# British tv questions. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-questions/559984 "2010-11-09T01:39:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-questions/559984/21 "2010-11-10T15:47:21Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Thanks **Candyman74** and **Ximenean**! Though am I right and your Freeview answers aren’t quite the same? The former says it’s a pay-once big package, the latter says it’s just what people call regular TV. Candyman misspoke slightly by describing it as a bunch of cable/satellite channels. What it is is a bunch of digital channels you receive through your regular aerial, that you don’t have to subscribe to - they are paid for by adverts or, in the case of BBC channels, the licence fee. As I mentioned, there are in fact pay channels alongside the Freeview channels. The five traditional networks are all on Freeview (plus a load of newer digital-only channels), and the old analogue means of transmitting them is currently being phased out. So the thing you have to pay for is the decoder box (often built into TVs now) or a Freeview DVR. Then you get the channels for free. If you want the pay channels on DTT, you need a decoder card and a box/TV capable of taking one. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-questions/559984/22 "2010-11-10T16:02:07Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Why do you think this is? Is it simply because all our stuff is commercial, whereas the BBC’s isn’t? But C4 shows have ads, don’t they? So that doesn’t really explain it. Even our public broadcasting stations, which aren’t commercial, aren’t nearly as generous with their offerings. C4 is a strange beast - it’s funded by ads, but it’s a publicly-owned corporation. So it has a kind of public service ethic. But all the non-BBC channels must be feeling the pressure to come up with something like the Beeb’s iPlayer, because it is such a popular service. I suspect part of the BBCs motivation for setting up iPlayer was with an eye to the future - with people questioning the traditional licence fee model, they have at times angled for a levy on internet use. They can say, look, everybody’s using iPlayer to watch our stuff, we deserve to get revenue from them. Whatever the motivation, there’s no denying that they have done an outstanding job with iPlayer. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-questions/559984/23 "2010-11-10T16:19:58Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > C4 is a strange beast - it’s funded by ads, but it’s a publicly-owned corporation. So it has a kind of public service ethic. But all the non-BBC channels must be feeling the pressure to come up with something like the Beeb’s iPlayer, because it is such a popular service. ITV has ITV Player, C4 has 4 On Demand and Five has Demand Five. I believe they all followed in the wake of BBC iPlayer though. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-questions/559984/24 "2010-11-10T16:26:12Z")
Do all you guys (Brits) have a course at school that teaches how to navigate all this stuff? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-questions/559984/25 "2010-11-10T16:30:24Z")
Don’t look at me - I haven’t even attempted to watch any of that. I’m still trying to figure out Skype. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-questions/559984/26 "2010-11-10T16:38:25Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > No, he said the same thing. 🙂 And I said the same thing too, way back in post #5, but I forgot to include the word “Freeview” in my answer so y’all ignored it. As for comprehending it, it’s pretty simple to figure out when you’re here. US TV offerings sound just as (more?) complex when viewed solely through the medium of a written messageboard. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-questions/559984/27 "2010-11-10T16:45:26Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Do all you guys (Brits) have a course at school that teaches how to navigate all this stuff? 😃 Eh, your system sounds much more complicated to me. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-questions/559984/28 "2010-11-10T18:37:37Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Eh, your system sounds much more complicated to me. Could be. All I have is a rooftop antenna with a digital to analog converter box. All I need to remember is to not press the “off” button on the box remote. Horrific noise will result. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-tv-questions/559984.md?page=1)