As someone who watches TV for free with an HDTV antenna, you join the ranks of 77 million viewers nationwide who will be impacted when many TV stations move frequencies in the near future.
By law, nearly 1,000 TV stations must change frequencies to make room for wireless services between 2018 and 2020. When these changes occur, viewers like you, who watch television over the air with an HDTV antenna, must rescan their television to continue receiving the local stations’ signal. And because stations are required to move frequencies at different times, you may need to rescan your television or converter box each time a station moves to a new frequency.
The good news is that rescanning is a simple process. No new equipment or services are needed, and once the rescan is complete, you will still find the station on the same channel number as before.
You can find which stations in your area are moving and when at TVAnswers.org, a viewer resource provided by the National Association of Broadcasters. This site features the latest news and information on station changes and you can sign up for alerts. You can also follow @TVAnswers for the latest updates.
Plan to rescan in the future to ensure you can continue to watch your favorite shows, news and sports, as well as receive the emergency updates you rely on every day for free.