Misplaced Pages

#477522

69-685: BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC . It was launched on 2 March 2002 and shows a wide variety of programmes including arts, documentaries, music, international film and drama, and current affairs. It is required by its licence to air at least 100 hours of new arts and music programmes, 110 hours of new factual programmes, and to premiere twenty foreign films each year. The channel broadcasts daily from 7:00 pm to 4:00 am, timesharing with CBeebies (which starts at 6:00 am). BBC Four launched on 2 March 2002 at 7:00 pm GMT , having been delayed from

138-476: A 7% share of multichannel audiences between 21:00 and 22:05, based on overnight returns. The official audience figures for the broadcast, including time-shifting, were later published as 1,625,000. Another notable production was a live re-make of the 1953 science-fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment , adapted from the original scripts into a single, two-hour version (though on the night it underran considerably, lasting less than 1 hour 40 minutes), broadcast on

207-402: A black urban audience. In 1985, a new service called TV4 was introduced, carrying sports and entertainment programming, using the channel shared by TV2 and TV3, which ended transmissions at 9:30 pm. In 1992, TV2, TV3 and TV4 were combined into a new service called CCV (Contemporary Community Values). A third channel was introduced known as TSS, or Topsport Surplus, Topsport being the brand name for

276-414: A chance for regional programmes to get a national airing with Cy Chadwick's Walking with... productions and Gareth Edwards's Great Welsh Adventure (from BBC Wales) getting a repeat here and then again late night. In addition to these programmes, many hour long regional documentaries such as BBC Scotland's Rigs of Nigg , about the 1970s North Sea oil drilling platform construction industry based around

345-439: A combination of the two. In Croatia eleven national channels are free-to-air: HRT 1 , HRT 2 , HRT 3 , HRT 4 ( HRT being national broadcaster), Nova TV , Doma TV , RTL , RTL2 , RTL Kockica , CMC and SPTV . There are around 21 local or regional channels. Before June 2020, they used to be transmitted via three OiV (state-owned public broadcasting company) DVB-T and one DVB-T2 ( HEVC/H.265 ) MUXes . As of June 2020,

414-466: A documentary about conceptual artist Michael Landy and his installation Break Down . BBC Four was also notable for first showing Larry David 's Seinfeld follow-up, Curb Your Enthusiasm , Armando Iannucci 's cutting political satire , The Thick of It , The Chaser's War on Everything , Flight of the Conchords , Mad Men and Danish thriller The Killing . The channel broadcasts

483-484: A free-to-air set-top box. In Korea, KBS , MBC (the two main public broadcasters), SBS (privately owned, but available for free to viewers), and EBS (including both TV and radio ) are the free-to-air broadcasting stations. They dominate more than 80% of advertisement profits, according to the recent survey from the agency. Due to the recent government's decision, digital television service for all free-to-air networks would be scheduled before 2012, followed by

552-514: A linear channel had not been successful: the aforementioned cuts to original programming had reduced its budget by half in comparison to 2017, and the channel's reach in February 2023 was 15.8 million—which was 50% higher than BBC Three in the same month. The channel direction is determined by the channel's remit, set by royal charter and the corporation's governing body (the BBC Board ), and by

621-475: A local low-power repeater. In 1986, the SABC's monopoly was challenged by the launch of a subscription-based service known as M-Net, backed by a consortium of newspaper publishers on 1 October. However, as part of its licensing restrictions, it could not broadcast news programmes, which were still the preserve of the SABC, although M-Net started broadcasting a current affairs programme called Carte Blanche in 1988. As

690-585: A mixture of art and science documentaries , vintage drama (including many rare black-and-white programmes), and non-English-language productions such as films from the Artificial Eye catalogue, the French thriller Spiral and the Swedish detective series Wallander . BBC Four further supports foreign-language films with its annual World Cinema Award which has been running since 2004. From

759-460: A multitude of programming channels in many languages, spanning many new channels, so they can get National support, which ultimately leads to carriage by cable systems, to additionally support the high costs of broadcasting signals in this way. Nevertheless, free-to-air satellite TV is a viable addition to home video systems, not only for the reception of specialized content but also for use in locations where terrestrial ATSC over-the-air reception

