Freeview Review

Overall Rating

Free, easy one off price for Digi-box only, easy to set up.

Poor selection of channels, can be a hastle if you buy the wrong make of Digi-box.

When I first heard of Freeview I thought, what a great idea. 30+ free channels of Digital TV which I can recieve for a one-off payment for the box. However, I find the majority of these channels completely useless, for example bid-up.tv. Take a look at the selection of channels they give you, and ask yourself, "How many will I actually watch?". I would recommend even the cheapest service from Sky. Trust me you wont be wasting your money there. If you do decide to buy a box then check out http://www.freeview.co.uk to see if you will be able to recieve in your area.

Members' Comments onjohnny123's Review

• gendy943 on 6th Aug 2004

  Even the cheapest service from Sky?.. No ITV2 for starters and how about having to wade through all that free-to-air dross ..the biblepunchers etc. If you thought that "bid-up Tv" was bad then what about all the selling garbage on Sky? 100's of'em!!!
  
  Freeview is really good value for money when all you pay for is the box -ONCE! Get full value for your licence fee! See the channel line up on the Freebview website.
  
  Picture quality is the best you can get on RGB ..Sky only went wide-screen after Freeview arrived!
  
  The radio channels have a higher bit-rate than DAB. The best digital-audio sound..stereo, of course.
  
  No: Freeview is first class - the best thing to come to British TV since colour.
  
  If you haven't got Sky then don't bother!... get a Freeview box ..Philips, Sony or Panasonic are the best. If you have a relatively new telly then get a box of the same make - the remote will operate your TV as well as the Freeview box.
  
  Late News!!! Disney ABC1 and ITV3 channels coming to Freeview in the Autumn.
  
  http://www.freeview.co.uk/index.html

• PinkPig on 20th May 2005

  Freeview is a perfectly good service for people who aren't avid TV watchers but want a few extra channels. Yes, it doesn't have everything, but it does have BBC3, BBC4, the two BBC childrens channels, BBC News 24, ITV News Channel, Sky News, Sky Sports News, ITV2, ITV3, soon to have E4 - all of which have decent stuff on from time to time, and it costs nothing but the cost of the box (around £50) No, it's not got as much as "even the cheapest" Sky package - but the cheapest sky package costs £19.50 per month. £234 a year. For me that's far too much money to spend on television, given that I'm already paying for a TV license. I think freeview offers the best value for people who aren't particularly interested in movies or sport, but just want to have a little bit more flexibility and future-proofing than you get with the 5 analogue channels. Plus, freeview is the only way I can get decent channel 5 reception here.

• kiyawhite on 9th Oct 2005

  Yeah, you've got it all wrong. FREEVIEW is a lot better than you make it out to be. Not only can you get quite a lot of extra digital channels and a better RGB picture quality, but if you have a good, high-gain aerial, interactive tele is pretty instant too!

• gendy943 on 10th Oct 2005

  Utter twaddle ..Freeview is fantastic value for money....NOTHING on Sky could equal it and that is why Freeview has grown phenomenally while Sky is peddling like hell to stop loosing subscribers and spending a fortune on advertising to do it.
  
  Freeview has gone from strength to strength and the sales of 5million+ boxes since October 2002 prove it!