TV
The TV Guide will take you through all the TV that's live and coming up. Most devices let you open the guide in either EPG (Electronic Program Guide) which lets you scroll horizontally across to see what's on later, or Guide, which tells you what's on now.
You can also access the TV Guide through Freeview Play and via our website, as well as via the Freeview mobile app, which lets you set favourites and reminders.
If you want to check what channels you should get in your area just put your postcode into the Freeview Channel Checker.
On-demand TV through channel 100
If you have a Freeview Play TV or set-top box it means that you’ve got on-demand TV built in, so you can catch up straight away on any shows you might have missed.
Just go to channel 100 and you’ll see all the on-demand players you can use, plus a carousel of featured content to watch. You can filter programmes using the various categories, or use the universal search to find on-demand and live programming.
Watch our handy videos to find out more about how to discover on-demand on your Freeview Play TV.
Restart your programme
If you’re watching a BBC channel on a Freeview Play TV, you can restart a live programme before it becomes available on demand. Just press the green button on your remote control to load the BBC iPlayer app and start playback from the beginning.
Use the remote control shortcuts in the TV Guide
Every remote control gives you shortcuts for using the TV Guide. These can differ from device to device, but there’s usually an on-screen guide to help you.
For example, on the guide below, the red button allows you to jump back 24 hours, the green button to jump forward 24 hours, and the blue button to jump to now. The yellow button brings up the filter options: view your favourite channels; just HD channels; radio; or all.
Look out for page up and down buttons, which are often near the volume buttons. These let you skip up and down lists a page at a time, which makes scrolling through loads of channels to see what’s on much faster.
All Freeview TVs have similar controls, but your remote layout and exact instructions will differ depending on the TV or set-top box you’re using, so check your user manual for exact steps if you need to.
APP
When you open the Freeview mobile app, as long as you're online you’ll instantly be able to see what’s showing on TV at that moment – just scroll up and down the What’s On section of the app. There's also a progress bar that tells you how much of the programme has been on already.
And if you want to know what’s coming up, swipe to the side and you can check what’s next.
On-demand content
Just tap on On Demand in the bottom menu of the app for a curated selection of shows to watch now or download through the individual player to watch offline later on.
Plan your viewing
The apps’s 15-day programme guide (tap Guide) shows you what's on in the weeks ahead, and you can set reminders or double-tap a channel to add it as a favourite.
If you've missed something, you can also swipe back through the guide to the previous week. Anything available for catch-up is clearly flagged, so you won’t miss out.
Speedy searching
The super-fast search function starts making suggestions as you type, whether you’re looking for a show on now or on demand.