British broadcaster ITV and the BBC began offering a free satellite television service this week in the UK. The service, called Freesat, offers more than 80 channels, inlcuding several high-definition programs.
The service is an effort to promote interest in high-definition programming as th UK switches from analog to digital broadcasting. There is no monthly fee for the service but you do have to buy a satellite dish and a set top box to receive the broadcasts.
With Internauts screaming that content should be free, it's interesting that the old free broadcast model is being carried over to one of the latest technologies. Interestingly, the UK has always charged a license fee for radio and televison ($270a year for color TV) that helps support the BBC.