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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Who is still watching TV?

Future Freeview: You would think, perhaps, from the press that everyone is bingeing Box Sets on Netflix, viewing Amazon Prime Video, or streaming cat and dogs on Youtube? But people are still watching TV

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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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Just how free is UK television?

Future Freeview: Freeview? Freesat? Free and Easy? Where does the over 9 billion pounds a year for non-subscription TV come from?

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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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BBC salami-slicing returns to overnight services?

BBC Charter 2017: Tony Hall, the BBC boss, promised first that the licence fee settlement was "cash neutral" and then that there would be no "salami-slicing" of services. So why have overnight TV and radio services been cut?

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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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#GreatBBC campaign launched

BBC Charter 2017: Two top British producers, Charlie Parsons and Lord Waheed Alli have created a campaign website called “greatbbc” to help prevent the BBC from being destroyed by the current Charter Review process.

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Happy 2016 - welcome to the Golden Age?

About us: I would very much like to wish you all a happy new year!

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Goodbye BBC Red Button!

BBC Charter 2017: The BBC is going to make saving this year of £150m because people are disconnecting their TV tuners and using the iPlayer online.

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Want to know how much the BBC spend in England, Scotland, Wales and NI per home?

BBC Charter 2017: Interesting figures from Broadcast magazine today - from their Nation and Regions Special - shows how much money is spent in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. I thought I would share...

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S4C and Welsh Exceptionalism?

BBC Charter 2017: Reading the report from Institute of Welsh Affairs Media Policy Group makes me wonder about how the next decade of broadcasting should deal with the nations, regions and languages of the United Kingdom.

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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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Official aerial installers guide to the TV spectrum future

Got interference?: If you want to know what the - official - future holds for the UHF spectrum and how this will change the old advice on which aerial to use, you can download this book for free.

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PBS America joins Freesat for Halloween

Freesat: PBS America, currently on Sky and Virgin Media will join Freesat on October 31st on channel 160.

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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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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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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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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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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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