Re: azayzel @ Oct 17th 2007 7:35PM --- It's much easier to switch over a country that is the size of a small state, than a country several times larger than the whole of Europe. Several channels in the U.S. have been transmitting clear QAM for almost 3 years already, it will be good to finally see all the analog channels finally switch over (or die like a dinosaur!). --- Considering that the UK transmits stations at a much lower power than the US, and covers smaller areas with it's transmission cells (A US state would have one transmitter covering the whole area, the UK has hundreds, if not thousands, covering towns and cities and providing fill-in coverage for mountains and valleys), and considering they have different "providers" for stations in close proximity (Carlton/Anglia/Tyne Tees/Granada etc), there's more problem with signal clash and interference in the UK than a US state would have.
As it is, the UK has had free Digital Terrestrial TV (DVB-T) running side-by-side with Analog Terrestrial for the past 9 years (Since OnDigital in 1998) without issue. It was always stated that Analog transmissions would be stopped in 2012, but due to faster consumer takeup, this date can be brought forward.
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Re: azayzel @ Oct 17th 2007 7:35PM
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It's much easier to switch over a country that is the size of a small state, than a country several times larger than the whole of Europe. Several channels in the U.S. have been transmitting clear QAM for almost 3 years already, it will be good to finally see all the analog channels finally switch over (or die like a dinosaur!).
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Considering that the UK transmits stations at a much lower power than the US, and covers smaller areas with it's transmission cells (A US state would have one transmitter covering the whole area, the UK has hundreds, if not thousands, covering towns and cities and providing fill-in coverage for mountains and valleys), and considering they have different "providers" for stations in close proximity (Carlton/Anglia/Tyne Tees/Granada etc), there's more problem with signal clash and interference in the UK than a US state would have.
As it is, the UK has had free Digital Terrestrial TV (DVB-T) running side-by-side with Analog Terrestrial for the past 9 years (Since OnDigital in 1998) without issue. It was always stated that Analog transmissions would be stopped in 2012, but due to faster consumer takeup, this date can be brought forward.