Loading ...Now that June is upon us, and the launch of Freesat is firmly behind us (just!), what can we expect from Freesat this month? Well here are our expectations and thoughts:
ITV HD - Should only be a couple of week away now, testing has been carried out and completed, the access route has been sorted (via the red button), they have a line up of programmes, albeit limited, so all systems are go. Fingers crossed it’s a better effort than BBC HD, which is still showing only a very limited amount of new HD programmes.
ITV Regions - As you may have noticed, not all ITV regions are available at present, with many receiving ITV London, despite what postcode you type in at initial Freesat Digital Box setup. The other regions should be available the second week of June, we make that the 9th, so we shall see. Read the previous blog post on ITV regions here.
Additional Channels - At present there are so many FTA (free-to-air) channels not showing on the Freesat EPG (electronic programme guide) that we expect some to become available this month. As the individual television channels/networks must pay for a EPG slot (suggested to be around £30k) many are likely to have waited to see what the initial take of Freesat was. Now that this is growing, we should start seeing additions very quickly. Freesat have suggested 200 channels by the end of this year, so by our reckoning, that’s around 18 per month average. So which can we expect? Well all ITV regions are certainly going to be the first, plus ITV HD although can that be classed as a channel when its not individually listed on the EPG? Other than that, we’ve had no further confirmation yet!
IDTV - The IDTV (integrated digital television) are due this month from Panasonic, definatly in sizes 42in and 46in; with 50in maybe reaching us by the end of the month. These are expected to sell well, and might surprise everyone with the quality they offer in comparison to the existing stand-alone Freesat digital boxes. A PVR version is also being hinted, but not in the first 3 models. We’re just wondering where our sample unit is, come on Panasonic 
Freesat availability - Stock levels seem to have been brought under control now from the major retailers; after weeks of ‘out of stock’ messages appearing on the websites. Hopefully now, Freesat units will be available from the independent retailers, as many of the distributors who supply to the independents have been unable to gain reasonable quantities.
PVR - Our poll suggests 70% of you are waiting on this unit, whether it be from Humax or one of the Alba Group models, unfortunately it seems that they won’t be rushed, and with the fiasco of limited stock that plagued the Freesat official launch, this might take even longer to ensure enough quantities are ready. Don’t expect anything to happen this month 
C4 HD - Not much chance here either, C4’s recent official statement to us suggests no intention on bring their HD channel to Freesat, not in the foreseeable future anyway. We are more of the opinion that this is just being said because of the agreement they have signed into with Sky, but we can’t see movement this month.
We see the months of June thro August as an important time for Freesat, its a good time to develop their service and products, whilst the summer months bring a drop in television viewing, ready for the big spending months of winter.
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:26 am
Hi
When are u going to make ur package available to sky subscribers .. Im talking about ITV HD … it seems to me your holding back on this being available to sky subs as a form of bait to make us come away. I have just paid out £249 for a HD stb and have no plans to purchase yet another stb just to receive ITVHD. I do believe its about time broadcasters stopped this tit for tat attittude and work together to offer a better service to its viewers. You are not making many friends by not allowing ITVHD to be available to all from the start, and you wonder why your viewing figuare are going down ?
regards
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:32 am
Michael: this is not the official freesat site, you should be directing this to them (www.freesat.co.uk).
on a different note:
Is there anyway to find out the uptake on freesat, it’ll be cool to know how many people purchased a box in may.
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:07 am
Michael, also to note - Sky where the first ones to start this tit for tat business, when they took away Sky One from Virgin Media, by increasing their prices stupidly…
Good on ITV, is what I say, they need to proud the planet isn’t only surround by Sky!
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:10 am
why should itv give their channel to sky,bbc should pull hd from sky as well you shouldn’t have to pay extra for hd content we will then get decent channels for the tv licence fee
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:08 am
I would like to see Sky allow C4HD to go freesat in exchange for ITVHD to move to Sky, I think this would be in the interest of everyone!.
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
The lack of the channel 5 variants and some of the other stuff I enjoy on Sky’s fta system puts me off at the moment. The question is - I have a dish, my own Sky decoder and a free viewing card - can I piggy-back the decoder with a Freesat HD box to get the benefits of HD, upscaled SD on a good selection of channnels, plus my existing package. Or would a quad LNB and a second cable be the only way around this?
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:29 pm
OK so maybe some new stuff for June - But the BIG think I’m looking at freesat for is BBC I Player or kangaroo or whatever name it has. I want to make use of my Ethernet connection on my box, when oh when will we get on-demand content
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:51 pm
now they have admited the secret menu http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/a97139/alba-freesat-boxes-may-get-manual-tune.html can alba plc give us the code
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
yeah, i wouldn’t mind the code to watch the rest of the FTA channels
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:24 pm
is it right that the new freesat boxes can upscale normal tv channels to 1080i. if so is it only humax that does this.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Just seen the new Panasonic Vierra displays (with built in Freesat tuner) here in Canary Wharf. Picture and sound quality is superb. These are excellent TV’s with lots of nice features; no mention of being able to perform manual tuning though….
June 4th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
I am waiting for the new Humax freesat with hard drive. Currys listed it for a while with out of stock and then it disappeared. Priced at £299.98 including dish and fitting. anyone know when it is going to be available?
June 7th, 2008 at 9:43 am
It has been mentioned that Humax will be launching a PVR for Freesat in July, for those that can afford it, this is surely the way to go and I would think that Humax would be the market leaders if they do. I would be willing to pay for a decent Freesat PVR as long as they produce a good quality product.