citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message top up tv former type limited company industry pay tv founded march 2004 defunct june 2015 key people david chance nick markham products pay tv services programming website www.topuptv.com top up tv was a pay tv service in the united kingdom launched in march 2004 operating on the digital terrestrial television platform . the aim of the service was to top up freeview customers by providing additional content and services through encrypted tv channels unavailable to regular freeview viewers . the company offered a variety of content from various providers through tv favourites old and low budget movies from nbcuniversal through picturebox movies all of which were through an on demand basis . top up tv formerly offered live premium sports channels including espn sky sports 1 and sky sports 2 . top up tv could be received by dvb t dvr set top box with a built in card slot for top up tv or a tv with a built in card slot . as of july 2013 there were approximately 200 000 subscribers . at the end of 2013 top up tv sold their subscriber business to sky but continued to run conditional access to the freeview platform which bt uses to broadcast bt sports 1 and 2 . 1 contents 1 tv favourites 2 picturebox 3 discontinued channels and services 3.1 espn 3.2 sky sports 4 equipment 4.1 top up tv freeview box dtr 4.2 set top box stb 4.3 conditional access module cam 5 history 5.1 2004 06 launch and early years 5.2 2006 13 on demand and premium sports 5.3 2013 loss of sports and closure 6 see also 7 references tv favourites edit launched in december 2006 as top up tv anytime the service offered video on demand content from many channels . in 2009 top up tv anytime was rebranded as tv favourites as top up tv no longer needed the anytime brand to differentiate its on demand service from its previous linear service . the service was only accessible through a top up tv dvb t dvr set top box . content was available by pressing the top up tv button on the remote whilst watching a tv channel or perusing the epg . over time channels like living and home were phased out replaced by programmes from the bbc warner bros. television and the walt disney company . the channel icons displayed on the top up tv epg changed from being the logo of their respective channel in favour of a uniformed genre list . providers that were available at the time were comedy drama gold united states drama from abc factual crime & investigation network history channel home picturebox edit main article picturebox films picturebox was a movies service in which around 28 old and low budget movies were downloaded to the subscriber s top up tv freeview box every night for a monthly fee . movies offered were from the nbcuniversal library . seven films were available at any one time with titles being refreshed nightly . the service launched in october 2006 and was the first premium add on available to top up tv customers . top up tv was the first platform in the world to host the service along with its tv programmes spin off tv box . discontinued channels and services edit entertainment factual and comedy animal planet on demand content mtv on demand content paramount comedy on demand content syfy on demand content life and times on demand content hallmark channel on demand content living on demand content discovery channel original channel and on demand content discovery real time original channel and on demand content bbc programmes on demand content cbs on demand content warner tv on demand content tv box nbcuniversal national geographic channel uk news and sport bloomberg television original live channel and on demand content . british eurosport original live channel and on demand content . sports xtra on demand content setanta sports 1 premium sport channel closed due to administration and subsequently closed down . film turner classic movies tcm original live channel and on demand content . kids toonami boomerang cartoon network cartoon network too nickelodeon disney channel espn edit main article espn uk espn was a premium sport channel offering premier league football among other sports for a monthly fee . the channel could be accessed through a conditional access module cam set top box with a slot an idtv with a slot or through a top up tv freeview box . it replaced setanta sports 1 when its parent company went into administration and was closed . because this channel time shared with the downloads for the tv favourites service it was barred from broadcasting 24 hours a day . between setanta sports 1 closing and espn launching espn america filled airtime whilst carriage negotiations were ongoing . the channel is still offered by bt tv under their bt sport package . sky sports edit main article sky sports sky sports 1 and 2 were also offered as of 2 august 2010 as ofcom s pay tv review saw the channels being offered under a wholesale must offer wmo agreement which effectively forces bskyb to offer these channels to its competitors . using capacity which bt secured and used to offer the same channels to its bt vision subscribers top up tv also offered these two channels to its subscribers which officially launched on 2 august 2010 . top up tv had been able to offer sky sports 1 & 2 and espn via a conditional access module from october 2011 . 