Freeview Channels

Last updated on September 3, 2017
Freeview is an operator of free digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom, using the DVB-T and DVB-T2 standards. The Freeview brand name, owned by DTV Services, is used to promote free digital terrestrial television services as a whole and those services operated by companies who rent capacity from Freeview Consortium shareholders.

Re-tuning

Common Freeview problems such as missing channels and incorrect channel numbers are due to the frequent multiplex changes implemented by Freeview. Freeview viewers need to re-tune their TVs or boxes from time to time to receive the latest channel line-up.

Some set top boxes will automatically advise when re-tuning is necessary and an on-screen retuning menu appears. Delete the current EPG Channel List on your set top box or IDTV and then carry out a full channel re-installation using your Freeview boxes “automatic” or “manual” channel installation mode. Automatic tuning is often referred to as ‘Auto Set Up’, or ”Factory Reset’ or full ‘Auto Tune’, depending on the make or model of the TV or set top box.

Manual channel tuning mode allows channel search and installation by UHF channel number and is recommended in areas where Freeview signals from more than one transmitter can be received.

Freeview Lite

Com4, Com5 & Com6 Com7 and Com8 are not available in Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands & the Isle of Man. Only PSB multiplexes are available in these areas.
Viewers should consider supplementing Freeview with a satellite option (Freesat or Sky).

Website: www.freeview.co.uk

For more information on Freeview (DTT) see:

Complete table of DTT UK London (digitalbitrate.com)

Freeview Channels and Channel Numbers (KSL Technical)

List of DTT channels in the United Kingdom (Wikipedia)

Bitrates on Freeview HD (Nigel Whitfield’s digital TV & technology blog)

How signal stregth, quality and bitrate relate (UK Free TV)

For frequencies & multiplexes, see www.terrestrialtv.uk

Freeview Bitrates

TV bitrates are variable (Variable Bitrate – VBR), as services are carried in a multiplex and are usually statistically multiplexed within that. The various platforms, satellite and Freeview have different channels and data capacities per mux, so this adds another variable.
The total bitrate available for all the HD channels on Freeview is around 40 Mbits/second. HD Multiplexes are set up so that each channel has a variable amount of capacity, of between 3 and 17Mbits/second.

Bitrates change depending on the complexities of the pictures of all the channels on that individual multiplex. DVB-T2 multiplexes make more efficient use of available bandwidth than DVB-T multiplexes, though High Definition (HD) channels require more bandwidth than Standard Definition (SD) channels.
Fast moving complex pictures require a higher bitrates in order to give good picture quality, whereas slow moving, more static, less complex pictures need a lower bitrate.

Computer controlled algorithms determine the bitrate for each channel on the multiplex and therefore the bitrate is constantly changing for each channel depending on the complexity of that channel’s picture as well as the pictures on all the other channels on that multiplex.
Listed in the table are the average and maximum bitrates for the listed broadcasters, only Free-To-Air channels are listed.

Freeview Radio

There are currently 29 stations available nationally on Freeview, these include both BBC and commercial radio stations.
Channel numbers are liable to change without notice and bitrates can also change from time to time.

Freeview radio quality on most BBC national radio stations is 192 kbps, though this is an acceptable quality, it is still not as good as FM.
Voice quality is almost identical between Freeview and FM, speech does not make great demands on bandwidth.

However, when music becomes more demanding, with more background instruments playing at the same time, FM still provides a much more enjoyable listening experience.
It is not that FM is better than Freeview, it is more to do with bandwidth limitations and the bitrates broadcasters use on the platform.
Currently all radio stations are on DVB-T multiplexes using older less efficient MPEG 2 encoding.

As is the case with DAB, Freeview is a space constricted platform with a limited number of multiplexes. Freeview will never be able to offer the same range of stations available on other UK platforms.