I like the careful consideration for older viewers in these scenarios, as well as using ‘Lite’ branding for the legacy services. Also the collab with manufacturers to get some cheap or even free set-top boxes out to households is a great idea.
But I don’t know if the networks need to go to these extremes in this day and age. If this was done 10 years ago then it would be wise to be this thorough. But this is more of a technical change than a revamping of the entire Freeview platform. Communication is a must, but it doesn’t need to be so complex, in my opinion.
This is how I’d do it if I were somehow in charge of what every network does (lol)
- Silently switch all the multi-channels to MPEG-4, HD or otherwise
- Move 10 (SD) to LCN 1, move 10 HD to LCN 10
- Rename the channels on LCN 1, 2, 3, 7 and 9 to include “SD” at the end of the name
- Run a crawler every X minutes for 6 months across these 5 channels, advising of their future closure
- Run a Freeview-branded campaign during commercial breaks a week before closure
- Close the SD’s, replace their slots with simulcasts of the primary HD channels
I’d like the crawler to read as follows:
“This channel will only be available in HD from Friday, 3rd November 2023. If you currently receive this channel in HD on channel X0, you don’t need to do anything. If not, you will need to upgrade your TV or set-top box to continue watching. For more information, head to free.view/help or message Freeview on social media.”