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A simple guide to boosting your Freeview

Get more from Freeview

By becca.talbot@consumerchoices.co.uk

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If you want an essentially free service but with some added extras to give a bit more variety, then there are a few ways that you can give your Freeview service a boost. Updated on 11/02/2009


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Freeview

There are loads of ways to get Freeview (www.freeview.co.uk) on its own - from a basic set-top box starting at around £20 to a digital TV recorder (DTR) that will allow you to record, pause or rewind “live” TV, or even a digital integrated TV with Freeview built in.

In addition to this, Top UP TV (www.topup.tv) supplies its own branded set-top DTR and all other digital TV suppliers like BT Vision (www.btvision.bt.com), Sky (www.sky.com), Tiscali TV (www.tiscali.co.uk) and Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) will supply customers with hardware. All subscription customers get the Freeview channels as a bare minimum.

Comoare Digital TV providers

Get more with BT Vision

BT Vision is Freeview through a BT Total Broadband connection, but this can change to a free-to-view, an on-demand or a subscription service to suit your needs.

You could choose to only watch those Freeview channels that are available in your area - in which case you won’t be billed for your TV service. You also get the option of adding pay-per-view programmes and movies when and how you want. Films start from £1.99 and programmes cost 49p for a children’s programme or 79p for others.

Customers also get the option of boosting their BT TV channels with a selection of subscription packages. These packages have no additional subscription attached to them so they can be purchased on a month-by-month basis allowing you to choose one only for the duration of a particular series or during the football season.

BT TV customers can also get a discount on Setanta Sports, allowing them to combine it with the BT Vision Sports package.

If you’re not a BT Total Broadband customer but still want BT Vision, sign up to BT Total broadband.

More information on BT Vision >>>

www.btvision.bt.com

Boost Freeview with Top Up TV

Top Up TV offers over 600 programmes each month from a range of pay-TV channels covering everything from the Discovery Channel and the Comedy Channel to Living TV and the Disney Channel. Programmes are automatically downloaded to your Top UP TV set-top box - which also works as a DTR - and you can even record a whole series to your hard drive to watch whenever you want.

The Top Up TV set-top box costs £89.99 and then the subscription costs £9.99 a month with no contract. You also get the option of adding Picture Box - a movie service from Universal Pictures - to your subscription for an extra £5 a month allowing you to watch a selection of 30 movies a month.

Picture Box is also now available to non-Top Up TV customers for £7 a month (plus a £20 connection fee) and details of how to sign up can be found on the Top Up TV website.

More information on Top Up TV

Visit www.topup.tv

Boosting Freeview with Setanta Sports

Setanta Sports entered administration on 23 June 2009, and is no longer broadcasting in the UK. American broadcaster ESPN has won the rights to air 46 live Premier League games next season, however the future of the rest of Setanta's content is still undecided. We'll update our guides when there is more information available.

More information on Setanta >>>

More free-to-view

Freeview isn’t the only free-to-view service available so why not read our article on Free-to-view Digital TV to see what’s available or read more about all the providers currently offer digital TV with our provider guide.

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Comments

I want God TV on my Free Box but it doesn't pick up. When I try to update it says it does not allow updates. God TV is a free service so why cant I have it on my Free Box. It wont pick up channel 27 but picks up 26 and 28. Why is this. - Mar 5 2010 11:06PM
We 'receive' from the Oxford transmitter, but only receive 37 channels and some of those say 'no signal'. I realise that work is being done on the transmitter, but we used to receive many more channels before we had to retune. Why?
 - Feb 24 2010 7:09PM
john ramsay, UK

I could only get couple of channels on my roof top aireal, being disabled I paid £40 for free sat, a man came from fist digital and fixed another
box on the front of the family's now discontinued sky dish and ran it into my granny flat,since then the main set which is a samsung selfocus progressive- sp 42w4hl, just went out of focus, over the weeks i thought it would retune itself can you advise or help / retune, thank you.
 - Nov 21 2009 9:26PM
steve andrews, flint flintshire

Since retuning my Freeview box I find that the BBC channels break up very easily unlike prior to retuning. Can this be corrected now or must I wait for digital to go live in my area? Would a softwear upgrade help? - Oct 10 2009 6:45PM
Stephen Sermanni, Mid Calder, Scotland

I also retuned and lost channel 4, well not lost but now at too low a strength. Before the retune I could get ITV in favourable weather but no longer. I have also lost channel five. Yes I did gain ITV3 and 4 but lost ITV2+1. So I had 5, 4 itv2+1and itv1 on good days and now I don't have any itv1&2, C4 or C5. It's two years where I live to the next upgrade. I am seriously looking at freesat, virgin or sky. or turning my antenna around and going back to analogue. - Oct 6 2009 2:24PM
As instructed I have retuned but seem to have "lost" ITV, Channel 4, 5 and associated channels. How can I re-install or do I need a new Set Top Box. - Sep 30 2009 12:33PM
Frank Spence, Maidstone, England

I am a pensioner and am rather bewildered by digital tv. My interest is tennis, I would like to watch the US Open etc. Can I only get this by subscribing to Sky? They have 3 Sports Channels and it is expensive. What is Freesat, would this hel?. I will be 74 in 2012! Any help would be greatly appreciated. Than you. - Aug 25 2009 5:22AM
Mrs Tessa Berard, Epsom Surrey UK