broadcasting founded 2002 headquarters london england area served united kingdom key people guy north managing director products equipment to receive free to air digital terrestrial television channels revenue not for profit owner arqiva bbc itv plc channel four television corporation sky plc website freeview.co.uk freeview is the united kingdom s digital terrestrial television platform . it is operated by dtv services ltd a joint venture between the bbc itv channel 4 sky and transmitter operator arqiva . it was launched in 2002 . 1 the service provides consumer access via an aerial to the six dtt multiplexes covering the united kingdom . in april 2014 it had some 60 dvb t tv channels 26 digital radio channels 10 hd channels six text services 11 streamed channels and one interactive channel . 2 3 4 a number of new hd channels launched in 2014 5 6 from a new group of multiplexes awarded to arqiva . 7 the new hd channels were launched in selected areas on 10 december 2013 with a further roll out during 2014 . dtv services delivery of standard definition television and radio is labelled freeview while its delivery of hdtv is called freeview hd . reception of freeview requires a freeview tuner either in a separate set top box or built into the tv set . since 2008 all new tv sets sold in the united kingdom have a built in freeview tuner . 8 freeview hd requires a hdtv capable tuner . digital video recorders dvrs with a built in freeview tuner are labelled freeview . depending on model dvrs and hdtv sets with a freeview tuner may offer standard freeview or freeview hd . the technical specification for freeview is published and maintained by the digital tv group the industry association for digital tv in the uk which also provide the test and conformance regime for freeview freeview and freeview hd products . dmol dtt multiplex operators ltd. a company owned by the operators of the six dtt multiplexes bbc itv c4 and arqiva is responsible for technical platform management and policy including the electronic programme guide and channel numbering . 9 since the completion of the digital switch over on 24 october 2012 there is no terrestrial analogue television being broadcast in the united kingdom and all broadcast terrestrial tv is delivered through digital terrestrial television . contents 1 history 1.1 2009 retune 1.2 2014 retune 2 channels 3 reception equipment 3.1 receivers 3.2 aerial 4 services 4.1 freeview 4.2 freeview 4.3 freeview hd 4.3.1 channels 4.3.2 technical 4.3.3 copy protection 4.4 freeview play 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit main article history of freeview uk freeview officially launched on 30 october 2002 at 5 am when the bbc and crown castle now arqiva officially took over the digital terrestrial television dtt licences to broadcast on the three multiplexes from the defunct itv digital originally called ondigital . the founding members of dtv services who trade as freeview were the bbc crown castle uk now part of arqiva and british sky broadcasting . on 11 october 2006 itv plc and channel 4 became equal shareholders . since then the freeview model has been copied in australia and new zealand . although all pay channels had been closed down on itv digital many free to air channels continued broadcasting including the five analogue channels and digital channels such as itv2 itn news channel s4c2 tv travel shop and qvc . 10 with the launch of freeview other channels were broadcast free to air such as sky travel uk history sky news sky sports news the hits now 4music and tmf now viva were available from the start . bbc four and the interactive bbc streams were moved to multiplex b. 11 under the initial plans the two multiplexes operated by crown castle would carry eight channels altogether . the seventh stream became shared by uk bright ideas and ftn which launched in february 2003 . the eighth stream was left unused until april 2004 when the shopping channel ideal world launched on freeview . there are now 14 streams carried by the two multiplexes with multiplex c carrying 6 streams and multiplex d carrying 8 . it has recently when been announced that more streams are now available on the multiplexes and that bidding is under way . citation needed 2009 retune edit the freeview service underwent a major upgrade on 30 september 2009 which required 18 million households to retune their freeview receiving equipment . 12 the changes meant to ensure proper reception of channel 5 led to several thousand complaints from people who lost channels notably itv3 and itv4 as a result of retuning their equipment . the freeview website crashed and the call centre was inundated as a result of the problems . the change involved an update to the nit network information table which some receivers could not accommodate . many thousands of people could not receive some channels . this included 460 000 fed from relay stations who lost access to itv3 and itv4 . updates were broadcast to enable firmware changes but in some cases the receiver must be left on and receiving broadcasts to accept the updates ; not everyone was aware of this . 13 14 2014 retune edit the freeview service underwent a major upgrade on 3 september 2014 which required 18 million households to retune their freeview receiving equipment . 