satellite service from the bbc and itv . for the similarly named service from bskyb see freesat from sky . freesat type joint venture industry satellite television founded 16 may 2007 headquarters united kingdom products direct broadcast satellite free digital tv pay television pay per view owner bbc and itv plc website freesat.co.uk freesat is a free to air digital satellite television joint venture between the bbc and itv plc serving the united kingdom . 1 the service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 may 2008 . freesat offers a satellite alternative to the freeview service on digital terrestrial television with a broadly similar selection of channels available without subscription for users purchasing a receiver . the service also makes use of the additional capacity available on digital satellite broadcasting to offer a selection of high definition programming from the bbc itv plc channel 4 channel 5 nhk and rt uk . freesat s main competitors are freeview and freesat from sky . contents 1 history 1.1 background 1.2 move to free to air 1.3 managed service 1.4 launch channels 1.5 high definition 1.6 regional variations 1.7 future channels and recent launches 2 video on demand 3 reception equipment 3.1 receivers 3.2 televisions 3.3 satellite dish 3.4 ireland 3.5 outside the uk and ireland 4 technical details 5 adoption 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit background edit the bbc and itv the two biggest free to air broadcasters in the uk make their services available digitally through three routes free to air via digital terrestrial and digital satellite and subscription only via digital cable . on digital terrestrial the channels have always been available free to air with the appropriate equipment . in 2007 freeview was available to only 73 % of the population . 2 after analogue tv services were replaced in the digital switchover this increased to 98.5 % for the public service channels and 90 % for the full freeview service . to provide more widespread coverage and a larger number of channels a digital satellite alternative was felt necessary . initially both the bbc s and itv s channels were encrypted since the original astra satellites used for sky broadcast to most of europe but the broadcasters rights for premium content such as films and sports typically covered the uk only . the use of encryption meant that anyone wishing to view the channels had to purchase equipment from sky and pay for a free to view viewing card to decrypt the channels . similarly to use the videoguard encryption the broadcasters needed to pay a fee to nds group . move to free to air edit in may 2003 the bbc moved most of its channels from the astra 2a satellite to astra 2d which has a footprint that focuses more tightly on the uk . 3 this move allowed the bbc to stop encrypting its broadcasts while continuing to meet its rights obligations . it dropped the encryption two months later . 4 5 two months later itv whose channels had already been located on the astra 2d satellite since launching on the sky platform some years earlier also made their channels free to air . on 18 november 2008 channel 5 commenced broadcasting a single channel via freesat 6 eventually adding its ancillary services 5usa and 5 now known as 5star three years later in december 2011 . viva moved from free to view to free to air on satellite on 19 march 2013 before launching on freesat on 2 april 2013 . 7 on 2 april 2013 all seven of box television s channels left sky s subscription package with six becoming free to air on satellite ; 8 on 15 april four of the channels the box kerrang tv kiss tv and smash hits were added to the freesat epg . 9 this was followed by heat and magic on 29 april . 10 the free to air channels can be received using any standard digital satellite dvb s receiver although those not licensed by freesat will need to be re tuned manually if when channel frequencies are changed . see next section . managed service edit the freesat project aims to provide a managed service with an electronic programme guide and interactive features similar to the freeview service launched three years earlier . unlike freeview however these features are only available on approved receivers manufactured under licence from freesat . the initial plan was to launch the service in early 2006 . this was postponed to autumn 2007 as approval from the bbc trust was only received in april 2007 . 11 however the service was further delayed and was officially launched on 6 may 2008 . 12 launch channels edit the service launched officially on 6 may 2008 . from the launch freesat advertised all national television channels from the bbc and itv as being available on the platform excluding itv2 1 as well as all national bbc radio networks . 13 channel 4 also managed to make most of its channels free to air in preparation for the launch . in addition some channels from other broadcasters such as chello zone csc media group al jazeera english zee live zee news ria novosti and euronews were included on the channel list . 14 high definition edit bbc hd was the only high definition channel available on freesat from launch day 15 with itv hd added as a red button interactive service from 7 june 2008 . 16 17 18 on 2 april 2010 itv hd changed from an interactive service to a full time channel called itv1 hd simulcasting the main itv1 channel . 