Freesat is a
free-to-airFree-to-air describes television and radio services broadcast in clear form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription or one-off fee...
digital
satellite televisionSatellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
joint venture between the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and
ITV plcITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
, serving the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008. Freesat offers a satellite alternative to the Freeview service on
digital terrestrial televisionDigital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
, with a broadly similar selection of channels available without subscription for users purchasing a receiver. The service also makes use of the additional capacity available on digital satellite broadcasting to offer a selection of
high-definitionHigh-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
programming from the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
,
ITV plcITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
,
Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
and
NHKNHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
.
Freesat's main competitors are Freeview and
Freesat from SkyFreesat from Sky is a British satellite television service from BSkyB. It offers over 240 free-to-air channels and 12 free-to-view encrypted channels...
.
Background
The BBC and ITV, the two biggest free-to-air broadcasters in the UK, make their services available digitally through three routes: free-to-air via digital terrestrial and digital satellite, and subscription-only via digital cable.
On
digital terrestrialDigital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
, the channels have always been available
free-to-airFree-to-air describes television and radio services broadcast in clear form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription or one-off fee...
with the appropriate equipment. Freeview was then available to only 73% of the population.
After
analogue TVAnalog television is the analog transmission that involves the broadcasting of encoded analog audio and analog video signal: one in which the message conveyed by the broadcast signal is a function of deliberate variations in the amplitude and/or frequency of the signal...
services are replaced in the planned digital switchover, this will increase to 98.5% for the
public service channelsIn the United Kingdom the term "public service broadcasting" refers to broadcasting intended for the public benefit rather than for purely commercial concerns. The communications regulator Ofcom, requires that certain television and radio broadcasters fulfil certain requirements as part of their...
and 90% for the full 'Freeview' service. In order to provide more widespread coverage and a larger number of channels, a digital satellite alternative was felt necessary.
Initially, both the BBC's and ITV's channels were encrypted since the original Astra satellites used for Sky broadcast to most of Europe but the broadcasters' rights for premium content such as films and sports typically covered the UK only.
The use of encryption meant that any viewer wishing to view the channels had to purchase equipment from Sky and pay for a
free-to-viewFree-to-view is a term used for free of charge and encrypted audio and/or video contents transmission that do not require any form of continual subscription...
viewing card in order to decrypt the channels. Similarly, in order to use the
VideoguardVideoGuard , produced by NDS, is a digital encryption system for use with conditional access television broadcasting. It is used on digital satellite television systems - some of which are operated by News Corporation, which owns about half of NDS...
encryption, the broadcasters needed to pay a fee to
NDS GroupNDS Group Plc. is a developer of pay TV technology. NDS was established in 1988 as an Israeli start up company. It was acquired by News Corporation in 1992. The company is currently headquartered in Staines, United Kingdom...
.
Move to free-to-air
In May 2003 the BBC moved most of its channels from the
Astra 2AAstra 2A is a communications satellite owned by SES Astra. Launched in 1998, half its expected end-of-life capacity of 28 transponders were pre-booked by BSkyB, who utilised it to launch their new Sky Digital service...
satellite to
Astra 2DAstra 2D is one of a group of Astra communications satellites operated by SES, located at 28.2° east in the Clarke Belt. It is a Hughes HS-376 craft, and was launched from the Guiana Space Centre in December 2000....
, which has a footprint that focuses more tightly on the UK. This move allowed the BBC to stop encrypting its broadcasts while continuing to meet its rights obligations. It dropped the encryption two months later. Two months later, ITV, whose channels had already been located on the Astra 2D satellite since launching on the Sky platform some years earlier, also made their channels free-to-air. On November 18, 2008, Channel 5 joined Freesat.
The free-to-air channels can be received using any standard digital satellite (
DVB-SDVB-S is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Satellite; it is the original Digital Video Broadcasting forward error coding and demodulation standard for satellite television and dates from 1994, in its first release, while development lasted from 1993 to 1997...
