Talking to Chris Goreham on BBC Radio Norfolk at 08:40 this morning, Pete from our site talked about the problems experienced by those in the Anglia region after the region’s switchover in November 2011.

What problems are people experiencing?

Most typically, it’s picture break-up, known as pixellation, and this indicates that the Freeview receiver is not getting a good, clean, signal.

As you’re watching your favourite show, the picture may ‘lock up’ or break up into a mess of pixels, as the signal gets interrupted. In a lot of cases, this is temporary, and soon clears, but nonetheless, is incredible frustrating, and something that people weren’t expecting after the digital switchover.

An example of Freeview Pixellation

Why is this happening?

Digital TV signals are not as forgiving as the old analogue signals. If you’ve ever listened to DAB digital radio, you’ll be familiar with the audio version of pixellation, where the sound cuts out or ‘wobbles’ – that’s the digital effect, where the stream of zeros and ones is being interrupted or interfered with.

Common causes:

The main cause for interference and picture break-up is due to the Freeview TV or set-top box not getting a good signal. The ‘strength’ and the ‘quality’ of the signal are very important, and somewhere in your receiver’s on-screen menu, there may be a meter to let you look at your signal to see what’s going on.

Other key factors causing this include:

• Weather and atmospherics
• Interference from home appliances, such as central heating thermostats, washing machines, etc.
• Local interference – taxis, motorbikes, lawnmowers, etc.

What’s the advice?

It’s best to try to work out what’s causing the problem, before working out how to fix it:

• Check how much signal you’re getting, using the on-screen signal meter
• Are your neighbours affected? (If not, then it could be a problem with your setup)
• Does it happen at specific times of the day? (If so, it could point to lights, heating, appliances, etc)
• It is on all of your TV sets? If no, then it might be an issue with TV extension leads and connectors

How to fix the problem

• First off, do a “scan for channels” from your receiver. This will check to see if there is a stronger signal available
• If you’re getting interference from household appliances, then look at improving your home aerial wiring. TV extension leads, adapters and splitters all reduce the signal, as does “looping through” your video recorder. Using high-quality double-screened cables, and decent connectors can make a big difference
• In some cases, a signal booster can help. This will only help where the signal strength is weak, and not where the signal ‘quality’ is poor.
• Check your aerial – It could be that the aerial is damaged, not pointing at the right transmitter, or the cable is not in the best of shape

Problems from 2013

This is that last thing that people having problems will want to hear, but from next year, the problem is set to get worse for around 900,000 homes in the UK. Once the switchover completes this year, part of the TV spectrum will be sold off to mobile phone companies for the new UK 4G mobile network.

This means that your TV aerial will be picking up signals from mobile phone masts, causing more picture breakup and interference. People affected will be offered a filter to reduce the problem, and these will be funded by the mobile phone networks at an estimated cost of  £180 million. Around 10,000 homes will need to switch to a service like Freesat (via a satellite dish), as filters won’t solve their problems.

We have more on this story here: 900,000 homes need a Freeview filter

More help?

If anyone in the Norfolk area needs advice on the problems they’re getting, the following links might help:

• For our page of advice on how to deal with digital TV interference, see our Freeview Interference Advice section.
• You can also ask for advice and get practical help in our Freeview Help Forum  (please include your postcode)

Users of the Freeview TV system will be familiar with the concept of occasionally re-tuning to ensure that the full range of channels is stored correctly, and today’s Digital Radio Retune is no different – it’s to reflect some technical changes to the ‘Station IDs’ of a number of the UK’s radio stations, mostly those operated by Global Radio. We’re told that the reason is to make it easier for in-car DAB radios to be able to switch to a new transmitter if a stronger signal is detected.

Stations affected by today’s changes are: Heart, Capital, LBC, Kiss, XFM and Choice.

From today, you may see the message “Station Moved” if you try to tune in to any of the affected stations, and the fix should only take you a minute to do.

How to re-tune DAB

Most DAB radios have an “Auto tune” or “Auto Scan” menu option – you should use this to re-scan for your DAB radio channels to make sure that your radio sees the changes. If you don’t you may lose those stations from April, until you perform a full re-scan for radio stations.

There’s more information on today’s changes at getdigitalradio.com/retune

Connect TV's Logo

The Connect TV service appears to have now launched on the Freeview platform, offering an extra 45 channels of TV.

