Unboxing a new Arris Freesat UHD-X 4K satellite receiver
Freesat – Subscription Free UK TV – 150 Subscription Free UK TV channels.
So I have my hands on a new 4K / UHD Freesat receiver, manufactured by Arris.
Earlier this week Freesat launched this new 4K / UHD satellite receiver, manufactured by Arris.
New Arris Freesat 4K box officially released
Finally, months after Humax stopped producing their popular HB-1100S and HDR-1100S range of Freesat boxes and stocks of the Huamx Freesat boxes virtually zero in the UK, the new and latest Freesat boxes have been launched.
Manufactured by Arris, these boxes will be sold to retailers by Freesat themselves, and not by Arris.
Currently only the non recording box is available, but a recording box, with 500GB, 1TB & 2TB hard dives, will be released in the coming weeks. Continue reading »
FA Cup Fifth Round Dates, Times, and UK TV Matches confirmed.
BBC One will show Liverpool’s FA Cup fifth-round round tie at Chelsea live, as well as holders Manchester City’s game at Sheffield Wednesday.
Chelsea against Liverpool will be one BBC One on 3 March (19:45 GMT), with build-up from 19:30. Highlights of the other fifth-round ties from the night will also be shown.
The FA Cup sixth-round draw will follow the match between Sheffield Wednesday and Premier League champions City on 4 March (19:45).
This season’s fifth-round ties are being played in midweek, with all eight ties to be decided on the night. If ties are level after 90 minutes, extra time and penalties will determine who goes through.
Following the success of BBC iPlayer’s pop-up channel for the fourth round weekend, the FA Cup Channel will be returning to iPlayer for the fifth round, again showing live coverage, all the highlights, and great goals from classic fifth-round games taken from the BBC archive.
Continue reading »
Biss Key on Intelsat 907 at 27.5°West for the “Satback” service
Arqiva, who operate the UK Freeview service on behalf of the UK broadcasters, are leasing a transponder on the Intelsat 907 satellite located at 27.5 degrees West. In a deal signed in April 2007, Arqiva will use IS-907 to feed the signal to 90 main transmitter sites around the UK. The service on Intelsat 907 satellite is used for “emergency back up feeds” for the UK Freeview system, should the Freeview mast relay service lose its feed from their parent transmitter.
The service is commonly knownw as “BBC-Satback”.
For some expats living in Spain, in areas like the Costa del Sol where the main Astra 2 UK beam signals are very weak, the Satback service is one method of receiving some basic UK TV channels. However, as these signals are not for public use, they require certain receivers, and firmware patches and “BISS CODE” to hack into the encrypted signals.
For more information on the Satback Service on the Intelsat satellites at 27.5 West click HERE
BISS CODES for the Satback Service on the Intelsat satellites at 27.5 West
Continue reading »
Sky to launch new more new channels on its basic TV package
Sky Documentaries and Sky Nature will be laucnhed and be part of Sky’s basic entertainment service and via Now TV’s Entertainment Monthly Pass.
Sky Documentaries will be the home of real life stories from award-winning film makers, including HBO and Showtime documentaries and new Sky original documentaries.
Sky Nature will be home to natural history programming, dedicated to exploring the beauty and wonder of the natural world. The channel will feature landmark Sky original series, including Sky’s existing David Attenborough collection, and will become the home of the Love Nature channel’s programming on Sky.
WWE comes to Channel 5 in new UK television deal
Earlier this month WWE launched on BT Sport in the UK, taking over the exclusive live broadcasts of Raw, SmackDown and NXT, as well as NXT UK and WWE’s monthly pay-per-view events from Sky Sports, who held those rights for the last 30 years.
Today WWE announced a new partnership with ViacomCBS’s Channel 5 to broadcast highlights of its weekly programs Raw and SmackDown on free-to-air television in the UK.
Beginning February 2, Channel 5 will air a one-hour version of Raw on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and one-hour version of SmackDown on Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. In addition, NXT UK will air on Paramount Network each Wednesday from 12am.
Continue reading »
Sky Comedy to replace Universal Channel soon
Sky Comedy is a new channel from Sky and launches at midday on 27th January 2020.
