The United Kingdom now has three major forms of broadcast digital television (DTV), a direct-to-home satellite service from the Astra 28.2°E satellites provided by British Sky Broadcasting (commonly known as Sky) and Freesat, digital cable television services provided by Virgin Media and WightCable, and a free-to-air digital terrestrial service called Freeview. In addition an IPTV system known as BT Vision is provided by BT. Individual access methods vary throughout the country. For 77% of the UK, HDTV is available via Freeview^[1], satellite is the only source of HDTV broadcast available in the remaining 23%. Virgin Media cable is also available to people who live in a cabled area. Freesat also provides a free-to-air HDTV service to most people in the country, but with fewer HDTV channels than either Sky or Virgin cable

Major forms of broadcast DTV[link]

Terrestrial[link]

The initial attempt at launching a digital terrestrial broadcasting service, ONdigital (later called ITV Digital), was unsuccessful and the company went into liquidation. Some observers have argued that this failure stemmed from the Government's eagerness in having sold off too much TV spectrum to launch Channel 5 (the last UK terrestrial analogue channel), and ONdigital's short-sightedness in over-extending its use of available bandwidth: using poor signal encoding to maintain compatibility with early set-top boxes, optimising their broadcasts for capacity rather than reliability, and cramming too many channels into the available bandwidth.

ITV Digital was replaced in late 2002 by Freeview, which uses the same DVB-T technology, but with higher levels of error correction and more robust (but lower-capacity) modulation on the "Public Service" multiplexes in an attempt to counter the reception problems which dogged its predecessor. Rather than concentrating on Pay TV services, Freeview uses the available capacity to provide a free-to-air service that includes all the existing five free-to-air analogue terrestrial channels and about twenty new digital channels. All services are transmitted in standard definition—576i in the UK—many using an anamorphic widescreen format.

March 31, 2004 saw the return of a limited pay-television offering to the digital terrestrial platform with the launch of Top Up TV. This new service is designed to appeal to those who do not want to pay the higher subscription fees that Sky Television and the Cable networks demanded. The service carries some of the UK’s most watched channels including the Discovery Channel, UKTV Gold, Discovery Real Time, British Eurosport and Cartoon Network. The 10 channels are split into five different slots and broadcast for only part of the day. In October 2006, Top Up TV became Top Up TV Anytime, taking advantage of the increase in the popularity of PVRs, and its limited channel space. Now over 100 programs are broadcast overnight and added to the box's hard disk, so that it may be watched at any time. Channels that joined the service include MTV, Nickelodeon and Hallmark Channel.

2005 saw the first areas of the United Kingdom losing their analogue signal in a pilot test. The residents of Ferryside and Llansteffan in Carmarthenshire, Wales who had not already upgraded to digital television were given a free set-top box to receive the Freeview television service, which includes Channel 4 (previously unavailable terrestrially from transmitters in Wales) and S4C~2, which broadcasts sessions of the National Assembly for Wales. Digital transmissions for this pilot commenced in December 2004, at which time a message was added to the analogue picture advising viewers that the analogue services would end in February 2005. The pilot paved the way for full switch-over to digital television signals throughout the United Kingdom by the Government's deadline of 2012.

The year 2005 also saw the announcement by Ofcom of the proposed analogue switch off plans for the UK. It is proposed that the switch off will progress on an ITV region by region basis starting in 2008 starting in the Border Television region and ending in the Channel Television region in 2012. The coverage of the three public service multiplexes will be the same as that enjoyed by the current analogue TV stations, while the three commercial multiplexes will cover approximately 90% of the UK population. To improve long standing interference issues in the Meridian and Anglia franchise areas a small number of new transmitters will be brought into service when those regions are converted in 2010 and 2011. These plans were confirmed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Tessa Jowell, on September 15, 2005. [1].

See Digital switchover in the United Kingdom.