15 16 17 18 19 the changes included a reshuffle of the children s news and interactive genres . channels edit main article list of digital terrestrial television channels uk the freeview service broadcasts free to air television channels radio stations and interactive services from the existing public service broadcasters . channels on the service include the bbc itv channel 4 and channel 5 terrestrial channels as well as their digital services . in addition channels from other commercial operators such as sky and uktv are available as well as radio services from a number of broadcasters . the full range of channels broadcast via digital terrestrial television includes some pay television services such as boxnation and racing uk . these channels although available only to subscribers with appropriate equipment are listed in the on screen electronic programme guides displayed by many freeview receivers but can not be viewed . reception equipment edit receivers edit to receive freeview either a television with an integrated digital tuner or an older analogue television with a suitable freeview branded set top box is required . aerial edit an aerial is required for viewing any broadcast television transmissions . for all transmissions indoor loft mounted and external aerials are available . in regions of strong signal an indoor aerial may be adequate ; in marginal areas a high gain external aerial mounted high above the ground with an electronic amplifier at its top may be needed . aerial requirements for analogue the old standard and digital reception in the uk are identical ; there is no such thing as a special digital aerial although installers and suppliers often falsely say one is necessary . 20 as the signal degrades the analogue picture degrades gradually but the digital picture holds up well then suddenly becomes unwatchable ; an aerial which gave poor analogue viewing may give unwatchable rather than poor digital viewing and need replacing at a cost of typically 80 to 180 most of which is fitting cost . 21 services edit the digital tv group the industry association for digital television in the uk is responsible for co ordination between freeview and other digital services . 22 the original freeview was later expanded with additional facilities freeview high definition channels freeview hd and internet connectivity freeview play . all services remain available ; the original freeview equipment will work unenhanced in the same way it always did . freeview edit the original freeview service allowed a large number of digital television channels to be received on a compatible television receiver set top box or personal video recorder . an electronic programme guide was available . freeview channels can be received at no charge by anyone in the uk . it is a legal obligation to hold a current television licence to watch or record tv as it is being broadcast . 23 a subscription based dtt service top up tv launched in march 2004 . the top up tv service was not connected with the freeview service but ran alongside it on the dtt platform and was included in the freeview epg ; programmes could be received on some freeview set top boxes and televisions equipped with a card slot or ci slot . top up tv was replaced in 2006 by a service that did not run on freeview equipment . freeview edit freeview originally named freeview playback 24 is the marketing name for freeview capable digital video recorders with some enhancements over the original freeview . all freeview and freeview hd recorders are required to include the following features in addition to standard freeview 25 at least eight day electronic programme guide epg series link one timer to record whole series record split programmes as one programme offer to record related programme record alternative showing if there is a time conflict schedule changes updated in standby e.g. scheduled recording starting early accurate recording ar equivalent to pdc programmes are recorded based on signals from the broadcaster rather than scheduled time . since this is based on signals from the broadcaster the broadcaster can prevent recording by sending nonsense signals as a form of copy protection as already happens on music channels . however this can be circumvented by specifying a timer recording instead of a programme recording or by connecting the receiver to a traditional videocassette recorder . freeview hd edit freeview hd comprises a number of high definition versions of existing channels . it requires a different high definition tuner and does not supersede or replace standard freeview . channels edit see also list of hd channels in the united kingdom with two channels bbc hd and itv hd freeview hd completed a technical launch on 2 december 2009 from winter hill as a full power service and crystal palace as a reduced power temporary service . it operates on multiplex bbc b aka multiplex b or psb3 . the service was broadcast to all regions by the end of 2012 . 26 channel 4 hd commenced test broadcasts on 25 march 2010 with an animated caption ahead of its full launch on 30 march 2010 coinciding with the commercial launch of freeview hd . 27 28 s4c clirlun launched on 30 april 2010 in wales where channel 4 hd did not broadcast . 29 stv hd launched in scotland where itv hd does not broadcast on 6 june 2010 . 30 s4c clirlun closed on 1 december 2012 allowing channel 4 hd to begin broadcasting in wales . 31 five hd was due to launch during 2010 but was unable to reach key criteria to keep its slot . 32 33 spare allocation on multiplex b was handed over to the bbc two years from the date when it was anticipated that further capacity on multiplex b would revert to the control of the bbc trust . on 3 november 2010 bbc one hd launched on freeview hd . 34 initially it was available in addition to the existing bbc hd channel which continued to show the best of the rest of the bbc in hd . however bbc hd was replaced by bbc two hd on 26 march 2013 . 35 until 17 october 2011 the commercial public service broadcasters had the opportunity to apply to ofcom to provide an additional hd service from between 28 november 2011 and 1 april 2012 . 36 channel 5 hd was the sole applicant 37 with the aim of launching in spring or early summer 2012 . 38 on 15 december