Everyone TV — the organisation behind Freeview and its successor, Freely — has announced a slew of changes that rolled-out to Smart TVs and set-top boxes nationwide in the last few days. It cautions viewers: "On 18th September 2024 some broadcasters are making important changes to their channels. You will need to retune to update your TV and keep your channels and TV Guide up to date."
Rewind TV made its debut on Freeview Channel 95 following a successful roll-out across Sky TV boxes on May 23. The nostalgic new channel is a passion project for these two telly enthusiasts and is designed to replaicate traditional linear viewing experience — eschewing the on-demand catalogues that have proven so popular with modern streaming services, like Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, ITVX, and Netflix.
It's packed with classic shows like Worzel Gummidge, Whose Line Is It Anyway, Tony Hancock, and The Charmer starring Nigel Havers is also available plus you can sit back and view factual series as well such as Whicker’s World and World in Action.
But it's not the only new addition with the latest Freeview update.
Religious channel Sonlife has been added on Channel 96. Technically, this channel was already part of Freeview, but it was only available via streaming, so you'd need to connect your Freeview TV to Wi-Fi or ethernet to enable it. Dubbed Freeview Play, this is also the system that enables ctahc-up via BBC iPlayer, Channel 4, and other streamers.
Movie channel Wedo Movies has also been added in the latest refresh. Available on Channel 275, this one is only accessible to those with a connected Freeview Play device. Freeview HD TV can now watch a range of movies directly via its standalone channel. Like the newly-launched Tubi, this ad-supported streamer is free to watch and comes packed with titles like Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, I.T starring Pierce Brosnan, Maladies, 24 Hour Party People, 30 Days Of Night, and The Getaway, to name just a few.
Tiny Pop had announced plans to shift focus to popular streaming platforms, like Samsung TV Plus, Rakuten, YouTube, LG TV, and Netgem TV ...but it's since returned to traditional broadcast methods, like Freeview TVs
TINY POP PRESS OFFICEBut it's not all good news. Mech+, which has become the streaming home of Robot Wars, has been removed from Channel 276. And GREAT! Real, a reality telly-centric channel that shuttered last month on Channel 61 to make room for the resurrection of children’s channel Tiny POP.
As long as you're covered with a valid TV licence, everything on Freeview is — as the name suggests — free-to-air. Even with the best Sky Glass deals, you'll need to pay a subscription to continue watching each month. That's not the case with Freeview.
Earlier this year, Tiny Pop announced plans to ditch traditional broadcast methods in favour of streaming — an industry-wide trend.
It's not the only one to dump broadcast for broadband, with Channel 4 outlining radical new plans to shutter five of its Freeview channels and instead consider its streaming service before approving any new commissions. ITV has also shaken up its broadcast business in a race to meet its ambitious target of 2.5 million ITVX Premium subscribers by 2026. Elsewhere, the pivot to internet-powered television across the UK has seen Sky dramatically scale back the number of engineers in the company as 90% of new customers who join opt for a broadband-powered system, like Sky Glass, or one of the best Sky Stream deals.
Such is the shift towards broadband-powered telly that 30 organisations, including the Digital Poverty Alliance and Rural Services Network, formed a campaign called Broadcast 2040+ to warn about the dangers of abandoning traditional broadcasts.
But Tiny Pop has bucked the trend by returning to Freeview TVs without an active internet connection. Yes, anyone can now watch shows like Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck, Hello Kitty: Super Style! and Masha and the Bear on the child-friendly channel without the need to connect their television to a Wi-Fi connection.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Freeview always recommends that users retune their devices to guarantee that all of the changes have been applied.
Some Freeview devices will retune automatically once an update is available, but if you're missing some of the new arrivals listed above, or the channel numbers in your TV Guide don't reflect the latest changes, it's worth following the step-by-step guide to retune Freeview Smart TVs and set-top boxes below.
Your box might check whether you're happy for existing channels to be deleted as part of the retune process – that's normal since the box will need to wipe the existing TV Guide before it can replace it with the new channels and rebranded ones.
Freeview is the most popular free-to-watch provider in the UK, with 16 million homes watching content via its service on Smart TVs and streaming boxes.
