Freeview (UK)
Freeview is the United Kingdom's sole digital terrestrial television platform. It is operated by Everyone TV and DTV Services Ltd, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, 5 and Sky. It was launched on 30 October 2002, taking over the licence from ITV Digital which collapsed that year. The service provides consumer access via an aerial to the seven DTT multiplexes covering the United Kingdom. As of July 2020, it has 85 TV channels, 26 digital radio channels, 10 HD channels, six text services, 11 streamed channels, and one interactive channel.
Delivery of standard-definition television and radio is labelled Freeview, while delivery of HDTV is called Freeview HD. Reception of Freeview requires a DVB-T/DVB-T2 tuner, either in a separate set-top box or built into the TV set. Since 2008, all new TV sets sold in the United Kingdom have a built-in Freeview tuner. Freeview HD requires an HDTV-capable tuner. Digital video recorders with a built-in Freeview tuner are labelled Freeview+. Depending on model, DVRs and HDTV sets with a Freeview tuner may offer standard Freeview or Freeview HD. Freeview Play is a more recent addition which adds direct access to catch-up services via the Internet.
The technical specification for Freeview is published and maintained by the Digital TV Group, the industry association for digital TV in the UK which also provide the test and conformance regime for Freeview, Freeview + and Freeview HD products. DMOL, a company owned by the operators of the six DTT multiplexes is responsible for technical platform management and policy, including the electronic programme guide and channel numbering.
History
Freeview officially launched on 30 October 2002 at 5 am, when the BBC and Crown Castle officially took over the digital terrestrial television licences to broadcast on the three multiplexes from the defunct ITV Digital. The founding members of DTV Services, who trade as Freeview, were the BBC, Crown Castle UK and British Sky Broadcasting. On 11 October 2006, ITV plc and Channel 4 became equal shareholders. Since then, the Freeview model has been copied in Australia and New Zealand.Although all pay channels had been closed down on ITV Digital, many free-to-air channels continued broadcasting, including the five analogue channels and digital channels such as ITV2, ITN News Channel, S4C2, TV Travel Shop and QVC. With the launch of Freeview other channels were broadcast free-to-air, such as: Sky Travel, UK History, Sky News, Sky Sports News, The Hits and TMF were available from the start. BBC Four and the interactive BBC streams were moved to multiplex B. Under the initial plans, the two multiplexes operated by Crown Castle would carry eight channels altogether. The seventh stream became shared by UK Bright Ideas and Ftn which launched in February 2003. The eighth stream was left unused until April 2004 when the shopping channel Ideal World launched on Freeview. There are now 14 streams carried by two multiplexes, with Multiplex C carrying 6 streams, and Multiplex D carrying 8. It has recently been announced that more streams are now available on the multiplexes, and that bidding is under way.
2009 retune
The Freeview service underwent a major upgrade on 30 September 2009, which required 18 million households to retune their Freeview receiving equipment. The changes, meant to ensure proper reception of Channel 5, led to several thousand complaints from people who lost channels as a result of retuning their equipment. The Freeview website crashed and the call centre was inundated as a result of the problems. The change involved an update to the NIT, which some receivers could not accommodate. Many thousands of people could not receive some channels. This included 460,000 fed from relay stations who lost access to ITV3 and ITV4. Updates were broadcast to enable firmware changes, but in some cases the receiver must be left on and receiving broadcasts to accept the updates; not everyone was aware of this.2014 retune
The Freeview service underwent a major upgrade on 3 September 2014 which required 18 million households to retune their Freeview receiving equipment. The changes included a reshuffle of the Children's, News, and Interactive genres.A number of new HD channels launched in 2014, from a new group of multiplexes awarded to Arqiva. The new HD channels were launched in selected areas on 10 December 2013 with a further roll-out during 2014.
