Final ITV1 HD changes: Some Sky/Freesat receivers may need reboot

[dutchman]

After a project spanning five years, the final changes to ITV’s satellite signal are taking place



Some Sky and Freesat viewers in London, the West Midlands and South East may need to reboot their satellite receiver if they lose access to ITV1 HD on channel 103.

ITV is completing a frequency change on satellite bringing to an end a project that rolled out all ITV1 regions in HD via satellite.

ITV1’s Central West, London and Meridian East regions are moving across to new frequencies, following on from similar frequency changes affecting all other ITV1 HD regions last year.

Sky and Freesat receivers will receive an over the air update, which should mean most viewers won’t need to do anything.

However, last year’s ITV satellite frequency changes did result in a small number of receivers not automatically updating, resulting in a blank screen on ITV1 channel 103 when the old frequency was turned off.

That’s expected to happen again to a small number of Sky and Freesat receivers again this month.

How to restore missing channels

If you lose access to ITV1 HD on channel 103 on Sky and Freesat, but other channels are still there, a receiver reboot may help.

Sky has detailed guides on its website on how to reboot your Sky+HD or Sky Q box.

Freesat meanwhile has a guide on restarting a Freesat box that is missing channels, for users with its latest receiver range. For older receivers, consult your instruction manual.

On Freesat boxes, it may also be possible to restore channels by completing a rescan. The ‘Freesat Channels’ or ‘rescan’ option is found in the installation menu on Freesat receivers. Instructions for newer receivers can be found on the Freesat website.

Viewers in the Republic of Ireland, where ITV isn’t on the main Sky channel list will need to manually tune in the affected ITV1 HD regions again using the new tuning parameters. The regions have been broadcasting on both old and new frequencies for the past month in preparation for the switch.