Freeview HD[link]

Freeview HD launched in December 2009, from the Crystal Palace and Winter Hill transmitters, to coincide with digital switchover at the latter. Receivers did not, however, appear in the shops until February 2010. BBC HD, ITV1 HD, BBC One HD and Channel 4 HD (S4C in Wales) are the currently available terrestrial HDTV channels. The broadcast mode is DVB-T2, using MPEG4 encoding.

The BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 ran terrestrial HDTV trials involving 450 homes in the London area during June-December 2006 on locally unused frequencies [2]. As part of this trial, the BBC broadcast BBC HD free to air. The trial homes received an HD-capable set-top box; the services could also be received and played back by a PC equipped with a DVB-T card that is within range (as the broadcast is not encrypted) using a software H.264 decoder.

Cable[link]

Digital Cable in the United Kingdom is available through Virgin Media and several local cable companies.

Trials of the UK's first HDTV service began on 2 December 2005. Telewest, a cable TV company now part of Virgin Media, distributed HDTV programs to 400 customers in the south London area. Following the merger of NTL & Telewest and the creation of Virgin Media HDTV was rolled out across the network, including former NTL areas. The service is provided via a personal video recorder, branded as V+ and formally known as TV Drive.^[2]

Satellite[link]

On November 1, 2005 ITV turned off encryption on all of its satellite based signals, following the lead from the BBC. These transmissions are on a limited spotbeam which is aimed primarily towards the United Kingdom, via the Astra 2D satellite located at 28.2° east. This theoretically limits reception to the UK, Ireland, Iceland and the northern region of France, allowing ITV to fulfil licensing agreements with content producers. However, many people report successful reception of these signals from across Europe by using larger dishes.

Sky HD is offered by BSkyB in both the United Kingdom and Ireland as an add-on to their existing Sky subscription service. The BBC is broadcasting BBC HD as a free-to-air channel from the Astra 2D satellite, and the channel can be viewed for free with suitable satellite reception equipment. There are additional equipment and subscription charges for HD from Sky TV but they are broadcasting an increasing number of channels in the HD format. Sky also offers a free-to-air version of its regular Sky service known as Freesat from Sky. Freesat from Sky provides a non-subscription card for public service broadcast channels Channel 4 and Channel 5, however Channel 4 London, Film4, Film4+1 are free-to-air.

In September 2005, the BBC and ITV announced a free-to-air satellite service as a competitor to Freesat from Sky, to be called Freesat.^[3] Launched in May 2008, Freesat offers all BBC and ITV digital TV channels, plus other channels, interactive services, and radio channels, all using existing broadcasts from Astra 28.2°E. It is being touted as the satellite equivalent to Freeview, especially for areas unable to receive the Freeview DTT service.^[4]

High-definition[link]

The UK now has 3 main ways of accessing high definition television channels.

Free-To-Air[link]

The BBC has launched its own high-definition service called BBC HD which is currently available via Digital Satellite. Rather than simulcasting one of the corporation's existing channels, the channel broadcasts for several hours per day and broadcasts a selection of its high-definition programming.

BBC HD is also available on Virgin Media and Freeview.

BBC One HD was launched on November 3rd 2010 on Sky, Virgin, Freesat and Freeview.

During 2006, ITV trialled its high-definition service ITV HD. This trial was a Digital Terrestrial trial which broadcast only from the Crystal Palace transmitting station in London. The channel was transitioned as a full service initially only on Freesat in Spring 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Free-To-View[link]

Channel 4 launched a high-definition simulcast, Channel 4 HD of its main channel on digital satellite in December, 2007. It also took part in the terrestrial trial mentioned above and launched on Freeview on March 31st 2010.

ITV HD operated as an occasional service as part of the Freesat network, available on the "red button" with Freesat receivers only. It then relaunched as ITV 1 HD on April 2nd 2010 as a full service across all platforms.

Subscription[link]

Sky HD offers four HD sports channels, ten HD movie channels, and several other subscription HD channels, such as Discovery HD.

