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+--- Thread: Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards (/showthread.php?tid=446)
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - Kunst - 30-06-2021
It's not directly related with the thread, but that was also the iMac G3 generation era..
These were expensive computers back then, but they were rather frequent in the broadcasting industry.
They were also "cool", from a design point of view
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - Jexedback - 30-06-2021
I had a DTT box, perhaps a Nokia one, and you could enter a code in the settings - possibly the PID details - and it would unscramble some of the Top Up TV linear services before they went download only.
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - VMPhil - 30-06-2021
Inspector Sands post_id=25059 time= user_id=1003 Wrote:The analogue satellite channel that carried UK Horizons was originally the UKTV Preview Channel - a timeshift of Style, Horizons and Arena. It was the only way most viewers could see the channels until digital came along.One of the various pieces of information I have learned from TVF over the years is the UKTV transmission area was called "SHAG", after the channels Style, Horizons, Arena and Gold.
I can't find it now but someone should post the picture of the fan with a sign next to it saying "If this fan is turned off, the UKTV channels will go off the air"!
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - JetixFann450 - 01-07-2021
VMPhil post_id=25088 time= user_id=1043 Wrote:Well that explains why UK Arena soon got renamed...Inspector Sands post_id=25059 time= user_id=1003 Wrote:The analogue satellite channel that carried UK Horizons was originally the UKTV Preview Channel - a timeshift of Style, Horizons and Arena. It was the only way most viewers could see the channels until digital came along.One of the various pieces of information I have learned from TVF over the years is the UKTV transmission area was called "SHAG", after the channels Style, Horizons, Arena and Gold.
I can't find it now but someone should post the picture of the fan with a sign next to it saying "If this fan is turned off, the UKTV channels will go off the air"!
hock:
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - chris - 01-07-2021
I’ve often wondered whether there was always the plan to morph BBC Choice and Knowledge to Three and Four? Or were the services not deemed successful/distinctive and needed relaunching?
Similarly, I wonder how early the children’s channels were touted.
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - Rex - 01-07-2021
chris post_id=25130 time= user_id=1265 Wrote:I’ve often wondered whether there was always the plan to morph BBC Choice and Knowledge to Three and Four? Or were the services not deemed successful/distinctive and needed relaunching?they both didn't do well ratings wise iirc in their original format, and the bbc decided to radically change the format of choice and knowledge to make those channels stand out.
Similarly, I wonder how early the children’s channels were touted.
in the end, it was really just down to format, ratings and being closely associated with the bbc's main services whilst also building a major selling point for digital tv
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - Inspector Sands - 01-07-2021
nwtv2003 post_id=25005 time= user_id=1028 Wrote:My understanding was that Play rated quite well on digital terrestrial as its only competitor was MTV. As I believe it was ITV Digital’s collapse which led to UKTV withdrawing the channel outright.It was quite popular amongst those of us at TV Centre. Every time I went into an office it seemed to be on the lost popular choice on the TV sets on the desks, at least for those in their 20s.
It was often put onto an OS line into the other transmission areas for people to watch there... until it got put to air accidently one day.
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - Inspector Sands - 01-07-2021
VMPhil post_id=25088 time= user_id=1043 Wrote:One of the various pieces of information I have learned from TVF over the years is the UKTV transmission area was called "SHAG", after the channels Style, Horizons, Arena and Gold.It wasn't the TX area but the router for it in . I think it was still on the control system till TVC closed.
The playout area was called the CDTA - the Commercial Digital Transmission Area
JetixFann450 post_id=25127 time= user_id=1047 Wrote:Well that explains why UK Arena soon got renamed...It got axed and replaced by Drama, it wasn't just a rename although I think it kept Arena's idents. Arena was a good channel, provably the nearest we have to it now is BBC4
I seem to remember there was a bit of resistance to the names Horizon and Arena being used for the channels as some thought it devalued the existing brands
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - johnnyboy - 01-07-2021
chris post_id=25130 time= user_id=1265 Wrote:I’ve often wondered whether there was always the plan to morph BBC Choice and Knowledge to Three and Four? Or were the services not deemed successful/distinctive and needed relaunching?
Similarly, I wonder how early the children’s channels were touted.
I could be wrong but I believe the original name for CBeebies was BBC Playbox. They made the right choice in the end.
IIRC, ratings for Choice and Knowledge were terrible, especially for the latter. Sky+ launched in 2000 (I think) perhaps removing some of the justification at the time for Choice which was essentially a catch up and follow up service.
The BBC rightly identified that it needed to chase the 18 to 34 year old demographic and, eventually persuaded the Government to allow it to replace Choice with 3. It took that long that BBC4 launched before BBC3.
And the Beeb did great - three was a hit and had some great programmes among the filler.
BBC4 was a very ambitious channel when launched and contained some real gems. Genuine wall to wall world class intelligent TV. What a shame it has had its budget slashed and purpose diminished over time.
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - VMPhil - 01-07-2021
chris post_id=25130 time= user_id=1265 Wrote:I’ve often wondered whether there was always the plan to morph BBC Choice and Knowledge to Three and Four? Or were the services not deemed successful/distinctive and needed relaunching?Wasn't it because of the change in DG at the time - John Birt was replaced by Greg Dyke in 2000, and the strategy changed. Both Choice and Knowledge's format and programming changed and they announced in 2001 they were to be replaced by Three and Four.
