Tests to gauge the levels of disruption that 4G will cause to Freeview broadcasts have so far yielded encouraging results, but Freeview’s boss wants more to be done.
Isle Howling, managing director of Freeview praised the work of AT800.tv, the group set up to manage the tests, but said that more work is needed in order to get a clearer picture of the problem.
Howling said:
“We are encouraged that the London pilots appear to have caused little inconvenience to Freeview viewers. More tests are necessary to ascertain the impact of 4G in a variety of geographical areas and under different test conditions. We will continue to work with AT800 and ensure any disruption to Freeview viewers is kept to a minimum.”
Read Recombu Digital’s guide to the 4G Freeview FailIf the current trials are anything to go by, it doesn’t look like the 4G Freeview Fail will manifest on the scale predicted by the doom-mongers last year. Howling is right in that more tests and a greater variety of tests will be needed.
But that’s exactly what’s happening with the AT800 trials. The south London trial, which reported an all clear, has been extended so more data can be gathered.
The tests taking place in Brighton will be the first ‘full power’ trial so far and will be happening without prior warning to residents. This has been designed specifically to simulate real-life conditions once 4G launches on all the networks this summer.
AT800.tv is funded by the UK mobile phone operators to overcome problems caused by poor planning which has seen 4G signals placed too close to Freeview signals.
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