Join Freesat

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!

Smart Live Casino, billed as one of the newest and fastest growing live interactive casino’s joins the Freesat EPG tomorrow, Tuesday 14th October, on channel 852.

You can find out more information about Smart Casino Live on their website at http://www.smartlivecasino.com.

Just thought you should know, in case you wonder what the new channel added is.

Channels 9XM and 9X UK have joined the Freesat line-up. They should be immediately available and update automatically on your Freesat receiver.

9XM (channel 513) – 9XM is a music channel aimed at Hindi youth. The channel will showcase the best of Bollywood music and dance, and will broadcast 24 hours a day.

9X UK (channel 662) – 9X UK is aimed at the UK’s Hindi community. The channel offers programming with enduring universal themes with modern story-telling techniques. Big stars, beautiful sets and a real connection with life today, and deep understanding of generational and social changes that resonate with today’s viewers.

Freesat have confirmed that five channels will join the Freesat EPG on Tuesday 16th September.

Television channels include Gaelic channel BBC Alba, Asian music channel Zee Music, shopping channel Best Direct and the specialist car channel, the Audi Channel.

Award-winning music station Planet Rock will also be further strengthening the Freesat radio offering.

Commenting on the addition of the new channels, Emma Scott, MD of Freesat, said;

We are excited about the addition of these new channels to the Freesat lineup. Bolstering our specialist offering is a key part of our channel strategy, and services such as these only make Freesat a more attractive offer for the consumer.

BBC Alba – Channel 110
Audi Channel – Channel 451
Zee Music – Channel 509
Planet Rock – Channel 730
Best Direct – Channel 813

Looks like we are set for some additional channels joining the Freesat EPG on Tuesday September 16th. Planet Rock, the award winning rock radio station have confirmed their inclusion (channel 730) and we are just trying to find out of any others.

Will channel Five be available at the same time? Erm no, channel Five are still in contract with Sky until October, and given that we’ve not seen any activity by them on the Astra2D beam yet, we suspect it will be late October or November before they are eligible to join in the Freesat party! Will keep you posted.

(Thank you to Gordon Valentine for the news on Planet Rock)

Freesat have today announced the addition of six new TV and Radio channels available on Friday 5th September.

The newest additions to the Freesat platform particularly strengthen the radio line-up, with RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ lyric fm and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta joining.

Also new are the three ‘time-delay’ channels from Channel 4, including Film4 +1, E4 +1 and More4 +1. Showing identical programmnig to the original channels, just with a one hour delay, should the times suit you better.

All channels and variants will automatically be updated via your Freesat digital box sometime during tomorrow (usually around 11am).

Commenting on the addition of the new channels, Emma Scott, Managing Director of Freesat, said,

We’re pleased to announce the addition of these new services to the platform. The RTÉ Radio stations bolster Freesat’s radio offering for listeners, while Channel 4’s time-delayed services give viewers further opportunities to watch these popular channels

Adrian Moynes, Managing Director of RTÉ Radio said,

RTÉ Radio is looking forward to launching on Freesat this Friday. Listeners with Freesat will be able to hear RTÉ Radio in high quality sound anywhere in the UK, which is good news for consumers with an interest in Irish radio

Sarah Rose, Head of VOD and Channel Development for Channel 4, says,

The time delayed channels we are launching onto Freesat will give our viewers even more opportunities to enjoy our programming

Absolute Radio (724), Absolute Class R (725) and Absolute Xtreme (726) went live on the Freesat EPG a couple of hours a go. An automatic update should have been carried out on all Freesat receivers, but if not, try unplugging from the mains power, connecting back up and leaving for 10 minutes, this should avoid having to do a full reset resulting in any FTA channels added being lost.

A little late but WRN Radio and France24 were added to the Freesat EPG on 22-Aug-08.

Oddly, we’ve not had official announcement from Freesat on these channels, nor did they appear in the usual way on the data streams prior to launch, so we couldn’t pre-empt their arrival.

Sorry for the late posting, its been one of them days! Just to let you know that Freesat have confirmed the launch of BET, Zone Horror + 1, Information TV, Kix!, Celebrity Shop and Simply Shopping, which will appear automatically on your Freesat EPG on Friday 8th August as we previously suggested.

In a statement from Freesat regarding the new channels, Emma Scott, Managing Director of Freesat said:

Freesat is committed to providing viewers with the best of free-to-air programming and a diverse choice, with something for everyone. BET is a huge brand name in the US and its style and range of programming will be tremendously popular with viewers in the UK. In addition, a channel like Kix! brings an exciting style of kids TV programming onto the platform.

BET International, Senior Vice President, Michael Armstrong added

We are delighted to be partnering Freesat in what we view as an important process in our distribution strategy. We believe that our exclusive content should be seen by as wide an audience as possible, Freesat delivers a free-to-air solution that fits into our aggressive audience growth plan for the UK.

Update 08/08/08 11:29 – Channels now available for download

Thanks to digitalspy member ‘mitsubishi’ the following channels seem to have appeared in the data stream ready for inclusion on the Freesat EPG. They include:

- BET
- Information TV
- Kix!
- Simply Shopping
- Zone Horror +1
- Celebrity Shop

We don’t have any official confirmation on these channels at the moment, but some detective work by another digitalspy member ‘Strathclyde’ would suggest a 8th August launch, as Information TV’s website states:

We’re launching on FREESAT Friday 8th August ! Channel 406