ITV makes £20m bid for 'Neighbours'

[Bryan]

Sorry double post...

Anyway, i'm guessing they'll probably put it on at 6:30 over on Five, right after Home And Away so they can have an "Australlian soap hour"...it is bad news to the people who can't get Five though, Neighbours are bound to lose some viewers now.

Plus its gonna face very though competion, the news on ITV and Hollyoaks on Channel 4 (which is getting more and more popular by the month as the 1 million increase in ratings has shown)

[Abi]

From a completly selfish point of view, i'm quite pleased its channel 5, as i dont think they're ruined H&A, so i doubt they'd ruin Neighbours either. And we should be able to watch the next episode the day before on Five Life. But for those who dont have access to it, its got to be annoying. More than annoying, actually, as i know how i'd feel if i couldn't watch one of my fav shows.

And i reckon the only competition it would face at 6.30 would be Hollyoaks. By 6.30 its just the regional news, really, and most people just tune in for the headlines at 6. And even if they did have competition from the news, it would be BBC, not ITV.

But i think they'll try and keep it to a 5.30 slot, to keep some of the existing viewers?

Why is it that not everyone can pick up 5 anyway? (I always wondered this, lol!). Is the signal different, or weaker, or something?

[Jessie Wallace]

Some areas don't have digital yet Abi, can't even get free view. It's most annoying, and even more so now that i won't be-able to watch my favourite soap, the same thing happened with Home and Away. Everywhere is meant to be digital by 2008, but it's just not going to happen.

[Jojo]

Sorry Dawnie - digital isn't going to happen by 2008 (I think that was the original start year of the switchover though)

Regional Switchovers are:

Border 2008
Granada, Westcountry and parts of Wales are due to be switched over in 2009
Remainder of Wales, STV North, Parts of STV Central and Central 2010
Remainder of STV Central, Anglia, Yorkshire, Anglia 2011
London, Meridian, Tyne Tees and Ulster 2012

More details can be found here: http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/en/where.html

Abi - there are more details about why some households can receive Channel 5 here: http://www.five.tv/aboutfive/getting...ical/coverage/

But a snippet I've picked out which sort of explains it is:

The power we can radiate from our non channel 37 sites is restricted, in many cases, to prevent interference with any of the other four networks. Two Channel 4 and four BBC transmitters had their channel allocations changed to allow Five to transmit without causing interference.

We were later allowed to use channel 35 as well, resulting in another 9 high power transmitters being added within about 6 months of launch. We have continued to add transmitters where frequencies have been available. We currently operate from 47 sites around the UK.

How does this affect coverage? Current predictions show that over 80% of households are served by one or more Five transmitter.

The majority of homes in our coverage area are able to simply tune into our signal and receive a good picture via their existing aerial. Others however, will require a replacement or additional aerial.

There are a number of reasons for this, the main ones being:

Although you may be in an area covered by our signal, the existing aerial is not 'looking' at the transmitter carrying Five. One solution is to install an additional aerial and combine the two. Or, if a suitable signal for the other four networks is available from the same location as Five, it may be preferable to have one new replacement aerial.

The existing aerial is pointed at the correct transmitter, but is not designed to receive the frequency used by Five. The first four networks were allocated channels close to each other at each transmitter site to enable one aerial to receive all channels. In Lincolnshire for example, the other four networks were allocated channels 22, 28, 25 and 32. Five however, has been allocated channel 56 and is only allowed to use one tenth of the power used by the other 4 networks. This means that the performance of Five via existing aerials in the Lincolnshire area is very poor.

The 44 UHF channels are arranged in 'Groups' from A to D. In a number of areas the only channel available for Five was on a very different frequency to the first four, and thus 'out of group'. If your house is in an area of very high signal strength, i.e. close to a transmitter, it is possible to obtain a strong enough signal for a watchable picture through an existing aerial even though the aerial may not have been designed to receive Five. In these cases a portable TV with a set top aerial may work well because the aerial is designed to be wide band and work over the full range of channels.

[Jessie Wallace]

Yeh i know it's not going to happens, Emz huni, but that was the original time we were given for it. So more annoyed now, what with it moving to 5, if they had things ready when they were meant to then i wouldn't miss it.

[megan999]

I am soooo gutted it's moving to Channel 5!!! I get crap reception on 5!!! And I'll bet they'll put adverts in the middle of it too