Quote:
Originally Posted by RichardCoulter
Your interpretation is spot on 
This could potentially see more channels coming onto Freesat as capacity costs reduce because more channels can be squeezed onto one transponder without a degradation in picture quality.
I can't understand why they don't do something similar on Freeview, given the chronic lack of space and the fact that there may be no home for channels on the temporary muxes 7 & 8 that are gradually being closed down to reallocate part of the spectrum for 5G mobile. |
They do. This is nothing new on either digital satellite or cable or terrestrial. They've been doing this ever since Digital TV was introduced. Just look at the slow creeping up of the number of services on Freeview alone. There's many more services on each multiplex than used to be the maximum. Sure many of these have been lower resolution than the PSB channels, but the space still had to be found, and it happened through continuous improvement of the encoding and related technologies, improvements that still worked within the original specifications so that old legacy equipment still worked.
The main commercial PSB multiplex is a good example. They have kept adding services since Switchover, and at proper SD resolution. In that time I have gradually gained the likes of ITV4, Film4 and Film4+1 on that multiplex alone in a secondary TV room that is serviced by a windowsill aerial from a Relay transmitter.