Freeview retune complaints roll in
The big Freeview retune kicked off yesterday, but already the backlash has begun, with people complaining about loss of channels.
While the service was upgraded to give more people access to channel Five, it’s been reported nearly half a million households will lose access to ITV3 and ITV4.
Even worse, it’s thought 20,000 set-top boxes from makers such as Daewoo and Bush will have stopped working altogether after the upgrade.
A Freeview spokesperson has said viewers with problems should simply try again.
The statement read: "The majority of people find retuning straightforward but if viewers are experiencing problems after retuning, we would suggest trying again."
If you were thinking about calling Freeview for a bit of advice, you might want to give it a miss. Freeview is reporting more than 200 calls a minute to its helpline, with many callers being told no more calls were being accepted due to “high call volumes”.
Not helping the situation, Freeview has also admitted that its website is crashing under the pressure of people logging on for advice, and is only working “intermittently”. Handy.
Have you had any problems retuning your Freeview box? Have you lost any channels? Let off steam below, and be sure to check out our top 10 PVRs for some of the best Freeview boxes out there.
Via: BBC
Comments
Drunken Max
2 years ago
The availability of channels is eveidently a commercial one according to the freeview chief exec on Radio 5 yesterday. Hence a lot of people having 20 or less channels and some of them being the "plus" channels that just repeat the channel's output an hour behind. I mean, people would want ITV3 probably more than ITV1+. Its quality broadcasting after all no just repea.... oh... sorry.
Jonprevans
2 years ago
I've had reduced quality on all the BBC channels, while all the itv channels have improved. Go figure.
Nev_Nev
2 years ago
I've still got Dave and that's all that matters!
montyburns
2 years ago
Well i hope Nev and Dave are happy in there partnership together but Im just glad i still get my sky sports news!
MacFreak
2 years ago
It's inevitable that as content grows, sometimes, forward planning hits a snag and this may have been forced on Freeview by Channel 5 wanting better coverage. This is a relatively easy fix for the vast majority of people - menu on your remote / setup / run initial installation OR automatically search for channels - both of these will refresh the receivers memory with the new and adjusted channels. Setup has been simplified and automated through the remote for many years now.
It is an issue I agree if your set top box wont re-tune, you have lost the remote or it is just too old. On the plus side Freeview boxes are practically given away in supermarkets now and built in to many TV's for a small premium so maybe its time to get a new one?