Help Receiving BBC TV and Radio

Digital TV – Terrestrial (Freeview)

Digital terrestrial TV (DTT) in the UK is delivered free to air by Freeview. You receive Freeview via an aerial and you can get it on its own, or as part of a subscription package from Top Up TV or BT Vision.

For the latest information about changes to the Freeview service, see Freeview news .

Typical DTT reception problems include picture break-up (pixelation) or freezing, clicking sounds, sound dropping out and no reception at all. You may also find that interactive services (red button) aren't working, channels are missing, or you're receiving channels from the wrong region.

To try to work out what's wrong, go through the checklists below.

Picture break-up (pixelation) or freezing, clicking sounds, sound dropping out, no reception at all

Digital TV pixelation

Is it only your TV that's affected? If possible, check with neighbours or another TV connected to a different aerial. If only your TV is affected, the problem is likely to be in your TV, digital box or aerial. If other TVs are affected, it's more likely to be caused by work at your local transmitter, or possibly the weather.
There may be a glitch in the software, so try restarting your digital box or TV .
Digital switchover means a lot of work at transmitters. Check Digital UK's (External) Planned Engineering Works for news about your local transmitter.
Check your TV. Are the leads at the back - to the mains, the aerial, the digital box, the video or DVD player or recorder, etc - properly connected? Are the plugs secure?
Any of these problems could be a sign of a weak signal. DTT comes to your TV via an aerial, so your aerial may need repairing or upgrading, it may be pointing (even slightly) in the wrong direction, or the aerial or aerial lead may be broken. See TV aerials and connections .
Very occasionally, unusual atmospheric conditions (high air pressure) may cause picture break-up or even complete loss of reception. There is nothing anyone can do about this and the only solution is to wait for the weather to change.
High wind or heavy rain may cause problems in certain circumstances. See The effects of weather .
Do you notice a problem only when equipment such as your boiler or washing-machine is operating? See Electrical interference .
Do you know of an outside source of interference such as an illegal broadcaster (pirate radio)? See Radio interference .

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Missing channels

If channels you think should have are missing, try retuning your digital box or TV . Channels on Freeview also change from time to time - new ones are added, some are removed and others move to different channel numbers or multiplexes. It's worth retuning your digital box or TV every so often to make sure you're up to date.

After retuning, if channels are still missing:

Check Digital UK's (External) Planned Engineering Works to see if there is work taking place at your local transmitter.
There may be a glitch in the software, so try rebooting your digital box or TV .
Check the full list of channels in the UK national multiplexes . If all the channels in one of these multiplexes are missing, the problem may be in your aerial. See TV aerials and connections .
If you can receive some of the channels in a multiplex but not all, the problem is more likely to be in your set-top box or digital TV. Please contact your retailer or the equipment's manufacturer.

Interactive services (red button) not working

There may be a glitch in the software, so try rebooting your digital box or TV . For more information, see Interactive TV .

Channels from the wrong region

If your area is covered by more than one digital transmitter, your digital box or TV may pick up signals from the wrong one. Make sure your aerial is in good condition and pointing towards the correct transmitter. See TV aerials and connections .
If you are confident about setting up your digital box or TV, you can manually retune it to the correct channels. See your instruction manual for details, or contact the manufacturer. To find the channels and transmitter for your area, use the Digital UK postcode checker and tick the box marked "I am in the aerial installation trade".

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