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Freeview is a form of digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom, using the DVB-T standard.
Overview
Freeview was launched on 30 October 2002 at 6 a.m., it took over the DTT licence to broadcast on three multiplexes from the defunct ITV Digital (originally called ONdigital).
The Freeview consortium's founding members were the BBC, National Grid Wireless and British Sky Broadcasting. They were joined by ITV plc and Channel 4 on 11 October 2005. The service broadcasts free-to-air television channels, radio stations and interactive services from the BBC, Sky, and various other broadcasters.
Unlike ITV Digital and the cable and satellite digital TV services, it offers no premium or pay-per-view channels, and no subscription channels. A set-top box costing around £25 to £100 or a new television with an integrated digital tuner is needed to receive the Freeview service. Some people may also need to get their aerial upgraded which can cost around £80 to £180. This is in addition to the annual television licence that all viewers of broadcast television in the UK must purchase irrespective of whether they receive it via satellite, cable or their aerial.
As of March 2006, more than 10 million Freeview-enabled receivers have been sold and approximately 6.4 million homes have the service. In December 2005, Ofcom estimated that in the third quarter of 2005, there were 7.2 million Freeview set top boxes, almost 1.4 million integrated digital TVs, and just under 300,000 ex-ITV Digital boxes in homes across the UK . The number of Freeview-only homes is set to pass the Sky-only homes during the fourth quarter of 2006.
In addition to Freeview, a subscription-based service, Top Up TV, launched in March 2004 using unused channel space on Multiplexes that were owned by parties, who at the time, were not members of the Freeview consortium. The Top Up TV service is not connected with the Freeview service; it simply runs alongside it on the DTT platform. However, Top Up TV can be received using a Freeview set-top box or television equipped with a card slot or CI slot (which not all models possess). The Digital Network Group, made up of all the multiplex owners, is responsible for co-ordination between Freeview and Top Up TV services.
The Freeview model has been copied in a number of countries including France, Spain and Germany. A similar service will also be introduced in New Zealand at the start of 2007.
Full list of Freeview channels
Currently forty six TV channels (one only quarter screen) and twenty seven radio channels. A full list of digital terrestrial television channels in the UK is also available.
TV channels
- BBC One (includes regional variations)
- BBC Two (includes regional variations; digital variations from analogue in Wales and Northern Ireland)
- ITV1, STV or UTVITV1 is the brand name for 12 of the 15 regional ITV Network franchises for England, Wales, southern Scotland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Each of these 12 franchises has a separate brand name used prior to local programming, see ITV1. STV is the brand name for the franchises for central and northern Scotland. UTV operates the franchise for Northern Ireland. All 15 franchises broadcast their services between 09:25 and 06:00. GMTV operates the franchise for national breakfast television and operates between 06:00 and 09:25.
- Channel 4 (except Wales) or S4C Digidol (Wales only)
- Five
- ITV2
- BBC Three
- Channel 4 (Wales only) or TeleG (Scotland only)
- BBC Four
- ITV3
- Sky Three
- UKTV History
- More4
- E4
- ABC1 (not available in Wales)
- QVC (reduced hours in Wales)
- The Hits
- UKTV Bright Ideas
- Ftn
- TMF
- Ideal World
- bid tv (reduced hours in Wales)
- price-drop tv
- ITV4
- Film4 (channel launches on 23 July 2006)
- E4+1
- ITV Play
- Quiz Call
- SmileTV
- CBBC Channel
- CBeebies
- CITV Channel
- BBC News 24
- BBC Parliament (1/4 screen due to bandwidth limitations)
- Sky News
- Sky Sports News
- S4C2 (Wales only)
- Community Channel
- Teachers' TV
- Teletext (text service)
- Teletext Holidays (text service)
- Teletext Cars (text service)
- Teletext on 4 (text service)
- BBCi (text service)
- YooPlay Games (no longer active)
- Sky Text (text service)
Radio stations
- BBC Radio 1
- BBC 1Xtra
- BBC Radio 2
- BBC Radio 3
- BBC Radio 4 (FM version)
- BBC Radio Five Live
- BBC Five Live Sports Extra
- BBC 6 Music
- BBC 7
- BBC Asian Network
- BBC World Service (English language European version)
- The Hits Radio
- Smash Hits
- Kiss 100
- Heat
- Magic 105.4
- Q
- Oneword
- 102.2 Smooth FM
- BBC Radio Scotland (Scotland only), BBC Radio Wales (Wales only) or BBC Radio Ulster (Northern Ireland only)
- BBC Radio nan Gaidheal (Scotland only), BBC Radio Cymru (Wales only) or BBC Radio Foyle (Northern Ireland only)
- Mojo
- Kerrang!
- talkSPORT
- 3C
- Premier Christian Radio
- U105 (Northern Ireland only)
- Virgin Radio
Coming Soon
Former Channels
- More4+1 - 1 hour timeshift of More4, removed May 2006, replaced by Big Brother Interactive Channel, which in turn will be replaced by FilmFour in July 2006.
- Men & Motors - Removed in April 2006, replaced by ITV Play
- ITV News Channel - Hours reduced in November 2005 to make room for ITV4; removed and shut down a month later to provide space for CITV
- Sky Travel - Replaced on Freeview in October 2005 by new channel Sky Three
- Teletext TV Guide - TV Guide section of Teletext removed 2004 for the addition of Teletext Cars.
- TV Travel Shop - Space bought out by Top Up TV in January 2004, now hosts Top Up TV encrypted channels. Channel shut down.
- CBM - Never launched; tested in May to August 2003, before termination of contract.
- ntl - Two day TV guide removed in Summer 2003
- YooPlay Games (previously Free2Play then F2P Games) - closed 18 July 2006, space leased to SMG plc for Virgin Radio, which launched the same day.
See also
References
External links
"Freeview"