| Domestic British TV & Radio Overseas |
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.
Most of the transponders are used to provide television services available on the Sky and Freesat platforms to the British Isles.
Although the satellite's footprint is tightly focused on the United Kingdom and Ireland, surrounding countries have the ability to pick the signal up (dependent on suitably sized satellite dishes).
The BBC broadcasts all of its domestic television channels, including BBC One HD from the Astra 2D satellite, the only exceptions being the BBC News Channel BBC Alba and BBC Parliament which broadcast from Astra 2A. All domestic BBC channels have been Free to Air since 29 July 2003.
ITV also broadcasts all its television channels (including regional variations of ITV1, as well as STV and UTV) from the Astra 2D satellite.
All ITV channels have been free-to-air as of November 1 2005, although some regions reverted to Free-To-View encryption in 2008 when their lease on one 2D transponder could not be renewed. ITV1 HD and STV HD broadcast from Astra 2D. ITV2 HD, ITV3 HD and ITV4 HD are all currently encrypted and only available on sky.
Channel 4s channels are free-to-air (except for 4Music) and use Astra 2D, these include Channel 4, Channel 4+1, E4, More4 and Film4 along with their timeshift variants. Channel 4 HD is free-to-air, it currently broadcasts on Eurobird 1, which has a wide footprint over most of Europe.
Channe l5 transmits a free-to-air version of its main channel, on Astra 2D, they use borrowed space on one of the BBC transponders, allowing them to be on the Freesat platform.
Channel 5 continue to broadcast other free-to-view encrypted versions of their main channel (Sky receiver and card required) and additional spin-offs Channel 5 HD, 5* and 5USA, which currently remain unavailable on Freesat due to lack of capacity on the Astra 2D satellite. 5* and 5USA are expected to be available on Freesat in 2011, once Astra 1N becomes operational Autumn 2011. |
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| BBC TV & Radio |
All domestic BBC TV and Radio services are Free To Air (FTA), they are not encrypted, this means they can be received on any digital satellite receiver within the reception area of the satellite. No subscription, or viewing card is required.
However, due to copyright issues, the BBC broadcasts most services on the Astra 2D satellite. In contrast to the other three co-positioned satellites at 28.2° east, Astra 2D has a tight spot beam (Footprint) centered on the British Isles.
Most of Europe is outside the Astra 2D footprint, confirmed reports however, tell another more positive story, as do some of the unofficial reception maps.
Astra 2D has been received from Cyprus in the east to the Canary Islands in the west. There seem to be 'sidelobes', in some areas such as Sweden and Portugal and 'dead zones' such as souther Italy and Malta.
Most of the BBC's radio services use the Astra 2A satellite, which covers most of Europe. BBC radio is available on a the Astra 2A satellite, which has a footprint covering most of Europe. BBC Radio 5 is broadcast on Astra 2D, this is due to rights issues with sporting events.
All the BBC's national, regional and local radio stations are broadcast live on the Internet. There are no restrictions on their radio stations and can be listened to worldwide for free. |
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BBC iPlayer is a free Internet service that lets you catch up with programmes from the past seven days that you may have missed or want to watch again. There are two ways to use this service. You can play a programme and watch it online with ‘Click to play', or you can download the programme, store it on your computer.
Please note that BBC TV programmes and live TV streams are only available to users in the UK, most radio programmes are available outside the UK. |
| NOTE: BBC TV and radio is streamed live on the Internet, a UK IP address is required to view television, no such restrictions apply to the radio channels (BBC 5 Live excluded). |
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| ITV |
Like the BBC, most ITV services are on the Astra 2D satellite, most ITV1 regions along with ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV. All broadcast unencrypted, they are free-to-air (FTA). You do not need a viewing card or a Sky receiver, any digital satellite receiver can be used.
There are a number of ITV1 regions available on the Astra 2B satellite, on transponder 36 - 12.402 Vertical, North Beam. These are encrypted and require a Sky receiver and Freesat from Sky card.
The regions available are: Anglia west, Central South West, Meridian North, Meridian South East, Tyne Tees South, Yorks East.
