Television broadcasts in the United Kingdom began in 1932, however, regular broadcasts would only begin four years later. Television began as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection of free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channelsTaking the base Sky EPG TV Channels. A breakdown is impossible due to a) the number of platforms, b) duplication of services, c) regional services, d) part time operations, and e) audio. For the Sky platform alone, there are basically 485 TV channels, additionally 57 "timeshifted versions", 36 HDTV versions, 42 regional TV options, 81 audio channels, and 5 promotion channels as of mid-2010 for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main TV channel owners who are responsible for most material viewed.
There are 27,000 hours of domestic content produced a year, at a cost of £2.6 billion.Taking the data from note 1 above, this is a very crude estimate Since 24 October 2012, all television broadcasts in the United Kingdom have been in a digital format, following the end of analogue transmissions in Northern Ireland. Digital content is delivered via terrestrial, satellite and cable, as well as over IP. As of 2003, 53.2% of households watch through terrestrial, 31.3% through satellite, and 15.6% through cable.
The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world.
Broadcast television providers Free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription providers operate, with differences in the number of channels, capabilities such as the EPG, VOD, HDTV, interactive television via the red button, and coverage across the UK. All providers make available the UK's five most-watched channels: BBC One, BBC Two, ITV (ITV1/STV), Channel 4 and 5.
Broadcast television is distributed as radio waves via terrestrial or satellite transmissions, or as electrical or light signals through ground-based cables. In the UK, these use the Digital Video Broadcasting standard. Most TVs sold in the UK (as well as much of the rest of Europe) come with a DVB-T (terrestrial) tuner. Set-top boxes are generally used to receive channels from other providers. All of the traditional services have integrated their broadcast TV with streamed channels or on-demand programmes when connected to the Internet. Since 2022, broadcast-like TV services can be wholly received via Internet-connected devices, which do not require an aerial, satellite or a traditional cable TV connection.
Provider Launched Free or pay No. broadcast channels Households Notes Terrestrial and Internet hybrid EE TV 2006As BT Vision Terrestrial channels: As FreeviewIPTV: Unknown 0.95 millionListed as BT Vision in Barb's data Freeview reception only on boxes equipped with an aerial input and set to 'aerial mode'.Requires BT Broadband or EE Broadband Freeview / Freeview Play 2002 50+ (TV)24 (radio) 2.87 millionThis figure is for terrestrial only households, calculated from column I of Barb's figures (DTT only households with BT Vision and Talktalk deducted, which assumes they are subscription Youview devices connected to an aerial) On demand via Freeview Play devices Netgem TV 2019 Terrestrial channels: As FreeviewIPTV: Unknown TalkTalk TV 2000As HomeChoice Terrestrial channels: As FreeviewIPTV: Unknown 0.25 million Requires TalkTalk Broadband Satellite Freesat 2008 115 (TV)38 (radio)Around 200 additional channels available if manually tuned; see List of free-to-air channels at 28°E 0.89 million Sky 1998 400+ (TV)160+ (radio) 6.5 million Cable Virgin Media 2006 250+ (TV)35+ (radio) 3.47 millionTaken from the cable TV figure in Barb's data Internet "streaming" (IPTV)This section refers to closed platform TV services which use an Internet-connected box connected to a TV, and a remote control giving direct access to a curated list of live channels via an on-screen guide. The list doesn't include individual over-the-top media services or streaming apps such as Netflix. Channels, on-demand TV and the programme guide are received via the Internet connection instead of broadcast infrastructure. Freely 2024 25+ (TV) EE TV 2022 Requires BT Broadband or EE Broadband Sky Stream / Sky Glass Sky Glass: 2021Sky Stream: 2022 FlexAs Stream from Virgin Media 2022 Requires Virgin Media Broadband
Barb Audiences publish quarterly statistics of the number of UK households per broadcast TV platform. The following table shows a summary of TV availability for Quarter 4 2024 and earlier quarters. Some of the figures are derived from others and will contain inaccuracies as Barb's data doesn't state the overlap between different combinations of technologies.
Cohort Households Q4 2024 Q2 2021This is the first quarter with IPTV data Q1 2010 Households with or without a TV Households with a TV 27.52 million 26.92 million 25.95 million Households without a TV 1.81 millionTotal households minus TV households 1.52 million 0.93 million Broadcast TV households - terrestrial, satellite or cable Terrestrial only 3.06 million 4.38 million 9.96 million Terrestrial TV alongside other services 14.28 million 16.92 million 16.61 million Satellite 7.73 million 9.33 million 10.32 million Cable 3.47 million 3.91 million 3.92 million Free terrestrial or satellite TV 3.98 millionSum of Freeview, Freesat and non-subscription Sky 5.36 million -Not enough data Subscription terrestrial/satellite/cable TV 11.78 millionSum of Sky subscription, other satellite, cable, BT Vision, Talktalk, Plusnet, other services 14.29 million - Total broadcast TV 15.76 million 19.65 million 25.95 million No broadcast TV 13.57 million 8.79 million 0.93 million IPTV households IPTV with broadcast TV 10.46 millionTotal broadcast TV minus 5.30 million broadcast only households (TV households minus IPTV total) 12.13 million - IPTV without broadcast TV 11.76 millionTotal IPTV minus IPTV with broadcast households 7.27 million - IPTV total 22.22 million 19.4 million - No IPTV 7.11 million 9.03 million
Digital terrestrial television
The primary digital terrestrial TV service, Freeview, launched in 2002 and is free-of-charge to view. It replaced the subscription service named ONdigital or ITV Digital, which ran from 1998 to 2002. Digital terrestrial television was itself the replacement for analogue terrestrial TV, which ran from 1936 to 2012.