Temporary multiplex removal
The temporary multiplexes are Arqiva-owned multiplexes called COM7 and COM8, DVB-T2 multiplexes for Freeview HD capable devices carrying some channels including HD channels. COM7 is made up of mostly +1s and HDs such as More4+1 and BBC News HD. COM8 consisted of +1s, HDs and other channels such as NOW 80s, PBS America+1 and BBC Four HD. Over the decade these multiplexes are being shut off with COM8 closing on 6 June 2020, with many +1 and HD channels like 5Star+1 and 4seven HD closing and others moving to COM7.Technical problems
On 10 August 2021, the Bilsdale transmitter caught fire leaving up to a million homes in the North East of England without a TV or radio signal.Work was ongoing to restore services, but delays to the granting of planning permission for an temporary mast sited at Bilsdale, and the lack of safe access to the site, have left up to half a million homes without a service as of 8 September 2021. A temporary mast commenced operations on 13 October 2021, with a permanent replacement, for the television transmissions being enabled on 22 May 2023.
On the evening of 25 September 2021, transmissions of Freeview channels operated by the BBC, Channel 4 and ViacomCBS were impacted by the activation of a fire suppressant system at the premises of Red Bee Media. While the BBC moved its playout from White City to Salford and Channel 5 went into 'recovery mode', Channel 4's channels went off air for a number of hours with E4+1 and 4Music still off air on Monday 27 September.
Channels
The Freeview service broadcasts free-to-air television channels, radio stations and interactive services from the existing public service broadcasters. Channels on the service include the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 terrestrial channels, as well as their digital services. In addition, channels from other commercial operators, such as Sky and UKTV, are available, as well as radio services from a number of broadcasters.The full range of channels broadcast via digital terrestrial television includes some pay television services such as BoxNation and Racing UK. These channels, although available only to subscribers with appropriate equipment, are listed in the on-screen electronic programme guides displayed by many Freeview receivers but cannot be viewed.
The link above gives a full up-to-date list of channels, but, as of January 2020, excluding channels such as S4C or the many local TV services they total 105 Freeview, 17 Freeview HD and 33 radio.
Reception equipment
Receivers
To receive Freeview, either a television with an integrated digital tuner or an older analogue television with a suitable Freeview-branded set-top box is required.Aerial
An aerial is required for viewing any broadcast television transmissions. For all transmissions indoor, loft-mounted, and external aerials are available. In regions of strong signal an indoor aerial may be adequate; in marginal areas a high-gain external aerial mounted high above the ground with an electronic amplifier at its top may be needed.Aerial requirements for analogue and digital reception in the UK are identical; there is no such thing as a special "digital aerial", although installers and suppliers often falsely say one is necessary. As the signal degrades, the analogue picture degrades gradually, but the digital picture holds up well then suddenly becomes unwatchable; an aerial which gave poor analogue viewing may give unwatchable, rather than poor, digital viewing, and need replacing, at a cost of typically £80 to £180, most of which is fitting cost. An aerial intended for external use may be fitted indoors if there is space and the signal is strong enough.
Services
The Digital TV Group, the industry association for digital television in the UK, is responsible for co-ordination between Freeview and other digital services.The original Freeview was later expanded with additional facilities, high-definition channels, and Internet connectivity. All services remain available; the original Freeview equipment will work in the same way it always did.
Freeview
The original Freeview service allowed a large number of digital television channels to be received on a compatible television receiver, set-top box, or personal video recorder. An electronic programme guide was available. Freeview channels are not encrypted and can be received by anyone in the UK. There is no additional charge to receive Freeview but it is a legal obligation to hold a current television licence to watch or record TV as it is being broadcast.A subscription-based DTT service, Top Up TV, launched in March 2004. The Top Up TV service was not connected with the Freeview service, but ran alongside it on the DTT platform and was included in the Freeview EPG; programmes could be received on some Freeview set-top boxes and televisions equipped with a card slot or CI slot. The service also worked with existing ex-ONdigital / ITV Digital boxes that received the Freeview package; subscribers with those boxes had to insert their TopUp TV card into the slot which was originally used for inserting ONdigital / ITV Digital smartcards. Top Up TV was replaced in 2006, by a service that did not run on Freeview equipment. In October 2013, the TopUp TV service was closed down.
The Freeview logo certification for standard definition receivers and recorders was withdrawn in January 2017.