This guide is intended to provide readers with answers to the most common questions asked about the platform.

If you would like to suggest a question or answer for the guide, please reply in this thread

Special credits in writing this guide go to media guy, chrisy and jratkinson.

Last updated: February 2, 2004


01. Common terms and abbreviations
02. What is / who are Freeview?
03. How do I know if I can get DTT and do I need to upgrade my existing aerial?
04. I can't get Freeview now, so how do I "go digital" with an aerial?
05. Why can't I get pay TV channels through Freeview?
06. Why aren’t there more channels on Freeview?
07. Why do we have radio stations when there aren’t enough TV channels?
08. Why don't we stop wasting space with all the blank channels?
09. Is [this channel] coming to Freeview?
10. I can't pick up [channel x] on Freeview. Why not?
11. Why don’t I get Bid-Up and QVC but I do get C5 and TVTravelShop?
12. Why do I sometimes get a red dot / poor signal on [channel x]?
13. Why isn’t there as much interactivity as Sky?
14. Why do text services have their own channels? They are a waste of space!
15. Will there ever be more than just ‘Now and Next’?
16. My box still has ONdigital written on it. When will that change?
17. Aspect ratios explained
18. I've heard the government plans to switch off analogue. What does this mean for Freeview?
19. Will digital tuners be made mandatory for iDTV sets?
















01. Common terms and abbreviations


ATT: Analogue Terrestrial Television. Conventional television, limited to just 4 or 5 channels.

Bit: A '0' or a '1' - The on/off basis of digital transmission.

CAM: Conditional Access Module, a module which connects to a CI slot and allows access to encrypted channels.

CI: Common Interface, a standard interface which takes PCMCIA type cards.

DOG: Digital Originated Graphic. A logo which appears on the screen of most digital television channels and many analogue channels.

DTT: Digital Terrestrial Television, the means of receiving digital television using an aerial. In the UK the company responsible for DTT is Freeview, who are monitored by the ITC.

DVB: The Digital Video Broadcasting Project, an industry-led consortium of over 300 broadcasters, manufacturers, network operators, software developers, regulatory bodies and others in over 40 countries committed to designing global standards for the delivery of digital television and data services.

EPG: Electronic Program Guide. A guide showing programmes, which can be displayed on a conventional television (via a STB) or iDTV as the now and next programmes or the television schedule for a day or more at a time.

ERP: Effective Radiated Power. Refers to the power of a channel or mux from a transmitter in watts (W) or kilowatts (kW).

FEC: Forward Error Correction. Unlike the internet you cannot get the transmitter to resend information if you didn’t receive it. Forward error correction sends extra information with the transmission so that if a little of the information is lost the receiver can work out which bit is incorrect and what it should be.

FTA: Free To Air. An unencrypted television signal.

FTV: Free To View. An encrypted television signal which can be decoded using a FTV card (free of charge). No subscription charge is required to receive a FTV channel.

HDTV: High Definition Television. A high quality television standard which uses 1080 scan lines (instead of 625) to display a television picture (frame). Currently used in the USA and Australia but not in the UK.

iDTV: Integrated Digital Television. A television with a built in digital tuner which can receive DTT.

ITC: Independent Television Commission, the governing body of television broadcasters (except the BBC who are self-regulated).

MHEG: Multimedia and Hypermedia Experts Group. The MHEG standard defines an object-oriented model for the presentation of multimedia applications. Used for interactive services and digital teletext.

MPEG: Moving Picture Experts Group. Refers to the family of digital video compression standards and file formats developed by the group. Used as the standard to transmit DTT pictures.

MUX: short for multiplex, which holds more than one digital station on a single frequency. Normally achieved using TDM.

NICAM: Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex. The standard used to broadcast stereo sound in an analogue broadcast.

PAL: Phase Alternating Line. The standard of analogue television transmissions used in the UK, which uses 625 scan lines to display a television picture (frame).

PSB: Public Service Broadcaster. Namely the BBC, which is funded by the licence fee.

QAM: A digital transmission mode, standing for Quadrature Amplitude Modulation. QAM is a means of sending multiple bits using a single pulse of signal. In basic terms, this means that instead of sending a single bit in one go you can transmit many. More bits means more bandwidth and hence more channels.

RGB: Red, Green, Blue. A type of video signal output (usually via a SCART socket), giving a higher quality signal than a composite video signal.

