Great TV for free (Freeview)

Member Name: aylawarner

Product:	Freeview
Date:	19/06/09 (70 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy, free, great TV!

Disadvantages: Occasionally signal stutters but not often

Freeview is a free digital television service supplying customers with much more than just the regular 5 standard TV channels. For those who can't afford Sky, Freeview is the perfect way to get a range of many more channels and programmes to entertain the whole family.

Freeview can be purchased via a digital box which you connect to the TV but many new TVs can now be found with Freeview already built into them. The boxes can be connected to any TV and are only small and sit easily on top of a video or DVD player/recorder. The price for a box starts from around £20 so they can be picked up cheaply. However, if you're getting a new TV in the near future I'd advise you to get a Freeview one. Most TVs now come with it already built in anyway and this means that you don't have the extra annoyance of another remote control as you do with the digital box.

The range of channels provided by Freeview cover all topics for the whole family and you receive 48 digital TV channels and 24 radio stations. All that for free is pretty generous!

The main and more popular choices of channels are:

Entertainment channels:
BBC One ~ BBC Two ~ ITV 1 ~ 4 ~ Five ~ ITV 2 ~ BBC Three ~ BBC Four ~ ITV 3 ~ Sky 3 ~ More 4 ~ Dave ~ Virgin 1 ~ ITV 4 ~ E4 ~ Film 4 ~ Five USA ~ Fiver ~ and all the +1 channels

Children's' channels:
CBeebies ~ CBBC ~ CITV

Music channels:
4 Music ~ TMF

News channels:
CNN ~ BBC News ~ Sky News ~ Sky Sports News

Radio channels:
BBC Radio 1 ~ The Hits ~ Smash! Hits Radio ~ Magic ~ Smooth ~ Heart ~ Kiss

There are also many more entertainment, lifestyle, news and radio channels to pick from leaving you with a whole range of things to watch from documentaries, comedies, soaps, films, news, sports, cartoons and dramas. Every single person will find something to enjoy watching on Freeview and there's always something on at any time of day or night.

Personally, my husband and I can't really afford Sky but I also think that the amount of channels you receive with Sky is far too many. I probably watch the TV too much as it is now so I know that if we got Sky I would be forever watching crappy stuff on TV just for the sake of it. However, with the standard 5 terrestrial channels, there never seems to be anything half decent on them nowadays and I hardly ever find myself watching them anymore apart, of course, from when X Factor and Hollyoaks are on! But, with Freeview, there are less channels than Sky but enough channels and a wide enough range to keep everyone happy and satisfied and without the disadvantage of square eyes and no money in the bank.

Easy and free - Freeview is the way to go for great TV!

Summary: I couldn't live without my repeats of Friends on E4!