BBC releases Freeview HD timetable
By Julian Clover
November 16, 2009 11.29 UK
The BBC has given details of the timetable for the rollout of high definition signals on the terrestrial transmission network. The aim is to make Freeview HD available to 50% of the population in time for the World Cup next June and to cover 98.5% of the population once digital switchover has completed in 2012.
The multiplex was created by the reorganisation of the DTT spectrum at the end of September. The BBC will be joined by a primetime version of ITV HD, currently only available to Freesat households, and a simulcast of Channel 4. Broadband TV News understands that transmissions from Channel 4 will commence in the first half of 2010, once contract negotiations with the BBC have been completed.
In the meantime an advance network will enable reception of BBC HD in London, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Bradford and Birmingham by the end of March 2010. The majority of viewers will receive the HD multiplex after digital switchover in their region, commencing with Manchester in December 2009, and Cardiff by the end of March 2010. For the 7% of the UK population who switched before December 2009, a retrofit programme will bring them into coverage before the end of November 2010.
From January 2010 viewers will be able to check with the Freeview website as to when HD is available in their area.
Timetable (Freeview HD signal availability commences at switchover unless otherwise stated)
England
Area transmitter group Date
Manchester Winter Hill 2 December 2009
London Crystal Palace 2 December 2009 Advance network
Newcastle and Tyneside Pontop Pike February 2010 Advance network
Leeds / Bradford Emley Moor March 2010 Advance network
Birmingham Lichfield March 2010 Advance network
Liverpool, central Lancashire, Cheshire, north Staffordshire Winter Hill relays March 2010 retrofit
Exeter, parts of Devon, Somerset, Dorset Stockland Hill April 2010 retrofit
Bristol, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire Mendip April 2010
Devon, Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly Beacon Hill
Caradon Hill
Huntshaw Cross
Redruth August 2010 retrofit
Cumbria and the Lake District Caldbeck October 2010 retrofit
Then Freeview HD rolls out with the rest of the switchover programme, so:
2011 – Bedfordshire, Berkshire (parts), Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, East Anglia, East Midlands, East Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Humberside, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire (parts), Stoke-on-Trent, West Midlands (remainder), and West Yorkshire (remainder).
2012 – Berkshire (remainder), County Durham, Greater London (remainder), Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Surrey, Sussex, Teesside, Tyneside.
Wales
area transmitter group date
Cardiff, Newport Wenvoe March 2010
Swansea Kilvey Hill March 2010 retrofit
west and central Wales Blaenplwyf March 2010
Carmarthenshire Carmel April 2010 retrofit
rest of Wales Long Mountain
Moel y Parc
Presely Mid – June 2010 retrofit
Anglesey Llanddona July 2010 retrofit
Wales will have switched over to digital and the roll-out of Freeview HD will be complete by the end of July 2010.
Scotland
area transmitter group date
Glasgow, central Scotland Black Hill February 2010 Advance network
Shetland Bressay May 2010
Orkney Keelylang Hill May 2010
Caithness, North Sutherland Rumster Forest Mid – June 2010
Lewis, Wester Ross, North West Sutherland, Western Isles Eitshal
Skriaig July 2010
Angus, Dundee, Perth, and parts of Fife Angus August 2010
Aberdeenshire Durris September 2010
Morayshire, Strathspey, and parts of Easter Ross Knockmore October 2010
South West Scotland Caldbeck Scotland October 2010
Inverness and the Great Glen Rosemarkie October 2010
South West Highlands and Islands Torosay October 2010
Scottish Borders Selkirk November 2010 retrofit
Then Freeview HD rolls out with the rest of the switchover programme so that the whole of Scotland is switched over to digital and will be able to receive Freeview HD by the end of Q2, 2011.
Northern Ireland
Freeview HD rolls out with the rest of the switchover programme so that the whole of Northern Ireland is switched over to digital and will be able to receive Freeview HD by the end of 2012.
Other Areas
area transmitter group date
Isle of Man Douglas October 2010 retrofit
Channel Islands Fremont Point end 2010
Source: BBC
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