Freeview & Freesat
Free-to-air television, fitted once and then nothing every month.
Down the aerial or off the dish, whichever actually reaches your house. You pay for the installation once: after that there is nothing monthly to us, and nothing monthly to Freeview or Freesat. A TV Licence is a separate thing and you still need one. More on that further down, because we would rather say it here than let you find out later.
What people ring about
- 01 We do not want another monthly billFreeview and Freesat cost nothing per month to watch. You pay for the equipment and the fitting once, and that is the end of it. A TV Licence is a separate thing and still applies.
- 02 The new telly has no channels on itA new set arrives untuned. It wants the aerial connecting properly and the channel list building. Often that is the whole job.
- 03 I want to be able to record thingsA television on its own usually will not. A Freeview Play recorder or a Freesat recorder will, and it runs off the same aerial or the same dish.
- 04 There is no aerial socket in that roomWe run a new point off the existing system rather than trailing a cable up the stairs, then tune the set in on it before we go.
One comes down the aerial. The other comes off the dish.
That is very nearly the whole difference. Both are free to watch, both carry the main channels, and which one suits your house is decided by what actually reaches it rather than by which one somebody would rather sell you.
Across Morley, Churwell, Gildersome, Tingley and Birstall most houses take Freeview off the aerial without any trouble. A handful of addresses sit behind something that gets in the way, and those are the ones where a dish is worth looking at. We measure before we advise.
- Comes from
- Freeview arrives over the air from a transmitter and comes into the house down the aerial cable. Freesat comes off a satellite and into the house down the dish cable.
- You need
- For Freeview, an aerial and a television or box with a Freeview tuner in it. For Freesat, a dish and a Freesat box, or a television with Freesat built in.
- Works where
- Freeview needs the transmitter signal to reach your roof, and some addresses round here are fed by a relay that carries a smaller line-up. Freesat does not care about the transmitter or the hill in front of it, and carries over 170 channels, more than twenty-five of them in HD.
- Live TV
- Both arrive over the air. Neither of them uses your broadband, so neither of them stops when the internet does.
- Catch-up
- Both have it, and both need the television or the box connected to your broadband for it. That is the only part of either that touches the internet.
- Recording
- Both can, with a recorder: a Freeview Play recorder or a Freesat recorder, with the hard drive built in. Most televisions on their own will not record.
- Ongoing
- Nothing to Freeview, nothing to Freesat, and nothing to us. A TV Licence is separate and is required by law.
What we fit and set up
- Freeview installation
- Freeview HD and Freeview Play
- Freesat installation
- Freeview and Freesat recorders
- Existing dishes reused where they can be
- Boxes connected and set up
- Every set in the house tuned in
- Retunes after a channel change
- Communal Freeview and Freesat
Aerial repairs and installation There is no such thing as a digital aerial
It arrives from a mast, not from your router.
Freeview comes off the transmitter and down your aerial. Freesat comes off a satellite and down the dish. Neither of them is coming through your broadband, which is why the telly carries on when the internet drops out and the catch-up apps are the only part that stops.
One installation. Then nothing every month.
- You pay us once, for the equipment and the fitting. There is no contract with us and nothing monthly afterwards.
- Freeview and Freesat charge nothing to watch. There is no subscription sitting behind either of them.
- The live channels come down the aerial or off the dish, so they do not depend on your broadband and they do not stop when it does.
- Catch-up and on demand come over your broadband. The set or the box needs to be on your wi-fi for that part, and only that part.
- Recording live television needs a recorder: a Freeview Play recorder or a Freesat recorder, with the hard drive built in. Most televisions on their own will not do it.
- Free call-out and free advice, and a price before any work starts.
The one thing that is not free
A TV Licence. It is required by law to watch or record live television on any channel or service, and to use BBC iPlayer at all. That is nothing to do with Freeview, with Freesat, or with us. It applies however the picture reaches the house.
We would rather tell you that now than have you find out afterwards. If you are working out where you stand, the place to check is TV Licensing, not us.
We do not fit it and leave. Every set gets tuned in.
