Freeview changes

[epsilon]

Originally Posted by Media Boy UK

UPDATE:

It been reported on Digital Spy Forum that ITV has given a CITV Channel broadcasting hours to sister channel ITVBe+1 which now runs from 5am to 9pm on SDN.

It is difficult to make any sense of the information ITV supply on Freeview as far as their timeshares go. It would seem that ITV4+1 switched from a 5am-6am slot to 4am-5am with ITVBe+1 moving from 4am-5am to 5am-6am but extending into the former CITV timeslot so, as you say, now 5am-9pm. One day ITV may update the slates and EPG to reflect the actual hours. Maybe they will also add working hbbTV slates to accompany the MHEG ones. Then owners of newer TVs wouldn't just get a confusing channel "not available" message.

[Media Boy UK]

Today changes on Freeview:

New Channel Launches:
*286. NHK World
*287. Newsmax

Channels on the move:
*68. RealityXtra (Was Channel 69)
*69. HorrorXtra (Was Channel 68)

Channel Closures:
*273. Al Arabiya

[cheekyangus]

Originally Posted by Media Boy UK

Today changes on Freeview:

New Channel Launches:
*286. NHK World
*287. Newsmax

Channels on the move:
*68. RealityXtra (Was Channel 69)
*69. HorrorXtra (Was Channel 68)

Channel Closures:
*273. Al Arabiya

These swapped multiplexes according to UKDTT and therefore Reality has an increased coverage and Horror has a reduced coverage area.

[epsilon]

Originally Posted by cheekyangus

These swapped multiplexes according to UKDTT and therefore Reality has an increased coverage and Horror has a reduced coverage area.

Possibly one of the weirdest changes ever
SID 34112 on the local mux changed from carrying RealityXtra to carrying HorrorXtra
SID 14456 on COM4/SDN changed from carrying HorrorXtra to carrying RealityXtra

Meanwhile the LCN and CLM channel numbers were different for a while until things caught up and the EPG details were mirrored for each channel. RealityXtra has increased coverage and some viewers will have lost HorrorXtra if they aren't in a local mux coverage area.

The Al Arabiya channel closing on 273 is the VisionTV stand alone version (the newer Synapse TV version of Al Arabiya continues on channel 275). Channels 272 & 273 have been promising new services coming soon for quite a while, with nothing actually showing up. They have possibly exceeded the amount of time allowed to stay on the EPG without carrying a service. 272 remains under its old name Asharq News (again replaced by a Synapse TV service on 274). Still promising a new service coming soon but also launching into an old Superman cartoon. Very odd but it probably allows them to hang onto the EPG slot for a while longer.