Radio Times

On Wednesday 30 September the Freeview service will undergo an upgrade, requiring viewers to retune their set-top boxes or TVs.

Who is affected?

The retune will affect homes with Freeview, Top Up TV or BT Vision equipment. Satellite, cable and analogue TV equipment is not affected.

Why is the retune necessary?

Freeview is an evolving service that requires viewers to retune their equipment from time to time to accommodate changes to the platform - for example, at both stages of digital switchover, when a new channel is launched or a channel/service moves multiplex (a multiplex is a group of channels all broadcast on the same frequency. There are six multiplexes in the UK that carry all of the digital TV channels and radio stations).

The September retune will pave the way for Five to become as widely available on Freeview as the other terrestrial channels at digital television switchover - a requirement by Parliament. For the convenience of viewers, technical changes, including preparations for the future availability of HD channels on Freeview, will also be made on 30 September.

All Freeview boxes, Freeview+ digital TV recorders and digital TVs will need to be retuned for viewers to carry on receiving all of the services available to them, including Five, ITV4 and BBC Radio stations. Without a retune on or after Wednesday 30 September, viewers will not be able to access these channels.

What is going to happen on 30 September?

From lunchtime on Wednesday 30 September, or any time afterwards, Freeview viewers will need to retune their equipment so they can continue receiving all channels and services available to them (it's not essential to retune your equipment immediately - but you will be unable to receive certain services until you do).

A number of channels will move position on the Freeview platform and, as a result, coverage of Five will increase. More than half a million Freeview homes will be able to receive Five for the first time and these improvements will ensure that Five will be available to all Freeview homes at the point of switchover, along with BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and Channel 4. Coverage of Five on Freeview will increase from around 90 per cent once the UK digital TV switchover is complete to 98.5 per cent, the same as BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and Channel 4.

ITV4 will move to an alternative multiplex, meaning a small percentage of homes (those receiving their Freeview service from a relay transmitter) will no longer be able to receive ITV3 and ITV4.

Additionally, a new entertainment channel called Quest will launch on channel 38.

The changes will move some BBC Radio services in areas of the country that have already switched over to different channels to prepare for the launch of Freeview HD. People living in Freeview homes that have already gone through digital switchover and who listen to BBC Radio stations on Freeview will lose these services until they retune their Freeview equipment. There are currently no plans to introduce extra local radio stations to the Freeview package.

The Community Channel will no longer be available on Freeview in areas that have already gone through switchover - however, it will still be available on satellite and cable.

After retuning, the viewer will find a small number of channels in a new position on their on-screen TV guide. The proposed new channel list, effective from 30 September 2009, is available at www.freeview.co.uk/channels.

How do I retune?

The majority of people find retuning their Freeview equipment straightforward, but for further help you can visit an information website to download easy-to-follow retuning guides for the most popular Freeview equipment, or call the automated TV Retune Helpline on 08456 05 11 22. Agents will be available to take calls from 8:00am until 10:00pm weekdays and 10:00am until 8:00pm at weekends. A handy video showing how to retune is also available to watch at www.tvretune.co.uk.

The following retuning instructions should be used as a guide only.

º Switch on your Freeview TV or box
º Using your remote control, press "menu"
º Select the "set up" or "installation" option (sometimes called "factory reset", "full retune" or "default settings")
º Press "OK". If your equipment asks if you want to delete all your channels, don't worry, this is normal.
º If you are prompted for a code, try 0000 or 1234
º Channels will be automatically installed. This may take a few minutes and your equipment may shut down and restart
º After retuning, you may have to reset your "favourites" list and when retuning your Freeview+ digital TV recorder, you may need to reset your future recordings
º Remember to retune every piece of Freeview equipment you have
º Retune your equipment from time to time to ensure you have the latest channels and services available to you

What time should I retune on 30 September 2009?

The technical changes are expected to be complete by lunchtime. All Freeview boxes, Freeview+ digital TV recorders and digital TVs can be retuned at any point after this. It's important that viewers don't retune before lunchtime as they will find that even if the channel or service name appears in the on-screen TV guide, the channel itself will not be available or may have been moved to a temporary location.

Before the retune requirement I had a recently installed digital TV and a new aerial with perfect reception on both digital and analogue. Despite retuning several times I continue to have both poor analogue reception (horizonal hold shot to pieces) and digital reception is very poor (only BBC1 and 2 most of the time except late in the evening). I really think content providers should provide some better information and a contact point to help users find out what their problem is. For example if its because of the geographic location of the set this should be easy to indicate in a map of poor reception areas.

Goodmans Freeview Box, Can't get a signal on Channel UHF49 anymore which means no BBC1, 2, 3 and 4. Why am I paying my license fee. This must be sorted out or the Freeview and the BBC are going to have a riot on their hands!

I've given up on freeview and have chosen to change to a sky multiroom subscription.

I've lost all but BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 and BBC News over the last week or so. All of the EPG is there but black screen on 90% of channels and no sound.

picture was great before, now i can't watch a program properly because of all the breaking up.

sky free is looking promising

FAO leeroyh - Terrestrial television and radio signals are greatly affected by the time of day. It sounds as if your box may have locked onto a transmitter that's slightly too far away. It could also be an aerial issue but before you check that, try retuning the box again during the evening. If your box has a fine tune option, use that.

Since the retune ITV Meridian breaks up every evening. Fine during the day but sound drops every few seconds and picture freezes every evening. Any ideas?

Since "going digital", using a topbox my son gave me, my Panasonic DVD-VHS recorder cannot be set up for any programs and cannot record anything. For a couple of weeks I got ITV3 and watched Midsomer, Agatha Christie and Wycliffe to my heart's content. Since Sept 30th this channel no longer available to me. BBC3 - lots of Doctor Who, but often that channel disappears. Fed up? When my licence expires after Christmas I'm giving up. Why should I have less than I had before, and I thought most of that was rubbish anyway?

Since 4th Nov, no BBC1, 2 or 3. Tried lots of times to retune auto/manually without result. Rang several "helplines" again with no actual help apart from stuff which could be read online or off the handset instructions or in the users manual and apologies - should have predicted this.

Since 4th Nov, no BBC1, 2 or 3. Tried lots of times to retune auto/manually without result. Rang several "helplines" again with no actual help apart from stuff which could be read online or off the handset instructions or in the users manual and apologies - should have predicted this.

Since the retune we haev lost Virgin completely and get dreadful reception most evenings and give up sometimes and put a DVD on!!! Wasn't like this before!!! What's the point!!

Since retuning our reception is dreadful! We have lost the Virgin Channel completely and give up with most channels in the evenings and watch a DVD!!!!!

hi south lakes here - since first switch y'day (winter hill) my on digital box still has most channels except bbc1 &2 any ideas

Lost BBC1 and BBC2 , who knows how to get it back?????

