[4/30/07] The BBC Trust has given the BBC formal approval to launch a free-to-view satellite joint venture with ITV, BBC announced April 27. Freesat, scheduled to begin broadcasting in spring 2008,  will provide standard- and  high-definition TV services across the United Kingdom.

"The BBC’s objective in launching Freesat is to support digital switchover by providing another way for license payers to receive digital television channels and radio services subscription-free from the BBC and ITV,” BBC Director-General Mark Thompson said in a statement. “Its primary purpose is to drive digital take-up in analog homes, particularly in those areas which are out of digital terrestrial coverage. Freesat also offers a trusted free-to-view digital upgrade path that gives license payers all the benefits of digital television — guaranteed free of subscription.”

In March, the BBC Trust gave the plan conditional approval, triggering a public consultation period in which the plan received wide support, the BBC Trust said.

"Envisaged as a joint venture, Freesat will ensure the public remain in control of how they access the BBC’s television channels and radio networks for which they have already paid,” Chitra Bharucha, acting chairman of the BBC Trust, said in a statement. “Freesat is guaranteed to remain subscription-free, ensuring that the benefits of digital television do not equal pay television. The results of the public consultation have reinforced our view that the BBC’s proposition for Freesat will create significant public value.”