STV is preparing to offer more satellite viewers access to its HD service, partially ending an anomaly that’s affected Freesat viewers.
- The Scottish broadcaster is the last Public Service Broadcaster to make its HD service universally available to viewers on satellite.
- Technical changes on satellite this week pave the way for viewers in northern Scotland to watch STV HD on Freesat and via Sky without a viewing card.
The STV HD channel covering most of the former Grampian TV region has gone free-to-air on satellite. This follows technical changes on Monday morning.
It becomes the second STV region to broadcast free-to-air in HD, after previously being behind a paywall.
STV operates the Channel 3 service in Northern and Central Scotland.
During the technical changes, Sky viewers in parts of Scotland briefly lost access to STV HD during This Morning, while STV North and STV East swapped satellite frequencies. STV North (Aberdeen) HD went free-to-air a few hours later.
Until now, STV’s regional versions covering the East and North of Scotland have been encrypted and only available on Sky and Virgin Media. STV sub-regional services covering the East (Edinburgh) and Tayside (Dundee) remain paywalled.
How this affects Freesat and Sky viewers
Freesat is expected to make STV North HD available on channel 103 in the North of Scotland later this month. It will replace the SD version currently showing on Freesat 103 in the region. Freesat currently carries the Glasgow version of STV HD on 111 in northern Scotland.
Meanwhile, Sky satellite viewers in Aberdeen, plus the Highlands and Islands can now watch STV HD without a viewing card.
Sky viewers who have lost access to STV HD on channel 103 should reboot their receiver.
▶️ Satellite Updates: further technical information about the changes
Freesat anomaly continues in parts of Scotland
In January, two of STV’s four regional SD channels were removed from satellite. That’s despite the fact that STV hadn’t yet fully rolled out a free-to-air HD replacement service.
Meanwhile, across Northern Scotland, the SD copy of STV continued to be available on Freesat while the HD version remained encrypted on Sky.
Despite this week’s development, viewers covered by STV’s sub-regions based in Dundee and Edinburgh areas will continue to receive the wrong version of STV on Freesat. That will remain the case until all remaining versions of STV HD become available free-to-air.
STV last to migrate to HD
STV is the last public service broadcaster to offer a fully regionalised service in HD on satellite.
The BBC activated all of its regional HD services on satellite in 2023. ITV1 completed the rollout of its HD regions at the end of 2023. Channel 4 HD went fully regional on satellite in 2022 – although only adverts are regionalised on the channel. S4C HD has been available on satellite since 2016.
By: Marc Thornham | Image: STV