Loading ...Not quite an official annoucement but its beleived that Channel 4 will be available on the freesat platform (FTA) from launch.
Originally we beleived that Channel 4 would have to wait until their existing contract with Sky ends in October, but it seems that they might have found a solution to this (no idea how!).
According to avid satellite programming fans, Channel 4 has appeared on the Astra2D satellite beam, which is a great indicator of almost being ready to launch, and the timing would seem highly coincidental with the freesat launch. Astra2D by the way is the beam used for FTA channels such as BBC and ITV.
We don’t have confirmed reports on whether the rest of the Channel 4 channels (E4, More4 etc) will be available too, as their present contract with Sky is for subscription availability, not FTV like Channel 4. It is beleived though that slots for these channels are appearing on the Astra2D beam also.
No news on Five as yet, although its suggested that they are pushing for launch too. Great news.
April 12th, 2008 at 9:00 am
hi Admin - you’ve lost your rss feed link again. Al
April 12th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Actually, maybe you haven’t! I can’t see it, but IE can find the feed on the page.
April 15th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
RSS feed now has a permanent place on the right hand side of the screen. Hope everyone uses so they can be kept right up to date with the latest information as and when we have it.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
5 told me that they had no plans to join FreeSat as they didn’t think there would be sufficient take up. Lets hope they were wrong and they are joining as FreeSat is clearly the future in my opinion given the alleged bandwidth problems with Freeview and HD.
April 20th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Al - totally agree, Five will and beleive have changed their mind on being available, and freesat is definatly the future of digital television, not Freeview.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
They are saying there are going to be around 80 channles but dose anyone have any idear what they are(Apart from BBC, ITV and pos Chan 4)?
I have my fingures crossed for www.musicchoice.com
August 5th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Witam, recently I have installed in our second home, in Wroclaw, Poland, Freesat rceiving equipment as I miss English language programs after spending most of my life in the UK. Using a 1.4m dish we get good reception of Sky News, many Sky commercial programs and BBC 24, ch4 and 5 etc. Alas no BBC 1,2,3, or 4 my favorite channel.This morning ch4 became unavailable although ch5 is coming through ok. Please let me know why ch4 has been switched off and when will BBC TV programs be available at reasonable signal strengh. here in Wroclaw. I pay the UK TV licence by direct debit and would gladly pay additional £100 pa in order to receive BBC programs when in Poland.
Yours sincerely
Maciej Dubenski
Wroclaw/London
August 5th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Maciej - Its unlikely that BBC and ITV will ever move to a more accessible beam, as they only have broadcast rights within the UK. C4 the same, its now on the same tight beam and unlikely to change. The same will happen with channel FIVE soon too.