menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

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.

Help with Television sets?
Why are all TVs on sale not digital?1
Do I still have to pay for a TV licence?2
I had perfect channel 5 reception - until I got a digital TV box!3
I Have a Pocket Tv For taking out so I can keep up with news and sport. Will thi4
The pictures from my digital box are all green!5
In this section
Why did the BBC just use 1.1 Million TV Licences to buy UKTV from Discovery? 1
ITV and Freeview2
New Freeview Mobile App Launching in January 20193
Freeview 2024?4
Broadcasters collaborate to secure future of free-to-view TV 5
BBC Local Radio on Freeview 6

Comments
Thursday, 27 September 2012
L
Lizzy Thorn
10:41 AM
Saltburn-by-the-sea

Why are some freeview channels now too weak to watch and will the signals be boosted I live in north yorks.

link to this comment
Lizzy Thorn's 1 post GB flag
Lizzy's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 6 October 2012
leslie rain er
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

11:37 PM
Skegness

we have free view in bed room and get a good reception not only that we did not have to do another serch for channels

link to this comment
leslie rain er's 43 posts GB flag
leslie's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Sunday, 7 October 2012
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:36 AM

Lizzy Thorn: All the Freeview transmitters in your region are currently working at full power as planned. You are predicted to be able to receive signals from Bilsdale, Chatton and Pontop Pike, it is possible that you have not stored all the available channels from the same transmitter, which should be the one to which your aerial is pointing. It might be necessary to do a manual tune on the correct frequencies, after first clearing the channel list, in order to receive the correct set of channels. For Bilsdale (aerial pointing SSW) the frequencies are C26, C29, C43, C46, C40, plus C23(HD). For Pontop Pike (aerial points WNW) they are C58, C54, C50, C59, C55 plus C49(HD). If by any chance your aerial points NW to Chatton then use C45, C42, C41, C44, C47 and for HD if required, C39+. Note that if you receive from Bilsdale the correct aerial group is now group K. If you still have a group A aerial, often distinguished by a red stopper in the end of the boom, you could struggle to receive the COM muxes. Pontop Pike and Chatton both currently use frequencies within their respective former analogue aerial groups.

link to this comment
KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Saturday, 27 October 2012
G
G.S.CLARKE
1:55 PM

SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME. I LIVE IN SHREWSBURY WEST MIDLANDS AND UNTIL ABOUT 3/4 DAYS AGO I WAS RECEIVING/RECORDING ANY/ALL PROGRAMMES ON CHANNEL 19 - "YESTERDAYS".
NOW ALL I GET IS A BLANK SCREEN AND "NO SIGNAL".
I HAVE NOT TOUCHED MY SETTINGS AT ALL . SIMPLY, CHANNEL 19 HAS GONE AWOL.
WHAT HAS GONE WRONG ???

link to this comment
G.S.CLARKE's 2 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:21 PM

G.S.CLARKE: I already replied to the earlier posting you made under the heading of "Updated - changes to Freeview channel numbers this week on September 19th 2012", and in which basically asked the same question.

What I wondered was whether or not you can view ITV4 (24) or Film4 (15)? as these two programmes are on the same mux transmitter as Yesterday whereas Dave is broadcast on different transmitter, and with this being why one programme is OK and the other isn't, Yesterday (19) being on COM6 mux Ch47 and with Dave (12) being on COM5 mux Ch44, however should you be able to receive ITV4 & Film 4 but still nothing on Yesterday (19) then carry out a "first time installation" on your TV or box, or if this is not an option then a "factory reset / default setting", checking if Yesterday has returned after completion.

If though on the other hand you cannot receive these programmes then you should carry out a signal strength check on the muxes concerned, this done by going into the tuning menu / manual tune and entering Mux Ch47, but do "NOT" press scan or search, as on most equipment as soon as the channel number is entered the signal strength / and quality of will appear, make a note of whatever it is and try the same test on mux Ch44, likewise noting the indication then comparing the two, as the latter reading may well be higher.

Further info dependant on findings.





link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Monday, 29 October 2012
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

8:14 PM

Melonie Joseph: If you need to change the frequency of the RF modulator in your video player, depending on how old it is. On old equipment there will probably be a screw accessed by a small hole in the rear or base of the video player which can be adjusted over a (short) range of UHF channels, possibly only offering C34 to C44 for example. On more recent equipment you need to go into the menu and look for "settings" or "set up" where you should find an option to change the RF frequency to any spare channel from C21 to C69.

link to this comment
KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Thursday, 8 November 2012
J
John Gallard
5:26 PM

Since retuning the selection of channels is a nightmare. BBC1 used to be 1, BBC2 2, ITV 3, C4 4 C5 ..5 and were all next to each other in the guide but now they are all over the place!

link to this comment
John Gallard's 1 post GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:01 PM

John Gallard: The usual cause of the services not taking up their designated logical channel numbers is because the country has not been set to UK/GB.

The only other thing that I can think is if you are in Northern Ireland where you may be bale to pick up Saorview from the Republic and that this is your cause of difficulty. If so, then perhaps avoiding having the aerial plugged in during the part of the scan that the Saorview signal is on might work. Knowledge of your location may help if this could be a possible issue.

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Select more comments

Your comment please
Please post a question, answer or commentUK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.







Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.