Freeview digital TV gets launch date

The service will run alongside regular analogue TV

Freeview, the new digital terrestrial television service, will launch on 30 October, its backers have announced.

Freeview, backed by a consortium including the BBC, BSkyB and transmitter company Crown Castle International, replaces ITV Digital, which collapsed due to financial problems.

Four new channels and five new radio stations have been added to the previously announced Freeview line-up, which boasts more than 24 TV channels.

They are two music channels, The Hits and The Music Factory, and two general entertainment channels, UK Home Style and F tn (Flextech Television Network), bringing viewers up to 30 digital television services, plus interactivity and digital radio, through their rooftop aerial.

Viewers will be able to receive them with a new set top box costing £99, an old ITV Digital box or an integrated digital TV set.

Freeview is a fresh start for digital terrestrial television

Andy Duncan

The Hits will feature music videos, short-form programmes and star appearances.

It will be interactive, allowing viewers to select videos and enter competitions via text and phone lines.

MTV's The Music Factory targets different audiences at different times of the day in a bid to "replicate the rhythms and routines of UK family life".

The channel will include a breakfast zone for kids, popular daytime music, after-school programming for teens, evening music aimed at the whole family and videos for night owls.

UK showcased

F tn will feature British-made programmes in a range of genres including comedy, documentary, reality, lifestyle, talk and drama.

UK Home Style will also focus on UK programmes, showcasing local celebrities, new talent and ideas for the home, garden and kitchen.

ITV Digital collapsed due to financial problems

Other lifestyle-related topics will include makeovers, factual entertainment, quizzes and cookery.

F tn and UK Home Style will both be 12 hour channels, broadcasting from 0600 to 1800.

Radio

As well as the four new television channels, commercial radio services Kerrang!, Smash Hits, Kiss, Oneword and Jazz FM will join BBC stations such as Five Live, 6 Music and 1Xtra.

"Freeview is a fresh start for digital terrestrial television," BBC marketing and communications director Andy Duncan said.

"It provides a simple way for people way to see all eight of the BBC's digital television channels, including the soon-to-launch BBC Three, and to listen to BBC digital radio stations.

"It will also offer interactive services, linked to a wide range of BBC programmes from sport to children's and documentaries."