Services
Freesat Explained: Free Satellite TV Without a Subscription
Freesat is the forgotten member of Britain’s free television family. It uses a satellite dish rather than an aerial, carries more channels than Freeview, and costs nothing beyond the hardware and your TV Licence. In areas where terrestrial reception is poor — which is a great deal of rural Britain — it is comfortably the best free option there is.
The short answer
- Around 170 free channels via a dish, with no subscription ever.
- Works where Freeview reception is poor — most of rural Britain.
- Recorder boxes still exist, so you can own permanent copies.
- Needs a dish, which rules it out for many flats and rentals.
When people think about free television in Britain they think about an aerial, and increasingly about Freely over broadband. Freesat sits quietly between the two: satellite delivery, no subscription, and a channel count that beats Freeview comfortably.
It exists because Sky’s satellites carry a great many free-to-air channels alongside the paid ones. Freesat is the BBC and ITV joint venture that packages those into a proper platform with a programme guide, so you can use the same dish infrastructure without ever paying Sky a penny.
We have run a Freesat recorder alongside our other test platforms for six months. This covers what it carries, which box to buy, and — honestly — when it is and is not the right choice.
What is Freesat?
A free-to-air satellite television platform, originally a joint venture between the BBC and ITV and now operated by Everyone TV — the same organisation behind Freeview and Freely.
At a glance
- Launched
- 2008
- Operated by
- Everyone TV (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5)
- Cost
- Free — no subscription, ever
- Delivery
- Satellite dish
- Channels
- Around 170, including HD
- Guide
- 7-day, with scroll-back on newer boxes
- Recording
- Yes, on recorder boxes
- TV Licence
- Required for live viewing
The key distinction from Sky: the same dish, none of the bill. If a property already has a satellite dish from a previous Sky subscription, a Freesat box will generally use it. You are receiving the free-to-air channels that were always up there, without a subscription card.
What is the difference between Freesat, Freeview and Freely?
Three free platforms, three different pipes: Freesat by satellite dish, Freeview by aerial, Freely over broadband. Freesat vs Freeview sets the two broadcast options head to head, and Freely vs Freeview covers the other pairing. The decision follows from your property rather than your preferences — poor terrestrial reception and a dish you can fit means Freesat, a good aerial means Freeview Play, and no aerial at all means Freely.
Three free platforms, three different pipes. This is the whole picture.
| Freesat | Freeview Play | Freely | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery | Satellite dish | Aerial | Broadband |
| Channels | ~170 | ~70 + 15 HD | Fewer, growing |
| Works with poor terrestrial signal | Yes | No | Yes |
| Works with no dish | No | Yes, with aerial | Yes |
| Works with no broadband | Yes | Yes | No |
| Recording | Yes, on recorders | Yes, on recorders | None |
| Affected by heavy rain | Occasionally | Rarely | No |
| Cost | Free | Free | Free |
The decision follows from your property rather than your preferences:
- Poor terrestrial reception, and you can have a dish — Freesat, easily. More channels and a far more reliable picture than a struggling aerial.
- Good aerial reception — Freeview Play is already in your television and needs no new hardware.
- No dish and no aerial permitted — Freely is the only option, and a good one.
- Unreliable broadband — Freesat or Freeview, because neither depends on it.
- Want recordings you keep — Freesat or Freeview Play recorders. Freely has none.
How many channels does Freesat have?
Around 170 — materially more than Freeview and vastly more than a broadband-only Freely setup. More of them are in HD, and satellite capacity means the public service channels are carried at higher bitrates. There is no Sky Sports, no Sky Atlantic and no Premier League: Freesat is free-to-air only.
