BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

I may be spending some time in Wales whilst the Welsh snooker is on.

This means that BBC2 Wales will be showing snooker instead of the networked programmes, one being Are You Being Served that I want to see.

Does VM in Wales give you the choice to watch BBC2 England instead of BBC2 Wales?

Does Freeview too?

Thanks.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

Yes it does but I've never had cause to watch that over our version. Channel 865.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

Thanks Russ.

It is VM downstairs and Freeview upstairs where I am staying. Do you get the choice of variant on Freeview too?

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

No idea, I've not had Freeview for about 6 years. Most likely though.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

Freeview only broadcasts the correct region according to the transmitter you're tuned to. If you want a full selection of regional variations you need cable or Freesat.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

If you live in a broadcast overlap area on the Welsh border, you may be able to stick up an additional DTT antenna pointing at an english transmitter and get a choice of region. Otherwise satellite or cable is the only option.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

Thanks, that answers my questions :)

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

If you like Snooker the Welsh snooker is being shown on Channel 991 (UK Wide).
And also on Eurosport (From Channel 521).

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

Thanks, but it's the snooker that i'm trying to avoid!

I didn't know that it was on the BBC Red Button service. In that case, there shouldn't be any need for BBC2 Wales to displace network programmes :(

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

They're not displacing anything, they're showing content most likely to be relevant to the audience.

You're in Wales, it'll show programming connected to Wales just like they always do for you while you're in England.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

Nations and regions have always had a certain amount of freedom to deviate from the London schedule. Nations have more freedom than the regions do.

I suspect the nations and regions have very little influence over what goes on the red button, they probably don't get much advance notice of what's going to be on it either.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

True, but in my experience most people actually prefer to receive the networked programming. This appears to be more the case in Scotland than anywhere else for some reason. STV tried dropping popular shows on ITV and replacing them with content with a local theme and there was uproar!

I know a number of people in NI who dislike the fact that something they want to watch is delayed because something like a politics programme has been inserted into their schedule.

Of course, with the advent of satellite and, to an extent cable, this is no longer a problem for some people as they have the choice.

That probably explains the duplication then. I was coming from the angle that, now that everybody has digital TV, they will have the red button service, with no need to displace network programmes.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

In my experience around here, people prefer to have the choice.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

I would love to have BBC2 Wales in England....we have BBC1 Wales on VM.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

I like the choice to ditch BBC2 Scotland when Newsnight is on. Scotland splits away from the main schedule at 11pm for 'Newsnight Scotland' which means we miss excellent reportage from somewhere around the world in favour of some horrible, parochial nonsense that deserves no place in the schedules outside of 'Reporting Scotland' at 6.30pm.

But thanks to the miracle of satellite we can choose to watch BBC2 England instead and keep up with Newsnight as viewed by the other 55-odd million people in England, Wales and NI.

Actually, there's no regionalisation on BBC2 HD at the moment so it's easier, you don't have to go into the 900s to find the alternative as the single BBC2 HD stream for the whole UK is on 109.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

That's a good point, I wonder why VM didn't add the BBC2 variants when they added the BBC1 variants :confused:

That's a good idea, I sometimes watch ITV HD if I want to know what's happening in Manchester :)

Yes, but DTT customers (who make up the bulk of TV viewers) don't have the choice- that's the very problem!

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

It's only a problem if you're not used to having the choice. Most people around here are used to having the choice so it's no problem to us.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

So have you found that most Welsh people have satellite or cable* so that they can choose which version of BBC2 etc to watch?

VM in England does not give us any choice of BBC2 variants, we just have the sustaining feed. Do you have an extra slot for BBC2 England, or do you do the same as Chris and use the HD or AD version in order to access the English service?

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

I don't watch the English version, as I said I don't have any need to. We're used to certain programmes being available on the Welsh or English versions only, and other times they're available but at a different time or on a different day. But either way, we have the choice. If there's something on the English version we'd rather see we can can watch it. Or not.

The BBC England versions are on their own channel slots.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

Spot on.I live in Bristol but Wales and England channels are available, no problem.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

BBC2 England is fed round VM's core network with the other universaly distributed channels, & is on channel 865 for everyone. The regional & local SD/HD varients are fed directly to the local network headends (these replaced the services that used to be captured by terrestrial aerials at each Headend)

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

I'd very much like BBC2 Northern Ireland. There's rugby on Friday nights that would be useful.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

I know a lot of people find it annoying that something that they want to watch on the main network is delayed for an hour or so by the nations.

I guess this is less of an issue now with the advent of cable and satellite.

This can also be useful though at times. For example if one catches a programme that is part way through or there are recording clashes.

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

Back in my school days it was the way we used to catch soft pr0n on channel 4. Living on the border with Wales you could get S4C as well, and back in the early days it was more like a regionalised version of channel 4 than a distinct station in its own right. If there was something worth seeing, word would get round, and you would normally find it starting on S4C about an hour later ...

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

Back in my school days we only had s4c. No channel 4. I literally missed out on a generation of tv shows like twin peaks, cheers, roseanne, the wonder years. Some of them were put on at 12am etc. But most were missed.

I still don't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing :D

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

Oh yes, exactly the same for me too!

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

Ahhh! The days of the Red Triangle come flooding back :D

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

I used to stay in Wales a lot in the eighties when it was analogue only. I found that, even when programmes in English were shown later, if they overran, the transmitter was promptly switched off at the planned time of closedown, regardless as to whether the programme had actually finished or not :shocked:

Re: BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.
 

The guy who puts 50p in the meter clocks off at 12.30am