A small but significant change took place this week on Freeview. If no-one noticed, it could have a significant impact on Freeview’s medium term future.
- If you still have an older Freeview TV, you can check to see if your device is compatible.
The big change this week on Freeview was the launch of ITV Quiz, which replaced ITVBe on Monday morning. But elsewhere, broadcast engineers were making a further configuration change.
Down in the lower reaches of the Freeview channel list, a lesser known channel was about to make history.
Channel 71 is the home of That’s TV 3. Like its sister channels, it screens a mix of music and vintage TV shows. During Monday, changes were made to how the channel is broadcast.
If you have an older non-HD Freeview TV or box, it’s worth switching over to see what happens.
The test…
- If you can watch Freeview channel 71, then your TV is compatible with the change.
- If your TV refuses to display a picture, your TV is not compatible. You may see a black screen, or an error message. You will also not hear any sound.
What’s the problem with the change?
That’s TV 3 is now broadcast using the MPEG-4 AVC video codec. The sound has changed to the HE-AAC audio codec.
Until now, MPEG-4 and AAC sound has only been used for services broadcast in the newer DVB-T2 standard. Older TVs simply ignore them as they don’t support DVB-T2, not even adding the channels to main channel list. For example, an old Freeview TV will not add BBC One HD on channel 101 or U&Eden on channel 57.
That’s not the case with this latest change, which uses DVB-T1 for the first time. The channel will always appear in the channel list, regardless of device, even if the device can’t handle MPEG-4.
The switch affects a small number of older TVs and set-top-boxes, generally purchased either before or during the UK’s switchover from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting. These devices will be more than a decade old, and perhaps more likely to have been moved to other rooms to be used as second or third TVs.
Freeview has kept quiet about the change, which received prior written approval from broadcast regulator Ofcom. It’s not known if the change is permanent.
However, broadcasters may hope the change does remain unnoticed. That would indicate that there are sufficiently small numbers of incompatible TVs and set-top-boxes around to warrant considering switching other services across.
With regards the adoption of HE-AAC sound, it’s been a requirement for Freeview receivers to support the codec since the early 2010s.
Is the change linked to something else?
Yes. The switch means That’s TV 3 is using less bandwidth than before. That in turn frees up space for Channel 4 to make an important change to one of its channels shortly.
That’s TV’s other services on Freeview aren’t impacted by the MPEG-4 change.
Will the change improve picture and sound quality?
The switch could have provided better quality picture and sound if That’s TV 3 had retained its existing bandwidth. In this instance, the bandwidth used for That’s TV 3 has been cut. The picture resolution is now 544×576, reduced from 720×576. So the answer is no.
Wasn’t MPEG-4 AVC used before?
Back when Freeview had to share the digital terrestrial TV (DTT) bandwidth with pay TV services, BT briefly carried two sports channels that were broadcast in MPEG-4 AVC. But these encrypted services were specifically targeted at viewers using one of BT’s earliest TV boxes, not Freeview TVs/boxes. Later, BT migrated subscribers to their YouView-based IPTV service and the channels were removed from DTT.
In 2007, Sky planned to replace its Freeview channels with pay TV service ‘Picnic’. Sky had hoped to persuade Ofcom to allow it to switch to MPEG-4 to keep Sky News on the platform. Ofcom didn’t approve of the plans and Picnic died before it launched.
Analysis: How could it benefit Freeview?
Marc Thornham
That’s TV 3 is an ideal testbed for the switch. It’s a lesser watched channel, but has a level of universal coverage that is normally only reserved for public service broadcasters (PSBs). It piggybacks on the signal that carries ITV1 and Channel 4 across the country (STV in central and northern Scotland). The vintage content on the channel is more likely to attract older viewers. They’re more likely to be reliant on Freeview and perhaps less likely to spend money on brand new TVs. In other words, you are more likely to have viewers who could be affected by the change.
But if there are few complaints, it indicates there probably aren’t many incompatible devices still in use. It’s a similar situation to the recent closure of the BBC’s standard definition channels on satellite. The BBC had suspected the number of affected viewers would be small. I understand volumes of calls to the help scheme was even less than expected. The number of viewers still using older devices may have been overestimated.
Meanwhile, terrestrial TV viewing is in decline, meaning the cost per viewer of delivering the service is increasing. Switching more of Freeview to MPEG-4 AVC might be a one way of making more efficient use of bandwidth. This in turns opens up various cost-saving opportunities. More channels could switch in the medium term with little or no impact to existing viewers, while a longer term consensus over the future of Freeview is reached.
Last updated: 14:17