How annoying is it when you’ve lost your favorite BBC channels on your Samsung TV?
While it isn’t one of the most common problems with Samsung TVs, your Samsung TV not picking up channels isn’t all that rare either. In this guide, you’ll find all the various fixes you can try to resolve the problem.
Check BBC’s Transmitter Checker Tool
If you lost BBC channels on Samsung TV, there’s something wrong with your region’s transmitter.
This is the first thing you need to figure out.
You can do this by visiting BBC’s Transmitter Checker tool. Once on the page, you will need to put in your postcode and your house number.
Make sure you provide accurate information because the BBC says that even slight discrepancies can give varying results.
If the transmitters are all working normally, then the problem lies in your Samsung TV.
All the following steps are designed to fix internal television problems.
Auto-Tune Your Samsung TV
Retuning your Samsung TV is one of the easiest ways of getting back your lost BBC channels.
Here are the steps.
- Press the Menu button on your remote and navigate to Settings.
- Select Broadcasting and then Auto Tuning.
- A popup prompt will appear where you should press Start.
- Next, you’ll have to select multiple options.
- For Aerial, pick Terrestrial.
- For Channel Type, pick Digital & Analogue.
- The right option depends on your specific setup. So, if the above doesn’t work, try other combinations.
- Press Scan.
- After the scan is complete, you’ll see a report of which channels were found. Press Close.
If this step doesn’t bring back your lost BBC channels, remove the aerial lead and scan again. This will reset the scanning settings.
Once you’ve scanned without the lead, reconnect the lead and scan again.
Switch Off Standby Auto Tuning
More recent Samsung TV models have a unique feature called Standby Auto Tuning.
The feature’s purpose is to automatically retune the TV at regular intervals to capture the best signal possible.
While it works as advertised for most people, for others, it creates the problem of disappearing BBC channels.
So, one of the things you can try is to switch this feature off. Here’s how.
- Using your Samsung TV remote, open Settings.
- Navigate to Broadcasting and then select Auto Tuning Settings.
- Deactivate the option Standby Auto Tuning.
- Finish by selecting Auto Tuning to retune the TV.
Perform A Factory Reset
If all the above steps don’t bring back your lost BBC channels, you can try performing a factory reset on your television.
The following are the steps.
- For E, F, H, and J series Samsung TV, press the Menu button with the remote and then select Support.
- For K, M, N, and R series Samsung TVs, press the Home button, followed by Settings, and then Support.
- Inside Support, select Self Diagnosis, and then press Reset.
- You’ll be asked for your TV PIN. Input it, and the Factory Reset screen will appear.
- Navigate to the Yes button and press Enter.
- Your Samsung TV will take some time to reboot.
- Once it has rebooted, retune the TV with Auto Tuning.
Conclusion:
If none of the steps listed above have brought back your lost BBC channels on Samsung TV, your problem is likely hardware related.
Specifically, this either means that your aerial is unable to pick up the transmitted signals or the connector cables are faulty.
In either scenario, you’ll need a professional’s help. If you have an older aerial, we recommend replacing it with a newer, bigger aerial as that would not only prevent loss of channels but may also improve picture quality.