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It has been confirmed today that ITV1 HD will be available as a standalone channel (channel 119 – no red button) from 2nd April 2010. The channel which will be a simulcast of ITV1 will also be available on Sky and Virgin Media.

The ITV1 schedule will be simulcast on the new channel, with the majority of peak time content available in ‘native’ HD, including all live football, and an increasing range of drama, factual and entertainment programming. Other ITV1 content including GMTV and the daytime schedule, will be ‘upscaled’ – giving viewers a better than ever experience of the nation’s most popular commercial channel.

Peter Fincham, ITV Director of Television, Channels and Online, said:

The availability of high definition content is something viewers have come to expect as standard and, as we approach the 2010 World Cup, I’m delighted that we are able to launch our new channel, ITV1 HD, on all major platforms.

All of our output will benefit from the stunning picture quality that high definition offers, whether it’s ITV’s original drama, landmark factual shows, entertainment events or our live football.

This is great news and should now put an end to all the problems ITV have had with certain manufacturers and the red button service; it should also put ITV more in the spot light to take the service more seriously and offer more high-definition content over the coming years.

It has been confirmed that the Business and financial news channel CNBC will be making its way to Freesat on Tuesday 23rd February 2010.

The channel moved from being an encrypted subscription channel on Sky’s news pack to becoming free-to-air (FTA) on 21st January 2010, leading to speculation that it might be launching on Freesat and now that seemingly has been confirmed.

Speaking of the launch, Mick Buckley, President and CEO, EMEA of CNBC, said;

Our decision to be available on Freesat, and to become a free-to-air channel in the UK, is part of our strategy to aggressively grow our distribution across EMEA in 2010.

Business and financial news remains very pertinent in today’s economy and this change gives consumers the opportunity to watch the best analysis of what’s happening in the financial markets in the UK and across Europe.

Last year CNBC significantly grew its upscale and affluent audience, as more viewers wanted to keep abreast of the dramatic changes in the economic environment. Our most recent EMS viewing figures showed that our daily audience was up 18% and our monthly audience broke seven million viewers,

The confirmed of the channel number slot will be 210 and will automatically be added via channel update some time on the 23rd.

This is good news that a another major broadcaster has taken what is an unusual decision to leave subscription only behind on satellite, in order to gain a potential wider audience (now 12 millions potential households); hopefully more will follow.

Following what we thought was the expected launch of iPlayer on Panasonic televisions today, it would seem that the secrecy has been over the new range of televisions launching soon, rather than anything else!

This is still good news though, especially for those with access to both Freesat and Freeview reception, as the new range shown below now include both Freesat HD and Freeview HD receivers built-in; a first in this country.

The range are as follows and will begin roll-out in March this year:

Plasma Televisions

Panasonic TX-P42G20B
Panasonic TX-P42V20B
Panasonic TX-P46G20B
Panasonic TX-P50G20B
Panasonic TX-P50V20B
Panasonic TX-P50VT20B
Panasonic TX-P65VT20B

LCD Televisions

Panasonic TX-L32G20B
Panasonic TX-L32D28BP
Panasonic TX-L32D28BW
Panasonic TX-L32D28BS
Panasonic TX-L37G20B
Panasonic TX-L37V20B
Panasonic TX-L37D25B
Panasonic TX-L37D28BS
Panasonic TX-L37W20B
Panasonic TX-L42D25B
Panasonic TX-L42W20B

Freesat last evening launched their information channel on 999. Take a look.

(we’ll update this page with more information soon)

The TechniSat HDFS has been awarded ‘group test winner’ in a recent feature review in What Satellite Magazine.

The magazine tested the existing range of Freesat HD single tuner receivers against each other, including the TechniSat HDFS, Humax FOXSAT-HD, Sagem DSI86HD and Metronic SATHD100, with the TechniSat winning by some margin, though not really a surprise to most (we are unsure of the absence of any of the Harvard range – Grundig, Goodmans and Bush).

