Freesat: More channels on the way

Freesat today announced the additions of 22 regional variations of BBC One and Channel 3 to the TV service.

Emma Scott, Freesat managing director, said: "We’re extremely pleased to be completing the roll out of BBC and ITV regional services on Freesat... We look forward to welcoming more channels onto Freesat in the next month."

For BBC One, the West, South East, South, South West, North East & Cumbria, Oxford, West Midlands, North West, Yorks & Lincs, Yorkshire, East Midlands and East regions have joined, completing the total of 18.

The new additions for Channel 3 are West, Central East, West Country, Central South, Border Scotland, Meridian South, Meridian East, Yorkshire West, Anglia South and Tyne Tees North. There are now 21 Channel 3 regions listed on the electronic programme guide, according to Freesat, though several sub-regions remain unavailable.

The variations provided at Freesat channels 101 and 103 are selected by the postcode entered during setup of the receiver. New channels, including the regions, are intended to appear in the Freesat EPG without a retune, scan or reset.

Freesat launched in May with very limited regional variations, blaming "technical constraints associated with co-existence on the satellite platform", and a commitment to complete the lineup last month was not met.

Free to air satellite transmissions of the Channel 4 regional feeds, used only to vary adverts, also appeared yesterday, suggesting they may soon be integrated into Freesat.