Cable television in the UK is provided by Virgin Media company, who have a virtual monopoly. They offer a range of services through either copper wire or fibre optic cables. But all of these must be paid for by monthly subscription, and some pay-per-view channels. You must also have a television licence even if you only watch the subscription cable channels.
No. you have to pay a fee to the Cable Company (probably Virgin Media). Most areas don't get cable it's not that big in the UK, most people who have pay TV have Sky (satellite TV). Virgin is the biggest Cable company and only very select areas get it. Most houses that don't pay for TV have Freeview or Freesat. However, there's no such thing as totally free TV, you need to buy a licence to watch live TV (e.g. if you have an internet-connected computer). It's not vastly expensive (￡145.50 a year for a colour TV, most people pay monthly by Direct Debit). If you watch or record live TV without one it can land you in court with a ￡1,000 fine plus costs and a criminal record.
Of course not. Nothing is ever free in life! There is very little cable in the UK anyway as it never really took off. People who want more channels than are freely available as standard go for a satellite dish.
Channels you can receive without paying for a service are Freeview through a TV aerial or Freesat by satellite. Analogue TV no longer exists so to receive TV at all, you need a set with a Freeview digital decoder, but all new ones do now. Most Freeview and Freesat channels, apart from the main five (BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5) broadcast almost entirely repeats. What people do if they want more than that is install a satellite dish and pay for satellite access, the big company for that being Sky.
Not that Freeview is entirely free either... like most countries, it is a legal requirement to have a TV licence to receive TV as it is broadcast. This pays for the BBC and ensures the BBC channels have no commercials. That includes the BBC radio channels - there are four national ones and more local ones. And yes, we used to have radio licences to cover that! That got abolished in 1971 when it became clear that most households had a TV, so the radio licence was merged into the TV licence.
Cable is a paid for service (but may be included in internet/phoneline deals), but even if it wasn't, we still have to pay for a TV licence: To use any television to watch or record TV shows as they are broadcast (through Ariel, satellite or cable), we have to have a TV licence which is ￡145 a year.
No. Freeview is free to an antenna. Freesat is free to a satellite dish. Each system has all the main channels plus a few variations. Which system is used often depends on the reception to an antenna as satellite tends to be more reliable assuming a line of sight to the satellite. Also a box is needed for Freesat whereas a standard TV will receive Freeview on it's own.
Cable TV is never free. Barnes has told you the free alternatives.
No. You'll have to pay for TV license and the monthly fees for cable.
Clive is wrong, Virgin is not a satellite service and you do not require a dish. Their television service is indeed cabled, many parts of the country now enjoying fibre optic cabling (as I do).
No but we do have freeview digital TV which offers a range of channels but not the premium ones like SKY or Virgin
they'll get the charges through TV license and the monthly fees for cable.
