Ofcom: no comeback for TV on analogue spectrum

The Register reports that Britain's communications watchdog has warned broadcasters they have no God-given right to re-occupy the analogue TV spectrum that they began vacating this week.

Headed for HD showdown with BBC By Chris Williams
From TheRegister: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/17/richards_hd_ofcom/

Delivering the Ofcom annual lecture on Tuesday evening, the regulator's chief executive Ed Richards said he was not persuaded that TV should be allowed to use the "digital dividend" for high-definition programming. Instead, he spoke of the "golden opportunity" of using more efficient MPEG4 compression and the DVBT2 broadcast standard to squeeze HD channels into the existing Freeview band.

Ofcom is consulting on that plan at the moment. Richards said it could deliver HD shows to Freeview households as soon as the end of 2009, compared to no sooner than 2012 if the regulator waits for the completion of the analogue TV switch-off.

Full article at
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/17/richards_hd_ofcom/

UK's Freeview boxes could soon be obsolete
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2006/freeview.htm

USA goes MPEG-4
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2007
/us_goes_mp4.htm