Freeview 2024?

Broadcasters collaborate to secure future of free-to-view TV

Freeview news: The UK's top broadcast companies have signed a new five-year agreement to accelerate Freeview's transition to a fully hybrid platform, providing the best in free-to-view live and on-demand TV.

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Channel 4 abandons Freesat HD in TWO DAYS

High definition: Channel 4 HD will no longer be provided on Freesat HD from Thursday 22nd February 2018

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Current Freeview changes make it a little less reliable

700Mhz clearance: Over the next three years, Freeview is shuffling the frequencies it uses to make room for more mobile broadband. Will this mean risking missing a few TV shows?

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We will still need Freeview in 2042

Future Freeview: 25 years ago, we saw the launch of UK Gold, a free-to-air satellite channel showing classic BBC and Thames TV shows. If we look forward to November 2042, what will we see?

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Five tips for when you are buying a new TV to watch Freeview or Freesat

High definition: I have been visiting stores where TVs are sold, and I have five tips to help you get the best value for money from your next TV.

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How long will Freeview and Freesat continue?

Future Freeview: Backed by the major broadcasters, Freeview and Freesat have the medium term as secure as might be possible. But what will they be showing in 2025?

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Why do less than one in five people with an HD set watch in HD?

High definition: Research has shown that after over a decade of high definition television (HDTV) broadcasts, only 17% of people watch high definition TV channels. This is when three-quarters of UK homes has an HDTV as their main TV set. Why is this?

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Upcoming Freeview transmitter changes 2017 to 2020

at700 Freeview changes: Listed in this article are all the UK’s main Freeview transmitters, for each one is a list of the channel frequency numbers, and below them the latest expected date of changes, and the various changes.

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Freeview 2017-2020 map

at700 Freeview changes: Map of 700MHz clearance programme

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Scottish Borders: changes to Freeview, retune on March 1st 2017

at700 Freeview changes: If you live in the Scottish Borders, your Freeview box should retune itself today: however older boxes sometimes need a helping hand to retune themselves. And some people might find their aerial needs changing.

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Ofcom announces 700 MHz clearance schedule 2017-20

4G and Freeview: To make way for new and better 4G data services for everyone's mobile devices, Ofcom has decided to change the Freeview system around starting in 2017.

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When will I get a new Freeview aerial because of even more mobile broadband?

4G and Freeview: What is going to happen during the 700MHz clearance? To make way for more mobile broadband in 2020, millions of Freeview viewers are going to need to act. A very few will need a new aerial. Will that be you?

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BBC Local Radio on Freeview

Freeview news: The range of BBC local radio services on Freeview has been extended to provide coverage for almost all of them.

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Will we ever have Freeview Ultra HD or Freesat Ultra HD?

High definition: You can already buy Ultra HD television sets in the high street. If I buy one, how long will I have to wait for Freeview and Freesat to broadcast my favourite shows in the better format?

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New and improved Freeview radiation patterns

Freeview news: I'm very pleased to announce that the list of the radiation patterns - the diagrams that show the power levels for each direction from a transmitter - have returned in an improved format. In addition UK Free TV now has 528 new patterns received in the last month from Ofcom under a Freedom of Information Act request.

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Freeview Play, Youview, Freesat Freetime, what's the difference?

Watch TV online: If you want free-to-air TV and Time Travel you can now pick from Freeview, Freeview Recorder, Freeview HD, Freeview HD Recorder, Freeview Play, Freeview Play Recorder, Freesat HD, YouView, Freesat+HD Freetime. Let me make this seem a little less confusing.

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Fixing the Freesat Freetime internet connection problem

Freesat: If you have a problem with your Freesat box not allowing you to get to the large selection of online TV shows, here is how to fix the problem. If you see "no internet connection" or no services listed under "On Demand", do this.

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ITV4 now on Freeview Light transmitters: retune needed for all Freeview homes

Freeview news: We have seen very few changes to the channels that homes that only get the public-service "Freeview Light", so it pleasing to see ITV4 added to the list.

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When you can't quite hear the TV, subtitles are critical

Sound: One great advantage of the digital TV services is that every TV set has access to subtitles.

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Go for it! What do you do on cutting the cord day?

Cord Cutting UK: So, you have your fast broadband, your wireless connections, prepared your devices and checked out what to watch online. Are you ready to take the final step?

