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Freesat last night had their first award ceremony in London’s Pigalle Club to praise those that have made Freesat a success in its first year of release. The awards went to:
Viewers’ Choice for Channel of the Year: BBC HD
Product of the Year: Humax Freesat+
Multiple Retailer of the Year: John Lewis
Independent Retailer of the Year: Hickmans Ltd
Best Daytime Digital Channel: PopGirl/ Wedding TV
Best Digital News Channel: Al Jazeera English
Best Evening Digital Channel: BBC FOUR
Best Digital Radio Station: Planet Rock
Freesat Installer of the Year: TSG
This year’s winners were chosen by a panel of industry experts including the editor of guardian.co.uk Janine Gibson, DTG Chairman and Broadcast columnist David Docherty, Media Commentator Mark Borkowski, Radio Times TV Editor Alison Graham and Freesat MD Emma Scott. The panel was chaired by Mike Chandler, MD of Astra – also the event’s main sponsor.
In addition, leading consumer technology magazine What Hi Fi Sound & Vision selected the ‘Product of the Year’, the Confederation of Aerial Installers chose the ‘Freesat Installer of the Year’ and there was also a special public vote for the ‘Viewers’ Choice Freesat Channel of the Year’ Award.
Emma Scott, Freesat’s Managing Director commented at the awards
Tonight has been a wonderful celebration of a brilliant first year for Freesat. I’d like to congratulate the winners and thank all Freesat’s partners who have contributed to our success so far. Having already reached 400K sales and with on demand IPTV services, such as BBC iPlayer, on the way this year, we’re looking forward to building on this success through 2009 and beyond.
Congratulations to all the winners; below is more information on how the decisions were made:
Viewers’ Choice (public vote): BBC HD Channel
The BBC HD channel was a clear winner with Freesat’s viewers. The ever-growing variety of quality drama, comedy, sport and natural history programming in brilliant High Definition is building this new channel a well-earned reputation with audiences. BBC HD took the largest share of votes in the Freesat viewers’ poll, surpassing all others to become the Freesat Channel of the Year 2009.
Freesat Product of the Year (judged by What Hi Fi): Humax Freesat+
The What Hi-Fi judging panel deliberated long and hard, finally choosing the Humax Freesat+ high definition digital TV recorder as their Product of the Year. Brilliant picture and sound quality, unique Freesat+ functionality and user-friendly touches such as the option to record in either SD or HD massively impressed the What Hi-Fi panel.
Freesat Multiple Retailer of the Year: John Lewis
John Lewis’s commitment to training has certainly paid off, with their incredibly knowledgeable staff going that extra mile for Freesat customers. Strong sales in store and John Lewis’s unfailing commitment to Freesat promotion were key factors recognised by our judging panel.
Freesat Independent Retailer of the Year: Hickmans Ltd
Hickmans prides itself on being ‘the only place for Freesat’, expertly talking customers through the options and identifying the right Freesat products to meet their needs. A consistently strong sales record alongside excellent customer feedback, helped the judges choose Hickmans as Freesat Independent Retailer of the Year.
Best Freesat Digital News Channel: Al Jazeera English
A news organisation brave enough to follow its own agenda, judges felt that Al Jazeera English frequently had cause to lead others rather than follow. Equally impressive for the judges was the channel’s ‘as the world turns’ approach, providing viewers with ever-changing world perspectives on the challenging issues of the day.
Best Freesat Daytime Digital Channel: PopGirl and Wedding TV
The judges were unable to choose between these two very impressive but very different channels and eventually decided that recognising them as joint winners was the only fair decision. PopGirl offers quality programming for “girls that sparkle”. The judges agreed that PopGirl serves its young audience extremely well, offering programming loved by parents and kids alike. Taking the brand into the online space, it has successfully built a strong PopGirl community. Girl Power lives on. Wedding TV marries a real audience understanding with an impressive ability to offer unique, home-grown programming week after week. With nothing else quite like it, the judges were quickly drawn to the channel’s infectious personality and its sense of originality. A breath of fresh air.
