Freeview customers urged to retune their TVs now after major channel changes
Viewers are being told to retune their TVs after Freeview announced some big channel changes. This month, some broadcasters have made changes to their channels and Freeview is advising customers to 'retune' and 'update' their boxes to keep their channels and their TV Guide up to date.
On its website, Freeview, has detailed the channels which are being affected with the latest update. It includes channels that have moved home and three channels that are closing down. The changes are in effect now.
Two channels have moved to new homes. Tiny Pop has moved from channel 208 to 206 and Pop Player from 212 to 208. And the three channels which have been killed off are Create & Craft (channel 85), Pop Max (206) and Filmstream (257). These channels were launched earlier this year.
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Freeview explained: "Channels are constantly evolving on Freeview with individual channels making the decision to move, add or remove channels. Freeview continues to ensure that audiences can enjoy a rich and varied content."
Despite the loss of three popular channels, the free to air service has recently added Rewind TV, which offers shows such as The Prisoner, Drop the Dead Donkey, Worzel Gummidge and Whose Line Is It Anyway, back to back.
And earlier this year it added the channel SonLife, which offers a variety of Christian programmes, and wedotv, which shows real life stories and documentaries.
The latest move comes after five Freeview channels were axed in the summer. Channel 4 shut down The Box - a channel that had been providing music entertainment since 1992. Magic, Kerrang, 4Music, and Kiss also vanished from screens.
Many Freeview devices will prompt you to retune (re-scan) when a new service launches or a change has taken place. This will usually only mean pressing 'retune'. However, you may have to manually retune your TV and there are guide videos on the Freeview website for different brands to help you to do this.
The Freeview website said retuning is straightforward although it can sometimes depend on your device. But a general guide usually includes:
Press menu on your box or TV remote control
Select ‘set-up’, ‘installation’, ‘update’ or a similar option. If you’re asked for a password, the default code is ‘1234’ or ‘0000’.
Select ‘first-time installation’ (sometimes called ‘factory reset’, ‘full retune’ or ‘default settings’).
Press ‘OK’ if your equipment asks if it's OK to delete existing channels and then your retune should start automatically. If you’re prompted to, save the channels that are found.
After retuning, viewers are also warned that your favourited channels and scheduled recordings could be deleted. It should not delete any recordings you have already made, however.
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