The BBC World Service, currently part of the BBC News division, is facing another funding crisis. The BBC says that it only has funding for another month. What on Earth is going on?
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Over a quarter of all television viewing in the United Kingdom in 2025 was through Freeview digital terrestrial television. It was the single most popular way for viewers to access programming, above satellite, cable, smart televisions, or any other form of distribution, including online. A report from the audience measurement organisation Barb shows that 26% of all viewing on a television set in the United Kingdom was through Freeview in 2025. That was unchanged from 26% in 2024, down from 28% in 2023, and 31% in 2022. That certainly represents a decline, but it hardly suggests that it is time to turn off the transmitters.
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Total television viewing in the United States was at a 12-month high in January 2026, up by 3.7% over December. Cable channels saw a percentage point gain in share of overall viewing, while online fell back fractionally to 47% of all television viewing. Although it has risen rapidly in recent years, it has yet to pass half of all television viewing. It could exceed that in the second half of 2026. Broadcast channels still account for one in five viewing hours, and the number of homes with an antenna is rising.
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The future of the terrestrial transmission network in the United Kingdom is in question. It is not only a matter for television. The future of radio broadcasting is also to be reviewed. The public company that owns more than half of the transmission network operator Arqiva says that its majority stake is now worthless. It remains to be seen whether broadcasters can afford to fund broadcast networks, or can afford to lose audiences by switching them off.
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Humax has launched a digital video recorder with support for Freely. The Aura EZ 4K TV Recorder with Freely can record up to four channels at a time on a 2 terabyte hard disc, enough for up to a thousand hours of recordings, when connected to an aerial. However it does not support the recording of Freely services that are delivered online.
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In a world first, Sky will offer a package of Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix and Hayu in a single Sky TV subscription. It is part of a bundling strategy through which the pay-television provider will integrate online subscription services as part of a coherent platform proposition, much as it has done in the past with premium channels.
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