Does anybody responsible for re-tuning know about the problem? It seems a lot of people lost some channels

3 seperate boxes humax fox ok, philips dtr1oo ok (8yr old) and labgear fv300 lost all bbc channels. same ariel!!

Here in Blackpool I've lost Freeview BBC 1 2 3 today (Nov 4th) What the heck is going on?

Philips DTR200 Freview box cannot cope with the re-tuning. I have to re-tune every day as the box looses BBC1 and BBC2. Therea apperas to be no fix except buy another box. Obviously another ploy to get the consumer to spend more money for less service. Any gurantee the next time this happens we have to buy anoither box'

Hmmm - so I seem to have lost ITV1, Ch 4, Ch 5, ITV2 and I'm sure a bunch of others I never watched. I live in West London, so not exactly the back of beyond - so what on earth has happened? And how does this get fixed?

Reception perfect before retune. Have put my postcode in and am told that no digi channels are available in my area. That's ok then! I agree with Wagstaff. What a coke-up just to give a few folks crappy Channel 5 with its overlong adverts. Am I cross? To those who are saying 'get a life' mind your own biz and get on with yours!

Did the retune and as many others have stated - it's now absolutely rubbish! The only stations I can get with any degree of clarity are BBC1, 2, 3 & 4! Now, if those stations actually had reasonable programmes that would be okay, but I appear to be paying my licence fee so that I can watch - at the most - 4 programmes per week. My daughter did NOT retune and is a very happy bunny, nothing changed and she has all the programmes she was used to. This does not bode well for any new channels as she is not going to retune anytime soon. Digital switch off?? Will probably mean the end of TV in my house. Good job there's the radio.

FAO Simon - try switching your box off at the mains and leaving it off for a few minutes. Then switch it back on: possibly you'll have to do a retune so go through that. Next, leave it on standby as the instructions say and it may now work for you.

If it doesn't, I'm afraid you'll need to ask Bush or wherever you bought it from.

Since the retune, every morning I turn on my BUSHiD DVB DFTA11 it tells me the guide needs updating and that I should leave it on standby. The problem is, it is left on standby (I turn it on/off using the remote and the red light stays on on the box). This morning though it won't update the guide and everytime I press the guide button it tells me I need to update the guide ;)

I've retuned about 50 times and cannot get Film 4 or ITV3. Our aerial is fine. What is being done to rectify this? I wrote to Humax but they haven't bothered to reply.

Contacted Freeview as my tv is now receiving channels for Devon and Cornwall and we live in Wiltshire. Freeview advise me to contact an ariel installer for which I assume I have to pay. I have already paid for the box and a tv licence why can I not receive the channels for my area - surely in this day and age I isn't that complicated?! I also object to the number of 'rubbish'channels now available - I would rather have decent main stream channels.

A total mess which should not be up to householders to sort out.

I have to retune channel 5 every morning in strathclyde.

Since the retune we get very poor reception early evening on BBC1 and have to switch to analogue! I looked for help and found this blog and discovered there's lots of people worse off than me! What's the point of digital tv if the reception is worse than analogue? The French get all their telly via the internet. They seem to have it sussed with no problems according to my friend in Paris. We can't even get iplayer because our connection speed is so poor. When will this country sort itself out?

Had perfect digital channels then when re-tuned as requested, lost most of them. Have removed aerial to do auto installation to remove them. Then replaced aerial, did auto installation again.. no change!!! lost at least 30- freeview channels,including "Film 4" "Yesterday" Itv 3 and 4, .have tested digital aerial, no problem there!...WHAT IS GOING ON!!!!

Try a factory reset first - it worked for Channel Five on a digital TV and a Bush plug-in.

what a cockup .... can only get radio channels now . had perfect reception before

Woodsie, you are quite correct. My Freeview reception used to be great but since the digital retune unsuppressed and poorly suppressed motor vehicles that pass my house causes really bad interferenceon my TV. So much so that it's unwatchable. I'm now having to use my old digital sat box. Problem is, that has a rubbish inbuilt epg. Suppose I'm just going to have to put up with it now. At least the reception is decent. Sky must be rubbing their hands together in delight. More customers on their way to them I guess. Put simply... I think Freeview has totally ****ed up on this one.

My LG television (buit in Freeview tune) puts ITV4 on channel 802. My other 2 digital boxes put ITV4 on channel 24 as it should be. I think my signals are comeing from Storeton, I live in a flat with a communal system

My freeview tunes in great, but I have to retune it in everyday if I want BBC1, BBC2 or Five. It's so annoying.

my goodmans freeview box doesnt work anymore i retune about 20 times

I am very lucky as I have a Sanyo Intergrated Digital/Analogue TV. I just go into menu, then channel list and then retune and it only takes 3 minutes. Usually I do this twice a year. Since the latest retuning I now have channel 38 which is Quest and its very interesting. I now have channels I really don't want, like the sex channnels and the gambling channels. I don't believe there is a need for them on tv. Altogether I have 103 channels as I can get the 24 radio channels too. However, I have a small portable digital tv for holidays and its always a nightmare when retuning that as it takes countless retunings before I can get all channels that really matter. Sometimes when I miss certain frequencies it means a lot of programs come up under 350 etc numbers or unknown, instead of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9,10,11,13,14,15 etc. Unfortunately I am unable to recieve the Quest channel, which is a shame, but thank goodness I don't have any of the unwanted channels on it. I can only recieve 30 or 32 tv channels and 22 or 24 radio channels, so I have decided that is a very successful retune and have left it at that.

I have a friend whi is severly disabled with MS on Wednesday I retuned her Panasonic TX-28DTX1 but failed to download BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, and BBC 24 hour news but her portable LG 19" flat screen was sucessful in obtaining a full down load of all channels.

I noticed the number of channels on the LG was over 105 while on the Panasonic it was 95, I tried retunimg the Panasonic several times and noticed the sequence of downloads. Om my last download I pulled the arial out after program 46 had been captured counted 10 secs and re-inserted the arial, this missed out program 49 but captured 50 and 52. Program 52 captures BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 and BBC 24 hrs News, BBC4 and Film 4 are missing but you can live without that as a Quick Fix, The early Panasonic TV's had only software to capture 95 programs. The update freeview as over 100. I live in the reach of the Emely Moor Transmitter, they transmit the BBC1,BBC2, BBC3 and BBC 24 hour news on signal 52 the very end of the 100 odd programs Users need to contact Panasonic Customer Services and apperently they will send out a cam for you to download new software to yout TV enabling you to capture all the programs when you retune at the same time the new software will have enhancements creating upto 200 program channels for the future

Retuned on the 30th, all was well for 2 hours and then nothing. Freeview suddenly said "no signal" and that was the end of that! Now I only have a few channels after several retunes, none of which I like! Have been told I may need a new aerial. Why were we not warned about this before? From all the adverts it appeared to be a simple case of just retuning. Now Im making expensive phone calls, doing internet research, raiding the piggy bank for my last coppers, instead of watching my beloved TV. If I knew I may have to fork out more cash for a new aerial, I would not have retuned in the first place. I was happy with the reception before. This feels like a huge con, and us less techie people are going to be conned out of hundreds of pounds. What a complete and utter c*ck up! Please, if you are thinking of calling out a TV repair guy, make sure they are not cowboys and double check everything they say and do, and DONT pay with cash and demand a receipt and a document stating what work was carried out. Better still, lets all go and shout at the silly people at Freeview etc, for not doing their homework and causing all this chaos - then send the repair bills to them.

