Freeview Channel ‘Court TV’ Surprisingly Shuts Down

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Court TV, the American channel that’s dedicated to live, real-life courtroom broadcasts, has been removed from Freeview – less than four months after its launch. 

The channel, which has been airing in the US in a variety of formats since 1991, provides viewers access to, and analysis of, true-life courtroom dramas taking place in the US, from opening proceedings, gavel-to-gavel, all the way through to the verdict. 

Court TV’s on-air team of anchors, legal correspondents and veteran crime and justice journalists, all of whom are lawyers, offer daily insight and analysis, along with opinion, discussion and debate.

The Jinx murder trial court tv
The Jinx murder trial (Photo: Court TV)

In September, Court TV launched in the UK – first on Sky and then later in the year on Freesat.

For UK audiences, Court TV also added special local content to explain the differences between the two country’s systems, including why cameras are allowed in courtrooms in the US but not in the UK.

Then, in February 2021, Court TV launched on Freeview, on Channel 89.

One of the highlights of Court TV in recent months, has been the trial of Derek Chauvin, as part of the George Floyd killing proceedings.

I Cant Breathe court tv title

Court TV had live broadcasts from the trial, as well as documentaries that covered the case.

Today (Tuesday), however, and somewhat out of the blue – the Court TV Freeview channel has been removed from the platform, with an on-screen message saying ‘The service has now closed.’

A notice from Freeview simply says that “Court TV will no longer be available on Freeview from 1 June 2021”.

“From this date you will see a ‘The service has now closed’ message which will run until 22 June 2021 when it is removed from the TV guide”

According to Freeview, the decision was made by the broadcaster. 

We approached Court TV for official comment, and will update this article accordingly.

For now, it appears the channel is still available on its other two UK platforms – Sky (Channel 179) and Freesat (Channel 177).

You can also stream a live version of the channel on your browser, on Court TV’s website.

35 thoughts on “Freeview Channel ‘Court TV’ Surprisingly Shuts Down”

  1. What the hell is Sky? Is it available anywhere in the US? Is it free? Where can myself and others find information about Sky if you don’t mind telling us please? Thank you

    Reply
    • Sky is a satellite TV service that operates in the UK (and several other European countries) and is not available in the US (though it is owned by Comcast).

      Reply
  2. Not everyone has sky or internet at home especially with people being furlowed and out of work, I find this decision to take it off freeview is depriving to us all, seeing the real life court cases that people never see unless you subscribe to sky etc. Big fish making more money I guess!!

    Reply
    • If you have CBS Reality then you could watch a court show called judge judy or i could record court tv on yt for a show then you could watch it.

      Reply
    • The article at https://rxtvinfo.com/2021/court-tv-ends-freeview-service is very enlightening as it claims that the CiourtTV deal was only ever temporary, using capacity on ta temporary Com7 Freeview mux, which apparently will be decommissioned over the next year. Looks like it was a cheap way for CourtTV to gain further UK exposure given they were carrying the Derek Chauvin trial.

      So it looks like in my case I will have to resort to streaming or Youtube as I have no desire to purchase satellite infrastructure for FreeSat. Pesonally I wouldn’t be surprised if CourtTV eventually does a “bait and switch” and make the channel “paid subscription” for UK viewers.

      The only winner in all this is my wife, who acused me of neglecting her for CourtTV over the course of the Derek Chauvin trial 🙂

      Reply
  3. Please can you bring back Court tv .The only channel I watch that enhanced my interest in the judicial system. It gave me a good I nsight and I plan to study law as I learned so much.

    Reply
  4. It’s gone the way of Vintage TV and motors TV. Such a shame these have gone also. Good channels. Hope you enjoy watching crap on freeview.

    Reply
    • It’s mostly “crap” on all the platforms, especially Court TV and the like .
      Surely, people have better things to do with their time .
      Only football and Eastenders are worse

      Reply
  5. At last had found a real life programme where you had the chance to really see what happens in a criminal case and they take it off screen!! Please bring this back so I can dump all the rubbish I am left with.

    Reply
  6. I am devastated court tv has gone off freeview watch every day so interesting big cases may not be able to watch the r Kelly cases due to be sown

    Reply
  7. Bring it back! You let us taste great tv and now the channel is no more, for once i didn’t mind paying for my tv license because there was actually something decent to watch!!!

    Reply

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