Today, 14th of May 2009, was meant to see the launch of Quest TV, a new free-to-view documentary channel from Discovery.
All was looking good for the launch – magazine listings were in the Radio Times, electronic programme guides had details of upcoming shows, and the channel was running promotions on Freeview Channel 47 right up to the planned 10am launch time this morning.
Instead of launching at 10am, eager viewers were met with “Coming soon”.
An announcement on the Quest TV website this morning, timed 10am, stated the following:
“Regrettably we have made the decision to postpone the launch of Quest.
Due to a number of commercial factors we have had to make this difficult decision.
We did not make this decision lightly and we are working towards launching Quest in the near future.
We would like to apologise wholeheartedly to any of you that have been looking forward to this launch.”
It seems Quest now won’t launch until later this year, with some commentators doubting that we’ll ever see the channel launch.
More on this when we have it.
I honestly cannot believe they have delayed “Quest” Was really looking forward to watching some of the programs.
Would be interested to find out exactly happend.
I bet you the date they launch this channel will never happen lol
was looking foward to station today but it will end up on the scrap heap probably never launch in the future
about time freeview add some more children channels as children are how future and new channels like free sat
It’s been coming soon since the start of this year. Didn’t believe it then, don’t believe it will happen.
Total lack of communications. No confidence in their management or any of their communications.
It woud have been nice to have more choice at the destined time of launch. Problems however DO occur and thing don’t always run as planned.
Was it necessary for the “Anonymous” submitter to be so “Foul Mouthed” because of the delay. It’s a dreadful shame that modern day internet still allows it.
Look forward to a future launch if possible.
It appears the offending comment has been removed now. At least something works for the time being.
“about time freeview add some more children channels as children are how future and new channels like free sat”
Children would learn a lot more if their parents didn’t just sit them in front of the television all day.
It’s amazing that everytime there are plans to add new channels to the freeview line up they have to remove current chanels. are there not ways to fix this issue? i’ve been watching all the channels come and go on freeview since it’s launch, and Quest just seems to be another failed channel on the freeview service.
also, is there even any point in top up tv anymore? there was once more channels for top up than were free, now it seems they wouold like to charge far to much for a few channels with only a few hours of viewing time.
my opinion is that the entire freeiew service needs over looking and brought up to date with the current day. find a system that allows more channels and less wasted air waves.
Ladies and Gentlemen – it is after all, free. I understand disappointment when expectations have been set – but lets not decry freeview. I remember when I only had 4 channels to choose from and of course paid the same TV licence fee.
“Never look a gift horse in the mouth”
What is the point of advertising something if you know you cannot deliver the goods.
I am so dissapointed with freeview in general, I wish I had’nt bothered buying a new tv and aerial etc.
Freeview is both brilliant and annoying. Brilliant because its free and the extra channels allow broadcasters to show documentaries, comedies and 80’s drama reruns which don’t have high viewing figures. Annoying because it’s not run by a single, open and accountable body. Any company with the money seems to be able to start up a channel regardless of whether any one would actually want to watch it for very long. Channels come and go, are rearranged and re-branded without notice; each time we have to re-scan and delete channels we don’t wont. Broadcasters change schedules without any notice or explanation and show repeats randomly just to fill airtime, making it very difficult to follow a series in order. Some channels continually repeat trailers considerably louder than the programme and with violent/sexual/shocking images. Well done to FrequencyCast for being the only one keeping us informed and giving the viewers a voice !
quest is run buy the biggest dipshits in tv. you guessed it folks the discovery channel. i gizz all over the faces of quest tv. and you can stick freeview up your arse
Quest Tv looks like another failure
as for Freeview and it’s part time channels in general it’s the poor mans version of Freesat ! Far more channels on Freesat more film channels more music more of most things and all FREE! As for Topup Anytime ! Why should I have to buy another box to receive these
channels ? most Tv’s with Freevew have a CI cam slot so why can’t I get a cam and a card ??? I don’t want another box !! if I want a box then better to get Sky or Cable Tv ! I bought the Freesat tv
to get rid of the want for boxes..
If Quest Tv does ever launch think they should go to Freesat
If they are not launching until later in the year take the damn annoying screen off air and put it on nearer the time as it’s been on for months and i for one am fed up of flicking past it!
This is typical Freeview to be honest. Yeah pay for a box, watch tv for free (apparently) but what is there to watch on it.. Britains Got Talent almost 24/7, the same old same old on Film 4, with constant repeats of the same old movies, programmes, why the hell am I not surprised that Quest will be pretty much the same!
Greetings all.
I am Stuart in Manchester being turned off normal TV in November.
A number of points here I think as as at leats one ‘anon’ poster is ‘hard of thinking’ I will make it as clear as I can.
Someone said that they remember when there was only 4 channels to choose from, well well well, I was around in the 60s and recall BBC2 launching, so I recall there only being 2 channels.
The state of TV in general is how it is because WE the viewers allow it to be so, most of us do not complain, most of us pay the BBC for theie very poor output which they now just repeat under new stations such as G.O.L.D. Dave, Dave Ja Vu, Yesterday and all the UK Style/Home etc Stations. So until all the people who are unhappy with TV provision in the UK
stop paying the BBC and start demanding more from the commercial providers…Dont Complain!!!
