Country music television station Keep It Country has left Freeview, blaming the high cost of transmission on the platform.
However, from 1st July it will be included as a streamed channel on internet connected Freeview devices, as part of the Vision TV channel portal on channel 264.
The channel is also expect to rebrand to Spotlight TV on 1st July, with the name change reflecting the fact the other music genres now also form a part of the channel.
The Sky and Freesat service remains unchanged.
Sony has made further changes to its television channels.
Children’s channel Pop Max has left the Comux multiplex that broadcasts the local television channels, but is continuing on other platforms.
The Sony Crime Channel is to become only available on Sky and Virgin Media. The channel has been withdrawn from Freesat, and will only be available on Freeview in Manchester (channel 60). From 1st July, the channel will refocus on factual programming, absorbing some of the content previously available on Sony Crime Channel 2, and True Crime.
Sony Crime Channel was launched 18 months ago, and replaced the Sony Channel.
True Crime will leave Sky (satellite) and Virgin Media (cable), at the end of programming on the 30th June. The channel was reinstated in February, replacing the UK version of the TruTV channel. True Crime is also available on Freeview in Manchester, but it is unclear whether this outlet will continue.
Meanwhile on Freeview, True Entertainment and True Movies and will be reducing their coverage area from midday tomorrow. A re-tune will be required for viewers remaining within the coverage area to be able to continue to receive these services. However, both will gain a more prominent channel number with True Entertainment moving from channel 61 to 48, and True Movies moving channel 62 to 50.
Movies4Men+1 and Sony Movies+1 currently occupy slots 48 and 50 on Freeview (respectively), and it is unclear what will happen to these channels. A move to numbers 61 and 62, would seem likely.
All of the channels mentioned above are owned by Sony Pictures Television.
Al Jazeera has ceased broadcasting its Freeview HD version following the introduction of a new standard definition version on channel 235.
With the new version being on a different frequency, more viewers can access the channel of Freeview. The channel will continue to be available following the introduction of 5G mobile phone services, as the HD version of the channel was on a temporary frequency that is to be re-used for 5G.
Whilst reduction of picture quality is a downside, this is far outweighed by the boost in coverage area.
As expected, Quest has now inherited the number 12 slot on Freeview, previously used by Dave and briefly Home. Home can now be found on number 42, whilst DMAX has now been promoted the channel 37, the old number for Quest.
Viewers who receive these channels may need to retune for the channels to move to their correct positions. Some receivers will make these changes automatically.
Satellite provider Sky has reorganised the International channels on its EPG. Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali and Arabic language channels are now group together, with new numbers assigned to them.
Viewers don’t need to take any action, as the changes will take place automatically. Series links will be unaffected.
A full list of the channels and their numbers can be found on Sky’s website.
As part of the split of UKTV, some Freeview channels will be changing numbers on Monday (10th June). This is part of the deal between the BBC and Discovery, with Discovery receiving the channel number 12.
Home, due to be acquired by Discovery, will take over channel 12 from Dave, which returns to its original number 19. Yesterday will in turn move from 19 to 25, which is the current ‘home’ of Home. Dave and Yesterday are to become part of the BBC’s commercial arm BBC Studios.
It is expected that Home will only be on channel 12 for a short time, with Discovery’s Quest likely to take over the slot.
