Two new channels on freeview - CH43 & CH202

I rescanned my freeview box today and it picked up two new channels. Channel 43 will be the new SKY3 +1 service, when Sky Sports News leaves freeview and CH202 appears to be a local dating service. My TV guide shows the name of the channel as ManchesterLove. I will post further updates when this is confirmed.

Thompson DTI6300 Top Up TV+ Digital TV Recorder - Review

The Thompson DTI6300 Top Up TV+ Digital TV Recorder is probably the best Freeview box around - I currently have two! Here are a few things you need to think aboiut before considering to buy one.

Good Points

1. They have a 160GB hard drive, enabling you to record hours of TV programmes.
2. Two tuners, so that you can watch one programme whilst recording another.
3. Attractive and easy-to-use menus and programme library.

Bad Points

1. Whilst fast-forwarding, the box may just suddenly rewind to a much earlier point!
2. Updates occuring at the same time as you're recording a programme - you'll get a message saying 'Recording Failed'

More to come very soon.

VIrgin 1 changes to Channel One

Next month, Virgin 1 will be rebranded, following Sky's aquisition of a number of Virgin's tv channels - these channels include Living and Bravo, not shown on freeview. The new name for the channel will simply be Channel One, which will still run the same type of programming as Virgin 1 - mostly re-runs of US shows.

I look forward to seeing the new channel, but can't help thinking that it's another chance for Sky to promote it's products onto us freeview viewers. We shall, invariably, see.

Sky Sports 1 & 2 now on Freeview

You can now watch sky sports 1 & 2 on freeview - signing up with top-up tv. The price to subscribe to one of these channels is £23.99 and to sign-up to both, it's £31.99. I registered on Monday, but didn't receive any pictures until Friday.

I was looking forward to watching Norwich v Watford, but it was shown on Sky Sports 3, so I missed out! Then, another live match on Saturday was shown, you guessed it, on SS3! I hope Sky wont be employing this sort of trick too often.

You can find the new channels on CH41 & CH42.

Dave Ja vu not working?

For the last few days, there has been nothing but a blank screen on Dave Ja Vu (channel 25). I had feared that we were losing this channel, but I now know that a simple rescan of your freeview box will fix this. So, don't worry, you can still get your repeats of Dragon's Den, repeated an hour later on Dave Ja Vu :)

Freeview losing Sky Sports News channel

Sky has announced that Sky Sports News will leave the Freeview platform later in the year and become an exclusively pay-TV channel.

Under the changes, Sky Sports News will become Sky3+1 on Freeview and offer an hour timeshift of the already available Sky3 channel.

From that point, Sky Sports News will only be available on Sky, Virgin Media and TalkTalk TV, along with Sky's online and mobile platforms.

Sky said that changing Sky Sports News to an exclusively pay-TV channel is about "allowing it to benefit from continued growth in subscription revenues".

Later in the year, the satellite broadcaster also plans to launch Sky Sports News HD, which will become the fifth HD channel in the Sky Sports bouquet. More details about the channel will be announced in "the weeks ahead".

Alongside the channel developments, Sky also plans to build on the "existing success" of Sky Sports News with increased editorial investment.

The extra financial support will help "bring customers even richer and broader coverage of sports news, as well as faster reaction to breaking stories wherever they happen".

Sky Sports managing director Barney Francis said: "Sky Sports News has been a great success over the last 12 years and we have big ambitions to make it even better.

"As part of a subscription service, customers can look forward to expanded coverage and the launch of Europe's first HD sports news service."

Last month, it emerged that Sky News had initiated plans to streamline its sports reporting team to foster greater collaboration with the Sky Sports News operation.

Al-Jazeera English coming to Freeview

Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera English (AJE) has confirmed plans to launch on the Freeview platform, which will double its UK audience.

From tomorrow, AJE will become available on the digital terrestrial television service, which is on the main TV set of over 10 million homes in the UK.

The channel is already available to around 10m British households on Sky and Freesat, where it launched in 2006 and 2008 respectively.

Following the Freeview launch, Al-Jazeera's English news channel will be able to reach around 80% of the UK population.

AJE will broadcast a mix of live news and sport daily from 6pm to 11pm on Freeview channel 89 from its studios in Doha, Washington DC and London.

The schedule will also include current affairs programmes The Rageh Omaar Report and Frost Over the World, which is hosted by Sir David Frost.

In a statement, Al-Jazeera Network director media development Al Anstey said: "This is a breakthrough for us, it will give us substantial reach to more than 80% of homes in the UK.

"At three-and-a-half years old we are steadily gaining the reputation and trust and loyalty of our viewers. We offer distinctive content and there is a real appetite for high quality news.

"The pain of the economy means the industry is less able to go out and do the job of covering news, this launch on Freeview shows our commitment."

The launch of AJE follows Sky's decision to pull its Sky Sports News channel from Freeview to be replaced by a timeshift of Sky3.

InView/4TV ends Freeview box EPG updates

InView Technology, the company which provides 14-day updates to Freeview electronic programming guides, has terminated the service to certain receivers.

Some members on Digital Spy's Personal Video Recorders forum yesterday reported problems with their PVRs accessing the advance EPG data supplied by the InView-owned 4TV.

The company provides EPG updates to a variety of Freeview boxes, including several manufactured by Digifusion and two from Inverto, along with the Thomson DHD4000 and Sony SVR-S500.

However, InView/4TV has confirmed that the service has now been discontinued, with the final update providing EPG information until July 7.

A statement from InView/4TV, posted by DS forum member Albertd, said: "Unfortunately we are discontinuing the service as we are no longer able to have access to the delivery method that has been available until now.

"I know that this is not good news for you so I can only deeply apologise for your loss of service in advance. Your box should otherwise operate normally and have the now-and-next option."

When DS contacted the company, a representative said that the contract to distribute the updates has ended and so it no longer has access to the necessary bandwidth to maintain the service.

InView/4TV is also not thought to be in negotiations to renew the contract, meaning that the updates will most likely never return for the affected receivers.

The removal of EPG updates for the PVRs means that their recording functionality is significantly reduced as the box will not provide any advance programme information.

Users will have to rely on the EPG's now-or-next function or manually enter the date, time and channel number of the programme that they want to record.

Despite the situation with 4TV, InView will continue to supply advance EPG information to the following boxes: Thomson/Ferguson FDT2000, Grundig GDT2000, Grundig 1500T, Alba STB8, Pacific, Technika, Technosonic, Bush DFTA2, Bush DFTA1000, Audioline, HCW, Tivion, Dansai, April, Digilogic, Durabrand, Goodmans, Logik, Matsui DTR-3, Techwood, Bush DFTA3, Daewoo DS700, Matsui TUTV1, Ferguson FDT2500, Astratec TOPD1, TOPD2, TOPD3 and newer models.