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The British government’s plans to sell off frequencies for a new fifth
TV channel are in turmoil. The frequencies on offer are used to connect
video recorders and satellite receivers to TV sets, so Channel 5 transmissions
will cause interference. The Independent Television Commission had previously
reassured prospective bidders for the franchise that retuning people’s equipment
in their homes would not be prohibitively expensive. Now it has changed
tack and taken a tough line on protecting the public from the interference.

The ITC now accepts that retuning is of ‘central importance’ and will
be ‘critical’ to the viability of Channel 5. The commission has postponed
the auction for bids from the end of January until the end of February and
given prospective applicants until 12 February to comment on the ITC’s plans
to safeguard the public.

‘Anyone who now applies will need a strong stomach and an even stronger
bank account,’ says Nick Glover, technical secretary of the British Radio
and Electronic Equipment Manufacturers Association (BREMA).

In a technical note on interference from Channel 5, the ITC now admits
that when the service starts transmitting ‘very large numbers of video cassette
recorders, satellite receivers and other domestic equipment in most parts
of the country in which Channel 5 is to be transmitted’ will suffer interference
and need retuning or modifying. The ITC warns that the public risks ‘very
considerable inconvenience’ and that the cost to the Channel 5 licensee
of retuning will be ‘very considerable’.

Ironically, the government has failed to follow recommendations made
in two of its own reports six years ago. These said that Britain should
make it compulsory for every TV set to have a socket which allows interference-free
connection with video equipment. Such sockets have long been compulsory
in France.

Glover says: ‘The new note vindicates everything BREMA was trying to
tell the Department of Trade and Industry and others. But no one would listen.
The ITC is now having to pick the pieces.’

Channel 5 will transmit on the UHF TV channels 35 and 37. As these frequencies
are not used for broadcasting, many video recorders, satellite receivers
and video games computers use them to connect by radio frequency with a
TV set. Once Channel 5 starts broadcasting, viewers will see either double
pictures or herringbone patterns on screen when they watch any video system
using similar frequencies for connection.

The 1990 Broadcasting Act says that the Channel 5 licensee must pay
for retuning, unless the viewer erects the aerial specifically to receive
Channel 5. Until the new technical note was published, prospective bidders
for the Channel 5 licence had been complaining to BREMA that they had not
been properly warned of the likely costs of retuning video equipment.

The Channel 5 company will have to provide enough engineers to solve
all retuning problems within 21 days of a viewer’s request. The company
will also have to broadcast test transmissions at advertised times before
starting a full service so that viewers can check if they will suffer from
interference. If the Channel 5 company encourages viewers to retune equipment
themselves, it will also have to help them out when they get into technical
difficulties or damage their equipment.

The ITC even suggests that some viewers should fit a Channel 5 blocking
filter at the input of their equipment. This will cure interference but
mean that the viewer cannot receive Channel 5 at all.