Just when you thought it was safe to leave your Freeview retuning button alone, two music channels – NOW 70s and NOW 80s – are changing again, swapping places, and becoming unavailable to some.
The two Freeview music channels, dedicated to music from the ’70s and ’80s, are changing places for the third time this year (unless we’ve lost count).
As always, the change means some viewers will need to retune their Freeview devices (see more details below), in order to keep the Electronic Programmes Guide (EPG) up to date – though some devices can do this retune automatically (See our recommended Freeview recorders here).
The Freeview service, which was established back in 2002, is the United Kingdom’s terrestrial television platform.
It provides free-to-air TV channels and radio stations (via a Freeview aerial – see the ones we recommend), including more than 80 standard and HD channels (See our full Freeview guide here).
The NOW ’70s / Now ’80s Reshuffle
The NOW ’70s channel is dedicated to hits from the ’70s, with Disco and Punk, New Wave and Funk, and other genres that were popular in that era.
It broadcasts from 07:00 to 22:00, and is available on Freeview, as well as on Sky and Virgin Media.
The NOW ’80s channel broadcasts 24/7, and is all about music from the ’80s, with a lot of synth-pop, soft rock and new romantics. It’s also available on Freeview, Sky and Virgin Media.
Back in January, amidst a major Freeview reshuffle, NOW 70s and NOW 80s changed their channel numbers, with ’70s moving to channel 78, and ’80s moving to channel 76.
Then, in April, the two channels swapped places again – with NOW ’70s moving to Channel 76, and NOW ’80s moving to Channel 75.
Furthermore, the ’70s channel became available nationwide (where before it was only available in the Manchester area), and NOW ’80s became available only in the Manchester area.
This week, things are changing yet again, starting from August 25:
NOW ’70s is moving to Channel 75, and will again only be available in the Manchester area.
NOW ’80s is moving to Channel 76, and will now be available nationwide.
However, do note that NOW ’80s is now only available on HD Freeview devices (so most Smart TVs, and Freeview HD / Play boxes such as the Manhattan T3-R or Humax FVP-5000t).
If you have an older Freeview device that DOESN’T support HD, you will no longer be able to watch NOW ’80.
This doesn’t mean the channel broadcasts in Full HD – just that you need an HD Freeview device to be able to watch it.
Retune Your Freeview Device
As usual, these changes may require a retune on your device – otherwise, your channels list may not be up to date.
Some devices do a retune automatically, but others require a manual retune.
You can find more information on how to retune your device, on Freeview’s retuning help section.
Where has all the music gone from channel box 271 used to get about 5 now down to 1