Viewers with a Freesat TV or box can now access over 30 HD channels with the completion of the BBC’s HD upgrade on the platform.
BBC One South East became the last remaining regional service to switch to HD this afternoon, completing a month-long upgrade that has seen all remaining regional BBC channels, plus BBC Parliament, BBC Red Button and BBC Alba become available in HD. The news was shared to viewers of South East Today at lunchtime (pictured above).
15 years after the launch of Freesat, which was the first platform to offer free-to-air access to HD channels, HD is now becoming the norm among broadcasters:
Last year, ITV2, 3 and 4 became available in HD on Freesat for the first time. That followed the arrival of QVC’s HD service earlier in 2022 on the platform.
Viewers with older Freesat standard definition (SD) boxes will need to upgrade to benefit from HD services. Check Freesat channel 799 for HD compatibility. Viewers with SD-only receivers have now lost access to BBC regional programmes, and only have limited access to ITV1 regional services.
BBC SD services are due to close next year.
Sky satellite and Freesat share the same signal. As a result, Sky satellite viewers in the South East will see their regional news tonight on channel 115 before it moves to channel 101 on Wednesday. At that point, the HD upgrade will be complete on Sky.
Some regional services, including BBC South East, will be upscaled until all parts of the broadcast chain are upgraded to HD.
▶ Which channels are available in HD on Freesat?
- BBC One
- BBC Two
- ITV1 (labelled UTV in NI)^
- Channel 4*
- Channel 5
- ITV2
- ITV3
- ITV4
- S4C
- Quest
- BBC News
- Al Jazeera
- France 24
- Bloomberg
- NHK World-Japan
- Arirang TV
- TRT World
- GB News
- TalkTV
- Sporty Stuff TV
- CBBC
- CBeebies
- Daystar
- QVC
- QVC Style
- TJC
- Ideal World
- Create & Craft
- BBC Red Button 1
plus all BBC regions/nations in HD, channels 950-978
*Channel 4 HD is not fully regionalised yet and appears on channel 126. ^ Not available in Central and Northern Scotland, here you’ll see STV HD on channel 111.
ℹ Source: Freesat set-up box, cross checked with Freesat TV Guide. Information correct as of time of publication.
Freesat and free-to-air HD
In the beginning, there was Sky HD and a limited HD service from Telewest, which became part of Virgin Media. In 2008, Freesat launched offering viewers free-to-air access to two HD services: BBC HD and ITV HD. It was the first time viewers could easily access HD broadcasts without needing Sky or cable TV equipment.
Freeview launched a limited HD service in North West England at the end of 2009, with Freeview HD officially launching in 2010. The range of Freesat HD channels only increased very slowly, due to broadcasters tying down their HD channels behind the paywall. Channel 4 HD was unavailable for a number of years due to a dispute between Channel 4 and Freesat. But in 2016, Channel 5 finally made its main HD channel free-to-air. In recent years, news and shopping channels have driven the biggest increases in free-to-air HD channel numbers via satellite.
Marc Thornham