SECTION 10

#1732772431478

828-430: A number of local channels were available but since have closed, such as Cue TV were also available. Local stations such as CTV and Face TV (previously Triangle TV) were free-to-air analogue PAL transmissions prior to CTV migrating to the free-to-air digital DVB-T service and Face TV's terrestrial free-to-air service shutoff from December 2013. A digital terrestrial version of Freeview was launched in 2008, which, unlike

897-443: A premium subscription is not present (providing the necessary equipment is still available), especially where FTA channels are expected to be used for emergency broadcasts, similar to the 1-1-2 (112) emergency service provided by mobile phone operators and manufacturers. On the other side, free-to-view (FTV) is generally available without subscription , but it is digitally encoded and may be restricted geographically. Free-to-air

966-458: A public service broadcast multiplex and a commercial multiplex, both DVB-T2. The informal term "council telly" is sometimes used for free-to-air television in the UK, evoking a basic service accessible to all. There are a number of competing systems in use. Early adopters used C-band dishes several feet in diameter to receive analog microwave broadcasts, and later digital microwave broadcasts using

1035-587: A result launched before BBC Three. BBC Four was different from the old BBC Knowledge: the channel would be more heavily promoted with more new and original programming and the channel would not be broadcast 24 hours a day. This was because on the Freeview digital terrestrial platform, BBC Four is broadcast in a statistically multiplexed stream in Multiplex B that timeshares with the CBeebies channel (which

1104-420: A schedule of documentaries and art programming, essentially a test of the new BBC Four schedule. It was rebranded as part of BBC Four, aligning it with the existing BBC One and Two brands. Planning for the new channel, along with the new BBC Three , had been in progress since October 2000; however, the incumbent government delayed approving the new BBC digital plans. The BBC Four plans were approved earlier, and as

1173-578: A simulcast of Beyond 100 Days Monday–Thursday and an edition of World News Today on Fridays which was produced by BBC World News . As of autumn 2020, BBC Four no longer broadcasts a news bulletin. It screens a number of documentaries such as The Century of the Self and The Trials of Henry Kissinger . The channel is also home to many political travel shows such as Holidays in the Axis of Evil which features investigative journalism. Drama has given

1242-575: Is free-to-air, but the more conventional broadcast systems in use mean that SiriusXM style in-car reception is not possible. Cable and satellite distribution allow many more channels to carry sports, movies and specialist channels which are not broadcast as FTA. The viewing figures for these channels are generally much lower than the FTA channels. Various European countries broadcast a large number of channels via free-to-air terrestrial , generally as an analog PAL / SECAM transmission, digital DVB-T / T2 or

1311-690: Is incomplete and additional channels are desired. Australia has five major free-to-air networks: the two public broadcasting networks - ABC and SBS , and three commercial networks - Seven Network , Nine Network , and Network 10 . Traditionally each network had only a single channel in a geographic area, but with the advent of digital television each network started broadcasting several SD multichannels, such as 7two , 9Gem , 10 Bold , and SBS Food , as well as at least one HD channel. There are also free-to-air community television channels in some major cities. Viewers in remote parts of Australia are able to access many Australian free-to-air channels using

1380-566: Is no concept of paying for a TV license. The acronym used for DVB-T in Spain is TDT ( Digital terrestrial television in Spain  [ es ] ). In the UK, the five main free-to-air television networks are BBC One , BBC Two , ITV , Channel 4 and Channel 5 . Around 108 free-to-air television channels and 30 free-to-air radio channels are available terrestrially via the Freeview DVB-T service. Seven HD channels are also broadcast via

1449-412: Is occupied by pay-TV operators Shaw Direct and Bell Satellite TV , although larger C-band dishes can pick up some content. FTA signals may be scattered across multiple satellites, requiring a motor or multiple LNBs to receive everything. This differs from Europe, where FTA signals are commonly concentrated on a few specific satellites. Another difference between North American FTA and FTA in most of