19 the name was changed back to itv hd on 14 january 2013 . bbc one hd a high definition simulcast of bbc one was made available on freesat and other platforms on 3 november 2010 . channel 4 hd also became available on the platform on 19 april 2011 . nhk world hd was added to freesat on 9 may 2011 ; it shared its channel number with its standard definition counterpart and was therefore only listed on high definition receivers which were unable to access the standard definition channel via the epg . the sd channel ceased transmission on 1 october 2011 . on 23 july 2012 the bbc added 24 temporary channels to cover the 2012 summer olympics the channels share their epg slot with their standard definition counterpart . 20 21 on 29 august 2012 channel 4 added three temporary channels covering the 2012 summer paralympics in high definition from the following day ; the three channels also share their epg slots . 22 on 14 february 2013 rt hd was added to freesat sharing its channel number with its standard definition simulcast . 23 on 26 march 2013 bbc hd was replaced by a high definition simulcast of bbc two . on 13 june 2013 an hd stream of the bbc red button was temporarily made available on the epg . 24 on 16 july 2013 the bbc announced they would be launching five new hd channels in early 2014 . 25 the five channels hd simulcasts of bbc three bbc four cbbc cbeebies and bbc news were in fact launched early on 10 december 2013 . regional variations edit some channels notably bbc one and itv are transmitted in regional variations and the appropriate services are selected by the freesat receiver from the user s postcode . in march 2010 itv altered several of their regions from free to air transmission to free to view because they were moved to a satellite from which transmission covers a much larger area than just the uk and content licensing means that they had to be encrypted . as a result a few freesat viewers who can not receive free to view encrypted content were moved to regional variations not corresponding to their actual location . future channels and recent launches edit in february 2016 talking pictures tv a classic film and television channel launched on freesat from transponder 103 11.671 ghz h on the astra 2g satellite . 26 the keep it country kic tv music channel launched on freesat in march on channel 516 . reality based channel true crime and its time shifted sibling true crime 1 launched on march 22 2016 on channels 143 and 156 respectively . 27 video on demand edit the bbc began to roll out a beta version of bbc iplayer for freesat devices in early 2010 . bbc iplayer is an internet based service with around 2500 hours 28 of television being available on demand . itv player is available for humax manhattan and some sagemcom devices . 29 in 2010 freesat also indicated an intent to launch a receiver featuring the youview service then called project canvas and said that the video on demand services 4od and demand 5 were under consideration . 30 on 28 july 2011 the bbc trust approved proposals to introduce the listing of pay content delivered on demand via broadband . 31 the trust will allow the bbc to continue to play a part in freesat as the plans did not represent a significant change to the approval previously given in 2007 . there was no need for a public value test or for further regulatory process . under the plans some pay content such as films would be added to the freesat epg alongside the existing free to air content . however there would be no adult material or live streamed sports coverage . freesat itself will not supply any of the on demand content but will allow third parties to do so through its epg . some content will also be made available through existing channels using an on screen prompt that would take viewers to an on demand environment . pay tv sales would be handled by a third party with freesat operating the conditional access system that would underpin it . the plan is to use the upcoming launch of g2 spec receivers to add support for digital rights management and where technically possible on existing receivers . on 29 november 2011 a beta trial for the subscription based on demand movie service boxoffice365 was added to the freesat epg . 32 on 11 march 2013 boxoffice365 withdrew from freesat . 33 the freetime guide also features a backwards epg and a showcase section offering recommendations . html versions of iplayer and itv player will also launch 34 both services use mheg 5 on first generation devices . youtube launched on freetime receivers on 7 march 2013 the first deployment of youtube s html app in a western european tv service . 35 4od launched on freesat s freetime receivers on 27 june 2013 making freesat the first uk tv platform to host the html5 version of 4od . 36 demand 5 arrived on freesat on 6 august 2013 . 37 in december 2015 freesat announced the availability of an application for the netflix subscription tv streaming service on the humax hdr 1000s hdr 1010s hdr 1100s and hb 1000s freetime receivers . netflix is expected to be available on other freetime receivers in the future . 38 in january 2016 saorview the irish free tv service announced it would be launching an online catch up and on demand tv service using the commercial version of the freetime software including epg roll back and remote recording with freesat providing a fully managed service . 39 reception equipment edit see also freesat receivers edit reverse of a humax freesat hd box at the launch of the service there were two types of freesat receivers available standard definition only receivers and high definition capable receivers . as of july 2010 there are eleven companies licensed to produce freesat boxes and televisions . 40 humax launched a freesat recorder freesat which became available to