) receiver. However, the Freesat project aims to provide a more managed service with an Electronic Programme Guide and
interactiveInteractive television describes a number of techniques that allow viewers to interact with television content as they view it.- Definitions :...
features similar to the Freeview service launched three years earlier. Unlike Freeview, however, these features would only be available to approved receivers manufactured under licence from Freesat.
The initial plan was to launch the service in early 2006. This was postponed to Autumn 2007 as approval from the
BBC TrustThe BBC Trust is the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It is operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and aims to act in the best interests of licence fee payers....
was only received in April 2007. However, the service was further delayed and was officially launched on 6 May 2008.
Launch channels
The service launched officially on 6 May 2008. From the launch, Freesat advertised all national television channels from the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and
ITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
as being available on the platform (excluding ITV2 +1), as well as all national BBC radio networks.
Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
also managed to make most of its channels free-to-air in preparation for the launch. In addition some channels from other broadcasters such as Chello Zone, CSC Media Group, Al Jazeera English and
EuronewsEuronews is an international multilingual news television channel.It covers world news from what it claims to be a 'European' perspective.Criticisms are that the perspective is in fact that of the European Commission - a major and growing funder of Euronews....
were included on the channel list.
High-definition
BBC HDBBC HD is a high-definition television network provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007...
was the only high-definition channel available on Freesat from launch day, with ITV HD added as a 'red-button interactive' service from 7 June 2008. On 12 March 2010 it was announced that ITV HD would change from a red button interactive service to a full time channel called ITV1 HD on 2 April 2010, simulcasting the main ITV1 channel.
BBC One HD, a high-definition simulcast of BBC One, was made available on Freesat and other platforms on 3 November 2010. Channel 4 HD also became available on the platform on 19 April 2011. NHK World HD was added to Freesat on 9 May 2011, the channel shared its EPG slot with its standard definition counterpart and was therefore only listed on high definition receivers, which were unable to access the standard definition channel via the EPG until it closed on 1 October 2011.
Regional Variations
Some channels (notably BBC One and ITV1) are transmitted in regional variations and the appropriate services are selected by the Freesat receiver from the user's postcode. In March 2010, ITV altered several of their regions from
free-to-airFree-to-air describes television and radio services broadcast in clear form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription or one-off fee...
transmission to
free-to-viewFree-to-view is a term used for free of charge and encrypted audio and/or video contents transmission that do not require any form of continual subscription...
(because they were moved to a satellite from which transmission covers a much larger area than just the UK and content licensing means that they had to be encrypted). As a result, a few Freesat viewers (who cannot receive free-to-view, encrypted content) were moved to regional variations not corresponding to their actual location.
Future channels
Freesat continues to add channels, with recent additions being (including but not limited to) Red Light, BoxOffice365,
Argos TVArgos is the largest general-goods retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland with over 800 stores. It is unique amongst major retailers in the UK in that it is a catalogue merchant...
and
CCTV NewsCCTV News may refer to:* CCTV News, the news department itself, of China Central Television* CCTV News , a Chinese language news channel* CCTV NEWS, formerly CCTV-9, an English language news channel...
. The BBC also began to roll out a beta version of
BBC iPlayerBBC iPlayer, commonly shortened to iPlayer, is an internet television and radio service, developed by the BBC to extend its former RealPlayer-based and other streamed video clip content to include whole TV shows....
for Freesat devices in early 2010. BBC iPlayer is an internet based service with around 400 hours of television being available on demand.