RSL: Restricted Service Licence. A licence to broadcast a low power regional analogue television service.

SCART: Syndicat Francais des Constructeurs d'Appareils Radio et Television. A connector with 21 pins found on the back of most televisions, STBs, DVDs and video cassette recorders (VCRs).

SDN: S4C Digital Networks, the multiplex operator for mux A which carries Five, S4C and some shopping channels.

Stat MUX: A more advanced type of multiplexing where if the first channel is fast moving and the other 3 are slow moving, the first channel is allocated more timeslots than the other 3 channels.

STB: Set-top box

TDM: Time division multiplexing, the simplest form of multiplexing. For example, if 4 channels need to be sent on one multiplex, they are sent as (F=Frame, C=Channel)
1st F 1st C | 1st F 2nd C | 1st F 3rd C | 4th F 1st C | 2nd F 1st C | 2nd F 2nd C | and so on.

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02. What is / who are Freeview?

Freeview is the name behind Digital Terrestrial Television in the UK. They control 4 out of the 6 multiplexes (the others are controlled by D3&4 and SDN).

Freeview is marketed by DTV Services Ltd, a company run by three shareholders -- the BBC, Crown Castle International and BSkyB. DTV Services Ltd was established to promote Freeview by utilising the complementary skills and expertise of the three.

The only company that you may not have heard of is Crown Castle, but they have been in the transmission industry for many years, and own many of the transmitters around the country.

More information on Freeview can be found here.

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03. How do I know if I can get DTT and do I need to upgrade my existing aerial?

UHF channels are numbered 21-68. The type of aerial you will require to receive DTT will depend on the channel frequencies of the transmitter you intend to receive DTT from.

First check the likelihood of being able to receive DTT in a postcode checker, here or here. You could also borrow a STB from a friend and/or contact a local aerial installer to inquire about the reception of DTT in your area.

If either postcode checker says you are unable to get DTT, it may still be possible, depending on your location and the terrain. (*) Additionally, if either postcode checker says that you cannot receive certain channels, it may be possible with an aerial upgrade, depending on the power of the missing mux(es).

(*) Line of sight maps between you and the relevant transmitter can be created here. The NGR values can be obtained from the Streetmap and Wolfbane sites (see below). The height above ground of the distant aerial (m) is the AOD (m) value (preferably the lowest) minus the OD (m) value. Both these values can be obtained from the Wolfbane site.

To find your local DTT transmitters you will need a grid reference from where you live. This can be obtained from here or here (enter your postcode, select Postcode underneath, click Convert and use the LR value obtained in the Wolfbane site below).

Put the grid reference into both of these links: link 1 and link 2.

This will then give a list of both ATT and DTT transmitters in your area.

Compare the aerial groups of the transmitter you intend to receive DTT from in both of the above links. If the groups are the same you should be able to receive all the Freeview channels, depending whether the strength of each of the muxes is sufficient (many DTT transmitters have muxes transmitting at different powers).

If the aerial groups are different you will need to upgrade your aerial to receive all the Freeview channels.

Aerial groups are as follows:

A: 21-37, red
B: 35-53, yellow
CD: 48-68, green
E: 35-68, brown
K: 21-48, grey
W: 21-68, black

The colour refers to the bung in the end of the aerial facing the transmitter. Some aerials have the group stamped inside the coax connector box. In addition a group W (wideband) aerial can be distinguished from group A, B or C/D aerials by the fact that the elements along the length are unevenly spaced.

Once you have the above information, then you can get a good local aerial installer to do the necessary work.

If you intend to do the installation yourself:
Use a compass to get the direction of the aerial to the transmitter initially, using the bearing from the Wolfbane site.

Use CT100 (satellite grade) coaxial cable for the aerial downfeed and preferably have no joins in the cable. CT100 can also be used for the connections between STB/VCR/TV and will offer improvements over equipment supplied leads.

If you are still unable to get a satisfactory signal, then a masthead amplifier or a head amp (mounted as near to the aerial as possible) may help. Some people use internal amplifiers/boosters and these may help, provided the original signal is pretty good. Otherwise you will just amplify noise.

A larger/higher gain aerial can be beneficial, as these usually have lower acceptance angles for a good signal and can help eliminate impulse interference. If you have a loft installation, angling the aerial slightly upwards may also prove beneficial in eliminating impulse interference.

