Freeviewers! Press the red button to miss out on the Olympics

I’m not sure that the BBC are obliged to provide interactive red button services on Freeview.
After all, surely the name “Free View” implies that it’s free to view channels which have been made available to the service, not “Free to use all channels and interactive services”.

People that have Cable, FreeSat or Sky, are either paying for those services on a subscription basis, or have paid for the box to provide the service.
FreeView is generally free in terms of hardware for most people now, as it’s built into pretty much every TV set, just like an old analogue tuner used to be.

I don’t think that the service from FreeView can be expected to match other services which are paid for. If that were the case, I’ll have Sky Movies for free please!

That bloody red button. I get fed up of it hovering in the corner of the screen and there’s rarely anything worthwhile behind it (the Olympics may have been an exception).

Just push the green button to get rid of it but I wish the BBC would dump it for good.

People who are getting the 24 additional channels are paying a premium (i.e. a subscription) for the right to have those extra channels. I think the BBC’s coverage across all platforms has been very good.

If you have a strong enough Internet connection then you can stream it all online anyway.

@TheEnergyBadger

Sarah to answer your original question – What do you think? Is the red button delivering a gold service for you or has it failed to make it through the heats?

The answer is clearly that the red button process has failed to deliver but the BBC has made a choice about HD v SD and chosen quality over quantity for two channels based on limited bandwith. Those viewers who can not see the difference between a High Definition broadcast and a Standard Definition one will feel agrieved at the loss of some SD channels. Those that want as many HD broadcasts as possible will be satisfied to a limited extent by the compromise that had to be made and not just by the BBC.

John – You should definitely easily see a difference between a SD or a HD transmission particularly on a Plasma, LCD or LED screen. More difficult to perceive a difference on a CRT television surprisingly! Anything that moves should be particularly better in HD, racing, football etc. You must be using a HDMI, DVI or component cable to achieve the necessary quality.

Interesting comments made. Unfortunately we are left with no option despite being the first area to go digital ( Whitehaven) we find that because we receive signals from a relay station we have a limited freeview and digital radio selection so are left with no choice but to subscribe to satellite broadcasters. As a result we pay full license fee for less than half the channels available elsewhere in the country!

FROM WHICH!
Freeview and Freesat set-top boxes: Freeview and Freesat digital TV Free digital TV

Freeview and Freesat services have no TV subscription fees

Types of digital TV service

You have two options when it comes to choosing a digital TV service.

Free services from Freeview and Freesat allow you to have a digital TV service without signing up to a contract or paying a monthly fee. If you just want a basic TV service and aren’t interested in premium channels such as Sky Sports and Movies, a Freeview or Freesat digital TV service may be ideal.

If you’re after a wider range of channels, you’ll need a subscription TV service from Sky, Virgin or BT. These TV services have a monthly fee, but allow you to access premium channels. For more information on costs and packages available see our guide to cable TV, satellite TV and digital TV packages.

For more help on working out which type of digital TV service would be best for you see the Which? guide to free TV and pay TV services.

Freeview vs Freesat

Freeview includes a basic line-up of around 50 digital TV channels from BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, Sky and Virgin. It’s by far the cheapest digital TV service, with Freeview set-top boxes starting from around £20.

Freesat offers more channels, with around 70 available. This doesn’t necessarily mean you get a better line-up – channels including Dave and Sky News are available on Freeview, but not on Freesat. You’ll need a satellite dish if you don’t already have one, which will add around £80 to your start-up costs.

Freesat from Sky is an alternative free digital satellite TV service. With more than 200 channels, it offers the most TV, but, like Freesat, it doesn’t include all the Freeview channels. You can’t get HD services with Freesat from Sky and there’s no choice of set-top box, so you can’t get a PVR to record programmes.

Freeview and Freesat TV equipment

Lots of manufacturers make Freeview and Freesat equipment, so there’s a wide variety to choose from depending on what you’re looking for.

If you don’t need a new TV, the simplest option is to get a freeview or freesat set-top box. Prices start from around £20 for the more basic models.

