Monthly column on the arts

Not long ago, for a remarkably small amount of money, I bought an analogue satellite dish and receiver. It was just what I'd been looking for: no big films or sport, but loads of foreign public service broadcasting. I'd be able to watch German concerts, Albanian folk music, Greek news bulletins, you name it. No monthly subscription, either.

When I asked my local aerial fitter to set it up, I discovered why it was so cheap: most of the programmes I was interested in were on channels that had now moved to digital satellite, and could no longer be received on my analogue system. I should only pay to put the dish on the roof, said the fitter, if I was really interested in Albanian folk music, because that was probably all I'd be getting. What I needed, he said, was Sky. Everybody's getting Sky now, he assured me.

I took the brochures he offered, and quickly decided I didn't want Sky Satellite TV. Huge quantities of films and sport on tap - for almost forty quid a month - was a luxury that I couldn't afford and didn't want. Sky might be a very good option for many homes, but not for ours.

One reason I began this quest was that broadcasting is changing in many ways. In this column a while back I mentioned the launch of BBC 4, the digital arts channel that now carries some of the heavyweight items (as I write, they're doing an extended series on the Church of England, and a feature on British advertising in the 1960s).

Much of this programming is not available to conventional TV. Channel Five, at launch a channel with some very dubious material, has cleaned up its act and now has the occasional programme that makes me wish I wasn't one of the many UK residents who can't receive it. And interactive TV is growing, so that you can choose which Wimbledon match you watch, or access extra information during a documentary.

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To cut a long story short, I now have a Freeview digital box plugged into my TV. Freeview is remarkable. It costs around £100, but that's all you ever pay - and you don't need a dish. You get around 30 TV and around 17 radio channels, including all the conventional TV and radio channels in improved pictures and sound. You also get continuous parliamentary coverage, interactive TV, several 24-hour news channels, the UK History Channel, several rather trivial channels you may not want to look at more than once, and more.

I think this is a resource to take note of, for several reasons.

Firstly, soon it will be the only way to go. Traditional analogue TV will eventually be wound down, and a box like mine will be the only way your existing TV will work. That's in the future - albeit the fairly imminent future - but already much TV programming is being shifted to digital channels. So if broadcasting is an important part of your life, you will probably feel increasingly that you're losing out if you don't upgrade.

Secondly, it makes some very useful resources available. While some are available on cable and satellite systems too, it's very handy, and much cheaper, to get continuous news and parliamentary coverage, BBC world service radio in crystal-clear reception, and the like through Freeview.

I can imagine people who preach, teach, or otherwise deal with the world around us finding this an extremely useful tool. If you are a member of, or involved with, the minority ethnic communities, the BBC Asian Network will be of interest, as will the other channels that are sure to follow for other ethnic audiences. If you are involved with young people, channels like Kerrang! are sometimes more in touch than a lot of what passes as youth broadcasting on conventional TV and radio.

Possibilities

Thirdly, it is a development that Christians should be monitoring. Radio, in particular, is currently a strong medium for local involvement. The Radio Authority is trialling Access Radio, for example, one of the new tiers of community radio. Two Christian stations are already involved - Shine FM in County Down and Cross Rhythms City Radio in Stoke on Trent. These aren't Freeview stations, but they're typical of the new possibilities that are arriving. So fast are events moving that the Radio Authority itself is to be disbanded later this year and will hand over to the new Office of Communications, which will steer the progress of radio into a new phase.

If digital is the future of broadcasting, it's worth getting one's feet wet now. Freeview isn't available in some parts of the UK - check your local TV or aerial stores for information - but for what it offers, and its glimpse of a not too distant future in which Christians will have many new opportunities for communicating, it's something well worth looking at closely.

A brave new digital world

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Possibilities

David Porter

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