As for the person who said they are sorry they had to buy a box and an aerial, well no one forced you to buy and of course as with so many people, unless you have a very poor TV signal, YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY A NEW AERIAL!!!!!!
Freeview is here and will continue to be mostly rubbish for the reasons I have outlined, we the viewing public are happy to watch fawlty Towers £) years after it was first shown and as long as that is the case then so shall it be.
The 30 free channel thing is a joke as after you take out the TV sales channels and the +1s and the news channels, parliment, teachers TV and gaming there is not a lot left.
Does it seem to anyomne else that ITV 2, Channel 5 and Film 4 only have the rights to about 24 films between them as they show the same ones over and over and over again?
Love Actually, Notting Hill, Chronicles of Riddick, Fast and Furious are just some of them.
Have said all this, If you have ever seem USA TV or TV from Austrailia or New Zealand you wil inderstand why they are so stupid and we have a slightly better deal.
I have a friend who has SY who pays the biggest amount per month he has 500+ channels and last week we were having a boys night and we could not find Anything to watch…so what do u do with that????
So a call to arms for UK viewers, if you want better services, better information, better quality of programmes, we need to make voices heard on mass and let these peole who feel that they can serve up constand drivel know that we will no longer put up with it.
If you have any points to make or questions to ask abouty freeview, setting up, recording it equipement, let me know.
Stuart manchester
why is it now that we need a bank account and direct debit to watch sky virgin setanta top up tv can we all have a system of which threepay and mobile phone companys top up using pay point using your viewing card to top up your tv account but no we r still in the dark ages for that everything else has moved forward but tv still in dinosuar ages..come on this is a great idea now that the country is on its knees more viewers guaranteed income pay as you watch STOP BEING GREEDY think of those who wants to watch sports and films and us all on low income and stop feeding the banks who caused this recession in the first place.. dont forget you have heard this first watch this space.. PAY AS YOU WATCH… JEFF
cant believe quest has been cancelled really looking forward too it,never mind i just hope the can get up and running as soon as possble fingers crossed….
if one did'nt have internet acess then all you would learn quest tv coming soon please display on screen please
Terestrial digital TV in the UK was blighted by Government Political Interference. Insisting that all the analog channels had to be kept going alongside the digital channels meant that the digital channels have had to launch at low power and on intermediate frequencies. It would have been much better to just shut off bbc2 analog transmissions one day and replace it with a multiplex (6) full power digital channels. One of which could have been bbc2. Then shut down bbc1 on another day and launch another multiplex of full power digital channels.Then shutdown the Commercial analogs and replace them with full power multiplexes.The whole thing could have been done over a much tighter time scale and to much better effect. Terestrial digital TV really has been made the beggars option, Freesat has far more to offer without all the messing around (no goverment interference there). Typical Government political interference, who remembers the original British Satallite broadcasting BSB, 2 Billion quid down the drain again because of Goverment political interference.
It does not really matter how many channels there are on Freeview, Freesat or whatever. If the content is no good, or not worth watching then it is just a waste of electricity. Whether a programme is worth watching really depends on your point of view. Some people like 'home' shows (though I have no idea why). I also doubt if Quest will launch, though the web is now saying this autumn – note they don't say which year 'this autumn' applies to – so if you are interested I guess stick around. If not most freeview boxes allow you to delete channels and this includes place markers.
As far as I remember the whole point of the digital switch over is that a previous government sold a large chunk of the UHF waveband to the mobile phone companies. Unfortunately they sold the bits that are currently being used by TV broadcasts. Digital, with it's compression techniques, means that the same number of channels can be squeezed into a narrower set of frequencies (thus freeing the rest for the mobile companies) but telling people that they had to buy a new TV or a special box just to watch the same channels would not go down well. So initially ITV digital (remember the monkey) and Sky would offer a service. Few bought ITV's box and it went bust. Out of the ashes came freeview a mishmash of BBC and ITV channels and given the cost of new programmes and lack of advertising revenue repeats and those +1 channels. Will things improve? Not till the companies get the money they need to make new programmes and with the slowdown that's unlikely. Mind you at present they appear to have run out of ideas in any case! Will Quest be any good (if it launches) probably not, but then I've just returned from Canada where the choice of dire TV is greater than here (Sky excepted)
Oh one final thought. You will not be able to watch HD TV on freeview as the bandwidth with not be there if (and they may change their minds) the government gives all the originally proposed UHF frequencies to the mobile companies. So HD will only be available of freesat or Sky, but a rubbish programme is still a rubbish programme in HD.
You will get more room on the MUX's though after 2012 as the BBC channels are planning to switch to the compression used by ITV, it's higher but more susceptible to interference and needs higher power from the transmitters to give a reliable service. That said you probably won't get any better programmes.
why does the quest ch have the music so loud you can hardly hear the documentry
Oh you doubting Thomases I trust you are all suitably contrite, Quest did eventually arrive, not that the programming is anything to write home about but it is there.The biggest snag is trying to record any thing using the on screen programme list as their clock seems to be runing 3 or 4 minutes in front of G.M.T. as a result you miss the last 3 mionutes of the programme, also the series recording does not work. Colin