Freeview has confirmed that it has managed to upgrade its temporary mast, returning service to a number of areas, including Peterlee. It hasn’t revealed exactly how many homes can now expect to see the return of terrestrial channels from the BBC, Channel 4, ITV, as well as national radio stations. Unfortunately, there are still a number of areas that will receive nothing by static over the airwaves.
For those who don’t know, the vast outage, which people living throughout North Yorkshire, Teesside and County Durham, was caused by a major fire at the Bilsdale transmitter, located on the North York Moors, on August 10, 2021. A huge blaze that engulfed the vast mast, which stands over 314 metres (1,030ft) tall, on August 10 caused Freeview TV channels as well as DAB and FM radio signals to vanish from the airwaves. Thousands of people have been left without access to television and radio channels from the BBC, as well as terrestrial channels from ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky Arts, Dave, and more.
Earlier this week, Freeview revealed that firefighters had managed to access the base of the Bilsdale mast for the first time since the fire. According to the broadcaster, “The Fire Service have now been able to access the base of the Bilsdale mast for the first time since the fire broke out. This means the process of assessing the condition of the mast itself can begin. There are no findings to report at this stage and we will update as soon as we are able.”
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Freeview hopes to restore normal service by August 28, 2021 with a stop-gap measure at the Bilsdale site. Due to the complexities of fixing the transmitter, a permanent fix might take a little longer. The fact that it has taken a week before the fire service were able to even gain access the base of the transmitter hints at the devastation caused by the blaze.
In the meantime, a temporary transmitter close to the Bilsdale site has been fitted to try to restore television and radio for as many people as possible. Clearly, this temporary solution doesn’t have the same scale as the original 300-metre transmitter, leaving some areas without any coverage. However, Freeview has been working hard to boost the signal from the Eston Nab transmitter to return service to as many homes as possible.
Eston Nab, which is around 20 miles from the Bilsdale mast, has successfully been upgraded to return signal to more people.
In an update shared today, Freeview confirmed: “Since 10th August, engineers have been able to restore some signal to hundreds of thousands of homes across the region by installing a temporary transmitter tower at Eston Nab. This has now been upgraded, and from 19th August more areas are able to receive a signal from Eston Nab.”
Just because you still can’t see Freeview TV channels on your television, doesn’t mean that service hasn’t been temporarily restored in your area.
Freeview is advising that a retune might be necessary to see everything on your set-top box again. Freeview has a number of tutorials on how to automatically retune your Smart TV or set-top box, here.
If service hasn’t been restored in your local area, it’s possible to watch online, using services like Freeview Play, BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, and more.
If you usually tune-in to Freeview using a Smart TV, you’ll be able to access all of these apps. Alternatively, you can watch Freeview via its companion app on smartphones and tablets, which is available on iOS and Android.
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