SECTION 20

#1732772431478

1518-853: Is often used for international broadcasting , making it something of a video equivalent to shortwave radio . Most FTA retailers list free-to-air channel guides and content available in North America for free-to-air use. Although commonly described as free, the cost of free-to-air services is met through various means: Up until 2012, Israel had several free-to-air channels. The major ones rating-wise were Channel 2 , Channel 10 , and Channel 1 . The other ones were Educational , Channel 33 , and Knesset 99 . Since 2018, Israel has several new free-to-air channels that replace their older counterparts. The major ones rating-wise: are Channel 12 , Channel 13 , Kan 11 , and Channel 20 . The others are Kan Educational , Makan 33 , and Knesset Channel . In 1971,

1587-531: Is on air from 06:00 until 19:00). As a result, BBC Four broadcasts from 19:00 to around 04:00 each night, with an hour's down-time and promotions for CBeebies before the start of that channel's schedule. On 12 May 2011, BBC Four was added to the Sky EPG in the Republic of Ireland on channel 230. It later moved to EPG 211 to free up space for new channels. It later moved to channel 143 on 1 May 2018 to sit beside

1656-513: Is produced. The show is presented by broadcaster Charlie Brooker . The show was very successful and spawned several spin-offs such as Newswipe with Charlie Brooker , Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe and Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe . The channel is also curator and leader of the BBC Archive project whose aim is that the BBC's television archive is re-broadcast as much as appropriate so that

1725-403: Is to reflect a range of UK and international arts, music and culture. It should provide an ambitious range of innovative, high quality programming that is intellectually and culturally enriching, taking an expert and in-depth approach to a wide range of subjects. The first evening's BBC Four programmes were simulcast on BBC Two , with the first programme being The Man Who Destroyed Everything ,

1794-466: The Cromarty Firth , also received their national debut on the channel. On 9 April 2021, BBC Four was suspended due to the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , in order to preserve bandwidth for the broadcast of news coverage and tribute programming on BBC One and Two. This was done for the same reasons after the death of Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022. The following is a list of

1863-754: The Edinburgh International Television Festival , BBC Four won the Non-Terrestrial Channel of the Year award in 2004, 2006 and 2012. In 2012 Dirk Gently became the first continuing drama series produced for the channel. During the period when BBC Three was not broadcasting as a linear TV channel, BBC Four was occasionally used to show live sports coverage. The channel aired games from the UEFA Euro 2016 and 2018 FIFA World Cup football tournaments when

1932-521: The INSAT-4B and GSAT-15 satellite covering India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and parts of Afghanistan, and Myanmar. In India, the channels are marketed as DD Direct Plus / DD Free Dish by Doordarshan , India's national broadcaster and other Indian private broadcaster ABS Free Dish from the ABS2 satellite. One can receive free-to-air regional TV channels using a small DTH antenna and

2001-595: The Northern Irish versions of BBC One and BBC Two there, and the 200s being used for +1 channels. On 17 August 2018, BBC Four announced BBC 4.1, a special two nights of programming which would revolve around artificial intelligence (AI) selecting the programmes broadcast on the channel, based on "what BBC Four audiences might like, based on the channel's previous schedules and programme attributes." It would then "[rank] programmes it thought were most relevant [to what BBC Four viewers would like]." The programming

2070-588: The South Bank in London, between the London Eye and Waterloo Bridge . On 10 September 2005, the channel began showing new idents comprising a central BBC Four logo surrounded by four quadrants which show different stages of the same footage thus making for a sort of optical illusion; for example, a swimming pool where a person on an inflatable ring appears in the bottom-left corner, though ripples don't enter

2139-670: The 3.7-4.2  GHz band. Today, although large C-band dishes can still receive some content, the 11.7-12.2 GHz K u band is also used. Ku-band signals can be received using smaller dishes, often as small as under a meter (3 feet, 3 inches) in diameter, allowing FTA satellite to be picked up from smaller spaces such as apartment balconies (note, however, that these dishes are not quite as small as those commonly used for commercial services such as Dish Network , DirecTV , Bell ExpressVu , Shaw Direct , etc. Dishes intended for those services may not deliver an adequate signal on Ku-band). The European-developed DVB-S and DVB-S2 standards are