Sky, there are BBC HD, Channel 4 HD, Sky1 HD, FX HD, Sky Arts HD, Luxe.tv HD, Sky Premiere HD, Sky Movies HD1 & 2, Sky Sports HD1,2 & 3, Rush HD Discovery HD, National Geographic Channel HD, The History Channel HD & Sky Box Office HD1 & 2 and Sci-Fi HD.

Public consultation on the Trust's provisional conclusions on the proposed BBC HD service] ended on 23 October 2007. ^[5]

See also[link]

• Digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom
• Digital television transition
• HDTV
• Astra 28.2°E

References[link]

External links[link]

• Digital TV Consumer test reports UK Government-funded website to support Digital Switchover
• High Definition for Europe - a progressive approach, article from the EBU technical review
• Government
• Freeview
• Top Up TV
• Virgin Media
• Sky (BSkyB)
• OFCOM digital switchover proposal
• Digital UK
• Radio and Telly in the UK
• TV Packages in the UK

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Public television broadcasting started in the United Kingdom in 1936, and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels^{[nb 1]} for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most viewing. There are 27,000 hours of domestic content produced a year at a cost of £2.6 billion.^{[nb 2]} Analogue terrestrial transmissions are currently being switched off and this is due to be completed in 2012.

Television providers[link]

Free and subscription providers are available, with differences in the number of channels, capabilities such as the programme guide (EPG), video on demand (VOD), high-definition (HD), interactive television via the red button, and coverage across the UK. Set-top boxes are generally used to receive these services; however Integrated Digital Televisions (IDTVs) can also be used to receive Freeview or Freesat. Top Up TV and BT Vision utilise hybrid boxes which receive Freeview as well as additional subscription services. Households viewing TV from the internet (YouTube, Joost, downloads etc.) are not tracked by Ofcom. The UK's five most watched channels, BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, are available from all providers.

Main providers[link]

Local and other providers[link]

The following are providers for local areas, or these that transmits TV via mobiles or the Internet.

UK households receiving pay vs free TV on their main TVs

	Type	Percentage	Households	Providers
	Free	50.4%	13,033,440	Freesat, Freesat from Sky, Freeview, analogue terrestrial TV
	Pay	49.6%	12,826,560	Sky TV, Smallworld Cable, TalkTalk TV, Top Up TV, Virgin Media, Wightcable

UK households by broadcast/reception system on their main TVs

	Type	Percentage	Households	Providers
	Terrestrial (free)	47.6%	12,300,000	Analogue terrestrial, Freeview
	Satellite (free/pay)	37.1%	9,600,000	Freesat, Freesat from Sky, Sky TV
	Cable (pay)	12.0%	3,100,000	Smallworld Cable, Virgin Media, Wightcable
	Others	3.3%	860,000	BT Vision, TalkTalk TV, Top Up TV

Bar graph showing number of households for each television provider platform on their main TVs, as of end of June 2009

Analogue terrestrial television[link]

Crystal Palace transmitter. Constructed in 1956, it is the main transmitter for London.

Digital switchover progress across the UK

  Switchover not yet started; area receives both analogue and digital transmissions

  Switchover in progress; analogue BBC Two transmissions ceased as a precursor to the full switchover

  Switchover complete; area receives digital transmissions and no analogue transmissions

VHF 405 Line Monochrome[link]

The first regular TV broadcasts started in 1936. Transmissions were originated by the BBC, using the Band I-VHF 405-line television system. In 1955, a second commercial service was created using the higher Band III VHF 405-line television system, administered by the Independent Television Authority. Both systems were superseded and finally closed in 1985.