ITV PlayerITV Player is an online video on demand service accessible though the main ITV website. The service offers a variety of programmes from homegrown programming to imports across ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV. Some sports programming is available to watch again via the service, the 2010 FIFA World...
and
BoxOffice365PictureBox is an video on demand movie service offering a dynamic selection of movies for a monthly subscription. It is available at home through several TV broadcast platform partners or via the internet using the PictureBox Player. The service is currently available in the United Kingdom, Poland...
are available in beta for
HumaxHumax is an electronics company. Founded in South Korea in 1989, it manufactures set-top boxes, digital video recorders and other consumer electronics. It is publicly traded on KOSDAQ....
devices, with support expected to be extended beyond over the coming months. Freesat does also intend to launch a Freesat receiver with YouView within it and
4oD4oD is a video on demand service from Channel 4. Launched in November 2006, 4oD stands for "4 on Demand". The service offers a variety of programmes recently shown on Channel 4, E4, More4 or from their archives...
and Demand 5 are under consideration.
Channel 5 will make Channel 5 +1 available on 6 December 2011, with 5*, 5* +1, 5USA and 5USA +1 available from 8 December. Electric Sofa Media announced plans to launch Film GB, Sofa Screen and Sofa Stars on Freesat in 2011, but as of no broadcasts have taken place.
On 7 September 2010, Richard Burrell - director of media operations for
QVCQVC UK is a digital television shopping channel broadcast in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1993 when QVC, Inc. formed a deal with Sky TV to create a UK version of the US channel. "QVC — The Shopping Channel" first broadcast in the UK on 1 October 1993. QVC UK - 20% owned by Sky - moved into...
, confirmed that QVC HD would launch on satellite in about two years (2012). The standard-definition version of QVC has been available on Freesat since the launch of the service.
STV is keen to make STV HD available on Freesat and are working with them to make this happen as soon as possible. In November 2008, Irish public broadcaster
Raidió Teilifís ÉireannRaidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
announced a delay in launching its new international channel
RTÉ InternationalRTÉ International is the working title of an international television service, to be created by the national broadcaster of Ireland, Raidió Teilifís Éireann , when economic conditions improve....
due to financial cutbacks. RTÉ had hoped to launch the new channel, which would possibly have been carried on Freesat, by the end of 2009 but to date there has been no launch.
During July 2010, Emma Scott revealed that Freesat are considering moving into pay television, and offering users the chance to subscribe to
Sky SportsSky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
1 and 2. Its board is debating the option of taking advantage of the reduction in wholesale prices forced through in April on
British Sky BroadcastingBritish Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
by
OfcomOfcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
. Emma Scott said "We are looking at pay television. There is a lot of discussion around the Freesat and pay television issues taking place at board level. We haven't taken a final decision." Freesat is not however a part of the interim agreement between British Sky Broadcasting and Ofcom to supply Sky Sports 1 and 2, which only applies in respect of BT, Top Up TV and Virgin Media.
On 28 July 2011, the BBC Trust approved proposals to introduce the listing of pay content delivered on-demand via broadband. The trust will allow the BBC to continue to play a part in Freesat as the plans did not represent a significant change to the approval previously given in 2007. There was no need for a Public Value Test or for further regulatory process. Under the plans some pay content, such as films, would be added to the Freesat EPG alongside the existing free-to-air content. However, there would be no adult material or live streamed sports coverage. Freesat itself will not supply any of the on demand content, but will allow third parties to do so through its EPG. Some content will also be made available through existing channels using an on-screen prompt that would take viewers to an on demand environment. Pay-TV sales would be handled by a third party, with Freesat operating the conditional access system that would underpin it. The plan is to use the upcoming launch of G2 spec receivers to add support for Digital Rights Management and where technically possible on existing receivers.
On 29 November 2011, a beta trial for the subscription based on demand movie service BoxOffice365 was added to the Freesat EPG.
Currently, Freesat offers a line-up of 178 television, radio, on demand and text channels.
Receivers
At the launch of the service, there were two types of Freesat receivers available —standard definition-only receivers and high definition-capable receivers. As of July 2010 there are eleven companies licensed to produce Freesat boxes and televisions. Humax launched a Freesat recorder,
Freesat+Freesat+ is a consumer brand created to raise consumer awareness and promote sales of Freesat-capable digital TV recorders, otherwise known as personal video recorders...