Retuned many many times and have had a new loft aerial fitted six months ago, but can no longer get channel 5. What a fiasco - heads need to roll - I assume that the Head of Freeview will be getting a massive bonus for organising such a cockup !!!

I am POA for a lady with MS and restricted to a wheelchair she as special enviromental control equipment to switch on/off various electrical at the push of one button I retuned her Flat Screen LG 19" Portable TV and all ok. Retuning her Panasonic TX-28DTX1 was different, the set captured all channels with the exception of BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC 24 hour news after 20 atempts will ring 0844 844 3852

I just got round to retuning my TV as I couldn't get ITV2+1 as it changed channel. After re-tuning I have lost every single freeview channel and my signal on all the others is balls! Freeview is a sack of S*** - they retuned to give more people access to channel Five - who wants that piece of crap anyway! Plus they actually knew that about 450k people would lose ITV3 and 4 :/

Grr.. I understand what you are getting at, but to all the people who keep saying things like "get a life" blah blah blah… shut up…we're annoyed.. leave us be.

I re-tuned mine and have now lost everything. Wonderful… I only use the freeview before I go to sleep but this is silly!.. But then again this problem is all routed from the same place where they got the 2012 Olympics logo that looks like a 5 year old could have done better… so I shan't get my hopes up to see it fixed.

I've lost channel 4 - and my digital box isn't even listed in the brands available for information. It's a nikkai.

I am a student so have recently moved areas. set up tv in new area and all was fine until I did this retune. Have literally just forked out £140 on a tv licence only to be blessed with this disaster. I have no bbc channels, no DAVE channels, and no signal on the majority of the others including itv and channel4. Any signal i do get is interupted constantly. It's completely ridiculous, does anyone know whether it will be sorted? or do we have to buy another tv and topbox?

Why haven't Panasonic done something about the fact that their TX 26LXD1 TV needs re programming after the re-tune. I've tried loads of times to re-tune it and still can't get any BBC channels. The least they could do is to have created a website indicating that the problem needs the TV having some sort of programming chip inserted to cure the problem (according to an earlier comment I read on here). It's so frustrating and will make me think twice before I get another Panasonic.

So 1/2 million more people can get Channel 5 great ,how many million who previously had it have now lost it and ITV 3 &4 as well. Who pays these wizards ?

After retune I have lost the picture to Film Four. It's just a black screen but I have still have sound. Signal Strength is 95% and the Signal Quality is 100%. Anyone got the same problem?

have lost all bbc and itv and channel 4 replaced with russia today! unbelivable i am disabled i watch tv a lot

I previously reported that I had been unable to get Channel 5 after a re-tune on our Panasonic TX-26LXD1 but that two other pieces of equipment on the same aerial were ok. I checked on the Panasonic website and there was a press release about upgrading the system on CRT models because they could only handle 95 channels. Checked the TX-26LXD1 with an auto tune and it bailed out at 95 channels too. Hence it wasn't getting as far as Channel 5. Contacted Panasonic through their website and after checking the version number of our system they sent a plug in module through the post to update the system and then return to them. It worked fine after doing a shipping condition reset and all is well. Thank you Panasonic.

Retuned TVs after 3 days finally got all channels. Switched tvs off to save on electricity and now have lost all channels on all 3 tvs. Tried retuning , nothing.. Really fed up, any suggestions????? Please help

Hi can anyone tell me how to retune my freeview. My tv is a Sony Bravia KDL-32Lxx and when i go into settings all i get is how to change brightness and colour. HELP!

Just got a new digital TV and had most channels before the retune. I thought grrreat, everything works. After the retune we lost all ITV channels. Oh yes and channel 5 doesn't appear to be on there either. Just think! Somebody gets paid a lot of money to arrange this chaos.

suddenly lost channel 5 about 10 minutes ago. every other channel ok at present. i have a satellite dish and digibox, so thought i did not need to retune. i am elderly and disabled so can't use technical language! anybody know what may have happened?

Not sure how many channels have disappeared but ITV4 was the kick in the shins as it had racing like british touring car championship. now gone. Cant believe this country has again failed in implementing service value for money. Now i got nothing to watch, i am off to hunt dinosaurs for my supper!

Lost everything! The tuner finds a list of channels, but when turning over to them there is nothing there. Black screen no sound. Thanks a lot. We only use it fo CBBC. Thank you very much, another £15 conned out of my fingers!

I've lost ITV 1-2, Channel 4 and Five! My box says "check your aerial". Hopeless.

Ive lost ITV 1 & 2 and all Channel 4 channels. I've retuned about 10 times but it's made no difference. Really disappointed and angry!

What a load of rubbish I have lost everything except the bloody NEWS! Have to retune everytime I turn it on.

I must be the luckiest person on the planet.I retuned,not only my two sets but four other friends' sets,with absolutely no problems at all.What did I do that no one else did or was it just pure luck? I hope you all realise that this execise is to be repeated on 4th November and 2nd December!!

I've retuned several times in the last couple of days and still keep losing Channel 5. It comes back when I retune, but goes again every time I switch off the TV. I rang one of the helplines and they said I'll just have to keep retuning until they get the problem sorted out. After reading all the comments here, do es anyone think they ever will sort it out?

Thank you to Relieved on 30th September. I kept retuning and retuning but still couldn't get channel 5. After reading Relieved found it on channel 834, I finally found it on channel 800.

The only channel I appear to have lost is cbbc, if my daughter wants to watch it I have to retune every morning to get it back and then trying to do my bit for the environment and turning everything off at night loses the channel again so the next morning I have to start all over again. Never had any problems with any of the channels before

Retuned following instructions in handbook. All seemed ok....But, several hours later.... Now only have 4 channels! They are in a loop. Help! Going to try the help line. Whole system in a mess.

what a crap system, i've lost BBC1&2, ITV channels, Channel 4 and God knows what else..!!very angry!!

