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UK Free TV is ten years old today

On the 5th July 2002, I created the first page on UK Free TV. And now it's ten years later... Here is a short history of ten years of independent, free digital TV advice...

On the 5th July 2002, I created the first page on UK Free TV.
Published on by on UK Free TV

To celebrate the one-decade of UK Free TV, I am first posting a short graphical history of the website.

The very first "version" of what would become the UK Free TV was included in a web-site I did for BT Broadcast Services back in 1996.



Under a section called the "Broadcasting Information Library" there was a "Digital Terrestrial TV Channels" page. This was one of the few sources of information on the new fangled "world wide web".



Just before ONdigital launched (on 15th November 1998) I was asked by BT to troubleshoot some of the technical issues that ONdigital were having. One thing I discovered was that the "technical support helpline" had no information to help them.

ITV digital, as it now was, folded on 1st May 2002, and when Freeview was announced I decided to create the "missing" web technical support resource for DTT as a personal project, and registered the name "UKFREE.TV" on 5th July 2002.



From the start the vision was "One main feature of this site will be to work out for you the options you have in your local area. By providing your postcode and details the your equipment you have (or are thinking of buying) we will be able to tellyou what you can get, what you have to spend to get it, and how to make sure you are getting the very best quality".

Here is how the site looked at the beginning:



In the first few years, the site evolved to have stories, maps, an enhanced prediction system, and details of the upcoming ("in 849 days") digital switchover.



As the site progressed, I evolved it to be more "accessible" (or "user friendly" in old money). This version has the "free+easy" strapline, and the ability for everyone to add comments, suggestions, questions and answers to each pay.



I was quite pleased that "Free and Easy" was taken up by Freeview for their point-of-sale blurb...



The next version of the site was created because computer screens were wider.



The next version of the site changed the look to add more colour. The colours were used to signpost the growing number of sections on the site.



And so to the current design, which has now taken into account the number of people using mobile devices to access the site:







Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom


Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Jordy
Thursday 5 July 2012 9:11PM
A very happy birthday - I just wish i had more time to participate in this website unfortunately this whole switchover carry on has me f88king knackered... All the best for the next 10 years and god knows how many retunes later!!
Peter Newlands
Thursday 5 July 2012 9:13PM
May I just say a hearty "Thank You" for all your endeavour during the last 10 years. When I adopted Freeview around 6 to 7 years ago I discovered multiple 'issues'. The help and advice provided by your site proved invaluable in getting to the nub of my difficulties. Other sites didn't gome close. Your selfless devotion to the cause of educating the public, in my view, deserves a 'recognition'.
Thank you.
Nedbod
Friday 6 July 2012 7:16AM
Congratulations on an excellent site. I have gained a huge amount of pleasure and knwledge from it since I discovered it just four years ago. It is an extremely informative and helpful site for people of all levels of technical ability. It must have consumed a vast amount of your time (Brian in particular), especially during periods of illness, not to mention your house move and the incident with the half dressed individual !! Happy Days !!

I know I have had my moans and groans about DAB over the years, but I hope my points have always been backed up with reasoned and constructive critisism based on my vast listening experience together with well researched background investigation. I am a keen radio listener both in my home and on the move (in cars and on the many rural areas I walk in with my FM/DAB radio with me) and abroad (when I swap it for my AM/FM/SW radio). Who knows one day the government will see sense and allow the BBC enough capacity to broadcast all their stations on DAB in high quality stereo with a decent bit rate (I may well be in my grave by the time this happens however), using the total the overall DAB full capacity available, that is currently well under utilised (you remember the Channel 4 radio project that never took off - that Multiplex is still unused I believe). I also cannot believe we are in a stuation now where DAB channels are losing further slots to broadcast stereo programmes in mono. The evening addition of THE ARCHERS on DAB Radio 4 being a recent victim. A previous controller of Radio 4 (Jenny Abramski) stated that it was a mistake to lower bit rate at certain times on Radio 4 and this "won't happen gain". Well sadly it has.

It is also outrageous that FREEVIEW viewers are possibly going to have their signal interefered with by the 4G phone network in the near future costing up to £200 for an additional box to put it right. What spectacularly poor planning !! Just as we move to a point when the nation is about to be fully digital and the vast majority of viwers receive digital TV on FREEVIEW. You couldn't make it up.

Thanks anyway for a terrific multi-themed site and good luck for the future.

Best wishes, NEDBOD.
Adam B
Friday 6 July 2012 10:53AM Dunstable
Congratulations Brian!

