Arqiva
Encyclopedia
Arqiva is a telecommunication
s company which provides infrastructure
and broadcast
transmission
facilities in the United Kingdom
and Republic of Ireland
. The present company, with headquarters located at Crawley Court in the village of Crawley, Hampshire
, was formed by National Grid Wireless combining with Arqiva in September 2008. Its main customers are broadcasters and mobile phone network operators, and its main asset is a network of over 1,000 radio and television transmission sites. It is owned by a consortium of investors led by CPP (Canadian Pension Plan) and the Australian investment house Macquarie Bank. Arqiva is a patron of The Radio Academy
.
lay solely within the corporation until 1997. The assets were then split into a separate company, prior to being sold.
The Domestic transmitter network was purchased by a US company, Crown Castle, when it was privatised in 1997. Subsequently, in 2004, this was purchased by National Grid plc
, which merged in its own private communication network, the name changing to National Grid Wireless in October 2005. Transmitters used by the BBC Overseas services were sold to a new startup company, called Merlin Communications
had a large internal network for the communication of its engineers serving initially the electric companies, but subsequently, the gas industry as well. This company developed on the back of the growth in mobile phones, and its large portfolio of tower locations. This was added to by the purchase of the former BBC network (as above)
National Grid Wireless, as it became, led a consortium bidding for the second UK national DAB
multiplex
licence, but was unsuccessful. The licence was awarded instead to 4 Digital Group
in July 2007.
gave birth to the Independent Television Authority
(ITA). The ITA appointed and regulated a number of regional programme contractors, and built and operated a network of transmitters.
The Sound Broadcasting Act 1972 created legal commercial radio in the UK for the first time. It was modelled on ITV, in that programmes were made by local contractors while the regulator, renamed the Independent Broadcasting Authority
, owned and operated the transmitters.
split the IBA into three bodies. The Independent Television Commission
(ITC) regulated commercial TV and the Radio Authority (RA) regulated commercial radio. The IBA's engineering division, which operated the transmitters as well as doing research and development, became an independent company called National Transcommunications Limited, also known as "Transcom". At this point, technical standards regulation, previously carried out in accordance with the IBA engineering "Code of Practice", seems to have disappeared from the regulatory landscape.
) company formed from Phillips PMR. In 2004, NTL sold its 'broadcast unit' to Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group, but continued as a cable operator.
renamed its new subsidiary Arqiva.
Subsequently in July 2009, Macquarie sold off a substantial part of its holding and moved the remaining amount to its investment fund. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) now have a 48% holding and Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 2 (MEIF 2) has 21%, with other Macquarie Group
funds holding 13%
and known as Kingston inmedia before being bought by the Carlyle Group
in 2004.
.
, IPTV
service called SeeSaw
.
Subsequently the holding in the company was reduced to 25%.
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
s company which provides infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
and broadcast
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
transmission
Transmission (telecommunications)
Transmission, in telecommunications, is the process of sending, propagating and receiving an analogue or digital information signal over a physical point-to-point or point-to-multipoint transmission medium, either wired, optical fiber or wireless...
facilities in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. The present company, with headquarters located at Crawley Court in the village of Crawley, Hampshire
Crawley, Hampshire
Crawley is a small village in Hampshire, England, United Kingdom. It is a few miles from the county town of Winchester. It is a civil parish within the City of Winchester local government district. The village is the location of Crawley Court, currently the headquarters of broadcast company Arqiva....
, was formed by National Grid Wireless combining with Arqiva in September 2008. Its main customers are broadcasters and mobile phone network operators, and its main asset is a network of over 1,000 radio and television transmission sites. It is owned by a consortium of investors led by CPP (Canadian Pension Plan) and the Australian investment house Macquarie Bank. Arqiva is a patron of The Radio Academy
Radio Academy
The Radio Academy is a registered charity that is dedicated to 'the encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK broadcasting and audio production'....
.
History
The company, as it stands in 2011, has a history that dates back to the beginning of regular public broadcasting in the United Kingdom, in 1922. Below is a potted history of the various organisations that are now part of Arqiva.British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
Responsibility for the transmitter assets of the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
lay solely within the corporation until 1997. The assets were then split into a separate company, prior to being sold.
The Domestic transmitter network was purchased by a US company, Crown Castle, when it was privatised in 1997. Subsequently, in 2004, this was purchased by National Grid plc
National Grid plc
National Grid plc is a multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its principal activities are in the United Kingdom and northeastern United States and it is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world.National Grid is listed on...