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - Inspector Sands - 01-07-2021
johnnyboy post_id=25151 time= user_id=925 Wrote:I could be wrong but I believe the original name for CBeebies was BBC Playbox. They made the right choice in the end.I'm not sure about the proposed/working titles but yes the one they went for was a much better choice.
Remember that what became Cbeebies started as CBBC on Choice in about 1999/2000
Quote:IIRC, ratings for Choice and Knowledge were terrible, especially for the latter. Sky+ launched in 2000 (I think) perhaps removing some of the justification at the time for Choice which was essentially a catch up and follow up service.Ratings were low mainly because it was the early days of digital TV, but the both failed to find their way.
The problem Knowledge had initially was that it was very much not a mass audience service, it ws an odd mix of very cheap educational programmes. It had some carriage issues too, it wasn't full time on terrestrial. It later relaunched as a documentary repeat channel but wasn't promoted at all
Choice wasn't a catch up channel, it had a lot of original content and extended versions of BBC1 programmes. Like Knowledge it had a bit of a relaunch and became a youth based channel with short-form programming but it too lost its way a bit. Having pre-school programmes during the day probably didn't help
The relaunch to Three/Four gave the channels a day one relaunch and some focus
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - Steve Williams - 01-07-2021
chris post_id=25130 time= user_id=1265 Wrote:Similarly, I wonder how early the children’s channels were touted.
Will Wyatt says his book that while he was Director of Television it was considered pretty much inevitable that the Beeb would have to have children's channels sooner rather than later, and he left at the end of the nineties, so they were certainly thinking about them at that point.
I remember when they announced BBC3 and BBC4 having discussions on the internet that there was no way they were going to call them that, because it sounded so strange (of course, there's a seventies Doctor Who story that refers to it as a bit of a fantasy) partly because at that point digital channels didn't seem like "proper" channels so it seemed strange to pretend they were the same. It was the same when they renamed ITV as ITV1 and I thought it was odd that they wanted to directly associate ITV with and create comparisons to ITV2, a channel at that point with about 1% of its budget and audience.
I first got ONDigital in April 2001, but although I got decent pictures on the BBC multiplex I couldn't get anything else in decent quality, and I couldn't pick up any of the subscription channels, and when I phoned them they said there was nothing they could do so I took the box back to the shop within a week. I was still on their mailing list though so I still got sent the magazine every month and indeed the ITV Digital stickers to put on your box when the name changed. Then at the end of 2002 I got Freeview, assisted by the more robust picture quality and the fact we'd since replaced our TV aerial.
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - JAS84 - 01-07-2021
johnnyboy post_id=25151 time= user_id=925 Wrote:Definitely. Nowadays Playbox would sound like a streaming service.chris post_id=25130 time= user_id=1265 Wrote:I’ve often wondered whether there was always the plan to morph BBC Choice and Knowledge to Three and Four? Or were the services not deemed successful/distinctive and needed relaunching?
Similarly, I wonder how early the children’s channels were touted.
I could be wrong but I believe the original name for CBeebies was BBC Playbox. They made the right choice in the end.
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - all new Phil - 01-07-2021
Looking back it would have been easier had Knowledge become Three and Choice become Four rather than the other way round. Then we wouldn’t have had the strangeness of BBC Four launching without BBC Three, and also the setup now of having BBC Four on the telly guide but not BBC Three.
Memories of the launch of BBC Digital 1998 onwards - johnnyboy - 01-07-2021
JAS84 post_id=25177 time= user_id=881 Wrote:johnnyboy post_id=25151 time= user_id=925 Wrote:Definitely. Nowadays Playbox would sound like a streaming service.chris post_id=25130 time= user_id=1265 Wrote:I’ve often wondered whether there was always the plan to morph BBC Choice and Knowledge to Three and Four? Or were the services not deemed successful/distinctive and needed relaunching?
Similarly, I wonder how early the children’s channels were touted.
I could be wrong but I believe the original name for CBeebies was BBC Playbox. They made the right choice in the end.
Turns out there was discussion on this at the blue place...
On 21st October 2001, The Crowdman said that "the BBC UK kids services will have names - the younger kids service will be called CBBC Playbox - dunno what the older kids one is yet tho... Confused".
In the same thread, RW said that "BBC So' is one name I've seen mentioned for the older children's channel (as www.bbc.co.uk/so), but I don't think that's terribly likely. I also saw that they may not call the younger channel BBC Playbox after all.".
Mind you, personal TVF favourite Mike G, a month later, thought that "it's plain stupid to call it Cbeebies when there won't be the BBC logo on it. This is the first BBC TV Channel that won't have their logo on!".
Pete (aka Hyma) though that "it's a witty name. even if some yanks do not understand it".
Preprice later replied that "I hate the name Cbeebies and think that very few people will get the pun, let alone grow to like it...But whatever happened to BBC PLAYBOX? - The name originally used to describe one of the new BBC didital childrens' channels?".
Hard to believe those posts were made 20 years ago. :geek:
EDITED to add:
The blue place is a fascinating archive - thanks to @Asa for keeping it live.
From Jan 2002 is a thread from @frogman announcing the March 2nd launch of the BBC 4.
From Feb 2002, here's a thread started by @Brekkie following a launch promotion campaign of BBC4 by sending out 1,500 handkerchiefs covered in scribbles.
And, if you've got the time, here is a link to a Goldsmiths College student's PhD Media and Communicationd dissertation from 2013 on "BBC Four as "A Place To Think"".