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It is believed that Alba Group, who currently manufacture all Freesat standard-definition digital boxes (Grundig, Goodmans and Bush) are struggling to meet the demands of their products. Supply has been massively strained over the last few weeks with many of the major retailers and independents now without stock.

In addition, it’s also suggested that Alba Group have increased their trade prices by more than £10 per unit to cover demand/manufacturing costs so expect to see retail prices rise soon to in the region of £60.

If you are looking to purchase a standard-definition Freesat Digital Box, now may be the time to buy, before either they run out everywhere, or the price increases.

Let’s hope it’s only a temporary issue as the supply has been very good for the past 8 months and the price is at an acceptable level for the products.

This year will see the UK’s first ever HD Christmas from Freesat with a feast of high-definition programme highlights. A whole range of Christmas films, comedies, dramas and family entertainment will be brought to life with vivid HD picture and sound.

BBC HD (channel 108)

BBC HD will be showcasing a huge range of family films over the Christmas period, meaning viewers won’t have to rely on the family Blu-ray player for a dose of HD entertainment. Films include:

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Brothers Grimm
The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit
Starter For Ten
Toy Story 2
Wallace and Gromit: A Matter Of Loaf And Death

The BBC HD Channel will keep the nation laughing with the return of some comedy favorites, including the welcome return of all-new The Royle Family and Gavin and Stacey, all in HD;

After You’ve Gone Christmas Special
Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special
Lead Balloon
The Royle Family Christmas Special

Other festive HD highlights from the BBC will include the Shrek The Halls Christmas Special from everyone’s favourite green film star, the Christmas special of Strictly Come Dancing, and Michael Palin returning to bring the world to our screens in 80 Days Revisited. In addition Casanova, Doctor Who Prom, Lark Rise to Candleford, The 39 Steps and The Queen’s speech will all be available in HD on BBC HD Channel over Christmas.

ITV HD (via the red button on channel 103)

ITV HD will be showing a veritable feast of Christmas movies and entertainment, as well as top-drawer sport over the Christmas period and the finale of all-singing, all-dancing drama Britannia High.

Movie lovers will get to experience a range of blockbuster films in full HD, including;

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
True Lies
Ali G
Bird on a Wire
Meaning of Life

The drama won’t be limited to blockbuster films though, with ITV HD showing UEFA Champions League matches in HD, making every blade of grass, bead of sweat and even the odd tear, even more life like.

Now is a great time to own Freesat, so if you haven’t already taken the plunge, there’s still time before the big day!

We weren’t going to post about the new channel inclusions as they are not the most exciting, but we’ve had a number of emails from readers wondering what the changes were yesterday.

They include the following new channels:

141 BET+1
308 Simply Movies
816 Ideal World

There is also the addition of ITV1 London on 977 for audio description and also Celebrity Shop has been renamed TV Shop on channel 806.

For a full channel line up, click here.

We had an interesting email this morning from a joinfreesat reader saying that they had been on a training roadshow with a Freesat member of staff who stated that C4HD, BBC iPlayer and Kangaroo would be available in Spring ‘09.

Given that this information supposedly came from a Freesat member of staff, we wanted to check how official it was from Freesat directly. Unfortunately the news wasn’t good, but at least it’s further clarity at this stage. The statement said;

As Freesat has previously confirmed, iPlayer will launch onto the service in 2009. A launch date will be confirmed in due course.

Whilst there are currently no specific plans to launch 4HD and Kangaroo at this stage, Freesat is in regular contact with a wide range of broadcasters and service providers across the industry about joining the platform in the future.

Just to confirm, Channel Five should now be available on your Freesat digital box, the update came through just after 11:30 this morning.

We’d like to welcome Five to the fold, we only wish you had brought your family, Fiver and Five US with you

Now what shall we discuss…

We have opened up the comment section of the individual product pages in the hope that some of you will add your opinions/reviews on the Freesat product(s) you own.

With the expanding range of Freesat receivers and televisions, we feel it’s important to give as much information as possible to potential customers, and your help would be appreciated, so please if you can, spare a couple of minutes to add your thoughts:

Freesat products - Reviews and price comparisons

We intend introducing a star rating system at some point too, as an easy visual aid.

Probably should have mentioned this a few days ago but John Lewis are now showing the upcoming Humax FOXSAT-HDR on their website, allowing you to register your details for news of when available to buy. Certainly no harm in putting your name down:

Email me when in stock - John Lewis

Don’t forget you can also keep an eye on our price comparison product page, for news of availability and price:

Humax FOXSAT-HDR product page

Freesat have today announced the forthcoming addition of Five onto the platform on Tuesday 18th November 2008.

Since launching in 1997, Five has developed a strong reputation for a wide mix of entertainment, documentaries, features, news, sport and children’s programmes. The channel’s Autumn schedule includes Paul Merton in India, 1968 Unseen, Dangerous Adventures for Boys, Unbreakable and Axe Men.

Commenting on the addition of channel Five to the service, Freesat Managing Director Emma Scott said;

We’ve been looking forward to welcoming Five onto Freesat since we launched – and we know viewers have too. Five is a fantastic addition and we’re thrilled that the large number of homes that have already chosen Freesat will now be able to enjoy Five alongside around 140 other channels available without a subscription or contract.

Charles Constable, Channel Five’s Director of Strategy, said;

I am delighted that Five will be available to Freesat viewers. Our launch will support three of Five’s objectives: to be universally available throughout the UK, to let viewers watch our programmes on the platform of their choice, and to enable as many people as possible to watch Five free of charge.

Five (channel 105) will automatically be added to Freesat digital boxes and integrated TVs.

Update: A number of you have asked about Fiver and Five US, the official statement from Freesat is:

Due to lack of availability of appropriate satellite capacity, Fiver and Five US are unable to join freesat currently. However, we are exploring options to secure capacity to enable these channels to join freesat at some time in the future.

Freesat has today unveiled its largest advertising campaign to date, launching 4th November 2008, which will highlight the satellite TV service’s subscription free high-definition (HD) offer and run across national newspapers, supplements, TV listings publications, commuter press and a wide range of digital media.

The campaign centres around viewers emotional responses to watching their favourite programmes in HD on Freesat, including BBC HD’s Strictly Come Dancing, Little Dorrit, In the Night Garden, ITV HD’s UEFA Champions League football and new teen drama Britannia High.

Key messages communicated in the campaign include;

- Freesat’s attractive no subscription, no monthly bills proposition
- Freesat’s range of channels, which currently number 140, including free HD from the BBC and ITV
- Freesat’s UK wide signal coverage, which stands at 98%
- The ease of equipment purchase and set-up

Freesat, which recently announced that product sales had reached over 100,000 in only five months, has worked with creative agency farm to create and implement the campaign, with media agency MPG handling media planning and buying.

Will Abbott, Freesat marketing and communications director commented;

Freesat offers 140 channels and UK-wide coverage for everyone, for free – no subscription and no monthly bills. That’s a brilliant offer and great value. Add to that some of the best of BBC and ITV in HD for free and it just gets better. But we’re interested in people not pixels. It’s the heightened viewing experience HD offers that we’re focusing on in our campaign – the feeling that you’re really there, immersed in the action.

Thane Direct, a shopping channel will be added to the Freesat EPG tomorrow, 4th November 2008. Allocated slot channel # 811.

Also joining will be BEN TV, a special interest channel, allocated slot channel #664.

Just thought we’d let you know in case you wonder what’s been added and start looking for channel Five!