The Project Restore helpscheme was initiated in October 2021 to support viewers in restoring their core TV services (Channels 1-5 in standard definition) following the go-live of the first temporary mast. Channels 1-5 are the main Freeview channels containing public service broadcasting services and news bulletins.
Since then, we have taken over 26,000 phone calls, arranged more than 8,000 engineer visits and seen nearly 300,000 visits to the dedicated website, Bilsdalemast.co.uk.
On May 22, 2023 the new, full size, permanent mast at Bilsdale went live. This restored the core Freeview channels to the region, on the same frequencies and to the same signal area as the old mast.
At the time, we wrote directly to viewers where we had made a change to their aerial system so we could reverse it.
We provided a Help Scheme for a period from the launch of the new mast, to support viewers who might need help in restoring services.
That scheme closed in July as any new issues experienced are very unlikely to be related to the fire.
Any viewers experiencing new disruption to their TV signals can visit the Freeview website at www.freeview.co.uk/help for further help.