Freeview Multiplexes Explained: Which MUX Carries Which Channels

Freeview channels don’t have their own frequencies — they’re bundled into six multiplexes, each a single transmission carrying many channels. Three are public service multiplexes: BBC A (PSB1), D3&4 (PSB2) and BBC B (PSB3, the HD one). Three are commercial: SDN (COM4), ARQ A (COM5) and ARQ B (COM6). The public service three are required to reach around 98% of UK households and are carried by every transmitter including small relays. The commercial three are broadcast only from the main transmitters, which is why roughly a tenth of UK homes get BBC and ITV but not the commercial channels.

What a multiplex is

A multiplex — universally shortened to MUX — is one digital transmission on one frequency, carrying several television channels, radio stations and data services bundled together. Compression allows a single UHF channel that once carried one analogue programme to carry perhaps ten standard-definition services, or a smaller number of HD ones.

This has a practical consequence that catches people out constantly: channels do not fail individually. If your aerial system can’t receive a particular frequency properly, everything on that multiplex goes at once, and everything on the other five stays perfect. So a fault looks like “BBC Two, BBC Four and the BBC radio stations have all gone but ITV is fine” — which sounds baffling until you know they share a MUX.

That single fact makes the table below one of the more useful diagnostic tools available to a householder.

The six UK multiplexes

MUX	Operating name	Operator	Mode	Carries, broadly
PSB1	BBC A	BBC	DVB-T (SD)	The BBC’s standard-definition television services and BBC national radio
PSB2	D3&4	Digital 3&4 (ITV/Channel 4)	DVB-T (SD)	ITV/STV/UTV, Channel 4, Channel 5 in SD, plus some of their commercial channels
PSB3	BBC B	BBC	DVB-T2 (HD)	The HD versions of BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, plus some commercial SD services
COM4	SDN	SDN (ITV)	DVB-T (SD)	Commercial entertainment, shopping and factual channels
COM5	ARQ A	Arqiva	DVB-T (SD)	Commercial channels
COM6	ARQ B	Arqiva	DVB-T (SD)	Commercial channels, plus some part-time and timeshared services

Two technical notes worth having. BBC B is the odd one out: it uses DVB-T2, the newer and more efficient broadcast standard, which is what makes HD on Freeview possible — and why an older TV or box that predates DVB-T2 can receive everything except the HD channels. And several commercial slots are timeshared, with two channels occupying one slot at different times of day, which is why some entries in the EPG only work during certain hours.

We’ve deliberately not published a channel-by-channel list here. Commercial multiplex line-ups change several times a year — channels launch, close, move MUX and swap slots — and a list that’s wrong is worse than no list. For the current position, Freeview’s own channel checker is authoritative and updated as changes happen.

PSB vs COM: the coverage difference that matters

This is the single most important thing on this page for anyone in a rural area.

The three public service multiplexes carry a coverage obligation of approximately 98% of UK households. To achieve that, they’re broadcast not just from the ~50 main transmitters but from around a thousand small relay transmitters filling in valleys, shadows and remote communities.

The three commercial multiplexes carry no such obligation. They’re broadcast from the main transmitters only, because covering the last few percent of the population is not commercially viable. The result:

If you’re served by a main transmitter — Crystal Palace, Winter Hill, Emley Moor, Sutton Coldfield, Mendip and the rest — you get all six multiplexes and the full Freeview line-up.
If you’re served by a relay, you get the three PSB multiplexes only: BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and their HD versions, but none of the commercial channels.

Around 8–10% of UK households are on relays. For them, “I can’t get Dave” is not a fault, and no amount of aerial work will fix it — the signal is not being transmitted in their direction at all. The genuine options are to fit an aerial that can reach a main transmitter (often possible with height and a high-gain aerial, sometimes not), or to use satellite or streaming for the missing channels. Freeview vs Freesat is exactly this decision, and Freesat’s coverage advantage here is real.

The transmitter directory lists which multiplexes each main transmitter carries; the postcode checker will tell you which transmitter serves your address.

Using MUX knowledge to diagnose a fault

Here is the technique that saves call-outs. When channels go missing, group them by multiplex rather than listing them:

All the channels on one MUX gone, others fine → a frequency-specific problem. Most likely causes: your aerial’s group doesn’t cover that frequency well, co-channel interference on that specific frequency, or a filter cutting it off. Very unlikely to be a broken cable, which would affect everything.
Only the HD channels gone → BBC B (DVB-T2) specifically. Either a receiver that doesn’t support DVB-T2, or that one frequency is impaired.
All the commercial channels gone but BBC/ITV fine → you may simply be on a relay. Check the transmitter before assuming a fault. Alternatively, on a main transmitter, the COM multiplexes are often radiated at lower power than the PSBs, so a marginal installation loses them first — a classic sign of an aerial system that needs attention rather than one that’s broken.
Everything gone → aerial, cable, connector or power. See why won’t my TV aerial work.
Some MUXes weak, worsening in bad weather → no headroom. Start with a signal strength check.

Your TV can show you signal strength and quality per multiplex in its tuning menu, which turns this from guesswork into measurement. That per-MUX table is the single most useful thing you can give an engineer over the phone.

Why COM multiplexes are often the first to go

On most main transmitters the commercial multiplexes are radiated at lower power than the public service ones — sometimes substantially lower. That means the COM MUXes reach a shorter distance and are the first to fail in a marginal installation.

So the pattern “BBC and ITV are perfect, but the commercial channels break up in the evening” is a textbook symptom of a system with insufficient margin: an aerial that’s too small, too low, mis-polarised, the wrong group, or feeding through tired cable. It’s a fault worth fixing rather than living with, because a system that marginal will lose the PSBs too as it ages.

Multiplexes and the future

Multiplex structure isn’t fixed. The 700MHz clearance completed in 2020 compressed everything into 470–700MHz. Looking forward, the UK government’s consultation on the future of terrestrial television includes options in which the number of multiplexes reduces — one scenario extends DTT to 2044 but shrinks the platform from six multiplexes to three, retaining a core service while commercial capacity moves to IP delivery.

If that happens, the coverage logic above changes shape: a smaller core DTT service, with more channels available only over broadband. It’s a live policy question rather than a settled fact, and we cover the detail and the timeline in the future of Freeview.

If you’re missing a whole multiplex and you’re on a main transmitter, that’s a fixable aerial problem rather than bad luck. Send us your postcode with a list of what’s missing — grouped by multiplex if you can — and we’ll route it to the vetted installer covering your area. If you turn out to be on a relay, we’ll tell you that instead, because no aerial will conjure a signal that isn’t being transmitted.