, which merged in its own private communication network, the name changing to National Grid Wireless in October 2005. Transmitters used by the BBC Overseas services were sold to a new startup company, called Merlin Communications
National Grid
National Grid plcNational Grid plc
National Grid plc is a multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its principal activities are in the United Kingdom and northeastern United States and it is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world.National Grid is listed on...
had a large internal network for the communication of its engineers serving initially the electric companies, but subsequently, the gas industry as well. This company developed on the back of the growth in mobile phones, and its large portfolio of tower locations. This was added to by the purchase of the former BBC network (as above)
National Grid Wireless, as it became, led a consortium bidding for the second UK national DAB
Digital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
multiplex
Multiplex
-Science and engineering:* Multiplexing, combining many signals into a single transmission circuit or channel* Multiplexer, an electronic device that accomplishes multiplexing* Multiplex , a laboratory procedure in molecular biology-Entertainment:...
licence, but was unsuccessful. The licence was awarded instead to 4 Digital Group
4 Digital Group
4 Digital Group was a media consortium in the United Kingdom. The group won the licence to operate the second national DAB radio multiplex, as advertised by Ofcom in December 2006. The consortium, led by Channel 4 Radio, is a combination of the existing commercial radio operators and brands new to...
in July 2007.
Independent Television Authority (ITA) / Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA)
The Television Act 1954Television Act 1954
The Television Act 1954 was a British law which permitted the creation of the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom, ITV....
gave birth to the Independent Television Authority
Independent Television Authority
The Independent Television Authority was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" , the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom...
(ITA). The ITA appointed and regulated a number of regional programme contractors, and built and operated a network of transmitters.
The Sound Broadcasting Act 1972 created legal commercial radio in the UK for the first time. It was modelled on ITV, in that programmes were made by local contractors while the regulator, renamed the Independent Broadcasting Authority
Independent Broadcasting Authority
The Independent Broadcasting Authority was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television - and commercial/independent radio broadcasts...
, owned and operated the transmitters.
ITC, RA and Transcom
The Broadcasting Act 1990Broadcasting Act 1990
The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, often regarded by both its supporters and its critics as a quintessential example of Thatcherism. The aim of the Act was to reform the entire structure of British broadcasting; British television, in particular, had earlier been...
split the IBA into three bodies. The Independent Television Commission
Independent Television Commission
The Independent Television Commission licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003....
(ITC) regulated commercial TV and the Radio Authority (RA) regulated commercial radio. The IBA's engineering division, which operated the transmitters as well as doing research and development, became an independent company called National Transcommunications Limited, also known as "Transcom". At this point, technical standards regulation, previously carried out in accordance with the IBA engineering "Code of Practice", seems to have disappeared from the regulatory landscape.
CableTel, Simoco and NTL
Transcom was acquired by International CableTel Inc., which subsequently built its brand around the NTL name. It ran up huge debts during the dot-com boom which crippled the company for many years. In 1998, NTL acquired the UK branch of Simoco, a PMR (Private Mobile RadioProfessional Mobile Radio
Professional mobile radio are field radio communications systems which use portable, mobile, base station, and dispatch console radios...
) company formed from Phillips PMR. In 2004, NTL sold its 'broadcast unit' to Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group, but continued as a cable operator.
Macquarie
In January 2005, Macquarie Communications Infrastructure GroupMacquarie Group
Macquarie Group Limited is a global investment banking and diversified financial services group, providing banking, financial, advisory, investment and funds management services to institutional, corporate and retail clients and counterparties around the world...
renamed its new subsidiary Arqiva.
Subsequently in July 2009, Macquarie sold off a substantial part of its holding and moved the remaining amount to its investment fund. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) now have a 48% holding and Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 2 (MEIF 2) has 21%, with other Macquarie Group
Macquarie Group
Macquarie Group Limited is a global investment banking and diversified financial services group, providing banking, financial, advisory, investment and funds management services to institutional, corporate and retail clients and counterparties around the world...
funds holding 13%
Inmedia
Arqiva acquired Inmedia Communications from the Carlyle Group for £68.5 million in July 2005 to form the new Satellite Media Solutions business unit. Inmedia was owned by Kingston CommunicationsKingston Communications
KCOM Group , formerly known as Kingston Communications, is a UK communications and IT services provider. Its headquarters is in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, where subsidiary business unit KC serves local residents and businesses with Internet and telephony services...
and known as Kingston inmedia before being bought by the Carlyle Group
Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group is an American-based global asset management firm, specializing in private equity, based in Washington, D.C. The Carlyle Group operates in four business areas: corporate private equity, real assets, market strategies and fund-of-funds, through its AlpInvest subsidiary...
in 2004.
BT Broadcast
Arqiva announced the signing of a Sale & Purchase Agreement (SPA) with BT to acquire the full-time service components of BT’s Satellite Broadcast Services business for £25 million in cash in November 2006. The deal will include long-term customer contracts, operations and personnel located in the USA, France, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as the UK. Deal completion is subject to regulatory approval in the UK and Germany.National Grid Wireless
Arqiva purchased National Grid Wireless on 3 April 2007 for £2.5billion. The company planned to run NGW as a separate company – Macquarie UK Broadcast Ventures Ltd – pending review of the deal by competition regulators. Regulatory agreement was reached in late 2008 and National Grid Wireless was almagamated into Arqiva. The new company employs around 2300 people and operates all the TV (analogue and Digital) and most of the radio stations (BBC national and local and many commercial stations). It is deemed to be a monopoly operator and as such is regulated by OFCOMOfcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
.