The final review scores were:

TechniSat 86%
Humax 80%
Metronic 75%
Sagem 69%

Did you know that Freesat (official – not us!) can be followed on Twitter? No, neither did we but they can, so why not visit them here @freesat_tv to follow their progress, updates and answers; they do seem to publish daily.

Freesat currently have 140 followers, let see if we can increase that in the same way as we did the BBC HD petition

**Update 21/12/2009**
The code for accessing BBC iPlayer has been released to us for all of you to use; the code is 5483. Please note BBC iPlayer is currently in beta test so may still have bugs and glitches, plus is only available via Humax Freesat HD or Freesat+ receivers with the latest software versions. We’d ask that you have a play and leave your comments/feedback below so BBC/Freesat can take the information to assist in the development before an official launch in the New Year. For more information on the BBC iPlayer trial with Freesat, please visit this page.

Though not officially announced, we have it from a very reliable source that BBC/Freesat will release the BBC iPlayer code to the general public from early next week.

This will give those with a Humax Freesat HD or Humax Freesat+ receiver the opportunity to test out the service over the Christmas period enjoying all there is to offer through the festive season from the BBC.

The BBC iPlayer setup video can be found here

All other Freesat HD and Freesat+ makes/models will be able to enjoy BBC iPlayer some time in the new year.

Latest update scan on all Freesat receivers (24/11/09)

5 Added – 405 Food Network; 406 Food Network+1; 870 Babestation; 874 Filth; 999 Freesat Information
0 Removed
0 Changed

BBC iPlayer’s long-awaited beta testing is finally expected to start this November.

According to Rahul Chakkara, Controller of TV Platforms at BBC FM&T, the MHEG-5 compliant version of the interface will begin Beta deployment “by end of November” on the Freesat platform.

I expect to start a Beta deployment by the end of November using capable Freesat devices.

As we had suspected, it seems that BBC might have been holding back to introduce the service across both the Freesat and Freeview platform at the same time, though Freesat is still expected to be the first to offer in HD.

The DTG (Digital Television Group) supported by BBC R&D, has extended the MHEG-5 standard to use the interaction channel for handling Internet video. This standard has been adopted by Freesat and incorporated into the DBook 6.1 used in Freeview HD devices. Finally now the resulting MHEG-IC service will allow both platforms to access additional AV content via the Internet. This will include BBC iPlayer of course, as well as other VoD (Video On Demand) and Catch-up TV services, plus much more in the future including real-time programme interaction.

Freesat is to launch its new Autumn advertising campaign on Saturday 7 November 2009.

The campaign focuses mainly on the Freesat+ and Freesat HD services, using TV fans to illustrate the benefits of pausing, recording and rewinding live TV and the experience of watching in HD television, all for free.

Shot in slow motion to create warmth and atmosphere, the ad features coloured plectrums from the Freesat logo falling like snowflakes around the viewers as they’re drawn into the world of Freesat. The ad finishes on rooftops at dusk with thousands of plectrums raining down from the sky and the Freesat brand line, “brilliant for everyone”.

The campaign will first be seen on Saturday evening on ITV1 during ‘Life Stories’ with Piers Morgan and follows the success of Freesat’s Easter advertising that helped drive a 50% sales increase over the summer and saw Freesat overtake BT Vision to become the 4th biggest TV service in the UK.

Will Abbott, Freesat marketing and communications director commented;

Freesat is going from strength to strength and the new campaign reinforces our position as the UK’s premium free TV service. With new Freesat+ HD recorders launching in time for Christmas, and high definition from the BBC and ITV already available nationwide, subscription-free, we’re looking forward to a strong finish to the year.

Owen Lee, creative director at Farm said;

Freesat has successfully established itself as the best digital TV platform by far for people who expect brilliant TV for free. This campaign elevates the brand and captures the magical experience of brilliant TV for everyone.