Former DTT channels in Oxford

Introduction

Previous articles describe analogue [link here] and digital [link here] terrestrial television from the Oxford viewer's perspective. Technical details of reception are also described [link here]. The following tables list the present and anticipated DTT channels, both free to air and formerly via subscription to ITV Digital (formerly ONdigital) which has now closed down, as they were on 4 July 2002, the day the former ITV Digital licences were reassigned to new providers. The current tables of DTT channels are available separately [link here].
 

Table 1. DTT channels from Beckley (Oxford) transmitter
Channel	Name	Multiplex	Type and status	Notes
1	BBC 1 South (Oxford)	1	Free to air
2	BBC 2	1	Free to air	Shared with BBC 2W in Wales
3	ITV 1 (Carlton Central South)	2	Free to air	UTV 1 in N. Ireland (Mux 2)
4	Channel 4	2	Free to air	S4C in Wales (Mux A)
5	Channel 5	A	Free to air
6	GMTV 2 ITV 2	2	Free to air	UTV 2 replaces ITV 2 in N. Ireland (Mux 2)
7	BBC Choice	1	Free to air	"Expected to become BBC 3 in APR-2001 or in 2002 (on hold)"
8				Channel 4 in Wales (Mux 2)
9	Teletext UK	2	Free to air; text only
10	BBC 4	1	Free to air
11	BBC News 24	1	Free to air
12	CBBC	1	Free to air
13	CBeebies	1	Free to air
14	FourText	2	Free to air; text only
15	NTLi	A	Free to air; text only
16	itv TEXT+	2	Free to air; text only
17	BBCi	1	Free to air; text only
18				S4C2 in Wales (Mux A) Tele G in Scotland (Mux A)
19	QVC	A	Free to air	Except Wales
20	ITV Sport	2	Free to air (formerly Premium)	Closed down 11-MAY-2002
21	Sky Sports 1	B	Premium	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
22	Sky Sports 2	C	Premium	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
23	Sky Sports 3	D	Bonus for Sky Sports 1 or 2	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
24	Sky MovieMax	C	Premium	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
25	Sky Premier	B	Premium	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
26	Sky One	B	Primary	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
27	Cartoon Network	B	Primary	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
28	Carlton Cinema	B	Primary	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
29	British Eurosport TVShop	B	Primary	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
30	Granada Plus	C	Primary	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
31	Granada Men & Motors	C	Primary	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
32	UK Gold	C	Primary	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
33	MTV UK	C	Primary	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
35	(Barker loop)	D		Closed down 1-MAY-2002
36	Discovery Channel	D	Primary	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
37	PLAY uk	D	Primary	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
38	UK Style	D	Primary	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
39	Nickelodeon Paramount Comedy	D	Primary	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
41	FilmFour FilmFour Preview 4Extra	2	Premium	(4Extra except Scotland); closed down 23-MAY-2002
42	E4	2	Primary	Closed down 23-MAY-2002
43	UK Horizons	B	Primary	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
44	TV Travel Shop	A	Free to air	Rumoured to be joined by Rapture (free to air): "expected Summer 2001" or "expected SEP-2001" or "expected 2002"
45	BBC Parliament	1	Free to air; sound only
46	Two Way TV	C	Open to subscribers	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
47	(Barker loop)	C		Closed down 1-MAY-2002
48	ITN News Channel	A	Free to air	Expected to be joined by The Community Channel (free to air) "SEP-2001", "to close early 2002" or "to become the ITV News Channel later in 2002"
50	ITVSelect Info	A	Free to air	Closed down 23-APR-2002
51	ITV Select 1	A	Pay-per-view	Closed down 23-APR-2002
52	ITV Select 2	A	Pay-per-view	Closed down 23-APR-2002
53	ITV Select 3	A	Pay-per-view	Except Wales; closed down 23-APR-2002
54	ITV Select 4	A	Pay-per-view	Closed down 23-APR-2002
55	ITV Select 5	A	Pay-per-view	Closed down 23-APR-2002
56	Adults Only 1	A	Pay-per-view	Closed down 23-APR-2002
57	Adults Only 2	A	Pay-per-view	Except Wales; closed down 23-APR-2002
58	Adults Only 3	A	Pay-per-view	Closed down 23-APR-2002
88	ITV Digital	B	Free to air; text only	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
90	Adult Channel	C	Premium	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
91	Television X	A	Pay-per-view	Except Wales
98	ITV Sport Select	B	Pay-per-view	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
99	ITV Sport Plus	B	Bonus for ITV Sport	Closed down 1-MAY-2002
Notes: The same channel allocations are used throughout the U.K. with regional variations including: BBC regions and ITV 1 companies; S4C replaces Channel 4 in Wales; S4C2 in Wales; Tele G in Scotland; UTV replaces ITV in N. Ireland. 800 upwards are test channels.

Table 2. Selected DTT channels from other transmitters
Channel	Name	Multiplex	Type and status	Transmitter
(1)	BBC 1 London	1	Free to air	Crystal Palace
(3)	ITV 1 (Carlton / London Weekend Television)	2	Free to air
(1)	BBC 1 South	1	Free to air	Hannington
(3)	ITV 1 (Meridian Television)	2	Free to air
(1)	BBC 1 East	1	Free to air	Sandy Heath
(3)	ITV 1 (Anglia Television)	2	Free to air
(1)	BBC 1 West Midland	1	Free to air	Sutton Coldfield
(3)	ITV 1 (Carlton Central West)	2	Free to air
Notes: duplicated channel numbers are reallocated to vacant slots in the receiver's menu and may vary. Multiplexes A-D are also available (subject to reception conditions) and more or less duplicate those from Oxford.

Table 3. Pending DTT channels
Channel	Name	Multiplex	Type and status
7	BBC 3	1	Free to air; "expected to replace BBC Choice in APR-2001 or in 2002 (on hold)"
	BBC Business		Free to air; rumour only - "expected late 2001 or in 2002"
	BBC Replay		Rumour only - "expected late 2002"
	British Sport	?A	(BBC/NTL): rumour only - "expected Summer 2001" or "expected OCT-2001"
	Channel 4 Racing		Primary?; "expected Spring 2001"
48	The Community Channel	A	Free to air; to join ITN News Channel - "expected SEP-2001"
	The Disney Channel		Primary; rumour only
	ITV Kids (CiTV)	2	Free to air; formerly "expected Spring/Summer 2001"; "abandoned"
	MUTV		Premium; "to be announced" - no recent news
	The National Geographic Channel		Primary; rumour only ("probably" not imminent)
	The Premier League Channel		Premium; dependent on future outcomes - speculative only
	QTV		Primary; rumour only
44	Rapture	A	Free to air; to join TV Travel Shop, rumour only - "expected Summer 2001" or "expected SEP-2001" or "expected 2002". Latterly rumoured to be closing down completely instead
	Sky News		Rumour only - "expected SEP-2001"
	UK Arena / UK Drama		Primary; "to be announced" - no recent news
	VH-1		Primary; rumour only ("probably" not imminent)
	Zee TV		Premium; rumour only
Notes: all details are provisional - some are probably just speculative

Jon Godwin
skull@wolfbane.com