Channel numbers move as services launch and close, so the count is best read as a range rather than a promise.
| Group | Channels |
|---|---|
| BBC | BBC One and Two in HD with regional variants, Three, Four, News, Parliament, CBBC, CBeebies, Scotland, Alba |
| ITV | ITV1 in HD with regions, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, ITVBe, plus STV in Scotland |
| Channel 4 | Channel 4 HD, E4, More4, Film4, 4seven |
| Channel 5 | Channel 5 and its sister channels |
| News | Sky News, GB News, Al Jazeera, France 24 and others |
| Entertainment | A long tail of free-to-air entertainment, shopping and music channels |
| Radio | The full BBC radio network plus commercial stations |
That HD advantage is the one you actually notice. On a large screen the difference between BBC One HD on Freesat and standard definition on a weak Freeview signal is not subtle.
What do you need for Freesat?
Two things: a dish aimed at the Astra satellites at 28.2° east, and a Freesat box from around £70. Plenty of homes already have a usable dish, so the box is often the only purchase; with no dish at all, Freely is usually the easier route.
A dish
A standard satellite dish aligned to Astra 28.2°E — the same position Sky uses, which is why a dish left behind by a previous Sky subscription is usually all the hardware on the wall you need.
If there is no dish, one needs installing, and this is where Freesat loses to Freely for a large slice of the population. Renters usually cannot drill into a wall, flats frequently prohibit dishes in the lease, and listed buildings and conservation areas add planning constraints.
A box or a compatible television
| Option | Roughly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Freesat box | £70–£110 | Live channels and the guide. No recording. Fine for a second room. |
| Freesat recorder | £180–£280 | Hard disk, usually 500 GB to 1 TB. Twin or triple tuners. The one to buy. |
| Manhattan or Humax 4K | £200–£280 | The two makers still actively serving this market in Britain. |
| Built-in Freesat TV | Varies | Some sets have a satellite tuner built in. Increasingly rare — check before assuming. |
Humax and Manhattan are the names worth knowing. Both make competent recorders; Humax boxes tend to have larger disks and better series handling, Manhattan tends to be cheaper and simpler. Either is a considerably better buy than a basic non-recording box, because the recording is the main thing satellite still does that streaming does not. Our guide to Freeview and Freesat recorders compares the two platforms box for box, including the two-cable requirement that catches out twin-tuner installs.
A TV Licence
Required for live viewing, exactly as on every other platform. Free of subscription is not free of licence — the rules are set out on our TV Licence hub.
Can you record on Freesat?
Yes, and it is the real argument for the platform. A Freesat recorder still puts a physical copy on a disk in your house, which Sky Stream, Sky Glass, Freely and Virgin Stream no longer do. The trade is that recordings are encrypted to that box, so a failed recorder takes them with it.
This deserves emphasis because the market has quietly moved away from it, and a lot of households have not noticed until they lose it.
what Sky Stream actually costs and what Sky Glass costs over four years replaced recording with a cloud Playlist that can lose titles when rights expire. Freely has no recording at all. Virgin Stream has none either. A Freesat box with a hard disk is now one of the last ways left to keep a broadcast yourself.
| Freesat recorder | Cloud Playlist | |
|---|---|---|
| Stored where | Your house | The provider’s servers |
| Expires | Never | When their rights lapse |
| Works in a broadband outage | Yes | No |
| Skip adverts | Yes, fast-forward | Depends on the on-demand version |
| Capacity | Fixed by the disk | Effectively unlimited |
| Survives you leaving the platform | While the box works | No |
Encryption is the catch: the box is the only thing that can play what it recorded, which is the same limitation as a Freeview Play recorder, and it is still the cheapest way in Britain to own permanent copies of broadcast television.
What is Freesat like to use?
Very reliable, with one weather caveat. Satellite is immune to broadband congestion entirely, so a channel looks identical during a cup final and on a Tuesday afternoon. Against that, heavy rain or snow can briefly degrade the signal. The interface is functional rather than modern, and a step behind Freely’s guide.
Reliability
The reason is structural: a satellite signal goes to every dish at once, so there is no shared capacity for a busy evening to use up. That is a genuine advantage over every IPTV platform.
