red Button</p><p></p><p><em>Total SD Services - 27</em></p><p><em>Total HD Services - 10</em></p><p></p><p>-------</p><p></p><p>The plan for the BBC's satellite TV transmissions from April 2024 is to have all in HD as follows...</p><p></p><p><strong>BBC One English Regions </strong></p><p></p><p>Channel Isles</p><p>East</p><p>East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire</p><p>London</p><p>North East & Cumbria</p><p>North West</p><p>South</p><p>South East</p><p>South West</p><p>West</p><p>West Midlands</p><p>Yorkshire & North Midlands</p><p></p><p><strong>BBC One "National" Regions</strong></p><p></p><p>Northern Ireland</p><p>Scotland</p><p>Wales</p><p></p><p><strong>BBC Two Regions</strong></p><p></p><p>England</p><p>Northern Ireland</p><p>Wales</p><p></p><p><strong>BBC Scottish Channels</strong></p><p></p><p>BBC Scotland</p><p>BBC Alba</p><p></p><p><strong>BBC UK-Wide Channels</strong></p><p></p><p>BBC Three/CBBC</p><p>BBC Four/CBeebies</p><p>BBC News</p><p>BBC Parliament</p><p>BBC Red Button</p><p></p><p><em>Total HD Services - 25</em></p><p></p><p>The above figures doesn't include the radio services already broadcast, though these are largely inconsequential in the greater scheme of things.</p><p></p><p>At present the BBC uses two DVB-S2 transponders for 10 HD streams, 5 per transponder. If it were to stick to this from April 2024, they would only require five transponders instead of the six presently in use.</p><p></p><p>Alternatively they may be looking at what ITV presently do with six HD services per DVB-S2 transponder and try their hand at that. They could comfortably fit six into three transponders, but a fourth would need to be measured to carry seven - a possibility here would be to chance putting in services here that aren't normally "bitrate intensive" and could chance their arm at certainly slipping BBC Parliament in here as well as BBC News. Radio services could then be spread over the other three transponders.</p><p></p><p>From the above calculations, I'd reckon that one motivation for the HD upgrade programme is to both save on transponder rental costs and end duplication of services in SD & HD. While the BBC could retain six transponders in a post April 2024 transmission system, there is easily scope for them to reduce that, wherever it may reduced to five or even four will depend on internal BBC decision making.</p><p></p><p>And without knowing the more technical details as to what will happen in Q1 2023, what looks almost certain to happen is that three of the current DVB-S transponders will in phases be turned over to DVB-S2 transmission, with one DVB-S transponder remaining in place until April 2024. This will require some reshuffling of SD (and probably current HD) services during this time to allow changes to be made until by April one DVB-S transponder is left carrying the following...</p><p></p><p>BBC One (UK)</p><p>BBC Two (UK)</p><p>BBC Three/CBBC</p><p>BBC Four/CBeebies</p><p>BBC News</p><p>BBC Parliament</p><p>BBC Scotland</p><p>BBC Alba</p><p>BBC Red Button</p><p></p><p>...plus the BBC Radio stations on satellite.</p><p></p><p>The only way to continue broadcasting a BBC One or Two SD service compatible in its present form is on a DVB-S transponder - the BBC I'd be at least 99% certain will be accommodating their HD only services on DVB-S2 transponders, so there's no real space left available for such an event. </p><p></p><p>Just to finish, I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that the April 2024 date - or some time around it - will end up being the "sunset" date for DVB-S MPEG2 SD broadcasts aimed at the UK, not just for the BBC but also for ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 & Sky, with all future transmissions from these broadcasters at least going over to DVB-S2 MPEG4, either in HD or SD.