Free-to-air digital TV provider Freeview has blamed the British weather for issues that have affected viewing during Christmas week.
The Downdetector website has been besieged with more than 5,000 reports of outages that have interrupted viewing on terrestrial channels like BBC, ITV and Channel 4 during the festive period. Some are complaining of distorted pictures, while others say channels themselves are completely unavailable.
The provider says high-pressure weather conditions in areas like Wales, south-west England, south-east England, East Anglia, parts of the Midlands and Yorkshire are responsible for the outages and poor picture reception.
Related: What is Freeview Play?
“At the moment, it looks as though these conditions may continue throughout the week,” Freeview said in a statement (via BBC). The provider also urged television owners not to attempt to retune their television sets and that normal service should be resumed once the high-pressure subsides.
In the meantime, Freeview is advising viewers to turn to IPTV platforms like the iPlayer and ITV Player in order to account for the shortfall. Anyone with a smart TV or set top box of note should be able to access live feeds from those channels by using the official applications. The Freeview app is also an alternative.
The number of complaints seem to be falling somewhat throughout the day, suggesting the issues are lessening as the weather conditions ease.
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Not all viewers are happy with the explanation, despite the weather being somewhat out of Freeview’s control. Commenting on Downdetector, user Poundbury wrote: “Freeview is worth exactly what one pays for it – nothing.”
Another user seemed to struggle with the concept of Freeview, demanding compensation for the outages. The clue is in the name, fella.
Has your Christmas week telly marathon been ruined by the recent Freeview issues? Let us know @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
