The BBC Trust has issued a warning to the operators of the proposed local TV multiplex not to include any “disreputable material” in any subleasing of additional capacity.
Outlining how it proposes to allocate the £25 million of licence fee money that has been committed towards the UK government plan for local TV, the Trust says that the eventual operator of MuxCo may want to monetise additional video streams.
While acknowledging that the BBC will not be directly funding any additional services, the Trust says the streams will be realized through licence fee money, and while MuxCo is receiving funding from the BBC it does not expect to see gambling, pornographic or psychic services.
It is planned that the BBC will assist the successful bidder for the local multiplex licence operator currently referred to as MuxCo. However, the Trust has said it is up to the winning bid to decide if they need the funding, and will amend the arrangements if it is a not-for-profit organization.
Subject to the approval of the European Commission it is expected that the investment will be largely used for capital expenditure. The plans put forward by MuxCo will need to comply with European regulations on State Aid funding.
The BBC contribution will run until either December 31, 2016 or when the funding is exhausted.
Meanwhile a technical study commissioned by Ofcom has concluded local TV could transmit using either QPSK rate 2/3 or QPSK rate 3/4 that offer capacities of approximately 8Mbit/s and 9Mbit/s respectively.
However, report authors Zetacast conclude that a greater degree of compromise is required if QPSK rate 2/3 is used, such as reducing picture resolution and adopting more expensive methods for combining the local and national services. QPSK rate provides fewer constraints on the services and the opportunity to adopt simpler infrastructure.
