TV and radio broadcasting in the UK

Television broadcasting started in the United Kingdom in 1936 as public service free of advertising. Now there is a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels for consumers.

There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most viewing. There are 27,000 hours of domestic content produced a year at a cost of £2.6 billion. Since October 2012 all television broadcasts in the United Kingdom are in a digital format, following the end of analogue transmissions in Northern Ireland. Digital content is delivered via terrestrial, satellite and cable as well as over IP.

Free and subscription providers are available, with differences in the number of channels, capabilities such as the programme guide (EPG), video on demand (VOD), high-definition (HD), interactive television via the red button, and coverage across the UK. Set-top boxes are generally used to receive these services; however Integrated digital televisions (IDTVs) can also be used to receive Freeview or Freesat. Most TVs sold in the UK come with a DVB-T (terrestrial) tuner for Freeview – a rare thing in Europe.

The UK's five most watched channels - BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 - are available from all providers.

There are three providers of cable television, targeting different geographic areas within the UK. In all cases cable TV is a subscription service normally together with a phone line and broadband. For example, Smallworld Cable is available in south-west Scotland and north-west England. Pricing ranges from £10.50 (cost of phone line with 'free' TV) to £80 per month.

Satellite dishes on a wall in Hackney, London. The small oval dishes are for viewing Sky, and are known as Minidishes. The larger dishes are for viewing satellite services from outside the UK.

There are three distinctly marketed direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) services (also known as direct-to-home (DTH). BSkyB is the dominant satellite provider with the largest number of channels compared to other providers. At September 2011 subscription starts at £20 per month and rises to £52 per month. Installation is from £0 to £180 depending on the chosen set-top-box. Sky UK Limited (former BSkyB) provides television and broadband internet services and fixed line telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. In 2015 it was the UK's largest pay-TV broadcaster with 11 million customers.

ITV (Independent Television) is the network of fifteen regional commercial television franchises, originally founded in 1955 to provide competition to the BBC. ITV was the country’s first commercial television provider funded by advertisements, and has been the most popular commercial channel through most of its existence.