This site really has been a godsend to myself and countless other people. It offers help and advice that is without peer, and puts to shame the official bodies who have been charged with managing the transition from analogue to digital.

Here's to the next ten years,
best wishes,
Adam.
Josh
Friday 6 July 2012 3:13PM
Congratulations for 10 years of this website running! It has been a very valuable resource to me!
Phil
Friday 6 July 2012 7:16PM Scarborough
Congrats on 10 years. Great site, very useful, very interesting.
Mark Aberfan Aerials
Friday 6 July 2012 10:33PM
Hi Brian,

Well done mate, a great site that has helped so many people.

Mark Aberfan Aerials
Ian Porter
Saturday 7 July 2012 1:34AM
Fantastic Brian and great thanks from me too. I cut my teeth at ONdDigital. It's so good that they went and you're still here. I think it would only be fair if ITV made you an offer for ukfree.tv of about £10 million.

Best wishes!
Stephen P
Saturday 7 July 2012 3:17PM
Happy birthday to you.

And a new look too - presumably the reason I stopped getting emails then got a big catchup one!
StuartPlymouth
Saturday 7 July 2012 8:16PM
Congrats on reaching the 10th anniversary of this excellent site. Here's to many more years!
Mark Fletcher
Saturday 7 July 2012 8:42PM Halifax
Happy 10th birthday to UK Free TV.I only joined this forum since September 2011 but a very valuable forum and website it is !
Nick
Sunday 8 July 2012 12:52AM
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday UK Free TV
Happy birthday to you.

Peter Browning
Sunday 8 July 2012 9:43AM
Brilliant site real wealth of information not only to general public but also to the trades.

Congratulations for all your hard work mate keep it up
and may this great website continue for many years to come

Best Regards Peter
Brian
Monday 9 July 2012 2:36PM
Excellent site, just what the dipole ordered.
10 Years have just wizzed by, but what a wealth of information and patience with questions from the likes of me.
All the best for the coming decade and beyond
Brian Greensides
Des Collier
Monday 9 July 2012 4:43PM Brigg
Well done Brian,on 10 years of dedication & hard graft on an excellent website,here's to another 10 years,like the new look!!
Briantist
Monday 9 July 2012 10:54PM
Stephen P: Just wanted to say that the break in emails was unintended and require a bit of code to be fixed. When the fix was done, the site then made up for all the missed emails in one go...
Briantist
Monday 9 July 2012 10:59PM
A bid thank-you to Jordy, Peter Newlands, Nedbod, Adam B, Josh, Phil, Mark Aberfan Aerials, Ian Porter, StuartPlymouth, Mark Fletcher ,Nick, Peter Browning and Brian Greensides for you kind comments!

Alex F.
Sunday 15 July 2012 3:33PM
I love this website! Been a reader since I moved to UK in 2006 and got my first Freeview box :-)
Mark Barden
Monday 16 July 2012 2:28PM
This is most useful and able site on Freeview televsion in my opinion. Briantist is intelligent and very tolerant of a lot of Herbert's!

Thank you Briantist!

Briantist
Friday 27 July 2012 5:47PM
Mark Barden and Alex F.: Thank you!
Stephen P
Saturday 28 July 2012 1:34AM
Also good words for Brian.

Olympic gold star.

But "tolerant" ??
Dean Ensor
Wednesday 1 August 2012 1:31PM
Great news I just wish Sky Sports News/ Soccer Saturday / UK GOLD would return / come to Freeview some time. Another Movies / Pop channel also needed on Freeview how about VH1 and TCM/ Movies 24
Rob
Monday 6 August 2012 1:16PM
I know its late to say so... but your website is the best and very clear and very usefull info and very helpful
Peter
Friday 10 August 2012 8:35PM Stevenage
Are you aware that if you are running Firefox under Ubuntu the banner links at the top of the page do not work. OK with Chrome.
Jane
Sunday 16 September 2012 8:25PM
Dear Brian, many thanks and congratulations on your site's 10th birthday. The hard work you must put into making it clear, informative and user-friendly is very much appreciated. Kudos and saludos to you!
Peter
Friday 21 September 2012 10:31PM
Congratulations Brian on a simply incredible website the amount of work you put into it must be mind blowing.

Keep up the excellent work look forward to another ten years best regards from ABC Aerials Exeter
Les Nicol
Saturday 22 September 2012 6:52AM
Brian. - Many thanks for yuor production of aSuperb" web site. - Well managed and highly informative. - Keep up the good work.
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