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Prepare yourself for Cord Cutting: Where do I watch TV now?

Cord Cutting UK: You've got yourself an uncapped high speed broadband service with a wireless router, and like the idea of saving between 150 and 780 pounds every year. What is the next step?

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New! 1000s of new DAB and FM radio coverage maps

Digital radio: One of the most requested feature upgrades here on UK Free TV is for the radio maps to show the transmitter coverage areas, as the Freeview pages do. So, please take a look at the upgrade.

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We ARE going to get BBC Local Radio on Freeview ... today!

Digital radio: OK, only a year after I speculated about it, the service has now started. You can now enjoy 10 BBC Local Radio stations.

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BBC Three week: the history of BBC Three

BBC Charter 2017: Before looking to the future of the channel, first lets look back 22 years and see how we got here.

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The lower the channel number in the guide, the more viewers it gets ... Right?

TV channels: One of the reasons that Freeview does not reshuffle the channel numbers is because there is a lot of value in the lower numbered slots in the electronic guide. I thought it would be interesting to take a look.

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2050 Tube Map

Affiliated (blog): To start a new "Affiliated" blog section on UK Free TV, I know you would love to see this map of the Underground as it will look in 2050 according to the London 2050 Transport Plan. I have spent much more time on this project than I had anticipated. A lot of thanks goes to the posters on the London Reconnection site for nit-picking every possible error from this map.

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New Freeview and Freesat channel TruTV to start soon

TV channels: Turner broadcasting, who provide the subscription channels Cartoon Network and TCM (Turner Classic Movies) are bringing a version of their popular "unscripted programming" channel TruTV to UK homes very soon.

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BBC 2017: The problem with turning Freeview into Payview to keep the 3% happy

BBC Charter 2017: Today I am going to game another BBC scenario: I am looking into how the BBC might become an encrypted service, but without turning the BBC into BBC plc.

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9 weird ways that the weather will actually stop you watching free TV

Site development: Sometimes the picture freezes, the sound stops, and you have no TV. What could be to blame? As we are British, the best place to start might be with the weather...

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Good news for Freesat? Astra 2E satellite launched

General satellite: Very good news for the UK millions of satellite homes: from today there will be another satellite full - up to 60 transponders - of television to receive signals from.

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Why does BBC Worldwide not make more profit for the Licence Fee payer?

TV channels: BBC Worldwide is a private company wholly owned by the BBC. It used to make profits - which reduce the Licence Fee - of between 16% and 21%, but has managed much less since 2004, despite sales of over one billion pounds. So, where is the £595 million?

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Do not forget that 4G starting soon in 20 cities and towns really soon

4G and Freeview: It is possible - but still unlikely - that the new 4G mobile services will take out your Freeview. Here is the list of places that will see services in the next month.

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Using UHF channels C61 to C69? Time to retune

4G and Freeview: As from today, the whole of the "800MHz" band belongs to Three, EE, Vodafone and O2. If you are not a giant telecoms company, and are using still them for anything, now is probably a good time to stop.

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How do the new ITV local news regions compare with the BBC?

TV channels: I thought it might be interesting to look at the differences in the provision of local news on BBC1 and ITV (or UTV or STV) once ITV plc implements the local news changes.

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Want to see the extended Freeview HD coverage areas? See the UK Free TV maps

High definition: UK Free TV now shows the coverage areas for those masts that will have the extended Freeview HD service from next year

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Want to know which transmitters will carry extra Freeview HD?

High definition: Details of the new Freeview HD transmitters to come on air next year

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Using Sky without a card? Let's call that Sky No Card

Sky No Card: Since the launch of Freesat, UK Free TV has called the service you get with a Sky box and no viewing card (or an expired card) fSfS (for Freesat from Sky). To avoid confusion, a few changes have been made.

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Want to better understand the current TV faults? See the all new UK Free TV page

Site development: The "All transmitters with faults and engineering" page has been upgraded to make it easier to understand where the current faults are on the Freeview transmitter network.

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How many Freeview, Freesat, Sky and cable homes are there in the UK?

About us: Ever wondered how many homes in the UK use the various different free-to-air and pay-TV platforms? Are there really four times as many Freeview-only homes as Sky-only ones?

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