, which became available to the public in November 2008, and which received reviews.
Televisions
Following the initial launch,
PanasonicPanasonic is an international brand name for Japanese electric products manufacturer Panasonic Corporation, which was formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd...
introduced three plasma televisions with integrated HD Freesat receivers. At the end of October 2008, Panasonic brought out 2 more sizes which are the 32" and 37".
In April 2009
LGLG may refer to:*LG Corp., a South Korean electronics and petrochemicals conglomerate*LG Electronics, an affiliate of the South Korean LG Group which produces electronic products* Lawrence Graham, a London headquartered firm of business lawyers...
launched 4 LCD TVs with built-in Freesat receivers. The LG series is the LF7700 (discontinued mid-2010), with screen sizes of 32", 37", 42"and 47".
Sony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
have released two televisions with Freesat receivers, the W5810 and Z5800 series, available from sizes 32" up to 52" and in 100 Hz and 200 Hz alternatives.
Satellite dish
The service makes use of the same fleet of satellites as the popular subscription satellite service Sky:
AstraAstra is the name for the geostationary communication satellites, both individually and as a group, which are owned and operated by SES S.A., a global satellite operator based in Betzdorf, in eastern Luxembourg. The name is sometimes also used to describe the channels broadcasting from these...
and
Eurobird 1Eurobird 1 is a Eutelsat operated Eurobird satellite, used primarily for digital television. It is located at 28.5° east in the Clarke Belt, just within the range of most satellite dishes pointed at SES Astra's Astra 2A, 2B and 2D at 28.2° east...
. This means that any satellite dish which has been used to receive this service will be capable of receiving Freesat, with the addition of a receiver.
For users who do not currently have a satellite dish, Freesat offers an installation service which is made available through retailers and which is advertised in a leaflet included with Freesat receivers. It is also possible to buy a satellite dish and install it yourself.
Republic of Ireland
Irish TV stations are not available through the Freesat platform.
While Freesat systems work in the Republic of Ireland, upon launch in October 2008 systems were not made available in Irish retail outlets even where they were UK domiciled multiples. However, on 23 October 2008 several Irish retail chains, including
MaplinMaplin Electronics is a retailer of electronic goods in the UK and Ireland. As of December 2010, there are 180 Maplin Electronics stores in the United Kingdom...
,
Tesco IrelandTesco Ireland is the Irish arm of supermarket group Tesco. It was formed in Tesco plc's 1997 takeover of the Irish retailing operations of Associated British Foods, namely Powers' Supermarkets Limited and its subsidiaries, trading as Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices.Tesco operates supermarkets under...
and
PowerCityPower City is an Irish electrical retailer of consumer and electronic goods with branches in Blanchardstown, Coolock, Tallaght, Finglas, Fonthill, Sallynoggin, Drogheda and Bray. The Drogheda store, was opened in September 2006, the second outside Dublin....
, began offering modified Freesat systems from
GrundigGrundig AG is a German manufacturer of consumer electronics for home entertainment which transferred to Turkish control in 2004-2007. Established in 1945 in Nuremberg by Max Grundig, the company changed hands several times before becoming part of the Turkish Koç Holding group...
and
AlbaHarvard International plc is a British consumer electronics company, which owns the Goodmans and iLuv brands....
that had their Freesat branding replaced with a Sat4free brand name. The requirement to enter a UK postcode has also been removed; the systems were instead set to use the version of the electronic programme guide appropriate for
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
through a hard-coded
BelfastBelfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
postcode.
Sat4free was permanently closed down shortly after.
