ITV and Channel 4 have joined the DTV Services Ltd. consortium that offers the Freeview digital terrestrial TV service, a competitor to satellite TV in the United Kingdom, DTV announced Oct. 12.

ITV and Channel 4 joint founding shareholders BBC, National Grid Wireless and satellite pay-TV provider BSkyB, which set up the free-to-air service in October 2002. All consortium members now hold 20 percent stakes in the venture. Freeview offers about 30 channels of free digital television and 20 radio stations, and has more than 5 million subscribers.

ITV also is involved in Freesat, a new free digital satellite service that will feature a number of BBC and ITV channels, and is aiming at households without access to Freeview.