ITV Player is a free online video on demand service accessible though the main ITV website. The service offers a variety of programmes from homegrown programming to imports across ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV. ITV streams all of it's TV channels Live, these are restricted to viewers in the UK. |
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| NOTE: ITV streams all its channels live on the Internet, a UK IP address is required. |
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| Channel 4 |
Channel 4s channels are free-to-air (except for 4Music) and use Astra 2D, these include Channel 4, Channel 4+1, E4, More4 and Film4, along with their timeshift variants. Channel 4 HD is free-to-air, it currently broadcasts on Eurobird 1, which has a wide footprint over most of Europe.
Encrypted versions of Channel 4 and Channel 4+1 can be found on transponder 49 - 12.480 vertical, on the Astra 2A satellite.
Channel 4 dows not currently stream any of its channel on the Internet.
4oD (4 on Demand), is a catch-up service offered by Channel 4, much of the content is free.
The video on the internet service is advertised as being 'DVD quality' (videos are all H.264 MP4 format), and estimates download time to be around twice the programme length on an average broadband connection, though speeds vary dramatically dependent on ISP, connection speed and other factors, and may be less or more than this. |
| A UK IP address is required to view programmes on 4oD. |
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| Channel 5 |
Channel 5 , 5*, 5USA and Channel 5 HD are all encrypted. There is a version of Channel 5 available free-to-air on the Astra 2D satellite on transponder 45 - 10.773 horizontal, this is used by the Freesat platform and can be received on any digital satellite receiver.
Demand 5 is a service that lets you watch programmes from the Channel 5 family of channels: Channel 5, 5USA and 5* online at channel5.com.
Demand 5 offers a selection of programmes from all three channels, Channel 5, 5USA and 5* to watch online. Once a programme has been broadcast for the first time – and provided Channel 5 have the rights – it becomes available on their video player for a period of time.
This availability period varies from show to show, though it is usually a minimum of 7 days. |
| A UK IP address is required to view programmes on Demand 5. |
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| Sky |
Please bare in mind that Sky must not sell their programme packages outside the British Isles. Sky does however, turn somewhat of a 'blind eye' to overseas subscribers who provide an important source of revenue for the company. You will require a UK bank account and a UK address to take out a Sky subscription.
There has been much said on the subject of calling Sky's customer services from abroad, in the past they seem to have switched off customers cards, this does not seem to be the case at present. If you can find someone in Britain to call for you, do so, if not, call at your own (very little) risk.
Some of Sky's interactive services require you to be connected to a UK landline, it is required for subsidised Sky+ and Sky+ HD receivers.
All Sky TV customers can watch Sky News live on Sky Go. Sky TV customers with Sky Multiroom or Sky Broadband Unlimited can watch up to 28 channels, including Sky Sports and Sky1, live online. The live channels available for you to watch for free on Sky Go correspond to the channels that are part of your Sky TV subscription.
Watch up to 28 live channels on your PC or Mac, available channels include Sky1, Sky Sports, G.O.L.D., Eden, Nat Geo Wild, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., MTV ONE, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and ESPN Classic and Disney XD. |
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| A UK IP address is required to view live streams on Sky Go. |
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| Freesat |
Freesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom, though the service can be received overseas.
The service was marketed from 6 May 2008 and offers a satellite alternative to the Freeview service on digital terrestrial television, with a selection of channels available without subscription for users purchasing a receiver.
The service also makes use of the additional capacity available on digital satellite broadcasting to offer a selection of high-definition programming from the BBC and ITV. Channel 4HD will join the Freesat platform on April 1 2011.
The launch of Astra 1N in the second quater of 2011, should see more channels join Freesat, 5* and 5USA are expected to join once Astra 1N becomes opperational. STV HD is also expected to be available to Scottish viewers in the near future.
A VOD (Video On Demand) version of BBC iPlayer is available on Freesat channel 901, you can catch up on the last seven days of BBC programmes.
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| A UK IP address is required to view VOD services on Freesat. |
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| International Services |
| BBC World News |
BBC World News is the BBC's international news and current affairs television channel. It has the largest audience of any BBC channel and any news channel in the world.
The channel broadcasts around the clock, with television programming including BBC News bulletins, documentaries, lifestyle programmes and interviews. Its main global competitor is CNN International, though it also competes with other major news broadcasting companies. It employs more correspondents, reporters, and international bureaus than any other news channel.
Unlike the BBC's domestic channels, BBC World News is not funded by a licence fee. Instead, it is funded commercially by advertising.
The channel is transmitted by Red Bee Media from their network centre at the Broadcast Centre within the BBC Media Village, part of the BBC White City, in White City, West London.