If you need to upgrade your aerial then wideband (group W) would be the recommendation, but this may still be a useful upgrade if you have problems receiving the DTT signal using your existing aerial, even though it is the correct group. This is because in the future channel/mux numbers may be re-allocated and/or additional muxes added after analogue switch off. It should be noted that wideband aerials are not as efficient (gain wise) as grouped aerials and a larger wideband aerial may be needed to compensate for this.

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04. I can't get Freeview now, so how do I "go digital" with an aerial?

Quite simply, you wait. Anybody with analogue reception at the moment must be able to get digital TV via aerial, cable or satellite before the analogue transmissions are switched off. This will be achieved either with an interim "Mux 0" containing BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Ch4 and Five in areas that do not have enough spare frequencies for at least the PSB channels, or there will be a cut-off day in which the analogue transmissions will be switched overnight to digital.

I also get a local RSL TV channel. This isn't available on Freeview, so what will happen to this?

The government have not yet decided. The above statement suggests there will be space available for local multiplexes, but until the report is available this is not certain.

NTL have agreed that they can implement a national multiplex with locally inserted TV channels (in fact, SixTV has previously been transmitted on a digital multiplex in Oxford for mobile reception trials), but there are still issues to consider. Is this "Mux L" licenced nationally, with a requirement to carry 50% locally produced channels? Or is it licenced to individual multiplex operators or channels in each locality?

The first option is logistically and financially more sensible, given that the operator can add some national channels to help finance the operation. Once the details and an operator are finalised, and the network is in place, all new RSL licencees should be granted digital licences and existing licencees should be migrated to DTT. It does not make much sense to do this until a large number of people are using DTT as the coverage area/population of RSLs is small and going DTT-only quickly will further diminish their audience.

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05. Why can't I get pay TV channels through Freeview?

Pay TV channels were originally avaliable through DTT on ONdigital/ITV Digital until May 2002.

ITV Digital, run jointly by Granada and Carlton, closed down after the pair decided to pull out of a £315m contract for the TV rights to Nationwide League games, and following much pressure from shareholders to ditch the loss-making venture. With ITV Digital's closure came the closure of the pay TV channels it provided.

Pay TV channels cannot come onto Freeview at present as a condition of its licence from the ITC, although this could change in the future. Additionally, most of the programming broadcast on pay channels is sold on the basis that it cannot be shown via FTA or FTV transmission.

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06. Why aren’t there more channels on Freeview?

It is all down to bandwidth of the transmission medium. Sky and NTL have practically infinite bandwidth because of the frequency that they broadcast on (Sky) or the means that they transmit it (Optical Cable: NTL/Telewest).

There are 6 multiplexes on Freeview, each with 4 or 6 television channels. There are some slight exceptions to this rule as there is a little leftover space for radio and MHEG (digital text).

The UK government have a department whose job is to make sure that signals sent via transmitters do not interfere with each other. This is why although there are 48 frequencies to use, not all of them are available. Included in these frequencies are the 5 analogue stations and 6 digital ones. The frequencies are re-used over the UK but never in an adjacent area.

So why can’t we all use the same frequencies, we could have 48 multiplexes then couldn’t we? With analogue you couldn't use the same frequencies because of ghosting. This is when you receive a signal from a local transmitter and then a fraction of a second later you get the same signal from a distant transmitter. These signals cause a ghosting image on your screen.

Digital signals, on the other hand, can’t use one frequency because they would not be free over the whole of the UK and because you cannot have local broadcasts on a national system. Sky overcomes this by transmitting all the local stations to the whole of the UK with the box deciding which you should watch.

Also there is a limit of free channels available in the UK at the moment. Freeview cannot use pay TV channels because of its licensing conditions.

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07. Why do we have radio stations when there aren’t enough TV channels?

A multiplex isn’t normally completely filled by having 4 channels on it. There is usually some space left over.

Radio stations are considerably smaller than a TV station, so much so that around 10 radio stations can fit in the space of one normal channel. A normal channel uses around 2000Kb of data per second, whereas a radio station uses 192Kb per second.

There is also a little extra space on MUX B, but that is taken up by BBC Parliament. BBC Parliament is transmit in quarter screen -- which takes up just less than half the space of a full screen channel -- making it around the same space as 5 radio stations.

So to summarise, even if we got rid of all the radio stations, we still wouldn’t be able to fit another TV channel in.

