New television service offers free 80-channel HDTV

Published on Tuesday 6 May 2008 22:06

A DIGITAL satellite television service from ITV and the BBC launched across Britain yesterday, offering high-definition (HD) programming and more than 80 channels for no monthly fee.

The service, called Freesat, will be available in 98 per cent of households, as Britain continues the process of switching off the analogue signal in favour of digital.

The broadcasters also hope the addition of HD channels on a free-to-air service will increase interest in HD programming.

The transition to HDTV has been called a landmark for the industry. It had only been available to those with pay-per-view satellite or cable packages from BSkyB and Virgin Media. The hugely popular Freeview digital service plans to carry HD channels from 2009 or 2010.

Set-top HD box prices will start from 120, plus installation costs. The channels initially available will be from the BBC, including BBC HD, ITV, Channel 4, Al-Jazeera English and digital radio.

The ITV HD channel will launch exclusively on Freesat shortly.