Join Freesat

Freesat has made some radical moves forward in recent months to keep pace with the industries need to offer ‘interactive’ this and ‘on-demand’ that, but is that what the consumers want?

In our latest poll, we ask this very question. As freesat fans/consumers, what would …read more »

Author: Giles Cottle is Head of Strategy at freesat

You’ll be hard pressed to have missed the hype surrounding Netflix’s new House of Cards series. A high-profile ad campaign has accompanied its launch, including blanket coverage on London’s Underground, among other places. …read more »

4OD and Demand 5 were originally planned to launch this month on the new freetime receiver, but unfortunately due to additional development, both on-demand services will launch early 2013.

A statement from freesat has confirmed this: …read more »

Freesat are rumoured to have agreed a partnership deal with Netflix for incorporation into the new G2 spec receivers due to be announced tomorrow.

The deal will allow Freesat customers the opportunity to rent/stream the latest blockbusters from Netflix via their G2 spec …read more »

With Freesat expected to announce the G2 specification and range of receivers in September, I thought it would be a good opportunity to ask what functionality would be most important to you in deciding to buy.

The functionality I’ve included based on information I’ve received so far are: …read more »

Channel 4 have today announced they plan to launch a new television channel around June, allowing viewers the opportunity to catch repeats of its best shows; effectively offering a television version to complement their existing 4OD (on demand) facility.

The new channel, referred to internally as Project Shuffle, will allow viewers who missed the first live broadcast of Channel 4′s most popular shows multiple opportunities to catch up with them over the next seven nights. …read more »

Freesat are to launch a new on demand movie service called BoxOffice365, from Picturebox.

The service allows Freesat customers the opportunity to access movies plus other TV programmes via your Internet connection, for a monthly subscription fee of £4.99 per month, and will be available from around the start of December. …read more »

News story courtesy of Digitalspy

Harvard International has today announced the launch of a new range of high definition set top boxes, offering web services and integration with mobile devices.

Bearing the branding View21, the Freeview HD and Freesat HD receivers are aimed at customers who want to “future proof their TV experience” without having to switch to pay-TV. …read more »

One of the most commonly asked questions we get asked (apart from where’s Dave!!!) is whether the on-demand services from Channel 4 (4OD) and Channel 5 (Demand 5) will be coming to Freesat.

We know that discussions have been ongoing between the broadcasters and Freesat to increase the number of interactive services and it appears that Freesat are now finishing their email news announcements with the following tag line: …read more »

We were recently given the opportunity to present questions to Freesat on those topics we felt were of most interest to you; it was a little bit of rush to send them in so didn’t have the opportunity this time to ask what you wanted to know, but from reading through comments, we came up with the questions below which Freesat have kindly answers. No ground breaking responses unfortunately, especially on those questions related to the broadcasters as we’d need to hear from them directly; but worth a read anyway.

We had requested this FAQ session from noticing the change in viewers perceptive on what they now required from Freesat one year on; more HD content being top of most viewer’s wish lists, as well as increased product lines with new exciting products. We made the point to Freesat that the next year will be even more important than the first, not only in obtaining new customers but retaining existing ones too; we are sure they’ll be doing all they can to make Freesat even better, but don’t forget they are actively visiting this site so by all means leave your comments.

ITV HD had been promoted as “exclusive to Freesat” to help encourage uptake; what are Freesat’s thoughts on Sky now having access to ITV HD via the new EPG software? Have ITV HD decided upon a more open policy or should this not have been made possible? What are the potential impacts on Freesat uptake?

ITV HD remains an exclusive red button service on freesat. It is not listed on any Sky EPG and is only available to a small number of boxes via a complicated manual tune / scan.

HD sales have been a large percentage of all Freesat sales (approx. 80%). Could the reason for this as well as the obvious be that SD boxes have been so hard to obtain from Alba Group? Have Freesat been made aware of such lack of availability and are you doing anything to assist?

HD receivers have made up the majority of freesat sales from day one. We work closely with both manufacturers and retailers to try and ensure sufficient stock of all Freesat approved products is readily available. We are aware that recent demand for SD boxes has been high, particularly in some rural areas and those places to receive Freeview. As mentioned on Join Freesat, we are confident that increased volumes of stock will help meet the demand.

Are any other manufacturers in the frame for developing Freesat products (except Sony)? What restrictions are on current manufacturers?

All freesat products go through a strict product development process that enables freesat and partner manufacturers to maintain the highest quality of freesat approved receivers. We are in regular conversation with manufacturers across the industry and plan to launch new products later this year.

What was the original target figure for sales in the first 12 months? What is the target for the next 12 months?

Our sales targets are not public but we can confirm that we exceeded first year forecasts and are on course for continuing this strong growth through 2009.

Why wasn’t 200 channels reached when originally suggested for the first year?

The economic outlook has changed significantly since the early part of 2008 and it’s a challenging market for channels, retailers and manufacturers. We’ve already grown our line-up from around 80 channels at launch a year ago to over 140 today. We’re continuing to add channels all the time and will be launching IPTV catch-up and on-demand services in the future.

Why content of HD programming remains relatively small, especially from ITV?

HD TV production and distribution still remain expensive for broadcasters. Despite this Freesat shows up to 70 hours of HD programming per week for free. BBC HD has increased its scheduled hours twice since launch and is planning to increase them further in 2009. ITV shows peaktime programming in HD most nights of the week and is increasing the amount of HD programming available this year.

What are Freesat doing to pursue the possibility of additional channels joining, especially those such as C4HD, Fiver and Five US?

Freesat works tirelessly to bring more channels onto the platform. We’re committed to growing the amount of HD programming on Freesat and are in regular contact with broadcasters including Channel 4 and Five.