Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc[2] and now owned by Everyone TV (itself owned by all of the four UK public service broadcasters, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5).

Freesat offers a satellite alternative to the Freeview service on digital terrestrial television, with a broadly similar selection of channels available without subscription for users purchasing a receiver.

[5] In July 2021, Digital UK acquired Freesat from its two shareholders, the BBC and ITV and the merger was completed.

To provide more widespread coverage and a larger number of channels, a digital satellite alternative was felt necessary.

[8] This move allowed the BBC to stop encrypting its broadcasts while continuing to meet its rights obligations.

[27] On 14 February 2013, RT HD was added to Freesat, sharing its channel number with its standard definition simulcast.

On 13 June 2013, an HD stream of the BBC Red Button was temporarily made available on the EPG.

Some channels (notably BBC One and ITV) are transmitted in regional variations and the appropriate services are selected by the Freesat receiver from the user's postcode.

As a result, a few Freesat viewers (who cannot receive free-to-view, encrypted content) were moved to regional variations not corresponding to their actual location.

[37] On 30 November 2020, Court TV joined the Freesat EPG as channel 177, 12 weeks after first launching on satellite for the UK.

[38] On 17 September 2020, Sky Arts Launched on Freesat channel 147 as a result of the channel itself going free-to-air, offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music (such as opera performances and classical and jazz sessions).

On 16 December 2020, Amazon Prime Video joined the range of apps available on Freesat 4K boxes.

ITVX is available for Humax increased to a 30-day catch-up service from the original 7-day service but with a larger ITV ident/logo in the top left of the screen, Manhattan, and some Sagemcom devices,[43] however it is not available on 2nd Generation Humax devices to viewers using DG and TD postcodes.

[44] In 2010, Freesat also indicated an intent to launch a receiver featuring the YouView service (then called 'Project Canvas') and said that the video on-demand services 4oD (now All 4) and Demand 5 were under consideration[45] On 28 July 2011, the BBC Trust approved proposals to introduce the listing of pay content delivered on-demand via broadband.

[46] The trust will allow the BBC to continue to play a part in Freesat as the plans did not represent a significant change to the approval previously given in 2007.

Some content will also be made available through existing channels using an on-screen prompt that would take viewers to an on-demand environment.

Pay-TV sales would be handled by a third party, with Freesat operating the conditional access system that would underpin it.

On 29 November 2011, a beta trial for the subscription-based on demand movie service BoxOffice365 was added to the Freesat EPG.

HTML versions of BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub will also launch,[49] both services use MHEG-5 on first generation devices.

[52] In December 2015, Freesat announced the availability of an application for the Netflix subscription TV streaming service on the Humax HDR-1000S, HDR-1010S, HDR-1100S and HB-1000S Freetime receivers.

The online live streaming and catch-up service operated by STV shows ITV programmes and content from its own archive.

[65] Following the initial launch, Panasonic introduced three plasma televisions with integrated HD Freesat receivers.

Provided that the LNB has sufficient outputs, a single dish may be used to receive multiple services (i.e. Sky and Freesat).

[clarification needed] On 23 October 2008, several Irish retail chains, including Maplin, Tesco Ireland and PowerCity began offering modified Freesat systems from Grundig and Alba[67] that had their Freesat branding replaced with a Sat4free brand name.

[69] In Ireland there is now an alternate FTA satellite service, Saorsat which only carries the RTE channels.

This is to allow on-demand programming from services such as BBC iPlayer or ITV Hub to be viewed directly on the customer's television.

[72] Open standards and technologies form the basis of Freesat's second-generation Freetime receivers, including those from the Open IPTV Forum (OIPF), the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) project and HTML5 browser technology,[73] with the majority of the Freetime user interface built using the latter.

[74] The Freetime spec also includes features such as: DiSEqC 1.2 support; MoCA (Multimedia over Coax Alliance) support including single cable routing; HTML, JavaScript and CSS internet technologies for broadband-delivered interactive services; DRM for online content; and payment mechanisms for broadband services like LoveFilm.

James Strickland, Freesat's director of product and technology development, explained that Freetime is a hybrid between HbbTV and MHEG-5.

[76] In May 2017, Freesat announced that 904,000 devices capable of receiving the platform were sold in 2016, with the installed base increasing 58,000-year-on-year and passing 2 million during the course of the year.