Loading ...Well, launch day has arrived of the new Freesat satellite service and whilst you may not be seeing much sign of it this morning, by this afternoon we’ve been assured of a flurry of activity and available products for sale.
We are expecting Freesat’s new website to be launched today (www.freesat.co.uk), with email updates to those that subscribed and have been waiting on, well anything! All the online retailers are clearing their heads from the bank holiday weekend and should be placing the Freesat receivers and installation options on their websites this morning.
The first announcements today have come from Freesat’s PR on BBC Radio, with the media press conference due to take place at the same time of launch, 12.30pm.
BBC’s website has finally made mention of the new service, with a brief account of what it is. Encouraging to see a mention of 200 TV and Radio channels by the end of the year.
Read more here, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7384928.stm
C4, E4 and More4 are said to be available from today, although still encypted on Sky at this moment in time.
So who will be buying online today? Don’t forget that we’ll keep you updated on where stock comes available using the right hand column, so you don’t have to keep checking the online retailers.
Happy Freesatday 
May 6th, 2008 at 7:27 am
It’s Freesay day! Horrat!
May 6th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Oh. Everything is great except one thing that I wanna use Toppy PVR for Freesat.
Do you have any idea when Toppy is available for Freesat???
May 6th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Jorrat! Freesat day has come. I have to admit though I’ll only believe it when I’ve actually seen the picture in my living room…!
May 6th, 2008 at 8:40 am
this hole thing is amazing lunch day and you cant get one, tryd every were. its imposable to call i comet store direct. how anoying !!!!!!
May 6th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Not much use to me. I was going to replace one of my freesat sky boxes with an hd box but without channel 5 its not worth it. Might as well wait till the HD PVR boxes are out and channel 5 is live.
I cannot see many people going for freesat as most have already got freeview. In any case Sky’s Pay once watch forever service is cheaper than freesats installation charge. So it makes sense to get Sky to install a dish for £75 and get a free box. Any one with a serious interest in HD will go for Sky’s 18 channel service.
I would have thought that the biggest market would be for Sky subscribers who want a second box.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:51 am
but no free hd channels on sky. also bbc says there will be 200 tv and radio channels by the end of the year. loads more than 18
May 6th, 2008 at 9:05 am
luke - BBC HD and Luxe HD (for what they are worth) are available on Sky, free of charge too, its just a misconception that they are subscription. The 200 TV and Radio channels quoted will be mostly SD, Trevor was refering to Sky’s existing 18 HD channels.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:11 am
sorry didnt realise he was talking about just hd, wich is stupid as i know theres more than 18 channels on sky. i think its the exsitment getting to me. still, my girlfreind has a thing about sky wont let me have it. but shes ok about freesat. its my birthday tommorow and its going to be my pressy ive got the feeling if i dont get the humax today ill be waiting a while.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Freesat website - freesat.co.uk has been updated.
freesat is here
The BBC and ITV bring you freesat, a brand new digital satellite TV service offering free HD TV programming at no extra cost. freesat has no monthly subscription, just a one-off payment for the digital box, satellite dish and installation - so you pay once, and watch forever. And because freesat is broadcast via satellite, it’ll be available to almost every household in the UK from today.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Sky offer a dish, a box, installation and 4 months of subscription telly for £5 less than the installation of Freesat. All you have to do is cancel the subscription before the 4 months is up. I only realised that today. Sky’s customer base will definitely increase even if its only me getting cheaper installation!
Freesat have made a big mistake not finding some way of subsidising installation. Its one good way to send all your customers to the opposition.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Yes, Sky’s “Pay Once, Watch Forever” deal still appears to be the best around. You can purchase from Dixons for £75, plus if you use our exclusive discount code ‘SKY10′, you’ll get a further 10% off.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:50 am
mentioned on BBC NEWS this morning too. I’m going to wait for an HD PVR before buying anything - unless my very wonky TV aerial falls down in the next month or two…!
May 6th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Ha. The SKY £75 deal does not include the HD box, just the standard SD box. With the ever increasing number of sales of HD capable TV`s (albeit not all are the full 1080P), why bother buying an SD box now. HD is the way to go and unless you want to fork out £200 to SKY for the box, you can`t go wrong with the new Humax HD box ( yes, you can use your old SKY dish, although they don`t say that for contractual reasons). Humax have excellent support second to none. No 08707 numbers to ring. I hate SKY!! Kick them in touch…go FREE!!!
May 6th, 2008 at 10:07 am
just saw humax box released on comet website.3 boxes due in today at local comet.i have spoken to them and they will only sell with installation which i dont need .looks like waiting for argos.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Well I have been waiting as long as the rest of you for this day.. BUT…
After seeing the line up of what you can get they let me down..
My “Pay Once, Watch Forever” is being installed today.
I hate $ky and I will never pay them… BUT I will have 200 free channels to watch after the FREE 4 months of 4 mixes from $ky ends.
Freesat has lost me as a customer today and I think there are/will be many more.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Dave - thats very true, but as the £75 Dixons deal is cheaper than install alone on Freesat, you could buy the Humax HD seperate, sell the Sky digibox and be quids in
May 6th, 2008 at 10:12 am
it’s freesat day and it looks like the freesat site has gone down - great start!
May 6th, 2008 at 10:17 am
just ordered the humax from comet. wont get it till thursday. if an instore pick up from argos appears ill cancel comet and go and get one today. im so impatient, drives my girlfreind round the bend.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Thanks for the 10% discount code for Dixons! £67.50 for all that can’t be bad. Even if I only get £10 for the Sky box on ebay I’ll still have saved £22.50
May 6th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Does anyone know whether the standard FTA transmission for the BBc / ITV etc. has been turned off with the launch of Freesat, I watch them from mainland Europe and they have suddenly disappeared - thanks
May 6th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
That doesn’t sound good… And I still haven’t got my email… Anyone got theirs?
May 25th, 2008 at 10:40 am
the channels you get with freesat from sky can be recived but you have t do a manual tune with the humax box u get over 300 channels and another free hd one luxe tv alhtough its not excatly a great hd channel