UHF 625 Line Colour Service[link]

A decision was made to introduce a nationally co-ordinated network of transmitters using the UHF 625-line television system. The first station to appear on this system was BBC Two in 1964. From 1969, the two VHF services also started to use this network, which took many years to complete. One reason for the long switchover period was the difficulty in matching the coverage level of the new UHF 625 line service with the very high level of geographic coverage achieved with the 405-line VHF service. Whereas the VHF system had less than 200 transmitters at approximately 100 locations at closure, the UHF systen numbered more than 4500 transmitters at over 1100 sites.

Over the next 30 years, whilst the network of transmitters expanded, two additional commercial services were offered (Channel 4 and Channel Five).

This system is currently being phased out, from 2008 to 2012.

Since 1998, a small number of local channels have operated under Restricted service licences. These will also cease by 2012.

Analogue terrestrial transmissions are currently being switched off in phases as part of the Digital Switchover. The last region is due to be switched off on 24 October 2012 See Digital switchover dates in the United Kingdom for more information.

As of January 2009, BBC One, BBC Two, ITV and Channel 4 broadcast from a network of 1,134 transmitters. Channel Five broadcasts from 52 transmitters, and the Restricted Service Licence stations broadcast from 14 transmitters.^[20] See Category:Transmitter sites in the United Kingdom for information on some of these. The transmitters are operated by Arqiva.

NICAM-728[link]

Without affecting the definition of the "PAL-I" system, the UK also uses a digital stereo companding system on analogue terrestrial television called NICAM. Standing for Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex and used for digital stereo TV broadcasts to the public, it used the NICAM digital audio system used since the early 1970s for transmitting the audio carrier signal of a broadcast between two or more regional broadcasters and sometimes to the transmitters, where it was converted back to an analogue FM audio carrier almost 6 MHz above the video carrier signal.

Reception of the NICAM signal provided the user had a VCR or a TV capable of decoding the NICAM signal, which was broadcast on a carrier 6.552 MHz above the video carrier, and thus just 0.552 MHz above the FM mono audio carrier. The first UK NICAM stereo broadcast was made in May 1986 on BBC2, NICAM slowly being rolled out across the UK and across the broadcaster's programme schedules over the next 5 years, culminating in the official launch of NICAM on the BBC in 1991, ITV and Channel 4 having begun broadcasting NICAM in 1989 and 1990 respectively.

The service is sometimes referred to by its full, official, name, NICAM-728 - the 728 denoting the datarate (728kps) of the digital stereo information. Adaptive DPCM.

As of 2012, and the close of the analogue service, the NICAM digital stereo system will be obsolete. It has been superseded by digital stereo and surround-sound audio systems on digital TV platforms.

Digital terrestrial television[link]

Television aerials used for receiving analogue or digital terrestrial television. The term aerial is in common use rather than antenna.

Digital terrestrial television launched in 1998 as a subscription service named ONdigital. Since October 2002, the primary broadcaster is Freeview, with Top Up TV and ESPN (previously Setanta Sports before it went bust) providing additional subscription services.

Ofcom reports that, at the end of June 2009, there are

• 29,700,000 television sets equipped to view digital terrestrial in the UK (directly or via a set-top-box)
• 23,000,000 homes have main TVs equipped to view digital terrestrial
• 18,200,000 homes using digital terrestrial equipment
• 9,900,000 homes where digital terrestrial is the only form of digital television received^[1]

Cable television[link]

A pavement dug up revealing the cables underneath. The green box is a common sight in areas with cable coverage, as are manhole covers enscribed with CATV.

There are three providers of cable television, targeting different geographic areas within the UK. In all cases cable TV is a subscription service normally bundled with a phone line and broadband.

Smallworld Cable is available in south-west Scotland and north-west England. Pricing ranges from £10.50 (cost of phone line with 'free' TV) to £80 per month.^[21]

WightCable is available in the Isle of Wight.

Virgin Media is available to 55% of UK households.^[22] Pricing ranges from £11 a month (phone line with 'free' TV) to £30.50 a month,^[23] with additional fees for premium services such as Sky Sports. Virgin also market V+, a digital video recorder and high-definition receiver.