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08. Why don't we stop wasting space with all the blank channels?

Although it is annoying that the channels that have placeholders are not currently broadcasting, space isn't being wasted.

The DTT system uses statistical multiplexing, which allows the bandwidth to be given to the channels that need it and not just a fixed amount. The only exception to this is BBC1 which does have a fixed bandwidth.

So what does that mean? Well, for example, we'll take a scenario with a channel with a lot of movement, a music video for example, and, for the sake of simplicity, another channel just broadcasting a static logo. If then we had, say 4Mb/s bandwidth for both channels, with the logo needing 200Kb/s to appear on the screen (it's not moving so needs very little data), then the music video would get 3.8Mb/s to play with.

Once the logo channel began broadcasting, then it is likely they would average 2.0Mb/s each, but the figure would constantly change according to what was being shown.

Just before Freeview began there was just 'The Hits' and a couple of placeholders on the other channels on the multiplex. At the time it was reported that 'The Hits' was using 10Mb/s for it's music videos.

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09. Is [this channel] coming to Freeview?

The most common questions regarding new channels on Freeview concern Turner, channels 22, 32 & 44, and channels 14 & 15.

When BBC/Sky/CC first proposed Freeview to the ITC they had a number of interested channels that wanted to go onto the platform. The Turner channels were among the interested parties.

Turner proposed a timeshare of CNN (news), Boomerang (kids) and TCM (movies) using the one channel. The channel numbers (22, 32, 44) correspond to entertainment, children and news respectively.

The channel numbers were being used as place holders during the rescan period. The BBC used a lot of airtime informing people they would need to retune their boxes to receive the new channels.

Viewers would have noticed that FTN was on the channel list when Freeview started but only started broadcasting in January.

Turner is still in negotiations with Freeview and is taking far longer than the other channels to strike up a deal. This suggests a more fundamental problem, but whilst in negotiations, they are not allowed to talk publicly about it.

A standard reply from Turner in response to this issue is:

Thank you for writing to TCM regarding Freeview. I'm sorry that a decision has yet to be made as to whether TCM will be part of the freeview package. Turner Broadcasting is still in negotiations, and we understand that there is still availablilty on Freeview, but as yet there is no definite information to give to our viewers.

We understand how frustrating this is, especially when some sources have given an inapropriately definite yes or no. It is still our hope that the negotiations will conclude with TCM being part of the Freeview package, and as soon as we have definite news we will contact you to let you now.

I apologise for any inconvenience that this has caused you.

Jo

Viewer Response
TCM

Channel 14 and 15 are new channels, which have appeared since Freeview’s launch and are doing the same job as the Turner channels. 14 is going to be a new channel from Channel 4 but isn’t going to be available for some time yet. 15 is a channel on the SDN multiplex, but there isn’t any confirmed news as to what the channel is.

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10. I can't pick up [channel x] on Freeview. Why?

If you have this problem then the channels normally affected are either Five, QVC, Bid-Up and TVTravelShop or ITV1, ITV2, ITV News and C4. (If you have difficulties receiving any other channels please see 'How do I know if I can get DTT and do I need to upgrade my existing aerial?')

Both of these sets of channels fit into a single multiplex. A multiplex is a set of channels that only use up one frequency -- on analogue (normal) television you can only have one channel, whereas you can have 4 or 6 in the same space on digital.

Both of these multiplexes use a different way of transmitting the signal compared to the other channels on Freeview. These channels use the QAM64 mode instead of QAM16 (see here for an explanation of QAM transmission).

The trouble with sending a large amount of bits in one go (as is the case with QAM64) is that noise from power switches, cars or even just the distance between the aerial and transmitter can confuse the receiving box. If the box is confused into thinking that it is receiving something it isn’t, it classes it as an error. If there are lots of errors then the picture will break up, or, in extreme circumstances, not be picked up by the DTT box at all.

QAM64 falls into precisely this problem. It has a greater bandwidth (6 channels instead of 4) but is more susceptible to noise. So, if you are not close enough to the transmitter, these channels will look worse than the others.

QAM16 has less ‘points’ than QAM64, so noise isn’t as much of a problem -- there is far more tolerance for errors but there is less bandwidth (space) so you get less channels.

