Freeview to be nudged down to clear 5G bands in 2018

Freeview will get bumped down the dial to make way for 5G networks around 2018, but in the meantime we'll get a bunch more HD TV and plenty of White Space to play in.

Ofcom has confirmed proposals, published in August, to shuffle Freeview down the dial and clear space at 700MHz for more next-next-generation wireless broadband services. But that's not going to happen for another five years, so in the meantime Freeview will be permitted to run a few extra multiplexes while the White Space crowd will get five more years to show what they can do.

The 600Mhz band is empty 'cos when the UK went digital it contracted the frequencies being used in both directions. That left a gap at the top - the 800MHz band to be auctioned off next year - and at the bottom - the 600MHz band no one wants. So unloved is 600MHz that in August Ofcom suggested shuffling Freeview down to release more space at the top for LTE services.

This would open up the 700MHz band, which is being used for 4G in the USA, notably supported by the New iPad, but is also being deployed in Africa and looks likely to spread elsewhere. But clearing it will mean retuning all the Freeview boxes, again, and replacing some roof-top aerials as the propagation characteristics change.

FreeView Channels

It will also have an impact on the work of DMSL, as Digital Mobile Spectrum Limited is tasked with spending £150m to mitigate against 4G signals (at 800MHz) interfering with Freeview (at 700MHz). Shuffle Freeview away and that problem disappears only to be replaced by the same thing only further down the dial, which might hit the same people, but equally might not.

UK terrestrial broadcasting is almost entirely handled by Arqiva, which was quick to comment on the proposals:
"While Arqiva welcomes Ofcom’s clear long-term commitment to ensuring a robust future for Freeview, Ofcom has yet to make the case for this change and the huge disruption that would be caused to TV viewers as a result."

Ofcom's justification is the oft-touted increase in demand for data, which is predicted to ramp up by 80 times before 2030. The problem with those predictions is that they're based on the "if current trends continue" model, the same one which says that by 2019 one in three of us will be working as an Elvis impersonator, but in reality the appetite for inferior renditions of The King tops out just like the demand for bandwidth will.

But Ofcom won't be swayed, so the question becomes what to do with the 600MHz band in the meantime. Back in August we suggested it should be thrown over to the White Space crowd to play with, on the grounds they they're a burgeoning industry in which the UK is a leader, and the database approach means they can move out at very short notice. Somewhat to our surprise Ofcom considered that, but decided to also stick a couple of national multiplexes in too so we can have some more Freeview channels even if they'll have to be switched off come 2018.

Ofcom's proposals (PDF, quite interesting but very long) aren't fixed yet, and there will need to be more details provided, but it's looking like we'll have another spectrum auction within a decade, and that terrestrial TV will again be shoved aside to make room for it.

Read the full article here: FreeView Nudge  or contact our experts in IT Support at Click Networks to find out what this will mean for you or your company. Visit our Click Networks website here: http://www.clicknetworks.co.uk/

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The Death Of Daily Deal Sites!

The end of coupon bazaar's deal-fetishing gravy train!

Open ... and Shut The biggest problem with Groupon isn't its accounting. It's also not Groupon's shrinking margins on new products, concerning as they are. No, Groupon's biggest problem is that it fetishes bargains in lieu of building real customer value.

Groupon's business model is simply not sustainable, which is why its stock is now on sale.

Not that Groupon is alone in this. Ron Johnson, chief executive of American retailer JC Penney, was the mastermind behind Apple's retail strategy, and thought he could bring a similar magic to the venerable department store. He was wrong.

The big problem with JC Penney, and one that Johnson has thus far been powerless to stop, is that over the years it had fostered consumer dependence on deals. The company offered 20 to 30 different prices for the same product in the course of a year, but always a deal. Always on sale. In fact, Johnson told investors that most of JC Penney's merchandise was being sold at discounts of 50 per cent or more.

Johnson removed the myriad of prices, pushing for a three-price strategy: everyday low prices (à la Wal-Mart), month-long values (sales on popular seasonal items that run for a month or longer), and clearance items on hefty discounts. So far, it has failed, as customers have balked at paying the "everyday low prices", not unsurprisingly preferring the former: all discounts, all the time. Same-store sales dropped 26 per cent last quarter as a result.

Sales, in the words of Johnson, are "just like heroin". They bring customers in but require constant feeding of the addiction with more and more sales. In the process, the retailers who depend upon them to attract customers end up killing their profit margins.

Or, in the case of Groupon, they end up killing both Groupon and their merchant customers. Groupon is the worst of all discount worlds: its daily deal coupons are bad for Groupon because they're terrible for the merchants who sign up for them. It's expensive for Groupon to market and sell to merchants to source new products to discount, but then the deals are also punitive to the merchants, who quickly discover that new customers enticed by the discount coupon tend not to become repeat customers. And who would want them? Such customers depend upon a constant stream of discounts, hardly the loyal customer base any vendor wants.

Red the full article here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/13/open_and_shut/  For more information on IT Support in Glasgow or accross scotland please visit our website today: http://www.clicknetworks.co.uk for more expert opinon on all things IT Support News.

Monitors to grow half an inch in 2013!

Monitors will grow by about half an inch in 2013, but there's be no sales bulge for resellers according to Taiwanese market-watcher WitsView.

The firm says new manufacturing processes mean it is now just as easy and cost-effective to cut LCD screens 19.5 inches wide as it is to slice them into 18.5 inch slabs. While only one manufacturer – Taiwan's Chimei Innolux - has mastered the trick to date, LG and Acer/Unipac-derived outfit AUO are expected to follow suit as 2013 unfurls.



Today, WitsView says, 44% of all monitors are either 18.5 inches, 19 inches or 20 inches wide. The former two widths are now at risk, as manufacturers take the opportunity to sell a bigger screen at the same price.

But even the prospect of more monitor for your money won't help the industry, the analyst says, as manufacturers and punters alike turn their interest to smaller devices like LCD TVs, tablets and notebook computers. Manufacturers will follow consumers' interests by targeting screens for those in-demand devices, leaving ye olde monitors for desktops a low priority option.

WitsView therefore predicts a decline in monitor shipments for 2013, with the only bright spot being all-in-one PCs. Overall global shipments will reach 165 million, 2.8 per cent down on 2012 numbers.
That's a far smaller number than overall PC shipments, which seems to suggest that fewer PC upgrades involve a monitor upgrade too.

Read the full story here:

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