- Number range for streaming channels is nearly full. Platform operator Everyone TV wants to create a few extra slots.
Freeview platform operator Everyone TV reacts to ongoing demand from broadcasters to launch new hybrid streaming services on the platform.
The past year saw an explosion in the number of streaming channels launched on Freeview. The channels, which use HbbTV technology to broadcast a portal to access streaming services are allocated a slot between channel 260 and 299 on the channel list.
Last month, Talk(TV) became the latest streaming service to take up a slot, launching on channel 294. With just five spaces left and with further growth expected, Everyone TV is planning changes.
It’s planning to allow streaming services to appear above channel 250, rather than above channel 260.
Planned changes
To do this, it plans to combine the existing text service section, which starts on channel 250 with the streaming section of the channel list. This will create a 50 channel block between 250 and 299. With only one text based service still broadcasting (BBC Red Button text on 250), nine extra slots become available for streaming services.
Subject to an industry consultation, streaming services will be able to be allocated to any vacant channel number, starting at 251. Existing services will be offered an opportunity to shuffle down. Gaps currently found in the streaming section will be filled during the planned Freeview reshuffle.
Context
In recent years, the number of text-based services on Freeview has declined, with BBC Red Button Text on channel 250 the last remaining service. Newer TVs no longer support traditional text-based services meaning there’s unlikely to be any competition from new text services.
Everyone TV is in the long term planning to discourage such services. Unlike pure streaming services, these hybrid streamers rely on a portal broadcast alongside the terrestrial TV signal to direct the TV to the relevant online stream.
However, with Freely, Everyone TV wants broadcasters to adopt pure streaming, i.e. with no reliance on the terrestrial TV signal. As a result, it’s demoted these services to below channel 550 on the Freely channel list. Here they’ll will be far less visible and attractive to broadcasters.
By: Marc Thornham | Image: stock