Radio and Telly UK Digital TV News

FrequencyCast UK Podcast Show 41 out now

2009-07-01T19:00:00.000+01:00

FrequencyCast Show 41 has been released today.

In show 41 of the UK's TV and Technology podcast, Carl and Pete look at broadband in the UK and how to get a faster connection. We also look at the latest on Setanta and ESPN, find out that there's a Freeview HD date on the table, and get ready for the FM radio switch-off.

You can download Show 41 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html.

If you have an iPod or iPhone, then you can get us via iTunes FrequencyCast on iTunes.

Kids radio comes to DAB

2009-06-26T21:02:00.001+01:00

Fun Kids, the 2009 Sony Radio Digital Station of the year, will be broadcasting on the national DAB network throughout the summer.

Fun Kids starts broadcasting from 27th June and will be on-air until 3 October.

ESPN replaces Setanta

2009-06-24T23:09:00.005+01:00

As reported, Setanta Sports went off-air yesterday, 23rd June, after going into administration.

Disney-owned sports service ESPN has just bought up the rights to show 46 Premier League matches from the 2009/2010 football season, and it seems that they have geared up very quickly to offer ESPN on existing services

Tonight, Freeview channel 34, previously occupied by Setanta, is showing the ESPN America. To view this, you either need a Top Up TV Anytime box or a Freeview box / IDTV that has a TopUp or Setanta card. ESPN is being offered free to Top Up TV subscribers, but it's not clear how for.

Seems that ESPN has been quick to fill the void offered by Setanta.

More when we have it.

Top Up TV Anytime v4.07 software upgrade

2009-06-24T19:42:00.000+01:00

Many Top Up TV Anytime users are reporting that their boxes have been upgraded from software version v3.59 to v4.07. No information as yet on what this update addresses.

Setanta goes into administration

2009-06-23T19:00:00.000+01:00

It's been on the cards for weeks, but today at 2:30pm, troubled Setanta Sports finally went into administration.

For information on this, and how it affects Setanta's 1.2 million UK customers, see our new Setanta Help and Advice page

Premier League Terminates Setanta

2009-06-19T19:34:00.003+01:00

Setanta Sports has been in serious trouble for a while as we have reported recently. This evening, it seems the fatal blow may have been struck.

Setanta's big offering is their coverage of English Premier League matches not screened by Sky. 46 were planned to be shown on Setanta in the upcoming 2009/10 season, but Setanta has failed to make a scheduled payment of �30 million, and the Premier League has this evening terminated the contract, putting the coverage of the 46 matches up for action.

This will leave 1.2 million customers without Premier League matches next season, and Setanta's unlikely to survive that...

For the latest, see our Setanta Sports Situation page.

Digital Switchover for radio by 2015

2009-06-17T22:32:00.003+01:00

Plans are afoot to switch off the national FM services in the UK, as well as some local radio services, by 2015, forcing the UK towards DAB digital radio.

In the Digital Britain report published yesterday, plans for a shift to DAB, the end of stations on Medium Wave, plus the transition of national stations to DAB are laid out. The FM space vacated by the big boys will be freed up for a network of ultra-local and community stations.

The report also highlights the target of getting digital radio listening up to 50% by 2013, and a target of DAB-only car radios in new cars by 2013.

Ambitious targets for a Digital Britain...

More on this story on our FM Radio page

Freeview HD channels confirmed

2009-06-14T14:28:00.001+01:00

As reported before, when Freeview HD starts next year, there will be four slots. Ofcom has this month announced the fourth channel. It's gone to Five.

Five will be offering some of their peak time content in HD, with an HD-on-demand service overnight, and Five HD is expected to launch by the end on 2010.

The other three slots have been taken by BBC, ITV and channel 4. For full details on watching HD over Freeview, see our Freeview HD section.

Setanta, ITV, BT, iPhones - Podcast update just released

2009-06-10T22:33:00.004+01:00

The FrequencyCast podcast team has just released an emergency podcast update covering the week's news stories: Setanta Sports close to collapse, changes to DAB, the new iPhone 3GS, iPhone OS 3.0, Sky on the X-Box, a top BT offer and the rise of the Pirates....