Outside the UK and Republic of Ireland
It is possible to receive Freesat outside the UK and Ireland, although a larger dish may be required as the Astra 2D footprint is mainly focused on the UK and Republic of Ireland. Freesat receivers ask for a postcode during installation, but this is just to determine which regional services to select. However, Freesat is a UK television service, designed for use in the UK, and a British television licence should be purchased if used in the UK. There is no facility for people outside the UK to purchase a UK TV licence. Overspill reception is covered by UK and Ireland MOU of TV and also EU TV without Frontiers directives.
Technical details
Freesat broadcasts from the same fleet of satellites (
Astra 28.2°EAstra 28.2°E is the name for the group of Astra communications satellites co-located at the 28.2° East position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg...
and Eurobird 1) as Sky. Channels are broadcast using
DVB-SDVB-S is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Satellite; it is the original Digital Video Broadcasting forward error coding and demodulation standard for satellite television and dates from 1994, in its first release, while development lasted from 1993 to 1997...
. The Freesat electronic programme guide is broadcast from the Eurobird 1 satellite situated at 28.5° east. Freesat's role is not broadcasting or availability of channels (although the BBC and ITV are substantial broadcasters in their own right) but instead providing a platform for receiving the channels and the EPG.
All of the standard definition channels broadcasting to date are broadcast using DVB-S, ITV1 HD and NHK World HD also use DVB-S while Channel 4 HD uses
DVB-S2Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite - Second Generation is a digital television broadcast standard that has been designed as a successor for the popular DVB-S system. It was developed in 2003 by the , an international industry consortium, and ratified by ETSI in March 2005...
. BBC One HD and BBC HD used DVB-S until 6 June 2011 when the
satellite transponderA communications satellite’s transponder, is the series of interconnected units which form a communications channel between the receiving and the transmitting antennas .A transponder is typically composed of:...
carrying them was upgraded to DVB-S2. Standard definition channels are broadcast using MPEG-2, while high definition channels are broadcast using MPEG-4. Since the channels are broadcast in-the-clear, they can also be received by non-Freesat receivers and, most commonly, Sky Digiboxes.
Interactive television is done using
MHEG-5MHEG-5, or ISO/IEC 13522-5, is part of a set of international standards relating to the presentation of multimedia information, standardised by the Multimedia and Hypermedia Experts Group...
rather than the proprietary
OpenTVOpenTV is an interactive television company founded in 1994. Its main business involves the sale of set-top-box operating systems and software. On March 28, 2010 OpenTV became a fully owned subsidiary of the NAGRA Kudelski Group and officially delisted from the NASDAQ, where it was previously...
platform used by Sky.
The specification for Freesat boxes includes having an
EthernetEthernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
port on the back. This is to allow on demand programmes provided by the
BBC iPlayerBBC iPlayer, commonly shortened to iPlayer, is an internet television and radio service, developed by the BBC to extend its former RealPlayer-based and other streamed video clip content to include whole TV shows....
or
ITV PlayerITV Player is an online video on demand service accessible though the main ITV website. The service offers a variety of programmes from homegrown programming to imports across ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV. Some sports programming is available to watch again via the service, the 2010 FIFA World...
and streaming services from the BBC to be viewed directly on the customer's television.
Freesat's next-generation G2 spec will include features such as:
DiSEqC 1.2DiSEqC , pronounced "Die-Sec", is a special communication protocol for use between a satellite receiver and a device such as a multi-dish switch or a small dish antenna rotor...
support; MoCA (Multimedia over Coax Alliance) support including single cable routing; core support for iPlayer-style
hybrid TVHybrid digital TV can show digital TV content from a number of different sources including traditional broadcast TV, internet, and connected devices in the home. To watch hybrid digital TV, consumers will need a hybrid IPTV Set-Top Box with a range of input connectors, including Ethernet as well...
services;
HTMLHyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
,
JavaScriptJavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
and
CSSCascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...
internet technologies for broadband-delivered interactive services;
DRMDigital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
for online content; and payment mechanisms for broadband services like
LoveFilmLoveFilm is a UK-based provider of home video and video game rental through DVD-by-mail and streaming video on demand in the UK, Germany and Scandinavia...