Speaking as one of the "minority", I'm not at all happy about losing ITV3. I thought we were supposed to be making progress!

Retuned ok - then after setting favourites - lost bbc2 and bbc3. Retuned again - all ok. next day bbc2 & 3 dropped out again :-(

I've lost channel Five, and I can't find the channel frequency so I can try to put that in manually, can anyone help, it's driving me nuts? Some progress eh!

I had all the channels,since i have retuned i have lost or disrupted at least 70% of what i had.I cant even get ITV now.All my equipment is new,so this is very annoying.I am considering subscribing to SKY as a result

First time i retuned i lost bbc 1 and 2, itv, channels 4 and 5. im still tryin to get the back

this is rubbish!!! i can't believe you have to do this my freeview box was installed in 2003 and when i press the menu it says nothing about installation,

on the menu of my humax remote control , i dont even have an installation or resetting option,so havent been able to retune, have lost itv3 and channel 5. anyone else have this problem, the help number on screen is useless as still havent been able to speak to anyone, just the same pre recorded message.

Something positive to report. I retuned (using factory default) my Human PVR and it was fine. No recordings were lost from the HDD, just future scheduled recordings (this is a bit of a pain). All channels loaded, nothing missing, though the reception was a bit poor, so I retuned the TV and that did the trick. I have to say, this retuning malarkey is a nuisance, and Freeview need to get their act together either to avoid a full retune or to make the retuning easier.

Tried retuning bush set top box - channel numbers all in 800+ just getting runaround from DIg UK etc - its pathetic - wait for dig radio in 5 years what a waste of money

Retuned Dads Bush TV with Freeview and all BBC channels have moved to 900's. He had a major stroke a few years ago and it took him long enough to master the remote. He has no chance now. Even I'm confused.

I only just plugged in my aerial on the 29th October and I had good analogue channels 1-4 and very good channel 5 on freeview, so was happy. After the retune, I have zero channel 5 (never had channels 1-4 beforehand, either), and the first thing I can find is BBC 4. The channels I do have are all good quality so it's not like it's a bad aerial set-up. (I bought it recently, a combo booster/aerial with the digital tick).

Lost All BBC channels. Reset my panasonic tv back to 'shipping condition' then retuned. All perfect.

Don't worry you won't miss anything it will all be repeated again and again and again.

have the sound on my Freeview but its ok on tv when freeview isnt on ????? am very annoyed at this. Bought Freeview so I could watch tv upstairs so im very miffed

retuned mums digibox today now lost utv,ch 4,and no ch 5 this is in n ireland

We have successfully retuned, and lost ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, Channel 4, Channel 5. We have switched back to analogue in order to get better service. We live less than 25 miles from central London.

I read my manual three times; I watched a video how to retune twice, and have retuned twice - so far. I lost Channel 4 which is a real nuisance, Channel 5 which I never watched and ITV 2 and ITV 3 have completely disappeared. I have some weird Lottery and Babe channels and tons of stuff I am not interested in. Who is responsible for that chaos?

... bet this re-tune is all part of the BBC's grand master plan of making Strictly Come Dancing available while making sure that we lose the X-Factor competition!!!

I thought the whole idea of the retune was so that more households could get Channel 5? Well 5 was working perfectly in our household on the downstairs TV (which is off of the East Anglia aerial) then lost the signal BEFORE lunchtime on Wednesday, and then did the ol' retune over lunchtime, gained ITV3 but Channel 5 is nowhere to be seen, nowhere was it mentioned that Channel 5 would be lost on Freeview, it's frustrating because there are a lot of series we watch on Five, which we can't watch now if we have permanently lost the channel!!

3 people tried to retune my freeview faild no channels atall now lost a little pleasure now may save on new tele now and liecence fee what a con

I lost channel 5 in my built in freeview box.

Whoever idea this was should be shot! the ammount of people who have gott grief from this 'great' idea

Same as most, lost ITV2+1 and most important of all, where has Channel 5 gone after all these years. Is this really progress in this century?, I don't think so.

Lost ITV1 & Channel 4 and a few others - Bridlington East Yorkshire. on all 9 Freeview boxes, LG, BUSH, Philips, Matsui, Samsung. Not good worse off to be honest.

just rang panasonic on 0844 844 3852 about my tx-28dtx1 and spoke to there person and they going to send out a tv upgrade by post so think it going to be a dvd or some thing , said be about 7days

Retuned our Panasonic TV with integral Freeview. Have lost BBC 1,2 & News,& Sky News & % is worse then ever. Attempted several retunes to no avail. Don't intend to buy new kit but will ask for licence fee exemption!

Retuned a Samsung LCDR74BD. Previusly everything was working. On retuning it scans all the channels and displays the pictures behind the moving channel bar but on exit it loses them resorting to to only the 5 analogue channels. Thats progress! Samsung helpline ? Call your Granny she may not know much about freeview but at least she will talk to you.

what a stupid time to change your channels, how about the people at work like me, who are not at home at that time. i have followed the instructions in the paper that said it doesnt matter what time you switch but it clearly does.

Panasonic seems to be getting a few mentions here. I've done both a ful re-scan and an return to shipping condition one and can't get any BBC channels or channel 5. I've gained some rubbishy channels and lost the best ones!

Retuned several freeview boxes (and TVs) now successfully (7) .For the Humax and one Philips boxes I found that either ITV 3&4 or Ch5 were in amongst the 800 channels; however for both boxes this was cured by making sure you reset the box to Default settings (ie as the box left factory) first before scanning for new programmes . How to reset to default/factory settings can be simple or quite complex, see your manufacturers user manual provided for guidance. Now all correctly retuned.

Panasonic seems to be getting a few mentions here. I've done both a ful re-scan and an return to shipping condition one and can't get any BBC channels or channel 5. I've gained some rubbishy channels and lost the best ones!

tuned both freeview set top boxes no probs, but main t.v. Humax PVR lost itv3 and itv4 doesn't make sense!! PR6 7BL

I have retuned several times and CANNOT get ANY ITV channels let alone ITV3 & 4.
this must be the con of all time and does not bode well for the grand switchover in 2012 . I am ANGRY!

Is anyone getting the message still on Five & Fiver saying to retune. No amount of retuning gets rid of it. Someone on another site said this goes on the 4th October but i cannot find confirmation of this?

For those not getting 100+ channels and getting 70 instead try a default settings if you have that option, or scan completely as if it were a virgin install rather than scan for new channels. Worked for us.

STOP THE WORLD I WANNA GET OFF..........!!!!

Have spoken to BT Vision after not being able to pick up channel 5 since the retune and they told me that they have been deluged with similar calls. They referred me to Digital UK on 08456 50 50 50. Apparently we may be without channel 5, ITV 3 and 4 for a while until they get the problem sorted out. He suggested retuning as often as possible until the channels return but I will try the above number too.