Connect TV has had a number of placeholder channels active between channels 110 and 116 for a while, and some of the services switched on February. It seems that the initial offering has been finalised, and some of the initial launch channels are now live. Available at the moment:

• Channel 110 – Vision TV Network: A portal for a number of international TV channels (see below)
• Channel 111 – CCTV: China Central Television
• Channel 112 – Sports Tonight Live
• Channel 116 – Racing UK: Subscription horseracing service

There are also placeholders on Freeview for Connect 1, Connect 2 and Connect 3, and channels 113, 114 and 115 – presumably to be used for more of the planned 45 channels.

International Channels

The Vision TV network on Freeview channel appears to be aimed at expats looking to catch up with TV from home. The number of channels on this service is set to expand, and currently offers Greek, Polish, Turkish and French TV channels.

At the time of writing the services on the Vision TV Network are: Hellenic TV (£11 a month), Polska Plus TV (£8.99 a month), TeleTurk (£6.99 a month) and TeleFrance (£4.99 a month)

How to watch Connect TV

The Connect TV service uses the Internet to get these new channels, and effectively, the channels you see on Freeview are used by your Freeview receiver to open a connection to the Internet to let you access the channel.

This means that you will need a Broadband Internet connection to watch these channels on your TV, and you’ll also need a compatible Internet-enabled TV or set-top box. The Connect TV service refers to needing “Freeview HD”, but in fact what it means is an Internet-enabled Freeview box. As the Freeview HD standard mandates an Internet connection, it’s assumed all Freeview HD hardware can access the Internet.

At the moment, we understand that it’s only Sony and Panasonic Freeview HD TV sets, plus three  TVonics boxes that can access the new channels offered by Connect TV. There’s a list of compatible hardware here: visiontvnetwork.co.uk/home/devices.

Crowded Market

We’ve seen similar Freeview + Internet TV offerings in the past, most recently Fetch TV (which went into administration in January), and services such as BT Vision, Virgin and Sky’s new Sky Anytime+ service all offer additional content via an Internet connection. That’s in addition to services such as Apple TV, Netflix and Lovefilm, which offer on-demand TV and movies.

We’re all patiently waiting for the much-delayed YouView service, which will also combine live Freeview TV with a mix of catchup TV and on-demand content from the Internet. 2012 is going to be an interesting, and busy, year for online TV services…

However… now and again, we forget to record a show that we wished we had, or, more commonly, a friend or colleague asks “did you watch that documentary about fridge maintenance last night?”. Sure, we have the iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD and Demand 5 catch-up TV services to watch online, but you need a net connection, and that don’t include all of the channels.There is a solution… a magic PVR…

The Promise TV Solution

This is pure magic… a PVR that records every channel, all of the time. The Promise Seven PVR plugs into your telly aerial and records all of TV and radio programmes from the 60 or so Freeview channels, and keeps them for 7 days. Imagine. Every single TV show for the last week, recorded, browseable and available on demand.

We’ve looked at the specs to find out just how much in the way of hard drive capacity the Promise Seven contain, but no luck. We can only assume it has a pretty massive amount of storage, and is recording the incoming Freeview multiplex streams without decompiling them. However it’s being done, it’s still an impressive solution.

Pictured here is the Promise Seven, with its distinctively different polished hard-wood case with its black acrylic top. The remote too looks a little unorthodox, but then you’re buying this for its awesome functionality, not its aesthetics.

The Promise Seven Freeview PVR (image from promise.tv)

The Promise Light is also available, holding three days of ‘everything’.

There’s only one down-side to the Promise TV solution – and that’s the price tag. You can pick up a basic Freeview PVR from the likes of Tesco for less than £100 that will record 170 hours of TV (around 7 days of just one channel). To be able to record everything on all channels, you’ll be looking to part with £1,988. Ouch.

Update 02 March: Now reduced to £995!

At the moment, Promise TV recorders are only available for the London area, and are built to order in the UK. You can find out more at www.promise.tv/products – Sadly, we won’t be buying one of these for review, however, if you want to see one in the flesh, you can make an appointment to have a play, in the Promise TV showroom in Ascot, Berkshire.

We first reported on this story in June 2011 (Freeview Interference Forecast), when it was estimated that 760,000 homes could be affected. The Government now puts the estimate at nearer 900,000

Freeview Interference?

As you’ll be aware, the Digital Switchover completes this year, and once it’s over, the space that was used for some analogue TV services will be sold off to mobile operators to launch the UK’s 4G mobile Internet service.