, Freeview provides over seventy TV and radio channels, which are received via an aerial. It is operated by Everyone TV and DTV Services Ltd., joint ventures between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. The transmitter network is predominately operated by Arqiva. The TV channels are transmitted in bundles, called multiplexes, and the available channels are dependent on how many multiplexes are transmitted in each area. The six national multiplexes are available to 90% of households from 92 transmitters; and three multiplexes are available to 9% of households from 1,067 transmitters.Coverage figures calculated from the per-multiplex coverage in Figure 42 of Connected Nations Report 2017. Transmitter counts calculated from the Television transmitter frequency data spreadsheet. In Northern Ireland, a multiplex carrying channels from the Republic of Ireland can reach 71% of Northern Irish households from 3 transmitters. Local TV and radio is available to 54% of households from an additional multiplex via 44 transmitters, and an extra multiplex is available to 54% of households in Greater Manchester.
Multiple vendors sell hybrid set-top-boxes or smart TVs which combine terrestrial channels with streamed (Internet TV) content. Internet-based TV apps such as BBC iPlayer, ITVX and Channel 4 are available via the broadband connection of Freeview Play and Netgem devices. These also support optional subscription services such as Netflix and Prime Video. EE TV and TalkTalk TV offer additional subscription services for their respective broadband customers using Netgem or YouView devices. Saorview, the terrestrial TV service in the Republic of Ireland which launched in 2011, can be received in parts of Northern Ireland via overspill transmissions.Digital Switchover Factsheet 4
Cable television
Many regional companies developed cable-television services in the late 1980s and 1990s as licences for cable television were awarded on a city-by-city basis. The mid-1990s saw the companies start to merge and the turn of the century only three big companies remained. In 2007 Telewest and NTL merged, resulting in the formation of Virgin Media, which is available to 55% of households. Cable TV is a subscription service normally bundled with a phone line and broadband.
Satellite television
There are two distinctly marketed direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) services (also known as direct-to-home (DTH), to be distinguished from satellite signals intended for non-consumer reception). Sky TV is a subscription service operated by Sky Ltd, owned by Comcast, which launched in 1998 as SkyDigital. Compared to the previous analogue service which had launched in 1989, it provided more channels, widescreen, interactive TV and a near video-on-demand service using staggered start times for pay-per-view content. Innovations since have included high definition, 3D TV, a digital video recorder, the ability to view recordings on other devices, remote operation via the Internet to add recordings, and on-demand content via the satellite-receiver's broadband connection of both Sky and third-party TV. The Sky subscription also includes access to Sky Go, which allows mobile devices and computers to access subscription content via the Internet.
Freesat is a free satellite service operated by Everyone TV, who also operate Freeview. Like Sky, it provides high-definition content, digital recording and video-on-demand via the broadband connection. Freesat and Sky TV transmit from SES Astra satellites at 28.2° east (Astra 2E/2F/2G). As the satellites are in geostationary orbit, they are positioned above the earth's equator () approximately 35,786 km above sea level; this places them above the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Internet video services
TV via the Internet can be streamed or downloaded, and consist of amateur or professionally produced content. In the UK, most broadcasters provide catch-up TV services which allow viewing of TV for a window after it was broadcast. Online video can be viewed via mobile devices, computers, TVs equipped with a built in Internet connection, or TVs connected to an external set-top-box, streaming stick or games console. Most of the broadcast TV providers have integrated their set-top-boxes with Internet video to provide a hybrid broadcast and online service.
Catch-up services
Since 2006, UK channel owners and content producers have been creating Internet services to access their programmes using catch-up television. Often, these are available for a window after the broadcast schedule. These services generally block users outside of the UK.
Service name Owner Broadcast channels with catch-up Catch-up period Additional content Streamed Download Free/Pay Site BBC iPlayer BBC BBC channels, S4C 30 days S4C S4C S4C 35 days Channel 4 Channel Four Television Corporation Channel 4, E4, More4, 4seven, Film4 30 days ITVX ITV plc ITV1–4, ITV Quiz 30 days 5 Skydance Corporation (Paramount Networks UK & Australia) 5, 5USA, 5STAR, 5Action, 5Select 30 days Sky Go Sky UK Up to 65 channels STV Player STV Group STV 30 days U UKTV Media U&Dave, U&Drama, U&W, U&Yesterday 30 days
Online video services for professionally produced content