Is E4 off air? Channel 4 technical issues explained

Any fans of Hollyoaks or The Great British Bake Off may have noticed some issues watching their favorite programming over the past few days. 

Ever since a fire alarm went off at a West London broadcast center, a host of channels including Channel 4, E4 and More4 have had issues either displaying in people’s homes or doing so with full accessibility features such as subtitles.

As reported by the BBC, it seems that “activation of the fire suppression systems” at the broadcast centre led to issues – with both Channel 4 and More4 having gone off air entirely for a period of time. 

E4 seems to be experiencing continuing issues, too, with users on social media posting images of a purple “Off-Air” screen for the channel, and others mourning the inability to watch their favorite TV shows on E4 or the E4+1 catchup channel.

The latest messaging from Channel 4 cites problems showing “accessible versions of our shows”, too, with users citing “no subtitles” on certain shows. The problem is also affecting the on demand All 4 platform, too.

Comments on the Channel 4 Twitter account include a medley of other issues that the broadcaster is no doubt scrambling to address, from subscribers to an ad-free tier still being served advertisements, or voiceover and audio tracks feeling off-kilter.

What can I do?

For at-home viewers, there’s little you can do to troubleshoot your issues – so just keep in mind that fiddling with an aerial, or shouting down the phone at customer service, likely won’t do much for now. 

The myriad of issues suggests that a technical fix will be complex, and damaged broadcasting hardware – if a brief fire did manage to do some damage – will take longer than a couple of days to address.

However, the issues seem to be inconsistent across viewers, so some may fare better than others. We’d recommend checking back each day to see how your favorite channels are doing, or keeping an eye on the Channel 4 Twitter account, to see what the latest pronouncements are.

If you need a TV fix on the meantime, check out the best TV streaming services to consider spending your time on.