I didn't bother with the retune and have only lost ITV3 and ITV4 but the picture quality has improved on all other channels.

Don't know if this helps anyone but I retuned and had numerous channels missing. Tried a factory reset of the TV but ended up with even less. Just completed a scan without an aerial input and then reinserted the aerial and scanned again and seemed to have regained all (I think) of the channels. Hopefully this assists someone.

Retuned a few times ch 5 disappeared,like everyone else,so i did a installation retune and crikly what a great picture on all channels!!!!!!!!

We retuned our Panasonic TV today and lost C4 and Five. At least we can get it on Sky! Not amused at all. Whose idea was this anyway?!

just a thought if i lost my bbc channels does that mean i can stop paying my tv Licence

Fsame problem here with my panasonic tx-28dtx1 lost my bbc channels bbc1, bbc2 etc , really niffed off as can not afford a new tv

I work for a major electrical retailer and i dreaded going in to work today after my day off.All my fears were realised! Tvs in shop retuned but miss channel 12 and 15 at least. Went to a customers house,1 tv had everything okay after he retuned but other tv had loads missing. I did reset to factory settings and reinstall got some but ITV3 missing. Try ringing helpline,no chance!God help us when the big swithover comes.
PS. Some comments not acceptable,as oldies rely on TV,however how many channels do you need?

Lost ch5 on one tv but not the other! How & Why? SSDD

Retuned TV and got channel 5 and other stations back again, but notice keeps coming up asking me to retune. Hopefully it will stop as retuned twice now.

First retune on TV - found no channels at all. Second found some, but missing loads. Made a note of channels that it stopped on, and did a manual retune on each channel and eventually got everything back.

Then tried the HD recorder. Now got most except for BBC1 BBC2, BBC3 and BBC News 24 - can't get these at all.

Not impressed.

Arkee. My paraplegic ex fire-fighter neighbour may not agree with your inept comment, clearly designed to evoke a response. Just let us all know if it's your physical prowess or infinite IQ you wish to be admired for.

re-tuned my digital freeview tv and now i lost itv, channel 4 and itv2. I used to get ch5 but it has moved to ch801 and telling mr to re-tune or loose it P****D off from brighton

Dont know why you miserable lot are moaning about,why dont you get a hobby and get out in the fresh air,take up walking or some other interest and stop whinging on about a few missing tv programs,get a life

Retuned sound is perfect on all channels, but no pictures, TS9 area, mmh!!!! Gentleman on retune phoneline helpfully suggested it might be to do with the switchover, ours in 2012 so only three years to wait.

Have lost channel 5 (found new channel but picture rubbish) and ITV2 plus 1 is the same thing, have now got ITV3 and 4. Miraculously the shopping channels all seem unaffected ;-)

What were the powers that be thinking? all the people who have gained 5 and lost ITV3 & 4 would rather have what they had and I would rather still have channel 5!

Lost BBC1, BBC2, and some other channels ..no sign of CH5 at all!! What a CON!!! SODDING COUNTRY THIS IS!! Doesn't get anything right! WHY DO WE ALL BOTHER!! ITS A COCK UP! thank god I have SKY TV as my main TV source..Ditch ya Freeview boxes and get sky! At least if it goes wrong someone can answer your queries..unlike this bulls mess!

Lost main programmes BBC1 and BBC2. (Mansfield)

Retuned both TVs. Now I've completely lost BBC4 on the digital TV (retuned 5 times) but still have it on the old TV with a digibox. Still getting notice to retune every time I turn on the TV. Wish I hadn't bothered.Who wants Quest or Rabbit chat anyway?

i retuned my freeview which is built in my tv and lost film4, 4music, radio channels and other channels i watched. how do i fix this plz.

Lost Film Four ITV4 now gained ITV2+1 ! but no info guide for Channel 5 or ITV 3. So unable to put series links & record on those channels on the Hard Disk recorder. Oh by the way forget trying to get through to hte help line impossible. cuts you off automatically.

This re-tune must have been a scam! I've been retuning several times since lunchtime, but channel 5 is much worse , sometimes not at all, and no ITV 3 nor ITV4 anymore, while my Toshiba TV won't re-tune at all!
I'm dreading when the re-tune comes for real.....guess all we'll be left with is rabbit by then!
All these channels I've got now, that I never watch,but not those 'normal' 1's.
Anyone still got analog?...well, I'm able to watch c5 on there,better than on digi freeview.
What does that say about digital ?

We haven't lost any channels but we have lost the TV Guide for many channels mostly. Anyone know how to fix this?

After retuning we completly lost channel 5 which we had been watching for years. We e mailed channel 5 and have had no response. The upgrade was a downgrade as far as we are concerned.

retuned about 18 times last night (have a philips integrated tv) - have lost ITV1,2 Channel4 and E4. thank-god i didn't retune the hdd recorder at the same time - at least i can still watch ITV through that!

Retuned in-laws Panasonic CRT TX-28DTX1 & now do not receive BBC1, BBC2 or News24 & they live in the same post code as me RG$ 9TS. I picked up all the channels after a retune but have a Sony Bravia.

Anyone know who we escalate problem with Panasonic retunes to?

well i re tuned my tv didnt loose any channels i got quest,but my tv guide is all messed up and i still get the messgae on my screen saying on 30th september etc retune.
iam propper p***ed at this what a load of s***

ive now lost itv3 and itv4 after retuning how do i get this back

i did nothing my panasonic did it all for me i even have quest

We have three items of digital equipment on one aerial. Our main Panasonic digital TV has lost Channel 5 on the re-tune but a Panasonic HDD recorder and a small Toshiba digital TV are both ok. The Panasonic TV was bought in Jan 2005; is it too old? I hope not?

I've lost channel 5! Help! I've tried everything to get it bac

Some people need to get a life and stop moaning at others just cos they expect there equipment to work.

Have lost two out of six muxes. No longer getting anything on channels 41 or 50 from good old Hannington. We have lost BBC1, BBC2 and heaven knows what else. This looks like the same sort of shambles Freeview perpetrated last year when they happily said "1% of digital equipment may cease to work". Yeah, right, only 1%. Even on that figure it meant something like 250,000 units and figuring £20 for even a cheap set top box, someone was crying all the way to the bank. When are they going to stop calling it Freeview? It isn't free. Have upgraded my aerial, bought new TV and still can't get it. No use calling them. All they say is "You're in a bad signal area. You'll have to wait to 2012 for the switchover". Notice they won't give me a rebate on my licence though. ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

On the retune side of things i went to a friends house to help them retune because of being unsure what to do and now there is no bbc1 or bbc2 and bbc news i feel its all my fault what can be done to restore whats lost Edinburgh.

