TELLY lovers have been warned that ITV channels will disappear from some boxes today.
Broadcasters have been making major changes to channels in the last year in a shift away from poor quality SD (stand definition).
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The move has been happening on satellite, affecting Sky and Freesat users.
BBC bosses pulled the plug on SD versions of its channels on satellite earlier in the year.
ITV followed suit with some of its channels, but now remaining standard definition ITV1 and ITV2 broadcasts will end too.
For those in Scotland, it means no access to STV.
Fortunately, most people should not notice any issues because their kit can receive the HD channels that will now be the only way to watch ITV on satellite.
But for those with older boxes not fit for HD, it means they will lose out on access to ITV’s channels.
The firm recently said only about 1 per cent of viewers are expected to be affected by the overhaul.
At the same time, Sky has started cancelling subscriptions for anyone with an old SD-only box unless they upgrade this month.
The changes only impact satellite – so Freeview and Virgin Media services remain unchanged.
From today, channel 103 on Sky will be occupied by ITV1 HD specific to your region.
Some regions had already changed over but this final push will swap to HD versions of ITV1 London, ITV1 Central West, ITV1 Granada and ITV1 Meridian East.
And channel number 118 is home to ITV2 HD.
It’s not clear what the shake-up means for ITV’s time shift +1 channels which have only ever been in SD.
Why is ITV making these changes?
Analysis by Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Editor at The Sun
Pretty much everyone has at least a HD TV these days – many have already moved onto UHD too.
Continuing to broadcast two versions of the same thing costs money, and it becomes harder to justify as more people move away from SD.
Not to mention, it looks so much better.
It’s important to note, the SD switch off plans have been happening on satellite only – not other services.
Freeview for example will continue to have SD channels for the foreseeable future as there isn’t enough capacity in the technology to offer more than a handful of HD feeds.
