Discovery has taken on additional capacity on Freeview, allowing it to expand a timeshift of Quest to a full-time service
The carriage deal sees Quest+1 (channel 76) move to Arqiva's COM5 multiplex, meaning some viewers may need to retune to continue accessing the service beyond the end of this month.
As part of the new deal, Quest+1 moves from being a part-time service to a full-time service - it was previously only broadcast after 7pm on Freeview, using a chunk of previously available capacity on the ITV-owned SDN Freeview multiplex. With the move Quest+1 is taking over capacity left vacant by Sony Pictures Television handing back national Freeview slots earlier this year following changes to its Crime channel.
The change also affects users of BT TV, Plusnet TV and TalkTalk TV, which combine Freeview services on channels 1-299 with internet delivered channels from channel 300.
With a focus on factual programming, Quest was Discovery's first free-to-air channel in the UK and launched almost a decade ago on the 30th September 2009, following a delay that pushed the launch back from May 2009. In the past ten years, Discovery has been rapidly acquiring other broadcasters and channels, including Scripps Networks and three channels from UKTV. At the same time, it has negotiated a looser carriage deal with Sky allowing it to launch more free-to-air services.
As a result, Discovery now has eight standard definition slots and one HD slot on Freeview.
- Quest
- Quest+1
- Quest Red
- Quest Red+1 (limited UK coverage)
- DMAX
- Food Network
- Home
- Really
- Quest HD (limited UK coverage)
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2019 9:57 pm