2 this was possible only via ci compatible idtvs and set top boxes . equipment edit top up tv offered its services over a range of devices . the top up tv freeview dtr s offered all services from top up tv . all top up tv set top boxes and cam s allowed access to espn whilst the ci cam and approved set top boxes allowed viewers to subscribe to sky sports and espn . a viewing smartcard viewing card is used to unlock customers services . top up tv uses the nagravision merlin nagravision 3 encryption since a card swap in 2008 . previously programmes were encrypted by mediaguard seca2 a more secure version of the encryption system of previous digital terrestrial incumbent itv digital . all top up tv set top boxes and dtr s are required to have at least an 8 day epg similar to the requirement for normal freeview boxes . top up tv freeview box dtr edit main article thomson dti 6300 16 a range of top up tv freeview digital tv recorders also known as dtrs automatically records programmes broadcast overnight which the user can then watch on demand . the first generation box was manufactured by thomson thomson dti 6300 16 containing a 160gb hdd . higher capacity boxes were introduced later on with the thomson dti 6300 25 effectively the thomson dti 6300 16 with a 250gb hdd . different manufacturer s equipment such as luxor bush sharp wharfdale and a new thomson box are available from retailers such as argos and asda . these newer boxes contain varying degrees of capacity ranging from 160gb to 500gb . top up tv dtrs are no longer available to buy directly from top up tv . included in the packaging is a top up tv bespoke remote control and scart lead a signal improvement kit an rf lead and a power cable . printed materials include the top up tv welcome pack a remote control codes guide and an instruction manual . the rear of the box has two scart sockets two tuners an s video output analogue phono output and digital audio output . it features a powered but functionless usb port on the front or rear of the dtr . set top box stb edit initially top up tv made use of set top boxes with viewing card slots to offer a linear pay tv service . at launch only ex itv digital boxes were available but new boxes were soon produced bearing the top up tv ready logo . since the unavoidable move towards on demand the live channel hours were reduced and eventually closed . all previous top up tv ready set top boxes with viewing card slots are currently only able to receive espn . with the launch of sky sports in 2010 bskyb has insisted that the viewing smart card must be paired to the set top box . whilst top up tv freeview dtr s have this facility using the can number few other set top boxes have this facility and must be approved by top up tv . these approved boxes currently include the i can freeview hd box the top up tv t215 and sagem idt68 and idt72 . conditional access module cam edit a conditional access module can be inserted into a ci slot mostly found on modern idtvs to enable decryption of encrypted services . whilst top up tv offers a branded cam only espn can be received . this is due to bskyb having concerns with the security of these modules meaning sky sports 1 and sky sports 2 are not available . ci cams were due to become available to overcome such security concerns offering access to sky sports and espn from august 2011 but there were delays to the launch due to top up tv having difficulties trying to identify compatible devices . these devices finally appeared in october 2011 . 3 history edit the company was founded by two former bskyb executives david chance and ian west . the management team currently consists of chance as chairman and nick markham as chief executive officer . top up tv is 20 % owned by channel 5 and restructured during 2006 with the original company liquidated under members voluntary liquidation under the name minds1 . the owner of access industries len blavatnik is said to have purchased a 70 % stake in january 2007 . according to the official registre de commerce et des soci t s of the grand duchy of luxembourg the most recent accounts lodged by top up tv europe s.a.r.l. in 2010 indicated costs of 38 million debts of 23 million and ongoing losses of 21 million . 2004 06 launch and early years edit top up tv as newincco 166 ltd attempted to make an application for the multiplex licence bid for multiplex d on the dtt service in 2002 as a joint application with carlton granada and channel 4 trading as the digital terrestrial alliance dta . the company were prepared to offer a viable and lite pay service which would have provided a large number of free to air channels and a few pay tv ones . 4 the bid was unsuccessful and the licence was instead awarded to the bbc bskyb and crown castle which later became national grid wireless . after the turn down of a multiplex bid top up tv turned to public service broadcasters channel 5 and channel 4 to gain capacity on the platform . on multiplex a top up tv were granted four long term streams one of which previously hosted tv travel shop and on multiplex 2 were granted one short term stream from channel 4 . they came up with a time shared system which allowed 10 pay tv channels to be broadcast in the space of five television streams two of which were allotted empty space which later became abc1 and teachers tv . the sixth stream was used as a temporary measure as of the short term contract with channel 4 and hosted pay per view channels xtraview and red hot .