Virgin Media is the only cable provider to supply high-definition television and video on demand, although these aren't available in areas provided with their analogue TV service.

Existing Virgin Media customers can end their ongoing subscriptions, and opt for their set-top box to be configured to receive digital 'freeview' channels, giving them a freeview service via Virgin Media.

Satellite television[link]

Satellite dishes on a wall in Hackey, UK. The small oval dishes are for viewing Sky, and are known as Minidishes. The larger dishes are for viewing satellite services from outside the UK.

There are three distinctly marketed direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) services (also known as direct-to-home (DTH), to be distinguished from satellite signals intended for non-consumer reception).

Sky TV is a subscription service owned by British Sky Broadcasting. It is the dominant satellite provider with the largest number of channels compared to other providers. As of September 2011, subscription starts at £20 per month and rises to £52 per month. Installation is from £0 to £180 depending on the chosen set-top-box.^[24] Additional pay-per-view films, events and individual subscription channels are available. Sky TV markets Sky+ and Sky+HD, digital video recorders; the latter additionally provides high-definition television. Sky TV also provides video on demand branded as 'Sky Anytime'

Freesat from Sky, is a free satellite service owned by British Sky Broadcasting. Installation is priced at £75 or £150, which includes the receiver, dish, viewing card and access to all free-to-air and free-to-view channels in the UK.^[25] Existing Sky TV customers can also end their ongoing subscriptions, and opt for the Free-To-View viewing card, giving them the Freesat from Sky service. Freesat from Sky does not provide high-definition television or video on demand.

Freesat is a free satellite service created jointly by the BBC and ITV. In contrast to Freesat from Sky, it does not need a viewing card. It is the UK's first provider of high definition television without a subscription; one HD channel was available at launch.^[26] Freesat now provides five HD channels, BBC One HD, BBC HD, ITV1 HD, Channel 4 HD and NHK World HD. Freesat currently provides the BBC iPlayer in terms of video on demand, which has been rolled out to all compatible HD receivers, and ITV Player is currently testing, available only to Humax boxes at the present time. In order to access on-demand services, you must have a broadband connection of at least 1 Mbit/s, and an ethernet connection is required (using either a cable or Homeplug adaptors). Freesat does not give access to certain free-to-view channels which use BSkyB's encryption, including 5* and 5USA. These, however, are expected to be available on freesat by the end of 2011, due to a new narrow-beam satellite launching.

¼ scale mockup of the Eutelsat 28A satellite, a Spacebus 3000B2 manufactured by Alcatel Space

Freesat, Freesat from Sky and Sky TV transmit from SES Astra satellites at 28.2° east (Astra 2A/2B/2D) and Eutelsat's Eutelsat 28A satellite at 28.5° East. As the satellites are in geostationary orbit, they are positioned above the earth's equator(0°00′N 28°12′E / 0°N 28.2°E / 0; 28.2 (Satellites transmitting Sky TV, Freesat and Freesat from Sky to the UK and Ireland)) approximately 35,786 km above mean sea level; this places them above the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

IP television (IPTV)[link]

IPTV services from BT Vision and TalkTalk TV are distributed as data via copper telephone lines

In contrast to Internet TV, IPTV refers to services operated and controlled by a single company, who may also control the 'Final Mile' to the consumers' premises. BT Vision, Freewire and TalkTalk TV are the UK's three providers of IPTV services.

BT Vision and TalkTalk TV offer a range of broadcast channels as well as additional on demand content. BT Vision also offers high-definition programmes for download and playback (near on-demand),

Freewire offers free and subscription channels to students at 40 universities. It is received on PCs and distributed via the academic computer network, JANET.^[8][27][28]

Mobile television[link]

Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone provide mobile television services for reception on third generation mobile phones. They consist of a mixture of regular channels (marketed as 'live TV') as well as made for mobile channels with looped content.

