All posts by Anthony
Below are all of Anthony's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
MikeB: But how come when UK Gold started on 1st November 1992 via Astra 1B Channel 23 11.553Ghz/H, it was classic UK produced shows which were restricted to the UK market ONLY behind a free-to-view PAL Videocrypt soft-scrambling wall? If that channel didn't soft-scramble then presumably the same thing you have been saying about classic archive programming having little value would have applied here without fear of copyright being broken by these shows being available across Europe. It's therefore good for UK channels that are broadcasting across Europe on Astra 2's paneuropean beam and Eutelsat's 28A European Superbeam for them to break the country by country monopoly on British made programming by showing it in English and to all European viewers free-to-air.
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clwyd: you'll need a Freesat HD + recorder to be able to record for free without a subscription.
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I agree with enlarging the North West tv region to take in Cumbria;because it is part and parcel of North West England officially, Cumbria and North East should NEVER have been joined in the first place to be honest.
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Shutting down MW services for BBC Local Radio is fraught with problems;despite the increase in DAB transmission coverage there are STILL areas where reception of DAB is patchy poor or non-existant.
Also some BBC Local Radio stations like BBC Radio Lancashire need all the frequencies they have to carry different games so split between MW FM DAB and online to give different commentaries to different listeners in various areas of the county so they can follow their games accordingly depending on where they are listening. There is NO WAY this could be done relying purely on DAB/FM and on-line coverage only. MW allows easier in-car reception where FM and DAB is poor and gives bigger area coverage uninterrupted by buildings hills etc and not as subject to the vagaries of FM and DAB reception difficulties.
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I would bring back closedowns overnight on BBC One and BBC Two and stop having an overnight loop of programme previews on BBC Two and stop having a simulcast coverage from BBC News and BBC World overnight on BBC One. BBC Radio 1 3 and 4 and Five Live would also closedown overnight with 18h a day programming 6am-12midnight 7 days a week. 1 Extra would disappear from the dial entirely as would Radio 4 Extra. BBC Local Radio would revert back to carrying BBC Radio 2 in the evenings when local programmes are finished for the day ie after Saturday Sport finishes 6pm, final local news and weather then station jingle, goodnight and joining Radio 2 (like many local stations used to do) and give BBC Local Radio the option finish at various times early or late during the week handing over to R2 overnight).
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BUT more and more people have the various on-demand services to catch up;bbciplayer for tv/radio itvplayer 4oD Demand5 and many many others;surely that's a good a reason as any to not have TV/Radio services 24:7.
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Overnight TV these days is utter rubbish;looping news and weather/teleshopping/all night gambling/signed repeats, IS THAT GOOD OVERNIGHT CONTENT??? No it isn't!!! Some TV channels DO HAVE closedown downtime by showing an infocard of when the channel recommences broadcasting later on instead of overnight rubbish. Is the rubbish shown overnight when a channel isn't broadcasting it's own output worth it??? If I started a TV or radio station up today it WOULDNT BE 24:7 or filled with rubbish during a channel's downtime. If television it would be 9.30 with a 9.25 start up and would end around midnight or later in the case of a late film with a look at tomorrows progs a look at the clock and an all night testcard and automated overnight stereo music and test-tones sequence. If radio the hours would be 7am-12midnight sunday to friday and 7am-1am saturday with off air test tone after last news of the day and info tape about the station, frequencies, broadcast hours, telephone number and address plus internet address/email info that runs every 15mins.
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TV from midnight to 6am should be uncut popular films, music videos, concerts, sports, music chart shows, film reviews, showbiz goss, popular series from Stateside and the United Kingdom and handover to breakfast TV at 6am;all night gambling encourages people to lose their shirts and money, teleshopping is a viewers wantfest, and news is available from all sources and channels along with weather WHY simulcast news and weather overnight what you can easily get on your laptop notebook tablet i-phone smartphone or internet?
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Also some +1 channels closedown overnight and refuse to show what is on their main channel variants because of so-called LEGAL reasons(THEY CAN'T DO IT BASICALLY or they deliberately choose NOT TO DO IT like Channel5+1 which flicks off air at 1am with a 5+1 logo and returns at 5am, itv+1 will NOT simulcast timeshift The Store and the overnight poker showing an off air infocard BUT WILL RETURN WHEN IT IS OVER).
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Tuesday 11 November 2014 2:58PM
MikeP: I have always thought that, when you buy films/tv series as a satellite broadcaster to show, particularly American and British english language ones, and you are using a Europewide footprint on a satellite, the programme maker usually stipulates and places copyright restrictions on where those programmes can be shown geographically by either insisting on the use of free-to-view encryption (free-to-view card and CAM), OR, totally restrict audienceship of those programmes to pay-tv subscribers only ie by an encryption system, a built in or separate CAM and card and monthly subscription fee.
The buying power and funding of a few free-to-air unencrypted channels, particularly those owned by big players i.e CBS and Sony etc, CAN afford indeed, the pan-european broadcast rights, and so the programme providers/movie studios and production companies of the shows concerned allow such transmission unrestricted to a big European market which, indeed, benefits those programme providers because it guarantees exposure and perhaps gets new people into those programmes who never would have seen them in the first place so it's win win situation for all when that happens.