More advanced set-top boxes allow you to record, replay and even pause live TV. These boxes are referred to as personal video recorders or PVRs. You pay more for the added benefits of a PVR, but this could well be worth it if you want to record programmes to watch later.

You can also get TVs with Freeview or Freesat built in.

See the Which? LCD and plasma TV reviews for test results on the latest models.

Get 50 regular and four HD channels through your aerial

HD TV from Freeview and Freesat

Freesat was originally the only free TV service to broadcast live content in high definition (HD), but Freeview HD is now available to around half of the UK population. You’ll need to make sure you have an HD-ready TV and the right HD equipment, though.

Freesat HD equipment A number of Freesat HD set-top boxes are available, with costs starting from around £60 for the cheapest HD box. HD PVRs start from around £200, so you can also record programmes in high definition.

Freeview HD equipment Humax launched the first Freeview HD set-top box in February 2010, but there are now many other models on the market. TVs with integrated Freeview HD are now also available from all of the main TV manufacturers, including LG, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba.

Existing HD TVs with Freeview (not Freeview HD) built in will not be compatible with programmes broadcast in high definition, because a new compression format is being used to fit the HD broadcasts on to the service.

wavechange – I was unable to post the link, presumably because it is against the rules to do so on this site!

Hmmm. I have Virgin because local terrestrial reception was and is poor – My problem is that directly BBC broadcast the 24 additional Olympic channels which I don’t watch anyway – The program information available for most other channels – especially the radio which I listen to happily – have been seriously curtailed – It is now so bad I will be changing my subscription unless it improves after the Olympics which thankfully ends soon. All I need to find is an alternate free or cheap method of receiving Animal Planet and Crime and Investigation – Any Ideas?

I’ve had more trouble with them moving things from the channel they have said they were going to put it on than not enough things under the red button. The tennis was supposed to be on BBC3 so they said on Sunday mornings breakfast programme. Then I discovered it was going to be on BBC HD which was great until I missed the start as I was waiting for the sailing to go off on BBC HD and when it did not I channel hopped and then it was found on BBC 1. The TV book which was printed over a week before said it was going to be on BBC 1 but I thought the presenters on the breakfast programme must have a better knowledge, as it was on the actual day. They keep saying there is no need to miss the action but some people don’t have the internet even now, and if you had set it to record and gone out on Sunday afternoon, you would have come home to sailing and not tennis. Also the BBC app for smart TVs has not been working for tennis but not sure about other sports. It has worked for live broadcasts, but the catch up section just says not available so as there has been so little tennis on normal TV channels the catch up service should have been working. I have been told by the BBC that the coverage will be on line until Jan so at least that gives us all time to watch what we have missed, but I’m not sure how useful that will be as with sport it is not so exciting when you already know the result.

Mr Farrell
If you don’t see the difference between shopping for a solid 3D object and having to shop for a
service for basic needs, the purveyors of which constantly change the goalposts, you’re not very
bright,are you? My condolences.

We agree completely. Freeview has failed miserably. Thank goodness we had Sky which has been exemplary. The BBC have been somewhat deceitful in not making it clear that ALL channels available could not be received through Freeview which has in consequence been very much the poor relation.

FROM BBC INTERNET BLOG:-

As an aside, isn’t it sad that terrestrial digital TV – Freeview – is such a compromised system with grotty pictures and its limited capacity taken up with trash TV. What a missed opportunity

It’s a shame to see Freeview getting virtually no mention in your post. Clearly the platform isn’t capable of supporting the same sort of experience as Freesat and Sky – with that in mind, I’d be really interested to hear what your future plans for Freeview are. Are you hoping for improvements to the platform, so future Freeview TVs could support the same sort of experience as Freesat, or are Freeview viewers likely to be stuck with the same sort of experience for the forseeable future?

Regardless of what type of medium I use to access BBC, as a TV license payer I should have the right to view all that BBC covers. I feel let down and very disappointed.