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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
Thursday, 16 August 2012
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:12 PM

pat williamson: If I am understanding you correctly are you actually saying that your Sky box cannot receive ITV3? as ITV3 is on channel 119 on a Sky box and is NOT encrypted, meaning that you do not require a card inserted to receive it.

As a matter of fact you do not really require a card inserted for most channels except Sony TV on 157, as although its a free channel it is encrypted so that it cant (without difficulty anyway) be viewed outside of the UK.

Try punching in 119 on your Sky box, and if the channel is still not there then remove the mains supply plug from the box and after about a minute or so reconnect it again, then once you find that the box is responding to the remote control again by taking it out of standby, just let it go through its usual "searching for listings" procedure and carry out a further check on 119, ITV3+1 on 180.

By the way a Sky free to view card used to be £20.00 but I believe its went up to £25.00 now, although to be quite frank about it considering the extra channels you get by having it its not worth the bother, and of course its unnecessary anyway as your Sky subscription card reverts to being a "free to view" card when the subscription is cancelled.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Saturday, 18 August 2012
D
David Rose
8:02 AM

I live in Darlington = Bilsdale transmsitter. Retunes due on 12th & 19th September. I go on a long holiday on 11th September for 5 weeks. I only record on BBC1, BBC2, BBC4, ITV, Channel 4. If I set recordings before my holiday, will they work? I cannot retune until late October, on my return.

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David Rose's 2 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:35 AM

David Rose: Unfortunately not, as the EPG used by the programme guide where you preset your recordings on is dedicated to each one of the six individual transmitter mux channel numbers used by the station, and of course all these numbers are changing starting by the very one that you require (BBC mux) on the 12th, and so anything set is lost.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
D
David Rose
4:13 PM
Darlington

jb38: Thanks for the clear response, even if it is not what I wanted to hear. At least I shan't have a backlog of programmes to watch upon my return!

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David Rose's 2 posts GB flag
David's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 20 August 2012
Stuart Owens
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

12:06 PM
Wrexham

Re: jijones
Monday 13 August 2012 2:47PM

Regarding Local TV, when this was first announced, I heard it would be called Channel Six so therefore it was mentioned somewhere on this site that it would be on Freeview Channel 6 so ITV2 would have to move and it would be on Sky Channel 106 so Sky1 would have to move.

Is this now not the case? Having a Channel 6 on 8/45 in Wales on Freeview does not make much sense!
I don't think I'm expected to receive any of the local TV channels anyway but if I did, I would rather it be on 6/106 on Sky.

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Stuart Owens's 156 posts GB flag
Stuart's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
N
Nicholas Willmott
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

11:27 AM

Stuart Owens, I think "Channel 6" is just a generic name for the proposed local service; from what I understand each provider will be a separate company broadcasting under its own name. A bit like ITV used to be a network of separate companies, i.e. Westward, Southern, Yorkshire, Granada etc. (all separate companies); they were thus more frequently referred to in the applicable areas by the applicable regional name rather than the generic name ITV / Channel 3.

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Nicholas Willmott's 80 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
S
sharealam
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

3:54 PM

new digital channel on channel 121 called sony sab retune required.

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sharealam's 226 posts GB flag
Saturday, 25 August 2012
R
Richard McNulty
11:21 AM
Northampton

The Proposed changes to the News and Children's genres will be put on hold pending the outcome of an appeal by Sky.

Why are they objecting?

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Richard McNulty's 4 posts GB flag
Richard's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 27 August 2012
P
Peter
10:23 PM

do i need a box yto get connect tv i get the chanels but iit says my new tv is not compatable

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Peter's 1 post EU flag
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
D
Daniel Clapham
9:45 PM

it would good if we had a channel 45 on freeview i dont get channel 45 on my freeview set up box or tv hope the come up with a channel 45 on freeview in north west england and others as well from Daniel clapham

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Daniel Clapham's 1 post GB flag
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