Notes:
The Satellite channels shown in this list are those available with an English "Free to View" card. Scottish, Welsh or Northern Ireland "Free to View" cards may not give exactly the same channels.
The channels are now listed in the order that they appear on the Sky EPG
1 = This channel is available for free on Digital Terestrial, but requires a subscription to a Sky Digital package to receive it via satellite.
2 = This channel has not yet started, therefore in some cases the name is not known, and it is not yet known if it will or will not be available via digital satellite.
3 = On terestrial, available only in Wales. On satellite available free to air everywhere.
4 = Community channel is only on air for a few hours in the morning on terestrial. It is on for much longer hours on Satellite
5 = These channels are completely free on digital terestrial. On digital satellite they require a "free to view" viewing card which used to be available to all UK residents free of charge on request. Because of a change to the encryption system used by Sky in mid 2003, the older "free to View" cards ceased to work towards the end of 2003. To continue receiving ITV, CH5 and five, you will need a new version of the "free to View" or "Solus" card, abtained from the website
free2view.tv However, there is now a one of charge of about £23 for a new or replacement Solus card
6 = The BBC channels used to be encrypted but became Free to Air in July 2003. As a result of this, all the regional and national variations of BBC1 and BBC2 are now available on digital satellite.
There are many other free channels on digital satellite not listed here, such as regional variations of ITV BBC1 and BBC2, some foreign language channels, and some game , chat and dating channels.
Interactive and text services are not listed here. Usually digital satellite has more interactive content than the same channel on digital terestrial, due to higher bandwidth available.
This list is compiled by me as a guide and help for anyone interested in digital television. I cannot guarantee it's accuracy and accept no liability for errors or ommissions. Please email updates to digitaltv@how.to
Some channels time share. e.g. CBBC and CBeebies time share with BBC3 and BBC4, and FTN timeshares with UK Bright idea's. So the number of digital stations broadcasting at any one time is less than this list would sugest. A carefull marketing ploy (con?) to make you think you will get more channels than you actually do.
As you can see some channels are only free on terestrial, and some channels are only free on satellite. To get the maximum number of free channels you need both platforms, which will give you about 50 free digital television channels, plus the shopping channels, plus the radio stations.
If you really want the maximum number of free television channels possible, then you should get yourself an old analogue satellite receiver,as you can get the following extra channels for free on analogue satellite: Eurosport, CNBC, Bloomberg and BBC World.
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