All news output originates from studio N8 in the nearby Television Centre. The BBC World News newsroom is part of the BBC's Global News Hub.
Outside of the United Kingdom, users were able to watch BBC World News for free as a live Internet stream through Livestation.
However, Internet users with IP addresses that appeared to be from the United States are now prevented from streaming the channel, as Livestation does not have rights to provide this service to users in that country.
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| Availability |
BBC World News is most commonly watched as a free-to-air (FTA) Channel. The channel is available in all parts of Europe and many parts of the world FTA via satellite.
Although not officially available in the UK, it is available to people who point their satellite dishes at Astra 19.2°E, Hot Bird and Thor. The Middle East feed is also available to UK residents through Badr/Arabsat. In most of the world, it is carried on nearly all satellite and cable platforms. |
| Satellites (FTA in Europe & Middle East) |
Hot Bird 6 -12597 V / 27500 / 3/4
Hispasat 1C - 12012 V / 27500 / 3/4
Astra 1L - 11597 V / 22000 / 5/6
Thor 5 - 11325 H / 24500 / 7/8
Badr 4 - 12073 H / 27500 / 3/4
Nilesat 101 - 11766 H / 27500 / 3/4 |
| Australia |
| BBC World News is available in Australia on Foxtel, Austar and Optus Television as well as the Telstra NextG phone network. |
| New Zealand |
| In New Zealand, it is also broadcast via satellite on SKY Network Television and via cable on TelstraClear. It is also carried overnight on TV ONE. |
| Canada |
| In Canada, the channel is available on Bell TV and Shaw Direct satellite services, as well as on most digital cable services. Shaw Cable and Rogers Cable carry the channel as part of their analogue cable packages. The Canadian news channel CBC Newsworld also carries a BBC World newscast from 6:00 to 6:30 pm daily. |
| United States |
BBC World News is not widely available on cable/satellite services in the United States, however a 2006 agreement with Discovery Networks (which is a partner in BBC America), announced it would seek distribution for the channel.
American viewers used to be able to watch selected BBC World bulletins on BBC America and over 200 PBS stations. On 4 April 2009, the morning broadcast of BBC World News was dropped from BBC America. The morning broadcast of BBC World News programming returned on May 18, 2009 and now airs from 4:00–8:00 am on weekdays. It was also reported in The New York Times in April 2008, that some PBS stations have dropped BBC World News after being told by BBC executives that the BBC had made it "pretty clear that the future of the BBC was not intertwined with public broadcasting." Many PBS stations replaced BBC World News with the PBS-produced Worldfocus.
However, many stations returned to airing BBC World News after Worldfocus was cancelled in April of 2010. Currently, the BBC produces two programs for PBS in the United States. The UK-produced BBC World News is available through Los Angeles station, KCET. It picked up BBC World News after it was dropped by New York PBS station WLIW in favor of Worldfocus. BBC World News America is now also available to PBS stations after it was pulled from BBC America.
Cablevision in the New York City metropolitan area agreed to retransmit the channel and was the first company to carry BBC World News. The channel is part of Cablevision's iO Digital Cable service, channel 104. |
| BBC World News is also available on: |
| Cox Communications: Channel 252 (Northern Virginia) |
| Grande Communications: Channel 122 (Texas) |
| Western Kentucky TV (WKTV) Channel 136 |
| Verizon FiOS: Channel 107 (All regions) |
| Asia |
| In Asia, BBC World News is carried on PanAmSat. It is also available on Astro in Malaysia, in India, it is a pay channel. |
| Africa |
| BBC World News has been available in Africa on DStv since late 1995, and its bulletins have also been rebroadcast on South African Broadcasting Corporation's (SABC) terrestrial channels in South Africa |
| Latin America & the Caribbean |
| In Trinidad & Tobago, It is also carried overnight on TV6. |
| SKY Latin America - Channel 631 |
| Sky Brazil - Channel 99 |
| Live Stream |
| Watch BBC World News Live (502 Kbit/s), excluding USA, UK and Japan. |
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| BBC Entertaiment |
BBC Entertainment is an international subscription television channel showcasing comedy, drama, light entertainment and children's programming from the BBC and other UK production houses.
