ITV is to add its remaining regions to the Freesat EPG before the end of June, Broadband TV News understands.
At present viewers in a number of regions are receiving local news for an area other than where they live. BBC One is defaulting to the London region while ITV viewers see Central West.
Sources familiar with the situation told Broadband TV News that although the regions could have been added sooner, this would have been at the expense of other functionality on the Freesat platform. It was thought that other services should take priority because of the small number of households that would have Freesat during the first few weeks after launch.
Although it operates its own EPG, all of the channels have to be cleared through Sky, because of the possibility of interference to Sky’s own platform.
ITV is unlikely to introduce the remaining four sub regions on either Sky or Freesat because of a shortage of capacity.
