Kilvey Hill transmitting station
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 Kilvey Hill transmitting station (Swansea)
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| Tower height | 45 metres (148 ft) |
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| Coordinates | 51°37′45″N 3°55′13″W / 51.629167°N 3.920278°WCoordinates: 51°37′45″N 3°55′13″W / 51.629167°N 3.920278°W |
| Grid reference | SS672940 |
| Built | 1967 |
| BBC region | BBC Wales |
| ITV region | ITV Wales |
The Kilvey Hill transmitting station was originally built at the summit of Kilvey Hill in Swansea, Wales, by the BBC in 1967 as a relay for VHF and UHF television. VHF television came on air a few months before the UHF services. As built, the station did not radiate VHF FM radio, this was added later. Currently, the hill's transmitters cater for viewers and listeners in the Swansea and Neath Port Talbot area. The transmission station located on top of Kilvey Hill is owned and operated by Arqiva.
Freeview digital terrestrial TV was already available at low power from this transmitter before the digital switchover process began, with the first stage taking place on Wednesday 12 August 2009. The second stage was completed on Wednesday 9 September 2009, with the transmitter becoming the first in Wales to complete digital switchover. After the switchover process, analogue channels ceased broadcasting permanently and the Freeview power increased from 383 W ERP to 2 kW ERP, a 7 dB power increase.
Kilvey Hill provided BBC 405-line VHF television to the Neath and Port Talbot area which is strongly shielded by local hills from the Wenvoe transmitter just to the west of Cardiff. Kilvey Hill was a relay of the Wenvoe transmitter. Despite being sited at Swansea, no effort was made to provide the VHF TV signal to Swansea itself - the town was already deemed to be well served by Wenvoe.
A BBC R&D report details the coming of 625-line UHF television to the Kilvey Hill site. This again was with the station acting as an off-air relay of Wenvoe, which was (at that point) only transmitting BBC 2 (in colour) on 625-lines. This time, the northern parts of Swansea were intended to be covered by the signal as local hills (including Kilvey Hill itself) shielded those parts of the town from the UHF signal from Wenvoe.
BBC 1 and HTV Wales came on air from Wenvoe in April 1970, but it was nearly two years later before Kilvey Hill started to relay those channels.
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