Freesat News

The latest news on developments to the Freesat program...

We aim to bring you the most up to date freesat news available. To do this we keep an eye on the technology news and press releases from both manufacturers and service providers. Our news is updated as it comes in so check back regularly.

ITV See a drop in Profits - What does this mean for Freesat?

07/03/09

ITV have announced that they have seen a 41% drop in profits for the year ending 2008. ITV have been seen to be struggling for some time now and with an expected 600 job cuts and a cut in the budget it poses a question as to the future plans for Freesat.

ITV currently co-own Freesat with the BBC and whilst funds have already been allocated to the project we wonder how far the budget will stretch for investment. ITV have other projects currently running and due to the 'not for profit' status that Freesat has, it makes us dubious of their intentions.

ITV have recently been seeing sound issues with their HD broadcasting and still only manage 5-10 hours a week in HD transmissions.

We will update this news article if we see any further developments.

Play.com to lower the cost of the Humax HDR PVR

27/02/2009

Play.com have just announced that they are to reduce the cost of the already excellent selling Humax HDR PVR. When released this box sold out almost instantly being the first freesat box with a built in hard drive.

Play.com are looking to sell this particular box at £249.99 delivered from the end of the month. As soon as this offer is available it will be updated in our humax freesat pvr page.

Demand is still very high for the Humax HDR PVR so its fantastic news that play.com have chosen to lead the market with this all time low price!

For the latest Humax PVR Prices, click here for more info...

BBC Project Canvas Proposal - an online catchup service

26/03/2009

The BBC has launched a public consultation on Project Canvas. Project Canvas is a proposal for an online catch up service. The idea is that viewers will be able to watch on demand content from the BBC, ITV and more directly through the TV.

The service is expected in 2010 through both freesat and freeview platforms. It is believed that new interface equipment will be required for this service and it will cost in the region of £100-200.

iPlayer is due to rollout to current freesat viewers in the Autumn although a new receiver will be required to run the full project canvas set-up.

Project canvas is due to not only make on demand available through your TV but to also incorporate content from youtube and many other digital media units.

On-demand programming, particularly catch-up TV services such as BBC iPlayer, has proven to be massively popular on TV services such as Virgin Media’s cable network, which could be part of the reason for such interest in combining television and Internet services.

We will update the views on project canvas as they become available.