Top Up Your Freeview
Freeview
DTV Services, trading as Freeview, is the name for the collection of Free to air services on the Digital Terrestrial Television platform in the UK. The service is jointly run by its five equal shareholders - BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky and transmitter operator Arqiva. DTV Services is designed to market changes to the platform. In association with the Digital TV Group, DTV Services is responsible for marketing specifications such as Freeview+, the PVR brand and Freeview HD - the roster of forthcoming HD channels.
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 2005, ITV plc and Channel 4 became equal shareholders. Since then, the Freeview model has been copied in a number of countries including Australia, New Zealand, France and Italy.
Freeview HD
With two channels (BBC HD and ITV1 HD), Freeview HD completed a "technical launch" on 2 December 2009 from Crystal Palace and Winter Hill and operates on multiplex BBC B (aka Multiplex B or PSB3) from that date in regions that switched-over on or after that date, with the service coming to all regions by the end of 2012.
Channel 4 HD was expected to be available at launch but has been delayed. S4C HD is expected in March 2010 in Wales, where Channel 4 HD will not launch. Five HD will launch during 2010, while a fifth HD channel may be able to launch during 2013.
Freeview HD is the first operational TV service in the world using the DVB-T2 standard, which will require the purchase of new compatible reception equipment. Freeview HD set-top boxes and televisions will be available at the consumer launch of the service in early 2010. In order to qualify for the Freeview HD logo, receivers will need to be IPTV-capable and display Freeview branding, including the logo, on the electronic programme guide screen.
It was announced 10 February 2009 that the signal will be encoded with MPEG-4 AVC High Profile Level 4, which supports up to 1080i30/1080p30, so 1080p50 cannot be used. The system has been designed from the start to allow regional variations in the broadcast schedule. Services will be statistically multiplexed - which means bandwidth is dynamically allocated between channels, depending on the complexity of the images - with the aim of maintaining a consistent quality, rather than a specific bit rate. Video for each channel can range between 3Mb/s and 17Mb/s. Dolby Digital audio will be transmitted at 320Kb/s for 5.1 surround, with stereo audio at 128Kb/s; audio description takes up 64Kb/s, subtitles 200Kb/s and the data stream, for interactive applications, just 50Kb/s
Freeview Reception
77% of the UK population can currently receive the full Freeview service, with more able to receive a selection of channels now and all channels after digital switchover. Coverage is being increased as digital switchover takes place across the UK.
Ofcom estimates that the coverage level of the three public service broadcasting multiplexes will reach 98.5% of the population (the same as analogue television) and six-multiplex reception will cover 90% of the population once the digital switchover has been completed in 2012.
Approximately 27% of households were in a location that couldn't receive Freeview broadcasts. Maximum Freeview coverage of the UK whilst analogue and digital services were running in tandem was reached in the years before digital switchover in the UK began. Digital UK, the body backed by the UK government and UK broadcasters is currently switching off the analogue TV services in the UK, region-by-region. Digital Switchover in the UK In 2007, the Whitehaven transmitter in Cumbria switched to digital. Then in 2008 viewers in the Scottish Borders had their analogue signal switched off and their Freeview signal boosted, and coverage increased to minor relays. In 2009, Freeview coverage increased: The South West of England switched to digital between April and August; Cumbria, Dumfries&Galloway and Isle of Man switched in June. Wales is currently in the process of digital switchover, with existing analogue services being replaced by high powered digital signals carrying the Freeview service.