This means that there will be new mobile phone base stations popping up around the UK that will be transmitting on frequencies that your TV aerial is optimised for – and those close to masts, or with signal boosters fitted, will be pulling in unwanted 4G signals. It’s expected that these signals will ‘overload’ Freeview receivers, causing the picture to break up and be unwatchable. Users with 4G mobile devices, such as new smartphones and tablets, will also potentially be adding to the interference.

The fix?

The Government has just announced that all homes affected will be offered filters which connect between the TV aerial and Freeview receivers, to block signals from 4G transmitters. The proposed scheme to ensure that the 900,000 homes can still get Freeview is expected to cost £180 million to implement, and will involve the following:

• Supplying self-install filters to affected homes
• A help scheme for over-75s and the disabled for filters to be fitted
• For the estimated 10,000 homes that can’t be helped by a filter, installation of a satellite dish
• For the estimated 500 homes in rural areas that still can’t get a signal, help for “up to £10,000″ to get a fibre-optic TV service installed

Paying the bill for the £180 million 4G filtering will be the responsibility of the companies that win the 4G contacts in the 2013 spectrum bidding.

And what is 4G?

High-speed mobile Internet access for smartphone and mobile computer users. When it starts to roll out in 2013, speeds of up to 100Mbps will begin to become available, offering an improvement on the 3G speeds mobile users get at the moment. According to Ed Vaizey, the minister in charge of UK media, “Next-generation mobile services are essential for economic growth. They will bring an estimated benefit of £2-3bn to the UK economy.”

2013 will no doubt be an interesting year…

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was born in Germany on the 22nd of February 1857, and dedicated much of his (short) life, to pioneering work on electromagnetic waves. He was the first person to prove the existence of the radio waves that are all around us, and to prove that electromagnetic radiation has the same velocity, reflection and refraction properties as light. His work paved the way for groundbreaking work by Edison and Marconi to bring us wireless radio, followed by radio with pictures.

Hertz died aged just 36, and left us the legacy that is the measurement used for radio frequencies, Hertz or Hz. When you listen to FM radio, or watch TV, your receiver is tuned to a frequency measured in Megahertz (MHz) representing the number of cycles per second. You’ll also see his legacy in computing, with your computer, mobile phone or portable device having a processing speed that’s measured in Gigahertz (GHz).

So, why are we here at Radio and Telly choosing to mention that Hertz was born 155 years ago? Well, Google has chosen to honour the pioneering physicist through the use of a Google Doodle – and if you go to www.google.com today, you will see that the traditional Google lettering has been replaced by an animated waveform in the Google colouring. Here’s a screen grab of today’s tribute from Google:

Google Doodle to celebrate the birthday of Heinrich Hertz

While you’re here

This year also marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most famous early uses of radio – The transmission of SOS and CQD morse messages from the RMS Titanic in April 1912 using the Marconi wireless system.

Happy Birthday Heinrich Hertz…

• Racing UK (Channel 116)

At the moment, the channel is just a placeholder, but here’s what we know so far:

The channel appears to be part of the Internet TV services planned by IP Vision. We’re assuming that when this service launches, it will enable Freeview set-top boxes and Freeview TV sets that have an Internet connection, to be able to access the subscription channel Racing UK.

Thanks to one of our forum regulars for spotting the following note on the Racing TV website, under the site’s IPTV section:

“We’re working on a service at the moment to make it even easier for you to subscribe without an additional Sky or Cable subscription and this will be ready before March 2012.”

Joining the dots, we may see the Racing TV service available on the Freeview platform for those with Internet-enabled devices later this month.

Racing TV is currently available on Sky channel 432 and Virgin channel 536. For £20 a month, you can watch live horseracing from 30 racecourses in the UK. The channel shows an estimated 4000 races a year, with most of the races exclusive to Racing UK subscribers.

We’ll add more details when we have them.

The Fetch TV service started in 2008 and has been trying to make its place in the crowded Video-on-Demand space for some time. It looks like this week, it has lost its battle as the service owners IP Vision have called in UHY Hacker Young to act as administrators.

If you’re unfamiliar with Fetch TV, the service  made use of Internet-enabled set-top boxes made by French firm Netgem, and offered on-demand content from the BBC, CNN and Sky’s on demand service, as well as live content from Freeview. Set-top boxes included the Smartbox 7000, the Smartbox 8000 and the Technika Smartbox 8320HD, the latter of which was later sold as a discount price by Tesco, before being discontinued.

