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Local TV - V Media coverage

Here are details of which of the possible Local TV areas have VMedia fibreoptic digital television coverage that would support the new local TV channel.

Here are details of which of the possible  Local TV areas have
published on UK Free TV

Now a look at the provision of digital cable TV services for each of the big population areas in the UK adds another level of possibilities for Local TV coverage.

I am unable to obtain figures for the number of homes in any particular area that have cable TV services (the so-called penetration rates).

This is a map of the "cable coverage areas".

Virgin Media Coverage Map

Finally a combined table of the Freeview Interleaved and Cable coverage areas.

Looks like very bad news for local TV for Hull, Lisburn, Worcester and Oldham - without satellite.

Interleaved # City BBC region HQ ITV region HQ population FV VM
Angus 2 Dundee     154,674 good no
Belmont 2 Hull BBC Hull   301,416 no no
Bilsdale 2 Middlesbrough     142,691 part yes
Bilsdale 2 York     137,505 good yes
Black Hill 2 Glasgow BBC Scotland STV Central 629,501 good yes
..& Craigkelly 2 Edinburgh     430,082 poor yes
Caldbeck 2 Carlisle   ITV Border 101,000 good no
Caradon Hill 2 Plymouth BBC South West   243,795 no yes
Crystal Palace 2 London BBC London ITV London 7,172,091 good yes
Crystal Palace 2 Southend-on-sea     160,257 no yes
Crystal Palace 2 Slough     126,276 no yes
Crystal Palace 2 Watford     120,960 no yes
Crystal Palace 2 Crawley     100,547 no yes
Divis 2 Belfast BBC NI UTV 276,459 good yes
Divis 2 Lisburn     110,000 no no
Durris 2 Aberdeen   STV North 212,125 good no
Emley Moor 2 Leeds BBC North ITV Yorkshire 443,247 poor yes
Emley Moor 2 Wakefield     316,000 good yes
Emley Moor 2 Bradford     293,717 no yes
Emley Moor 2 Huddersfield     146,234 good yes
Emley Moor 2 Rotherham     117,262 no yes
Fenton 2 Stoke-on-Trent     259,252 good yes
Hannington 2 Reading     232,662 no yes
Heathfield 2 Eastbourne     106,562 no yes
Hemel Hempstead 2 St. Albans     130,000 good yes
Kilvey Hill 2 Swansea     169,880 good yes
Lancaster 2 Lancaster     135,000 good no
Leicester 1 Leicester     330,574 no yes
Londonderry 2 Londonderry     105,000 good yes
Bristol KW & IC 2 Bristol BBC West ITV W Country 420,556 good yes
Mendip 2 Bath     90,000 no yes
Nottingham 2 Nottingham BBC E Midlands   249,584 poor yes
Nottingham 2 Derby     229,407 no yes
Oxford 2 Swindon     155,432 no yes
Oxford 2 Oxford BBC Oxford   143,016 good yes
Pontop Pike 2 Newcastle upon Tyne BBC North East ITV North East 273,600 good yes
Pontop Pike 2 Sunderland     177,739 good no
Ridge Hill 2 Gloucester     123,205 no yes
Ridge Hill 2 Cheltenham     110,320 no yes
Ridge Hill 2 Worcester     93,000 no no
Rowridge 2 Southampton BBC South ITV Meridian 234,224 good yes
Rowridge 2 Portsmouth     186,000 no yes
Rowridge 2 Bournemouth     167,527 no yes
Poole * Poole     144,800 no yes
Rowridge 2 Chichester     108,000 no yes
Rowridge 2 Winchester     108,000 no yes
Salisbury 2 Salisbury     115,000 good yes
Sandy Heath 2 Northampton     189,474 no yes
Sandy Heath 2 Luton     185,543 no yes
Sandy Heath 2 Milton Keynes     184,506 no no
Sandy Heath 2 Peterborough     136,292 no yes
Sandy Heath 2 Cambridge BBC Cambridge   113,442 no yes
Sheffield 2 Sheffield     439,866 good yes
Stockland Hill 2 Exeter     106,772 no yes
Sudbury 2 Ipswich     138,718 no yes
Sudbury 2 Colchester     104,390 no yes
Sutton Coldfield 2 Birmingham BBC W Midlands ITV Central 970,892 part yes
Sutton Coldfield 2 Coventry     303,475 no yes
Sutton Coldfield 2 Wolverhampton     251,462 no yes
Sutton Coldfield 2 Dudley     184,619 no yes
Sutton Coldfield 2 Walsall     170,994 no yes
Sutton Coldfield 2 West Bromwich     136,940 no yes
Sutton Coldfield 2 Sutton Coldfield     105,452 good yes
Tacolneston 2 Norwich BBC East ITV Anglia 174,047 part yes
The Wrekin 2 Telford     138,241 good yes
Wenvoe 2 Cardiff BBC Wales ITV Wales 292,150 good yes
Wenvoe 2 Newport     116,143 good yes
Whitehawk Hill 2 Brighton     256,600 good yes
Winter Hill 3 Liverpool     469,017 good yes
Winter Hill 3 Manchester BBC North West ITV Granada 394,269 good yes
Winter Hill 3 Salford     221,300 good yes
Winter Hill 3 Preston     184,836 good yes
Winter Hill 3 Blackpool     142,283 good yes
Winter Hill 3 Bolton     139,403 no yes
Winter Hill 3 Stockport     136,082 no yes
Winter Hill 3 Blackburn     105,085 no yes
Winter Hill 3 Oldham     103,544 no no
Winter Hill 3 St. Helens     102,629 no yes
Winter Hill* 5* Chester     118,000 good no


