Foxtel Services Ltd

Although our Sales and Installation departments are on lockdown we still have emergency service coverage on TV, Satellite and Aerial faults. Our Service line is; 01277 369574 or email at; info@foxtel.co.uk

Upcoming changes to transmitters in Q1-Q2 2020 The UHF channels used to broadcast some DTT multiplexes at certain transmitters in the Anglia, Border, Central, Granada, STV, Tyne Tees, UTV, Wales and Yorkshire TV regions will be changing between February and April 2020. These changes are part of work being carried out for the 700MHz clearance programme.
How will this affect viewers? ● Freeview viewers receiving their signal from a transmitter in one of the groups listed ove...rleaf may need to retune to continue receiving some TV channels and radio services. Other platforms that use terrestrial TV, such as YouView, BT TV, EE, Plusnet and TalkTalk, will also be affected.
● Most aerials are expected to be capable of receiving a reliable signal following the changes. However, some grouped aerials - notably group C/D - may need to be updated. A wideband model is generally recommended.1
● Full details of the affected transmitters, multiplexes, frequencies and aerial group changes for 2020 can be download in regionalised PDF files from the Freeview website at freeview.co.uk/clearance.
● Some transmitters may have multiple retune dates during the clearance programme. Where dates are confirmed, these are noted in these PDFs. Retune dates are also noted on the Freeview coverage checker at freeview.co.uk/help.
Why is clearance happening? The 700MHz band is being cleared for future mobile broadband services, following a decision by the UK Government. Ofcom announced its plan to reallocate this spectrum in November 2014. Freeview services currently using frequencies in this band are being moved to new UHF channels. Transmitters across the UK are being updated as part of a major engineering programme being carried out between now and mid-2020. The dates and details of changes to transmitters will be announced as the programme progresses and published online at freeview.co.uk/clearance.
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Freeview is down across large parts of the UK leaving thousands of customers unable to watch TV. High pressure weather conditions are interfering with Freeview signal in Wales, south west England, south east England, East Anglia, parts of the Midlands and Yorkshire. The TV provider confirmed the weather is affecting signal levels and that problems could continue throughout this week. A Freeview spokesman said 'Current high pressure weather conditions across the UK can caus...e picture break up or loss of channels for some viewers. 'At the moment, it looks as though these conditions may continue throughout the week. If you are affected please do not retune your TV, as reception will improve with the weather. 'Viewers experiencing difficulty can still watch live and on-demand TV through players such as BBC iPlayer & ITV Hub on an internet connected Freeview Play TV or one that has players available to view. 'Alternatively viewers can live stream shows via the Freeview mobile app.'
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Attenborough to front BBC’s The Green Planet. The BBC has announced that Sir David Attenborough is to present The Green Planet, a new series from BBC’s Natural History Unit that will air on BBC One in 2021. It will be “the first immersive portrayal of an unseen, inter-connected world, full of remarkable new behaviour, emotional stories and surprising heroes in the plant world. This is Planet Earth from the perspective of plants,” according to the BBC. Attenborough said: “This is a wonderful opportunity to explore a neglected yet truly remarkable part of the natural world. Once again, the innovative approach of the BBC NHU and ground breaking technology will reveal new and surprising wonders to the BBC One audience.”

300 hours of Channel 5 content added to Sky box-sets A new content partnership between Sky and Channel 5 will bring a range of entertainment and factual box-sets to Sky Box Sets and the NOW TV Entertainment Pass, in total about 300 hours of Channel 5 content is being released.

Merry Christmas to all our staff and Customers. Have a great festive breakMerry Christmas to all our staff and Customers. Have a great festive break

Currently recruiting for; TV Aerial and Satellite engineers 18-28k Tel: 01277 369574 or email; info@foxtel.co.ukCurrently recruiting for; TV Aerial and Satellite engineers 18-28k Tel: 01277 369574 or email; info@foxtel.co.uk

Foxtel AV Engineer Chris took time out for a quick selfie whilst installing for Essex’s very own Olly Murs. 😉👍
#OllyMurs #Samsung #EssexBoy

..Sky agrees exclusive coverage of The Masters.. Sky has agreed a new contract, starting in 2020, for exclusive live coverage of The Masters golf tournament. The event will be broadcast exclusively on Sky Sports’ dedicated golf channel, with additional coverage on Sky Sports News and Sky Sports’ social and digital platforms. The contract means the BBC, who has covered the tournament live since 1963, will now only show highlights.

