Digital Television UK

Featured

Sky ‘Pay Once, Watch Forever’ is a great new way to get free digital satellite TV for a simple one off payment of only £75, that’s half the previous standard price of Sky Freesat!

Included is 4 months free viewing of Skys most popular Entertainment Mixes, Variety Mix and Knowledge Mix, worth £76 at normal subscription prices.

Other features included are:

• No monthly fee

• More than 200 Digital TV Channels including BBC AND ITV

• More than 95 Digital Radio stations

• Access to exciting interactive services

• Sky Digibox, Minidish, Remote, Channels and standard installation included

• Ability to upgrade to any Sky Digital package

After 6 months of free viewing of the Variety and Knowledge mixes there are 2 options:

1. Upgrade to a Sky TV package and pay from £16 per month for 1 channel mix or increase your subscription for more channel mixes/sports/movies.
2. Just continue with the 200 free digital channels you have and access to. The Variety and Knowledge mixes will stop.

To find out more about Sky ‘Pay Once, Watch Forever’ Visit Dixons Online

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Satellite

The all new free digital satellite TV platform has launched today - Tuesday 6th May.

Freesat is a joint operation by the BBC and ITV which will plug the gap left by Freeview by reaching an estimated 98% of households: giving you more than 80 free digital tv channels, radio stations and HDTV (high definition TV) from the BBC and ITV.

Freesat Receivers are available from:

• Argos - order online or collect instore.

• Comet - order online.

• Currys - order online.

• John Lewis - order online.

Prices vary between £50 and £149 depending on whether you’re buying a standard definition, recorder or HD Freesat box. Standard installation should be available to buy online from the above retailers at around £80.

It’s worth noting Freesat is transmit from the Astra 2 group of satellites. If you have a working Sky minidish or suitable satellite dish correctly aligned, with cabling to your Freesat box, then you shouldn’t need any installation apart from plugging in your Freesat receiver.

Visit the official Freesat website here for information regarding channel listings.

Terrestrial

Freeview High Definition to be available next year!

Ofcom has announced that it’s allowing high definition TV channels to be transmitted on the Freeview terrestrial TV platform next year, in 2009. The new channels, 3 in total, will be available to any viewer with adequate reception, a HD ready TV and an additional Freeview set top box or receiver. There will also be a further 4th channel available by 2012 - just in time for the Olympics.

There is only one downside to this announcement, if you can call it that, you will have to wait until conventional analogue TV is switched off/switched over to digital TV in your area. This means viewers in the Wales, Granada and Borders regions will be able to access the HD TV channels whilst those yet to be switched to digital will have to wait until their area is digital TV only.

Switchover By Region

If you are unsure which TV Region you come under it is the same as your ITV regional news, and analogue ITV Teletext on page 106.

More information on when your area switches over is available at the Freeview website.

Technical insights into the new high definition channels are being kept quiet at the moment, but it looks like the current main BBC multiplex will be moved/reshuffled to make room for the new channels; and it would seem likely the BBC will have one HD channel with the other slots being offered for bidding between the regular commercial TV channels.