Best Freesat Evening Digital Channel: BBC FOUR
Described as ‘an oasis of good manners,’ by the judges, BBC FOUR impressed greatly with wonderful original dramas, documentaries and music programmes – all delivered with a canny sense of the channel’s audience and identity. BBC FOUR’s ‘curated’ feel means there is always something engaging and enlightening to discover.
Best Digital Radio Station: Planet Rock
Rock is back in a big way, and Planet Rock’s devoted audience is clearly captivated by the clever mix of programming from across this massive genre. The judges were also rocked by the station’s strong sense of community and events like ‘Childline Rocks’. With a distinctive mix of famous voices, Planet Rock is rich in content and strong on listener growth. All this convinced the judges to ‘crank it up to 11.’
Freesat Installer of the Year: TSG
A hard-fought category, judges from the Confederation of Aerial Installers rated TSG above all others, recognising its long-standing achievements in the industry. A focus on training has undoubtedly paid dividends, creating a team of incredibly professional installers, always focused on doing a great job for Freesat customers.
May 21st, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Wedding TV? You’re joking right?0
BBC HD was a clear winner for the viewers’ choice award.
I’ve not been to a John Lewis before (due to the lack of one near me) but, by the sound of things, they’re much better than Comet and Currys (the latter repeatedly tried to get me to sign up to sky before I stormed out). Comet are OK, but the staff aren’t particularly knowledgeable about FreeSat.
PeterQuote
May 21st, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Some of these channels I dont tend to watch, but maybe I’ll give them a try now..
BobQuote
May 21st, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Interesting to see a kids TV channel win an award. I know my niece and nephew are big fans of PopGirls sister channels Pop and Tiny Pop.
BBC HD was always going to win the peoples fav. Perhaps next year, with a bit more effort from ITV, ITV HD might challenge it or who knows, maybe even C4 HD.
Without doubt, the Humax freesat+ has been the best product of the year, but I would imagine that Panasonic, LG and others might have a bigger say in the future.
I also find it interesting that a dedicated music channel won the Radio station award. I would have bet on 5 Live myself
Perhaps Talksport for next year??
The best news channel amazes me. Not because Al Jazeera is a bad channel, its not, it is well presented, slick and very modern, I just thought BBC or CNN would take it with ease.
As for freesat installer of the year, I totally disagree!!! It should have been me dammit, it should have been me!!!
MJQuote
May 21st, 2009 at 6:20 pm
My two girls love pop girl. that channel has been a godsend, just like some of the sister channels pop and tiny pop.
I dont have a clue about wedding tv but im sure it has a large following.
BBC HD is a no brainer, tho i would personnaly love a dedicated HD wildlife/documentary channel – but thats just me.
i have the the freesat+ box and its gotta be said, its amazing. Everyone in the house can use it with ease and it is smart and well built. Just wish we could archive the HD material on an external HDD.
PeteQuote
May 21st, 2009 at 7:36 pm
CNN is by far the better news channel.
pop girl is well loved with my little ones…followed by scuzz
PaulaQuote
May 21st, 2009 at 9:50 pm
John Lewis is excellant, got TV from them on line. Brilliant sevice.
DenisQuote
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:07 am
it must be a poor service if pop girl and wedding tv are the best daytime channels
(personally i would have picked zone reality )
darnall 42Quote
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:23 am
How about wooden spoon for ITVHD??
YASARQuote
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:43 am
Well done to Freesat in their first year, but that’s the honeymoon period over! Lets see if they can continue at a simmilar pace over the next 12 months. ITV HD must improve and add many more programs. C4 HD must come onboard. Will BBC iPlayer require an ethernet connection? Other popular channels like Dave. Then Freesat will be the best, sales over the one million in 12 months time??
