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April 2013 www.tvbeurope.com


TVBEurope 17 News & Analysis


Local television set to become a UK reality


Ofcom has awarded Comux UK with the licence to operate the UK’s local TV infrastructure in a £25 million project. Melanie Dayasena-Lowe investigates the technology requirements


DESPITE FAILED attempts in the past to get local TV off the ground, it looks set to become a reality this year. The new initiative will see local TV beamed into homes by the same digital terrestrial TV network that distributes Freeview. DMOL, the organisation


responsible for the management and allocation of channel numbers on DTT, has reserved channel numbers for new public service local TV channels. These will be carried at 8 (England and Northern Ireland) and 45 (Wales and Scotland). Viewers in the areas that will receive local TV will be able to watch it by simply tuning onto channel 8 or 45 using their existing Freeview equipment. As well as broadcasting on DTT, it is anticipated that local TV channels might also wish to offer their services on satellite, cable and online. Having been involved on the fringes with some of the


previous attempts at local TV, Comux was in a good position to bid and familiar with the business model. The organisation was chosen from four bidders, of which the BBC was one. “I believe that we won because our innovative cooperative structure maximises the chance of success for each and every local TV franchise holder,” said Comux UK founder and Canis Media’s CEO Ed Hall. “I’m now looking forward to building the infrastructure and particularly excited to see the first local TV services on-air. This really is a step-change; previously local TV has been limited to a handful of cities but soon there will be up to 60 towns and cities with their own local channel. This revolutionises how the UK’s local communities are served by TV.” So why did the previous


attempts at local TV fail to materialise and what makes it


feasible now in 2013? Hall explains: “It’s very difficult to make one small TV station work in any market. It’s very difficult to get your audience measured properly. It’s very difficult to be taken seriously by advertisers and potential commercial partners because you are a very small business. “The other problem was


that the frequencies that were available in analogue broadcasting were not particularly attractive and required people to manually tune in channels to find them. The reach was never particularly good, the commercial model was quite difficult and the channels were small and difficult to find.


“This time around the channels appear as an automatic retuning on a box. Some will appear on channel 8 [for England and Northern Ireland] giving them very significant prominence. Although there are


Ed Hall: “We’re planning spectrum, physical infrastructure, transmitters and antennae in multiple locations and building a network”


lots of different sized TV stations, 12-13 million homes by next year will have a local TV station on channel 8 or channel 45 on their set-top boxes. The prominence of the channels will also be dramatically different to every previous attempt. “On top of which, the capital costs (or a substantial proportion) of launching are being met by the BBC licence payer. Simply making TV is considerably cheaper than it was 10-15 years ago. So the models look very very different this time around.” The infrastructure build is due to start imminently. “We need to


build a Freeview multiplex in 19 locations. Some are more complex, some have relays, some are close to international borders and require more careful


planning/thinking. It’s a national infrastructure build like DSO but a little simpler. We’re planning spectrum, physical infrastructure, transmitters and antennae in multiple locations and building a network and a playout and content management centre to support that.” Comux will work with specialist teams


to carry out the build as well as Arqiva, its major technology partner. The primary role of Comux is to manage the multiplex responsibilities. “What our responsibility enables us to do is provide those technical and support services which are best managed and cost effectively managed at a national level and allow the local stations to concentrate on making great programmes, building great commercial relationships and doing all the things that make a TV station work that don’t need to be managed locally.” www.comux.co.uk


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