OneVision DTT Licence application
During 2009, Arqiva were involved in the possibility of provision of digital pay TV in the Republic of Ireland.SeeSaw
In March 2010, Arqiva invested in and launched a catch-up Internet televisionInternet television
Internet television is the digital distribution of television content via the Internet...
, IPTV
IPTV
Internet Protocol television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats.IPTV services...
service called SeeSaw
SeeSaw (Internet television)
SeeSaw was an Internet television service, born out of the BBC-led Project Kangaroo and launched in the UK on 17 February 2010. It was acquired by the Criterion Media Group in July 2011 but the agreed investment never materialised. The service was shut down on 28 October 2011...
.
Subsequently the holding in the company was reduced to 25%.
Notable transmitter sites
(54°49′19"N 1°42′53"W)
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Emley Moor transmitting station The Emley Moor transmitting station is a telecommunications and broadcasting facility on 'Emley Moor' to the west of the village of Emley, in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England . The station's most visible feature is its concrete tower, which is a Grade II listed building... (53°36′44"N 1°39′52"W)
(53°32′00"N 1°51′29"W)
(53°38′05"N 1°53′37"W)
|
Rumster Forest transmitting station The Rumster Forest transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility near the town of Wick, in Caithness, Scotland . It is owned and operated by Arqiva.... Sandy Heath transmitting station Sandy Heath transmitter is a television broadcast station located between Sandy, Bedfordshire and Potton near the B1042. It is owned by Arqiva, formerly NTL Broadcast. It was built in 1966, originally broadcasting Anglia Television on VHF 405-lines, UHF with 625-line services of BBC2, BBC1 and... Selkirk transmitting station The Selkirk transmitting station is a telecommunications facility located next to Lindean Loch, near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. It includes a high guyed steel lattice mast, surmounted by a UHF television transmitting antenna array, which brings the overall height of the structure to... St Hilary Transmitting Station The St. Hilary transmitting station is a facility for telecommunications situated close to the village of St Hilary, Glamorgan in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, in the UK. It comprises a guyed mast with antennas attached at various heights.-History:... (51°27′27"N 3°24′11"W) Start Point transmitting station The Start Point transmitting station is a broadcasting facility at Start Point, Devon, owned by National Grid Wireless. The site is just north-west of the Start Point lighthouse.The station currently transmits a single broadcast: BBC Radio 5 Live on 693 kHz.... Stockland Hill transmitting station The Stockland Hill transmitting station is a transmitting facility of FM Radio and UHF television located near Honiton, Devon, England. This transmitter mainly serves the East of Devon and West Dorset.-Digital television:... Strabane transmitting station The Strabane transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility located at Legfordrum and situated very close to the town of Strabane, in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland . It is owned and operated by Arqiva.It includes a high guyed steel lattice mast, which is the tallest... Swingate Transmitter The Swingate transmitting station is a facility for FM-transmission at Swingate, UK . For many years there were three lattice towers with a height of 111 metres, which were built for Chain Home radar before World War II... Waltham transmitting station The Waltham transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facilityat Waltham-on-the-Wolds, 5 miles north-east of Melton Mowbray. It sits inside the Waltham civil parish near Stonesby, in the district of Melton, Leicestershire, UK. It has a guyed steel tubular mast... Washford transmitting station Washford transmitting station is a medium wave broadcasting station near Washford, Somerset, UK. It was built in 1933 and uses as antenna a T-antenna between two 152 metre-tall guyed masts separated by a distance of 159 metres... (51°9′41"N 3°20′53"W) Winter Hill transmitting station The Winter Hill transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications site situated on Winter Hill, at the southern boundary of the Borough of Chorley, and above Bolton in Greater Manchester, England... (53°37′32"N 2°30′51"W)
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See also
- Digital OneDigital OneDigital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. , the multiplex covers more than 90% of the populationfrom a total of 137 transmitters...
(A joint venture with GCap MediaGCap MediaGCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. On 31 March 2008 the company agreed a takeover by...
providing UK DABDigital audio broadcastingDigital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
- wholly owned by Arqiva since 11 February 2008) - RTÉ Network LimitedRTÉ Network LimitedRTÉ Transmission Network Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Raidió Teilifís Éireann which runs Ireland's principal terrestrial television and radio broadcast signal transmission networks. They operate 10 main sites, and over 100 smaller relays and transposers, which carry either television,...
in the Republic of IrelandRepublic of IrelandIreland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,... - Freeview
- VT CommunicationsVT CommunicationsVT Communications was a part of VT Group plc. VT Communications was essentially the company formed from the privatisation of the BBC World Service transmitter sites. It was initially named Merlin Communications, then, after acquisition by VT, VT Merlin Communications...
(Formerly Merlin Communications, formed from privatisation of BBC World ServiceBBC World ServiceThe BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
transmitter sites.)