Bilsdale transmitter: The areas that could still be without TV signal

In a media briefing in Whitby today, Arqiva’s chief executive Paul Donovan explained that although bad weather has delayed the new 80-metre temporary mast, he is confident it will be operational between October 13 and October 19.

Read more: Bilsdale transmitter: Site boss says checks have been made on other masts in UK

The infrastructure company has also released a map showing “not-spot” areas across the region where people will still be without signal, even after the new temporary transmitter has been constructed.

Showing the North Yorkshire coast to be the most affected, the map also shows that many parts of the dales and some parts of County Durham will also be without signal.

Arqiva confirmed they would use other methods to bring coverage to those areas that lie within the “not-spot” areas to bring coverage to “up to 95 per cent” of households.

The full map can be seen below:

RED: No Coverage at all YELLOW: Some coverage GREEN: Full coverage

Mr Donovan said: "So today around 85 per cent of homes in the region have some type of signal which means that around 80,000 don’t have signal today.

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“We estimate that  around 50 per cent of people are accessing their TV through satellite, through cable TV services such as Virgin Media, or they’re putting a dongle in the back of their TV to give them access to BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub.

“You can see that the coverage deficits are in two broad areas, firstly they’re in the coastal sweep of North Yorkshire and County Durham.

“As well as the Dales of North Yorkshire and County Durham at the same time.

“After the mast goes live, is we see quite a significant improvement, there are still the same areas that are challenged.

“We estimate that this will give coverage to up to 95 per cent of the population, which is a very significant improvement.

“It’s important to note that this map we are giving you today is a model, it is an estimate of what we think the coverage will be in the area.

“It’s important that we give people the opportunity to understand what the reality is that will be delivered from the service.

“When this goes live, we will open our call centre line to enable people to call us if they find they don’t have any signal."

Mr Donovan added: “There will be people who simply need to retune their TV, there may be people who have an ariel which when the Bilsdale mast was working, it compensated the fact that it might not be aligned correctly and they may need to re-align it."

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Currently Arqiva are quoting 80,000 homes to be without TV signal.

This number will be reduced to 45,000 once the new temporary 80-metre temporary mast in place, when further relays are in place in six other sites across the region, this number will reduce again, according to Arqiva, to 9,000 homes.

Arqiva have claimed that some of these households will use other means to receive their TV such as satellite, meaning 5,000 homes will be without signal once the temporary mast is constructed.

Arqiva have stressed that the map is an estimation of "not-spot" areas.

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