Just ahead of this weekend’s Glastonbury coverage, BBC Three HD moves up the Freeview channel list in England and Northern Ireland. But it will still be behind BBC Four HD on the list.
Viewers on most Freeview HD TVs and boxes will see BBC Three HD move from channel 109 to 107 following a major update to the Freeview channel list on Wednesday 21st June.
With the change, BBC Three HD takes over the slot previously used by BBC News HD until its removal from Freeview a year ago. Its new slot is one below BBC Four HD, on channel 106, meaning the two channels are still in the wrong order on the channel list, a result of the BBC’s prior decision to remove BBC Three HD in 2016.
BBC Three will show live coverage from Glastonbury on Friday and Saturday night. Highlights include performances from Carly Rae Jepsen, Fred Again, Tom Grennan & Aitch.
Not in Scotland or Wales
BBC Three HD isn’t available from transmitters in Scotland or in Wales because the Freeview bandwidth there is used for either BBC Scotland HD or S4C HD. As a result, only the standard definition (SD) version of BBC Three is available on channel 23.
Viewers with newer Freeview devices
For viewers with a newer Freeview Play device, BBC Three HD is also available on channel 23 in England and Northern Ireland. This follows the rollout of a new HD/SD channel substitution across BBC channels. However, only selected TVs manufactured in the last couple of years support this channel swap.
Marc Thornham