I could get Channel 5 before before this brouhaha ~ and very unimpressive it was: never watched it. Now I have lost ITV3 which is (was ??) one of the best Freeview channels. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I live in Bristol and have re-tuned my digital tv. I've gained channel 5 yet lost ITV3 and ITV4. I don't usually watch the ITV channels but I certainly do more so than Channel 5. Quite annoyed.

Ok, had a moan earlier but did a second retune later in evening and the missing channels are back. Reception of channel 5 much better than before but 5 US still as dreadful as it's always been, as, sadly, is the new Quest channel which is a shame as it looks very interesting. Blocky and freezing images on both channels…

! Just found Channel 5 on 834, ITV3 on 836, and ITV4 on 837

I tried doing the retune on my Samsung TV 3 times and on all ocassions it failed miserably with BBC1, 2, UTV (ITV1), Channel 4, Channel 5, Whatever is at 6 all gone and breakup on other channels.

Finally I decided to try again and this time I decided to try and force it to a full retune and achieved that by changing the country setting to sweden, entering a pin code (in my case 0000) and then switching back to UK, entering PIN again and rescanning. Now have all the channels.

My advice don't assume because you followed the manually for a retune that it is actually doing a full retune as clearly it didn't my case.

FI have lost BBC1 and BBC2. Everything else is fine. Weird - and very very very annoying....

Live in TN17 - retuned twice and have lost BBC One and TWO. If this is a glitch when will it be fixed and so when should I try to retune again?

I am in London and first scan didnt pick up all channels. Tried again and it worked. So if you any problems then I would suggest to try again.

I have just retuned and have lost ITV3 which we watch mostly. I assume we are the unfortunates on a relay transmitter. Morayshire?

Re-tune .. what a joke now lost ITV1, ITV2, Channel 4 and Channel 5.. all working perfectly before the re-tune…what is going on.... Maybe this is BBC's way of getting us all to watch Strictly instead of X Factor !!!! AM SOOOOO ANGRY !!!!!!

Oh no, might lose Channel5 or ITV9 --- what a loss to humanity!!!! has anyone ever watched these channels??

For the person who advised people to stop whinging & get a job, I would like to inform you that I DO have a job.A very demanding one that takes me away to another town some 11 hours a day & when I get home at night I like to sit & watch the telly I pay the licence fee for. What has damn right annoyed me is I loved E4 & More4 & both are gone. The rather poor 5 is poorer still and i am fed up!

retuned my £1500 sony bravia tv with freeveiw and lost half of the decent channels i had itv 3 4 and i was getting five intermitently i did have 97 channels now i have 73 what idiot made us all act like sheep and told us to retune today we should have mutinied and said no no no !!!! am i like a sheep or do you all feel the same thanks to our wonderful powers that be another great british cock up… european directive i presume .. bob

Channel 5 is now 801.802 is ITV3 and so on.... can these be moved to right order channel numbers

lost all teletext and itv 3 and 4 what a joke

I retuned and lost itv1,itv2, ch4, ch5.I had all of them before.
They said we would loose channel 5 if we didn't retune, noboddy mentioned loosing itv, ch4 and ch5 if we did !

great i retune my tv and lose itv3&4 so i'm forced to watch crappy reality programms. why couldn't they switch off bbc3&4 which are only part time channals anyway!

Did the re-tune as instructed, but have lost channel 5 also! Our Philips box top set is a few years old now & can not find factory reset!! My missus is gutted, she loves The Mentalist on 5!!!!!!!!!

great cock up. I've lost all terrestrial channels. Thanks Freeview! Kindly go away guys and come up with a better idea, like boiling your heads!

every one realy knows it is gorden browns fault, silly sod..........

wish to god i hadnt touched it now lost bbc1 and 2

Retuned built in freeview on samsung Tv and cant now get BBC1 or BBC2. Phoned re-tune helpline and they said try again and I said I have 16 times. They said try two more times and if it dont work then call us back. What a shambles. They dont tell you how to solve a problem only how to re-tune your TV

I've got 5 units all connected to the same aerial and they've each done different things. My newest and most expensive piece of kit now only has 82 channels and has lost all BBC radio stations but still has ITV3 & 4. My ancient cheapo box from Argos box has everything but ITV 3 & 4. Thing is, I don't watch 98% of the channels anyway! DON'T TURN OFF ANALOGUE!

Postcode LE12 7TA. TV with internal digital decoder: Panasonic TX-28DTX1. Retuned today (30th September) and lost BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 and BBC 24 hour news! Also tuned a very much older PACE digital box and it is getting these channels.

how do retune i have tried like ten times all is still the same

I receive less no five no itv2 ??????????

Have just change my Freeview to the new system but have lost all channels and the system is now in German and I cannot find how to change languages also I think my astra must be coming from Germany so the satelite is down.-.

Had Channel perfect on my Sony Freeview TV. Did a retune and can now only get it on analog. What an absolute shower these people are. Deserve to lose their jobs over this farce. What am I suppsed to do - spend £500 on a new telly just to get Channel 5…not likely…its all rubbish on there anyway!!!!!!

Re-tuned, lost itv1, itv2, ch4,ch5, no signal on uhf 50 Brighton whitehawk transmitter

I have lost about 20 channels, mostly radio and qvc type which is no real problem…but I've also lost BBC1, 2 and ITV…not happy

the wizz kids strike again now lost itv1 ch4 ch5 ch6 but got ch 38 quest good deal iiiiiiiiiiiiidont think

I have a heap of new channel numbers that DO NOT work, but guess what, all my old ones still work anyway. I'm SO surprised that this is looking like a large cock-up.

why can't we get itv3 or itv4. Its utter crap

I have not had my tea or dinner yet. but i have retuned 3 times. Channel 5 is gone.I might have a chinese for tea. Not sure really… any ideas?

My box ok so went to tune in mothers panasonic freeview tv - all ok except no bbc 1or BBc2 the actual channel numbers no longer appear in the guide. Comment to KEN with the HUMAX BOX- this is one of the boxes that carries audio description ( for the blind/partially sighted)which you can turn on or off dont know whats happened to your picture though .Good Luck all

i can't retune samsung tv, it's stuck on channel 4 with no picture and channel can't be changed manually or with the remote

It would really help if your contributors named their location so we would know where the new deadspots are.

well I have now lost 5 ITV3 & 4 and alll channels in toally random order ie 4, 24 801

My dad lost ch 5 on doing retune but tried again going back to the default settings/factory settings on the box - you should find this on the box settings menu somewhere - ch 5 reappeared! hope this helps at least some of you!

Before retuning I received channel 5 perfectly. After a retune I get channel five picture but no sound track on my Humax TV,on my Panasonic DVD I get a picture but no sound track to plays but there is a commentary telling you what the actors will do next. Possibly a director. A bit like a commentary to a mimed play. What is the problem?

