Freesat set to launch in week 18, 2008

[PaulR]

No shooting necessary! I'm sure that $ly have deliberately priced their offering to undercut Freesat and spoil the launch.

 

[GUNERDOO]

That well maybe but does it matter to someone who can get Sat TV without breaking the Bank to get started ?

 

[GUNERDOO]

The EngadgetHD website are claiming that the freesat service will be going live on friday 25 April.

Tuesday May 6th is looking good at the moment

 

[danyelle6974]

So does anyone know whether I have to buy anything or not to receive freesat (including possible ch4 channels when they all fully join)?
Here's was I have:
a sky digital dish installed by previous owners of our house which we have working receiving free-to-air channels via a second hand old sky digital box.

Will I have to buy a new receiver?
If so, will it work with the previously installed sky digital dish?

I am well confused so I would really appreciate id someone could help me out.

I was also hoping to receive a channel called "the Hits" at some point, as well as E4 and More4 - any chance of this happening do you think?

 

[snaithg]

So does anyone know whether I have to buy anything or not to receive freesat (including possible ch4 channels when they all fully join)?
Here's was I have:
a sky digital dish installed by previous owners of our house which we have working receiving free-to-air channels via a second hand old sky digital box.

Will I have to buy a new receiver?
If so, will it work with the previously installed sky digital dish?

I am well confused so I would really appreciate id someone could help me out.

I was also hoping to receive a channel called "the Hits" at some point, as well as E4 and More4 - any chance of this happening do you think?

In the short term you are probably best advised to keep your existing Sky Box as it already receives all the same channels that will be available from the new freesat service. In addition I would recommend that you purchase a "Freesat from Sky" viewing card (£20) which will provide you with all the other "free" channels available from Sky. This will boost your total numbers to well in excess of those available from freesat, at launch. Don't know offhand whether you will get "The Hits" but you will definitely get E4/More4.

Later on (once many more free channels become available), if you want HD and PVR functionality, you may want to consider purchasing a new freesat receiver.


Graham.

 

[PaulR]

Don't know offhand whether you will get "The Hits" but you will definitely get E4/More4.

Wrong. The card from $ly will get you C4 but not More 4 or E4 - these are only available with a minimum $ly subscription card. The same applies for The Hits channel.

The card will also get you the Five channels and $ly 3.

After Freesat (note: NOT the same as Freesat from $ly) starts C4 hopes to join soon after so that a card is not needed (in fact C4 ia already broadcasting a channel which can be viewed without a card). We assume that More 4 and E4 will also join and so be available without a card. Five has at least another year before its contract for encryption with $ly expires and may chose not join Freesat even then. Sly 3 is unlikely to join Freesat at all - where's the profit for $ly from that?!!

E4, More 4 and The Hits are already available on the terrestrial Freeview system. Perhaps this an option?

 

[flashgordon1952]

It has to launch that week. otherwise it could disasterous for the BBC/ITV . so far no adverts at all. this is a bit worrying in my view..come on freesat wakey wakey

 

[OldBen]

Well I never!

Freesat mentioned on BBC news this morning on Radio2, no launch date, just that "BBC and ITV to launch satellite TV service, 80 channels rising to 200 before end of the year, and offering HD, 100,000 UK homes have HD ready flatscreen and no way to get HD that we are paying for in license fee" or something like that!

Freesat website still useless mess of no information however.

Edit: Story on bbc news, still no dates: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7384928.stm

 

[easysat]

Well I never!

Freesat mentioned on BBC news this morning on Radio2, no launch date, just that ...

The reporter said boxes will cost from £49 and the installation is extra at £80 (which includes the dish).

The reporter was making out that this is a completely new service, alternative to terrestrial digital TV and Sky, etc. As we all know, Freesat is just a repackaging of what is already FTA at 28°E. So much for the BBC's mission to explain O-zzz.

 

[Expat]

Expect activity today, the Freesat website should go live instead of the same old news that has been there for ages.
E4 and More4 are also expected to be FTA on freesat today, but who knows!
Audio has been restored to Channel 4 on Astra 2D.
If I was launching a satellite platform today, I would have let the contry know what is happening. Let's hope they get their act together.
Britain's best kept secret!

 

[hoppo1]

Hardly a fanfare, but this is on the website

"The BBC and ITV bring you freesat, a brand new digital satellite TV service offering free HD TV programming at no extra cost. freesat has no monthly subscription, just a one-off payment for the digital box, satellite dish and installation - so you pay once, and watch forever. And because freesat is broadcast via satellite, it'll be available to almost every household in the UK from today."

 

[Analoguesat]

Expect activity today, the Freesat website should go live instead of the same old news that has been there for ages.
E4 and More4 are also expected to be FTA on freesat today, but who knows!
Audio has been restored to Channel 4 on Astra 2D.
If I was launching a satellite platform today, I would have let the contry know what is happening. Let's hope they get their act together.
Britain's best kept secret!

Freesat launched this morning and both E4 & More 4 are now fta. (The +1's arent atm)

 

[JohnC]

Anyone got the Transponderr settings for Free-Sat??
Regards JC

 

[danyelle6974]

I can't get freeview where I am cos the signal is not good enough - all I get is partial pixelated channels but mostly black screens... where we lived before I was watching freeview so when we moved a few months back I missed the freeview channels... (especially more4 and e4)

I have been running an old sky box with a freesat card (blue card with yellow house) on a digital sky dish (an installation by the previous house owners).

When we first plugged it in a few months back it took a couple of weeks for ch4 and ch5 to work... but up until yesterday I had the basic channels missing e4 and more4.

Last night More4, E4, More4+1 and E4+1 all worked!!!!!! i'm not HD ready so I'm not bothered about the HD channels personally... but I think this means I now have all the channels that are available on freeview apart from "The Hits" (but hopefully this will become FTA cos it is channel 4 isn't it?) and that Virgin channel.... Plus obviously on Sky you get all the weird and wonderful God channels and foreign channels etc....

So this is fab news for me. Glad ch4 finally got themselves sorted! And I am so glad that the old sky box I got off ebay for a tenner is working with the beeb's freesat. They don't make it clear do they? I was thinking from the press etc I had to go out and get a new digibox. :-[

 

[irart]

danyelle6974 what you have is Sky Freesat, not the new BBC - ITV Freesat, for that you would need a different box. The latter was not set up in competition with Sky, but, as I understand it, to enable everyone in the country access to digital tv before the analogue switch off as some areas were unable to receive Freeview via the normal aerial.

 

[Yorks]

danyelle6974 what you have is Sky Freesat, not the new BBC - ITV Freesat, for that you would need a different box.

I think you'll find that on the whole all the transponder frequencies remain the same. As was said earlier, it has just been re-packaged as Freesat. The main anomaly at the moment seems to be ITV HD which apparently if you have a Sly HD box will not be receivable. (I am neither sly nor HD compatible).

Yorks