The UK Digital TV and Technology Podcast

• Free stuff: With Freeview (via a TV aerial), with a satellite dish, or the five basic analogue channels (until the switchover)
  
  
• Not Free Stuff: That'll be Sky Digital (satellite), Virgin Media (cable TV), Tiscali TV (phone line) and Top Up TV

On this page, we're going to look at what's available for free...

Listen to Show 27, covering Free Satellite TV: You can listen online with our pop-up Pod Player, save as MP3 or subscribe via iTunes.

 

Freeview vs Satellite TV

Freeview is the name of the service that lets you get subscription-free TV channels via a TV aerial.

Services like Freesat and Sky Digital are transmitted from orbiting satellites. You need a dish pointing in the right direction, and a satellite decoder to get these signals

Here's the basics:

• Satellite TV covers 98% of the population (Freeview does less than 75%)
  
  
• Satellite TV comes from a bunch of satellites posited at 28.2 degrees above the equator - dish pointing roughly South-East
  
  
• Freeview is received via a TV aerial, not a satellite dish.
  
  
• Freeview offers 60 TV and radio channels - compared with over 200 channels on satellite.
  
  
• Some Digital TV sets have built-in Freeview receivers - otherwise, you'll need a set-top box that can be connected to a spare SCART socket on your telly
  
  

Freeview

Channels: Approx 60 channels of digital TV and radio, including BBC3, ITV3, ITV4, E4, Sky 3, BBC News, Dave, Virgin 1, Film4, UKTV History and More4.

Getting Freeview: You need a Freeview receiver. Some TVs have one of these built-in, otherwise you need to buy a set-top box (from around £20).

No subscription required. As of 2008, only 75% of the population are capable of receiving Freeview.

More on our Freeview page

Satellite TV

With satellite TV, there are three types of channels:

• Free-to-air (FTA) – No viewing card is required. Over FTA 200 channels available - including all of the BBC, and ITV channels, Film 4, Sky News, CNN, Movies 4 Men, Golf TV, Playboy 1 and about 100 radio stations. FTA channels are available with Freesat, Sky Digital or a DIY dish - Each option is explored below. There's a list of FTA channels on Sky's site.
  
  
• Free-to-view (FTV) - As of August 2008, the only FTV channels are: Channel 4, Five, Fiver and Five US. A Sky viewing card is required, but no subscription is required. If you have a Sky box and dish already, you can get a Freesat from Sky card for £20 by calling 08442 410 595. Otherwise, available with "Pay Once, Watch Forever"
  
  
• Subscription channels – Including Sky 1, GOLD, Bravo, Paramount Comedy, Sci-Fi channel, Alibi, Watch, Sky Movies, Sky Sport. A Sky subscription is required
  
  

We cover the various options below...

FreeSat from the BBC and ITV

• Launched in May 2008
• 80 channels, including all of the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 channels.
• Channels: Five, Fiver and Five US were missing at launch, but are apparently expected later in 2008. Other channels include Film 4, True Movies, Movies4Men, Euronews, Men and Motors, Wedding TV, Chart Show TV , and a bunch of radio stations
• High Definition: Some boxes support High-Definition. BBC HD service available at launch, with ITV HD in June 08 , and Channel 4 HD later in 2008
• No subscription required
• Boxes: Priced £50 (standard definition), or £120 (high definition)
• Available from: Comet, Dixons , Currys and Argos.

More on our Freesat page

Sky's FreeSat - "Pay Once, Watch Forever":

This allows you to watch free-to-view TV via a Sky satellite dish and digibox.

• Channels: Over 200 free-to-view channels vs Freesat's 80 channels
• Cost: £75 for box and installation, compared to Freesat's £130 box and installation.
• A four month free trial of a bunch of Sky pay-channels such as Sky One and GOLD
• Box has a card slot, in case you decide to subscribe to Sky in the future.
• You have to remember to contact Sky after three months if you don't want to enter a contract for their subscription channels
• Box doesn't support high-definition

More details: "Pay Once, Watch Forever"

Sky's Pay TV service

Not a free TV service, but we've added Sky Digital's standard subscription service here for comparison:

• Widest choice in UK
• £30 - £60 installation and set-up
• Minimum £17 a month from www.sky.com/skycom
• High Definition: 19 channels, but £10 a month and requires a £150 Sky+ HD box

More details: Our Sky Digital page

Getting a satellite dish

If you sign up to Sky Digital or Sky's "Pay Once, Watch Forever", Sky will do the installation for you.

If you go with Freesat, you can arrange installation with the retailer - order online with Currys or Argos (Cat no: 889/0030)

There's also the option to buy your own dish and satellite receiver, and do it yourself:

• Get a kit with receiver and dish from £70: Sat Kit at Maplin or HD Kit at Maplin
• You'll have to install your own dish and run your own cables
• Receive over 200 Free-to-air channels

More on Free UK TV

Want to know a little more? Have a listen to Show 27 of our audio podcast

Got a question on digital TV that we can answer in our next podcast?
Call 0208 133 4567 or send us a message

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