Cock up here in Chester too. Channel 5 gone, also E4, ITV2 etc etc… What a shower..

Retuned, lost itv1, itv2, ch4,ch5, no signle on uhf 50

Didn't bother with retune - never watch channel five! Also I've got enough channels to choose between without quest, etc. You should have left alone!

Don't be surprised if there are teething problems with a retune this big and so widespread. Unless you have a box older than perhaps five years or if you get your TV signals from a relay transmitter, then you shouldn't notice a great change. If you're on the fringes of a transmission area or in any other way suffer from low signal strength, it's possible that you'll lose some channels yet gain others.

Also if you have an older aerial, any signal problems may be exacerbated and if they affect channels you want, you might have no option but to buy a new aerial.

Have 3 digital TV's. 2 tuned in perfectly - on the third one I get everything except BBC1 & BBC2. All three sets are working on the same aerial system, and the signal is showing 9/10 on all stations. What's up??

help ive lost my fav channel itv2 where is it anyone seen it they said its gone on to channel 33 but this is a lie there is no channel 33 aaaarrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Retuned my panasonic freeview box/ recorder only got bbc1/bbc2 itv1 ch5 every other channel gone will not/cannot retune Good job I havnt retuned the other box in the other room WHAT A COMPLETE COCKUP

Had Channel 5 on two sets on different aerial systems. Re-tuned both now NO channel 5 on either - ant ideas?

re-tuned and now lost itv1 channel 4 and five?

only got bbc channels great job

I have read somewhere that some of the old set top boxes wont work, and some will - but they have changed to 800's and above I think the BBC and ITV channels have done that on old boxes , and also on 'Channel 5' -still get the message to retune which i eventually found on channel 800!! so worth a try for those who havent got the bbc channels and five…apologies it this doesnt help - from my understanding also i think that if you receive your signal from a relay station, you wont be able to get ITV3 or 4, which is a real bummer - agree with peter that they are the channels worth watching. Not that i watch a lot of TV but when I do, its good to be able to watch what I want and to have the same choice as everyone else!!

hope this helps

Retuned & lost BBC1 & BBC2. Not happy.

retuned my samsung tv now ive not got any digital freeview channels at all so great good job ive got virgin

This is just a carry on. Do we do it again when everything goes digital next year?????????????

Well retune went well, I now have a new Channel - Quest, however I have lost ITV, ITV2, Channel 4 and Five - anyone got any ideas how to sort????

Typical add a channel & take 2 away ITV 3&4they were the only channels woth watching

Just retuned one of my freeview boxes which already had channel 5 and after retune I do not have channel five. It appears during the scan along with all the other channels that are captured but when the Channel 5 is selected I am given a screen telling me to retune! Do I possess one of the boxes that will not be usable any more?

re-tuned my digital freeview tv and now i lost itv, channel 4, five and itv2. what's going off?

what if you are Out To Lunch?

I've lost Five altogether, although I now get Quest. Not sure if that's a fair trade-off. And ITV2+1 (now on 33 although next week's Radio Times still has it on 27!!) is just named ITV. Must try harder.

A proposed cure for cancer would probably make less of an impact. Ah, tjhe Great British Public. Dontcha just love 'em. Whining g1ts, the lot........

I am really angry beyond belief that for 500,000 people to get ch5, 460,000 people will lose itv3 and itv4. It doesn't make any sense. I am housebound and usually have itv3 on all day. I am really going to miss it. I can't see what anyone has gained from this.

I have retuned but lost all 'pogramme information' for channel 5 so cannot record although channel 5 is fine.I have a Digifusion FVRT200 which is now discontinued and wonder if this is the problem.

Typical as well - the TV Retune website is not working!

what time is lunch, who`s providing lunch is lunch suitable for veggies is lunch at the table

all the people on here are just moaning bout tv GET A LIFE OR BETTER STILL GET OF YOUR BACKSIDE AND GET A JOB

'Lunchtime' is the BBC's way of kindly pointing to its viewers to retune at about midday, if not after. Unfortunately for technologically illiterate people, they do not understand that the entire country's freeview boxes can be updated within a slip second - Although its quick, its not that quick.

If the BBC specified a certain time, there'd be more idiots complaining that when they retuned at '1pm', the service wasn't available until '1:04pm', so they had to make it relatively vague to compensate for the time it actually takes.

Thanks to our government I'll be able to re-tune every lunchtime.Redundant people,redundant channels,whatever next!

Just typical of this government - it's made a complete cock-up of almost everything else it has handled, why should we be surprised about this one.

So 18 million people have to re-tune in order to give half a million people access to channel five. At the same time, 400,000 people will lose ITV3 & ITV4 - and some will lose the use of their digibox altogether. Better not ask Gordon Brown to do the maths !!

What time's lunch Mum?

I can't believe the level of moaning regarding a simple upgrade. No wonder the UK finds technologically itself behind so many other countries. Why don't we all just go back to a single monochrome tv station and three radio stations? That way nothing can ever go wrong and we can spend our whole life never needing to retune.

GET A LIFE EVERYBODY…ARRRGH

i live in a valley in wales i have no line of sight to my nearest freeview transmitter at wenvoe,but get reasonable reception from stokland hill,80 miles straight across,i do get ch-5 ok.

I work nights, so MY lunchtime is around 4am. How about giving us a proper time.

you're paying your tv license to fund bbc and thats it.

Freeview is not strictly free. Five Years ago or longer, talk had come about technology giving us so much to our viewing pleasure, including interaction, various angles, TV on demand etc. I believe that the BBC are ticking all the right boxes and getting stronger, how popular is iPlayer for example? Other terrestrial channels offer this service but fall at the first hurdle when you go online to catch up on programs that you may have missed e.g. ITV hassles with broken content and streaming issues. Would people like to see adverts during Eastenders (for example). The BBC may be using our money to generate all this. I think that it is a shame that ITV, Channel 4 and 5 and other channels are so behind in this new tech. Talk in-sued about sharing the tv licence out to ITV, Five, S4C., this was rejected. With this in mind to increase our viewing enjoyment investment somehow needs to be created, so we as the viewing public have greater viewing choices interactive TV. Already make bold steps the BBC's iPlayer is available through PC's, IPTV, mobile handsets. It is a shame that other channels are not grabbing these new and exciting concepts themselves. I am sure that a move into these new areas would greatly increase viewing figures and hence more money. Well we will just have to wait and see.

