Freesat appoints receiver partners

The first officially-approved receivers for the Freesat service will come from Alba, Humax, Panasonic, and Sagem.
The BBC and ITV will launch Freesat in early 2008 as an alternative to Freeview for those who can’t get digital TV via their aerial – currently about 27 per cent of the British population.
With no subscription, it will offer more than 200 digital TV channels, plus Freeview-style interactive services, support for PVRs and a capability for high definition TV channels.

The four manufacturers will be among the first to launch satellite receivers which meet Freesat’s technical specification – although the spec itself has yet to be released publicly.
Freesat is also negotiating with DSG International, Comet and John Lewis Partnership to provide retail support, while DTG Testing, Siemens, Arquiva and eventIS will provide technical infrastructure.