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Before 2006, analogue transmissions were the most used method of receiving television in the United Kingdom. It is expected that terrestrial analogue transmission will cease by 2012 with a phased transition to digital terrestrial television (based on the DVB-T standard and generally known in the UK under the brand name "Freeview") occurring on a regional basis from 2008.

Contents 1 Broadcasters 1.1 BBC 1.2 Independent Television 1.3 Fourth Service 1.4 Channel 5 1.5 Restricted service licences 2 405 Lined System 3 625 Lined System 3.1 Colour 3.2 Channel allocations 4 Digital Switch-over 5 Use on satellite and cable systems

Four analogue stations are available to around 99% of viewers, and a fifth to around 70%. Additionally, a number of of small, local stations with very low coverage areas are licensed under the Restricted Service Licence (RSL).

The services themselves are in most cases unique when compared to most non-analogue broadcast services (such as those available via digital satellite), in that they are much older, contain a much more diverse range of programming, rather than centring around a specific genre (all five major stations carry news bulletins, for example) and all hold some form of public service requirement in terms of their output.

The BBC began a regular television service, one of the first in the world, in 1936 as the BBC Television Service, funded to this day by a yearly mandatory licence fee. Since 1964, the BBC have provided two television services, BBC One and BBC Two. Both services carried a wide variety of content, as well as regional variations in programming, and sometimes continuity though this has been scaled down in latter years on BBC Two, such that the latter only provides variants for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the areas where BBC1 historically provides the most variants. For many years, BBC1 in Wales was effectively a separate service, BBC Wales, though many programmes were common to both.

Independent Television was established in 1954 to provide a commercial alternative to the BBC. Programmes would be funded through the 'selling' of air-time for the playing of advertisements, and the broadcasters, the first of which began broadcasting in 1955, would be privately owned. Nonetheless, the television act which established what became popularly referred to as ITV, placed many restrictions on what these private companies could broadcast, types of programmes they were obliged to broadcast, how many hours a day or week they could broadcast for, how much advertising time could be sold, and even who could own the operating companies. An Independent Television Authority, (superseded by the Independent Broadcasting Authority) would choose the companies licensed to broadcast on a periodic basis, and administer the various obligations and restrictions described above. Each company would be (and nominally still is) afforded a 'franchise' to broadcast to a specific coverage area of the UK, with larger areas having originally had two broadcasters, one for the week and one for the weekend, though this practise ended outside of London in 1968.

Because the ITA were only given one frequency to license in any one given area, most viewers would only receive one service (unless they happened to receive signals from two transmitters in different areas), though each regional broadcaster would often broadcast unique programmes, continuity and adverts, a practise performed far less today but that is nonetheless still apparent, and required. Originally each company would broadcast with their own, unique station name, such as "Yorkshire Television" or "Associated Rediffusion", and it wasn't until the late 1980s that popular use of the name "ITV" was used on screen. ITV Broadcasters would sell major programmes to one another, for 'network' play-out nation-wide, or to the majority of the nation, and for most of its history, ITV would have a shared, single schedule for much of its air-time.

Subsequent relaxations on the requirements and restrictions placed upon the ITV companies now mean that one company, ITV plc own and operate the majority of the franchises, and broadcasts under the name ITV1. A company, SMG, own two franchises in Scotland, and broadcasts as STV, whilst UTV broadcast to Northern Ireland under that name and Channel Television broadcast to the Channel Islands, as ITV1. GMTV own the franchise to broadcast a national breakfast service, under that name. Ofcom now regulate ITV, and its formal name is now Channel 3, though this name is only used legally, and not on-screen.

For many years, the ITA, IBA and the ITV companies campaigned for further frequencies on which to broadcast, though these goals were never wholly realised on analogue.

After many decades of demand by the commercial broadcasters for a second commercial station, or network of stations, Channel 4 and S4C were launched in 1982. Channel 4 was originally run as a uniform national service, by the IBA itself, through a subsidiary called the Channel Four Broadcasting Company. Channel 4 would not make the programmes it broadcast, and all content was, and still is, commissioned from independent, private production companies, such as the ITV companies, but also companies not related to ITV who had previously little space to broadcast in the UK. Channel 4 would be funded by allowing each local ITV franchisee to sell adverts during the station's airtime in their area, in exchange for a guaranteed income to be paid to the IBA. The station was established with the intention to provide programmes for minority groups and cater for specialist interests, and has a remit that details these obligations.

Since the abolition of the IBA, taking effect in 1993, Channel 4 has been run by the publicly owned, Channel Four Broadcasting Corporation, and manages its own advertising.

