Each television channel needs to be uniquely labelled so that a programme can be identified without regard to a particular tuning convention or if it is broadcast on a different channel from that originally advertised.
PDC uses the 16-bit Country and Network Identifier to label channels. Each channel, and perhaps even each region of a channel, has its own unique CNI. The CNI is composed of an 8-bit country code (0x2C = 44 for the UK) and an 8-bit channel identifier, allocated arbitrarily by some central body in each country---the ITC in the UK.
2C02 Channel 5 2C07 Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C) 2C11 Channel 4 2C12 Scottish TV 2C1C Anglia 2C1E ITV Network 2C3E BBC2
These numbers can also be seen on some of the Teletext PDC/engineering pages, for example, Channel 4's page 3AA (get to it by the RED link from page 399) and Anglia's page 6AA (RED link from page 699 in some areas).
Channel 4 0 1 2C 11 00 06/08 13:00 1
Anglia 0 1 2C 1E 00 00/15 31:63 1
^^ ^^
Please look if you are in a different region and
tell me
what you see!
Service 16_bit NI PDC BBC2 4440 40 BBC1 NI 4441 41 BBC2 Wales 4442 42 BBC1 future1 4443 43 BBC2 Scotland 4444 44 BBC1 future 2 4445 45 BBC2 future 2 4446 46 BBC1 future 4 4447 47 BBC2 future 5 4448 48 BBC1 future 6 4449 49 BBC2 future 7 444A 4A BBC1 future 8 444B 4B BBC2 future 9 444C 4C BBC1 future 10 444D 4D BBC2 future 11 444E 4E BBC1 future 12 444F 4F BBC2 future 13 4450 50 BBC1 future 14 4451 51 BBC2 future 15 4452 52 BBC1 future 16 4453 53 BBC2 future 17 4454 54 BBC1 future 18 4455 55 BBC2 future 19 4456 56 BBC World 4457 57 BBC Worldwide future 1 4458 58 BBC Worldwide future 2 4459 59 BBC Worldwide future 3 445A 5A BBC Worldwide future 4 445B 5B BBC Worldwide future 5 445C 5C BBC Worldwide future 6 445D 5D BBC Worldwide future 7 445E 5E BBC Worldwide future 8 445F 5F BBC Worldwide future 9 4460 60 BBC Worldwide future 10 4461 61 BBC Worldwide future 11 4462 62 BBC Worldwide future 12 4463 63 BBC Worldwide future 13 4464 64 BBC Worldwide future 14 4465 65 BBC Worldwide future 15 4466 66 BBC Worldwide future 16 4467 67 BBC Prime 4468 68 BBC1 future 19 4469 69 BBC2 future 18 446A 6A BBC1 future 17 446B 6B BBC2 future 16 446C 6C BBC1 future 15 446D 6D BBC2 future 14 446E 6E BBC1 future 13 446F 6F BBC2 future 12 4470 70 BBC1 future 11 4471 71 BBC2 future 10 4472 72 BBC1 future 9 4473 73 BBC2 future 8 4474 74 BBC1 future 7 4475 75 BBC2 future 6 4476 76 BBC1 future 5 4477 77 BBC2 future 4 4478 78 BBC1 future 3 4479 79 BBC2 future 2 447A 7A BBC1 Scotland 447B 7B BBC2 future 1 447C 7C BBC1 Wales 447D 7D BBC2 NI 447E 7E BBC1 447F 7F
The 8-bit code can be divided in to two 4-bit chunks. Both chunks are significant, but if the top four bits are all ones, then the bottom bits represent a group of countries rather than a single country.
The countries allocated codes as of 1990 are:
Most sig. | Least significant four bits:
4 bits: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
----------+-----------------------------------------------------------------
0 | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
1 | * DDR ALG AND ISR I BEL BLR AZR ALB AUT HNG MLT D CNR EGY
2 | * GRC CYP SM SUI JOR FNL LUX BUL DNK GIB IRQ G LBY ROU F
3 | * MRC TCH POL CVA * SYR TUN MAR LIE ISL MCO * * E NOR
4 | * * IRL TUR * * YUG UKR HOL * LBN * * * S *
5 | * * * * * * * URS POR * * * * * * *
6 | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
7 | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
8 | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
9 | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
B | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
C | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
D | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
E | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
F | gp0 gp1 gp2 gp3 gp4 gp5 gp6 gp7 gp8 gp9 gpA gpB gpC gpD gpE gpF
----------+-----------------------------------------------------------------
The codes used above are almost but not quite the ISO 3166 codes. My guesses and the correct ISO 3166 code if my guess is right are shown below:
EBU ISO3166 Name Full name --- ------- ---- --------- ALB = Albania Republic of Albania ALG DZA Algeria People's Democartic Republic of Algeria AND = Andorra Andorra AUT = Austria Republic of Austria AZR ??? Azores BEL = Belgium Kingdom of Belgium BLR = Relarus Republic of Belarus BUL BGR Bulgaria Republic of Bulgaria CNR ??? Canary Islands CVA VAT Vatican Vatican City State (Holy See) CYP = Cypruss Republic of Cyprus D DEU Germany Federal Republic of Germany DDR --- Germany Democratic Republic of Germany DNK = Denmark Kingdom of Denmark E ESP Spain Kingdom of Spain EGY = Egypt Arab Republic of Egypt F FRA France French Republic FNL FIN Finland Republic of Finland G GBR United Kingdom United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland GIB = Gibraltar Gibraltar GRC = Greece Hellenic Republic HNG HUN Hungary Republic of Hungary HOL NLD Netherlands Kingdom of the Netherlands I ITA Italy Italian Republic IRL = Ireland Ireland IRQ = Iraq Republic of Iraq ISL = Iceland Republic of Iceland ISR = Israel State of Israel JOR = Jordan Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan LBN = Lebanon Lebanese Republic LBY = Libya Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya LIE = Liechtenstein Principality of Liechtenstein LUX = Luxembourg Principality of Luxembourg MAR MTQ Martinique Department of Martinique MCO = Monaco Principality of Monaco MLT = Malta Republic of Malta MRC MAR Morocco Kingdom of Morocco NOR = Norway Kingdom of Norway POL = Poland Republic of Poland POR PRT Portugal Portugese Republic ROU ROM Romania Romania S SWE Sweden Kingdom of Sweden SM SMR San Marino Republic of San Marino SUI CHE Switzerland Swiss Confederation SYR = Syria Syrian Arab Republic TCH ??? TUN = Tunisia Republic of Tunisia TUR = Turkey Republic of Turkey UKR = Ukraine Ukraine URS ??? YUG = Yugoslavia Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
If anyone should have a more up-to-date list, or some suggestions for the missing countries, please let me know.