So after all this technical talk what can you do about it? Unfortunately, maybe nothing, depending on your situation. You can increase your chances of receiving the channels by having a good quality aerial pointed at the transmitter suggested by the Digital Television Group and by having good quality, shielded cabling going from the aerial to the DTT box.

But I thought that the ITC was going to force both those multiplexes to change to QAM16? There was talk of it but both multiplexes complained against the decision. So the ITC held their own tests. They found that the majority of people weren't suffering from the problem and that most of the signal problems were down to the aerial or cabling and were far more of a problem than the transmission method.

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11. Why don’t I get Bid-Up and QVC but I do get C5 and TVTravelShop?

In Wales there is still only space for 6 channels, but it is required that SDN carry both S4C and S4C2. Bid-up and QVC are therefore not broadcast in this region because of a limit on the space available.

If you live near to the English boarder you may find that you can pick up an English and a Welsh multiplex, meaning you can receive both channels.

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12. Why do I sometimes get a red dot / poor signal on [channel x]?

The red dot only applies to ITV Digital boxes and means that you have a poor signal. More modern boxes are more user-friendly and tell you that your signal strength is low.

Intermittent poor signals can be the result of cars going past, lights being switched on/off, gas hobs being lit and heating systems being turned on. Basically anything that makes a spark.

At a physics level a spark makes a square wave, which has an infinite bandwidth. An infinite bandwidth means that it interferes with all channels on all frequencies. One spark can break up a picture for half a second and more constant interference for longer.

Using double-shielded cable such as CT100 between the aerial and the box is the best way of avoiding these problems, but sometimes there is nothing that can be done. If the weather is very bad it can affect your signal, especially in an electrical storm.

If the red dot is on one multiplex then there may be interference from another device, like a video recorder or you may suffer from one of the problems discussed here.

If all the channels have a bad signal, then check your leads in the back of your DTT box. Even laying an aerial cable alongside a power cable can increase the risk of impulse interference.

How do I know if the signal problems are my fault or the transmitter's?
Up to date transmitter information is avalible from the BBC reception advice page here.

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13. Why isn’t there as much interactivity as Sky?

As with most things in this FAQ it is down to a limit of bandwidth. Sky has a near unlimited bandwidth so they can carry extra hidden channels with each visible channel. Sky also has the addition of a telephone socket that is used by the system, giving two-way communication.

DTT only has one-way communication but still has interactivity on certain channels. ITV is currently testing Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? for Freeview (as well as Sky) but most interactivity comes from the BBC.

As well as MHEG (digital text, the main form of interactivity) BBCi have 2 ‘interactive’ channels. The channels themselves are not interactive but are the Freeview equivalent of a hidden channel.

What about games? Sky Active have lots of games you can play. True, but you have to pay for most of them. The BBC are rumoured to be making some MHEG based games but there are some problems. The ITV Digital boxes and ‘2nd generation’ boxes (the ones after ITV Digital) have different levels of power, so they would have to make both a low spec and high spec game.

So it's a case of wait and see. Another alternative is to buy a Freeview box with games built into it.

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14. Why do text services have their own channels? They are a waste of space!

The text services have their own channel numbers if they (a) need to be accessed directly or (b) need to be linked to from more than one channel. Teletext, for example, does not have an associated TV channel so has its own number, whereas BBCi needs to be accessed from all BBC channels so has its own channel number (the other option would be to have six copies of BBCi, which would be a waste of bandwidth, taking up the equivalent of about two normal TV channels). This only works effectively when the text services are on the same multiplex as the channels that need to link to them, so, for instance, there are two copies of BBCi on DTT - one on mux 1 (the BBCi channel) and one on mux B (either on 703 or BBC4/CBeebies). As an aside, 703 contains the MHEG data stream which links the BBC's interactive channels 701 and 702.

Text services take up much less bandwidth than video channels, and removing all of them from DTT would not provide enough space for even one more TV channel, even if all the text services were on the same mux.

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15. Will there ever be more than just ‘Now and Next’?

It is a requirement of the Freeview licence that they create a 7 day EPG (electronic program guide) for the platform.

Although in development, it hasn’t been as higher priority as getting the channels onto the platform so it was nowhere near ready on the day of Freeview’s launch. An excellent job has been made by Teletext (channel 9) to make a fast working 'now, next and same day' TV listings guide for all the Freeview channels.