You can get to the update at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html , or if you have iTunes, get the show and sign up for more shows at: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=142899029

Share and enjoy

Setanta in serious trouble

2009-06-08T23:08:00.007+01:00

A warning to Setanta subscribers - we're hearing more worrying reports about the struggling sports service.

The Daily Mail is running with the story Setanta on the brink of collapse with the Times going with Time running out for Setanta rescue.

A statement issues by Setanta Sports today (10th June) says: "The company has not gone into administration.All our channels are still broadcasting across all platforms and our subscribers can continue to enjoy our programming. However, in the current circumstances, we have decided to suspend temporarily the acceptance of new subscriptions."

Setanta needs to pay �30m to the Premier League by the end of the week as part of its contract, but appears to have been unsuccessful in its bid to raise the money. The company's survival is hanging in the balance with many thinking that collapse is days away. It's not clear how this would affect Setanta's 1.2 million UK subscribers.

With Setanta and paying by credit or debit card? Be careful. See the payment advice at MoneySavingExpert: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/protect/2009/06/setanta-crisis-how-to-protect-your-

Latest 19 June 09: Premier League rights revoked. See: Setanta Sports Situation

ITV may move from Freeview

2009-06-03T22:42:00.001+01:00

ITV is in talks with Sky over moving their digital channels ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 from the Freeview platform over to Sky's pay platform.

ITV's in a bad way at the moment - it's suffering heavily from the decline in ad revenue, and has had to lay off a number of staff, sell off assets and look to reduce their locally-produced news content. The move to a subscription service would be a way of generating some much needed revenue, as Sky would give ITV a cut of the subscription fee they charge their users.

Around 17 million households reportedly now have Freeview, compared to Sky's 9 million subscribers.

New national DAB station ousts birds

2009-06-02T20:07:00.002+01:00

A new national DAB station took to the air yesterday - Amazing Radio.

This new station will apparently be running for a six month trial period, playing new music from a variety of genres.

Amazing Radio, is now on Digital One's multiplex, alongside other national commercial stations Classic FM, Planet Rock, Talk Sport and Absolute Radio (formerly Virgin Radio).

Amazing's appearance on the national network has had one casualty... that lovely loop of bird song that filled the void left by Oneword's departure in 2008.

Many are hoping that the birdsong will return - it's available online, and soon as a CD, apparently...

FrequencyCast Show 40 now online

2009-06-01T07:00:00.000+01:00

Our podcast team has just released another TV and Tech show. FrequencyCast Show 40 is now available, covering the following:

An update on Freeview HD - could there be trouble ahead?

BBC coming to Top Up TV, plus changes to the UK chart show

A look at what's new with wi-fi, and how to get a better signal

Interesting news of a sixth book for Hitch-hiker's Guide fans

Plus we discuss BT Vision, Virgin HD and some Top Up TV anger in our Interaction section

Download Show 40 direct to your MP3 player, or listen online at www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html

Got an iPod or iPhone? Get new shows and updates first by signing up via http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=142899029

Share and enjoy!

All change for the UK Top 40

2009-05-27T22:42:00.000+01:00

From the 14th of June, the Sunday afternoon chart show 'Hit 40 UK' will vanish from the commercial radio network.

The Sunday afternoon chart show started back in 1984 to compete against the BBC Radio 1 chart. Heard across the UK Independent Local Radio network, "The Network Chart" was originally presented by David 'Kid' Jenson, then Neil 'Dr, Dr...' Fox.

The Network Chart rebranded to "Hit 40 UK" in 2003, and currently pulls in around 1.4 million listeners on a Sunday afternoon.

Replacing the UK Top 40 will be a new show, called "The Big Top 40 Show", going out from 4 to 7pm on Sundays. This will be broadcast on over 140 UK commercial radio stations, including the Heart network. The show will be presented by Capital FM evening jock Rich Clark and Kat Shoob, and will be strongly linked with Apple iTunes.

