Freeview Digital Service Will Launch This Month
The BBC has announced that its new digital terrestrial TV platform, Freeview, will launch on 30 October with an extra four new television channels and five new radio stations.
In addition to the 28 channels already confirmed (see BBC And BSkyB Name Free-To-Air DTT Service), the platform, which replaces the now defunct ITV Digital, will feature two new music channels and two new general entertainment channels. The music channels come in the form of Emap’s The Hits and MTV’s The Music Factory (see MTV To Launch The Music Factory On New DTT Platform), whilst the entertainment channels are UKTV’s UK HomeStyle and Flextech’s FTN (Flextech Television Network).
As well as the new TV channels, commercial radio services Kerrang!, Smash Hits, Kiss, oneword and Jazz FM have been added to the existing BBC digital radio networks due to be carried on the platform.
Commenting on the launch, the BBC’s director of marketing and communications, Andy Duncan, said: “Freeview is a fresh start for digital terrestrial television – providing a simple way for people way to see all eight of the BBC’s digital television channels, including the soon to launch BBC3, and to listen to BBC digital radio stations.”
BSkyB’s chief operating officer, Richard Freudenstein, added: “Freeview is a distinctive addition to Europe’s most advanced digital television market. Sky looks forward to bringing three of our basic-tier channels to digital terrestrial television for the first time and extending the benefits of increased choice to still more UK viewers.”
The launch of the platform, which is a joint venture between the BBC, BSkyB and Crown Castle (see Free To Air Application Wins DTT Battle), follows significant improvements to the quality of the digital terrestrial signal, the poor reliability of which caused significant problems for ITV Digital.
Changes include the doubling of power at many transmitters and altering the transmission mode of the digital terrestrial signal to increase the number of households able to receive it.
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk BSkyB: 020 7705 3000 www.sky.com
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