THE Department of Communications is warning that we’re all going to need to retune our TVs if we want to get the ABC and SBS after November 20.

The moves are part of the national retune programme to allow the Government to sell more spectrum for mobile broadband services.

The retune will affect viewers in Canberra, Queanbeyan and surrounds who receive their TV signal from the Black Mountain TV tower.

Viewers in Gunning who receive their TV signal from the Gunning and Black Mountain TV towers will need to retune their TV on 20 November.

Viewers in Weston Creek, Woden and Tuggeranong, who also receive their signal from the Mt Taylor and Tuggeranong Hill TV towers and retuned earlier in the year, may need to retune again.

After the channels have changed, viewers will need to retune their digital TV, set-top box or digital TV recorder to find the channels that have moved. Retuning should not be done before 20 November as channels won’t move until then.

The Department helpfully notes that “Retuning is done using the remote. For most systems press the ‘menu’ button on the remote. Look for settings such as ‘channels’ or ‘auto-tuning’ and follow the prompts to retune.”

A video and 3-step guide to retuning is available on their retune website.

There may be some temporary disruption to all TV services on retune day. Service outages on the days before and after the retune may also be necessary, due to work being conducted at the transmission site.

The retune only moves free-to-air TV channels to a new location on the broadcast spectrum, so it is unlikely to change TV reception or coverage.

People living in apartments may be using a shared antenna system. If channels do not reappear after retuning, they should contact their property manager or body corporate.

For more information about the retune, scheduled outages, or to sign up for an SMS or email reminder, visit the retune website or call the Digital Ready Information Line on 1800 20 10 13, 8am to 10pm (AEDT), 7 days.