Freeview's fatal flaw

Here's why the proposal to roll the BBC Licence Fee into the Council Tax would be made Under False Pretences:- Freeview does not work reliably in many places in the UK. It was doomed from the moment Blair's Labour government sold off crucial broadcast spectrum for 3G cellular services in the naughties from 2000 on. Now as the next UK Labour government floats a proposal to fold the BBC licence fee into council tax, set to rise in 2025, a glaring issue looms large: the unreliability of Freeview TV reception, especially on Band 4 UHF channels. The efficiency of collecting the license fee with council tax makes sense, but that makes the assumption that Freeview actually deliver a reliable viewing experience. It does not. so keep that in mind as this propositon unfolds...BBC TV Licence Fee replacement could be linked to Council Tax - RXTV

For years, viewers—myself included—have endured glitches, dropouts, and outright signal loss, particularly around the spring and autumn equinoxes. Now, with this new funding model on the table, it’s time to ask: are we being charged under false pretences for a service that can’t deliver? And shouldn’t those misled by this flawed system, including the millions who’ve wasted time and money on aerial "fixes", be compensated?

A Problem Foretold...

See this blog post for more detail.  I saw this coming over two decades ago. In 2000, I spoke with Patricia Hewitt, then Minister of State for Small Business and E-Commerce, I warned about the long-term pitfalls of the UK’s spectrum auctions. The push to monetize UHF frequencies for digital TV, including Freeview, ignored a fundamental issue: atmospheric interference, like tropospheric ducting, would plague reception reliability.

My caution was simple—these signals, especially in Band 4 UHF (470–614 MHz), would bend and travel unpredictably under certain weather conditions, clashing with distant transmitters and leaving viewers in the lurch. The response? A shrug. The politicians and their advisers gambled that it would be someone else’s mess by the time it unravelled. Well, it has, and here we are. And with another Labour Government to pick up the pieces.

Analogue TV interference was easily spotted in the days of 625 line analogue TV - and this was typical "patterning" during a period of atmospheric disruption... 

But digital TV reception and interference offers no progressive failure clues - the picture is all there - or all gone - and when the picture is broken it will frequently accompanied by loud rasping noises on sound.

Why Freeview Fails
Take my own setup: I’m located between the Alexandra Palace and Sudbury transmitters, a prime spot to see Freeview’s flaws in action. Every March and September, around the equinoxes, the UHF Band 4 channels—used by Alexandra Palace for BBC multiplexes—are vulnerable. Signals can be compromised for anything from minutes to days. Why? Tropospheric ducting. Stable high-pressure systems and temperature inversions, peaking at these times, turn the atmosphere into a waveguide, carrying UHF signals hundreds of miles beyond their intended range. Distant transmitters—Crystal Palace, Hannington, even France—muscle in, drowning out my local feed with interference.

This isn’t a fringe power level issue. Band 4’s lower UHF range is especially prone, and with Europe’s dense transmitter network, co-channel chaos is baked in. The BBC and Ofcom have long acknowledged this seasonal disruption, yet Freeview’s promise of “reliable, free TV” persists. For those of us chasing signal fixes—new aerials, boosters, endless retunes—it’s a costly wild goose chase.

A Tax on a Broken Promise
Now, the government wants to tie the BBC licence fee—currently £174.50 as of 2025—into council tax, a move pitched as fairer and harder to dodge. But if Freeview, a cornerstone of BBC’s terrestrial reach, can’t deliver consistently, what are we paying for? The Poel Position blog nails it: “If your Freeview reception is glitching, demand a refund—you were misled into paying under false pretences.” 

This isn’t just a technical hiccup; it’s a systemic failure that those in charge in government and broadcast industry knew about - and ignored.

Back in 2000, the spectrum auctions raked in £22.5 billion, a windfall from selling out TV broadcast capacity. But the physics of UHF don’t bend to political ambition. Patricia Hewitt’s team brushed off the warnings, betting the problem would stay buried. Today’s viewers, stuck with unreliable signals and a looming tax hike, know better.

So then ... Compensation, Not Complacency, please.
.
If the licence fee becomes a council tax levy, it’s time to challenge its legitimacy. Households aren’t just funding BBC content—they’re propping up a delivery system that’s unfit for purpose. I’ve spent years tweaking aerials and advising others, all for a service that falters when the weather is fickle. Millions more have done the same, misled into thinking the fault’s theirs, not the overall broadcast system.

The government owes us accountability. Compensation should be on the table—refunds for licence fees paid during years of known unreliability, and/or credits for aerial upgrades sold as solutions to an unsolvable flaw. The BBC and Ofcom have data on tropospheric interference; they’ve tracked equinox disruptions for decades. Those who gambled on Freeview’s viability, hoping not to get found out, should foot the bill, not viewers and taxpayers.

A Call to Action
As the new council tax proposal looms, let’s not just grumble—let’s demand better. Check your reception logs, note those equinox outages, and push back. Contact your MP, Ofcom, or the DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) with evidence of Freeview’s failings. If they want our money, they need to prove it’s not built on a lie. And for those of us who warned them 25 years ago? It’s bittersweet vindication—but I’d rather see compensation than say, “I told you so.”