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Comments
Thursday, 10 March 2011
P
Phil
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

7:45 AM
Scarborough

Hi Brian, not sure how accurate that Virgin Media coverage map is. It indicates they cover Scarborough, when they most certainly don't.

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Phil's 39 posts GB flag
Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:01 AM

Phil: It was supplied by Virgin Media. I have not used it to compile the above table, which I used the Virgin Media Postcode checker system to check.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
P
Phil
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

8:08 AM
Scarborough

Hi Brian, yes I just looked on Virgin Media's site and they have the same map.

Thinking about it years ago one of VM's predecessors Cable & Wireless cabled the town and then decided not to offer any cable services. They were digging the roads up from months and gridlocked the whole town. Maybe that's where the mistake is coming from?

When they completed their cable laying and then didn't offer any services there was a rumour that it was all a ruse just to get cable up to the Middlesbrough area. Not sure if there's any truth in that though?



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Phil's 39 posts GB flag
Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:22 AM

Phil: That makes no sense at all. Cable services are fed from head-ends, not "via" streets in other towns.

I can't understand why Cable and Wireless would put in all the street ducts and then not use them to provide a service.

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P
Phil
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

8:29 AM
Scarborough

Oh right. Well it was only a rumour at the time. It is very strange.

They didn't just lay the cable in the town they did it in a lot of outlying villages as well. There was even an article in the local paper at the time saying we were about to get cable, but after months of traffic gridlock it never happened.

At a guess I'd say they are missing out on around 70,000 potential customers.

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Phil's 39 posts GB flag
Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:07 AM

Phil: They don't actually lay "cable" when they dig the roads up, they dig ducts that cables can be fitted into.

In the jargon these become "homes passed". The actual cable only gets installed when a customer requests service, usually this is dual cable - half coaxial for the TV and broadband services and half twisted pair for a phone line.

The cables go to the nearest "headend" which is usually a box in the street, sometimes a box in the ground.

The networks are "star networks" from the headend to the homes. The headends are connected back to the "central office" in the town using fibre-optic.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
P
Phil
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:22 AM
Scarborough

Oh right. Any idea why they'd dig ducts and not offer the service? Maybe they ran out of money half way through?

What would VM have to do to start offering their service then?

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Phil's 39 posts GB flag
Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:44 PM

Phil: I think when the companies consolidated they decided not to extend their network any more.

It could be that the work was incomplete and was abandoned at a point where the capital costs to provide customer service were more than the possible profits.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
P
Phil
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

1:28 PM
Scarborough

Yes, you could be right. Just a shame they half did the job and then gave up.

I have just emailed the VM cable my street department to ask. Obviously they know about it at some level, as their coverage map shows. We'll see if they get back to me.

Thanks for all the info. You have taught me a few things I had no clue about regarding cable.

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Phil's 39 posts GB flag
Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

2:08 PM

Phil: The cable companies didn't do themselves any favours when they did their installations. They dug up pavements, killed trees and blowing up the odd old lady's house.

Having local cable companies against a national satellite provider was never really going to work, and the rise of mobiles undid the ideas of profit from telephony.

Even in cities that "have cable" there are huge holes in the provision to this day.

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