Freeview channel numbers change on September 19th 2012
Brian Butterworth 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 131-150Children'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
Children's move to 121-130
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, except48 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?
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
L
lgb210010:07 PM
Will this mean:-
225 VISION;
226 CCTV;
227 Sports Tonight;
228 Connect 1;
229 Connect 2;
230 Connect 3;
231 Racing TV;
232 The Space.
Will become available of my Panasonic Freeview HD TV ?
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Thursday, 2 August 2012
M
Mike Dimmick1:48 AM
igb2100: If they work now they will work after they move. If you don't have them now they won't work then either. It's down to whether your TV implements MHEG-IC correctly (or at all), receiving the multiplexes that carry the small MHEG-IC programs, and on having the TV connected to the Internet.
The way this works is that the multiplex contains Service Information mapping the logical channel number to a Service ID. In turn that Service ID points to a data stream, and that data stream broadcasts the MHEG program. If the box or TV is recognized as implementing MHEG-IC, and is one that is supported by the provider (information about the device and the MHEG interpreter is available to the MHEG program), the program uses the MHEG-IC interface to redirect the TV to the Internet stream. If it doesn't, it uses the existing MHEG features to show the 'not supported' text and a logo. These features have been used for 10 years or more to generate placeholders (using very little bitrate) for channels that are currently off-air - e.g. 81 BBC Parliament during the Olympics, or 71 CBeebies from 7pm to 6am - or are simply data services like 105 Red Button.
Because they appear as regular channels, the Electronic Programme Guide can be filled-in using Service Information data.
Because of the way this works, if you can't get the multiplex(es) that carry the Service Information, you can't view the service. At the moment, the CONNECT services (113-115) are on SDN, 110-112 and 116 are on ArqB, and The Space is on BBC B. For transmitters yet to switch over, each service is on the pre-DSO version of that mux (A, D and B respectively). Also, you will have to rescan the TV to get them to appear at all, as with any other service.
YouView will also be offering 'pure' IPTV services in their programme guide, the information about which will be downloaded by the box over the Internet, with nothing transmitted over Freeview. It remains to be seen whether any of the channels carried on commercial multiplexes decide to make live streaming available to YouView boxes and have their channels added to the YouView EPG, and whether it's possible for them to replace the non-functioning broadcast slots - their channel numbers on full-Freeview transmitters - if the receiver is missing one or more of the multiplexes (e.g. if using a Freeview Lite, PSB-only transmitter).
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P
Paul7:45 AM
Hi,
Just read that S4C HD is closing down at the end of the year does this now mean we will be able to have CH4 HD in Wales?????
iechyd da
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N
Norm De Plume8:08 AM
I'm sympathetic to why this is being done, but I must admit I'm getting a bit teed off with the number of retunes recently.
Here in Suffolk, that's going to be the 4th retune in just over a year. Fortunately for me, I've found out how to back up the recording schedule on the home PVR otherwise it takes hours to put it back afterwards. Another reason it's a pain is because I live half way between Tacolneston and Sudbury and the automatic tuning always seems to prefer the weaker Tacolneston signals for some strange reason. When you bear in mind that we have a 2 Humax boxes, a BT Vision box and 1 (soon to be 2) freeview TV as well as a MythTV setup, that's a fair amount of retuning.
Can anyone tell me if there are going to be any more retunes after this or can I relax and get on with actually watching TV?
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1 for BBC1 and 101 for BBC1 HD etc will be a lot easer to remember.
No channels in 500-599, 600-699
Maybe having the News channels or kids channels starting at 500 or 600 would be better.
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Mark's: mapM's Freeview map terrainM's terrain plot wavesM's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage
In this article txt svcs 200 etc to manu' all'n 899 are listed in numerical order but gen' channels 1 upwards to adult channels 198 are listed in reverse order . Could this be relaid out so as to read more logically ? Also could the footnote re 100 hd navigation page be included at the end of the HD channels section ?
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T
Thomas11:22 PM
Leeds
The IPTV channels are unlikely to be affected by renumbering (unless there is some bug in the TV's firmware). Right now on my Panasonic, Sports Tonight works intermittently and the others say "You do not have a compatible device".
I'm guessing you'll need a retune to pick up the new channel numbers. What happens if you don't retune? Will the channels just stay on their old numbers or will they be inaccessible?
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Thomas's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 3 August 2012
M
Mazbar9:15 PM
Who in there right minds has chosen lunchtime to change if peoples tv need retuning and some people do need help to retune this will only give engineers a few hours to re tune on the first day.
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P
Paul Murphy11:33 PM
"decided to make some changes to the allocations to allow the Freeview platform to grow"
Does that mean any chance of growth for those with Freeview Lite or do we miss out on all improvements (along with many channels)? If there will be no improvements for us, will we need to retune - if so, why?
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J
jb3811:59 PM
Paul Murphy: Purely on the issue of Freeview light transmitters expanding, this is something that's very unlikely ever to happen as its 100% dependant on whether the transmitter operators consider that there are sufficient numbers of potential advertisers around that's willing to contribute towards the substantial costs involved in running the service, this being unlike the PSB channels where its principal role is purely to provide a service devoid of any profit motives in mind.
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