Against that, rain fade is real. Very heavy rain or snow can briefly degrade or drop the signal. In British weather this amounts to a handful of minutes a year for most households, but it does happen and an aerial generally does not suffer it.
The interface
Functional rather than modern. Newer boxes offer a scroll-back guide and the main catch-up apps — iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, My5 — but the experience is a step behind Freely’s backwards-scrolling guide, which is the best in free British television.
If your box is older, the apps in particular will feel slow. A cheap streaming stick on a second HDMI input solves that for about £40 and leaves Freesat doing what it is best at: live channels and recordings.
~170
Channels
More than Freeview.
£0
Monthly cost
TV Licence still applies.
1 TB
Typical recorder disk
Several hundred hours.
0
Mbps needed for live
Satellite needs no broadband.
What are the most common Freesat problems?
Two dominate. No signal on all channels usually means a disconnected cable or a misaligned dish — check the cable at the box and the wall plate first, because persistent loss normally means realignment. Missing channels is the other, and points at the same two causes rather than at the box itself.
| Problem | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No signal on all channels | Dish misaligned, or cable disconnected | Check the cable at the box and the wall plate first. Persistent loss usually means realignment. |
| Some channels missing | Stale channel list | Run a full retune from the setup menu. Line-ups change periodically. |
| Picture breaks up in heavy rain | Rain fade | Normal, and temporary. Persistent problems in light rain suggest a marginal dish alignment. |
| Wrong regional BBC or ITV | Postcode set incorrectly | Correct it in settings and retune. |
| Recordings failing | Disk full, or series link broken by a schedule change | Check free space and re-set the series link. |
| Catch-up apps slow or missing | Older box past its software support | Add a streaming stick rather than replacing the recorder. |
How much does it cost to install Freesat?
It is the one free platform with a genuine setup cost. With an existing Sky dish you need a box only, from around £70. Without a dish, budget for installation on top — and note that renters, flats with dish clauses in the lease, and listed buildings often cannot fit one at all.
Freesat is the one free platform with a genuine setup cost, so it is worth being clear about what you are actually spending.
| Scenario | What you need | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Existing Sky dish, no longer subscribing | A box only — the dish and cable already work | £70–£280 |
| Existing dish, needs a second cable | Box plus a short installer visit | £150–£400 |
| No dish at all | Dish, bracket, cabling, installation, plus a box | £220–£500 |
| Flat with a communal dish | A box, and permission to use the feed | £70–£280 |
| Listed building or conservation area | Planning consent may be required first | Varies — check before buying anything |
Before you commit to an installation
- Check whether a dish already exists. Enormous numbers of British homes have a redundant Sky dish on the wall from a previous occupier, and it will very likely work as it stands.
- Check your tenancy or lease. Many rentals and most flats prohibit fixing a dish to the building without written consent. This is the single most common reason Freesat is not an option.
- Check the line of sight. The dish needs a clear south-easterly view. Tall buildings, trees and some north-facing walls make it impossible regardless of permission.
- Compare against Freely honestly. If your broadband is decent, Freely delivers free live channels with no dish, no installation and no cost at all beyond a box.
Can you add pay channels to Freesat?
Freesat solves reception rather than choice: it delivers the free channels by dish in places where terrestrial signal is poor, and it carries no subscription channels at all. The plans below add those over broadband. Both tiers are shown because sport and the pay entertainment channels are the usual reason for looking — IPTV 4K Ultra in 4K HDR, IPTV 8K Ultra Max wider still.
IPTV 4K Ultra
From £2.86/moCinema-quality HDR & Dolby
True 4K Ultra HD streaming with HDR10+, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Watch the Premier League in 4K like you are at the ground.
