Freeview

Freeview is a free-to-air digital television service in the United Kingdom broadcast from terrestrial transmitters using the DVB-T standard. Launched on October 30 2002 at 6am, it took over the DTT licence on four multiplexes to broadcast from the defunct ITV Digital which itself replaced ON Digital.

Related Topics:
Free-to-air - Digital television - United Kingdom - DVB-T - October 30 - 2002 - DTT - Multiplexes - ITV Digital - ON Digital

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Unlike ITV Digital and the cable and satellite digital TV services, it offers no subscription, premium, or pay-per-view channels. All that is needed to receive the Freeview service is a set-top box costing around £30 to £100, or a new television with an integrated digital tuner. An annual television licence fee is levied for the service, though the same fee is also needed to watch analogue channels.

Related Topics:
Cable - Satellite - Pay-per-view - Set-top box - Television licence

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The Freeview consortium consists of the BBC, Crown Castle UK and British Sky Broadcasting. The service broadcasts free-to-air television channels, radio stations and interactive services from the BBC, Sky, and various other broadcasters. In March 2005, ITV and Channel 4, joint owners of multiplex 2, were invited to join the Freeview consortium http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds19874.html http://www.dtg.org.uk/news/news.php?id=729.

Related Topics:
BBC - Crown Castle UK - British Sky Broadcasting - Channels - ITV - Channel 4

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In addition to Freeview proper, a subscription-based service, Top Up TV, launched in March 2004 using unused channel space. The Top Up TV service is not a part of the Freeview service; it runs alongside it on the DTT platform. Additionally, services on Multiplex 2 (Digital 3 and 4) and Multiplex A (SDN) are technically not part of the Freeview service, although they are often advertised as being part of Freeview. The Digital Network Group, made up of all the multiplex owners, is responsible for co-ordination between these services.

Related Topics:
Subscription - Top Up TV - The Digital Network Group

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At the end of 2004, it was reported that over 5 million households in the UK have Freeview, making it the second-most popular digital TV format in the UK.

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