S4C was created at the same time, after many demands for a dedicated Welsh-language service for Wales. Previously ITV and the BBC were obliged to air Welsh-language programmes, though these were often shown at inconvenient times of the day, and upset English speakers by taking English programming off the schedules. The new S4C would broadcast only in Wales, in place of Channel 4. S4C is operated by the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority, independent of the IBA or latterly Ofcom, and is funded through advertising and direct government funding. Furthermore, the BBC airs its Welsh language programmes on the service, which are funded by the licence fee. As Channel 4 is not broadcast to Wales, with S4C in its place, some Channel 4 programmes are aired during off-peak times on S4C. (On digital platforms both services are available in Wales, and as such S4C's digital variant does not follow this practise).

A fifth service was licensed during the 1990s and began broadcasts in 1997, originally called by its legal name, "Channel 5", it has since been rebranded as "five".

The Channel 5 licence has one single licensee and provides a nation-wide service. Compared to the other analogue broadcasters, it has relatively few public-service obligations, provision of news programming being one exception. Limited space within the analogue television bands, means Channel 5 has substantially reduced coverage compared to the other networks, at around 70% coverage.

In addition to the 5 national networks, a limited number of local stations are broadcast to various towns and cities under what is known as a Restricted Service Licence. These occupy channels unused by the other broadcasters that can be used without causing interference in other regions, and are frequently broadcast at a lower power than the major channels. Their output is mainly local, and each contract for an RSL lasted four years until 2004 when media regulator OfCom stated that each licence will be renewed up until digital switchover.

• c9tv - Coleraine, Derry, Limavady and Strabane
• Capital TV - Cardiff
• Channel M - Manchester
• MATV - Leicester
• NvTv - Belfast
• Six TV - Oxford, Portsmouth, Fawley, Southampton and Reading
• Solent TV - Isle of Wight
• York@54 - York

Some licences are not currently in use:

• Lanarkshire TV - Lanarkshire
• Teeside TV. - Teeside
• Carlisle TV - Carlisle
• TV Norwich - Norwich

System A 405 lines on Band I (Ch 1-5) and Band III (6-13)

Ch	Video (MHz)	Audio (MHz)
1	45.00	41.50
2	51.75	48.25
3	56.75	53.25
4	61.75	58.25
5	66.75	63.25
6	179.75	176.25
7	184.75	181.25
8	189.75	186.25
9	194.75	191.25
10	199.75	196.25
11	204.75	201.25
12	209.75	206.25
13	214.75	211.25

Television broadcasting began on an experimental basis by the BBC in London in 1936 on VHF Band I. Initially the service was operated using two competing systems:

The earliest television broadcasts used the 240-line Baird system and the 405-line Marconi-EMI system on alternate weeks. However, the Baird system proved too cumbersome and by early 1937 had been dropped and the Marconi-EMI system became the standard. This system was later codified by the ITU's CCIR on an international conference in Stockholm in 1961 as System A.

Different broadcast stations across the country broadcast on different channels to avoid interference and allow for regional variations.

Broadcast was suspended during the Second World War but resumed in 1946. The BBC was joined on this system in 1955 with the launch of commercial television in the form of the regional Independent Television (ITV) network, managed by the Independent Television Authority (ITA), which also saw the use of VHF Band III.

This was the sole system in existence until the preparations for the introduction of 625-line transmission in 1964 and was put out of use in 1985.

System I 625 lines (Bands IV and V)
*not in use until later date

Ch	Video (MHz)	Audio (MHz)
21	471.25	477.25
22	479.25	485.25
23	487.25	493.25
24	495.25	501.25
25	503.25	509.25
26	511.25	517.25
27	519.25	525.25
28	527.25	533.25
29	535.25	541.25
30	543.25	549.25
31	551.25	557.25
32	559.25	565.25
33	567.25	573.25
34	575.25	581.25
35*	583.25	589.25
36*	591.25	597.25
37*	599.25	605.25
38*	607.25	613.25
39	615.25	621.25
40	623.25	629.25
41	631.25	637.25
42	639.25	645.25
43	647.25	653.25
44	655.25	661.25
45	663.25	669.25
46	671.25	677.25
47	679.25	685.25
48	687.25	693.25
49	695.25	701.25
50	703.25	709.25
51	711.25	717.25
52	719.25	725.25
53	727.25	733.25
54	735.25	741.25
55	743.25	749.25
56	751.25	757.25
57	759.25	765.25
58	767.25	773.25
59	775.25	781.25
60	783.25	789.25
61	791.25	797.25
62	799.25	805.25
63	807.25	813.25
64	815.25	821.25
65	823.25	829.25
66	831.25	837.25
67	839.25	845.25
68	847.25	853.25

1964 saw the launch of a third television service, known as BBC2, and with it the introduction of the analogue system of broadcast still used to this day - the 625 lined service on UHF Bands IV and V. Whilst the extra lines theoretically offered better resolution and picture clarity, the fledgling network of new transmitters required to provide the service offered far inferior coverage compared with the existing VHF services and was prone to increased interference often resulting in poor picture quality. Furthermore, few people had the new sets required to receive the new service or the different type of aerial required to pick up the UHF signal.

