Your Freeview TV could stop working and you must follow new advice this weekend

Freeview TVs could be hit by issues with the weather this week.

Homes attempting to tune into The 1% Club or Strictly Come Dancing may have a frustrating week ahead. Some high pressure is stuck in the skies above the UK, and that’s really bad news for anyone using Freeview. The current weather conditions could mean some telly addicts will find their viewing is disrupted by a poor signal and it’s set to cause problems well into next week.

“Viewers across the UK could see some disruption to their TV reception from Friday the 10th to Wed the 15th of October 2025. This is due to high pressure which could disrupt the TV signals which Freeview uses.” Freeview explained in a post on its website.

It might seem strange, but throughout the year Britain does get these periods of high pressure, and they don’t mix well with TV signals.

As the BBC explains, “High pressure can cause two potential problems.

“The first is that you receive a weaker signal, as the signal from your local transmitter is lifted higher into the sky. The second is that the signal from a distant transmitter interferes with your reception.”

With the current conditions lasting until Wednesday, October 15, it’s clearly going to be a frustrating few days for Freeview customers and it’s not surprising that some might start trying to fix the issues themselves.

However, whatever you do, don’t start messing with the settings.

In a warning, Freeview said: “You are advised not to retune your TV during this time – reception will be restored once the high pressure passes.

Luckily, there are ways to avoid these issues. Firstly, if you have an internet-connected telly with Freeview Play installed, you can simply switch to this online service rather than using the aerial.

Next, there is now a new alternative. Freely, which is owned by the same team behind Freeview and Freesat, uses broadband to beam content to tellies rather than a standard over-the-air signal.

That means it isn’t affected by the weather and will continue to show pin-sharp content during storms and high pressure events. Freely offers access to over 40 channels with both live and on-demand content available to view.

Of course, Sky also offers ways to watch content online, including its Sky Glass TVs and Stream box, which all use broadband rather the a dish.