Starter 4K
3 Months
£34.99−31%
£23.99
£8.00/mo
- 27,000+ channels in 4K
- 192,000+ VOD titles in native 4K
- 4K UHD (3840×2160) HEVC
- Full EPG guide
- 1 screen
- 24/7 UK support
- Anti-freeze technology
Secure payment
Standard 4K
6 Months
£54.99−27%
£39.99
£6.67/mo
- 27,000+ channels in 4K
- 192,000+ VOD titles in 4K HDR
- 4K UHD + HDR10+
- EPG + 3-day replay
- 1 screen
- Priority support 24/7
- Anti-freeze servers
Secure payment
Premium 4K
12 Months
2 months free£74.99−27%
£54.99
£3.93/mo
- 27,000+ channels in 4K UHD
- 192,000+ VOD titles in 4K HDR
- 4K UHD + HDR10+ + Dolby Vision
- EPG + 7-day replay
- 1 screen
- VIP WhatsApp support
- Dolby Atmos 5.1 audio
- Free automatic updates
Secure payment
Ultimate 4K
24 Months
4 months free£89.99−11%
£79.99
£2.86/mo
- 27,000+ channels in 4K UHD
- 192,000+ VOD titles in 4K Ultra HD
- 4K + HDR10+ + Dolby Vision
- EPG + 14-day replay
- 1 screen
- VIP WhatsApp instant support
- Dolby Atmos 7.1 surround
- Early access to 4K content
- Optimised HEVC streaming
Secure payment
IPTV 8K Ultra Max
From £3.93/mo8K HDR + Dolby Atmos — the pinnacle
The most advanced plan on the list. True 8K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos sound, 55,000+ live channels, 220,000+ on-demand films and series, and multi-language subtitles on everything.
Starter 8K
3 Months
£39.99−25%
£29.99
£10.00/mo
- 55,000+ live channels in up to 8K
- 220,000+ films & series on demand
- 8K UHD + Dolby Vision HDR
- Dolby Atmos immersive audio
- Multi-language subtitles
- Full EPG guide
- 1 screen
- 24/7 UK support
Secure payment
Standard 8K
6 Months
£69.99−29%
£49.99
£8.33/mo
- 55,000+ live channels in up to 8K
- 220,000+ films & series on demand
- 8K UHD + Dolby Vision HDR
- Dolby Atmos immersive audio
- Multi-language subtitles
- EPG + 3-day replay
- 1 screen
- Priority UK support 24/7
Secure payment
Premium 8K
12 Months
2 months free£99.99−30%
£69.99
£5.00/mo
- 55,000+ live channels in up to 8K
- 220,000+ films & series in 8K / 4K
- 8K UHD + Dolby Vision HDR
- Dolby Atmos object-based audio
- Multi-language subtitles throughout
- EPG + 7-day replay
- 1 screen
- VIP WhatsApp support 24/7
- Free automatic updates
Secure payment
Ultimate 8K
24 Months
4 months free£124.99−12%
£109.99
£3.93/mo
- 55,000+ live channels in up to 8K
- 220,000+ films & series in 8K / 4K
- 8K UHD + Dolby Vision HDR
- Dolby Atmos 7.1+ surround sound
- Multi-language subtitles throughout
- EPG + 14-day replay
- 1 screen
- VIP WhatsApp instant support
- Early access to new 8K content
- Optimised 8K HEVC / AV1 streaming
Secure payment
One caveat specific to Freesat households: these plans run over broadband, not the dish, so the connection matters more than the reception. Our setup guide covers what speed to expect, and the pricing page lists every term.
Is Freesat worth it? Our verdict
Our verdict
Freesat
Overlooked, genuinely free, and the best option in Britain for anyone with poor terrestrial reception who can put up a dish. More channels than Freeview, more HD, immune to broadband congestion, and one of the last platforms that still lets you own a recording. Held back by the dish requirement and an interface a generation behind Freely.
What works
- Around 170 channels with no subscription, ever.
- Works where Freeview reception is poor — much of rural Britain.
