Talk:Analogue television in the United Kingdom

Untitled
Due to the networks being nationwide, it is convention that television sets be tuned such that channel 1 is tuned to BBC One, 2 to BBC Two, 3 to the ITV network (later branded as ITV1), 4 to Channel 4 or S4C and 5 to Five regardless of what actual channel the station is broadcasting on.

The above quoted sentence above seems to be using certain TV terms in ways different from how they are used in the U.S. My guess as to what the above quoted sentence is trying to say was the following: Any UK viewer of BBC One would tune their TV so it showed the number 1 on the TVs dial/display. This number on the TV dial/display may not actually correspond to the PAL channel number that BBC One is being broadcasted in their area, which could be PAL channel 2, for example. Thus when s UK TV is first used, the user would assign dial position number for every PAL channel in which a signal is currently broadcasted on in one local area. For example, Channel 9 could be assigned position 1 one on one's TV dial, channel 5, position two, etc., etc. Is this a proper understanding of how things work in the UK. In the U.S. the position numbered position on the TV always corresponds to the same NTSC channel number. Thus if my TV displays 2 on it dial, the TV is tuned to NTSC channel 2 is assigned the frequencies 55.25 MHz video and 59.75 MHz audio. I think the use of the terms "network", "station", and "channel" are used differently here then in the U.S. In the US when discussing analogue broadcast TV (i.e. over the air) we define the terms generally as follows:

Network: A collection of TV stations that all receive some of their TV programming from the same television broadcasting company. The term network may also refer to the broadcasting company which distributes TV programs on a such a network, as in the NBC Network. Some smaller U.S. networks do not have affiliated stations nationwide.

Station: This refers to an establishment equipped for television transmission. This generally means a local broadcaster that operates facilities and equipment for sending a signal over the air to the viewer's TV sets. U.S. TV stations are assigned call letters by our government such as WOR or KVIE. We would refer to station WOR in Chicago, for example.

Channel: This generally refers to a NTSC channel number ranging from 2 - 13 VHS and 14-83 UHF. Thus we speak of channel 2, channel 20, etc. Thus in the US, an example of the above terms used in a sentence would be: "In the San Francisco Bay Area, the FOX Network is carried by station KTVU, which can be found on channel 2 on one's TV set.". So could someone from the U.K. please explain the difference in how the above terms are used their so this article could be made more clear for North American readers. --Cab88 14:30, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
 * You're fairly close, actually. Except the UK use UHF channels only, you're close enough to spot on. The first 4 UK networks are nationwide, and Channel 5 is close to; and on ITV many people call it by its local franchiser - UTV, Meridian, Granada - even if that franchiser has dropped the name and calls itself "ITV"; I know this is different to the US where you might not have a Fox or UPN affiliate in your area. --Kiand 15:00, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Oh, and as goes the terms. Network is usually used to refer to a group of channels, e.g. the ITV Network is its regional fracnchisers, the UKTV network is its gargantuan group of cable/satellite channels, and so on. Channel and station are used interchangable, and Joe Public doens't generally know what UHF frequency (frequency being the more common term for this) their TV channels are on - they'll have retuned them to 1->5 on their TV.

Overhaul
This article is pretty badly put together and needs a bit of a tidy up. I've corrected some of the most glaring errors, such as the ambiguity between the introduction of the 625 lined service (1964) and the introduction of colour (1967), but there could certainly do with some more work.

I also think scrapping those unsightly frequency tables wouldn't do much harm (a brief description of the the frequency spacing should suffice).

It could also do with a bit more technical detail, perhaps something about Aerial Groups, polarisation, and tx technicalities. Also might be worth mentioning teletext, as a specifically analogue system.

Merge proposal
I really don't think it's worthwhile having a separate article for Analogue terrestrial, I feel that one article is sufficient to talk about all analogue platforms. I therefore propose merging everything back. -- Fursday 16:59, 14 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I believe that it is worth having a separate article for analogue terrestrial television in the United Kingdom. If nothing else, it provides consistency with digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, most of the old analogue television in the United Kingdom article was nearly all about terrestrial television, but did not say that was, which is confusing. Finally, the analogue terrestrial television in the United Kingdom article did already exist, so all I really did was remove duplication. - Green Tentacle 17:19, 14 April 2007 (UTC)


 * PS - You made a spelling error in the merge template, so I corrected it for you.
 * I don't agree with the merger proposal either, and as nothing has been done to implement it in 8 months, I have removed it. Amirada (talk) 15:16, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

Wrights Radio Relay
Is an analogue cable service in Newtown, although I believe (but cannot confirm) that it's a MATV system, or at least a hybrid. 91.85.62.152 (talk) 08:19, 10 July 2012 (UTC)