Orange provide 9 packages of TV channels, starting from £5/month.^[29]

T-Mobile provide 4 packages of TV channels, marketed as T-Mobile TV or Sky Mobile TV. The cheapest package is £3.50/month.^[30]

Vodafone provides 5 packages of TV channels collectively marketed as Sky Mobile TV, with the cheapest package at £3/month.^[31]

Sky Mobile TV News and Sports is now available on the Apple iPhone on O2 and Orange. This service can be accessed over Wi-Fi and 3G networks. The service costs £6/Month and carries Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and Xtra, Sky Sports News, Sky News, At the Races and ESPN UK.

Internet television[link]

Television received via the Internet may be free, subscription or pay-per-view, and use a variety of distribution methods (e.g. multicast/unicast/peer-to-peer, streamed/downloaded). Playback is normally via a computer and broadband Internet connection, although digital media receivers, media centre computers or video game consoles can be used for playback on televisions, such as the Netgear Digital Entertainer, a computer equipped with Windows Media Center, or a PlayStation 3.

Sky Player is available on the xbox 360 providing both live and on demand catchup services.

Ofcom does not regulate Internet television, nor consider the use of Internet television in its quarterly reports of digital TV penetration.

Catch-up services[link]

Since 2006, UK channel owners and content producers have been creating Internet services to access their programmes. These services generally block users outside of the UK. TVCatchup is the only service not owned by a current UK broadcaster.

Other services[link]

Other Internet TV services may consist of

• Live TV streaming, in which a channel is shown as broadcast
• On-demand video clips
• Archive TV older than the catch-up period, which may be available free or for a fee

In July 2009, comScore released research on the number of online video views in the UK during April 2009, showing the Google-owned YouTube as the dominant source.^[35]

Online videos viewed, April 2009

Site / owner (top 10)	Views
Google Sites	2,415,292,000
BBC Sites	79,416,000
ITV Sites	34,723,000
Megavideo.com	31,743,000
Microsoft Sites	30,205,000
Channel4	20,434,000
Dailymotion	20,155,000
AOL	19,135,000
Fox Interactive Media	18,919,000
Facebook	17,028,000

Forthcoming providers[link]

In December 2007, Telefónica O2 (branded O₂) announced the roll out of IPTV services in 2008.^[36]

In May 2007, Smallworld Cable stated their intention to roll out an IPTV solution across their unbundled network in early to mid 2008.^[37]

In February 2007, Virgin Media announced a hybrid IPTV and digital terrestrial service to target the half of the country unable to receive their cable TV services. In November, they stated it will be at least 2009 before launch.^[38][39]

Channels and channel owners[link]

Viewing statistics[link]

Most viewed channels[link]

The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) measures television ratings in the UK. The following table shows viewing shares from 1992 to 2009 of channels which have once had, or still have, a viewing share of ≥ 1.0%. The figures for 2010 only account for the weeks up until 14 November.^[40]

As of 2009, 15 channels have a viewing share of ≥ 1.0% together accounting for 67.4% of total viewing share. (4 additional channels had a viewing share ≥ 1.0% in 1992 but have since fallen below this). Of the 15 channels, 7 of these collectively had a viewing share of 79.3% in 1992, the largest of which was ITV with a share of 30.5%. As the number of channels rose and with the launch of digital television, the collective share of these channels had declined to 67.8% in 2002, and has remained at about that level ever since. ITV viewing share fell below BBC One in 2002; whist ITV viewing share declined, BBC One has remained stable at about 20% since 2001. Of these 15 channels, 4 are funded by the license fee; 2 are subscription; 7 of these channels launched after 1999. Comparing 1992 to 2009, only Channel4/S4C has seen an overall increase in viewing share.

Charts showing viewing share of channels with a viewing share of ≥ 1.0% from 1992 to 2009

Area chart showing aggregated viewing share

Line chart showing individual channel viewing share