TV viewers are increasingly upset over missing their favourite shows after the Christmas Eve broadcast on freeview channels, including Three, proved unwatchable for a second night in a row.
Viewers across the country continued to experience problems with terrestrial TV last night after intense glitches on Tuesday.
Manythought the problem was with their own televisions or aerials before learning it was a widespread issue and something beyond their control.
Some of the channels were still not available to watch yesterday evening with only a black screen showing, viewers told the Herald.
The problem that caused the severe glitches was from outside New Zealand, originally affecting Three, Bravo, Eden, Rushand their plus-1 channels, a Freeview spokesperson said.
A secondary and localised transmission issue impacting customers in Canterbury caused the prolonged issues last night.
The problem first came to light on Tuesday afternoon, after viewers reported having difficulties seeing and hearing the TV because of intense glitches.
Television viewers from throughout NZ posted videos of pixilated screens, with Three’s 6pm news severely disrupted by picture issues.
Other services, such as streaming platform Three Now and Sky, were also affected.
The spokesperson earlier said channels across all services have been stable since yesterday morning.
Additional fixes were put in place throughout the day to fully resolve the issue for Freeview audiences.
Pixelation and audio issues continue into the second day. Photo / 123RF
“Unfortunately, this coincided with a secondary and localised transmission issue that impacted Freeview reception in Canterbury on Three, Bravo, Eden, Rush and HGTV.
“The local transmission provider has now resolved this, and those channels can now be enjoyed again by all viewers nationwide,” the spokesperson said.
To further strengthen reliability, the broadcaster is also in the process of configuring a back-up option to help safeguard against any future interruption, they said.
Viewers fume over glitches
One affected viewer told the Herald they thought the “TV was going to blow up and disintegrate”.
“Still out of action. I’m at pensioners unit, many residents rang for TV tech or had antenna replaced,” said Graham Braddock.
Another said they were relieved when they found that the problem was widespread.
Another woman who had just bought a new TV just weeks earlier thought her model was faulty. “Now, after reading re glitch, I know it wasn’t my new TV,” she said.
Others described the situation as a nightmare that could have been handled more transparently, annoyed that there was no notice on the screen to acknowledge the distortion.
Many said they wasted hours trying to fix their televisions to solve a problem they would never be able to.
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