Freesat Slashes The Price Of Its 4K Recorder Box

Freesat, the satellite-based Freeview equivalent is offering a decent discount on its Freesat 4K Recording Box, for a limited time.

The discount comes just ahead of the upcoming price increases for TV services from companies like Sky and Virgin Media, so people who want a subscription-free alternative can jump on the Freesat wagon more easily.

With Freesat, you can get more than 170 TV and radio channels (around 20 of them in HD), without paying a monthly subscription to anyone (though you would still need a TV Licence in most cases).

The offer is available from now until April 21, across several retailers (such as Currys) – with £30 off the 500GB Freesat Recorder Box (see full details below).

Freesat, which was originally a joint venture between the BBC and ITV, was acquired by Digital UK in 2021 – the company that leads the development of Freeview (and has since changed its name to Everyone.tv).

Therefore Freesat and Freeview now operate under one company.

While similar to Freeview, Freesat is better suited for places where standard aerial reception is lacking (you can see the full Freesat channels list here).

Instead of having to rely on aerial transmitters, you just point your small satellite dish to the sky, connect it to a tuner inside the house, and you’re good to go.

Some can even use their old Sky dishes for Freesat, but those sometimes require special retuning.

In 2020, Freesat launched a new range of set-top boxes, replacing the older Humax Freesat devices. The new boxes combine the Freesat service – which requires a satellite dish – with streaming via broadband.

The collection includes a 4K Freesat Player with some streaming apps, and a 4K Freesat Recorder (which also comes with streaming apps) that can record up to 4 programmes at the same time – you can read more about the boxes in our Freesat recommendations roundup.

All the new boxes feature a collection of catch-up streaming apps from the public broadcasters (similar to what’s on Freeview Play), such as BBC iPlayer, as well as Netflix, YouTube, Amazon’s Prime Video and more.

The 4K Freesat boxes also support the new ITVX app, which replaced ITV Hub.

That’s important, since the older Humax Freesat boxes don’t support ITVX (and the old ITV Hub is not longer available).

These Freesat boxes also support Ultra HD (4K), but keep in mind that for now, there are no over-the-air 4K broadcasts in the UK – instead, you can only use that feature for 4K content on Netflix, YouTube – and possibly BBC iPlayer in the future.

Freesat 4K Recorder Discount

The limited-time deal offered by Freesat, is only for the 500GB model of the 4K Recorder box (there are also 1TB and 2TB versions of the box – that let you record more hours of TV – but those models are not currently discounted).

The Freesat Recordable 4K TV Box 500GB can be used to record up to four different programmes at the same time, as well as Pause and Rewind live TV. With 500GB, you can record up to 250 hours of content.

Normally, the Freesat 4K Recorder costs £229.99, and until April 21, you can get it for £199.99.

Even at this price, a Freesat recorder is still more expensive than some Freeview recorders – such as the Manhattan T3-R.

However, budget-priced Freeview recorders are hard to find at the moment – since the Manhattan T3-R has been discontinued, with a new version only coming in a few months.

Plus, for people who can’t get decent Freeview reception at their house, Freesat can be a good alternative (especially if you already have a Sky dish).

The special Freesat offer is available across several retailers, including:

• Freesat 4K Recording Box on Currys
• Freesat 4K Recording Box on Argos