National Geographic on Freeview

Can I get Nat Geo on Freeview?

I have a tv with built-in Freeview. I would really love to be able to watch Nat Geographic. Can I get it if I buy a top-up box? It’s the only additional channel that I would like, hence sky is not really an option. What would you suggest my best option is?

Submitted online by Susan R

Our Answer

National Geographic is a subscription TV channel. It is available on Sky Digital (Satellite), Virgin Media (Cable) or via Sky’s online service, Sky Go.

On the Sky and Virgin platforms, a “+1” and an HD channel are also available. If you don’t want to sign up to a TV service from Sky or Virgin, there are some other options, but you should be aware of the compromises…

Watching National Geographic Shows

Although the full National Geographic channel is not available on Freeview, some Nat Geo TV shows are available using other systems. Be aware that the full channel is not available, a selection of TV shows are supplied from National Geographic to the following providers, and they make those TV shows available as part of their on demand TV service.

There are two main options which we’ll cover in more detail: BT Vision and Top Up TV.

BT Vision

BT Vision uses Freeview for live TV, and a BT Broadband connection for on-demand TV shows. It’s supplied with a special BT Vision box which connects to your TV set, aerial and broadband router.

Some National Geographic shows are available in BT Vision’s library of on-demand TV shows, which you can watch on your TV when you want. BT Vision is available from £4 a month.

See our BT Vision review for more on the service, or go to www.btvision.com

Top Up TV:

A very small amount of Nat Geo content is available using Top Up TV, but if you’re only interested in National Geographic, then Top Up TV might not be the best option. Only a small amount of TV shows from this channel are available, and you need a special Top Up TV Anytime recorder, as the shows are sent overnight, recorded on the box’s hard drive and can be watched over the next seven days.

If you want to find out more, go to the TV Favourites section at www.topuptv.com

As National Geographic is a subscription service, we suspect it will be unlikely that the channel will be coming to Freeview or Freesat any time soon.