Digital terrestrial television (DTT) in the UK remains an integral part of the broadcasting environment and increasingly so as digital switchover (DSO) begins in earnest. However, even as DSO commences, the terrestrial landscape continues to evolve to enable higher bandwidth services through the adoption of new, more efficient digital broadcast technologies such as MPEG-4 and DVB-T2.
Our consultation of 21 November 2007 highlighted the opportunities presented by the new MPEG-4 and DVB-T2 technologies and our Statement of 3 April 2008 (the April Statement) proposed a roadmap to realising these opportunities. In July this year legislation came into force which empowered Ofcom to implement that roadmap; that is, to upgrade Multiplex B (operated by BBC Free to View Ltd), and to enable the launch of three high definition (HD) services on the multiplex. Implementation led by the BBC is now well underway with the launch expected to commence with the Granada television region in late 2009 and rollout thereafter following the DSO timetable (completing in 2012). However, a consequence of implementing alongside DSO is that some parts of the UK will not have access to the new HD services for up to three years after they first launch – a concern noted in our April Statement.
This statement concludes our technical consultation published on 22 October 2008. The Consultation considered whether additional frequencies could be temporarily assigned to the Multiplex B operator to enable the new HD services to launch ahead of DSO in some parts of the UK.