To see if the channel is available in your country or region, see: www.bbcentertainment.com. |
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| BBC Knowledge |
BBC Knowledge is an international television channel showcasing factual and non-fiction entertainment programming from the BBC and independent UK production houses
To see if the channel is available in your country or region, see: www.bbcknowledge.com. |
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| BBC Lifestyle |
BBC Lifestyle is an international television channel. The channel provides six key programming strands: Food, Home & Design, Fashion & Style, Health, Parenting, and Personal Development.
BBC Lifestyle is wholly owned by BBC Worldwide.
To see if the channel is available in your country or region, see: www.bbclifestyle.com. |
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| BBC HD (International version) |
BBC HD Scandinavia is a television channel broadcasting high-definition programming to Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark. The channel is also included in HD Cable Platform Teledünya in Turkey. BBC HD is also available in Latin America.
The channel is available on Canal Digital, and YouSee in Denmark. The launch of BBC HD coincided with the launch of BBC Entertainment, BBC Lifestyle and BBC Knowledge in Scandinavia. The channel broadcasts round-the-clock and heavily features BBC dramas and natural documentaries such as Bleak House and Planet Earth.
To see if the channel is available in your country or region, see: scandinavia.bbchd.com. |
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| CBeebies |
The international CBeebies channel is commercial-free and wholly owned by BBC Worldwide. The first international launch for the CBeebies channel was in India in May 2007. The channel is available in the Republic of Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Poland, Indonesia, Mexico, Africa, Australia and the United States.
The on demand version of the network is available in the US on Xfinity.
To see if the channel is available in your country or region, see: www.cbeebies.com. |
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| BBC America |
BBC America is an American television network, owned and operated by BBC Worldwide, and available on both cable and satellite. BBC America is distributed in association with Discovery Networks.
The network is not subject to funding from the UK licence fee by law: the BBC cannot fund any of its channels that are not available in the United Kingdom. As this is the case, the channel carries advertisements.
BBC America is available in Bermuda on both Bermuda CableVision's digital cable TV service, and the WOW (World on Wireless) service. It is also available in the US Pacific territory of Guam on MCV Broadband cable service and GTA TeleGuam's IPTV service, the only territory outside North America where the channel is available.
BBC America HD, a high definition simulcast version of BBC America, is carried nationally by Dish Network, and regionally on Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and some smaller providers. |
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| Website: www.bbcamerica.com |
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| BBC Canada |
BBC Canada is a Canadian English language category 2 digital cable specialty channel. It presents programming primarily from the BBC. BBC Canada is a joint venture between Shaw Media and BBC Worldwide.
Since BBC Canada is licensed as a Canadian channel, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's (CRTC) broadcasting regulations require that it carry a quota of Canadian content. In addition to BBC programs, therefore, it also broadcasts a number of Canadian series as well. |
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| Website: www.bbccanada.com |
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| BBC Kids |
BBC Kids is a Canadian English language category 2 digital cable specialty channel owned by Knowledge Network Corporation and BBC Worldwide. It's a commercial-free channel that airs programming aimed at youth ranging from pre-schoolers to teens.
Since BBC Kids is licensed as a Canadian channel, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requires that it air a quota of Canadian content. Therefore, along with British series, it also airs a number of Canadian series as well. In addition to the British and Canadian programs that form the majority of the schedule, BBC Kids airs programs from other countries such as Australia, the United States and more. |
| Website: www.bbckids.ca |
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| UKTV |
UKTV is a subscription television channel in Australia and New Zealand, screening British entertainment programming, sourced mainly from the archives of the BBC, RTL Group (mainly Talkback Thames material) and ITV plc. The company was originally a joint venture with Foxtel (60% ownership) and the RTL Group (20% ownership). It is now owned solely by BBC Worldwide.
The channel shows a mix of repeats of old UK shows previously screened in Australia or New Zealand and new episodes of programmess not shown before in Australia or New Zealand. Repeated series include Doctor Who, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Are You Being Served?, Dad's Army, Torchwood, Torchwood Declassified, The Jewel in the Crown, Never the Twain, The Sweeney and The Bill that have already been seen on free-to-air terrestrial television in Australia.
New series include Shameless, the original UK version of The Weakest Link, and new episodes of popular soap operas Coronation Street and EastEnders which have not otherwise been screened in Australia.
UKTV's episodes of EastEnders are approximately twelve weeks behind the United Kingdom. Coronation Street is approximately 3 months behind. Emmerdale is about nine months behind. |
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| Websites: www.uktv.com.au (Australia) & www.uktv.co.nz (New Zealand) |
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