- More HD channels and higher bitrates than terrestrial.
- Recorder boxes give you permanent copies you own.
- Completely unaffected by broadband speed or congestion.
What doesn’t
- Needs a dish — impossible in many flats and rentals.
- Occasional rain fade in very heavy weather.
- Interface and apps trail Freely noticeably.
- No premium sport or drama at all.
- Recordings are locked to the box that made them.
Best for: Rural and marginal-reception households that can install a dish, especially anyone who still wants to record. If a dish is out of the question, Freely is the free alternative.
Frequently asked questions
How many Freesat channels are there?
Around 170, including HD versions of the main public service channels. That is comfortably more than Freeview carries and vastly more than a broadband-only Freely setup, which is the main reason to choose satellite where a dish is possible.
Is a Humax Freesat box still the one to buy?
Manhattan builds the 4K Freesat recorder sold today; older Humax models still turn up second-hand. A Humax Freesat box remains perfectly usable for recording, but check that its catch-up apps are still being updated before paying much for one.
Does Freesat have a programme guide and catch-up?
Yes — a seven-day guide, and newer boxes add scroll-back plus the main catch-up apps including iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4 and My5. The experience is a generation behind Freely’s backwards-scrolling guide, and on older boxes the apps can feel slow.
How much does it cost to install Freesat?
If a dish already exists — and a great many British homes have a redundant Sky dish — you need only a box, from about £70 for a basic model to £280 for a 4K recorder. A fresh installation with a new dish, bracket, cabling and fitting typically runs £220 to £500 all in, after which there is nothing further to pay.
Can I get Freesat in a flat?
Only if you can use a dish. Many leases prohibit fixing one to the building, and some blocks have a communal satellite feed you can connect to instead — worth asking the managing agent. Where a dish is impossible, Freely delivers free live channels over broadband with no installation at all.
Does Freesat work in bad weather?
Almost always. Very heavy rain or snow can briefly degrade the signal — known as rain fade — but for most UK households this amounts to a few minutes a year. Persistent break-up in light rain usually means the dish alignment is marginal and needs adjusting.
What is Freesat?
A free-to-air satellite television platform operated by Everyone TV, the BBC and ITV joint venture behind Freeview and Freely. It delivers around 170 channels through a satellite dish with no subscription of any kind — you pay only for the hardware and your TV Licence.
Is Freesat really free?
Yes. There is no subscription and no contract. You pay once for a box, and for a dish and installation if the property does not already have one. A TV Licence is still required for live viewing, as on every platform.
Does Freesat work with an old Sky dish?
Almost always. Freesat uses Astra 28.2°E, the same orbital position Sky uses, so an existing Sky dish and cable normally work unchanged. You need the dish and the cable rather than the subscription, which makes a box the only cost for most former Sky households.
Can I use my old Sky dish for Freesat?
Almost always, yes. Freesat uses the same satellite position as Sky, so an existing dish and cabling will generally work — you simply connect a Freesat box instead of a Sky box. You need the dish, not the subscription.
Can you record on Freesat?
Yes, on a Freesat recorder with a hard disk, typically 500 GB to 1 TB. Recordings are stored in your home, never expire, work during a broadband outage and allow fast-forwarding through adverts. They are, however, tied to that box and cannot be transferred.
Does Freesat have Sky Sports?
No. Freesat carries free-to-air channels only — no Sky Sports, Sky Atlantic, TNT Sports or Premier League. For premium content you need a licensed subscription such as NOW or Sky.
Does Freesat need broadband?
Not for live channels, which arrive by satellite and work with no internet at all. Broadband is only needed for the catch-up apps on the box. That independence is one of its main advantages over IPTV platforms.
Is Freesat better than Freely?
It depends on the property. Freesat carries far more channels and supports recording, but needs a dish. Freely needs only broadband and has a much better programme guide, but has fewer channels and no recording. If you can have a dish and want to record, Freesat wins.
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