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fisty McB, post: 1138596, member: 389824"] If money was no object, I'm sure the BBC would have no reason not to continue current SD services for the foreseeable future and simply rent out additional capacity from SES at 28E (there's a good bit going spare up there ATM). However, money is an object and the BBC are currently in the process of making savings. Two English regions (Cambridge aka East (West) & Oxford) are closing down in the next few weeks with Cambridge merging into a single East region, can't remember where Oxford is going to merge into (sorry!) I'm only guessing here, but there might also be an issue with the satellite uplinking/playout system for SD that is reaching nearly or at end-of-life. At present, all BBC services at 28E (with the exception of the BBC Two NI HD test service) is spread across six transponders as follows (those with an asterik beside them have a HD simulcast) with BBC Three & CBBC plus BBC Four & CBeebies counting as one stream each as they timeshare... [B]BBC One English Regions [/B] Channel Isles East (East) East (West) East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire London North East & Cumbria North West Oxford South South East South West West West Midlands Yorkshire & North Midlands [B]BBC One "National" Regions[/B] [I]England (HD Only)*[/I] Northern Ireland* Scotland* Wales* [B]BBC Two Regions[/B] England* Northern Ireland Wales* [B]BBC Scottish Channels[/B] BBC Scotland* BBC Alba [B]BBC UK-Wide Channels[/B] BBC Three/CBBC* BBC Four/CBeebies* BBC News* BBC Parliament BBC Red Button [I]Total SD Services - 27 Total HD Services - 10[/I] ------- The plan for the BBC's satellite TV transmissions from April 2024 is to have all in HD as follows... [B]BBC One English Regions [/B] Channel Isles East East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire London North East & Cumbria North West South South East South West West West Midlands Yorkshire & North Midlands [B]BBC One "National" Regions[/B] Northern Ireland Scotland Wales [B]BBC Two Regions[/B] England Northern Ireland Wales [B]BBC Scottish Channels[/B] BBC Scotland BBC Alba [B]BBC UK-Wide Channels[/B] BBC Three/CBBC BBC Four/CBeebies BBC News BBC Parliament BBC Red Button [I]Total HD Services - 25[/I] The above figures doesn't include the radio services already broadcast, though these are largely inconsequential in the greater scheme of things. At present the BBC uses two DVB-S2 transponders for 10 HD streams, 5 per transponder. If it were to stick to this from April 2024, they would only require five transponders instead of the six presently in use. Alternatively they may be looking at what ITV presently do with six HD services per DVB-S2 transponder and try their hand at that. They could comfortably fit six into three transponders, but a fourth would need to be measured to carry seven - a possibility here would be to chance putting in services here that aren't normally "bitrate intensive" and could chance their arm at certainly slipping BBC Parliament in here as well as BBC News. Radio services could then be spread over the other three transponders. From the above calculations, I'd reckon that one motivation for the HD upgrade programme is to both save on transponder rental costs and end duplication of services in SD & HD. While the BBC could retain six transponders in a post April 2024 transmission system, there is easily scope for them to reduce that, wherever it may reduced to five or even four will depend on internal BBC decision making. And without knowing the more technical details as to what will happen in Q1 2023, what looks almost certain to happen is that three of the current DVB-S transponders will in phases be turned over to DVB-S2 transmission, with one DVB-S transponder remaining in place until April 2024. This will require some reshuffling of SD (and probably current HD) services during this time to allow changes to be made until by April one DVB-S transponder is left carrying the following... BBC One (UK) BBC Two (UK) BBC Three/CBBC BBC Four/CBeebies BBC News BBC Parliament BBC Scotland BBC Alba BBC Red Button ...plus the BBC Radio stations on satellite. The only way to continue broadcasting a BBC One or Two SD service compatible in its present form is on a DVB-S transponder - the BBC I'd be at least 99% certain will be accommodating their HD only services on DVB-S2 transponders, so there's no real space left available for such an event. Just to finish, I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that the April 2024 date - or some time around it - will end up being the "sunset" date for DVB-S MPEG2 SD broadcasts aimed at the UK, not just for the BBC but also for ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 & Sky, with all future transmissions from these broadcasters at least going over to DVB-S2 MPEG4, either in HD or SD. [/QUOTE]
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BBC ITV etc phasing out SD services on satellite in 2023
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