Germany successfully trials 5G Broadcast.. Indigo report that the participants of German research project 5G Today, in which linear TV was transmitted in 5G broadcast mode for the first time, have drawn a positive conclusion. “We were able to achieve good mobile TV reception in large parts of the measurement area. These findings form an important basis for further standardisation work on 5G broadcasting,” said Aneta Baier, project manager at German broadcast technology resea...rch institute IRT. The aim of the field trials, carried out on two transmitter sites in federal state Bavaria, was to examine the efficient distribution of TV channels for reception on future mobile 5G devices such as smartphones and tablets. 5G Broadcast offers advantages like high video quality, low latency and cost-effective distribution with high coverage, according to the 5G Today partners. The project, funded by the Bavarian Research Foundation, has been running since 2017; it was scheduled to end on October 31, 2019. The participants IRT, Kathrein, Rohde & Schwarz and associated partners Bayerischer Rundfunk and Telefónica Deutschland jointly investigated the possibilities of a 5G-based broadcast solution. The project covered the development of components for transmission and reception technology, preliminary examinations, simulations and field measurements. In addition, various antenna polarisations were investigated, especially for reception on smartphones. Due to the new status of the utilised LTE/5G broadcast mode FeMBMS, detailed research on the synchronisation behaviour and the resulting supply quality is still necessary, according to the partners. They have therefore agreed to continue the work started with 5G Today and to operate the test field beyond the planned duration of the project. Nevertheless, the participants conclude that the field measurements of 5G Today have shown that FeMBMS can achieve the characteristics of a classic broadcast transmission system.
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BBC to combine TV apps into iPlayer.. The BBC is to combine the separate apps it currently runs for BBC News and BBC Sport into the iPlayer. As previously reported, from January the text-based element of the Red Button service will also cease. It’s planned that BBC iPlayer will become the home of much of the video content that is currently available on the BBC Sport and BBC News apps on TVs. There will also be a connected TV version of the BBC Sounds app that brings together the BBC’s podcast and radio content.

ITV Hub hits 30m registered users.. ITV has revealed that its on-demand service the ITV Hub has over 30 million registered users. The Hub has increased from 21 million registered users in October 2017 and 26 million in October last year. ITV has reached over 30 million users well ahead of its target of hitting that figure in 2021.

E4+1 Freeview change causes Welsh oddity..
Channel 4 has been reshuffling its timeshift channels around on Freeview this month; Film4+1 (channel 45) and More4+1 (channel 86) have already changed frequency. Now E4+1 (channel 28) has moved to a new frequency on Freeview and is being broadcast directly alongside the main standard definition version of Channel 4. The change means viewers will need to retune to get E4+1 back. It also means that for the first time, E4+1 is availa...ble to viewers accessing Freeview on a relay, the so-called "Freeview light" service, at the expense of Film4+1. But in Wales, where many households are unable to receive the full Freeview service, the change has led to the odd situation where E4+1 is now widely available on Freeview, but the main E4 channel is not. That's because in Wales, part of Channel 4's allocation of Freeview bandwidth is used by S4C Since 2009, E4 is broadcast on the ITV-owned SDN digital multiplex in Wales, which is only available from a handful of transmitters, with only limited coverage as their signals are blocked by hills and mountains. But the change does at least enable some viewers to watch E4 on Freeview in Wales for the first time in a decade, even if an hour later than everyone else.
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Channel 4, BT, EE on BritBox as it launches..
Opening on a positive note by announcing deals with Channel 4 and BT, BritBox, the subscription VOD service created by BBC and ITV, has officially opened for business. BritBox claims to give viewers in HD and across multiple devices, the greatest collection of British boxsets for £5.99 a month. Additionally the portfolio has been significantly enhanced with content from Channel 4 as well as BT and subsidiary EE. The three-year ...partnership deal with Channel 4 will bring over 1000 hours of content from on-demand service All 4 including TV boxsets and British films from Film4. BritBox will bring All 4 to the service in Spring 2020, with new series being available 31 days following transmission of the last episode on Channel 4. Film4 will follow later in 2020. With BT, BritBox will create a range of products and offers that feature access to millions of customers across its brands and services, and as part of the deal EE will be the exclusive mobile partner for BritBox.
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Over 10m sign-up to Disney+ on Day 1. Initially available in the US, Canada and the Netherlands, and expected in the UK in March 2020, Disney+ offers access to nearly 500 films and 7,500 episodes of television from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic. The first seven Star Wars movies will be available for the first time in 4K Ultra HD format along with Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Toy Story 1–3. Original series debuting include The Mandalorian, the first-ever live-action Star Wars series.

2020 Freeview retune dates confirmed
Freeview retune dates for 2020 have now been confirmed, although as always are subject to potential changes in unforeseen circumstances, such as adverse weather. In Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, most of the region's main TV transmitters will undergo frequency changes on the 5 February 2020 and some relays will see changes a week later on the 12 February 2020. In East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, an additional retune will take place on the 4 M...arch 2020 due to frequency co-ordination with the East Midlands. In the East Midlands TV region, viewers will need to retune on the 4 March 2020. For many viewers, this will mean changes to the frequencies for all the main TV channels, including BBC One East Midlands and ITV Central East. For viewers in the North West of England changes will occur in two stages - 19 February and 22 April 2020 when broadcasts from the Winter Hill transmitter and many relays change. In North East Wales, the Moel-Y-Parc transmitter will change on the 22 April 2020. In Northern Ireland, a frequency change takes place at the Divis transmitter, above Belfast on the 4 March 2020, co-ordinated with changes taking place over the border in the Republic of Ireland on the same day. Viewers in the western part of the Anglia region, in parts of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and eastern areas of Buckinghamshire will be affected by frequency changes on 12 February 2020. On the Isle of Man, transmitters will be switched to new frequencies on 29 April 2020, once other frequency changes have been completed around the edges of the Irish Sea. Some viewers in the Lake District will also be affected during April, when a number of relays will be switched. On each regional retune day, Freeview channels are subject to being off-air overnight as engineering work takes place at the transmitters. By breakfast time, most viewers will be able to retune to restore channels. Relays will be up and running by the afternoon.
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