It will be on Sky channel Continue reading »
Free La Liga on Sky TV this weekend
For the launch of La Liga TV HD on Sky channel 435, for the first two weeks, all Sky subscribers will be able to watch live La Liga games on the channel. (Sky subscribers only, this is not available on Sky boxes without a sky viewing card.)
Some live and free La Liga matches are also going to be made available on Freesports, available on Freesat and Sky.
This means live and free La Liga matches.
After this free two weeks La Liga TV can be added as a standalone service for £5.99 per month, or for £11.99 as part of a bundle with Premier Sports 1 and 2.
Friday 17th January Continue reading »
A reminder that you cannot receive Freeview in Spain
Hardly a week goes by when someone asks myself, or in Facebook groups, if they can receive UK Freeview in Spain, or if they can use a Freeview box with a satellite dish to watch UK TV in Spain. This is also not helped by “UK TV installers” also getting confused with terminology, confusing the public, some who end up purchasing the wrong equipment.
The simple answer is NO.
First image for the new Arris Freesat receiver
The first images for the new Freesat box, produced by Arris have been released.
Mid 2018, it was announced by Freesat that Humax had lost the contract to produce the Freesat+ HDR recording receivers. Which was a shame as they are very good and easy to use receivers. Since that announcement Humax have decreased production the Humax Freesat HDR boxes, the HDR-1100S, and today stocks of new HDR-110S receivers now almost non existent.
The new Arris Freesat HDR box was initially promised to be available “late 2019”, but date this passed, with no explanation given by either Freesat or Arris. “Testing” was the unofficial reason given by some “user testers”.
This has meant that basically there has been NO Freesat HDR boxes available for a few months, damaging Freesat reputation.
But today, Arris have release an image of the new Freesat HDR box, that they will be launching “soon”…no definite date again, but some say March 2020.
Other than the box has 4K capability, details are very sketchy. And no indication as to how good the tuners inside these new Arris Freesat set top boxes is.
Although the box has 4k capability, it is a shame that there is very little 4K content available on Freesat. In fact only very limited content from BBC is available, and that is delivered via the internet, and needs speeds of at least 20m download to be able to watch. So this does seem a bit pointless by Freesat to dump the Humax HDR, one of the best Freesat boxes there has ever been, for an “unknown” Freesat producer.
A few UK TV channel closures happening in the near future…
Sewing Quarter – closed 30th December.
VH-1 UK – closes 7th January 2020.
5Spike – to be replaced by Paramount Network 7th January 2020.
Box Upfront – due to close at 6am on 9th January 2019
Universal TV – closes 27th January 2020.
Horse & Country – closes 31st January 2020
Free La Liga matchdays for Sky viewers as La Liga TV announces Sky launch
LaLigaTV is set to launch on Sky on 13th January, exclusively broadcasting all live matches for 2020. (apart from those La Liga matches that kick off in the 3pm Saturday afternoon slot, which will be delayed in the UK until after this blackout)
In a special introductory offer, La Liga TV will broadcast free of charge for all 8.5 million Sky UK TV households, as well as commercial premises across the UK, for two whole matchdays of LaLiga Santander in mid-January.
Continue reading »
5Spike set to close in January 2020
5Spike, the channel operated by Channel 5 owners Viacom, will close down on the 7th January 2020.
Its content will be split across Viacoms other channels, mainly the Paramount Network channel.
Continue reading »
Ruiz V Joshua 2 – Saturday December 7 Saudi Arabia – where to watch on TV
The highly-anticipated rematch between unified heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. and former champion Anthony Joshua will take place on December 7 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
The fight is expected to take place at approx 2100 UK time.
In the UK you can watch Ruiz V Joshua 2 Continue reading »
Euro 2020 – UK TV coverage announced by BBC and ITV
BBC and ITV have agreed how they are going to split coverage of Euro 2020 football competition.
This competition sees the teams play at various locations around Europe, rather than the competition being based solely in one country.
The BBC has secured the right to show England’s opening group game against Croatia (Sunday 14th June).
ITV will show England’s last two group games.
The BBC has first choice in both the round of 16 and quarter-finals.
ITV have the first pick of the semi-finals.
Both BBC and ITV will show the final.
Continue reading »