A problem arises that Freeview will have to make a guide compatible with the ITV Digital boxes, since users of such boxes will not be able to download an update to include the guide. Second generation boxes will probably have their own interface which will be added in a future update.

There is no information available at this time to confirm whether or not the EPG will be able to work with the DTT box's timer function (if applicable) to set the box to change channels at the correct time.

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16. My box still has ONdigital written on it. When will that change?

It won’t. All the software made for the ITV Digital boxes were made by Canal (a third party) and not by the box manufacturers (Nokia, Pace, etc.).

If the manufacturers wanted to make new software for the boxes they would have to spend a lot of money to program it, in addition to paying Canal for the right to change their original software.

They would also have to get pay and get a timeslot from the BBC to transmit the update. It would take an amazing feat of generosity to do this and hence is very unlikely.

A standard reply from the manufacturers in response to this issue looks like this:

Nokia manufactured the 9850T receiver for ONdigital, then ITV Digital between 1998 and 2002.

The product was built to their specification and design using a proprietary middleware and conditional access system designed purely for their services over the DTT network in the UK.

The products were bought by ONdigital and then distributed for rental with a subscription through the high street retailers. Therefore, all the products belonged to the broadcaster, including the software which was designed by Canal+Technologies.

When the broadcaster was on air, there were constant software upgrades being broadcast for all the manufacturers products as the services changed and improved. These software upgrades were designed and managed by the broadcaster using their bandwidth and engineering team.

Therefore the boxes, including hardware and software belonged to the administrators when the company collapsed and responsibility passed to them.

There are no plans to update the software in any of the ex-ONdigital/ITVDigital boxes as the manufacturers and Freeview do not own the products and therefore do not have access to the software development.

New products launched by Nokia and other manufacturers are based on open-standard software that is easier to upgrade independently and broadcast together with the BBC Engineering Channel, controlled by the manufacturers.

There are discussions going on with independent developers and the manufacturers to consider upgrading the older products in the market, but there is no commercial model that can justify the development at the moment.

We hope this answers your query.

Kind regards
Nokia Home Communications

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17. Aspect ratios explained

The secret of picture size boils down to a few key facts.

1) MPEG2, the encoding system used on Freeview, carries only two pieces of useful information:
i) picture size, up to 720x576 pixels
ii) aspect ratio, but only 4:3 or 16:9

2) DTG (Freeview) is extended to use "AFD"
The AFD is private digital data in the MPEG2 that extends the information to include 14:9 aspect ratio and protected viewing areas. AFD adds 8 "behaviours" to the system.

3) You are not supposed to see everything that is there!

4) The industry hasn't really sorted it out yet. Some leading industry players have never even heard of AFD. Some put you in control with the "wide" button, others restrict you to the opinion of their software.

An example:

a) BBC News24 has what many people think is a 16:9 picture.
b) Watch carefully, nothing important happens at the extreme left or right
c) But hang on, if you watch on a 4:3 TV the edges of a few important things get clipped off.

The reason is simple: the basic MPEG is 16:9 but the extra bit, the AFD, is saying "14:9 protected". 14:9 lies between 4:3 and 16:9.

If you translate the picture PROPERLY, it will have small letterbox bars at the top and bottom, being a bit wider/shorter than 4:3, but taller than 16:9.

Although there is picture lost at the edges on a 4:3 TV, but you aren't missing anything the director considers important!

Of course that doesn't stop real 4:3 and real 16:9, and the other five possibilities of AFD. The whole point is putting what you want to (or are supposed to) watch, on the screen.

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18. I've heard the government plans to switch off analogue. What does this mean for Freeview?

Analogue is planned to be switched off between 2006-2010, given that targets are met for affordability, coverage and take-up. When the analogue transmitters are turned off, this will free up a substantial amount of the spectrum, which the government intends to auction off. This is expected to either go to the mobile phone companies or be used for additional DTT multiplexes.

A statement issued on 30th January 2003 -- pending a report to be issued later in the year -- suggests that 14 UHF channels can be cleared. This will still leave some spare channels between the existing six multiplexes which could be used for national, regional or local multiplexes.

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19. Will digital tuners be made mandatory for iDTV sets?

This will not happen in the near future and for the time being it will be left to market forces.

Some of the arguments the government has considered may be found in this document which was sent to the DCMS (Department of Culture, Media and Sport) and the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) by Intellect (a lobby group representing manufacturers of TV equipment).

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