Freeview - Free to view Digital TV

Freeview offers digital TV via your TV aerial - it's free-to-view... no subscriptions or direct debits - just a one-off purchase of a Freeview receiver (from around £30).

With a Freeview set-top box, you can get over 40 TV channels and 20 radio channels - in digital quality via your TV aerial.
No dish, no cable, no monthly fees.

How to get Freeview

Remember, there's no subscription costs, or rental agreements, so the one-off cost is all you'll pay for the extra channels.

For more on Freeview, go to Radio & Telly - where you'll find help pages, lists of new boxes & a discussion forum. See www.radioandtelly.co.uk/freeview.html If you're a Freeview user, you may want to have a listen to the latest FrequencyCast Podcast, which covers Freeview news and new developments in UK digital TV. Go to www.frequencycast.co.uk

Freeview channels

Entertainment	BBC One BBC Two ITV 1 Channel 4 five ITV 2 ITV 3 ITV 4 BBC Three (youth, launched 9th Feb 2003) BBC Four (in-depth cultural channel from 7pm) E4 More 4 Film4 UK History Dave (formerly UKTV G2) Sky Three Virgin 1 Community
News / Sport	BBC News (formerly BBC News 24) Sky News Sky Sports News BBC Parliament
Kids	CBBC Cbeebies
Shopping	QVC Bid TV Price-drop TV
Music	4 music The Music Factory
Radio	BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra BBC Radio 6 (Album tracks, classic sessions and concerts) BBC 1Xtra (Contemporary black music for a young audience) BBC Radio 7 (Comedy, drama, and children's) BBC Asian Network BBC World Service Smash Hits! KISS Kerrang Smooth Radio (formerly Jazz FM) The Hits Q Magic Heat Absolute Radio Heart
Interactive / Info	BBCi Teletext Teletext Cars FourText Hits Extra (Interactive music and video)

A number of extra channels are available on the same system - These are provided by TopUp TV. There's also the new on-demand service, Top Up TV Anytime.

Set-top boxes
Freeview set-top boxes can be purchased for a one-off fee of between £20 and £150, depending on the features and styling you're looking for. Here is a summary of a few of the boxes available.

For a more comprehensive list, see the Radio and Telly STB list.

Bush		Range includes a basic receiver, the DFT4, at a low price of around £50. See the Set top box page
Fusion		The DigiFusion range is a fairly recent addition to the available boxes. All of their boxes include a unique 7 Day Multi Guide EPG. The range includes a box with a built-in hard disk recorder, and a model with a DVD player onboard See the Fusion page.
Humax		The Humax range of boxes includes a box with PVR - a built-in hard disk recorder that can record digital programmes onto itself without videotapes - also has Live pause, timeshift and slow motion. Details: See our Humax page

Boxes are available from: Dixons, Comet, Currys and Very.co.uk.
If you're looking for a cheaper alternative, you may want to try Ebay.co.uk for a bargain used OnDigital / ITVDigital box

Where ITVDigital / onDigital left off...

Freeview launched in October 2002, taking over from where ITVDigital and onDigital left off. Totally free to view, the service is technically more stable than ITV Digital, as the transmitter power has reportedly been increased and the channel multiplexes will be less compressed due to the lower number of channels. You can check what coverage is likely to be in your area with the DTG postcode checker

If you own an old ITV Digital / OnDigital set-top box, you'll be glad to know that you can pick up Freeview on this box without having to pay a subscription. The software on the box may now be out-of-date, and still branded as the old name, but the box should allow you to watch the new channels without having to buy a new box. In December 2002, there was a controversial decision made by ITVDigital's Administrators, Grant Thornton, to charge £40 for you to keep your set-top box. You'll be glad to know that as of January 2003, this was reversed. Old boxes can be found at very low prices in some shops, and on Ebay.co.uk