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-   -   The end of Freeview (https://www.cableforum.uk/board/showthread.php?t=33713885)

Paul 25-06-2026 22:49

The end of Freeview
 
According to Cordbusters, Freeview is planned to end on one of two dates.

https://www.cordbusters.co.uk/govern...freeview-gone/

Quote:

Freeview could be switched off when the current broadcasting licences expire on December 31, 2034, or it could be given a time-limited extension to December 31, 2044.
The government apparently prefers the earlier date.

Jaymoss 26-06-2026 04:12

Re: The end of Freeview
 
Free aerial TV, the way millions of us have watched for over two decades, is being lined up for retirement in favour of telly delivered over your broadband.


soon as I read that the post lost all credibility and I could no longer read it. Over 2 decades more like 9 decades (BBC started broadcasting TV in 1936 1 hour in the afternoon and 1 hour in the evening )

Carth 26-06-2026 08:47

Re: The end of Freeview
 
It's happening to almost everything, one basket + all the eggs.

The Internet is fast becoming the sole provider of everything you want and need . . . thank goodness it's not prone to occasional screw ups and down time :erm:

Chris 26-06-2026 08:59

Re: The end of Freeview
 
That ‘news’ article could have been written by OB himself. :erm:

It’s full of confirmation bias (as well as affiliate links), and you only have to go a few paragraphs down to establish that el gov has merely published a green paper. Even when one of these contains a preferred option, the whole point of a green paper is to start a high-level discussion around general concepts. If they had a workable plan to actually end Freeview in 2034 it would be in a white paper, and even that is somewhere short of a bill for discussion and passing as an Act of Parliament.

RichardCoulter 26-06-2026 10:32

Re: The end of Freeview
 
Maybe the King will refuse to sign the white paper into law.

Chris 26-06-2026 11:46

Re: The end of Freeview
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter (Post 36218283)
Maybe the King will refuse to sign the white paper into law.

That’s not how any of it works … :disturbd:

thenry 26-06-2026 11:51

Re: The end of Freeview
 
Freely :D admittedly needs polishing but is very good. Dishes, aerials are ugly.

Chris 26-06-2026 12:22

Re: The end of Freeview
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by thenry (Post 36218294)
Freely :D admittedly needs polishing but is very good. Dishes, aerials are ugly.

A great idea that won’t take over the heavy lifting currently done by Freeview unless and until all TV manufacturers selling to the UK market are compelled to make their products compatible with it.

thenry 26-06-2026 12:27

Re: The end of Freeview
 
They've turned 3g off why not freeview

Freely isn't readily available as an APK. I don't understand why.

Chris 26-06-2026 12:40

Re: The end of Freeview
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by thenry (Post 36218298)
They've turned 3g off why not freeview

Freely isn't readily available as an APK. I don't understand why.

Because everyone has a 4g or a 5g phone. 3G never had adequate coverage because the auction for spectrum ran out of control. The networks paid for frequencies they then didn’t have the money to exploit with actual network build-out.

3G has gone because nobody needs 3G. We do still need Freeview. Well ok, technically we don’t, we can get near-universal coverage with Freesat, but the politics of forcing every house to have a satellite dish are sticky.

thenry 26-06-2026 12:45

Re: The end of Freeview
 
Was 3g infrared nonsense?

I remember when south Korea had 100meg+ on the railway while we lagged behind. Embarrassing really. The strides forward need to continue in this country.

Chris 26-06-2026 13:16

Re: The end of Freeview
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by thenry (Post 36218302)
Was 3g infrared nonsense?

I remember when south Korea had 100meg+ on the railway while we lagged behind. Embarrassing really. The strides forward need to continue in this country.

No, 3G was cellular radio telephone, exactly the same as what you have now, just operating on a lower radio frequency so not as much bandwidth for data. More data throughput than 2G, less than 4G. The problem wasn’t the technology, which was as good as it got at the time, the problem was the networks bid so much to get the rights to own the radio frequencies they needed, they didn’t have enough money left to actually build the network fully. And the UK government (New Labour under Blair and Brown at the time) were complicit - they lowered the network coverage requirement precisely because they knew it would make the auction more valuable.

adduxi 26-06-2026 13:33

Re: The end of Freeview
 
I'll be hanging onto my Freeview Humax until the bitter end ... :cool:

OLD BOY 26-06-2026 20:32

Re: The end of Freeview
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul (Post 36218259)
According to Cordbusters, Freeview is planned to end on one of two dates.

https://www.cordbusters.co.uk/govern...freeview-gone/



The government apparently prefers the earlier date.

Of course it does, and I’ve been stressing this for a while. Extending Freeview beyond 2034 comes with a cost that the government would have to pay, because the TV channels sure don’t want to pay it, and the government has no money.

---------- Post added at 21:31 ---------- Previous post was at 21:25 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaymoss (Post 36218264)
Free aerial TV, the way millions of us have watched for over two decades, is being lined up for retirement in favour of telly delivered over your broadband.


soon as I read that the post lost all credibility and I could no longer read it. Over 2 decades more like 9 decades (BBC started broadcasting TV in 1936 1 hour in the afternoon and 1 hour in the evening )

You just have to look at how streaming has taken off.

The government’s job now is to ensure that the sections of the population who can’t get their heads around streaming have access made simpler, by leaning on the streamers.

I think in the end the main problem will be getting everyone hooked up to broadband - there is a notable resistance out there, and one issue that needs resolving is how impoverished people are going to be able to pay for broadband. That’s a tricky one.

---------- Post added at 21:32 ---------- Previous post was at 21:31 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 36218275)
That ‘news’ article could have been written by OB himself. :erm:

It’s full of confirmation bias (as well as affiliate links), and you only have to go a few paragraphs down to establish that el gov has merely published a green paper. Even when one of these contains a preferred option, the whole point of a green paper is to start a high-level discussion around general concepts. If they had a workable plan to actually end Freeview in 2034 it would be in a white paper, and even that is somewhere short of a bill for discussion and passing as an Act of Parliament.

Not guilty, sire!

Paul 26-06-2026 20:42

Re: The end of Freeview
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaymoss (Post 36218264)
soon as I read that the post lost all credibility and I could no longer read it. Over 2 decades more like 9 decades (BBC started broadcasting TV in 1936 1 hour in the afternoon and 1 hour in the evening )

The article is clearly about Freeview, no one has been watching that for 9 decades. :sleep:


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