New Bilsdale transmitter to provide TV signals 'within next few weeks'

Temporary masts and relay stations, positioned across the north east and North Yorkshire, have provided TV services to the vast majority of viewers and listeners in the period since the fire at the site in August 2021.

They say more than 99% of households are not expected to need anything beyond a retune when the new mast is switched on.

The remaining small number of households may not automatically benefit from the signals from the new mast in a very small number of cases.

Arqiva is writing to these households - which received in-home support from its TV engineers as part of Project Restore - to advise them they may be affected and what they need to do if they lose TV services once the mast goes live.

Some may temporarily lose access to HD services for a few weeks while the additional antenna is installed on the new mast but these channels will still be available in standard definition.

For all households, if a household cannot receive channels 1 – 5, in at least standard definition, a retune or rescan is recommended once the mast is live.

If this does not resolve the matter, the Project Restore website will be updated for advice and help.

In the days prior to go-live the antennas will be thoroughly tested.

Viewers may experience some short disruption to their TV services but no action needs to be taken.

Adrian Twyning, Chief of Operations at Arqiva, said: “When the new mast is switched on the vast majority of people will have their TV services restored to where they were before the fire automatically, without any action.

"Many modern TVs and set-top boxes will rescan channels automatically to the strongest signal available, which for most will be the new Bilsdale mast.

“We are confident of achieving go-live shortly and are looking forward to announcing the go-live date as soon as we are certain.

"We ask that anyone losing service after the mast goes live retunes or rescans their TV.

"If they need help with this, or if a retune proves unsuccessful, they should contact the Helpline.”