. James Strickland, Freesat's director of product and technology development, explained that G2 is a hybrid between
Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TVHybrid Broadcast Broadband TV is both an industry standard and promotional initiative for hybrid digital TV to harmonise the broadcast, IPTV, and broadband delivery of entertainment to the end consumer through connected TVs and set-top boxes...
(HbbTV) and MHEG-5.
Adoption
The table below attempts to show the quarterly and cumulative sales of Freesat equipment since the inception of the service. Sales rose through the first two quarters of the service and then averaged around 120,000 per quarter while reported, leading to total sales of 350,000 by the end of Q1, 2009. Over 80% of all sales have been high definition receivers.
| Quarter |
Quarterly Sales |
Cumulative Sales |
Quarterly HD Sales |
Cumulative HD Sales |
Quarterly HD Proportion |
Reference |
| Q2, 2008 |
39,018 |
39,018 |
23,854 |
23,854 |
61% |
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/tv/reports/dtv/dtu_2008_q2/q2_2008 |
| Q3, 2008 |
68,982 |
108,000 |
49,146 |
73,000 |
71% |
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/tv/reports/dtv/dtu_2008_03/q3_2008.pdf |
| Q4, 2008 |
125,000 |
233,000 |
99,000 |
172,000 |
79% |
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/tv/reports/dtv/dtu_2008_04/q42008.pdf |
| Q1, 2009 |
117,000 |
350,000 |
91,000 |
263,000 |
78% |
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/tv/reports/dtv/dtu_2009_01/q12009.pdf |
| Q2, 2009 |
98,000 |
450,000 |
77,000 |
340,000 |
79% |
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/tv/reports/dtv/dtu_2009_02/q22009.pdf |
| Q3, 2009 |
190,000 |
640,000 |
? |
? |
79% |
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/tv/reports/dtv/dtv_2009_q3/dtv_2009_q3.pdf |
| Q4, 2009 |
260,000 |
900,000 |
? |
? |
80% |
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/tv/reports/dtv/dtv_2009_q4/dtv_2009_q4.pdf |
| Q1, 2010 |
100,000 |
1,000,000 |
? |
? |
80% |
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/tv-research/tv-data/dig-tv-updates/q12010.pdf |
| Q2, 2010 |
250,000 |
1,250,000 |
? |
? |
80% |
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/tv-research/tv-data/dig-tv-updates/q22010.pdf |
| Q3, 2010* |
? |
1,250,000 |
? |
? |
80% |
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/tv-research/tv-data/dig-tv-updates/Q3_2010_DTV_Update.pdf |
| Q4, 2010* |
? |
1,250,000 |
? |
? |
80% |
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/tv-research/tv-data/dig-tv-updates/q42010.pdf |
In the Q4 2009 report (from the table above), Ofcom reported that Freesat had announced the 1 million mark had been hit by the end of February 2010.
Note * Ofcom stopped reporting Freesat Penetration Cumulatively and By Quarter starting with their Q3 2010 Report. Over 80% of Cumulative Freesat Unit Sales by the last update in Q2 2010 were Freesat HD units with the remainder Freesat SD. Upon release of the Q4 2010 data Ofcom Stated that:
"The next report, scheduled for publication in June/July 2011, ( Q1 2011) will be our 30th quarterly update. We have decided that in light of the progress that has been made towards Digital TV conversion, it is now appropriate to move to an annual cycle of reporting, with the first annual report being published in June 2012."
See also
- Freesat from Sky
Freesat from Sky is a British satellite television service from BSkyB. It offers over 240 free-to-air channels and 12 free-to-view encrypted channels...
- Freeview
- Saorsat
Saorsat is the proposed name for the free-to-air satellite service in the Republic of Ireland. The service is expected to launch in late 2011...
– A proposed IrishIreland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
version of Freesat
- List of free-to-air channels at 28°E
External links