The Fetch TV 8000 Smartbox

We understand that IP Vision is continuing to look for a buyer for the service, although the UK VoD is very crowded, with the US firm Netflix appearing a few weeks back, and the much-delayed YouView service set for an appearance in 2012. It seems that 20 jobs at Fetch TV are in the balance.

From what we’ve been told, the Fetch TV service is still live at the moment, and IP Vision is hoping to continue to operate the service whilst talks are ongoing for a buyer.

About Fetch TV

None of the team here at Radio & Telly have any direct experience of the Fetch TV offering – We’ve asked on three separate occasions to review the service, but the company was unwilling or unable to supply us with any review hardware. Comments received from users of the service weren’t overly positive: “This has got to be one of the most awful bits of kit I have ever purchased” and “whilst it isn’t a complete disaster, it is pretty awful”. Nonetheless, the service was subscription-free, and plans were afoot for the service to become available on a range of Internet-enabled TV sets, and a rather nice iPhone Fetch TV app was launched not that long ago, showing that development was still ongoing.

We wish the 20 staff on the Fetch TV well for the future.

Alternatives to Fetch TV

If you’re looking for a set-top box that combines Freeview with on-demand content, consider BT Vision – The service includes an impressive library of TV shows and movies, and BT’s running some nice deals on its broadband and TV service at the moment – More details ont he BT Vision site, or see our BT Vision review.

Alternatively, consider Blinkbox, LOVEFiLM or the new NetFlix services, for on-demand TV and films.

Comments on Fetch TV?

Are you a past or present user of Fetch TV? Please add your thoughts in the box below

Between 6am on the morning of Friday 3rd February 2012, and 6am on Monday the 6th February 2012, the ESPN channel will be free-to-view on the following services:

• Freeview
• Sky
• BT Vision
• Top Up TV

The following sporting events will be available on ESPN over the weekend:

Friday the 3rd February :

• 19:30 – LIVE Bundesliga: Nuremberg v Dortmund

Saturday the 4th February:

• 01:00 – LIVE NBA New York @ Boston
• 16.30 – LIVE Barclays Premier League: Manchester City v Fulham
• 19:45 – LIVE Serie A: Roma v Inter Milan

Sunday the 6th February:

• 03:00 – LIVE UFC 143 St Pierre v Diaz
• 11:30 – LIVE Serie A: Genoa v Lazio
• 13:45 – LIVE Serie A: Fiorentina v Udinese
• 16:45 – LIVE Bundesliga: Kaiserslauern v Cologne
• 19:15 – LIVE Serie A: AC Milan v Napoli

Well done to ESPN for offering their content for free for a weekend – doubtless to try to tempt sports lovers over to their pay service. If you’re interested in getting ESPN, see our ESPN in the UK page for information and offers.

Specials for Sky

All Sky customers will be able to watch ESPN over the weekend, but it won’t be limited to the main ESPN channel – The other ESPN channels will also be free – That’s ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN America and ESPN America HD (although not, it appears, ESPN classic).

If you’re considering getting Sky, it’s worth noting that they are once again offering a free Sky+ box with free standard installation, plus a £50 voucher, but only until the 23rd of February. More details: Sky+ Offer

More on ESPN

For information on the ways to subscribe to ESPN, see our ESPN in the UK section.

Netflix is a big deal in the US, and they appear to be hoping for big things from the UK market.

What Netflix offers

A simple proposition – movies and TV shows streamed to you online. Price, £5.99, for all the movies and TV shows you want

You can watch in a number of ways:

• From your computer
• From your games console – PS3, XBox and Nintendo Wii are all supported
• From your smartphone or tablet (Apple iOS and Google Android supported)
• Via Apple TV
• From some Internet-enabled Samsung TV sets
• From a small selection of Philips and Western Digital media devices

Their chief rival in the UK is LoveFilm, which was acquired by Amazon at the start of 2011. LoveFilm’s proposition is slightly different in that it mixes online streaming with a postal DVD rental service. With LoveFilm, £5.99 offers you up to 3 DVDs a month, with a mere 2 hours of streaming. LoveFilm is not available on as many platforms, and Netflix has already secured a decent amount of content.

