MP blasts 'unacceptable' digital tv reception

Published 1 Sep 2012 11:30 12 Comments

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Local MP Katy Clark has written to Ofcom requesting that they urgently look at the performance of the Rothesay transmitter which provides the digital Freeview signal to televisions along the north coast and on Cumbrae.

The MP for North Ayrshire has been contacted by constituents highlighting a number of occasions this year where they have been left with no television service due to signal problems.

Ms. Clark said "It is completely unacceptable that viewers in Largs, Millport and Fairlie should be without digital television signal for hours at a time. Unfortunately no-one has been willing to take responsibility up until now as when those who have been affected have sought answers they appear to have been given different stories depending on who they have approached."

Give us your views on the local digital tv reception below...

This article appeared in Largs & Millport Weekly News 29 Aug 12

Have your say. Post a comment on this article.

Alan
Unregistered User
Sep 1, 19:17
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local tv signal is shocking constantly it either cuts out or is unwatchable. not only that with being on "freeview light" which i cannot find a mention of anywhere on the freeview website the choice of programming is disgustingly bad.

feels like Largs and the surrounding area are living in the 90s with its technological infastructure no wonder so many young people move out the town when able.

Recommend? Yes 19 No 2
Largs observer
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Sep 1, 21:39
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While I sympathise with your frustrations, young people can watch through the internet - there is no connection between TV signal and youth migration outside of Largs.

Recommend? Yes 3 No 23
jblogg
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Sep 2, 09:38
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Scotland has second best again, we pay the same tv licence fee but get a lot less channels and poor quality,plus no BBC hd ,try watching the BBC news on HD it will tell you to switch back to non hd for the scottish news.

Recommend? Yes 22 No 0
Alan
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Sep 2, 19:48
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But you cant watch through the internet because we dont have fibre optic cable meaning the broadband connections are substandard and constantly buffer due to the maximum output of them being about 10 to 15 megabits per second i say this i am currently try to watch something on a well known rental and streaming site and having to pause every couple of minutes to allow it to buffer again.

Recommend? Yes 17 No 0
In the dark
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Sep 3, 22:48
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Poor tv has been a feature of this area for years with regular outages every winter which were consistently blamed on power supply problems, but we were assured that freeview would resolve all our problems so we all rushed out to purchase new high definition freeview tv sets..........and quess what, we get freeview light from the Toward transmitter.

Freeview light??? when was that mentioned, and when was it mentioned that we were only entitled to an inferior service with very limited choice of programming. As we pay the same tv licence as everyone else, surely we are entitled to the same service as everyone else, particularly as we are denied broadband service which supports efficient broadband use and allows sensible private and business advantages.

About time someone with some clout got involved and if our local MP cannot resolve this what is the point of a local representation, probably easier to move to Greenock, Ayr or elsewhere. Go to it Ms Clark, we will watch with interest and anticipation!!

Recommend? Yes 12 No 0
Frank Hall
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Sep 3, 22:51
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True, add to that non-existent DAB coverage.

I should point out though that NO region gets its own HD news, Scotland is not unique in that respect. The licence fee also only covers the two main terrestrial channels (1 and 2) so we are fully served in that respect.

My advice would be to save money on a Freeview box and get Freesat instead. Might cost more for the dish but until someone installs cable it's the best we can get.

Recommend? Yes 4 No 8
Steptoe
30 posts
Sep 6, 10:29
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It's outrageous that we can't even get Radio Scotland on DAB !. Another complaint why is BBC 1 Scotland not available in HD ?.

Recommend? Yes 5 No 1
Fiona Cowan
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Sep 6, 12:19
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My mum lives in Largs, I live in the East Midlands. Our analogue transmitters here were switched off before yours, and although we struggled we eventually obtained a Freeview box that met our relatively undemanding viewing needs. Every now and then we'd have to re-tune, which sometimes brought more channels (though rarely any we'd want to watch). I'd thought our programming very poor, as lots of channels the box thinks it can receive get no signal. However, we do at least have digital radio all day (Radio 4 Extra is great for older listeners) and popular crime dramas on tap via ITV3... what Largs is getting is ridiculously inadequate. I read every word of the bumf that came to my mum before she went digital - and there was no mention of "Freeview Light". It's nothing more or less than a con.

Recommend? Yes 5 No 0
villager
Unregistered User
Sep 6, 12:51
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Central London 65 Channels. Largs/Fairlie 12 Channels on Freeview.

Licence fee same.

Something is wrong

Go for it Katy.

Recommend? Yes 5 No 0
Frank Hall
Unregistered User
Sep 9, 02:25
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Steptoe - I just explained why BBC1 Scotland has no HD coverage - NO regions have their own HD coverage!

To all those down marking my post, would you care to explain why you are so upset by being presented with simple facts? I'm not saying I agree with the situation (quite the opposite actually) but you can't change the truth.

Recommend? Yes 0 No 2
villager
Unregistered User
Sep 9, 17:03
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Frank is probably correct. Install Freesat until the terrestial side gets sorted out. For sure that's not going to happen overnight.

And one has to ask why two of these precious few terrestial channels that we do have have been given over to gay and straight dating sites (The rabbits)

Recommend? Yes 2 No 1
Catherine
Unregistered User
Nov 13, 13:05
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We only recently moved to West Kilbride and are disgusted that the BBC reception is so unreliable. Jumping, skipping, freezing and sound cutting out describes the standard of BBC1 and 2. The commercial stations operate beautifully. Why would anyone pay the BBC for such poor reception when the commercial stations are the ones which provide the service?

Once we find out where and when the local MP holds a surgery, we will be making formal approaches to tackle this ridiculous situation.

Recommend? Yes 1 No 0

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