Up to 250,000 TV screens go blank after upgrade leaves Freeview boxes 'obsolete'

The Freeview network was upgraded to increase the channels available to 48 and prepare for the future of digital television, which is expected to include more interactive services.

Hundreds of thousands of older boxes could not cope with the extra information being transmitted and broke down.

Thousands of owners may still be unaware it has affected them, as it can take up to three weeks for the boxes to catch up with the upgrade, which ended last week, and stop working.

The Labgear DTT100 and the Daewoo DS608P are two of the Freeview boxes affected

The first boxes stopped working on July 1st when DMOL, the company that makes changes to the Freeview platform, began upgrading the network. 

They changed the signal by splitting Britain into five regions, which it dealt with one at a time. The last region switched last week on August 5.

Owners of boxes made by Daewoo, Labgear, Triax and Bush before 2004 were affected.

Freeview is managed by DTV Services Ltd, a company owned and run by its five shareholders - BBC, BSkyB Channel 4, ITV and National Grid Wireless.

They admitted about one per cent of Freeview equipment sold, or around 230,000 boxes had been hit and would need to be replaced. But the company claimed many of the boxes will have been thrown away by now, or 'put in a cupboard.'

However, furious viewers, including some who had spent more than £100 on the equipment a few years ago, have left angry messages on internet message boards.

Janet Richardson wrote: 'I am angry about the lack of publicity and consultation about this change which affects so many people.'

Furious customer Brian Carson said: 'I had a Daewoo SV900 (it cost £130 so was not a cheap unit).

'It was impossible to cancel the ‘Found new Channels‘ automatic update so I had no choice and of course it went dead. I complained to Daewoo - they blame everyone except themselves.'

The Freeview Tree: 30 free channels were offered in 2002. This has now leapt to 48 channels

Daewoo no longer makes a similar model that combines Freeview with a video recorder.

Daewoo commercial manager Scott Purdom said: 'The two boxes from Daewoo that were affected were made before the digital tick logo, which set a standard for digital TV (in 2004).

'At that time no-one could conceive that this would happen and we certainly had no intention of selling boxes that would not work in a few years' time.'

Rob Farmer, director of marketing and communications for Freeview, said: 'We estimated that one per cent of all Freeview boxes would be affected in the worst case scenario, because that is how many were sold, but we have only had 1,200 calls so we think less people have been affected as others aren't using their boxes any more.

'It is an unfortunate consequence of technology evolving.'

Ofcom figures say more than 23million TV sets receive a digital signal, suggesting the number affected is likely to be around 230,000.

The boxes affected are: Daewoo models DS608P and SV900; Portland DP100; Labgear DTT100; Bush IDVCR01 and Triax DVB 2000T.

Those having problems with Daewoo and Portland boxes should call 0870 100 2525 for help. The Bush helpline is 0871 230 1777.