During the late 1950s, when the decision to introduce colour television was first seriously mooted, the then two main systems for consideration were the French SECAM and American NTSC systems, the latter generally considered superior and expected to be adopted. Throughout the 1960s a third competing system, PAL, became available and was eventually adopted by the GPO for use on the 625 lined service, to be known as System I or PAL-I.

Broadcast on this system officially commenced in 1967 with BBC2's (and the UK's) launch of colour television programming, though previous years had seen many unofficial colour test films outside of official broadcasting hours, including some which trialled NTSC and SECAM. BBC2 was joined in 1969 by BBC 1 and the main ITV franchises (the rest following in stages into the 1970s). Both BBC1 and ITV continued to broadcast simultaneously on the VHF system A until 1985.

The 625 lined system divided the spectrum into 44 channels, 21-34 and 39-68 (Bands IV and V). These channels were allocated, by the GPO, to the broadcasters to allow for four networks to operate with eventual maximum coverage and minimum cross-network interference. The two BBC channels and the ITV network were catered for, as well as space for a future fourth network, at the time expected to be a second network for the ITA. The fourth network didn't come into being until the 1980 Broadcasting Act created Channel 4 and S4C. This early provision meant that near complete coverage was afforded to both networks at launch, in 1982.

When Channel 5 launched in 1997 a general lack of provision for the network lead to the release of extra UHF channels which caused potential interference with many domestic VCRs. This required a massive equipment retuning exercise to be undertaken at the broadcaster's expense. The extra channels still did not go far enough in affording Channel 5 the level of coverage enjoyed by the other broadcasters.

The government is committed to switching terrestrial television broadcasting to fully digital by 2012. The digital network will feature six multiplexes at each of the 80 main nodes, at other nodes there will be only three multiplexes because fewer broadcasters are interested in the less densely populated regions. A company called Digital UK (formerly "switchco") has been set up to handle the change. The switch will be on a region by region basis using the ITV regions as a basis. The schedule was announced by Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell on September 15, 2005 at the Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention.

Regional Order	TV Region	Proposed Date
1st	Border	2008 (second half)
2nd	Westcountry	2009 (first half)
3rd	HTV Wales	2009 (second half)
4th	Granada	2009 (second half)
5th	HTV West	2010 (first half)
6th	Grampian Television	2010 (first half)
7th	Scottish Television	2010 (second half))
8th	Central	2011 (first half)
9th	Yorkshire	2011 (first half)
10th	Anglia	2011 (first half)
11th	Meridian	2011 (first half)
12th	Carlton/LWT	2012 (first half)
13th	Tyne Tees	2012 (first half)
14th	UTV	2012 (second half)

No date was announced for the 15th ITV region, Channel Television, as this broadcasts from the Channel Islands, outside the jurisdiction of the UK Government. Under the original proposals it would convert last, after UTV.

Some concern has been raised that the London region will be switched shortly before the city hosts the Olympic Games. Jowell said "I can assure you that I did not slog for two years to bring the games here just to see Londoners reduced to huddling round the wireless to find out who won the hundred metres, I am completely confident that our timetable is a sensible one which will ensure that digital services are delivered with no disruption to the viewing public during the Games themselves."

It was also announced that a support scheme will be put in place to ensure that no one is left behind in the switch. It will provide help with equipment and installation and follow-up support for people aged 75 years and over and people with significant disabilities. The scheme will be funded by the BBC through the licence fee. Help will be free for the most needy, with a small change levied for others

Initially satellite and cable systems broadcast using standard (PAL) signals though often scrambled to prevent people watching the channels without paying a subscription.

The major provider of satellite television in the UK, BSkyB launched a digital service (called Sky Digital) in 1998 based on DVB-S. This allowed many more channels and was marketed with a smaller dish. Take-up was very successful and Sky discontinued the former analogue service in 2001, although some of the channels which had been part of their package, such as CNN and CNBC Europe, have continued broadcasting unaffected by Sky's departure

Cable has not fully transitioned to the digital format (DVB-C) as some parts of the physical cable network are not suitable for transmitting the digital signals. It is not known when (if ever) analogue transmission will cease on these systems. In some parts of the network where digital cable is available, analogue transmissions have been ceased in order that the bandwidth may be utilised for more data for the digital platform, in others both systems run alongside each other, though often new channels will launch on digital at the expense of channels on the older analogue network, which encourages those users to switch.