SD : BBC2 Wales v BBC2 England.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Doug P

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

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

Originally Posted by Chris

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.

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

Originally Posted by Russ

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

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

[Russ]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

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

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.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Russ

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.

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?

[Russ]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

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?

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.

[greyposter]

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

[nodrogd]

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)

[smallclone]

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

[RichardCoulter]

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.

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 ...

[smallclone]

Originally Posted by Chris

Back in my school days........

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

[Russ]

Originally Posted by smallclone

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.

Oh yes, exactly the same for me too!

[nodrogd]

Originally Posted by Chris

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 ...

Ahhh! The days of the Red Triangle come flooding back

[RichardCoulter]

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

[smallclone]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

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

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