All Freeview and Sky users face 'important' UK TV channel shake-up this week

There are some big changes coming to UK homes later this week with a number of popular TV channels getting refreshed names. The major update is arriving as part of a rebrand from the team at UKTV. For those not in the know, this firm is behind services such as UK Drama, Dave, W and Yesterday.

In a bid to simplify things and bring all of its channels under one easy-to-navigate umbrella, things are being switched to the name U&. That means, for example, those wanting to watch Dave will find it's suddenly switched to U&Dave with the updates arriving on screen from July 16.

Here are all the old channels and what they will be called after the update.

• Dave will switch to U&Dave

• Drama moves over to U&DRAMA

• Yesterday becomes U&YESTERDAY

• Popular W service rebrands to U&W.

Homes shouldn't need to touch their devices or tweak the settings with all of the changes taking place automatically across platforms such as Freeview, Virgin, Freesat and Sky.

Along with updating those channel names, the current UKTV streaming website and app are also being rebranded 'U' as well and it's not just about that new look. U has also confirmed that there will be nearly 8,500 hours of on-demand content to watch online - that's a boost of around 1,500 hours.

Another change announced by UKTV is an update to its streaming service which is available via Samsung TVs, the Freevee app on Fire devices and the Pluto TV platform will also notice a difference.

"UKTV Play is changing its name to U," the firm said of its new site. "From July, you will start to see UKTV Play change its name to U across our apps."

Last year, UKTV announced the launch of four Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (FAST) on these platforms and all are getting that U branding as well.

That means UKTV Play Heroes will switch to U&Real Heroes; UKTV Play Laughs will move to U&Laughs; UKTV Play Full Throttle will transition to U&Transport; and UKTV Play Uncovered will be known as U&The Past.

Speaking about the transition, Penny Brough, Chief Marketing Officer, UKTV, said: "The launch of U on 16th July is an important step for UKTV, defining our age of transformation. U will present our viewers with an extraordinary range of free quality content, allowing them to connect the dots between the streaming service and our family of TV channels.

And Andrea Amey, Chief Digital Officer, UKTV added, “U will be home to almost 8,500 hours of free content, comprising new programming, exclusive shows, award-winning originals and premiere acquisitions. We can’t wait to give our viewers even more choice and a service that is easy to navigate, so they can enjoy our free and varied offering.”