BBC Four - Misplaced Pages Continue

2208-460: The Archive can be enjoyed again and not isolated. Some output from BBC Four (documentaries rather than foreign films) was for a time repeated on BBC Two in a 'BBC Four on Two' branded area, although this was often in a late night broadcast slot after Newsnight and has since been discontinued. According to BARB the comedy panel game QI has the highest ratings of any show on BBC Four. At

2277-629: The BBC as the Controller of BBC Two and BBC Four. As a result of the reorganisation, the post of BBC Two and Four control had closed after her departure later that year. On 16 July 2013, the BBC announced that a high-definition (HD) simulcast of BBC Four would be launched by early 2014. The channel launched on 10 December 2013 at 18:58 GMT, and rolled out nationwide up to June 2014 (as did BBC News HD , CBBC HD and CBeebies HD ). The channel shares its stream with CBeebies HD , as they both air at different times. In June 2022, BBC Four HD moved from

2346-422: The BBC submitted its annual general plan for 2020–21, which included a proposal for BBC Two to supplant BBC Four as its main outlet for specialist programmes. Under the plan, BBC Four would cease originating new programmes, and become a service showcasing the BBC's "rich archive". The plan also included the possibility of the BBC expanding BBC Four into a global brand, to "[take] our strengths in specialist factual to

2415-563: The COM7 multiplex on Freeview to Multiplex B due to the closure of COM7 for spectrum reallocation; this move allows the service to reach nearly the entirety of the UK. Prior to launch, the majority of BBC Four's HD output was broadcast on the BBC HD channel, before its closure on 26 March 2013. In 2017, BBC Four HD, along with CBBC HD and CBeebies HD, launched in Ireland. BBC Four's primary role

2484-582: The DVB-S2 Optus VAST service. New Zealand has a number of FTA broadcasters such as Television New Zealand 's TVNZ 1 and TVNZ 2 , as well as Discovery New Zealand 's Three and Bravo , Sky Network Television 's Sky Open and the government subsidised the Whakaata Māori and Te Reo channels. Four channels, TVNZ 1, TVNZ 2, Three, Bravo are also broadcast timeshifted by +1 hour on Freeview and Sky platforms. A broadcast of parliament and

2553-604: The DVB-T MUXes were switched off and all eleven national channels are now distributed via two OiV DVB-T2 (HEVC/H.265) MUXes. In Denmark, six channels are as of 2020 free-to-air, distributed via 18 main transmitter sites and 30 smaller, auxiliary transmitters. The six channels ( DR1 , DR2 , DR Ramasjang , Folketinget , TV2 Regionerne, and sign language/local programme) come in one DVB-T2 multiplex . In France, there are 26 national television channels (MPEG-4 HD video) and 41 local television channels broadcast free-to-air via

2622-534: The PAL system for colour television, being only the second terrestrial television service in sub-Saharan Africa to launch with a colour-only service, Zanzibar in Tanzania having introduced the first such service in 1973. (Tanzania itself did not establish a television service until the early 1990s, similarly concerned about the expense and perceived threat to cultural norms.) The Government, advised by SABC technicians, took

2691-455: The Pops and Neil Brand 's documentaries) on a Friday night, with drama imports on a Saturday (but not always foreign-language productions like Italian crime drama Inspector Montalbano ) and usually an hour of 'archive' programmes (such as those by Bob Ross and Fred Dibnah ) starting off the weekday schedule at 7pm. As well as programmes from the 1980s and 1990s, this early evening slot gives

2760-852: The SABC was finally allowed to introduce a television service. Initially, the proposal was for two television channels, one in English and Afrikaans, aimed at white audiences, and another, known as TV Bantu, aimed at black viewers. However, when television was finally introduced, there was only one channel with airtime divided evenly between English and Afrikaans, alternating between the two languages. Test transmissions in Johannesburg began on 5 May 1975, followed in July by ones in Cape Town and Durban. Nationwide services finally commenced on 5 January 1976. In common with most of Western Europe, South Africa used

