North Sutherland TVs may need re-tuning as airwaves cleared for faster broadband

Residents in parts of North Sutherland and Caithness, with freeview TVs or boxes, who are served by the Rumster Forest transmitter will soon need to retune their equipment.

This will be on 24 April as local airwaves are cleared for the roll-out of faster mobile broadband.

Technical changes at the transmitter group, affecting around 22,000 homes, will free up frequencies for the future introduction of fourth-generation mobile services.

Between now and the end of 2013, similar upgrades will be made at a number of transmitters across the UK to prepare for 4G.

TV services will be subject to disruption from midnight as channels including Film4, Yesterday and ITV4 are moved to new frequencies. Work at the main transmitter is expected to be completed by 6am and viewers can retune at any point after this.

Services at other local transmitters may experience short breaks until mid-morning.

Once services resume, anyone missing channels should retune their TV or digital box to get them back.

Digital UK is launching an information campaign to make viewers aware of the need to retune, including local advertising and messages on screen.

David Scott, Chief Executive of Digital UK, said: “It’s a good idea to retune your Freeview TV or box regularly to make sure your channel list is up to date. It usually only takes a few minutes but if anyone is unsure what to do, there’s plenty of information available on our website or from our advice line team.”

Viewers can check if they need to retune and the TV services predicted to be available at their address both now and in the future by using the coverage checker at digitaluk.co.uk