Freely ,terrestrial moves to streaming from next year.

They'll be available in streaming. They are not moving there,

Excuse the ignorance, but will these be available in Ireland too? Or will a VPN be needed?

Very misleading title, Terrestrial TV is not moving anywhere, in the UK or here in Ireland

And Freely will be geoblocked anyway

As it's the intended replacement to satellite and terrestrial then satellite or overspill Freeview reception alone won't be enough.

It's likely that the platform will require internet connectivity to function at all - the modern equivalent of the default transponder if you will - and it's almost guaranteed that this would be geoblocked to UK only.

Nonsense.

have you read any of the posts here at all?

The talk of the demise of satellite TV in here is greatly over-exaggerated imo.

People need to remember that as a concept Freesat was only ever intended to be a means of ensuring TV coverage is available in Freeview black spots (exactly the same as Soarsat is to us). However, Freesat grew legs as a drop-in replacement for the existing install base of Sky subscribers.

Freely can't be a replacement service for Freesat until every single household in the UK can get a data connection of a sufficient quality - no matter how remote they are. Until that day comes, there will still be the need for an infill service, i.e. Freesat.

Sky's contract with Astra runs until 2028. Sky may be winding down it's satellite business for new customers, but there are still millions of existing Sky satellite users. To say that it would be a tough ask to transition all of these customers over the Sky Stream in 4 years is an understatement.

We may see some commercial operators/channels leave Freesat over the coming years if the install bases dwindles and Freely takes over. However, the bigger channels (BBC, ITV, Ch4 etc.) will be there until the end, and the end is not yet in sight.

The emergence of DVB-I as the new IP transmission standard for linear TV will be part of the bigger picture for linear transmission post WRC-31, when the next big review of broadcasting spectrum takes place.

The 2030s could see broadcasting move to 5g, with broadcasting spectrum released for 5g/6g services.

DVB-I testing now could be the beginning of that transition.

as well as sufficient quality - sufficient reliability too - the recent storms had an RTE TV news report about powercuts showing an Eir pole, with broken fibre broadband installation just swinging about in the wind. How long rural Fibre broadband users who suffer breaks may typically be left without service after storms I do not know, but if a few days I certainly would not wish to be relying on it for TV

That's a reason why we'll see the move to 5g broadcasting, DVB-I over 5g, and not left solely to wired infrastructures.

More spectrum efficient than traditional transmission and probably more economical.

High Power High Tower (HPHT) sites vs. Low Power Low Tower (LPLT) sites, i.e. existing high power transmission masts vs. mobile base stations/transposer sites.

Existing broadcast transmission sites would be converted over to 5G, frequencies would be replanned allocating 5/8 MHz blocks to broadcasting with the interleaved spectrum reallocated to mobile services.

A couple of studies done around Europe on this in the last few years. Expect to see lots more studies on this in the coming years, running into WRC-31, when the broadcasting spectrum band is to be reviewed again.

Regarding interference, this was an issue when the 700/800 MHz bands were transferred to mobiles services, inward interference from nearby mobile base stations to adjoining DTT broadcast spectrum due to domestic wideband tv aerials, masthead amps, cheap co-ax cable etc. This was easily resolved.

Harmonised technical standards and conditions between these services will ensure no interference. Basically linear broadcasting will become a streaming IP service via maybe DVB-I, which sits on a 5g carrier. Interactivity/ return channel via local mobile mast/fibre networks. Broadcast transmission companies like 2RN will still continue to manage their networks except it'll be via 5g.

Two technical reports here from the EBU in 2021, almost 3 years old already and pre DVB-I. Lots more development and studies to come in the years ahead. Probably into the next decade before this could/will happen

• Compatibility between 5G Broadcast and other DTT systems in the sub-700 MHz band | EBU Technology & Innovation
• 5G Broadcast Network Planning and Evaluation | EBU Technology & Innovation

IBC2023 TECH PAPERS: DVB-I SERVICE DELIVERY OVER 5G SYSTEMS

The real focus of this will be to release the remaining broadcasting spectrum to broadband services and in doing so aligning broadcast and broadband standards, converging broadcasting and broadband I guess, multi-platform future.

IBC2023 Technical Paper Sessions: 5G technology - convergence with broadcast | Technical Papers | IBC

Still 24% of households in the lurch by 2040, they say?

Funny that, from the Ofcom Connected Nations 2023 report for NI...

Meanwhile, the folks at thinkbroadband.com (whom have a damn good reputation for keeping tabs on things like this across the UK) estimate that a gigabit internet connection is available to almost 95% of NI premises as of the end of January 2024 (and so has probably past that mark now), with FTTH available to over 94% of premises (mostly Openreach with some difficult rural spots covered by Fibrus via Project Stratum, along with overbuilds by Nexfibre & Netomania in certain urban locations). Add to that, their figure for being able to get a 30 M/bit download speed is at 97.8% of premises.

It has to be handed to both Openreach and Fibrus, they've done so far a good job getting FTTP/FTTH covered in NI which has a similar urban/rural divide like its neighbours in the Republic rather than in Britain yet both Gigabit & FTTP coverage exceeds that across the Irish sea. They're now at the point where all the low-hanging fruit for FTTP connectivity has been taken, and it's down now to the last 5% of so of premises that need to be done up over the next few years. The only painful thing about it is that many of these premises still only has access via landline to very slow (by today's standards) ADSL connections, too far from cabinets for FTTC/VDSL2, and that Project Stratum might miss them by because of the substantial cost of getting served.

The only way NI is going have only 76% coverage of premises with high-speed connections in 2040 is if between now and then a massive natural disaster akin to the 2006 Indian Ocean tsunami hits the place and thrashes a huge amount of infrastructure.

TL;DR? The report linked in RXTV is bollocks. However, this does not mean that broadcast TV doesn't have a place by that date (2040).

Then that betrays the fact that you don't need gigabit-fast internet connections to watch streaming content. 10 years ago when I had just a 6.5 M/bit ADSL download speed I was still able to watch BBC iPlayer content in HD. Having FTTP doesn't mean that you have to take up a gigabit connection - plenty of people take VDSL2-esque speeds on them for better value. As it is, internet connections have never been cheaper & the UK has "social tariffs" in place for vulnerable customers to ensure that broadband availability isn't out of reach to most people.

By 2040 I'd expect the idea of needing a copper pair to access the internet to be dead in the water. Whatever may go on in the Republic, I'd expect that from the late 2020's onwards in the UK, Openreach will be telling remaining copper pair customers that there will be offering a free "compulsory" upgrade of the line into the building, to be FTTP, and those that refuse will simply be given a date where their service will be switched off on an exchange/geographical basis as old equipment fails or is on its last legs.

Yes, my big fear regarding tv was losing the main UK channels BBC,ITV,CH4 and CH5 and their respective spin off stations! If they were no longer available here in Ireland ( on Freesat) then what is there?

Ok for PtP unobstructed earth/space comms and maybe high capacity ptp short distance ground based links but as a replacement for poles, cables etc it's a non-runner.

Even with lower frequency radio comms physical obstructions can interfere or block a signal.

Maybe if they ever launch high altitude comms platforms, serving smaller areas, something like that might be a possibility. Realistically we're stuck with physical infrastructure for a long time to come.