2829-555: The SABC's sport coverage, but this was replaced by NNTV (National Network TV), an educational, non-commercial channel, in 1994. The main channel, now called TV1, was divided evenly between English and Afrikaans, as before. It also became available in Walvis Bay , an enclave of South Africa in Namibia, which was itself then under South African administration, with a live feed of the channel broadcast via Intelsat being retransmitted on

BBC Four - Misplaced Pages Continue

2898-513: The TNT DVB-T2 service. In Germany there are various free-to-air DVB-T services available, the number of which varies by region. Das Erste , ZDF , ZDFneo , ZDFinfo , 3sat , Arte , KiKA and Phoenix are available throughout the country, in addition to at least one region-dependent channel which is provided by the regional ARD member. Additionally, ARD's EinsFestival , EinsPlus and tagesschau24 are variously available in some parts of

2967-748: The analogue and free-to-air satellite options, supports high-definition broadcasts for TVNZ 1, TVNZ 2, Three and Bravo. While, airing the timeshifted channels also. In Brazil the main FTA satellite is the Star One D2, it holds approximately C-band analog channels (1985-2024), including all major networks like TV Globo (feed nacional digital HDTV ), SBT (feed nacional digital HDTV ), Record (feed nacional digital HDTV ), RedeTV! , Band (feed nacional digital HDTV ), Cultura , Futura (feed nacional digital HDTV ), TV Verdes Mares (feed nacional digital HDTV ), Canal Gov, Canal Libras and others, 36 C-band and KU-band digital HDTV channels. In Chile

3036-730: The channel controller. In October 2013, following the departure of Richard Klein from the controllership, the management of the channel changed, with the role of Controller of BBC Four scrapped: from this point the Controller of BBC Two would have ultimate oversight of BBC Four as part of their role, absorbing some of the former duties of the Controller of BBC Four, but a new 'Channel Editor' post, reporting up to this controller, would be created to take day-to-day charge of Four. The controllers of BBC Four from 2002 to 2016 have been: Channel Editors of BBC Four have been: As of 2011, BBC Four had an annual budget of £54.3 million. On 20 January 2016, Kim Shillinglaw announced that she had decided to leave

3105-446: The channel some of its most popular programmes, with The Alan Clark Diaries (2003) and Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! (2006) being among the highest rated, with over 800,000 viewers. The highly acclaimed Hattie , broadcast in 2011, holds the record for BBC Four's best ever consolidated ratings, of 2m / 8%. Before that The Curse of Steptoe brought the channel its highest audience figures, estimated as 1.41 million viewers,

3174-584: The channel's launch in 2002 until the middle of 2020, BBC Four broadcast a global news bulletin on weeknights. Originally this was the BBC Four News presented initially by George Alagiah , which ran at 8pm. It was rebranded in January 2004 as The World , and was axed in May 2007, replaced the following week by World News Today , in a new 7pm timeslot. More recently BBC Four moved news programmes to 7pm with

3243-573: The country, and various commercial channels are available in metropolitan areas. In the Republic of Ireland, there are nine television channels and 11 radio channels broadcast free-to-air via the DVB-T Saorview service. Analog PAL versions of some of the channels were also broadcast until October 24, 2012, when all analogue television broadcasting was shut down. All of Malta's national and political party channels are available free-to-air. The national channels TVM and TVM2 , Parliament TV and

3312-996: The end of analog television broadcasting. European countries have a tradition of most television services being free-to-air. Germany, in particular, receives in excess of 100 digital satellite TV channels free-to-air. Approximately half of the television channels on SES Astra 's 19.2° east and 28.2° east satellite positions, and Eutelsat 's Hot Bird (13° east) are free-to-air. A number of European channels which one might expect to be broadcast free-to-air - including many countries' national terrestrial broadcasters - do not do so via satellite for copyright reasons. (Rights to purchase programs for free-to-air broadcast, especially via satellite, are often higher in price than for encrypted broadcast.) The lack of FTA among public broadcasters are prevalent in countries whose broadcasters tend to use subtitles for foreign language programmes; although Spain's two public domestic channels, La Una and La Dos, are also encrypted despite dubbed foreign programmes being

