Millions of Freeview users across the UK are facing a week of disruption that could leave some facing a blank screen or pixelated images when trying to watch their favourite shows. The annoying issues are being caused due to important engineering work taking place with areas across the whole of Britain currently affected.
“Sometimes engineering work is required on transmitters so that they can keep reliably broadcasting your favourite free-to-air programmes,” Freeview explained in an update on its website.
The update started on May 12, with possible side effects on TV reception expected to last throughout the week.
If you are suddenly finding that your picture isn’t as clear as usual, then one thing you must not do is start tinkering with the settings with Freeview, simply saying, “please don’t”.
In an alert, the team behind the free-to-view platform said, “If you are affected by engineering work, please don’t try and retune your TV – reception will be restored as soon as the engineering work is completed.”
Over 100 areas could see signal issues including Keswick, Jedburgh, Kendal, Sutton Coldfield, Blackburn, Guildford, Crystal Palace, Dover, Salisbury and Sheffield.
You can see the full list here.
These are two of the main issue currently affecting TVs.
• Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels
• Screen may go black on some or all channels
If the problems are giving you nightmares then you can try tuning into contnet via Freeview Play instead.
This service uses the internet instead of an aerial and isn’t affected by the current transmitter upgrades.
Now might also be a good time to look at Freely.
This new platform, which is actually owned by Freeview also offers full access to live and on-demand content using broadband.
It is built into numerous new TVs and offers features such as recommendations, a full TV guide, and the option to pause and rewind live TV.
It’s also just had an upgrade with users now able to access content already aired via a Backwards TV Guide function and My List. For the first time on Freely, users can now save up to 50 favourite shows from the UK’s biggest free-to-air broadcasters – all in one place
.