Why arent there more channels on Freeview?
It is all down to bandwidth of the transmission medium. Sky and NTL have practically infinite bandwidth because of the frequency that they broadcast on (Sky) or the means that they transmit it (Optical Cable: NTL/Telewest). There are 6 multiplexes on Freeview, each with 4 or 6 television channels. There are some slight exceptions to this rule as there is a little leftover space for radio and MHEG (digital text). The UK government have a department whose job is to make sure that signals sent via transmitters do not interfere with each other. This is why although there are 48 frequencies to use, not all of them are available. Included in these frequencies are the 5 analogue stations and 6 digital ones. The frequencies are re-used over the UK but never in an adjacent area. So why cant we all use the same frequencies, we could have 48 multiplexes then couldnt we? With analogue you couldn’t use the same frequencies because of ghosting. This is when you receive a signal from a local transmit