3381-404: The evening of Saturday 2 April 2005. Discounting BBC Four's previous live relays of theatrical William Shakespeare productions, this was the first live made-for-television drama to be broadcast by the BBC for twenty years. Another notable programme broadcast on BBC Four is Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe which contains reviews of current shows, as well as stories and commentary on how television

3450-429: The final round of matches in the group stages took place (when matches in each group kick-off simultaneously). It has also been used to broadcast England women's football matches, as well as some matches from the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup . It also temporarily extended its broadcast hours to show live action from the 2016 Summer Olympics . As of 2023, BBC Four schedules still feature music programming (such as Top of

3519-653: The four nations are appointed by the King-in-Council , on the advice of the UK Secretary of State. Five other non-executive members are appointed by the board and the four executive members are chosen by the board. The executive committee is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the broadcaster. This article related to broadcasting in the United Kingdom is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This BBC -related article

SECTION 50

#1732772431478

3588-504: The frequencies of the continuity announcers' voice or of backing music and were designed by Lambie-Nairn . As a result, no two idents were ever the same. The first continuity announcer was Zeb Soanes . When the channel first started airing, it used the slogan "Everybody Needs A Place To Think", but the BBC stopped using this several months after the launch. However the BBC Four logo and above slogan can be found, engraved on benches along

3657-689: The launch of BBC Scotland on 24 February 2019, BBC Four has been on a higher Freeview EPG number in Scotland than elsewhere, moving to 82 to make room for BBC Scotland. Following eventual closures, it moved to channel 75 there, and later to channel 68, and eventually channel 55. On 4 November 2020, due to Ofcom proposals regarding certain PSB channels requiring greater prominence on each UK TV provider's channel listing, BBC Four moved to channel 24 in Scotland, while every channel from that number ( ITV4 ) to channel 54 ( 5Select ) moved up one place. In May 2020,

3726-732: The main FTA satellite is the Hispasat 74W-1, it holds approximately 10 KU-band digital HDTV channels including all major networks like La Red, Telecanal, TVN Regional, TVN2 Regional, Canal 24HRS, CHV, CHV2, CDTV, TV Senado, La Red Feed, Telecanal Feed and TVN Feed. BBC Board The BBC Board is the governing board of the British Broadcasting Corporation . The board replaced the BBC Trust in April 2017. The chair and four non-executive members representing

3795-402: The most commonly used broadcast methods, with analog transmissions almost completely discontinued as of mid-2014. The most common North American sources for free-to-air DVB satellite television are: Most of these signals are carried by US satellites. There is little or no free Canadian DVB-S content available to users of medium-size dishes, as much of the available Ku-band satellite bandwidth

3864-459: The national public broadcaster, ORF , offers a special free-to-air channel which airs selected programming without (i.e. those without copyright issues) via satellite all over Europe. As Germany and Austria speak the same language and use the same satellite, Austrian viewers are able to receive about 120 free German-speaking channels from both countries. In general, all satellite radio in Europe

3933-516: The norm in Spain. However, these channels usually provide a scheme to offer free, but encrypted, viewing with free-to-view broadcasts. Certain programming on Italy's RAI , and the majority of Dutch channels are covered by such schemes (although in the case of RAI some programming is transmitted without encryption where there are no copyright issues). In Austria , the main national networks broadcast free-to-view via satellite; however, all regional and some smaller channels are transmitted free-to-air, and

4002-405: The original planned 2001 launch. BBC Four began as a late schedule for BBC Two, before it received its own channel, along with BBC Three . BBC Four was launched before BBC Three as a result of the government delaying approval for the latter. The channel replaced BBC Knowledge , an educational and cultural channel that had undergone many changes throughout its lifetime; in its final format it carried

4071-624: The political party channels NET and ONE, all are broadcast via the free-to-air DVB-T service. Even HD versions of these channels are available free-to-air. The only scrambled channel in Malta is ITV Teleshopping. In the Netherlands, three national public television channels ( NPO 1 , NPO 2 and NPO 3 ) and seven national public radio channels broadcast free-to-air via the DVB-T Digitenne service. The television and radio channels of