The new show is being billed as an interactive chart show, as listeners will be able to affect the Top 10 during the show by downloading their favourite tracks from the iTunes store. "The Big Top 40 Show" will build its chart based on digital downloads as well as commercial radio station airplay, whilst the BBC Radio 1 chart still includes physical music sales.

BBC Content is coming to Top Up TV

2009-05-25T22:55:00.002+01:00

From the 3rd of June 2009, content from the BBC will become available on Top Up TV set-top boxes.

Shows such as Spooks, Bleak House, Life on Mars and Doctor Who will be downloaded overnight to Top Up TV Anytime boxes. To make way for the Beeb content, users will see Hallmark, Sports Xtra, Home and Living vanish.

More on our Top Up TV Anytime page.

The Day of the Towel

2009-05-25T13:42:00.002+01:00

A quick "hi" to this site's towel-carriers. In case you weren't aware, today, the 25th of May is "Towel Day", a semi-official day of recognition for the late Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. May you all Share and Enjoy on this most hoopy of days.

Hitch-hiker's fans should note that a new H2G2 novel is expected in October 2009, obviously not from the pen of the Great Douglas Adams.

Digital re-tuning for 18 million

2009-05-23T10:42:00.002+01:00

As has been announced previously, it's hoped that the upcoming Freeview HD service will hopefully be up-and-running for around 50% of the UK in time for the 2010 World Cup next June.

To support Freeview HD, existing Freeview services will have to shuffle around, to free up some space. As channel renumbering tends to catch many users out, there's talk of a National re-tuning exercise happening, and discussion are currently going on to find ways of letting 18 million Freeview users know that they need to make a change - options under discussion include onscreen warnings and leaflets.

Expect to hear more of re-tuning as we get closer to June 2010.

Freeview HD for ITV and C4 in doubt

2009-05-21T23:20:00.001+01:00

With plans rushing ahead to get BBC HD in place on Freeview for next June's World Cup, it seems that ITV and Channel 4's plans for High Definition are in doubt as a result of the credit crunch.

According to a report in Broadcast Magazine in May, the funding crisis affecting ITV and Channel 4 may be causing the broadcasters to re-think plans for HD on Freeview.

Users will need a special box to get Freeview HD, and these are likely to start appearing in late 2009.

More on HD on our Freeview HD page

Free Sky+ box for a limited time

2009-05-20T21:24:00.003+01:00

Thinking of getting Sky? You can now get a Sky+ box free. Normal price of �99 has been waived for a limited time. Get a free Sky+ box when you sign to Sky, as well as a �25 Tesco gift card and half-price installation.

We're not sure when this offer expires, so you might want to hurry... Details at www.sky.com

Podcast update on Quest and Top Up TV released

2009-05-14T23:55:00.001+01:00

Quest, Top Up TV, RAJAR, Tiscali... We've had two very busy news weeks, so the team have been working hard this evening to get a new podcast out. Our 16 minute update is now online - have a listen to catch the latest.

You can listen online or download the update on the Quest page at FrequencyCast Quest Update

Got iTunes? Download the show here: iTunes Signup

Quest TV Freeview launch delayed

2009-05-14T13:05:00.005+01:00

Today, 14th of May 2009, was meant to see the launch of Quest TV, a new free-to-view documentary channel from Discovery.

All was looking good for the launch - magazine listings were in the Radio Times, electronic programme guides had details of upcoming shows, and the channel was running promotions on Freeview Channel 47 right up to the planned 10am launch time this morning.

Instead of launching at 10am, eager viewers were met with "Coming soon".

An announcement on the Quest TV website this morning, timed 10am, stated the following:

"Regrettably we have made the decision to postpone the launch of Quest.

Due to a number of commercial factors we have had to make this difficult decision.

We did not make this decision lightly and we are working towards launching Quest in the near future.

We would like to apologise wholeheartedly to any of you that have been looking forward to this launch."