Content on Netflix

So fa, a pretty impressive lineup. There’s a decent library of movies to watch on-demand, and TV content is supplied from providers such as the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, CBS, Disney and several other key players.

Trying Netflix

Netflix is offering a one-month free trial. You can cancel at any time, and there is no cancellation fee.

If you want to try out the new service, you get full details, and sign up for the free trial at www.netflix.com

Notes

As a reminder, if you’re going to be doing a lot of streaming, check on the download limits imposed by your broadband provider. Streaming video content can consume your bandwidth at quite a rate, and you’re advised to have an unlimited download Broadband account if you’re planning to watch a lot of streaming video from Netflix or Lovefilm.

We’ll be adding a review of the Netflix UK service soon, on our Netflix UK Review page

This is our first news posting of the year, and it includes a couple of news snippets that we included in our newsletter sent out earlier today.

2012 holds some interesting things in store: The long-awaited launch of YouView, NetFlix coming to the UK, and the rumoured iTV sets from Apple.

Our Review of 2011

If you’re feeling nostalgic for the twelve months that have passed? In our podcast released today, we look back at the TV stories from 2011. The podcast is free, and you might just like it!

Our podcast is called FrequencyCast, and covers digital TV and technology in the UK. To listen to the show online, or download it to your music player, go to frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html – Go on – have a listen to hear what the Radio & Telly team sound like!

Other News

• Update for Virgin Media Customers – TV channels CBS Action and Sony TV have been added to Virgin’s line-up, more 3D content will soon be added to Virgin’s Video-on-Demand service, and a new BBC Sports application will soon be added to the Virgin TiVo (which will include coverage of F1, Wimbledon and the London 2012 Olympics).
• Apple iTV – Rumours continue to circulate about possible plans for Apple to shift focus to the TV market. We’re hearing stories of Apple  iTV sets due to appear by the Summer of 2012. Steve Jobs is quoted as saying that Apple has “cracked TV” with “the simplest interface imaginable” and seamless sync to the iCloud. The rumoured iTV sets will have Apple’s technology built-in, and a customisable TV interface, and we understand that there is  also talk of TV functionality being built into the next generation of iMacs.
• Bye Bye NME – Music lovers note that NME TV will leave the Sky and Freesat channel lineups in January 2012.
• Radio Shopping Channel – Given the number of TV shopping channels available, someone must be watching them! Fans of online shooping channels may be pleased to hear that the first radio shopping channel is now on-air. The station broadcasts for 22 hours a day on Sky channel 0184, and is operated by  Canis Media and WRN Broadcast.

Please take the time to check out our  free podcast for TV news, and sign up to our newsletter to get the main UK TV stories direct to your inbox.

Best wishes for an interesting 2012 from all of the  team here at Radio & Telly

Back in 2010, Channel 5 was planning to launch its HD channel on Freeview, but decided that it didn’t want to launch after all – Instead, the channel went to the BBC for its second HD channel.

The licence for the fifth HD slot was advertised in 2011 by the UK regulator OfCom. At the start of November 2011, we reported that in the bidding for the fifth HD channel on the Freeview platform, only one channel submitted a bid, and that was Channel 5. In theory, that could have meant that 5 HD could have been on-air in 2012.

Well, Channel 5 has decided (again) that it doesn’t want to launch its HD channel on Freeview after all. They’ve now decided to drop their plans for Channel 5 HD on Freeview, citing “issues of commercial importance”.

This is now the second time that Channel 5 has dropped plans for an HD service on Freeview, despite Channel 5 HD being available on Sky and Virgin, although apparently Channel 5 has been quoted as saying that it is still committed to launching an HD service on Freeview in the future.

Watch this space to see if OfCom will re-offer the licence for any other broadcaster, or even for Channel 5 to have another go.

If you have Top Up TV, you’ll need to rescan your box to make sure you can continue to watch the service, but you’ll notice some reductions in the content and channels on offer.

Live TV Reduced

Many will remember that when Top Up TV launched back in 2004, it offered a service that would let you add 11 channels to your Freeview service – channels included E4, UKTV Gold, UKTV Style, UKTV Food, Discovery Channel, Discovery Home & Leisure, E4, Bloomberg News, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Turner Classic Movies (TCM).

Top Up TV's early lineup

This was whittled down to just two, G.O.L.D and Home (formerly UKTV Style) in 2007.

