itn news at one about new satellite tv 1985

itn news report about the dawn of satellite television

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Entertainment

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• itn
• news
• at
• one
• 1985
• leonard
• parkin

[dunkiep]

You had to live through it to understand why it worked. When 18 million people sat down to watch Morcambe & Wise at Christmas, the whole country was sitting down together - then everyone in the street talked about it. Oddly enough, people got by with less telly. Ever wondered how they got by a hundred years ago without it?  They had conversations!

[RonnieFukinSize]

The quality of programmes was better back then with far less repeats so it didn't really matter that there were only 4 channels. The amount of shit on the box nowadays is substantial.

[Adam0792]

@TashkentFox Most of the small relays in France only have three channels! We should have just planned the fifth one earlier :P

[Feisty1967]

Err...it was 1986 because they showed a clip of the Royal Wedding of Prince Andrew and Fergie, which took place in July 1986.

[ludocrat]

@dunkiep

...and world wars.

[filmnet]

@TashkentFox My cousin living an hour or so outside Atlanta cannot receive NBC or CBS, two of the main networks. She can only get PBS and ABC, digitally. Then 2 religious ones and FOX via analogue relays. "Chances are" that you will not get all of the main networks, unless you're in a city. Any basic research would reveal this.

[Feisty1967]

@TashkentFox Well said.

[Feisty1967]

Skin flicks late at night? I can't believe Leonard Parkin came out with that one!! Lol!!

[TashkentFox]

I honestly didn't know that (cheers for educating me) because I've always been used to recieving 5 channels from the Winter Hill transmitter in Bolton.

[LuthansaTerminal]

That wasn't only the reason, many parts of the UK a long way from France didn't get Channel 5.

The reason is because the engineers in the 60's (both on a UK and an international level) planned the system for a 4 channel national network (yes they planned for C4 right back in the 60's!) Therefore there wasn't much room for the 5th and it was squeezed into gaps including the until then unused UHF ch37.

[TashkentFox]

The only reason Channel 5 isn't avaliable everywhere is because the French said broadcasts from southern parts of Britain would cause interference on one of their channels, damn those Frogs, they shouldn't be able to tell us what to do with our television wavebands.