The Oxford transmitting station (sometimes known as the Beckley transmitter ) is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated on land 129.5 m above Ordnance Datum (mean sea level) to the north east of the city of Oxford, in Oxfordshire, England. It has a guyed steel lattice mast which is 154.4 m in height to the top of the main steel structure. The UHF television antenna, which consist of a vertical array of transmitting panels, is mounted above the steel structure. The total height of the mast to the top of this UHF antenna is 165.7 m. It is owned and operated by Arqiva.

History

Analogue and digital television

Television coverage area

The coverage area provided by the digital television service is roughly the same as that provided by the analogue service. The transmitting station covers Oxfordshire, western Buckinghamshire, small parts of southwestern Northamptonshire, small parts of eastern Gloucestershire and northern parts of Berkshire and Wiltshire. This includes cities and towns such as Oxford, Milton Keynes, Banbury, Swindon, Aylesbury, Buckingham, Brackley, Didcot, Abingdon, and Stow-on-the-Wold. It is sometimes called the Beckley mast, a reference to an adjacent village, or the Otmoor mast, this referring to the area on which it is located. Oxford has 5 relay stations which are located in Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Icomb, Guiting Power, and Ascott under Wychwood. From 2006, a new non-franchise regional news area ITV Thames Valley was provided from the ITV Meridian studios at Whiteley, Hampshire. This programme was replaced in February 2009, in a cost-saving reorganisation, by ITV Meridian's Meridian Tonight. However, Central Independent Television remained the licensee and broadcaster until 2014, when it was formally transferred to ITV Meridian.

Analogue radio

Digital radio

May 2010 incident

On 13 May 2010 the digital and analogue television transmitters (except Channel 5) went off the air at about 13:20 UTC following an incident when smoke was seen drifting from the top of the mast. The fire service reported that there had been an intense fire and that the cause was unknown. Engineering work to reinstate service began once fire crews left and the mast was made safe. Transmissions were restored via the reserve transmitter at reduced power by 20:30 UTC. The incident occurred during testing of a new main antenna which had been installed during the previous few months in readiness for the proposed digital switchover. Investigation into the cause of the fire established that it was damaged beyond repair and a replacement was installed by the end of September 2010.

Services transmitted since June 2018 – listed by frequency

Analogue radio (AM medium wave)

Analogue radio (FM VHF)

Digital radio (DAB)

Digital television

Historical television transmissions listed by frequency

Analogue television

29 January 1962 – 17 February 1968

17 February 1968 – June 1970

June 1970 – 2 November 1982

2 November 1982 – 3 January 1985

3 January 1985 – 30 March 1997

30 March 1997 – 15 November 1998

Analogue and digital television

15 November 1998 – June 1999

June 1999 – April 2009

April 2009 – 14 September 2011

14 September 2011 – 28 September 2011

BBC2 closed on UHF 63 on 14 September 2011. Channel 4 temporarily moved into its frequency at the time to allow BBC A to launch on UHF 53. The remaining analogue signals ceased on 28 September.

Digital television

28 September 2011 – 18 April 2012

18 April 2012 – 2015

Arqiva A & B and SDN increased to 50 kW on 18 April 2012, after completion of the digital switchover at Crystal Palace transmitting station. SDN was moved to UHF 50 from UHF 62 due to the clearance of the 800 MHz Band.

2015 – 26 February 2018

27 February 2018 to 22 May 2018

On 27 February 2018, Arqiva B moved from UHF 55 to UHF 31 and COM 7 moved from UHF 31 to UHF 55, as part of the 700 MHz clearance.

23 May 2018 to 24 June 2020

On 23 May 2018, the following services moved to new frequencies, as part of the 700 MHz clearance:

25 June 2020 to present

On 25 June 2020, COM8 was permanently switched off from Oxford, due to the effects of the 700 MHz clearance programme.