Freesat from Sky is a British satellite television service from BSkyB. It offers over 240 free-to-air (FTA) channels in its EPG [1] (Compared to 150+ from Freesat and 50+ Freeview the main other free-to air services in the UK).[2] It also has Sky Active interactive data service.
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As of April 2011[update], the number of households with free-to-view satellite television is estimated by Ofcom to be 2.045 million, or 8.0% of households with television.[3] (This figure includes households with BBC/ITV Freesat, Freesat from Sky, and 'churned' Sky subscribers who kept their Sky Digiboxes to access free-to-view channels.) An estimated 2 million of these are Freesat with recently celebrated selling 2 million set top boxes and integrated TVs since the company launched three years ago thus an estimated reach of 450,000.[4]
This service requires use of the proprietary standard Sky Digibox HD set-top box, to receive the FTA channels. The Sky's boxes uses proprietary OpenTV EPG for interactive television services. The boxes are limited in some regards when compared to other satellite receivers, such as digital audio, video outputs, the lack of ability to use a dish motor and scanning for channels not carried on the EPG. They also feature an EPG that contains all of the Sky channels, including pay-TV services which are not available to non-subscription viewers. As of October 2010[update], Sky only include a Sky Digibox with Freesat from Sky installations. Those who wish to have either a Sky+ or Sky+ HD must buy their own box, requiring Sky to 'pair' their existing viewing card to the box. The recording facilities of the PVRs also require an ongoing monthly fee.
Freesat from Sky differentiates itself from Freesat not just by its use of Sky equipment but by offering channels both free-to-air and free-to-view channels. A card is included with installation or can be purchased direct from Sky. For security reasons the viewing cards are inactivated from time to time and disable the user to receive the encrypted free-to-view channels. This requires the user to will have to purchase a new viewing card at the current standard charge. Viewing cards which were used to access subscription services, automatically revert to acting as Freesat from Sky viewing cards upon cancellation of the subscription. The viewing card also ensures the correct region for regionalised services for channel like the BBC, ITV and Channel 5.
The following is a list of free-to-view channels on the Freesat from Sky platform. A viewing card is required to watch them. None of these channels are available on Freesat.
A Sky+ HD or Sky HD box is required to view the channel(s).
In March 2010, several ITV1 regions moved from free-to-air to free-to-view due to one of their narrow beam transponder agreements ending. During June 2010, Central and Meridian versions of ITV1 HD were launched under free-to-view encryption.
Freesat from Sky is a competitor to the BBC and ITV's Freesat service which also broadcasts from 28.2°E and 28.5°E and the DTT service Freeview. Freesat from Sky has eight free-to-view of the main channels which are not available on Freesat (see above) and a large number of free-to-air channels are not directly listed in the Freesat EPG and need manual tuning to receive them, including Sky News. It is also possible for Sky Box Office events to be ordered via Freesat from Sky. The process is more complex than it would be if the customer subscribes to Sky. To order events, the customer would have to phone Sky providing credit/debit card details in order to gain access to an event.
Freesat from Sky has over 240 free-to-air channels on its EPG, (which do not require either a viewing card or a Sky receiver to watch). Include Euronews, Bloomberg Television, Al Jazeera English, Travel Channel. Compared to over 150 free-to-air channels on Freesat EPG, .[5] with the remaining free-to-air channel not available through the main EPG and needing manual tuning by the user. Freeview digital terrestrial television has to over 50 free-to-air channels service [6] and cannot be manually tuned into the free-to-air channel available. Freesat from Sky also pretunes the boxes to the correct regional services of broastcasters who offer regional services such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 5.[7] Which on Freesat requires the user manually enter their postcode during set-up for these correct regional services.
Conversely, there are some TV channels that are on Freeview but are not on the Sky EPG at all. The channels in question are The Big Deal, Channel M (Manchester),(Channel M was removed from Sky on 1 September 2010).Blue Kiss TV (Blue Kiss TV was removed from Sky on 12 October 2011 but continues on Freeview).Top Up TV Anytime downloads.
Many adult-category channels on Freeview (such as the SmileTV channels) are simulcast on adult-category channels on Sky, but frequently have different channel names and broadcast times.
Other Freeview channels can be received on satellite, but may be subscription-only on some or all satellite locations, and therefore cannot be received via Freesat from Sky. Namely, these are Challenge, 4Music, Yesterday, Dave, Dave ja vu, Really, and Quest.
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