U.K. digital terrestrial TV explained.

Martin L. Bell, the director of communications at the Digital TV Group (DTG), a U.K. association of TV-related companies that operates as a technical clearing house, detailed for VideoAge the plans for digital terrestrial television (DTT) in the U.K.

The U.K.'s DTT is organized like this: the government's regulatory agency, the ITC (the Independent Television Commission), licenses multiplex operators (network providers). Each multiplex is one analog-type channel which can carry four or more digital TV programs. There are six multiplexes available for the country. The system is meant to ensure competition at three levels: multiplex operation (licensee), transmission service (facility provider) and program provision (content provider).

The BBC, which is not governed by the ITC, is "gifted" two multiplexes. The main analog broadcasters, ITV and Channel 4, together are "gifted" one. That leaves three, of which one is licensed to SDN (made up of analog broadcasters Five and S4C and other interests), and two to Crown Castle.

Their licenses give them the right to use frequencies allocated by the ITC. Actual transmission of the six multiplexes--i.e., ownership of the masts on the hill-tops--is shared between Crown Castle and NTL Broadcast and the multiplex operators pay the transmission companies.

With the six multiplexes, ITC has exhausted all the available spectrum for DTT and no additional digital terrestrial TV licenses will be allocated. The analog channels will continue to run for 10 years after full digital switch-over.

Broadcast content, where the multiplex (mux) operator is not already a broadcaster, is "hired in" (in the case of Crown Castle and some vacant spectrum in the SDN mux). There's no "must carry," but there is a "must provide" condition on the analog broadcasters: they must simulcast in digital, in return for which they get digital spectrum for more services.

All national commercial networks are guaranteed spectrum on the DTT platform. Currently, all commercial national services are simultaneously broadcasting on analog and digital terrestrial television, including ITV-1, Channel Four and Five (which only has 80 percent national coverage on analog). Under legislation now before parliament, all national broadcasters will be guaranteed carriage on all three digital platforms (terrestrial, cable and satellite) after the switch-over.

FreeView, run by two of the mux operators (BBC and Crown Castle), plus one program service provider (BSkyB, which has three channels on one of the Crown Castle multiplexes), is a marketing consortium only and doesn't have a multiplex or a license.

"FreeView" is just the brand name for the DTT channel line-up, given with the tacit consent of the non-FreeView platform players, ITV, C4 and SDN, which have an open invitation to join, have not yet done so--and they're under no obligation to do so, either.

The technical aspects of the platform are discussed and agreed upon between the players, principally through the Digital TV Group. There is an obligation on all multiplex operators to use open standards and for their services to be interoperable.

Receivers are provided on the open market for outright purchase--both boxes and integrated sets. It is reckoned that 1.5 million-plus are in homes (6 percent of TV households) so far, of which 350,000 are idTVs (integrated digital televisions).

Since ITV Digital (a joint venture between Granada and Carlton, originally called On Digital) went bust, it left many digital boxes on the market (which it doesn't plan to retrieve) that can be adapted to receive FreeView. New digital boxes can be acquired for a one-time charge of about $160 to receive the 24 FreeView channels, and are particularly appreciated by those households that cannot get cable or are not in the linesight of satellite reception.

FreeView has a "must provide" obligation only for all the terrestrial TV channels (BBC-1, BBC-2, Channel 4 and Five, ITV-1, and ITV-2, this latter one being a digital-only TV channel). It also carries Sky 1 and Sky News and all of BBC's digital channels (BBC-3, BBC-4, CBeebies, CBBC, BBC News 24 and BBC Parliament).

In other developments, last year the U.K.'s Communications Reform White Paper proposed the creation of a new unified regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), an independent body to work at arm's length from the government and be responsible for the communications sector. Ofcom, which should be operative later this year, or possibly early next year, will combine the existing functions of the BSC, ITC, Oftel, the Radio Authority and the RA. Ofcom, however--somewhat controversially--will not regulate the BBC, which will continue to be self-regulated by its board of governors.

Currently, the BSC (Broadcasting Standards Commission) is the statutory body for both standards and fairness in radio, TV, cable TV and satellite TV transmissions.

DCMS (Department of Culture, Media and Sports) is another government agency that regulates and sets policy, but not for the BBC.

ITC (Independent Television Commission) is responsible for enforcing the decisions, legislation and policies of the DCMS. It is responsible for all commercial broadcasting, and for the digital channels launched by the BBC (because they are commercial ventures), but not BBC-1 and BBC-2.

Oftel (Office of Telecommunications) is the regulator for the telecommunications industry, while RA (Radio Communications Agency) is in charge of keeping the spectrum clean.