This month, a further reduction:

• GOLD drops down to just three hours a day (11am to 2pm) – it’s not available at the weekend now
• Home drops to a stunning 1 hour a week (11am to noon on a Friday)

The reason for the reduction can be found on Freeview channel 44 – “Channel 5 + 1″ has just launched, taking space away from Top Up TV’s subscription service.

Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2 and ESPN continue unaffected.

On-demand TV reduced

The other selling point with Top Up TV, was the “Anytime” service, now known as “TV Favourites”. This makes use of a set-top box that downloads extra TV shows overnight, when less channels are active. The shows can be watched the next day, played back from the hard-drive inside the Top Up Anytime+ box.

In November, we saw two more channels drop from the line-up, kids channels Boomerang & Cartoon Network. Other losses include BBC, SyFy channel, Paramount Comedy, Discovery, CBS and Living.

Price

Despite the significant reduction in content providers and live TV, the price for Top Up’s TV Favourites service remains at £12.99 a month – an extra £5 a month will get you Picture Box (28 movies a month). Sky Sports and ESPN is of course extra.

Alternatives?

If you’re not impressed with the recent changes to Top Up TV, you might want to take a look at what BT has to offer.

Their on-demand service offers a far larger catalogue of TV shows, there’s a solid selection of movies, and you can watch the catch-up services from BBC iPlayer, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

You still get all of your Freeview channels, and can get Sky Sports 1, Sky Sports 2 and ESPN. If you already get your broadband from BT, it’ll be cheaper than Top Up TV’s favourites and film service too.

BT Vision+ Box - A good alternative to Top Up TV

Full details on BT Vision can be found at  btvision.bt.com, or in our BT Vision Review.

Any comments on the changes at Top Up TV? Please let us know below.

For some time now, Sky’s been offering Marks and Spencer vouchers as an incentive to sign up with Sky online. Until recently, you could pick up £25 worth of M & S vouchers, but from now until the 21st of December 2011, the offer’s been quadrupled.

If you want to get Sky+ or Sky+ HD, you can get a £100 M&S voucher if you’re quick. The offer is open to the following folk:

• New customers signing to with Sky+ or Sky+HD
• Existing customers upgrading to Sky+ HD

Here’s the deal for new customers to Sky who sign up online:

• The £100 M&S voucher mentioned above
• A free Sky+ / Sky+ HD box and £30 standard set-up
• Sky Broadband Everyday Lite (which includes inclusive evening and weekend calls)
• A Sky wireless home broadband N router

Prices for the basic Sky service start from £20 a month, increasing to £30.25 if you want to get over 50 channels of HD. If you opt to get your broadband / phone from Sky, a  £12.25 line rental applies too.

Why Sky?

Sky’s always running a deal of some kind, and this is a pretty good one, so if you are thinking of an upgrade to HD, then Sky’s unlikely to be bettering this offer for a while.

If you want to take advantage whilst you can, go to www.sky.com/shop/bundles-offers

For details of what’s on offer with Sky’s HD service, and what channels you can now get, take a look at our Sky+ HD Review, where you’ll also find answers to common Sky-related questions

Channel 5 HD to launch on Freeview

In the recent bidding for the fifth HD channel on the Freeview platform, only one channel submitted a bid, and that was Channel 5. It appears that regulator OfCom has granted Channel 5 the licence, and we can expect Channel 5 HD to appear on Freeview at some point in the future.

We understand that Channel 5 HD may not be available to all parts of the UK when it launches.

The Zone to launch on Freeview

Freeview Channel 39 sees the addition of “The Zone”. This is a channel owned by ITV, and currently has a caption stating “”The Zone – the place to shop & play”.

We can infer from this that The Zone will be a combined shopping channel / gaming channel. It will launch on Freeview Multiplex A, and apparently timeshare with kids channel CITV.

No idea as yet on a launch date for this new ITV service.

Channel 5 + 1 coming soon to Freeview

We understand that Channel 5 + 1 is set to join the Freeview channel list shortly, with the date of the 6th of December 2011 being suggested by one of our site visitors.

Currently, it’s law that those in the UK pay £145.50 a year to be able to watch (or record) broadcast TV shows. In addition to TV sets and recorders, the law currently extends to watching on computers, games consoles, smartphones and portable devices (such as tablet devices and netbooks).

For the avoidance of doubt, the official TV Licensing site states:

“You need to be covered by a valid TV Licence if you watch or record TV as it’s being broadcast. This includes the use of devices such as a computer, laptop, mobile phone or DVD/video recorder.