DoctorDigital-RT

Thanks for the info and advice. In fact I may have remembered losing the scheduled programmes as yet unrecorded having been lost. According to my Humax manual (and my dealer), anything recorded on the HD should not be affected. Only future programme recordings need to be re-scheduled. My dealer suggested that I wait until after the 30th if I was afraid of losing The Wire (a terrible fate), to find out if any other Humax owners lost the recordings on their HD, so I may wait and see… The dealer also said that there would be more retunings in the future, and that manufacturers are now planning to make it easier to retune all PVRs, and to make the method of retuning the same for all makes.

I answer to the gentleman that has a Humax PVR a retune shouldn't lose any of your recorded programes You would normally have to Formatt your hard drive to lose them.

We've only had ITV3 and ITV4 for less than a month. Now, because we use a relay transmitter, we're going to lose them. What crazy thinking is this?

What are we having for lunch? Mmmm… lunch.

Why do these CRETINS think we need to be bothered with their idiotic message constantly interrupting us when we can't do anything about it yet. Also - why all the fuss THIS TIME. It has happened many times before!

If its free, what am I paying a licence fee for, they don't transmit analog in my area anymore.

If we had been informed that some of our digiboxes and digital tvs would not work after a certain date perhaps we would of all stayed analogue and saved our money and not made some electronic companies millions after all they dont want to know now that some of their equipment wont funtion I for one will be thinking twice with purchasing any equipment from them

Reply to JarviS 27/9/2009 @ 4:45pm. Nothing is FREE. We pay for them all, either via TV licence or the levy on the things we buy in shops. Yes that's right, you don't even have to have a TV to pay for so called FREE service!!!

what a bunch of 'mood hovers'

If I don't retune will I fly to the moon?

I can't understand why people are fussed about exactly what time the retune needs to be done. They probably can't be deadly accurate becuase technical things can overshoot.

To the people who are complaining, how about you do without TV for the day and go and do some exercise.

Yet again we have the service we recieve in west Cumbria degraded. I fail to see how it is an improvement to lose two chanels while boosting a channel that can be received easily enough here anyway.

We already have to put up with the fact we get less than half of the freeview channels those lucky enough not lucky enough to be in line with a main transmitter.

Lunch time is when you retune your TV - obvious isn't it

Semms like some gain on channel (five) at the expence of me loosing itv3 & 4. So this is progress.

"Lunchtime" is ambiguous and not acceptable. Why not "noon" or "3pm", which everyone can understand. Do Freeview really believe that their audience is too stupid to read a clock?

Nothing new. I can recall having to retune at least twice since having the box as a consequence of channels apearing to change or change thier name.

I only looked to see what it was all about but couldn't help myself posting something.

To the person who wants it done overnight as they are on hols, I am sure if you had just let them know in advance they would have centred something concerning 60 million people around your life.

Ain't nobody gonna die, its telly.

Let's get this right.

The service is FREE. The service is being expanded to allow more FREE services like HD. The service is being expanded to inclede even more people into the FREE service. It involves a few minutes to do this but can be done by yourself for FREE.

Now. What the hell are you all complaining about?

I lost signal on cbeebies and channel 5 this morning, so I retuned and they have now disappeared from my list - anyone else having problems with these. I am in N15 in London. I hope we get them back before Wednesday - my two children are really not impressed.

we must campain to SCRAP the BBC's (licence to print money)TV licence, they advertise in their own way, WE know that for truth. please people join the group-- 'Scrap the TV licence'

Can someone tell me which multiplex ITV3/4 are moving to, if its 'D' I will lose them...

Cheer Up!!! people in the Granada Region have two more (Re-Tunes) to go (on November 4th and December 2nd 2009)

Me too, my Freeview's always been fine.

I use the favourites option fairly judiciously to only 'filter in' the channels I want and am able to update merely by adding new ones. Having a box I inherited from 'on digital' days (is it OK to own up to this now?), I must admit to having rather a lot of 'filtered out' legacy stations, so am looking forward to some overdue spring cleaning.

Otherwise, the 'let's complain before anyhting has happened' brigade rather dismay me, I shall personally wait and see before judging. If it does actually mean free HD telly without a dish at some point then I, for one, will be very pleasantly surprised.

Who cares? All I want to see is on "youtube". As far as I care the BBC in particular can be shut down and turned into a shopping mall.

Instead of wasting money on this the programmes should be improved. I am sick of endless repeats of American trash soaps and films. Not to mention cooking.

i'v never had any problems with my freeview!

Ever since I got a Freeview box (years ago), it always had to be retuned. The problem is that there are too many channels loaded up on the system. If it could be whittled down to about 10, maybe we would get a more reliable service (and a lower licence fee!)

FAO nomoreretunes - If you've had this happen before, you've unfortunately got to assume it'll happen again. It shouldn't, though, so it's a surprise that it happened.

Some boxes will forget that they've been set to record shows in the future; you'll have to re-enter all of those. But existing recordings ought to be fine. Is there any possibility that you did more than a retune? Perhaps a hard reset of the box?

Check your Humax manual for instructions about the default settings and the retuning. But in your specific case, having had this experience once, you'd perhaps be better off temporarily copying these episodes off to VHS or DVD if you're not able to watch them before retuning.

I am away for 3 weeks from 10 a.m and my Humax recorder is series linked to a number of programmes. What a brilliant organisation. probably the engineers don't want to work at night. It should be done at 8a.m.Pathetic

So it's like this... digital is better because we have to re-tune from time to time and and we suffer picture break up when unsuppressed and poorly suppressed motor vehicles go by. Back to 50s then?

I have a PVR which records on to a hard drive. The last time I had to do a full retune, I lost all the programmes I had recorded. My Freeview PVR is a Humax. I have still not viewed two series of The Wire that I recorded, and many other programmes too. Will I lose all these if I do a full retune on the 30th?

My great idea...lets go back to "THE BBC"..and thats your bloody LOT !!!!!!!

FAO Wolfgang - There are no figures on what percentage of viewers will be affected. But you can check your own situation by using the postcode checker on www.freeview.co.uk.

Usually just entering your postcode and house number is enough but in this case, also check which transmitter you're receiving from. The postcode checker will tell you which one you ought to be using but it's possible that you're on an alternative and nearby one. If there are any like this in range, you will see a dropdown list of them on the postcode checker's results page.

The bad news is that there's nothing to tell you for certain which transmitter you're on. But the good is that after switchover the Freeview signal will be boosted so retuning may lock you on to a main transmitter instead of a nearby relay one.

Well my lunch/dinner it at 4pm so i do it before then?

"..those receiving their Freeview service from a relay transmitter will no longer be able to receive ITV3 and ITV4.

Hang on! That's a bit of a throwaway punch. How small a percentage? How do I find out if it includes me??

What happens if you don't have lunch but dinner? The meal between breakfast and tea :)

What time is lunch tnen?

i retuned my freeview tv and the only channel missing is itv4 will i get this channel back again