Freeview is a non-profit organization providing free-to-air digital television and digital radio to New Zealand. The Freeview service is available via satellite throughout New Zealand. Freeview's terrestrial service, Freeview|HD, is a high definition digital terrestrial television service available to 75 percent of the country's population.
Freeview was designed to overcome the poor reception caused by New Zealand's rugged topography, and to provide New Zealanders higher-quality digital TV and radio. The service will also provide a choice of more free channels, crystal-clear video and improved sound quality, interactive content, and high-definition. This will prepare New Zealand for analogue switchoff, planned for when 75 percent of households have access to the service, or 2012, whichever is sooner.
A DVB-compliant set-top box, TV tuner card or digital capable TV, and a satellite dish (for Freeview) or UHF antenna (for Freeview|HD), are required to receive Freeview. Certified set-top boxes typically cost NZ$250 to $300 for satellite, and $400 to $600 for terrestrial, but uncertified generic DVB receivers costing as little as $150 are available.
Freeview uses the DVB-S and DVB-T standards on government provided spectrum. The government will also pay $25 million, about one third of the total cost.
It was estimated that on 14 April 2008, 100,000 New Zealand homes, or about 6%, had access to the Freeview and Freeview|HD service. This makes it New Zealand's third largest television platform, and New Zealand's second largest digital platform.