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Freeview channel numbers change on September 19th 2012

Following a consultation earlier in the year, from lunchtime on Wednesday 19th September, you will have to retune to get the new numbers allocated to some Freeview channels; in particular those used for News, Adult, Children and high definition services.

Following a consultation earlier in the year, from lunchtime on
published on UK Free TV

DMOL (DTT Multiplex Operators Ltd), the company that manages the channel numbers used on Freeview, have decided to make some changes to the allocations to allow the Freeview platform to grow over the next three to five years.

The changes will happen from lunchtime on Wednesday 19th September 2012. In summary the changes are:

  • Adult channels move to 171-198
  • News channels move to 131-150
  • Children's move to 121-130
    Proposed changes to the News and Children's genres will be put on hold pending the outcome of an appeal by Sky. All other changes will continue as planned on 19 September 2012.
  • HD channels move to 101-120
  • General entertainment channels now have 1-99
  • Text services move to 200-224
  • MHEG services move to 225-299
  • Interactive channels stay on 300-320
  • IPTV channels move to 400-499
  • Radio stays at 700-750
  • Manufacturer allocation remains 800-899


Adult channels move to 171-198

The "adult" channels on Freeview move up from 92-99 to start from 171. Channel 170 and 199 will be "bookend" pages to note the presence of the adult channels for those who flick up and down the channels.

171 Television X; 172 smileTV2, 173 smileTV3, 174 Babestn, 175 PARTY, 176 Blue, 177 Babestn2, 178 Playboy.

News channels move to 131-150

131 BBC NEWS, 132 BBC Parliament, 133 Sky News, 134 Al Jazeera 6-8, 135 Al Jazeera Eng, 136 Russia Today, 137 Community. Proposed changes to the News genre will be put on hold pending the outcome of an appeal by Sky. All other changes will continue as planned on 19 September 2012.

Children's move to 121-130

121 CBBC; 122 CBeebies, 123 CITV. Children's genre will be put on hold pending the outcome of an appeal by Sky. All other changes will continue as planned on 19 September 2012.

HD channels move to 101-120

The "normal" order of channels is restored to HD:

101 BBC One HD; 102 BBC HD [or BBC TWO HD]; 103 ITV1 HD or STV HD; 104 Channel 4 HD; 105 S4C Cirlun.

Note that S4C Cirlun is due to close at the end of the year. BBC TWO HD is planned to replace the BBC HD channel at some point in 2012.

General entertainment channels now have 1-99

There will be twice as many channel numbers now for "general entertainment", allocated on a first-come first-served basis. Most channels do not move numbers, except

48 Food Network; 49 The Jewellery Channel.

Channel 8 is reserved for the Local TV services in England and Northern Ireland, 45 for Local TV in Scotland and Wales.

100 is a "Navigation page", but only on Freeview HD.

Text services move to 200-224

200 BBC Red Button; 201 Teletext Holidays; 202 Rabbit; 203 Gay Rabbit; 204 1-2-1 Dating; 205 Mail Travel; 206 Sky Text.

MHEG services move to 225-299

225 VISION; 226 CCTV; 227 Sports Tonight; 228 Connect 1; 229 Connect 2; 230 Connect 3; 231 Racing TV; 232 The Space.

Interactive channels stay on 300-320

301 301; 302 302; 303 301 HD; 304 Channel 0; 305 TUTV Anytime 1; 306 TUTV Anytime 3; 307 TUTV Anytime 5; 208 TUTV Anytime 6.

IPTV channels move to 400-499

These will be used in future.

Radio stays at 700-750

No changes to radio.

Manufacturer allocation remains 800-899

No changes to manufacturer allocation.

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Comments
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:10 PM

Daniel Clapham: Channel 45 is reserved for local TV in Wales and Scotland.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
B
bryn
8:17 AM
Kings Langley

Hi is this changing all over the uk then or just particular areas?

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bryn's 1 post GB flag
bryn's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Thursday, 30 August 2012
R
Rob
9:28 PM

When will the Penny Bridge transmitter send out more than the basic channels? Or will we need to go down the freesat line of reception to get a full service.

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Rob's 1 post GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:50 PM

Rob: Never.

The Commercial (COM) broadcasters cover 90% of the population using 81 of the largest transmitters (largest by viewer population). There are over 1,000 small "filler-in" relay transmitters like Penny Bridge which the COM broadcasters do not wish to pay for. If they did, then it would roughly double their cost of transmission whilst only adding about 8.5% of the population to their potential viewer-bases. As they operate purely for profit by showing advertisements to as many viewers as possible (which the wish to acquire at lowest possible cost). These are the laws of capitalism.

The only thing you can do to get all Freeview channels is investigate the possibility of reception from one of the full-service transmitters.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Friday, 31 August 2012
B
Brian
11:32 PM

Hi,will the limivady transmitter go hd on sept. 19 and will the signal strength be increased as it is very poor at the minute and has been for a long time.Thanks.

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Brian's 1 post IE flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:47 PM

Brian: Yes! as on October 24th HD will be starting on Mux Ch55 and with the power increasing to 20Kw on the PSB transmitters and 10Kw for the three commercials, all transmitters presently operating on 800watts.

Needless to say that two retunes will be necessary, one on October 10th when the BBC switches channels as well as increasing power, and with the final retune being on the 24th when the others change channels and increase in their power.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Sunday, 2 September 2012
J
john taylor
9:35 AM

Why cant I Get channel 20 really ,now after the latest retune?

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john taylor's 3 posts GB flag
L
Lesley Wale
8:45 PM

Hello there. I live in Perth and still use Digi boxes on a couple of televisions. I just wondered if we are going to get Film 4 soon? My dad has it in Dundee on channel 15, but I can't seem to get it at all. Thanks. Lesley

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Lesley Wale's 2 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

8:58 PM

Lesley Wale: You certainly won't ever get it from the Perth transmitter. "If" at your location you can receive from a full-service transmitter then it may be possible.

See here for an explanation as to why we now have a two-tier terrestrial television transmitter network:

Durris (Aberdeenshire, Scotland) full-Freeview transmitter | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:03 PM

Lesley Wale: Further to the above, I referred to your posting made in January which carries your post code. It would appear that you will not be able to receive the Commercial channels.

Have a look at Freesat for additional free-to-air channels, including Film4.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
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