BRITS have been warned that Channel 4 could disappear from their TV screens in a matter of hours.
The network is making major changes to the way it broadcasts on satellite which will affect some Sky and Freesat boxes.
Rival stations including the BBC and ITV have already made the move, resulting in their channels no longer being accessible on older kit.
These boxes are SD (standard definition) only, using soon-to-be-obsolete technology that is unable to handle HD (high definition).
Broadcasters are gradually shifting from SD, some 18 years after HD burst onto screens in the UK.
Channel 4 says the move is only expected to affect a small percentage of users.
But for those who do own and use an old box, they’ll have to upgrade fast as Channel 4 SD will be axed from tomorrow (November 28).
Regional variants of C4+1, E4 Extra, 4Seven, E4 (SD), More4 (SD) and Film 4 (SD) have already become unavailable to households with legacy Freesat and Sky devices.
The shake-up is only happening on satellite – so those with Freeview / YouView need not worry.
And there are no changes on Virgin Media either.
“We are changing the technology we use to broadcast our channels to Sky and Freesat households – ensuring we are delivering the highest quality HD viewing experience to all, and, opening up the potential for new services in the future,” a spokesperson told The Sun exclusively earlier this month.
Sky has already been prompting people to upgrade by cancelling subscriptions for those with an older box.
It comes as Channel 4’s streaming service reported a number of records recently.
The broadcaster said it beat Netflix, Amazon and all other online rivals with reality series Married At First Sight UK in October, achieving the most streamed title.
Channel 4 streaming set a record monthly viewing total last month too, with 13,318 years’ – or seven billion viewer minutes’ – worth of content watched, plus its biggest ever single day for streaming views (6.4million).
The company also became the first UK broadcaster to launch a dedicated app for the new Apple Vision Pro goggles.
Analysis by Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Editor at The Sun
Fear not – your favourite channels aren’t shutting down, it’s just a change to the broadcasting technology.
This means some older boxes may not be able to receive popular channels anymore.
This largely affects boxes that are not HD-capable.
You can’t buy these boxes anymore – the ones sold these days are all HD capable because HD TVs are commonplace now.
As such, the move isn’t expected to affect a massive load of people but you might want to check if you’ve not bought a new TV set-top box in quite some time, so you don’t have a nasty shock on November 28.