A new aerial, a new dish or a new box means a new channel list on every television in the house. A lot of this trade fits the kit, takes the money and lets you work that out yourself. We do not, and it is the part people ring back about.
We measure what is actually arriving at the house before anything goes up, so the choice between an aerial and a dish is made on a reading rather than on a guess.
The aerial or the dish goes up, on fixings that suit what the wall or the stack is actually made of.
The cable is run and made good, and the box or the recorder is connected at the other end.
Every television in the house is tuned in and set up on the new connection. Not just the one in the front room.
If you want the catch-up, we put the set or the box on your broadband and check it plays before we pack up.
We show you where the channel list is and how to retune it yourself if the channels move again, so you are not ringing anybody the next time they get shuffled.
What happens if it is not right
Right first time, or we come back. That is what we aim at on every job, and it is why the measuring comes before the fitting and the testing comes before we leave. It is an aim about how we work. It is not a promise about the weather, or about a transmitter we do not own.
Here is the part that is a promise: everything we fit carries a twelve-month workmanship guarantee. If something we fitted is not right, we come back.
Six questions worth asking first.
- Is Freeview really free, or is there a catch?
- Do Freeview and Freesat need broadband?
- Can I record live TV without a subscription?
- Should I have Freeview or Freesat?
- There is an old Sky dish on the wall. Can that be used?
- Is Freeview being switched off?
Is Freeview really free, or is there a catch?
There is no subscription and no contract behind either Freeview or Freesat. You pay for the aerial or the dish, the box if you need one, and the fitting. After that, watching costs nothing. The one thing that is not free is the TV Licence, which is required by law to watch or record live television on any channel or service and to use BBC iPlayer. That has nothing to do with Freeview, with Freesat, or with us, and it applies however the picture reaches the house.
Do Freeview and Freesat need broadband?
The live channels do not. They arrive over the air, down the aerial or off the dish, which is why the telly carries on when the internet goes off. Catch-up and on demand are the part that does need broadband: for those, the television or the box has to be on your wi-fi or plugged into the router. The two sit alongside each other rather than instead of each other.
Can I record live TV without a subscription?
Yes, with the right box. A Freeview Play recorder or a Freesat recorder has the hard drive built into it and will record, pause and rewind live television with nothing to pay monthly. Most televisions will not record on their own, whatever else they can do, and a few will only manage a rough job onto a USB stick. If recording matters to you, say so when you ring and we will bring the right thing rather than the nearest thing.
Should I have Freeview or Freesat?
Whichever one actually reaches your house properly. Freeview needs the transmitter signal to get to your roof, and a few addresses round here are fed by a relay that carries a smaller line-up. Freesat comes off a satellite instead, so the transmitter and the hill in the way make no difference to it, and it carries over 170 channels with more than twenty-five of them in HD. Plenty of houses end up with both. We measure what is arriving before we advise, and there is no charge for that.
There is an old Sky dish on the wall. Can that be used?
Very often, yes. The dish is a reflector and the part on the end of the arm is what does the work. In a lot of cases an existing dish can be reused for Freesat with the right box on the end of it, which saves putting a second one on the house. We will tell you when we look whether yours is worth keeping or whether it has had its day.
Is Freeview being switched off?
Not for a long while, and nothing has been decided about what happens afterwards. The government has reaffirmed that digital terrestrial television will keep running until at least 31 December 2034. A consultation on what comes next, the Green Paper published on 23 June 2026, closes on 31 August 2026, and the government is expected to publish its decision later this year. That is the honest position as at August 2026. If you are weighing up whether it is worth putting an aerial up now, ring and ask: the advice is free, and we will tell you what is actually known rather than what suits us.
The switch-off answer above is where things stood in August 2026. When the government publishes its decision we will write that one up properly rather than leave a line on a page.
More of the ones we get asked every week are on the questions page, including whether you need a new aerial for Freeview and why there is no such thing as a digital aerial. If yours is not on either page, ring and ask. The advice is free whether you book us or not.
Want the telly working without a monthly bill?
Tell us what you have got now and what you want it to do. The advice is free whether you book us or not.
- Established 1997
- Free call-out
- 12-month workmanship guarantee
- Right first time, or we come back