Viewers in six regions will be able to watch their regional news on BBC One from this Wednesday, with remaining regions due by the end of April.
Messaging has begun to appear on Freeview channel 101 in the affected regions, which includes London, East and West Midlands and Yorkshire.
A small number of receivers may need retuning, as implied by the on-screen message. But some receivers will automatically process the change. Non-HD receivers are not affected.
Other parts of England, plus the Isle of Man (North West region) follow in April.
Once each region is upgraded, the red ‘switch to BBC One SD’ slate will be removed once and for all. BBC One regions were upgraded on satellite earlier this year, while cable was upgraded last year.
Freeview changes normally take place during the working day, but are expected to be complete in time for the lunchtime bulletin on the launch date.
| REGION | LAUNCH DATE |
|---|---|
| East Midlands West Midlands East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Yorkshire London* Channel Islands^ | Wednesday 22nd March 2023 |
| North East & Cumbria* North West* West South West* South East South East | Wednesday 26th April 2023 (but could yet change) |
| Scotland*, Wales*, NI* | Already have their local BBC One in HD. |
Confirming the dates, Kieran Clifton, BBC Director of Distribution and Business Development commented:
Making BBC One HD available on a regional basis is a major undertaking for BBC teams and our suppliers, so we are going to launch regional versions of BBC One HD in two phases. This allows us to launch the first set of regions as early as possible while we complete the preparatory work to enable us to launch the second set.
As revealed by RXTV last week, a further update will be issued to compatible (post 2020) Freeview Play devices later in the year that will move BBC One HD to channel 1.
Who is affected?
Users of newer Freeview (DVB-T2) receivers, plus devices from third-party platforms that piggyback off Freeview. You’ll already be receiving BBC One HD on channel 101:
- Freeview HD
- Freeview Play
- YouView (BT TV and older TalkTalk boxes)
- TalkTalk TV (newer receivers)
- Netgem with in-built Freeview
Marc Thornham