90% coverage for commercial operators after switchover

Ofcom has reported that, after switchover, commercial digital terrestrial multiplexes will cover about 90% of UK homes.

Under the plans, 93% of homes in England will be able to receive the commercial multiplexes but only 88% in Scotland, 73% in Wales and 75% in Northern Ireland.

SDN and National Grid Wireless, who run multiplexes one and two respectively, are aiming to increase their reach from approximately 73%. Channels including Dave, Virgin 1, The Hits and Five US, along with subscription-based services Setanta Sports and Top Up TV, will reach thousands more people under the extension.

Ofcom has released modelling results which show there should also be a slight increase in homes receiving the public service channels. Currently 98.5% are able to pick up BBC One and Two, ITV1 and Channel 4 or S4C. After switchover, 98.6% of UK households should be covered by the public service digital multiplexes.

According to Ofcom, commercial operators plan to use 80 major transmitter sites, compared to more than 1,150 for the public service channels, so their coverage will continue to fall short.

A fact sheet issued by Ofcom states: “They have decided to build a transmission network that will allow them to cover around 90% of the UK population from digital switchover. They have concluded that they cannot justify the very substantial investment in additional DTT transmission capacity to reach the final 10% of the UK population.”

Coverage is lower in hilly and mountainous regions and where networks are much more expensive to build and population density is much lower. Coverage is also lower in areas that are more exposed to international constraints.

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