Derek BQuote
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Derek B – Agree with you on ITV HD and C4 HD. iPlayer is via Ethernet otherwise how else would it connect
No chance for Dave, it is a subscription channel on Sky.
adminQuote
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Post 4 – I dont have a clue about wedding tv but im sure it has a large following.
Nope – its closing on June 1st and becoming Wedding TV Asia!
RossQuote
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:55 pm
I’m thinking Argos should have got the best retailer award.
My HDR+ blew up after 6 months and they gave me a brand new one (no repair), no quibbles.
They also let me take out an extended warranty despite it being 6 months since I bought the box and 3 years cover only cost £31.99.
Now that’s what you call service.
5 stars to Argos.
Al (Original)Quote
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:22 pm
@Ross
Is it not Wedding TV +1 which is switching to Wedding TV Asia????
MJQuote
May 23rd, 2009 at 12:24 pm
To Admin (post 10)
I was afraid iPlayer would have to be connected via Ethernet RJ45 cable (your comment, how else would it connect is a little condescending, after all we are talking about a Seattleite TV system, why could it not come down the Seattleite,like all the other signals) to your router. Not so handy for a lot of Freesat viewers I guess. In my case they are in different rooms some distance apart.
Derek BQuote
May 23rd, 2009 at 12:37 pm
These results must make nightmare reading for the powers
that be at Freesat who are trying to woo the people at CH4
and FIVE to bring on board the likes of HD and Fives offshoots
If I were at any of the 2 channels and saw that Wedding TV and a tiny tots channel were more popular than my mainstream
channels I would certainly be in no hurry to invest further.
Plus any other potential channel seeing these results can
hardly be encouraged to sign up with viewers showing their
preferences for this poorer than poor selection
johnboyQuote
May 23rd, 2009 at 1:10 pm
I am just going to get the power socket ethernet plug things.
Which set your home power line as a network around the house.
So that will do the job from the router in the bedroom, to the freesat in the living room.
AlexQuote
May 23rd, 2009 at 2:38 pm
iPlayer couldn’t deliver content by satellite, because there’s not the capacity; remember than at any one time, there are potentially hundreds of programmes available, any of which could be requested by someone. Even if you squash the quality to a quarter of the broadcast level, to do it via satellite would mean using a lot of streams, transmitting everything in sequence, and you’d have to wait for it to come around (like pages on the old Ceefax service). You couldn’t do real on-demand playback, without dedicated streams for each viewer.
There’s little enough space on satellite to provide live channels, let alone enough dedicated streams to cope with the potential demand of iPlayer.
You could provide a trickle download service for things like catchup of popular shows (say, broadcast each East Enders as a data stream overnight, in low quality), but you’d still have to wait for it to appear, and it’s not practical as a way of making the whole catalogue available.
The only way to realistically provide proper video on demand is using the Ethernet port, which is why it was included in the spec.
Nigel WhitfieldQuote
May 26th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Freeat in my opinion is lacking too much, rather get “Freesat by Sky” and not be taken in by the hype that has also seen the shortage of SD boxes for the masses.
MikeQuote
May 26th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Waiting for Ch4HD?
You may be interested in the email reply I have just received from Ch4, As follows:
Dear Chris,
Thank you for contacting Channel 4 Viewer Enquiries.
The HD Channel 4 service is currently not avaiable via Freesat, but we hope
this will be added in the coming months. Any updates regarding this will be
announced via our website:
http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/D/Digital_TV/4HD.html
Thank you again for taking the time to contact us here at Channel 4 and for
your interest in our programming.
Regards,
Jessicka Burton
Channel 4 Viewer Enquiries
OyodiQuote
May 26th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Wedding TV and Popgirl!! Sounds like more men need to vote next time ;D
mattQuote
May 26th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
wooow
We might actually have 4HD, by the end of this year, and with iplayer
this should bring a lot more customers to freesat and leaving sky….
AlexQuote
August 6th, 2009 at 4:50 pm