It seems Quest now won't launch until later this year, with some commentators doubting that we'll ever see the channel launch.

More on this when we have it.

UPDATE: Podcast released 14 May covering this story: Quest Failure to Launch Update

Top Up TV boxes locking up

2009-05-04T11:00:00.006+01:00

We've had a number of reports that Top Up TV boxes made by Thomson have started locking up (showing an orange light) and refusing to start. It seems the problem started on the 3rd of May, over the Bank Holiday weekend.

It seems that the issue affects the Thomson DTI-6300 Top Up TV Anytime boxes. They are failing to come out of standby mode, displaying a constant amber light, or getting caught in a restart loop.

The affected Thomson DTI-6300 Top Up TV Anytime box

Top Up TV is aware of this problem and their call centre has been swamped with calls. The issue seems to relate to a faulty electronic programme guide (EPG) download on Sunday morning.

Top Up TV's site is now providing information on a way to get affected boxes running again. The first thing to try is to disconnect the box from the mains for 20 seconds and get the box to try to start normally. If this doesn't work - try it again. If there's still no joy, the next step is a rather fiddly process that results in the hard drive being formatted - which will trash all of the recordings held on the box.

Obviously this is a pretty poor show, and we're getting reports from users very unhappy at a) this happening over a Bank Holiday weekend, and b) their unwatched TV shows being zapped.

If you're affected, for reference, here isthe procedure for formattig the box, as outlined by Top Up TV:

Procedure: Front Panel Reset (Reformat HDD)

Attention: this will unfortunately cause your recordings to be lost.

Remove power to the unit by removing the power cable from the back of the DTR.

Wait 20 seconds and restore the power cable while holding in the standby/power on button on the front panel of the DTR.

Release the standby button immediately you see a light 'blip' on the DTR front display and then immediately press the following front panel arrow buttons quickly and in the sequence Up > Down > Left > Right

The DTR will now show the Orange LED with the Green LED flashing until the format has been completed in about 60 seconds. The DTR will return to ON automatically.

If requested, perform a channel scan to complete the operation

Useful links:

Contact Top Up TV

Other Digital TV Options

Have your say: Add a comment, or if you want your comments heard on our next podcast, leave us a message on our podline answerphone: 0208 133 4567

FM radio for iPhone and iPod

2009-05-03T17:00:00.000+01:00

We've just got our hands on a device called the Griffin Navigate - an add-on remote control that allows iPhone, iTouch and iPod users to listen to FM.

Mini-review and photos online now at radioandtelly.co.uk/griffinnavigate.html

FrequencyCast Show 39 now online

2009-05-01T09:26:00.003+01:00

Our podcast team has just released another TV and Tech show. FrequencyCast Show 39 is now available, covering the following:

A look at how to get more from Freeview. More channels without buying a dish

Hands-on with a home security system that's under �100

News on iPlayer HD, Freeview changes this month, and a Tiscali update

A quick run-down of the Nintendo DSi

A gadget that adds FM radio to your iPhone, iTouch and iPod

Plus we discuss Slingbox, Freeview HD and BT Openzone in our Interaction section

You can also win a rare FrequencyCast Fridge Magnet

Download Show 39 direct to your MP3 player, or listen online at www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html

Got an iPod or iPhone? Get new shows and updates first by signing up via http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=142899029

Share and enjoy!

Project Canvas under fire

2009-04-26T20:04:00.002+01:00

Project Canvas is a joint venture between the beeb, ITV and BT. The service, currently set for a 2010 launch, offers on-demand TV, as well as web and email access on your TV using special set-top boxes.

In April 2009, trade body Intellect Technology Association, as well as regulator Ofcom, both raised concerns about the plans for Canvas. Both parties have warned Canvas that it needs to be based on open standards, and available to all parties in the UK TV arena.

If it's not, Canvas could find itself subject to a Competition Commission review, possibly along the lines of the one that killed off video-on-demand service Project Kangaroo.

The BBC Trust is set to deliver it's verdict on a review of Canvas by the end of July 2009