Astra 2D Website for Sky Digital - Sky+ - Freesat - Freeview

British TV & Radio

The Astra 2D satellite positioned at 28.2° east, has a footprint focused tightly on the British Isles, making reception difficult in large areas of mainland Europe. The Astra 2D Website was set up to help those living outside the Astra 2D footprint, by providing news, information and advice on reception of the Astra 2D services and of British TV and radio abroad. The Astra 2d Reports pages, contain reception reports from many countries, so don't dispair, Astra 2D is being received from the Canaries in the west, to Cyprus in the east!
Most of the BBC's television services, ITV's channels along with Channel 4, Channel 4 +1, E4, E4+1, More4, More4+1, Film4 and Film+1, Five broadcast unencrypted and are Free To Air (FTA).

You do not require a Sky Digital recreiver or a subscription to view these channels, any digital satellite receiver can be used.
Channel 4 HD, Fiver, Fiver+1, Five US and Five US+1 are currently encrypted. These channels are not on Astra 2D.

Irish TV and radio also broadcast from the Astra 2D satellite, RTÉ One, RTÉ Two, TV3 and TG4, along with Irish radio channels are available. You will need a card from the Republic of Ireland, or a Sky card with a Northern Irish Post Code to see Irish TV channels (TV3 not available)! All the radio stations are Free-To-Air (FTA).

The Astra 2D Forum

The Astra 2D Website also has its own Forum, here you can discuss everything related to British TV and radio. There are also country specific boards, making it easier to find information, or obtain advice and real local knowledge and advice.
Please register, or even become a Moderator of a particular board.
Click HERE, to go directly to the Astra 2D Forum.

Information about Sky Digital

With over 7 million subscribers, Sky is the UK’s most popular digital satellite entertainment service provider.
Using advanced satellite technology, they deliver access to more than 200 channels of programming to homes and businesses that have digital satellite equipment supplied by Sky; this equipment includes a small satellite dish (minidish), a Sky box (a digital satellite receiver) and a remote control.
Information on Sky Digital, Sky+, a Sky Digital FAQ, Sky remote codes and Sky's EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) explained.
Sky HD launched on 22 May 2006 in the UK and the Republic of Ireland to enable high definition channels on Sky Digital to be viewed.
Sky has been the only British datellite platform for many tears, with the arrival of Freesat, Sky has real competion in the satellite market. Sky will of course continue to be the first choice for those wanting the best sports coverage and the latest films.

Official Website: www.sky.com

Freesat from the BBC & ITV

Freesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television platform developed by the BBC and ITV plc. The service launched on May 6th 2008 and offerers an alternative to Sky Digital.

Freesat was formed in May 2007 as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV, and includes many of the same people behind Freeview.
Freesat is funded 50/50 by ITV and the BBC, and is run on a not-for-profit basis.
Freesat was set up to ensure that all UK households have the opportunity to access digital TV and Radio, subscription-free.
The Public Service platform will include High Definition programmes - without having to pay a monthly subscription.
Currently only BBC HD and ITV's ITV HD red button service are available on Fresat, Channel 4 HD has no current plans to join the service.
Many BBC One and ITV1 regions are currently unavailable through Freesat's EPG, though they can be accessed through the Manual Tune option on some receivers.
All missing regions along with some +1 catch up channels will be available towards the end of July 2008.

Freesat broadcasts from the same fleet of satellites as Sky Digital, Astra 2A, Astra 2B, Asytra 2C, Astra 2D and Eurobird 1. Channels are broadcast using DVB-S. The Freesat programme guide will be broadcast from the Eurobird 1 satellite situated at 28.5° east.

Official Website: www.freesat.co.uk

Freesat News Blog: www.joinfreesat.co.uk

Freeview

Freeview is a British free-to-air digital television service broadcast from terrestrial transmitters using the DVB-T standard. Launched on October 30, 2002 at 6am, it took over the DTT licence to broadcast on four multiplexes, three of them from the defunct ITV Digital (originally called ONdigital).
Unlike ITV Digital and the cable and satellite digital TV services, it offers no premium or pay-per-view channels, and no subscription channels.
A set-top box costing around £30 to £100 or a new television with an integrated digital tuner is needed to receive the Freeview service.

The Freeview consortium's founding members were the BBC, National Grid Wireless and British Sky Broadcasting. They were joined by ITV plc and Channel 4 on 11 October 2005. The service broadcasts free-to-air television channels, radio stations and interactive services from the BBC, Sky, and various other broadcasters.
Some High Definition (HD) services are expected to be available on Freeview in the future using MPEG4 and DVB-T2.

Official Website: www.freeview.co.uk

HDforAll - The campaign for HDTV on Freeview

The HDforAll campaign aims to ensure that ‘free to air’, High Definition (HD) television, at least from the BBC, ITV1, Channel 4 and Five, is available on digital terrestrial (Freeview). The campaign was launched in response to Ofcom’s proposals to auction the only spectrum available for this purpose. HdforAll is supported by manufacturers and retailers of HD televisions including ALBA, DSGI, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba and the public service broadcasters (BBC, ITV, Channel 4 & Five).

Sign the petition at: HDforAll.

British Radio

The British Radio section at the Astra 2D Website. Under this section you will find pages covering the history of radio in the British Isles, BBC radio, commercial radio, UK DAB radio, Freevieiw digital radio, digital satellite radio and information and links on Internet radio services.
Radio listening remains a popular medium and listeners in the UK and beyond have a wide choice of stations genres to choose from.
The BBC today runs ten national domestic radio stations, five of which are only available in a digital format: via DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting – i.e. Digital Radio), the Internet or the different forms of Digital Television in the UK.
There are over 270 independent local radio (ILR) analogue services and 46 local digital multiplexes carrying over 200 radio services.

The BBC also runs regional radio stations throughout the UK, for example BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Devon. These stations focus on regional issues to a greater extent than their national counterparts.

DAB stands for Digital Audio Broadcasting and is a method for the digital transmission of radio signals. DAB is the transmission technology of the future and will replace FM radio in the medium to long term.
The DAB method was developed in Europe within the framework of EUREKA project 147 and is currently being introduced in a large number of countries. The country with the widest availability of DAB is the UK. About 85% of UK households can receive DAB, and the number of DAB radio stations is now more than 400. A recent survey shows that more than a third of the UK population knows about DAB technology.

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