4140-629: The quadrants theme, originally premiering for a programme season honouring the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web . Free-to-air FTA also refers to channels and broadcasters providing content for which no subscription is expected, even though they may be delivered to the viewer/listener by another carrier for which a subscription is required, e.g., cable television , the Internet , or satellite . These carriers may be mandated (or OPT) in some geographies to deliver FTA channels even if

4209-612: The regional public broadcasters are also free-to-air via the DVB-T service. In Spain, there are around 25 national and 40 regional channels, as well as many local channels and radio stations. All television channels are in HD, with at least one UHD channel ( La 1 ). The state broadcaster, Televisión Española , is publicly-funded and does not show commercials. The two major competing networks, Atresmedia and Mediaset , are privately-owned and show commercials. All broadcasts are free-to-air, and there

SECTION 60

#1732772431478

4278-401: The remaining quarters. Although the image appears as one at the start of the ident, by the end it is clearly four separate images. These were the longest-running idents ever used by the BBC - they lasted until the channel's rebrand in 2021, however, the "quadrants" theme continues to this day. In March 2019, BBC Four added several new idents inspired by " oddly satisfying videos " in tandem with

4347-573: The rest of the world is that in North America , very few of the available signals are actually intended for home viewers or other end-users. Instead, they are generally intended for reception by local television stations, cable system headends, or other commercial users. While it is generally thought to be legal for home viewers to view such transmissions as long as they are not encrypted, this means that there are several unique challenges to viewing FTA signals, challenges not present in other areas of

4416-684: The state-controlled broadcaster, the SABC was accused of bias towards the apartheid regime, giving only limited coverage to opposition politicians. In Hong Kong, the largest and most dominant television channel, Television Broadcasts Limited , was the first free-to-air commercial television channel when it commenced broadcasting on 19 November 1967. It may also well be among the oldest and first stations to broadcast over-the-air in East and Southeast Asia. ViuTV and RTHK TV started broadcasting in 2016. Around 600 FTA television channels and 180 radio channels are broadcast from ku-band and c-band transponders on

4485-799: The ten most watched broadcasts on BBC Four since launch, based on Live +7 data supplied by BARB . Number of viewers does not include repeats. BBC Four is widely available on cable , IPTV and digital satellite television in the Republic of Ireland , the Netherlands , Belgium , Switzerland and Liechtenstein . The channel is registered to broadcast within the European Union/EEA through the Luxembourg Broadcasting Regulator – ALIA. The channel's initial series of idents were generated dynamically reflecting

4554-572: The view that colour television would have to be available so as to avoid a costly migration from black-and-white broadcasting technology. Initially, the TV service was funded entirely through a licence fee as in the UK, charged at R36. However, advertising began on 1 January 1978. On 1 January 1982, two services were introduced, TV2 broadcasting in Zulu and Xhosa and TV3 broadcasting in Sotho and Tswana, aimed at

4623-403: The world stage." On 26 May 2022, the BBC announced plans to discontinue BBC Four as a broadcast channel within "the next few years", as part of plans to streamline and modify services to create a "digital-first" BBC. In March 2023, it was reported that the BBC was considering a reversal of the decision, citing its viewership and low cost of operation, and concerns that the relaunch of BBC Three as

4692-452: The world. Among these are: The largest groups of end-users for Ku-band free-to-air signals were initially the ethnic-language communities, as often free ethnic-language programming would be sponsored by Multilingual American Communities and their broadcasters. Depending on language and origin of the individual signals, North American ethnic-language TV is a mix of pay-TV , free-to-air and DBS operations. Today, many American broadcasters send

4761-501: Was aired on the nights of 4 and 5 September 2018. This included a few special programmes about AI, such as "Made by Machine: When AI Met The Archive", which documented how the AI works, and "The Joy of AI", where "the emergence of machine learning" is discussed, as well as "why [AI] shouldn't spook us". On 19 February 2019, Virgin Media stopped providing BBC Four in standard definition. Due to

#477522