Ofcom eyes Lloyd Webber's analogue bits

Some common sense from Ofcom, which tells a snowy Britain today that it's thinking about changing some details of the analogue switch-off digital dividend. The move to the more efficient digital TV (look! No snow!) is releasing a chunk of UHF spectrum around 800 MHz – something which has been planned for decades. Ofcom now says that it wants to align the new band with the similar, if somewhat larger, reallocations going on in continental Europe.

A good idea that, as it makes it a little cheaper to build pan-European equipment for whatever new services turn up. As they certainly will: 800MHz is a really, really useful band combining decent measures of bandwidth and area coverage with usably small antenna and sensible power requirements.

There's a little more to Ofcom's musings. As well as analogue TV, there are other existing services at those frequencies, most notably wireless microphones and other entertainment infrastructure bits. These are unique in that they have to stay analogue: if you digitise an audio feed, you add in a small delay and that's just not on for live performances. Ofcom has long wanted to move Andrew Lloyd Webber away from prime UHF pastures. The entertainment industry, on the other hand, has resisted this, quoting expense and practicality.

Ofcom's answer is to get whoever lands up with the new 800 MHz licence to pay for whatever new kit is needed for the hoofing thespians. Not ideal, but probably the best compromise.