Hey diddle diddle -- ATSC antennas aren't the only pieces of HD gear getting the steamroller treatment. If you're dying to bring FreeSat programming into your UK abode, but can't bear hanging a dish on the side of your home, you (and your neighbors) might like this. Zoning must be run with a tighter fist in the UK than here in the US, because according to the linked blurb, mounting a dish can be outright forbidden by local building codes. Either way, you can hang the H21D Flat Antenna on the side of the home and even paint over it. Then just sit back and enjoy the new HD programming so stealthily flowing into your digs! Your wallet will notice the £150 hit, but your neighbors will be none the wiser.

ITV HD already poked its head out during FreeSat trials in mid-May, but now it seems the channel is finally set to go. According to reports, the aforementioned channel will go live on FreeSat this Saturday, just in time to head up coverage of the highly-anticipated Euro 2008. The first HD match that will be shown on the station is Portugal vs. Turkey at 7:45PM, which will coincidentally mark ITV HD's first-ever high-def transmission. Here's to hoping for no issues come this Saturday -- if you think Americans get upset with botched SuperBowl broadcasts, you can't imagine the collective rage coming from across the pond when a football event gets mishandled.

Now that FreeSat is actually on the air, a few lucky viewers have gotten a taste of ITV HD ahead of the official launch. Yesterday Digital Spy forum members using their own free-to-air satellite hardware tuned into ITV HD test feeds consisting mostly of upconverted footage, although they noted the PQ was considerably better than the SD feed available. An official launch could come as soon as next Wednesday's footy match between Manchester united and Chelsea or the kickoff of the Euro 2008 tournament June 7. Either way, fans looking for a little subscription-free HD sports can thank forum poster Snoods for the capture above, and hit the read link for a few more.

[Via Digital Spy]

In case you've haven't seen enough of Panny's VIERA side lately, here comes another fresh face: the FreeSat-enabled TH42PZ81 plasma. Particularly for those who call the UK home, you've likely heard that model number before, but according to Tech Radar, 46- and 50-inch versions are landing in July with FreeSat tuners built right in. Other specs include a 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, V-Real Pro 3 Processor and an obligatory EPG that was said to get the job done without a lot of glitz. Based on early reports, we're hearing that BBC HD looked astounding on the set, while SD images seemed fairly ghastly after seeing content in glorious high-def. Sadly, mum's the word on pricing at the moment, but those with an aging HDTV may just want to hold off on picking up that standalone set-top-box -- if you catch our drift.

We knew it was coming, and after waiting for quite some time for FreeSat to go from concept to reality, television viewers across the UK can finally indulge. If you'll recall, a recent survey found that just 5-percent of Europe's HDTV owners actually bothered to tune into HD programming, but now that number is likely to change. Effective today, 98-percent of the UK can fork out a one-time fee of £49 ($96) to £120 ($234) in order to acquire a FreeSat set-top-box, and after an £80 ($156) installation, users will have subscription-free access to BBC HD, ITV HD (coming soon), Channel 4's digital service and around 70 other TV / radio channels. Better still, that number is slated to rise to 200 before the year's end, and unsurprisingly, the launch is expected to boost available high-def offerings in the region. Anyone across the pond have their equipment set up already? How's the service?

[Thanks, Ivan]

You patient folks over in the UK have waited a long time for FreeSat to become a reality, and it seems as if that wait will come to an end this Friday. According to an anonymous source across the pond, his store has received a memo stating that the service will go live on April 25th May 6th. Additionally, professional installation is set to run customers around £80, while receivers will set citizens back £40 to £100 depending on which box you choose. We're also told that both SD and HD set-top-boxes will be available, and even though they're expecting a rush of orders from day one, installation should be taken care of within a week or so at the latest. Hopefully this little birdie isn't too far off -- guess we'll find out soon enough.

Update: It's looking like May 6th now.

For those in the UK looking for a travel-friendly way to pick up free-to-air satellite TV (including Freesat), Hauppauge has just the thing. The not-exactly-cute WinTV Nova-S USB2 gives users the ability to watch full-screen programming on their laptop or PC, and better still, it can be "linked to a card reader [the optional WinTV-CI, we assume] to give access to subscription channels." Per usual, users will be able to pause, rewind and record live TV for watching back later, and considering that a remote and WinTV software are already bundled in, you should be all set right out of the £79.99 ($158) box.

[Via PC Advisor]

Canada's own Bell ExpressVu is currently mulling an interesting plan that could bring "free" OTA networks to folks faraway from towers and terrified of paying a cable provider for TV service. Dubbed FreeSat, the proposed service would give Canadians "free access to a limited number of high-definition channels," all of which would be local OTA (read: not pay-TV) networks. It wasn't revealed how much the receiver itself would cost, nor was it clear if broadcasters would be kosher with the idea. Bell Canada argues that the plan would give the aforementioned networks a way to get their content to more customers without "huge investments" in new transmission towers, but of course, there is always more than one side to the story. Needless to say, we can't imagine this being the last time we hear of this endeavor.

Just a month after we heard that the BBC was mulling the decision to add a dedicated HD channel comes word that the BBC Trust has given the all-important thumbs-up to the idea. Reportedly, the "mixed genre" channel will show programs from across all of the BBC's stations and will air on cable / satellite "as soon as possible." Additionally, the channel should launch on Freesat just as soon as that goes live, but proposals for viewing it via Freeview were put on hold "because viewers might have been required to buy two new set-top boxes to receive the channel." So, for all you Brits out there, let us know how splendid the channel is when it becomes available -- hopefully your patience will pay off.

[Via Guardian]

Although there's a lot of grumbling in the UK about that £135 ($270) yearly television license fee (only $87 for a black and white set!), it's hard to complain that the BBC doesn't try to use all that money in cool ways. Adding to their already-ambitious plans to distribute HDTV through torrent, datacasting, and IPTV, the Beeb announced today that, after years of delays, they've been approved to pair up with ITV and launch a free 200-channel HD-capable satellite service called Freesat in the spring of 2008. The move is designed to provide digital service to the estimated 25% of the British public that can't get the successful Freeview DVB-T service, but it'll also be free to any license payer who ponys up for one of the several available interactive receivers. Hmm, that's an interesting version of "free," must be the British spelling.

[Via TechDigest]