If you only watch catch-up services online, then you don’t need a licence. For example, you don’t need one to use BBC iPlayer, or ITV player, to catch up on programmes after they have been shown on TV.”

Plans to change this are apparently being considered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to close a loophole where householders could dispense with the licence fee and watch their favourite TV shows via an Internet connection after they have been broadcast.

According to the news story in the Guardian, only 0.2% of UK homes would be affected by this proposed change.

Any thoughts on whether watching catch-up and on-demand TV should be included or excluded from the licence fee? Please add your comment below.

The service launched in 2010, offering a mix of TV content from the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5 that could be viewed over the Internet. SeeSaw was originally formed from a proposed service codenamed Project Kangaroo, which was reinvented after being blocked by the Competition Commission in 2009.

Message announcing that SeeSaw has closed (Oct 2011)

As we reported in June, SeeSaw was set to close earlier this year, but received a last-minute reprieve in the form of an offer from private equity firm Criterion Capital Partners.

It seems that the deal failed to go through, due to funding issues, and the service closed at the end of October 2011.

The TV and Video-on-Demand market is a very crowded one, with the YouView service set to join the fray at some point in 2012. If you used to watch SeeSaw, and are looking for an alternative, please take a look at our Internet TV section for the options.

Any thoughts on the demise of SeeSaw, or the UK Internet TV market in general? Please add a comment below.

From the 1st of November 2011, it will be possible to get PBS over here in the US. PBS UK will be available initially on the Sky and Virgin platforms, as follows:

• Sky channel 166
• Virgin Media channel 243

The channel promises current affairs, history, documentaries, sport and science programming. Headline programmes for the launch of PBS UK include science programme “Nova”, news content with “Frontline “and “PBS Newshour”, plus the history show “American Experience”.

Although the US channel is a non-profit service, the UK channel will carry advertising, and will initially only be available to paying subscribers of Sky and Virgin. The BBC does something similar with its profit-making BBC Worldwide operation (US viewers can watch BBC content via BBC America).

Virgin customers note that some of the PBS UK content will also be available on Virgin’s On Demand service.

In the UK, one of the TV shows you’re most likely to have seen from PBS in the UK, is good old Sesame Street – Sadly, it seems that “Street” won’t be migrating to the UK’s counterpart PBS channel, as it’s believed that the kids TV market here in the UK is well served already. Oscar The Grouch won’t be pleased by that…

The station will be going live on Tuesday the 1st of November on the national DAB multiplex. The station will be running nationwide until the 27th of December 2011, alongside the existing Smooth Radio service.

Smooth Xmas will be commercial free, and at launch will be chat-free, playing back-to-back Christmas music. As the station gets closer to the big day, some presenter chat and competitions will be introduced. We understand that Smooth Christmas will be mono-only.

Here at Radio and Telly HQ, we have mixed opinions on the idea of a station running two months of Christmas music. Could the first of November be a little early to start enjoying (or enduring) White Christmas, Winter Wonderland, Mary’s Boy Child and Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer…?

Personally, I’d prefer a few “Silent Night”s before Christmas, and after 2 months of Christmas tunes, I’ll be hitting a large glass of (Mistletoe and) Wine

We’d love to hear your thoughts on whether Smooth Xmas floats your boat. Please add a comment (or the pun of your choice) below…

The end is in sight for the UK Digital Switchover. And that end happens in October 2012.

With well over half of the UK now switched over from analogue telly, Digital UK has announced the date that the last analogue TV transmitter will be taken out of service, and it’s only a year away.

Northern Ireland will be the last region to switch, bringing an end to UK analogue TV on the 24 October 2012. This brings to a close 80 years of analogue TV transmissions in Britain.

David Scott, the CEO of Digital UK had this to say: “The analogue era was a defining period for TV but the fully digital age will be even better, with a greater choice of channels for viewers everywhere. I’m looking forward to October next year when we will have brought the benefits of digital to every corner of the country.”

If you’ve yet to make the switch to digital, there’s now just one year left. If you need help and advice on how to make the switchover to digital TV, or you’re looking for answers to your digital TV questions, have a look at the Switch Help site, written by some of the team here at Radio and Telly.

We also have a busy Freeview Help Forum where you can get some expert advice on how to get free digital TV in preparation for your region’s switchoff