THOSE living in an area where service has been affected by the Bilsdale Mast fire may have to return as a new "relay site" has been installed.
Site operators, Arqiva say they have built 14 relay sites across County Durham, Tees Valley and North Yorkshire in recent months.
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These relay sites are designed to improve local TV transmission and improve signals, according to the infrastructure company, and additional sites will follow.
But after the construction of their latest relay mast, viewers in and around Northallerton will need to retune their TVs if they have not already done so.
The switch, which happened yesterday (March 9), means residents will receive a better television signal in the area.
A new relay site at Blackhall Colliery in County Durham is also expected to go live in the next few weeks.
Site bosses say they have been contacting households in the East Durham area who were adversely affected by the switch on of the 80-metre interim mast at Bilsdale last month, which improved services to more than 100,000 homes across the region.
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However, the switch on of this mast resulted in around 1,250 homes falling within a “signal shadow”, causing them to lose signal.
The majority of the homes that were affected were largely along a strip of the County Durham coast, where the line of site of the mast was interrupted.
Arqiva said in a media briefing last month that the work to reconnect people in the shadow area was “going really well.”
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The infrastructure company has been directing two marketing campaigns to those affected and has also been mailing individual households affected as well.
Work on the new permanent structure, which is set to be more than 300 metres tall and one of the UK’s largest structures, will begin soon after planning permission has been granted say Arqiva.
Adrian Twyning, director of operations at Arqiva, said the company continues “to work hard to restore TV services.”
He said: “We continue to work hard to restore TV services and to help those households which have been affected.
“These smaller relay sites, like Northallerton, are a key part of Project Restore.
“We’re sorry for the disruption this has caused for people, but we are making progress in what is a significant task.”
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