A total of 10 services will no longer be available as of today, including BBC News HD, FreeSports, Forces TV and QVC HD. The update also means that some services are relocating to the TV design program and others will not be available in many areas as before. Speaking to Express.co.uk, a Freeview spokesman said: “Since Ofcom’s decision to make more radio waves available for mobile data, Ofcom’s license for certain channels that broadcast on Freeview has expired. This means that the affected channels make changes in the way they are transmitted forward “. The BBC added: “As a result of the closure of COM7, BBC News on Freeview will only be available on SD from the end of June 2022. However, you can still watch it in HD on the BBC iPlayer.” READ MORE: Do you pay too much for broadband? 6 easy ways to get higher speeds with less Here are all the channels that are closing and what is changing
CLOSE CHANNELS FREE VIEW
• FreeSports – current channel 65 • CBS Justice – current channel 69 • More 4 + 1 – current channel 86 • PBS America + 1 – current channel 87 • Force TV – current channel 96 BBC News HD – current channel 107 • QVC HD – current channel 111 • QVC Beauty HD – current channel 112 • Quest HD – current channel 114 • Craft Extra – current channel 95
CHANNELS ARE MOVING
This is TV (UK) – IT WAS channel 91 – NOW Channel 65
CHANNELS THAT CHANGE NAME
WAS 4 Music – NOW E4 Extra – Channel 31 WAS Horror – NOW Legend – Channel 41 Other changes from today also mean that some channels will be available in fewer areas, while others have increased coverage. For example, as of today, Now 80’s will only be available in Manchester, while CBS Drama is renamed Reality Xtra and reduces the number of homes it broadcasts. Channels that increase their coverage across the UK include Together TV, BBC FOUR HD, CBeebies HD and Quest Red +1. Due to the number of changes to its platform, Freeview advises all users to reset their TVs and decoders to make sure they have all the latest channels. You can see how to reset your Freeview equipment here. So why are these COM7 changes happening and who will be affected? Last year, the UK EE network won the auction to use the COM7 frequency to help boost the new 5G data network. 5G is the future of mobile devices as it offers much higher download speeds and a more reliable signal which means that more people can connect to it at the same time. While this is extremely new to mobile users, it does mean that, as of today, Freeview’s COM7 multiplex will be shut down. As a result, less bandwidth will be available and some channels transferred to COM7 will either have to be shut down or redistributed to other multiplexes.
