Five major TV channels mysteriously disappear as UK’s new free streaming service suffers first glitch

FIVE major channels mysteriously disappeared from some TV screens this week as the UK's new free streaming service suffered its first glitch.

Freely is the country's fresh way to watch TV without an aerial, from the makers of Freeview and Freesat.

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It's operated by the main broadcasters, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

But on Tuesday the internet streams for the Channel 5 and its sister channels were hit by an unknown issue.

Channel 5's other stations include 5Action, 5Select, 5Star, and 5USA.

Freely is built into new TVs and the first sets went on sale at the end of April.

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Argos brand Bush recently became the latest TV maker to adopt Freely.

The service currently operates as a hybrid, meaning you can access both internet streams and still plug in an aerial.

This is partly due to the fact the full set of Freeview channels won't be available to stream for sometime.

Fortunately, this approach does mean that Channel 5 and its other channels can still be accessed by Freely TVs if you have an aerial plugged in.

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But those choosing to rely solely on Wi-Fi went without the channels.

"We are aware of an issue affecting some viewers watching channel 5 channels via an internet connected TV," Freely wrote on its website.

"The problem does not affect anyone watching via an aerial connection.

"We apologise for any inconvenience this may be causing."

What channels are on Freely?

Freely, the new free streaming service backed by Britain's public service broadcasters will include the following channels:

• BBC One 
• BBC Two 
• ITV1 (England, Wales, Scottish Borders) 
• STV (Scottish and Grampian) 
• UTV (Northern Ireland) 
• Channel 4 
• S4C (Wales) 
• Channel 5 
• ITV2 
• ITV3 
• BBC ALBA 
• BBC Three 
• BBC Four 
• BBC Scotland 
• Film4 
• E4 
• More4 
• 4seven 
• ITV4 
• ITVBe 
• 5STAR 
• 5Action 
• 5USA 
• 5SELECT 
• BBC NEWS 
• BBC Parliament 
• CBBC HD 
• CBeebies HD