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Freeview is a brand name, owned by DTV Services Ltd., used for the free digital terrestrial television service in the United Kingdom, using the DVB-T standard.

Overview

Freeview was launched on 30 October 2002 at 6 a.m. when it took over the digital terrestrial television (DTT) licence to broadcast on three multiplexes from the defunct ITV Digital (originally called ONdigital).

The founding members of DTV Services Ltd. were the BBC, National Grid Wireless and British Sky Broadcasting. On 11 October 2005, they were joined by ITV plc and Channel 4. The Freeview service broadcasts free-to-air television channels, radio stations and interactive services from the BBC, Sky and other broadcasters.

As of the end of September 2006, 27.7% of first sets and 22.5% of all TV sets in the UK use Freeview. 7,004,000 of the 25.3 million UK homes are 'Freeview only', with 13.5 million Freeview enabled TVs (and integrated digital televisions) in 9.3 million homes. ^[1].

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 in April of 2007.

Service costs

Unlike ITV Digital, as well as the cable and satellite digital TV services, Freeview offers no premium or pay-per-view channels and no subscription channels, hence the name. To receive the Freeview services, a set-top box (typically costing between £20 and £100) or a new television with an integrated digital tuner is required. DTT reception cards for computers are also available for a similar price. Some viewers also need an aerial upgrade which can cost around £80 to £180^[2]. In addition, the annual television licence must be purchased, as is required for all viewers of broadcast television in the UK irrespective of the method of reception.

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 selected Freeview set-top boxes or televisions equipped with a card slot or CI slot. The Digital Network Group, made up of all the multiplex owners, is responsible for co-ordination between Freeview and Top Up TV services.

Coverage and reception

Approximately 73% of households are in a location that can receive Freeview broadcasts.^[3] Maximum Freeview coverage of the UK whilst analogue and digital services are running in tandem has now been reached.^[4] The British government plans to switch off analogue transmitters region-by-region, starting in 2008, to allow for an increase in both Freeview coverage and transmitter power. The government estimates that the coverage level of the three public service broadcasting multiplexes will reach 98.5% of the population (the same as analogue television) and six-multiplex reception will cover 90% of the population once the digital switchover has been completed in 2013.

Full list of Freeview channels

Currently, there are 46 television channels, and 27 radio channels. A full list of digital terrestrial television channels in the UK is also available, which includes the additional Top Up TV services.

TV channels

1. BBC One
2. BBC Two
3. ITV1
4. Channel 4
S4C~ Digidol
5. Five
6. ITV2
7. BBC Three
9. BBC Four
10. ITV3
11. Sky Three
12. UKTV History
13. More4
14. E4
15. abc1
16. QVC
18. The Hits
19. UKTV Bright Ideas
20. Ftn
21. TMF
22. Ideal World
23. bid tv (reduced hours in Wales)
24. price-drop tv
28. ITV4
29. Film4
30. E4+1
31. ITV Play
32. Film4+1
35. Five US
36. Five Life
37. SmileTV
70. CBBC Channel
71. CBeebies
75. CITV Channel‡
80. BBC News 24
81. BBC Parliament
82. Sky News
83. Sky Sports News
86. S4C2 (Wales only)
87. Community Channel†
88. Teachers' TV†

Text and interactive services

100. Teletext
101. Teletext Holidays
102. Teletext Cars
103. Teletext Games
104. Teletext on 4
105. BBCi
108. Sky Text / NHS Direct

Radio stations

700. BBC Radio 1
701. BBC 1Xtra
702. BBC Radio 2
703. BBC Radio 3
704. BBC Radio 4 (FM version)
705. BBC Radio Five Live
706. BBC Five Live Sports Extra
707. BBC 6 Music
708. BBC 7
709. BBC Asian Network
710. BBC World Service (English language European version)
711. The Hits Radio
712. Smash Hits
713. Kiss 100
714. Heat
715. Magic 105.4
716. Q
717. Oneword
718. 102.2 Smooth FM
719. BBC Radio Scotland (MW version; Scotland only), BBC Radio Wales (Wales only) or BBC Radio Ulster (Northern Ireland only)
720. BBC Radio nan Gaidheal (Scotland only), BBC Radio Cymru (Wales only) or BBC Radio Foyle¹ (Northern Ireland only)
721. Mojo
722. Kerrang!
723. talkSPORT
724. 3C
725. Premier Christian Radio
726. U105 (Northern Ireland only)
727. Virgin Radio
728. Heart (England, Wales and Southern Scotland only) ^[5]
729. Radio Music Shop (England, Wales and Southern Scotland only)

† Channel does not broadcast for its full hours on Freeview.

‡ Off-air on Freeview when PPV Scottish Premier matches are being shown on Setanta, usually for a few hours one day per week during the football season.

Former channels

• Quiz Call - Channel 4 owned Quiz channel sold to iTouch and closed on 15 November and replaced, temporarily, by Film4+1.
• YooPlay Games (previously Free2Play then F2P Games) - closed 18 July 2006, space leased to SMG plc for Virgin Radio, which launched the same day.
• More4+1 - 1 hour timeshift of More4, removed on 18 May 2006, replaced by Big Brother Interactive Channel, which in turn was replaced by Film4 on 23 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

See also

• BT Vision
• Digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom
• Freesat
• Freeview Playback
• Top Up TV
• Télévision Numérique Terrestre
• UK topics

Notes and references

External links

• Freeview
• The industry association for digital TV in the UK
• Extended Freeview reception prediction

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