FreeSports Removed From Freesat In Major Blow To Fans

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Bad news for sports fans: FreeSports, the free-to-air HD channel that broadcasts numerous sporting events, has been removed from the Freesat platform, following disagreements on commercial terms.

Due to the sudden removal of the channel, many fans have taken to social media in trying to understand what happened. In response, Freesat are saying they would love to bring the channel back – “when live sports pick back up.”

FreeSports, which launched back in 2017, covers a variety of sports categories, from selected LaLiga football matches, to NASCAR motorsports events, ice hockey, rugby, cricket and more. 

Nascar 2013
NASCAR (Photo: Deposit Photos / Actionsports)

Just a year ago, the channel switched to an HD broadcast on Freesat (Channel 252), but this week – on June 30 – the channel was removed from Freesat.

Freesat, a joint BBC and ITV venture, was created as a Freeview alternative for places where standard aerial reception is lacking. It requires a dish and a Freesat player/recorder, and offers more than 200 free-to-air TV channels and radio stations, all transmitted via digital satellite. It currently reaches more than a million households in the UK.

The removal of FreeSports leaves Freesat without a permanent standalone sports channel, but Sky’s “Pick TV” channel, which is available on Freesat, currently offers several free English Premier League football matches.

FreeSports’ removal marks another blow to Freesat, after Channel 4 HD and All 4 were also removed back in 2018. At the time, Channel 4 cited a “very significant” rise in fees from Freesat, a claim which Freesat later denied.

With FreeSports being removed without a major official announcement beforehand, many angry users have taken to Twitter to complain:

In their response, Freesat confirmed the removal of the channel, “at the choice of the channel providers directly.”

A FreeSports spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, FreeSports is no longer on Freesat. Sadly we were not able to agree commercial terms and obviously would love to continue to broadcast FreeSports on this platform.”

Freesat’s spokesperson told us that “As live sports continue to be impacted in these unprecedented times, the FreeSports channel will now be unavailable on the Freesat platform.

“We hope to welcome FreeSports back when live sports pick back up again in the future.”

FreeSport player

How Can I Still Watch Freesports?

FreeSports is still available for free on a few other platforms:

The FreeSports Player Website: The official website lets you watch some live and on-demand events for free – while others are only available if you pay an additional fee.

The FreeSports Player App: Available for both Android and iOS, you must first register (for free) on the website, and will then be able to stream the free events on your smartphone. The content can also then be cast to your TV using Google’s Chromecast.

FreeSports on Freeview: If you also have access to Freeview, FreeSports HD is still available there, on channel 64.

FreeSports is also available on Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk TV and BT TV – though these options require a paid subscription to the pay-TV company.

Alternatively, there are paid sports services – but you can also check out guide on how to watch BT Sport for free.

h/t: RXTVinfo

12 thoughts on “FreeSports Removed From Freesat In Major Blow To Fans”

  1. Freesat is letting everyone down that invested in their FTA service when there was a good comprehensive line up of channels but now the service has been decimated. C4 HD, All 4, 5 Spike, CNN HD, Al Jazeera HD, Freesport HD, NOW 70s 80s and 90s, Clubland TV, The Box, Box Hits, KISS, Kerang and Magic TV are just some of the FTA channels that are missing from Freesat. Not only is the one and only Sports channel now gone but so have ALL the music channels, it’s an utter disgrace. Luckily you can still receive all these channels if you retune a Freesat box to receive non Freesat channels, and that’s what I would recommend anyone to do. The channels can be edited to delete all the ones you don’t want and rearrange the ones that you do. My 10 year old Humax Freesat box is now permanently tuned to non Freesat channels. You lose a 7 day programme guide but you gain so much more in the way of available channels, that’s a small price to pay.

    Reply
  2. If you manually tune your freesat box using the following settings, Freesports appears on channel 3001. Just make sure that you select “yes” to allow non freesat channels to be shown from the settings options and to view Freesports press the channel down button from channel 101 (BBC1) as channel 3001 cannot be reached by typing it in from the remote control.
    From “Add non freesat channels” in the settings put in the following details:
    Frequency(MHz) – 11426
    Symbol rate – 29500
    LNB Polarisation – vertical
    Press the scan button and your receiver will tune and find Freesports

    Reply
  3. Freesports is not available on Freeview everywhere but I believe this is something to do with the transmitters? My nearest transmitter is Crystal Palace. As of the 30th June I can’t watch Freesports on Freesat over the airwaves.

    Reply

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