What is Freesat and what are the options?

Freesat is a British digital satellite television platform developed by the BBC and ITV plc. The service began broadcasting on the 6th May 2008 and offers a satellite equivalent of the Freeview service, with a selection of channels available without subscription for users purchasing a receiver. Further down this page is a brief outline of the freesat from sky services which also carry BBC, ITV and other programming as well as a brief look at alternatives.


The service makes use of the additional capacity available on the digital satellite broadcasting platform to also be able to offer high-definition channels. The services are broadcast on 28.2 East so the principals for reception are identical to those for Astra 2D, ie it's the same satellite carrying the current UK sky channels, if you allready have a sky dish which can receive the BBC and FTV channels then it will work. If you are an expat or normally resident outside GB or NI then you may need some information on receiving Astra 2D outside the UK. If this is the case then have a look at our coverage maps by clicking the map image below.

For more information on Astra 2D. UK British English language satellite television abroad click here.

Currently there are two types of official standalone FreeSat receivers available — standard definition-only receivers and high definition-capable receivers, there is no information on a PVR version as yet. In addition to the standalone receivers, an Integrated High Definition LCD Freesat Television has also been released.

To receive freesat you need a digital satellite receiver (either standalone or integrated DVB-S Freesat TV), you will need a satellite dish aligned and receiving the Ku band signals from Astra 2D at 28.2 East.

Depending on where you live will dictate the dish, size, in the UK the only size needed is the appropriate sky mini dish which comes in two sizes Zone One size for the bulk of the UK and Zone 2 for Scotland.

Outside the UK reception is possible in some parts of Europe using a mini dish, as you get further away from the UK the dish size will increase we have more information on our Astra 2D reception page.

An official freesat box has the following pro's and con's
Pro's
Easy to use
Red button enabled
7-day EPG
Regional ITV (selectable upon new insallation)
Intuitive menu and TV Channel guide without being cluttered by unavailable pay channels
Con's
Does not permit addition of additional free to air channels broadcasting at same orbital position
Cannot be used for other free to air satellite services
Cannot be used for pay services

One further implication of having a standalone receiver without a twin tuner PVR is for recording onto media such as Video Tape, Hard Disc, DVD-R etc, with a single standalone receiver you will only be able to record the channel which is being viewed via the satellite receiver. If you insist upon watching one channel whilst recording another currently you need a second receiver or to use a standard digital satellite receiver - with twin tuner and PVR - these are detailed in our alternative options page.

What is "Freesat from sky" and what are the options?

Freesat from sky is a British free to view satellite service from Sky giving viewers access to 4 additional channels that are encrypted on satellite, some timeshifted variants (+1 channels), over 200 Free To Air channels, the Sky Guide EPG and Sky Active interactive data services. It is competitor to Freesat as well as Sky's own pay-TV satellite service Sky Digital, which are also available on the Astra satellites at 28.2E. To get the best from Sky's offering requires that you have an official proprietry sky digibox receiver and official sky freesat viewing card. Without the card you will not be able to use a sky digibox to view sky 3, channel 4 (at the moment), channel 5 and Setanta Sports News. Our products include a range of options including second user boxes to suit all budgets.

Sky Digiboxes and Card options.
Pro's
Excellent 7 day EPG
red button and interactive services available
can be upgraded to sky subscription services
Regional ITV (stored on the viewing card)

Con's
not suitable for other satellite services on alternative orbital positions very limited options to add other channels
require a subscription for using any PVR service

Are there any benefits from using alternative satellite options?

Alternatives, :standard and High definition DVB-S satellite receivers.
Without being tied into proprietry boxes, standard digital free to air or CI, or embedded cam receivers permit the user to watch digital broadcasts from many different operators using only one box, well that is the theory.

In practice sky don't offer any modules so that enable you to use a non-proprietry sky box for their pay television.

There are some hobby and professional receivers which we sell that have been tested and with modified software can be used to view sky TV without being restricted to a proprietry box, and some of these have limitations, which are beyond the scope of this introduction.

You may wonder why you may wish to choose this route but here is some good examples of day to day use, a standard FTA receiver is cheaper than a new sky box and more flexible than a freesat box it can be used to receive signals from multiple satellites and the user can define the menu's and channel line ups etc. Linux embedded satellite receivers even more flexibility to allow both software and hardware plugins for truely tailored experience.

As well as flexibility and costs another benefit for using a standard type DVB-S satellite receiver for subscription free UK English TV around Europe is for PVR functions currently there is no PVR version of freesat available and a sky plus pvr box requires a subscription for the PVR function. Alternative receivers can be purchased with live pause, live recording, twin tuners and other features which are enabled, like DISEQc for multi-sat, and none of these features are available on the subscription free sky boxes or freesat boxes.

Other reasons could be that with a one box solution you intend to watch services from other orbital positions and operators by using means of a multi-lnb switched setup or a motorised dish for example if you want both English language British broadcasts from the likes of the BBC or ITV and at the same time want to have a multitude of foreign language TV choices, such as digital satellite TV from French, Spanish, German, Arabic, Polish, operators etc.

Whether you wanted just free services, or pay services, or even the option to be able to upgrade to pay services there is a good selection of boxes available.

Recommended Equipment
If you only want the FTA Channels
Choose a sky box (recommended) or FTA Receiver (if you want to use a multisat option).

Closest alternative is the freesat box currently limited in the channel lineup but potentially very promising.

If you want the Subscription and or FTV and FTA Channels from Astra at 28.2 East - you are restricted to sky boxes
The closest viable alternative is hobby / enthusiast and CI boxes. These have other benefits such as subscription free PVR functionality, multi-sat capability and customisation to suit your own needs.

The "freesat from sky" viewing card explained.

The freesat viewing card is for CH4, CH5, Sky Three, and a few others, please refer to our channels page for a list of channels, but note the most updated channel information is usually to be found on the broadcasters own website. The card is tested and therefore pre-activated prior to delivery and will be supplied as a tested ex-contract subscription card. Should the card fail due to malfunction whilst the same series of cards are in circulation then a replacement will be issued upon return of the card which was supplied.
Please note the following:
If the card is inactive upon receipt then leaving it in your digibox switched on for up to 72hrs will normally reactivate the FTV channels.

Freesat is the free to view offering from sky, some of the encrypted channels are non-subscription and can be viewed with a freesat card. The ITV region associated with this card varies and the BBC channels will default as appropriate, without a card the digibox shows BBC1 London, when the freesat card is inserted the box should be switched off, then on, the card will reset and the channels will initialise, you can backup to cancel the message about the telephone line. The new channel line-up will be complete.

There can be no guarantee of which region the card will cover.

Freesat is not freeview, freesat in this context is the free to view services from Astra at 28.2 East, the full name it is actually 'freesat from sky' not to be confused with the new Free to Air English language service by UK operators and officially called freesat.

Including the FTA channels you can potentially view around 200 TV channels and listen to 45 radio channels if you need more information about FTA channels click the sky channels link on the left hand side of this page.

If you need a freesat card for the purpoes of the free to view channels from sky and you live in the UK then please go to the broadcasters website.

£30 /  €45

please read our terms and conditions before purchase UK Freesat Viewing card without digibox (with digibox click here)

Do you still have more questions - then contact us.

* we cannot guarantee channel availability, channels are subject to change at any time and beyond our control, if you have any questions please contact us.