Freesat’s Big Reshuffle: 20+ Channels Find New Homes

Freesat viewers, brace yourselves for a major round of channel musical chairs: The subscription-free satellite TV platform has just announced its latest batch of changes, which already took place today (October 1).

Unlike Freeview, Freesat changes don’t usually require a rescan (or retune in Freeview’s case), which means many viewers were puzzled this morning, looking for their lost channels.

More than 20 channels have moved in today’s reshuffle, with some significant shifts catching viewers off guard.

For instance, Quest HD has leapt from 167 to 144, while Sky Mix HD now occupies 141 instead of 144. Popular channels like Challenge, Sky Arts, and DMAX have also found new homes on the EPG (see the full list below).

Freesat’s Year of Ups and (Mostly) Downs

2024 hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for Freesat. Remember the Great Channel Exodus of February? In a move that left many scratching their heads (and reaching for the remote), Freesat bid farewell to nine channels overnight.

The Great! family of channels, including Great! Movies and Great! TV, along with the POP kids’ channels, vanished overnight from the platform, without any prior warning.

June then brought us the “Great App Downgrade of 2024”, when Freesat decided to scrap the ability to set recordings via their mobile app.

The explanation given was “internal systems changes”, and many longtime users were left frustrated.

Then, in May, five music channels left Freesat (as well as Sky and Virgin Media) – 4Music, The Box, Kiss, Magic, and Kerrang!.

The Uncertain Road Ahead

While Freesat is still a staple in many UK homes, its future isn’t as clear-cut as we might hope. Ofcom’s May report highlighted some interesting challenges for the platform.

For one, Freesat’s fate seems to be closely tied to Sky’s decisions. Both use the same satellites, operated by SES.

If Sky decides to fully embrace streaming services like Sky Glass and Sky Stream, it could leave Freesat in a tricky spot. Maintaining satellite infrastructure isn’t cheap, and it might become too costly for Freesat to manage alone.

Adding to this, Freesat boxes haven’t seen many significant updates recently. In the fast-paced world of TV tech, this lack of innovation raises some eyebrows.

Earlier this year, we also saw the launch of Freely – the broadband-based free TV service (from Everyone TV – the same company that operates Freesat and Freeview), which aims to possibly replace Freeview and Freesat in the future, and – at the moment – doesn’t work on any TVs or devices that support Freesat.

It’s worth noting that Freesat serves about 1 million UK homes, so any changes could have a big impact.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, and Freesat might yet find new ways to adapt and thrive. In a few weeks, Freesat viewers are also getting a new channel – UKTV’s Eden, which used to be a pay-TV premium channel.

The Great Freesat Channel Shuffle of October 2024

Now, onto the main event – the channel changes. Grab your remotes and prepare for some number-crunching, because Freesat is giving us a fresh new lineup.

Here’s the full rundown:

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